“The Yanagita Kunio Guide to the Japanese Folk Tale”
147. Destroying the Fox
This is in the same group as “The fox in the straw bag.” It is about fooling a fox and destroying it.
Aomori, Hachinohe: MK II 9 47, “Destroying the fox” (Kitsune taiji). Two versions. It is also found in Rikuchū.
In the first story an old man and woman hide a dog for protection and dance. In the second, foxes who came to call were fooled and put into a sack and beaten to death. Each story contains an episode in which one fox escaped and went home. People overhear foxes planning revenge and so protect themselves. Both versions may be the work of a zatō.
Iwate: Shiwa 31, “The fox and the novice” (Kitsune to kozō). A fox disguised as a priest was destroyed.
Yamanashi: TD III 5 77, “Fooling a fox” (Kitsune o damashita hanashi).
Senshū (Osaka), Izunami-gun, Sugahara: Kōshō 10 25. A note.
Nagasaki, Minamitakaku-gun: Shimabara 45, 48, “Fooling a fox” Nos. 1 and 3 (Kitsune o azamuku hanashi). Both stories have the same title. There is nothing in the first about the wrong eye. In the second story it is a badger which was tied to a horse. The ending is embellished.
148. The Fox in the Straw Bag
This is a story about fooling a fox, putting it into a straw bag and then destroying it.
In rural areas the fox is tied to a horse instead of being put in the bag. See “The fake image of Buddha.”
Aomori, Hachinohe: MK II 10 14, “The fox in the straw bag” (Kamasu gitsune). Four stories.
The first is “Fooling a fox” (Damasare gitsune). The story follows the plot of the story about the one-eyed old man through the point where the fox is put into a straw bag and beaten.
The second is “Fooling a fox” (Kitsune o damashita hanashi). The sons defeat the fox, and there is nothing about the one-eye.
Third is “Fooling a fox” (Damasare gitsune). When the old woman went out, the fox disguised itself as her grandchild.
Fourth is “The salty old man from Niida” (Niida no shoppa jiji). There is a straw bag, but the fox eats the salt in it. This is a story of admitting defeat.
Iwate, Kunohe-gun: Kunohe 477, “The fox who turned into a handsome man” (Bidan to natta kitsune). The fox disguised himself and arrived as the son-in-law. His disguise was discovered and he was put into a straw bag. The fact that they shouted “Look inside, look inside” as they beat it shows that the story is the work of a bosama accompanying himself on a shamisen as he recited it.
Kamihei-gun: Kaminei 103, “The bosama and the fox” (Bosama to kitsune). A blind minstrel came along where a fox hunt was going on. He got the fox into a straw bag through his cleverness and killed it.
Yamagata, Mogami-gun, Toyosato-mura: Toyosato 251, “Cooking the fox whole” (Kitsune no maruni). There are two images of Buddha as in the Zuiten story.
Nagano, Kitaazumi-gun: Kitaazumi I 85. No title. The story of how a young zatō killed a fox.
Yamanashi, Nishiyatsushiro-gun: Chihō.* It is the old badger at Konbukuro Pond.
149. The Wrong One-Eye
There once was an old man and an old woman. The old man was blind in his right eye. He met an old badger when he was making his rounds to give New Year greetings. The badger imitated him, but with his left eye blind, and went to the old man’s home. The old woman realized the old man was fake. She heated the bath and put him into it. Then she put the lid down and set a heavy stone on it. The badger inside the tub said he was not the real old man, but she would not let him out. After the real old man came home, they took the badger out, but it was dead by then.
Iwate, Kamihei-gun: Rōō 188, “The left-eyed old man” (Hidari katame no jiji). The conversation with the fox progresses amusingly, and children enjoy the mistake about the eye.
Hienuki-gun: Kōshō 9 2, “Fooled by a fox” (Kitsune ni damasareta hanashi). The old man who was imitated by the fox was right-eyed. The old woman tested him by trying to get him to wash his feet in hot water. At the end, he is put into a straw bag.
Isawa-gun: Kogane 104, “The real Heiroku” (Moto no Heiroku no hanashi). This may be a fragment.
Nagano, Shimoina-gun: Mukashibanashi 63, “The disguised badger” (Baketa mujina). The tumor that should have been on the right was on the left. The dialogue is missing.
Nagasaki, Kitatakaku-gun, Isahaya: Kōshō 9 9, “The burning rope” (Hinawa no hanashi). The badger was destroyed by a burning rope.
150. The Fake Image of Buddha
One winter young people gathered to work together and talked about catching a fox. It was decided finally that one of them should set out alone to get it. The fellow took the horse from its shed, fastened the load rack onto it, and made his preparations. He went to a place often visited by foxes and pretended to be waiting for somebody. He said aloud to himself, “Well, Granny should be coming along about now.” An old woman suddenly appeared. The young man seemed delighted and told her to get onto the horse. He tied the rope around her many times because he said the horse was wild and he wanted to make things safe. When he got home, he had the other young men gather around the horse while he unfastened the ropes. The old woman changed into her real form and ran as a fox into the house. They searched the house from corner to corner, but could not see the fox. The young man who had caught it sat calmly by the hearth smoking. He said to nobody in particular that there were two images of Buddha at his house and that they waved their hands at each other. Another image promptly appeared by the real one and waved its hand. That was what he wanted. He dragged the image that had waved its paw down from the altar and kicked it onto its side. It really was the fox. They made soup of it to eat together. The young man who had caught it said he would taste it first to see if it was poisoned. He ate just a little, but he was seized by a terrible pain. His friends tried to help, but nothing they did was of any use. The frightened young men went in ones and twos. After they were gone the young man, who had been faking illness, ate as much fox soup as he wanted.
Iwate, Kamihei-gun: Rōō 186, “The fox and the novice” (Kitsune to kozō).
Shiwa-gun: Shiwa 31, “The fox and the novice” (Kitsune to kozō). See the second example of “Destroying the fox.”
Isawa-gun: Kogane 45, “How a young man fooled a fox” (Wakamono ga kitsune o damashita hanashi). Example. There is more to the story. He found out when the image of Buddha waved its hand.
Nishiiwai-gun, Hiraizumi: Oshō 97, “Catching a fox with a straw bag” (Tawara de kitsune o totta hanashi).
Fukushima, Iwaki-gun: Iwaki 67, 158, “The novice and the fox” (Kozō to kitsune).
Nagano: Kitaazumi II 83. No title. About Zuitonbō.
Yamanashi, Nishiyatsushiro-gun: Zoku Kai 32, “The fox and smallpox” (Kitsune to hōsō). In Kai they say the story came from Shimabara.
Shimane: Okinoshima 17, “Yamauba” No. 2.
Tokushima: Awa Iyayama 29, “Jizō laughed” (Jizō ga warau).
Fukuoka, Itojima-gun: Fukuoka 114, “Matabei of Fukuma” (Fukuma no Matabei). The fox was destroyed by making it change itself into an old woman. The three images of Jizō turned into four.
Nagasaki, Minamitakaku-gun: TD II 6 15, “The fox that stood his tail up” (Otate no kitsune); Shimabara 60, “Boiling a fox to death” (Kitsune ga nikorosareta hanashi).
151. Admitting Defeat
Once upon a time there was a teahouse on a certain mountain pass in Mimasaka. A man called Kihei and his wife lived there. Late one night a splendidly dressed itinerant samurai stopped there to rest. When they looked at him closely, they could see that he was a disguised fox. The pleated skirt, clothes, the two swords—a big and a little one—all looked real, but he seemed inexperienced. Some hair was still on his face, which came to a point, and his three cornered ears stood up. Kihei was so amused that he could hardly contain himself, but he held back a laugh as he set out a metal basin full of water in front of the samurai and invited him to use it. Presently the fox started to wash. He saw his reflection and realized that his disguise was not complete. With a shout of astonishment, he jumped up and rushed out of the teahouse.
Kihei was on his way home from cutting wood in the hills the next day when he suddenly heard somebody call him. He could not see anyone, but he replied. The voice said, “Wasn’t it funny last night, Kihei!” It was the fox that had failed to disguise himself.
Is this a more pleasant rendition of a story about destroying things?
There is a play on words to the effect that a man should be on his guard, for it may prove to be horse dung.
Iwate: Kunohe 455, “The fox at Bakkurizawa” (Bakkurizawa no kitsune no hanashi). This is told as a true story of the fox at Bakkurizawa in Kokarumai.
A Buddhist priest from Ibonai Terazawa tied a fox onto his horse and brought it back. He intended to roast it. It escaped and called, “The priest from Terazawa is a fool priest, expert at dragging things along and roasting them, gukwan, gukwan.”
Kamihei-gun: Tōno 284. No. 193. No title. When a man who forced a fox to eat salt passed the place the next day, a fox called from the mountain, “Salt heshiri, salt heshiri!”
Yamanashi, Nishiyatsushiro-gun: Zoku Kai 45, “Chōemon and the badger” (Chōemon to mujina).
Okayama: Nihon shu, jō 88, “Foxes laugh” (Kitsune ga warau). Example.
152. Kōkōzaka
This is about putting on a mask to fool an enemy, escaping danger and gaining fortune.
It could be called a variant of “The mirror from Matsuyama.”
Iwate, Kamihei-gun: Rōō 230, “The girl who put on a demon mask” (Oni no kamen o kabutta musume).
Nagano: Chiisagata 173, “The snake’s attack with gold” (Hebi no kanezeme). A dutiful son went to buy both medicine for his sick father and also a badger mask. He met a snake on his way home. When the snake was about to swallow him, he put on the mask and frightened it. In a dialogue with it about what they feared the most, he said he feared gold, and later got some.
This has some connection with the story about the badger and the actor.
Tokushima: Awa Iyayama 58, “The mask of the tengu’s nose” (Tengubana no men).
Fukuoka, Ukiwa-gun: Fukuoka 150, “The dutiful maid” (Kōkō naru kahi no hanashi). A maid worshipped a mask that looked like her father’s face. Someone exchanged it for a demon mask. This frightened her, and she went home. On the way she put on the mask to warm herself at a fire built by bandits. They were frightened and ran off, leaving their money.
This was probably spread by a writer.
There is a story like this about a stupid person in Tsugaru mugashiko shū. It is about the success of a stupid person. There are a number of tales about the success of stupid people in Japan.
Kagoshima: Koshiki 174, “Surprised gamblers” (Bakuchi odorokashi).
Further reference:
Nihon dōwa shū 303, “Noodles and the demon mask” (Sōmen to oni men). It is not clear where the story is from.
