331. Prince Yuriwaka

Yuriwaka was born from a peach and when he was little, he was called Momotarō. He wanted to marry the king’s daughter, so he started out as a bath heater. The king told him he would give him the princess as bride if he went along to attack Onigashima, the demon hold. He gave himself the name Yuriwaka and took seven thousand boats to Onigashima (now called Iki). He started back after destroying the demons. He asked for a ride on a sardine boat, but was refused because he was taken for a demon. He managed to reach home finally, but nobody recognized him. Nobody would believe he was the former Yuriwaka. It happened that there was a horse at the king’s palace who would let nobody but Yuriwaka ride him. Yuriwaka mounted it and displayed such skill in riding that he proved at last who he was. Then he married the king’s daughter.

Iki

Nagasaki: Minzokugaku I 2 71, “Yuriwaka Daijin.” Example.

332. A Gift of Thanks from a Woman with a Newborn Babe

A man who was entrusted with the child of a woman in labor was given the gift of great strength. This was inherited by girls through later generations in the family.

Nagasaki: Shimabara 90, “The strong woman” (Onna no tairiki).

Further reference:

The samurai Hiemon of Takijō washed his horse in a river and destroyed a kappa at Kawamoto, Toyota-gun, Aki. He received the gift of strength in return.

Konjaku monogatari, maki 27, No. 43, “Taira-no-Suetake met a woman with a newborn child in Mino-no-kuni. This is like a genuine ghost story. It is an old example.

333. The Human Sacrifice at Nagara Bridge

Kagoshima: Kikai 164, “If the pheasant did not cry” (Kiji mo nakazu ba). When a bridge was being set up on an island, one of four or five women who were looking on suggested that they take a woman with a knot in the tie of her hair as a human sacrifice. When they looked closely, that woman was seen to have such a knot. She was used as the support. Her daughter went as a bride to another island, but she would not speak a word. After a long time, she was to be returned home. A pheasant’s cry was heard as she went through the hills on her way back. The girl sang, “The reason the pheasant is killed is that it cries. Because my mother spoke at Nagara Bridge, she was sacrificed.” Her husband understood for the first time why his wife had not spoken. He took her back to his home.

Iwate, Hienuki-gun: Kōshō 11 1, “The human sacrifice at Nagara Bridge” (Nagara no hito bashira). This is rather different from the usual form. The wife of an official had a secret lover. She put a patch on her husband’s skirt and suggested he be sacrificed because of it. His old mother told her granddaughter not to speak. The girl’s song was, “The pheasant sang, ‘Keain, keain hototogisu.’ My father was the human support in the river’s current because of my mother.”

Could this be an error that appeared during generations of narrators?

Further reference:

Chōsen mintan shū 54, Keinan, Korea. “A bad wife for three years.” This is not about a human sacrifice. A wife did not speak for three years because of her mother’s instruction. She spoke for the first time when she heard a pheasant’s call.

Chōsen mintan shū, App. 9. A quotation from a collection of legends about mute wives.

Wakan sansai zue. The original text is on 74.

334. The Mandarin Ducks at Asonuma

Aichi, Nishikasugai-gun: Aichi 318, “The origin of Oshidoridera” (Oshi- doridera no yurai). A legend of Shirakibashi, Kasuga-mura, Nishikasugai-gun. Long ago Tōdō, lord of the castle, shot a mandarin duck with his bow of white wood. A beautiful girl appeared crying in his dream. When he shot the female the next day, she was carrying the head of the male duck he had shot. It is an example of two combined plots. This story appeared very early and is widely distributed, but it can not be called a folk tale. It does not have the quality of a folk tale.

335. The Silkworm God and the Horse

Nagano, Minamiazumi-gun: Dai-ichi 53, “The silkworm god and the horse” (Kaeko gami to uma). Long ago the silkworm was a lovely maid. She lost her mother quite early and her stepmother abused her. The stepmother tried twice to bury the girl alive in the stable, but the horse saved her each time. Then she was put into a boat and floated downstream, but she was rescued and she returned. She was buried again and again in the yard, but rescued. Her spirit entered a silkworm when she was reborn because of her suffering.

Yamanashi, Nishiyatsushiro-gun: Kai 161, “The origin of the silkworm” (Kaiko no okori). There are two tales. We can see that the Shinshū one is either an abridgment or something has been forgotten. This kind of story may have been a katarimono, but it could hardly have sprung up independently from a folk tale. It has been kept alive among folk tales by some mutual circumstance.

