In this chapter, we learn that the island of Horiuchi has been in the hands of the gods for 15 years, and that the gods have tried to destroy it, but that they have been unable to do so because of the island's proximity to the mainland. When the gods finally decided to destroy the island, they left it to the gods to search for a way to stop it. When they finally did find a way, the gods left the island and went to heaven. The narrator tells us that this is the first time that we've heard of this kind of thing happening in a novel.