153. Comparing Disguises
Once there was a bad fox named Osan at Enami and a badger every bit as bad in Sanuki on Shikoku. The two met one time and decided to have a contest to see which was the more clever at disguises. To begin with, the badger put grass onto his head and changed into a lovely bride and then into a footman. Osan said, “My turn now. A feudal procession will pass along the highway through Masubara day after tomorrow. Just have a look.” The badger agreed and they parted. The badger went on that day to the highway to see, and he was filled with admiration. He went up to the feudal lord’s sedan chair and said, “Well done, well done!” The accompanying samurai cut him down. The procession was real and Osan had known three days before that it would pass there. The badger was fooled.
Fukushima, Iwaki-gun: Iwaki 62, 155, “Comparing disguises” (Bake kurabe).
Niigata, Minamikanbara-gun: (no source). A fox looked at a real feudal procession and exclaimed, “You’re clever, little badger!” It was killed.
A story of the badger’s revenge. Another tale is that Dankurō Fox of Sekiyahama fooled Sankichi Fox of Sado.
Yamanashi, Nishiyatsushiro-gun: Kai 27, “Kozaemon and the fox” (Kozaemon to kitsune). It is about seven and eight disguises, the same as one about Shibaemon Badger of Awaji. Zoku Kai 42, “The fox and the badger” (Kitsune to mujina). They disguised themselves as dead for each other. One disguised himself as a hunter and then as a charcoal-maker and went to town to sell things. The badger was really killed.
Osaka, Sennan-gun: Kōshō 10 31, “Biyakake Badger and Kojirō Fox” (Biyakake no tanuki to Kojirō Gitsune).
Hiroshima: Aki 158, “Osan Fox of Enami” (Enami no Osan Gitsune). Example.
Shimane: TD III 11 44, “The rain of gold coins” (Ōban koban no ame). The fox leader was called Yazaemon in the story about Niemon of Izumo. When the feudal procession passed, he called, “You’re clever, Niemon!” It is like the story of Shibaemon of Awaji.
Ehime, Matsuyama: Chihō.* Kompei Fox of Ebara, Katsumata Badger under the tree with eight trunks.
Kumamoto, Yatsushiro-gun: Jinbun I 1 138, “Fooling a fox” (Kitsune o taburakasu hanashi). Hikoshichi fooled a fox. It said, “You did fine, Hikoshichi,” when it saw a feudal procession. It ends with the saying, “Don’t be fooled by Hikoshichi’s manjū.”
Tamana-gun: MK I 2 36, “The shrike and the fox” (Mozu to kitsune). The story is close to one about tail-fishing, but new in the way it is told. It is close to “Sky watcher and earth watcher.”
Kuma-gun: MK I 5 37, “Comparing disguises” (Bake kurabe). Hikoshichi of Yatsushiro became friendly with a fox. They compared disguises. He showed the fox a feudal procession and it was seized. In the first part there is talk about stone fertilizer lasting three years.
Nagasaki, Ikinoshima: Dai-ichi 79, “The badger and the monkey” (Tanuki to saru). The monkey discovered the badger’s tail. The badger pretended to be so humiliated that it died, then it stole the monkey’s fish on its way back from work. Then there is a tail-fishing episode.
Two stories have obviously been joined.
This story is also told about Genpanojō of Kikyōgahara, Otama of Yokotegasaki, and Ochio Fox of Akagiyama.
It must be in rather recent years that this kind of tale became a fox and badger story.
Further reference:
Nihon mukashibanashi shū, jo 82, “The story of Shibaemon Badger of Awaji.”
154. The Magic Hood with Eight Disguises
Long ago there was a fox called Osumi Fox at an Inari Shrine at the edge of a certain pond who was very clever at disguises. Her skin she used for disguising herself was stolen by a human, however, and after that she was more often than not fooled by humans.
Once a yamabushi showed up and claimed to be Inari Daimyōjin of Kyoto. He fooled the fox by saying that he could restore the magic power of a skin for disguises that had been defiled by a human. She was delighted and brought out her skin. He took it and ran off.
The yamabushi was a good friend of the village head, so one day Osumi Fox borrowed the magic skin of a badger and went to call upon the yamabushi disguised as the village head. She asked him to show her the thing called a fox’s disguise skin. He could not refuse the village head and brought it out. The village head fox said she would try it on, and put it across her shoulders. Then she said thanks and took it home. The humiliated yamabushi could do nothing about it.
But he went to the fox again and said he was the real Inari Daimyōjin and offered to pray with his golden staff over magic skins that had been defiled by human hands. He fooled her for a second time and went off with the disguise skin. After that Osumi Fox could only go around like a dog, stealing things to eat.
Noto (Ishikawa): Ishikawa 984. No title.
Nagano, Shimoina-gun: Fukihara No. 3 39, “Hachiroten.” A story about fooling a wild fox. The principal character is a sieve maker. The fox’s treasure was called Shichiroten [shichi = seven], one less than the hachiroten [hachi = eight] used by the sieve-maker, and the sieve-maker was thus able to trick the fox into trading.
Tottori: Inpaku dōwa 11, “The seven disguises” (Nanabake). A yamabushi named Ryōsokuin rolled up a treasure of seven disguises belonging to a fox and took it away. He bought a hood of eight disguises at Yonego.
Hiroshima, Hiroshima City: Aki 158, “Osan Fox of Enami” Nos. 2 and 3 (Enami no Osan Gitsune). Both stories contain an episode about Osan Fox of Enami and how she received a mask from a Noh actor.
Nagasaki: Shimabara 49, 55, “The fox at Himi Pass” (Himi tōge no kitsune). A seven disguise roll and an eight disguise roll are traded. It follows the plot of the Watanabe Tsuna story, in which a fox disguised as a wet nurse is changed back to its own form.
Is this an addition?
“Jirōbei Fox of Nagasaki” (Nagasaki no Jirōbei Gitsune).
Ikinoshima: (Old) Iki 75, 204, 167, “Karatsu Kanne,” “Osami Fox” (Osami Gitsune). Example. “The invisible cloak” (Takara mino). Could this be a variation? See also entry for “The invisible cloak and hat.”
155. Exchanging Treasures
Long ago a child put a lunch into a wooden box and took it with him to the mountains. A tengu was there, so the child decided to try fooling it. After the child had finished eating, he put his lunch box to his eye. He jumped around and said, “I can see Kyoto! Oh, I can see the pagoda!” The tengu was envious and wanted that box. That seemed to make the boy enjoy it even more, and he would not lend it to the tengu. Finally, the tengu said, “I’ll lend you my cloak and hat if you will please let me see it.” That was what the boy wanted. He pretended to feel reluctant as he handed the box to the tengu. It looked as hard as it could, but it could not see a thing. When the tengu looked around for the boy, he had already put on the cloak and hat and was invisible. He could not tell where he had gone. The boy went home, and since his mother could not see him, he went confidently to the cake store. He stole cakes to eat. His mischief got worse and worse to the consternation of the villagers.
He put his cloak and hat into a drawer of his mother’s chest, but she thought they were filthy old things and burned them up. When the boy found out, he went to the river naked, got himself wet all over and then rolled in the ashes until his body was covered with them. His mother could no longer see him. He ran out to the wine shop and drank as much as he wanted, but the ashes came off around his mouth. Everybody said there was a ghost mouth drinking the wine and started to chase him. Along the way, he had to urinate, and then that place became visible. There was excitement everywhere and everyone chased him. A samurai came along swinging his sword this way and that. The boy was forced to jump off the bridge into the river. Then the ashes all came off and the boy became visible.
Iwate, Kamihei-gun: Rōō 81, 210, “The tengu’s little fan” (Tengu no ko ōgi). The principal character is a gambler who traded the fan for his dice. The latter part is an amusing tale of making a nose grow high and shrink. It ends with his success in the world.
“The priest and the fox” (Oshō to kitsune). The priest traded his old hood for the fox’s magic towel. He put it on his head and teased the young men in the village.
Yamagata, Higshitagawa-gun: MK I 11 33, “The Life Needle and the Death Needle” (Ikibari shinibari). The principal character is a lazy man who got a Life Needle and a Death Needle from a kappa. He tried the Death Needle on the Kappa and ran away. It ends with the clause, “...and that was last night’s dream.”
Tales about danger are often turned into humorous ones.
Fukushima, Iwaki: Iwaki 60, 155, “The invisible straw cloak of the tengu” (Tengu no kakure mino).
Nishishirakawa-gun: Nihon zenkoku 128, “The treasure of the fox” (Kitsune no takaramono). Isokichi of Futagozuka-mura traded his three-colored hood for the fox pearls of Doemon Fox of Sekiwaku-mura.
Niigata, Minamikanbara-gun: Dai-ichi 49, “The invisible straw cloak and hat” (Kakure mino gasa). A drunkard traded a persimmon seed for an invisible straw cloak and hat of a tengu.
Nagano, Kamiina-gun: Dai-ichi 54, “The tengu’s invisible straw cloak and hat” (Tengu no kakure mino gasa). Example. Substituting a cake store owner for the wine merchant and a mother for the wife are good examples of changes to make children’s tales. And there is still a wine merchant at the end.
Shimoina-gun: Fukihara No. 3 39. Refer to “Hachiroten.”
Saitama, Kumagaya: Chiho.* An old fox turned 999 men into priests.
The 1000th was already a priest. He traded a seven-colored umbrella for sixteen hoods.
Hyōgo, Kanzaki-gun: Dai-ichi 67, “The gambler and the tengu” (Bakuchiuchi to tengu).
Shimane, Hinokawa-gun, Hirata: TD II 10 19, “Tarōbei Fox and Priest Sōshin” (Tarōbei Gitsune to Sōshin Oshō). There is a story in Nishiizumo zappitsu about a priest called Kanshin at Yakushiji, who traded an old hood for a pearl with Tarōbei Fox of Iiyama.
Tottori, Seihaku-gun: Inpaku dōwa 11, “The seven disguises” (Nanabake). Jūnai Fox of Tokamiyama near Yonago traded his seven-disguise treasure with the priest at Ryōsokuin for an old hood the priest claimed had eight disguises. The fox got his treasure back, but he did not know the priest had taken away its magic power. He tried to trick a horse-dealer but his true form was visible, and the horse dealer hit his rear end with a burning hoe and badly burned him. That is why the river at the foot of Tokamiyama is called Shiriyakigawa [burnt-rump river].
There must be some reason why so many folk tales of this sort have been half changed to legends.
Tokushima: Awa Iyayama 110, “The tengu’s invisible straw hat and cloak” (Tengu no kakure gasa to kakure mino). It is a Hikoichi story.
Fukuoka, Chikujō-gun: Fukuoka 230, “The young man from the country” (Inaka no wakamono). A chap whose father had turned him out of home because he told lies got a load of sieves and went around selling them. He traded to get the tengu’s fan that made noses high or low. (Nothing about an invisible cloak.) The story then goes into a dialogue about what people are the most frightened of, and someone said he was frightened of noses getting high or low. The young man made his own nose high, but it was run over by a cart and he died.