336. Failing to Eat a Mermaid

Kagoshima: Kikai 166, “Nijūsanya Sama.” A beggar came to take part in the gathering for Nijusanya Sama [Twenty-third Night]. He invited everyone to come to his place for the next gathering. When they went, they found a splendid house. A baby was being cooked in the kitchen. (It was actually a mermaid.) Two guests ran away and only the chief guest stayed to enjoy the feast.

This tale is handed down in Tōhoku as a story about watching up for Kōshin. It is like the saying that he who eats a mermaid can enjoy endless youth.

337. The Day on Which Blood Flowed from the
Eyes of the Stone Image

A legend of Kōreijima.

Miyagi, Natori-gun, Medeshima-mura: Kyōdo den 1 172, “The jar full of coins” (Zeni no tanto haetta tsubo). A man was told that there would be treasure where dew did not fall at night. He went around as a grass cutter to look for such a place. Someone left a sedge hat on the ground and then took it away. The man dug there and found a jar of coins.

Further reference:

Chōsen mintan shū 61. A legend of Kōho. An old woman at a wine shop was told by a man who traveled around that when the image of the child standing before a grave on the mountainside shed blood from its eyes, she should move to the mountain top. Young men who were full of pranks painted the eyes of the image red in the night secretly. The old woman was the only one who escaped the great flood. See App. 15.

338. Fish That Talk

Miyagi, Tome-gun, Nishikiori-mura, Masabo-no-taki: Kyōdo den 1 177, “Masabō-no-taki.” A traveling priest saw two eels at this waterfall. He caught one and put it into his bag and went on. He heard a voice from the pool, “Oh, Masabō! Oh, Masabō! When are you coming back?” The answer came from inside the bag, “Masabō will come back, all right!” The priest took the eel out of the bag in great surprise and set it free. From that time the place name has been written as kurukozu-no-taki, but it is called Masabō-no-taki.

Further reference:

Hitotsume kozō sonota. The story of the fish king that asked to be freed.

339. How the Little Snake Grew

Iwate, Kamihei-gun: Kikimimi 151, “Nue at Hataya” No. 2 (Hataya no Nue). This is an anecdote about a man named Nue.

340. What Happens If a Shark’s Bones are Kicked

Shimane, Iwami: TD IX 3 30, “The shark’s curse” (Fuka no noroi). A gentleman of Hamada called Iwai Tomonoshin was a famed marksman. He killed a big shark at sea. When he saw the shark’s bones at an inn in Osaka, he kicked them in a fit of anger. They bit deep into his foot. The poison gradually filled him and he died. A memorial was set up for him at Hachiman shrine in Hiruko-machi, Hamada.

341. A Shadow Swallowed by a Shark

Ōita, Kitaamabe-gun: MK I 3 42, “A shadow swallowed by a shark” (Fuka ni kage o nomareta hanashi). A samurai set out to sea on a boat, but it came to a standstill. The captain told everyone to throw his towel into the sea, and the one whose towel sank would have to be fed to the shark. When that was done, only the towel of the samurai sank. He was afraid he would be swallowed by the shark. He took his bow and arrow and shot into the sea. The shark fled, and the boat moved on. Some time later, the samurai stopped at a certain port and heard about an unusually large shark that had washed up onto the beach. He went to look at it and found that the arrow stuck in its head was none other than his own. He put his head into the shark’s mouth to have a look. Although the shark was dead, for some reason its mouth closed firmly and killed the samurai. A shark that swallows a shadow of a man will surely kill him.

342. The Fish-Stone of Nagasaki

Kagoshima: Kikai 175, “The jewel of the spider” (Kumo no tama). A man looking for a treasure called a spider jewel agreed to buy a wretched old house for 1000 ryō. The owner grew greedy. He cleaned the house thoroughly and refused to sell it at that price. The buyer came with nets to cover it so no spiders could escape. He could not find a single one because the house had been cleaned. He refused to buy the house because of that.

Further reference:

Kikaijima mukashibanashi shū 135, “The fish-stone at Keraji” (Keraji no uoishi).

Nihon mukashibanashi shū jō 174, “The fish-stone of Nagasaki” (Nagasaki no uoishi).