Hoan Kiem Lake, the length of which you can see from Cau Go Restaurant, is a fundamental part of Hanoi’s rich history and is shrouded in legend and myth. It is difficult to draw the line between fact and fiction when discussing Hoan Kiem Lake, but the best stories are always those with an element of fantasy. Hoan Kiem Lake would be known in English as ‘The Lake of the Returned Sword’ and an alternative name for the lake is Ho Guom, or ‘Sword Lake’. So where does the name come from?
The story stretches back all the way to the fourteenth century. Emperor Le Loi, whom it is generally agreed be historians was born in 1384, is said to have possessed a magical sword by the name of Thuan Thien or ‘Heaven’s Will’. How Le Loi came to have this sword is still up for debate, but the relationship between the Emperor and Heaven’s Will draws interesting parallels with the Legend of King Arthur and Excalibur.
Most agree that Le Loi obtained Heaven’s Will from the local Dragon God, who lent the sword to the Emperor in order to give him the strength to revolt against the Chinese Ming Dynasty, who currently occupied Vietnam. The sword gave Le Loi unparalleled physical power; when holding it he grew to a great height and had the power of a thousand men. Most significantly, though, the sword was divinely given so it represents the support from the gods that Vietnam should be independent from China.
Le Loi used the sword to great effect as along with his great armies and astute diplomacy skills, independence was secured for Vietnam. Soon after the Chinese reluctantly accepted their defeat, Le Loi was sailing on the lake (then called Ho Luc Thuy) when an enormous turtle surfaced and took the sword straight from Le Loi’s belt. Both the turtle and sword were sought out but neither was found, and thus Le Loi interpreted this strange chain of events to mean that sword had returned back to the Dragon God via the Golden Turtle God. The sword’s task was done and therefore it was no longer needed, and the lake was renamed Hoan Kiem.
You can decide how much of the story you want to take as fact over a meal at Cau Go as you gaze onto the mysterious lake, though we know that Le Loi did exist and that he did indeed successfully repel the Chinese. Did Heaven’s Will exist and if so is their any truth to its mythical magical properties? And if so, might this sword be resting at the bottom of the lake? Or did it pass into another realm? And are their really great turtles in the lake, divine or otherwise?
That’s all up to you to decide.
Cau Go Restaurant 