Kumamoto Kuma-gun: MK I 3 43, “The invisible cloak” (Kakure mino). Four Hikoichi stories. In the first there is a fragment of “Blundering Sōbee” in the usual form. In “The robe that hid one,” there is a dialogue about what is the most scary, stone fertilizer good for three years and standing a corpse by a door. It also has a part where he traded his sieve for an invisible robe of a tenjin [deity]. The part about ashes and the wine merchant are in the usual form. In “The invisible cloak of the fox,” the fox and Hikoichi tried on each other’s cloaks. Hikoichi ran away with the fox’s cloak and went to a wine shop. He was discovered because his feet stuck out from the cloak. It was burned. Where the fox runs home crying is amusing.
Nagasaki, Minamitakaku-gun: TD II 10 32, “Jūdendon of Jūdenkiba and the fox at Himi Pass” (Jūdenkiba no Jūdendon to Himi tōge no kitsune); Shimabara 49, “The seven mask roll” (Nana men kuri).
156. The Invisible Straw Cloak and Hat
This is in the group as stories about exchanging treasures. By various clever wiles an invisible cloak is seized from a tengu. He comes to get it back but is refused. Usually there is a passage where good fortune is gained by asking what is the most scary. Many are changed into humorous tales. Stories in this group are easily lengthened, changed, or developed.
Aomori, Hachinobe: MK II 10 15, “The invisible cloak of the tengu” (Tengu no kakure mino). A man put pepper into a gourd and traded it to a tengu for an invisible cloak. He made a shambles of a cake store and a wine shop. When he took a nap, his cloak caught on fire. He complained of his burns and rubbed ashes all over his body.
The last part is not well done. It may be the invention of zatō.
Sannohe-gun: MK II 12 27, “The tengu and the gambler” (Tengu to bakuchiuchi).
Iwate, Shiwa-gun: Shiwa-shū 138, “The invisible straw cloak and hat” (Kakure mino to kakure gasa).
Hienuki-gun: Kōshō 10 10, “The tengu and the gambler” No. 2 (Tengu to bakuchiuchi). There are three stories one with trading dice for an invisible cloak and hat. A man put them on and carried off the chōja’s daughter and hid her. In another, the hero defeated a tengu at gambling and made him turn into dice. When he used the dice to gamble with someone he made a mistake and said, “Oni ko derō” [demon, come out] instead of “Ni ko derō” [two come out]. A demon came out and the man he was gambling with ran off frightened leaving his money behind.
Akita, Hiraga-gun: MK II 8 29, “The invisible straw cloak and hat” (Kakure mino gasa).
Niigata, Nakakanbara-gun: MK I 9 41, “The invisible straw hat and cloak” (Kakure gasa to kakure mino).
Minamikanbara-gun: Dai-ichi 49, “The invisible straw cloak and hat” (Kakure mino gasa).
Ishikawa: Nomi 1107, “The tengu” (Tengu). About Korōyama at Torigoshi-mura. A fragment, nothing in detail.
Nagano, Kitaazumi-gun: Kitaazumi I 185, “Tales about fools” (Baka banashi).
Kamiina-gun: Dai-ichi 54, “The invisible straw cloak and hat” (Kakure mino gasa).
Yamanashi, Nishiyatsushiro-gun: Zoku Kai 398, “The invisible cloak” (Kakure mino). A tengu saw two fish peddlers gambling at Onnazaka, Kuishiki-mura. He joined them and wound up losing his invisible cloak. The rest is the usual form.
Gifu, Hida: Hidabito V 6 6, “The invisible cloak” (Kakure mino). The cloak was obtained after talking things over with Jizō. The rest is the usual form.
Osaka, Kitakawachi-gun, Hirakata: Nihon zenkoku 13, “The invisible cloak and hat” (Kakure mino kakure gasa).
Hyōgo, Kanzaki-gun: Dai-ichi 67, “The gambler and the tengu” (Bakuchiuchi to tengu).
Yamaguchi: Suō Oshima 86, “The invisible cloak” (Kakure mino). He went to Momotarō’s house and stole the invisible straw cloak. The old woman burned it and he spread its ashes over his body and set out as a robber.
Nothing about trading with a tengu.
Ōita, Hayami-gun: MK II 1 46, “The invisible straw cloak and hat” (Kakure mino gasa).
Nakatsu City: Jinbun I 1 133, “The invisible straw cloak and hat” (Kakure mino gasa no hanashi). A Kichigo story. He traded for something with which to tell fortunes. He spread ashes over his body. The mother comes into the story. Bungo kijin 222, “Fooling a tengu” (Tengu damashi).
Kumamoto, Kuma-gun: MK I 3 43, “The invisible straw cloak” (Kakure mino). Four tales.
Nagasaki: Shimabara 72, 259, “The tengu’s dice” (Tengu no saiko) and “The invisible straw cloak and hat” (Kakure mino to kakure gasa). The second story contains the last part only, and nothing about trading with a tengu. It is a humorous story. (New) Iki 84, “The invisible straw cloak” (Takara mino).
Kagoshima: Koshiki 180, “The invisible straw cloak and hat” (Kakure mino gasa).
157. The Bird Fan
In the Isahaya district it seems that stories about trading treasures, such as the tengu’s invisible cloak, are called “tori uchiwa” [bird fan] stories.
Nagasaki, Kitatakaku-gun, Enoura: MK II 9 28, “The tengu” (Tengu san). The hero is a naughty boy who looked through the hole in a one-mon coin and claimed he saw Isahaya and Nagasaki. He traded the coin for a bird fan.
It is amusing how he would spout nonsense about how he could see a tengu to surprise people.
The ending is a little unusual. He made the chōja’s daughter’s nose high at the village Jizō festival and then cured it. He received lots of money, but he did not become a son-in-law.
This story contains an episode in which the tengu discovered his disadvantage. The story seems to be changed.
158. “What Are You the Most Scared of?”
This is the last part of “The invisible straw hat and cloak.” There is a dialogue with a demon about what each fears the most, by which a man gains a fortune cleverly. Also appears in “Tanokyū.”
Aomori, Hachinohe: MK II 10 15, “What are you the most scared of?” (Nani ga ichiban kowai).
Iwate, Kamihei-gun, Shizukuishi-mura: Kikimimi 58, “The treasure gourd” No. 7 (Takara fukube). There are faint traces of the treasure exchanging group, but the central interest is in the line, “What are you the most scared of?” The man said he was afraid of red rice and the creature was afraid of the sound of a gun. The man suddenly shot his gun, and the creature ran away, leaving a magic gourd behind.
Hienuki-gun: Kōshō 10 11, “The tengu and the gambler” (Tengu to bakuchiuchi). The tengu was afraid of squash and the man said he was afraid of mochi. An mochi [mochi covered with sweet bean paste] was thrown onto the man.
Miyagi, Momoo-gun: Kyōdo den 3 121, “The priest and his novice” (Oshō to kozō). The novice claimed he was afraid of mochi stuffed with sweet bean paste. The tengu’s nose got caught on a thorn and it hurt. The story is broken, but recognizable.
Saitama, Chichibu-gun, Ōtaki-mura: MK II 3 31, “The revenge of Yakujin” (Yakujin Kami no adauchi). Yakujin is the same as Yakubyō Gami [God of Pestilence].
Yamanashi, Nishiyatsushiro-gun: Zoku Kai 115, “Tanobei.” Tanobei was a dutiful son who liked dramas. On his way home from a play he met a python and they had a dialogue. The python hated tobacco juice and Tanobei said he hated money.
After the python came and threw a 1000 ryō box at Tanobei, the villagers destroyed it with tobacco juice.
Higashiyatsushiro-gun: Zoku Kai 120, “Tanukiuemon.” The hero was a dutiful son who was an actor. The story contains the part where he puts on masks and also the dialogue with the monster, but he just destroyed the monster with tobacco juice and got no money.
Kanagawa, Tsukui-gun: Zoku Kai 24, “The old man fooled by a fox” (Kitsune ni bakasareta jii sama). Two unusual episodes. There is an exchange of questions with a fox that turned itself into a young girl and carried water to a paddy for an old man. Later the fox takes revenge.
Nagano: Chiisagata 235, “Disliking botamochi” (Botamochi girai). Two children quarrel. One dislikes saikachibara and the other dislikes botamochi.
Gifu, Gujōgun: MK II 6 27, “Tanokyu.” An actor and a python ghost meet. Here it is a man on his way home to Tanokyu, making it sound like a place name.
Yoshiki-gun, Kamitakara-mura: Hidabito V 8 21, “Seven disguises, eight disguises” (Nanabake, yabake). Here it is an actor and a fox. He said Tanuki Badger and not Tanokyu. The fox had seven disguises, but the actor changed costumes eight times and called them disguises.
The actor said he was afraid of money, which is reasonable. There is no reason for the fox to say he was afraid of nicotine.
Osaka, Sennan-gun: Kōshō 10 30, “The snake and the actor” (Hebi to yakusha). A badger, a snake, and an actor compare disguises. Two tales may be combined here.
Settsu: Nihon zenkoku 23, “The ghost of the white snake” (Hakuja no sei). There is a dialogue after a comparison of disguises with an actor. One hated snails and the other hated gold. When the man disguised himself as a snail, the python first ran away. Then it came to the actor’s house and threw gold coins at him as revenge.
Shimane, Yatsuka-gun, Nonami-mura: MK II 1 33, “The gambler and Sai-no-kami [God of dice]” (Bakuto to Sai-no-kami). It is a fragment, but note Sai-no-kami. This deity also appears in a story about exchanging treasures from Iki. TD III 11 44, “The rain of gold coins” (Ōban koban no ame).
Oki: MK I 9 26, “The old woman and the tengu” (Baba to tengu); Okinoshima 10, “The little gold coins and botamochi” (Koban to botamochi).
Hiroshima, Hiroshima City: Aki 159, “Osan Fox of Enami” No. 4 (Enami no Osan Gitsune). This is about Osan Fox and an eel catcher. She said she was afraid of wild boars. He received ten one-yen bills.
Yamagata-gun: Aki 167, “Hokubei and the fox” (Hokubei to kitsune).
Tokushima, Myōsai-gun: MK I 3 37, “The python” (Uwabami). The python disguised himself as a white-haired old man. The boy put on a white fox mask to scare it. Only the python asked what he was scared of.
Mima-gun: Awa Iyayama 93, “The origin of Setsubun” (Setsubun no okori).
Kumamoto, Kuma-gun, Kume-mura: MK I 5 37, “Fooling the badger” (Tanuki damashi). This is a story of Hikoichi of Yatsushiro.
Ōita, Nakatsu: Jinbun I 1 133, “Fooling a tengu” (Tengu o taburakasu). A Kichigo tale.
Nagasaki: Gotō 237, “The dutiful daughter and the wolf” (Kōkō musume to ōkami). This is close to the “Kōkōzaka.” A dialogue between the girl and a wolf that threatened to eat her. The girl was afraid of the puckery juice of persimmons and the wolf was afraid of nicotine.
Are there no wolves on this island?
Kagoshima: Kikai 85, “The gratitude of the kappa” (Kappa no ongaeshi). The man became friendly with a kappa, and it left a fish hanging on the lock of the house every night. That made the man uneasy and he asked what it disliked in a dialogue. It disliked octopus. The man hung some up, and the kappa stopped coming.
Further reference:
Chōsen mintan shū 271. This is about a notorious outlaw and a girl.
159. Tanokyū
This belongs to the same group as “What are you the mot scared of?” Transformations from ghost stories to humorous stories, which can also be seen in the “The invisible straw cloak and hat” group.
In these tales plays on words become more complicated.
Fukushima: Iwaki 63, 156, “Tannkyū.”
Niigata, Minamikanbara-gun: Kamuhara 155, “The wit of Tanokiyo” (Tanokiyo no tonchi). In this region the sound “u” is often pronounced as o (Tanokiyo), but this aside, the rendition is far more natural to the ear. Could this be the original version?
In the same book on p. 205 there is a story about destroying a mushroom ghost by a dialogue about what it was the most scared of.
Yamanashi, Nishiyatsushiro-gun: Zoku Kai 115, 120, “Tanobei” and “Tanukiuemon.” See entry for “What are you the most scared of?”
Gifu, Gunjō-gun: MK II 6 27, “Tanokyū.”
Yoshiki-gun: Hidabito IV 10 40, “Gold and tobacco embers” (Kin to suigara). A charcoal-maker named Kyūsaku lived at Kude on Hirayu Pass. A man came and said he was afraid of tobacco embers, so he recognized him as a snake.
There is nothing here about the badger of Tano. Perhaps there was formerly, but then fell out of the story. There is also an example where the snake has been made into a fox. See Mukashibanashi kenkyū II 10 15, section on Hachinohe, Aomori.
Yamaguchi: Suō Ōshima 32, “Tanokyu.”
Tokushima: Awa Iyayama 137, “Tanokyubei.”
Kumamoto: Kamimashiki 525, “A certain man and a ghost” (Aru otoko to bakemono). An elementary school pupil who became an actor took the name Tanokyū. He had a dialogue with a ghost at Ōeyama in Tanba. The ghost disliked tobacco juice.
Nagasaki: Shimabara 96, “Tanokyū and the big snake” (Tanokyū to daija). The most common form. (New) Iki 79, “Tanokyū.”
Further reference:
Minzoku kaii hen 194.
160. Kashikobuchi
[The Water-spider Story]
One summer a man went fishing at a certain pool in the mountains. Oddly enough, he caught many fish that day and his basket was filled soon. He soaked his feet in the water because the day was hot. A water-spider came darting across the pool. It wrapped its thread around the man’s big toe and went away. In a short time, it returned and wrapped its thread around his toe again. The man thought this was strange. He lifted the thread off his toe and wound it around the big willow tree near him. He was astonished presently to hear a big voice from the bottom of the pool calling for a crowd to gather. All the fish in his basket leaped out together and disappeared. Then voices in the pond joined in an “en-yara-sa” as the spider’s thread began to be pulled. That thick tree was broken off at its root before his very eyes. Nobody went to fish at that pool after that.
This story is told as a legend in some examples, but it probably was originally a story about destroying something.
Aomori, Hachinohe: MK II 10 16, “The water-spider” No. 2 (Mizugumo). This is handed down as a legend about destroying a water-spider. A beautiful robe was left at the foot of a tree to fool the ghost.
This seems more like a folk tale than the one above, which is now the usual form.
Iwate: Kunohe 468, “The Spider Spirit in Tōhei Pond” (Tōheibuchi ni wa kumo no nushi). This is a legend about Tōhei Pond at Kawai in Yamagata-mura. Once upon a time when Tōhei was fishing, he heard voices shout together in the pond, and the stump beside him was pulled in. The voices laughed.
Kamihei-gun: Tōno 275 No. 183. No title. When a spider web at Kotorigawa got onto a man’s face, he moved it to a willow tree. The tree was pulled off at its roots into the water. What he thought were fish were willow leaves.
Miyagi, Sendai: MK II 10 16, “The water-spider” (Mizugumo); Nihon den 124, “The water-spider” (Mizugumo). The first story. Voices called “Clever, clever!” at the end.
Fukushima, Date-gun: Nihon shū, jō 47, “The water-spider” (Mizugumo). Example.
Yamanashi, Nishiyatsushiro-gun: Kai 123, “The spider and the man fishing for salmon” (Kumo to yamame tsuri); Zoku Kai 124, “Spider Pond” (Kumobuchi). This is a legend about Kumobuchi at Shimokuishiki. Voices in the pond said, “Yoi-sho.”
Aichi, Hakuri-gun: Aichi 27, “The old pile in the river” (Kawa no naka no furui kui). This is a pond at Higashiasai. A great snake disguised as a spider fastened a thread. It came again disguised as a sea tortoise, but its ear was cut off by a very strong man. After that it lived as a great snake with only one ear.
Tottori: Inpaku min 14 189, “Yaroku Pond” (Yarokubuchi). It is told as a legend. When somebody in the pond called, “Yariko ee ka” [are you ready?] the man answered, “Ee-wa” [ready]. He was pulled in. The man’s name was said to be Yaroku, but that is a later change.
Tokushima: Awa Iyayama 64, “Jūzaemon Falls” (Jūzaemon taki). Two men met the ghost of a water spider.
Kumamoto, Kikuchi-gun: Nihon den 125, 126, “The waterfall that restored strength” (Ikiyoi gaeshi no taki) and “Otoroshigabuchi.”
Further reference:
Takagi Toshio, Nihon densetsu. shū. At Meguro, Meiji-mura, Kitauwa-gun, Ehime a hunter saw an earthworm, a frog, and a deer, each eaten by something stronger. He decided to give up hunting and started home. A yamajiji in the top of a tree beside him called, “That’s a good idea, hunter!”
This is something brought from China. It was used in a sermon, but only the moral was changed.
Koshi no fusa, go 3 (In Essa sōsho 6, 109). From Niigata, Minamiuonuma-gun. A web was tied to a man’s toe. After he moved it to a willow tree, it was broken off at the root.
161. The Eighth Leg of the Octopus
Once upon a time an octopus appeared right in front of an old woman who was doing her laundry at the beach. Although it did not tell her to cut a leg off, it stuck a big one out toward her. She cut it off promptly and took it home happy to eat it. When she was doing her wash again the next day, the same octopus came out and let her cut off another leg. This went on for seven days. On the eighth day, the old woman set out intending to be sure to get the head, too. The octopus stuck out its last leg and waited. When the old woman started to cut it off, the octopus suddenly danced up to her and wound its remaining leg around her neck and dragged her to the bottom of the sea.
This is in the form of a fable, but it probably was originally a ghost story.
Yamanashi, Nishiyatsushiro-gun: Kai 257, “The octopus and the fisherman” (Tako to ryōshi). He cut off three legs and was drawn in when he tried to get the fourth.
That this story is told in a mountain village is strange.
Aichi, Chita-gun: Aichi 9, “Orinjima.” Told as a legend from Orin Island.
The old woman’s name was Orin. She was pulled in on the eighth day.
Mie, Shima-gun: Nihon zenkoku 38, “The octopus and the monkey” (Tako to saru). The monkey ate six legs first. The octopus deceived him and said he would give him the other two, but it pulled the monkey into the sea with them.
Fukuoka, Itojima-gun: Chikuzen 40.*
Nagasaki, Minamitakaku-gun: Shimabara 26, “The eighth leg of the octopus” (Tako no ashi no hachihonme). Example. Gotō 238, “The revenge for his father” (Oya no adauchi). The form is changed.
Further reference:
Kōshō bungaku 11. Folk beliefs in Kawachi. If someone gets whooping cough, seven legs of the octopus are drawn on paper and pasted onto the earthen stove. When the sickness is over, the eighth leg is drawn and the picture is floated downstream in a river where the current is good.
Kwansai kobanashi. The tale is preserved. A cat ate seven legs of an octopus under a bridge. There is a play on words: don’t eat the hand.
Suō Ōshima. At Jinpeiiwa offshore from Niimiya, Nishikata-mura, they say it was an old man, while at Fusaki, Hijoi-mura they say it was an old woman. But in both versions only two legs were cut off and not eight before they were pulled in.
162. The Secret of the Big Tree
Long ago a feudal lord decided to build a castle. He insisted that the ceiling should be made of camphor wood. There were no big camphor trees around, so he sent his men in all directions to look for one. They heard about one at last on the grounds of the shrine in a certain village. He sent several woodcutters immediately with orders to cut it down.
When they arrived, they found a huge tree which ten or even twenty men could not reach around together. No matter how much they tried to cut it, their axes only bounced back, and their work could not proceed. The head man fell into a doze as he pondered how to cut it down. As he slept, a crowd of little men, as small as children, came out and began to talk together. They said the tree could not be cut in an ordinary way. The only way was to put seaweed into a kettle and boil it. The water should then be poured over the roots of the tree. They thought men fools for not knowing that.
As soon as the man woke up, he had seaweed boiled and the water poured over the roots of the tree. In a single night, a swarm of ants came and gnawed the roots of the tree and left them hollow. The woodcutters then cut the tree without any difficulty and took it to the feudal lord. They were well rewarded.
Iwate, Kamihei-gun: Tōno 130, No. 20. No title. Senoki came in a dream and said to burn the cryptomeria tree and cut it at Ichinogongen, Daita, Kuribayashi-mura.
Kamihei-gun, Shizukuishi: TD III 5 5, “The female deity of Shizukuishi river and the burial mound at Dōjōji” (Shizukuishi no shinnyo to Shizukuishi Dōjōji no zuka) by Tanaka Kita. It is the story of wood chips that stuck back onto the tree, and follows the plot of Chibiki densetsu.
Akita, Senhoku-gun: Ugo 327. The story is given briefly. A man who understood what trees and birds said overheard an argument about a tree. He learned that if salt water were put into the cut on the tree, the chips would not fly back. He also cured the illness of a chōja and succeeded in life.
This belongs to “The listening hood” group, but it says nothing about the ghost.
Nagano: Kitaazumi II 68, 72, “The larch that became the roof beam of Genchōji” (Genchōji no nijibari ni natta karamatsu) and “The curse of the tree on the grounds of Reishōji” (Reishōji no teiboku no tatari).
Yamanashi, Nishiyatsushiro-gun: Kai 244, “Cutting down the camphor tree” (Kusunoki o kiru hanashi). Example.
Tanba (Kyoto): Nihon den 47, “The pine tree that drips” (Shizuku matsu).
Shimane, Mino-gun: Shimane 21, “The miracle of the big cryptomeria tree (Ōsugi no rei-i).
Fukuoka, Miike-gun: Shokoku 85, “Sunrise at Onsendake and sunset at Aso” (Asahi wa Onsendake ni yūhi wa Aso). A man learned from the spirit of a katsura vine in a dream that if he cut the vine, the big tree would fall.
Ōita: Bungo den 117, 33, “The maidenhair tree at Hōshinji” (Hōshinji no ginkō) and “Kirikabuyama.”
Further reference:
Nanki dozoku shiryo 19. The legend of Yanosuke cryptomeria tree.
Nigun kenbun shiki, maki 3 (In Nambu sōsho 9, 187). A story about wood chips flying back onto a tree. A tara tree revealed that chips should be burned and salt should be rubbed into the cut on the tree. It is like a folk tale.
Konjaku monogatari, maki 31, No. 37. A story about Ōmi.
163. The Satori and the Hoop
[A Dialogue with a yamauba]
This early became a source for shingaku [moral tales], but it was probably a folk tale originally.
Once upon a time a man went into the mountains to make charcoal. He gathered wood and was baking his charcoal, but he felt uneasy because he had gone far into the mountains alone. He thought, “I’ll be all right unless something scary comes out.” Just then he heard a voice from somewhere say, “I’ll be all right unless something scary comes out.” Then a tengu appeared. The charcoal-maker was very frightened and thought, “What’s a good way to get away?” The tengu said, “What’s a good way to get away?” He said everything the man thought and the man was completely dazed. Presently the rod by which he guided his ox fell and sent sparks flying at the tengu. The tengu went off, observing that men do things they don’t think about.
Iwate, Iwate-gun: Kikimimi 103, “Bending the hoop of the basket” (Minowa mage). It is told about Hikotarō of Koakazawa. A yamauba was struck and died when the hoop flew open. Dai-ichi 35, “The yamababa and the cooper” (Yamababa to okeya). The bamboo hoop for the basket was overheated and sent sparks flying. That is why humans cannot be trusted. This is a feminine example.
Kunohe-gun: Kunohe 453, “The ghost bird dote” (Kaichō dote no hanashi). It is a legend about a ghost bird called a “dote,” whose upper part was that of an owl and lower part that of a man. He appeared before a young man and said everything he was thinking. It was so surprised when an alms box became filled with coins that it went off.
This conclusion is different and its meaning is hard to grasp.
Akita, Senhoku-gun: Kikimimi 105, “Making snow shoes” (Kanjiki tsukuri). The ghost was a badger. When he came to the fire, he brought out his big testicles. The man’s hands slipped accidentally and when the bamboo flew out and hit them, the badger died.
Niigata, Minamikanbara-gun: Kamuhara 135, “The charcoal-maker and the tengu” (Sumiyaki to tengu).
Nagano, Kitaazumi-gun: Otari 147. No title. Kitaazumi I 89. No title.
Yamanashi, Nishiyatsushiro-gun: Kai 199, “The demon Omoi” (Omoi no mamono). The ghost was called Omoi. Zoku Kai, “Satori, the ghost” (Satori no bakemono). This is about a charcoal-maker and a ghost called Satori. What was not thought was more frightening than what was.
Gifu, Gunjō-gun: MK II 6 26, “The Mountain Deity” (Yama-no-kami ga kita hanashi).
Hyōgo, Kinosaki-gun: MK II 9 37, “The tengu and the charcoal-maker” (Tengu to sumiyaki). Example. This can be considered the old form.
Perhaps it started with the experience of an echo. Thinking and talking to one’s self were considered the same.
Kumamoto: Amakusa 171, “The chaps called men do things they don’t think about” (Ningen to iu yatsu wa omowanu koto o suru). The men involved are coopers, charcoal-makers, basket makers, or case makers.
Further reference:
Koshi no fusa (In Essa sōsho 6 52), Nii, Mikuni-mura, Minamiuonuma-gun. The story of an animal in the mountains called a satori.
164. The Mountain where Old Women were Abandoned
This appears to be an old imported story. There are two ways it is told.
The first is about Kirōkoku, a land of abandoned old people. The wisdom of an old person, hidden and cared for, helps solve problems and they became happy. The problems are a thousand bundles of ash rope, the mare and the three-year old colt, the male and female snake, sending ants through, and the end of the log that is its base.
The second type is where children who take their parents to the mountains to abandon them are moved by the love of their parents and try to live with them again.
There are two reasons for abandoning the parents: one is legal—it is the law of the region or the order of the feudal lord. The other is domestic—a scheme of the wife. Many are told as legends, but in Tōhoku and the southern islands, some versions contain the episode of the old man next door, from which we can see that they were formerly folk tales.
The two types are often confused or combined when told.
Aomori, Hachinohe: MK II 10 11, four stories: “A thousand fathoms of ash rope” (Hai nawa chihiro), another with this title, “The cow and the boat” (Ushi to fune), and “The mountain where old women were abandoned type” (Uba sute yama kei). The first three are the of first type. In the last, the old mother was abandoned because of the slander of the wife. She received one big and one little magic mallet from the Mountain Deity and lived comfortably. The hateful wife tried to imitate her by getting her husband to abandon her. She failed to imitate her and was burned to death.
Tsugaru m 39, “The mountain where the father was abandoned” (Oya sute yama no hanashi). The father had to be abandoned when he was fifty years old according to orders. The children were grateful to him for spilling poppy seeds as a guide for them when going home, and they brought him back and hid him.
Tsugaru k 3. No title. Old men became monkeys; MK II 10 17, “The mountain where the father was abandoned” (Oya sute yama). Brothers go to abandon their father, but they bring him back. This is a very common type.
Iwate, Kamihei-gun: Rōō 96, “Abandoning a mother (Oya sute dan). When her son heard his own son say, “Bring the pole and let’s go home,” he gave up the idea of abandoning his mother.
Tales like this and others like them seem to be invented.
Kikimimi 60, 459, “The magic mallet” (Uchide no kozuchi). The old woman was abandoned by the bride’s scheme. She received a magic mallet from a demon’s child and became a woman feudal lord. The bride tried to imitate her, but she was burned to death.
“Where old people were abandoned” (Rōjin suteba); Kamihei 167, “Where old people were abandoned” (Rōjin suteba). Type one.
Shiwa-gun: Shiwa-shū 89, “The mountain where old people were abandoned” (Okina sute yama). This combines both types.
Fukushima: Iwaki 68, 158, “The mountain where parents were abandoned” (Oya sute yama).
Niigata, Minamiuonuma-gun: MK I 7 26, “The mountain where old women were abandoned” (Uba sute yama). Type one. Minamikanbara-gun, Kamuhara 186, 155, “The mountain where old women were abandoned” (Uba sute yama), and Note No. 49. Minamikamabara 120, “The mountain where parents were abandoned” (Oya sute yama). Type two. It is combined with “The trials of the son-on-law.”
Sado: Sado shū 96, “The mountains where parents were abandoned” No. 1 (Oya sute yama).
Ishikawa: Kaga 70, “The old man’s great achievement” (Toshiyori no tegara).
Nagano, Chiisagata-gun: MK I 1 36, “Abandoning an old woman” (Baba sute no hanashi). Type two. The son carried her on his back into the mountains to abandon her because of the feudal lord’s order. He was able to return safely because she broke off branches to show him the way. The feudal lord heard about it and changed his mind. There is nothing about problems to solve.
Shimoina-gun: Mukashibanashi 78, “The mountain where old people were abandoned” (Oba sute yama no hanashi).
Gifu, Gunjō-gun: MK II 6 27, “The mountain where old women were abandoned” (Uba sute yama). A combination of types one and two.
Yamanashi, Nishiyatsushiro-gun: Kai 96, “Abandoning a parent” (Oya sute dan). Type two.
Shizuoka, Tagata-gun, Dohi-mura: Kyōdo ken III 4 51, “The legend at Izu about abandoning parents” (Izu no kirō no densetsu). Parents were abandoned when 62 years old. Type two.
Hyōgo, Hikami-gun: TD X 7 52, “The mountain where old women were abandoned” (Oya sute yama).
Shimane, Oki, Kuroki-mura: MK I 9 25, “Abandoning old people” (Rōjin suteru hanashi). Type one.
Okayama, Okayama City area: Dai-ni 79, “The wisdom of the old man” (Rōjin no chie). Type one; Okayama bun II 6 32, “The rope made with ashes” (Hai de nawa o nau).
Hiroshima: Geibi 98, 115, “The mountain where parents were abandoned” (Oya sute yama) and “What a pity! Will this help, will that help?” (Kimyō kinodoku dōshioka kōshioka); Aki 123, “The mountain where old men were abandoned” (Jiji sute yama).
Kagawa, Mitoyo-gun, Shishijima: MK II 5 12, “Notes on collecting tales on Shishijima, Mitoyo-gun” (Mitoyo-gun, Shishijima mukashibanashi saishū) by Takeda Akira.
Nagasaki: (Old) Iki 110, “Abandoning old men” (Rōjin o suteru hanashi, betsu wa). A dutiful child could not abandon his father. It is like the story in Chiisagata-gun, Nagano, about abandoning an old woman.
Kumamoto, Amakusa: MK I 11 44, “The mountain where old women were abandoned” (Uba sute yama). This is a combination of the two types. A story on the next page is like type two. Kyōdo ken V 3 4, “The legend in Izu about abandoning old people” (Izu no kirō densetsu). Type two.
Kagoshima: Koshiki 106, “The mountain where parents were abandoned” (Oya sute yama). A combination of the two types.
Kikaijima: Kikai 130, “The bride who became a rat” (Nezumi ni natta yome). The mother who had been abandoned prayed to the Mountain Deity. Anything she wanted came out when she struck the ground. Her life became happy. The bride became a rat.
Okinawa: Nantō 116, “Burying old people alive” (Rōjin o ikiume shita hanashi). An old man buried alive at 61 was protected because he could solve problems.
Further reference:
Chōsen mintan shū 39, In Appendix No. 5 a story from Zō hōzōkyō is told which combines the two types.
Yamato monogatari, ge.
[Fujiwara] Toshiyori mumyō shō.
Konjaku monogatari, maki 30, No. 9.
Zoku Karin ryōzai shū, jō 271.
Fusō kojiyo 304 (in Kōbunko).
Kokuten sago, 2 kan, 9 no u.
Zōdan shū 4. About the king of a great country long ago. The law was that a parent reaching the age of 40 had to be buried alive. This was the country of abandoned old people, later called the country where they were cared for, but there is no tale.
Clouston II 373, “The unfilial child.”
165. A Thousand Bales of Ash Rope
This theme, which belongs to those about son-in-law tasks, is found mainly in Tōhoku. In other regions it is included in “The mountain where old people were abandoned.”
Iwate: Kamihei 167, “The place where old people were abandoned” (Rōjin suteba).
166. The Wife’s Cleverness
A merchant set out to Edo to sell flowers used for dyeing. He put up at an inn on his way. He wagered with the woman innkeeper on whether or not the cock on the picture scroll would crow and he lost. He had to give up his flowers. His wife was so provoked when he returned that she took double the amount of flowers and set out. She stopped at the same inn and made the same wager. In the night she sewed the throat of the cock in the picture so it could not crow. She won the price of the flowers and went home.
The central interest here is in getting the value back on the second trip, but the one who takes revenge is not always the wife.
Iwate, Hienuki-gun: MK I 1 37, “Eating mochi” (Mochi kui). The wager was over eating one to of mochi. The revenge was by the son.
Niigata, Minamikanbara-gun: Kamuhara 48, “The cock on the picture scroll” (Niwatori no kakezu). Example.
Yamanashi, Nishiyatsushiro-gun: Kai 125, “The tea merchant and the old woodcutter” (Ocha uri to kiwari jiji).
Hiroshima: Aki 193, “The cock on the picture scroll” (Niwatori no kakezu). Its relation to the example is interesting.
Kagoshima: Koshiki 114, “Gambling for the load on the boat,” No. 1 (Funani kake).
Ōshima-gun: Shima II 431, “The two brothers” (Kyōdai).
Kikaijima: Kikai 149, “The two brothers” (Kyōdai). Once there were two brothers who did not get along together well. The younger had a friend in the neighborhood who was like an older brother to him. The younger brother killed a wild boar in the hills one day, but he told his friend that he had killed a man by mistake and asked him to cover the fact up. Even though they were like brothers, the friend felt that he was an outsider and did not want to be involved. The older brother was surprised, but went to the mountains immediately. The neighbor could not come around again because he thought he knew the real state of affairs. The two brothers were reconciled and lived together with understanding after that.
This is a borrowing from stories about brothers.
It does not seem to be an importation, but it may have been changed.
One wonders if the story about the bride who made it seem that she was eating a corpse when she was really eating mochi came at a later date. It is found in Tōhoku, too. See Shima II 470.
167. The Wife who was a Thief
The wife was a robber chief and every day she ordered her husband to go out and steal. If her husband stole a cow, she would rub oil on its horns and burn them to change their shape and keep the officers from catching them. Her constant orders to her husband to steal made him decide one day to give her some trouble. He went to the graveyard and dug up a corpse and brought it home. His wife stuck it into a box and set it on the porch. Two other thieves came by. Presently, she said she had let something slip her mind and had left a treasure in a box on the porch. She said she would have to hurry to get it and rushed out of the house. At the mention of treasure, the two thieves ran around the house the other way to get there first. One of them swung the box onto his shoulders and started to run. The other happened to see there was a body in the box. He yelled, “It’s a man, it’s a man!” The one with the box shouted, “I’m running away because it is a man!” And they ran off with all speed.
Kagoshima, Kikaijima
Tales like the one about clever Yasohachi disposing of a corpse probably came from this, too. Also tales about extorting the wine merchant.
Aomori, Hachinohe: MK II 10 19, “The wife who was a thief” (Nusubito nyōbō). A man was sent three times to steal by his mother-in-law. The third time he put powder and rouge on a female corpse he stole and set it up by the door of the wine shop. He extorted money from the owner, who happened to knock it over.
Iwate, Kesen-gun: Kikimimi 132 134, “The bad widow” (Warui yamome) and “The son-in-law who worked nights” (Yokasugu muko). A lazy man in the first tale was ordered by a widow to get a female corpse and blackmail a wine merchant, as in the Hachinohe version. In the second, a father-in-law schemed to fool a feudal lord.
Niigata, Minamikanbara-gun: Kamuhara 200, Note No. 8. A female thief used a man to steal.
Nagano: Chiisagata 163, “Making money with a dead man” (Shinin de kane mōke). It was a corpse of a girl which the old man found when he started to take a drink in the mountains. The old woman’s scheme earned money.
Kagoshima: Shima II 428, “It’s a man! It’s a man!” (Hito da, hito da). Example.
168. The Thief’s Wager
Many of these belong to stories about brothers. See “Gorō’s broken bowl.” The immoral element is probably old.
Nagasaki: Shimabara shū 116, “The thief who took a 1000-ryō box” (Senryō bako dorobō). This has episodes about millet mochi on a girl’s rear end and other amusing ones.
169. The Clever Man
A man went to the clever man for advice on how to dispose of the body of the gentleman of the village who had died suddenly. The clever man stood the body up when some young men were gambling. They thought that somebody had come to spy on them and struck it with a stick and knocked it down. The astonished youths thought they had killed the gentleman of the village. They went to the clever man for advice. This time he took the corpse to the door of the gentleman’s house and called, “I’m home now. Open the door.” His wife scolded him because it was late at night. He said, “All right, then I’ll jump into the well and die.” He threw the corpse in and ran away. The wife thought her husband had thrown himself into the well, and she went to the clever man for advice. He told her to heat up the corpse in the steamer and then call the doctor to say her husband was ill with a fever. The doctor came in a hurry. He looked at the eyes of the corpse and said, “It is a pity, but he has already stopped breathing.” Then she could have a funeral. The clever man received many gifts of thanks from everyone and made a big profit.
Aomori, Shimokita-gun, Kuriyama: MK II 10 19, “The wife who was a thief” (Nusubito nyōbō). Kobukuro killed an old woman and used her corpse to get money from a wine merchant. The ending is like “Yakushi in the straw bag.” It says definitely here that the horse hide talked.
The story without the deception is like “The old man who swallowed a bird.”
Iwate: Kogane 66, “Carrying a corpse around” (Shinin o mochimawatta hanashi).
Kamihei-gun: Rōō 233, “Clever Yasohachi” (Funbetsu Yasohachi); Kikimimi 119, “Bakuro Yasohachi.”
Akita, Kakunodate: Dai-ni 84, “The five Tarōsaku” (Gonin Tarōsaku).
Niigata, Minamikanbara-gun: Kamuhara 141, “The clever man” (Chie ari dono). Example. More than half of this is like “Clever Yasohachi.”
Hiroshima, Takata-gun: (no source) “Clever Gihei” (Funbetsu Gihei).
Kagoshima: Koshiki 183, “Clever Magozaemon” (Funbetsu Magozaemon).
Further reference:
Chōsen mintan shū 314. Punishing a wife who had a lover.
Mukashibanashi kenkyū II 6 17. In “Yue minkan setsuwa ron,” by Aita Yoshi, p. 12.
Huet 10.
170. Yakushi in the Straw Bag
A boy who was a liar and undutiful toward his parents went with his father to the mountains to cut trees. He wanted to go home, so he began to cry and say his stomach hurt. His father told him to go home and go to bed. When he reached home, he told his mother his father had been hurt badly and had died. He told her to hurry and become a nun to say prayers for his soul. She cut her hair and was saying prayers at the family altar when the father returned with a big load of wood on his back. He declared that such an undutiful son should be wrapped in a straw bag and thrown into the river. They promptly made a big straw bag. They put their son into it and set him out under the eaves. A blind masseur came along and stumbled on the bag. The son cried out sharply and asked who it was. The man said he was blind and asked to be forgiven. The son told him that he had been blind, too, but after he got into the bag, he could see. He said the blind man could be cured, too, and told him to get in. He fooled the poor blind man and exchanged places with him. The father came out and lifted the bag to his shoulders. He carried it to the river and threw it in.
After the son hid in the mountains for five or six days, he borrowed a salted fish from a fish vendor and went home. He told his parents that he got the fish from the river and told them to hurry and get some. He forced his parents into a straw bag and threw them into the big river. That was the end.
Iwate: Kikimimi 119, “Bakuro Yasohachi.” A combination of “The clever man” and “Yakushi in the straw bag.”
Shiwa-gun: Shiwa-shu 65, “Ano Sama.”
Akita, Senhoku-gun: MK I 11 25, “The feudal lord and his servant” (Tono sama to geboku). It is close to “The feudal lord who sold peaches.”
Fukushima: Iwaki 69, 159, “Yakushi in the straw bag heals eyes” (Tawara Yakushi no me no yōjin).
Tochigi, Haga-gun: Dai-ni 85, “The unfilial son” (Oya fukō musuko no hanashi). Example. Shimotsuke 18, “The boy who lied” (Udotsuki kozō).
Nagano: Chiisagata 239, “Yakushi in the straw bag” (Tawara Yakushi). He called, “Tawara Yakushi heals bad eyes.” He fooled a cowherd whose eyes were bad.
Kitasaku-gun: Otari 148. No title.
Hiroshima, Hiba-gun: Geibi 117, 135, “Yakushi in the straw bag” (Tawara Yakushi). The Hiba item is in a note. “The horse that dropped gold” (Kane hiri uma). This is a story of brothers.
Tokushima: Awa Iyayama 125, “Yakushi in the straw bag” (Tawara Yakushi).
Fukuoka, Itojima-gun: Fukuoka 116, “Matabei of Fukuma” (Fukuma no Matabei). This, too, is such a story.
Kumamoto, Tamana-gun: MK I 2 34, “The horse that dropped coins” (Zenitare uma). The latter part.
Kagoshima: Koshiki 187, “The big lie” (Oba banashi). The latter part.
Amami Ōshima: MK II 5 44, “The greedy elder brother” (Yoku fukai ani). This is partly about brothers. It is not likely that a good younger brother would kill his elder brother. It can be considered a later addition.
Further reference:
Chōsen no monogatari shū by Takahashi Kyō. “Katami yatsu.”
“Kokugai ruikei shiryō” in Mukashibanashi kenkyū I 7 6.
Grimm, “The turnip” and “The little farmer.”
171. The Horse that Dropped Coins
A certain horse dealer brought a cow along and offered to sell it because it dropped coins. Somebody thought that would make money and bought it at a high price, but when it did not drop coins after many days, he took it back to the horse dealer. The horse dealer said that it had to be fed coins in order to drop them.
This is a humorous variation on stories such as “The little golden dog” and “The two brothers.” It was originally of “The two brothers” type, but later the one fooled became a choja. The openings are exaggerated.
Iwate: Esashi 7, “Brothers” (Aru kyōdai no hanashi). After a man had fooled his older brother with a horse that dropped coins, he sold him an ordinary kettle that he said heated itself, and a gourd that he said would heal wounds.
New episodes are invented because of the tale’s possibilities.
Kamihei-gun: Kikimimi 487, “The picture of an umbrella” (Kasa no e). Somebody sold a picture scroll at a high price. He said the girl in the picture would open the umbrella she was holding on a rainy day. The buyer complained later. The one who sold it asked if the buyer had given the girl anything to eat. He said he had not. He was told she did not have the strength to open it because she was hungry.
Fukushima: Iwaki 175, “The horse that dropped gold” (Kinhiri uma).
Nagano, Minamiazumi-gun, Meisei-mura, Hitoichi: Reported by Mr. Ariga.
It is a story about brothers.
Wakayama, Higashimuro-gun, Kumano: Dai-ichi 65, “The golden cow” (Kogane no ushi). Example.
Shimane: TD III 9 19, “The horse that dropped gold” (Kin no fun o hiru uma no hanashi).
Hinokawa-gun: Shimane 26, “The cleverness of Niemon” (Niemon no tonchi).
Yamaguchi, Suō Ōshima: (no source). A chicken that laid gold eggs and a kettle that did not need fire are here.
They are poorly connected.
Tokushima: Awa Iyayama 106, “The two brothers” (Ani to otōto).
Fukuoka, Itojima-gun: Fukuoka 115, “Matabei of Fukuma” (Fukuma no Matabei). “If you don’t feed it coins, it won’t drop coins.”
Nagasaki: Shimabara 109, “The horse that dropped gold” (Kin o hiru uma). A man fooled his rich younger brother with bellows supposed to restore an old woman’s life and a horse that was supposed to drop coins.
Ōita: TD I 5 18, “The horse that dropped gold” (Kin no fun o hiru uma no hanashi).
This is a Kitchu story about fooling a greedy uncle.
Kumamoto, Tamana-gun: MK I 2 34, “The horse that dropped coins” (Zeni tare uma).
Further reference:
Seisuisho 13, “Tankuro and Takuro.”
Tōkaidō meishoki. A story about Hidesato in the part about Mikamiyama.
Huet 9. The kettle that boils alone and the horse that drops gold.
172. The Golden Eggplant
There was a certain king who had a one-year-old son. One day the mother broke wind in the midst of a crowd. This angered the king and he set the mother and child adrift in a dugout boat. The boy learned about everything when he grew bigger. At thirteen he got permission from his mother to go home. He crossed over to their former island. He went in front of the king’s gate every day and called, “Does anyone want seed that grows golden eggplant?” The king inquired if such a thing were true. The boy said it was true, but the seed would have to be planted by someone who did not break wind. The king declared he never heard of anyone who did not break wind. The boy asked why he found fault with his mother then. The king reflected and immediately restored the mother and his son. He made the wise boy his successor.
Iwate: Shiwa 175, “The flower that grew gold” (Kogane no naru fukibana); Shiwa shu 4, “The flower that grew gold” (Kogane no naru fukibana).
Fukushima: Iwaki 79, “The nobleman’s wife who yawned” (Akubi o shita okugata no hanashi).
Niigata: Sado 195, “The God of Weaving at Kotachi” (Kotachi no Hatagami); Sadogashima 122, “The tree that grew gold” (Kin no naru ki); Sado shu 237, “The golden eggplant” (Kin no nasu); MK II 6 35, “The golden eggplant” (Kin no nasu). An aristocratic woman came adrift in a dugout boat.
Hiroshima: Geibi 77, “The feudal lord” (Otono sama).
Nagasaki, Tsushima: Tsuchi no ka XVI 5 13, in “Tsushima Sasuna-mura kenkunki” by Mishina Shōie. (Old) Iki 3, “The dugout boat” (Utsuro bune); Dai-ichi 83, “The woman in the dugout boat” (Utsuro bune no onna).
Kumamoto, Amakusa: Kyōdo ken V 3 27, “The golden melon” (Kogane no uri).
Kagoshima, Kikaijima: Kikai 75, “The golden eggplant” (Kin no nasu).
Ōshima-gun: Shima II 468, “The golden eggplant” No. 2, (Kin no nasu). Example.
Okierabujima: Okinoerabu 176, “The jewel that grew golden flowers” (Kogane no hana saku tama); TD X 6 11. In “Shima no mokushiroku” by Noma Yoshio. It is a legend.
173. The Child of the Sun
Kagoshima: Kikai 24, “The child of the Sun” (Nichirin no kudashigo); Shima II 487, “The child of the Sun” (Nichirin no kudashigo). This tale is related to “The golden eggplant” group. The boy appeared who called himself Child of the Sun. Upon receiving a mandate from heaven, he became the first diviner and his mother became the first shrine yuta.
It is told as a legend of a priest’s family.
174. One Thousand Ryō for a Saying
A man left his wife and mother at home while he went here and there for work. He saved his money and decided to go home after many years. He wanted to take home some good sayings as gifts, so he asked for them from a priest at a temple and received three. One was: “Even if a man pauses, his body should not.” Another was: “A small tree rather than a big one.” The third was: “A short temper loses.” He escaped being buried alive and being struck by lightning by the first two. He reached home safely, but as he started into his house, he saw shadows of his wife and a shaven headed person talking together. He raised his scythe in a flash of temper, but recalled that “a short temper loses.” He threw his scythe aside and entered. The person he had thought was a priest was his mother. She had shaved her head to relieve dizziness. The sayings of a priest proved to be the best gifts he could have bought.
Iwate: Kikimimi 506, “Buying a saying” No. 1 (Hanashi kai). He bought a saying from an old man who sold them; Rōō 182, “Buying a saying” (Hanashi kai).
Hienuki-gun: Dai-ni 42, “Buying a saying” (Hanashi kai).
Shiwa-gun: Shiwa-shū 146, “Buying a saying” (Hanashi kai). He bought two sayings for 100 ryō each. This is combined with “The ghost of treasure.”
Fukushima: Iwaki 71, “One thousand ryō for a saying” (Hanashi senryō).
Kōsuke-no-kuni (Gunma): Nihon zenkoku 146, “Buying and selling sayings” (Hanashi uri kai).
Tochigi: Shimotsuke 2, “One saying for 100 ryō” (Hitokuchi hyaku ryō). A charcoal seller went to Edo and with the 300 ryō he earned he bought three sayings. It is something like “Jizō Jōdo.”
Fukui, Sakai-gun: MK I 1 32, “Buying a saying” (Hanashi kai). A man who went to Edo to hull rice bought sayings to bring home.
Ishikawa: Kaga 133, “Father’s doll” (Oyaji no ningyō).
Nagano: Kitaazumi II 96, “The hunter named Shibuemon” (Ryōshi Shibuemon no hanashi).
Gifu, Yoshiki-gun: Hidabito V 6 6, “One thousand ryō for a saying” (Hanashi senryō).
Yamanashi: Kai 85, “Three pardons” (Mittsu no kanben); Zoku Kai 322, “Buying a saying” (Hanashi kai).
Osaka, Senhoku-gun, Torishi-mura: Izumi 35, “Buying a saying” (Hanashi o kau). A man saw a sign that read “A place where wisdom is sold.”
Shimane, Ōchi-gun: MK II 9 31, “One thousand ryō for a saying” (Hanashi senryō). Hikohachi worked at Kōnoike and was always saying something to make the gentleman there laugh. Once he put up a tall sign that read: one kanme for a saying. A man who had earned three kanme came along and inquired, etc.
This is probably a fragment.
Okayama, Mitsu-gun: MK I 8 25, “A saying worth 15 ryō (Jūgo ryō no hanashi); Babasama 38, “Hikohachi.” Hikohachi bought a saying that saved his life.
Hiroshima: Aki 184, “Hikohachi sayings” (Hikohachi banashi). Sankichi earned 3000 ryō at Edo. He bought three sayings at 1000 ryō each; Geibi 121, “One thousand ryō for a saying” (Hanashi senryō). A man earned 3 kan of gold for hulling rice for three years in Edo. He bought three of “Hikohachi sayings worth one kanme.”
Yamaguchi, Suō Ōshima: Kōshō 11 24, “Buying a saying” (Hanashi o kau).
Kagawa, Shōdojima: Dai-ichi 70, “One thousand ryō for a saying (Hanashi senryō). Example.
Tokushima, Miyoshi-gun: Hokuto 31, App. 6, “The sayings seller” (Hanashiya); Awa Iyayama 36, “One look for 1000 ryō” (Hitome senryō).
Fukuoka, Kurate-gun: Fukuoka 59. No title.
Nagasaki: (Old) Iki 148, “Hekohachi.”
Kagoshima: Koshiki 100, 185, “One thousand ryō for a saying” (Hanashi senryō), and “Buying a prayer” (Nenbutsu kai). The second is something between “A saying for 1000 ryō” and “Rat sutra.”
Kikaijima: Kikai 99, “Buying a saying” (Hanashi kai); Shima I 5 88, “The shadow without a head” (Kubi no nai kage); Shima II 482, “Buying a saying” (Kotoba kai); MK I 5 42, “Buying a saying” (Hanashi kai).
Okierabujima: Okinoerabu 73, 80, “A saying for 1000 ryō” (Hanashi senryō). Same title for both.
Further reference:
Iro setsuden 570.
Kikimimi sōshi 476. Both parents and a child each bought a saying for 200 mon from a priest at a temple. They made a thief run away with these.
Clouston II 317, 491, “A king’s life saved by a maxim.”
Bolte—in his history of folk tales.
175. Two Bolts of White Cloth
A bride declared that Atago Sama, the god on the top of the mountain, rides a white horse. Her mother-in-law said he does not ride a horse. The two argued all day without settling the problem. Finally, they decided to ask Judge Ōoka to settle the matter for them. During the night before he was to give his judgment, both the mother-in-law and the bride went separately with a bolt of white cloth for him and asked that he say what she said was right. On the next day the two went together to him. The bride spoke first. She said, “Now, Ōoka Sama, the god called Atago Sama rides a horse, doesn’t he?” Ōoka shook his head as though disagreeing. The mother-in-law thought it was settled her way and said, “He dosen’t ride a horse, does he?” Again Ōoka shook his head.
Both women thought he had not kept his word. They asked what the name of the god on the mountain was. He replied, “That is Nitanno-Shiro Tadatori Kō Sama.” [A play on words: “two bolts of white for nothing” and the name of a popular hero.]
Iwate, Kamihei-gun: Kikimimi 479, “Atago Sama.” Example; Rōō 239, 272, “Two bolts of white cloth for nothing” (Nitan no shiro tadatori) and “The Ise pilgrim and the oil seller” (Ise mairi to abura uri).
Niigata, Minamikanbara-gun: Kamuhara 132, “A stork or a goose” (Tsuru ka gan ka). A priest arbitrated for a mother-in-law and a bride.
Nagano, Shimoina: Mukashibanashi 95, “The pronounciation of higan or hiigan” (Higan to hiigan).
Yamanashi, Nishiyatsushiro-gun: Kai 80, “Exactly 300 rabbits” (Chokkuri san byaku shimeko no usuagi). An old man and an old woman argued. A priest arbitrated cleverly.
Shiga, Takashima-gun: MK I 10 46, “The load called konbu” (Konbu). This was an argument among a son-in-law, a bride, and a mother-in-law.
Nagasaki: Shimabara 184, “Pronouncing fune and funa” (Fune to funa).
Shimane, Yatsuka-gun: MK II 1 33, “The bride and her mother-in-law” (Yome to shūtome). This is a fragment.
Further reference:
Among the legends and folk tales collected by Mr. Ariga there is a story called “Nitan-no-Shiro Tadatori.” Is this “Nitan-no-Shiro” a later form? There should be an earlier one.
Seisuishō IV 133.
176. The Child Judge
Iwate: Rōō 243, “How Judge Ōoka observed a just judgment by a child” (Ōoka sama jitsugo shirabe). While Judge Ooka was perplexed over a judgment, he watched three children playing judge on the sandbar by the river.
Further reference:
Chōsen mintan shū App. 30. In another place in the book, “A dialogue between a gifted child and an itinerant priest.”
Taihei kōki 248.
177. The Badger’s Nest
Something built a nest in a tree on the path between rice paddies. One man said it was a badger’s nest and another said it was a chicken’s nest. They decided to ask a wise old man to settle the matter. When one asked, “Isn’t it a badger [tanuki] nest?” he said, “It certainly is a tree in the field [ta no ki] nest.” When the other asked, “Isn’t it a chicken [niwatori] nest?” he answered, “It certainly is a two-winged bird [ni wa tori] nest.”
Iwaki: Shiwa 68, 85, “The hawk’s nest in the china pepper tree” (Sanshō no ki ni taka no su) and “The afuri screen” (Afuri no byōbu). In the second story, a son-in-law paid a New Year visit to his poor father-in-law. He stayed several days. The old man fed him frozen rice and soup, and in the shade of a straw mat that he hung up, he laid out a reed mat for him to sleep on, giving him a wooden pestle for a pillow. He covered him with a mat of woven straw. His mother asked him how things had been when he got home. He told her he ate sumisumi rice with sorisori on it, hung up an afuri screen, gave him kingi pillow and a tantan lined cover with a family crest on it.
There is an example where this has been put into the form of a stepchild story. Originally it belonged to a success story of a son-in-law, such as “Improving the omen.” We can find examples of the sort in Seisuishō.
There are amusing stories of moyogi quilt, hikiage dishes, and such.
Fukuoka, Kurate-gun: Fukuoka 74, “School children” (Gakkō seito).
Nagasaki: (Old) Iki 156, “A badger’s nest or a chicken’s nest” (Tanuki no su ka niwatori no su ka). Example. Shimabara 185, “The badger’s nest” (Tanuki no su). Arbitrated by a priest. This clever word play appears in other forms. See the play on words karasu no su [crow’s nest] and kara su [an empty nest] in Otari kōhi shū.
178. The Famous Judge
A father left each of his sons a gourd in his will. They were to chose his heir by them. They quarreled and went to a priest to settle the matter. He told them that the one who had received the first gourd would be the heir. Since the first gourd formed would be the heaviest, they weighed them and found the oldest son had it. Thus he won.
Iwate: Kikimimi 55, “The first gourd” (Motonari hyōtan). Example. The same story is in Shikata banashi 57.
Tochigi: Shimotsuke 4, “Honest Gorō” (Shōjiki Gorō).
Shiga: Nihon zenkoku 101, “The camphor tree witness” (Shōnin kusunoki).
Further reference:
Nihon dōwa shu 567.
Shasekishū 6, 30-o.
Clouston II 367. Judging the amount of money in a purse that had been dropped. This is related to stories of animal arbitrating over things picked up. Sometimes a monkey is judge.
179. Red Rice and the Child
There was a poor man who lived in a shack he rented from somebody. Because he was poor he ate only red rice, a kind that matures early and is of poor quality. When his child went to play at the landlord’s, he was asked what he ate at home. He replied it was red rice. The man declared that for some time his red beans had been disappearing a little at a time, and that was probably the reason. He went to the shack to drive the family out. The father cut his child’s stomach open to show his innocence and only coarse red rice came out. The landlord killed himself. From that time nobody grew red rice in that place (Nadasaki-mura, Kojima-gun, Bizen). [The coarse rice—akagome—was miscalled sekihan: translator.]
Aomori: Tsugaru k 11. No title; Tsugaru m 94, “Hotoke and the poor girl” (Hotoke Sama to binbō no musume). There was a poor family that never had anything but mixed rice to eat. The child did not know that mixed rice was different from azuki rice. When she went to the main family to play, she was asked what she ate every day. She said azuki (red rice). The head of the family was angry at such extravagance and demanded the money he had loaned them be repaid. The father cut his child’s stomach open to show, and only mixed rice came out. He had proved his child’s innocence, but he had killed his precious child. The next morning he went weeping to pray to Yakushi, whom he worshipped. He found the image there with its stomach cut open. He thought it strange. When he went home, he looked at his child who he thought was dead. He found her alive and without a scratch on her.
Okayama, Kojima-gun: Kyōdo ken I 7 50, “A legend about red rice” (Akagome ni kansuru densetsu). Example.
Nagasaki: (Old) Iki 37, “Cutting a child’s stomach open to show” (Wagako no hara o saite miseta hanashi). Little shrimp came out when the child’s stomach was cut.
Further reference:
Shokoku monogatari 130. The origin of Jūsanzuka in Hizen.
180. Improving the Omen
A child was born to a couple who had been childless for many years. The delighted father set out to take the news to his wife’s family. On the way he found some things that had been dropped—a robe of a priest (kesa and koromo) and a rosary (juzu). He was afraid this was a bad omen and went to consult a priest.
The priest used the day of the month, the 13th Day of the Eleventh Month, and the names of the objects in a poem which meant the child would live as many years as there were beads on the rosary.
All these types of tales are based upon comic poems. That does not mean that there may not have been a similar type earlier. The stepchild example below from Shizuoka may have been taken from “Sara-sara Yama” as a pattern.
Yamanashi, Nishiyatsushiro-gun: Kai 127, “The omen in the poem” (Engi uta). Example.
Shizuoka: Shizuoka 402, “The stepmother and the stepchild” (Mamahaha to mamako no hanashi). When the stepmother would feed her stepson the tail of the fish, he would be glad and say, “You have made me atotori (tail or inheritor).” If she gave him the head, he would say, “You’ve given me okashira (head or head place).” When she gave him the center part, he was still happy, so she was won over.
181. The Zatō’s Cleverness
That zatō transmitted folk tales is apparent from the fact that frequently the principal character in revisions of stories is such a man.
Aomori, Hachinohe: MK II 10 19, “The zatō’s cleverness” (Zatō no tonchi). Four tales.
Iwate: Shiwa shū 34, “Two sheaves, four sheaves” (Futataba yotaba). They planned to avoid giving the zatō any mochi to eat, but he ate it all.
Esashi-gun: Esashi 30, “How the zatō was connected with success” (Zatō ga shinshō ni kakawatta to iu hanashi). A zatō who fell into a well prayed as he was being pulled up, and the fortunes of the family improved afterwards.
This may be an adaptation by zatō of “The hearth fire on New Year’s Eve” or “Kōbō’s water.”
Niigata, Minamikanbara-gun: Kamuhara 37, “Kamekasu Nurinosuke.” While an old couple were planning to make kaimochi (ohagi) for supper, a rokubu came along and spent the night. The couple decided to tie a string to the old man’s big toe and when the mochi was ready, the old woman was to pull it to wake him up. The rokubu knew this. He switched the string to his own toe. He got up instead of the old man and ate his fill, then wrapped what was left in his straw cloak. When the rokubu was setting out in the morning, the old man asked where his home was. He replied, “Minonikaimochi Kurumi-no-kori” [in the country of the straw cloak wrapping the mochi].
The humor here is how he made up a proper name from a secret unknown to the questioner.
Ōita: Naori 61, “Stories about zatō” (Zatō banashi). Four tales with comic poems.
182. Stories with Riddle
A cowherd was leading a cow that was illtempered enough to gore a man. He met a zatō. The cowherd said, “Say, Zatō, say, please give way.” The blind man asked, “What are you?” “I’m thirty days,” answered the cowherd. “Oh, one month [hitotsuki may also mean man gorer],” said the blind man. The cowherd said, “Its color is like the lower leaves on greens in October.” The blind man said, “Oh, red leaves [the word for red hair].”
Hiroshima: MK I 4 46, “The zatō and the cowherd” (Zatō to ushioi).
Okayama: Mitsu 45, “The wise zatō” (Zatō no monoshiri). He guessed who made the fire-box, when and what wood it was made from.
Such clever sayings can be made up endlessly afterwards.
183. The Priest and his Novice
It is possible to classify these tales minutely, but there is no point in doing so. We must draw the line somewhere. They seem to have developed from tales about precocious children. They must have started as such, but at present most of them have been changed to jokes and are known as stories about a priest and his novice. The priest furnishes the laughs. There are several stories about stupid novices in the foolish village group.
a Picking up everything the horse drops: A novice who is told to pick up what falls from the horse picks up horse dung. The instruction is to step on that sort of thing, so when the priest falls, he is stepped on.
b Kwan-kwan kuta-kuta: Hotoke Sama ate the red beans.
c The calabash wife: The novice makes fun of the priest who is enjoying a calabash on which he has painted a face.
d The novice gets his name changed: The priest likes to eat mochi or drink wine aloe. The novice gets his name changed to the word the priest uses when eating or drinking. When the priest uses the word again the novice answers and shows up.
e Standing the pillar up and finding mochi: The novice is sent to a beam raising ceremony. While he is gone, the priest toasts mochi alone. The novice uses fire tongs to show what went on at the ceremony and sets them on the mochi, discovering it hidden in the ashes.
f A slip of the tongue when buying tōfu.
g Trials for the priest: These are based upon son-in-law trials, but have been changed gradually into jokes.
h Hand signals: The priest falls into the privy and claps his hands. The novice accordingly cooks one to of rice.
i Overhearing private matters.
j Substituting words (busu): Calling sugar poison to fool the novice. The boy, knowing that calling it poison is a lie, breaks something the priest values then eats as much of the sweet as he wants.
k A story connected with a comic verse.
Aomori: Tsugaru m 87, 89, 91 b and d: “Amida who ate botamochi” (Botamochi o kutta Amida Sama), “The noise of blowing hot mochi” (Puppu no hanashi), and “Just the right temperature” (Yoikan no hanashi).
Hachinohe: MK II 11 27, a, b, d, e, g, h: “The priest and his novice” (Oshō to kozō).
Iwate, Hienuki-gun: MK I 1 40 b: “The clever novice” (Kozō no tonchi).
Kamihei-gun: Rōō 163, 185, g, e: “The priest and his servant” (Oshō to genan). Both tales with the same title; Kikimimi 518 e: “The priest and his novice” (Oshō to kozō), and “Pounding mochi” (Mochi tsuki).
Kunohe-gun: Kunohe 480 h: “The clever novice” (Kozō no tonchi).
Shiwa-gun: Shiwa a: 68, “The hawk nest in the china pepper tree” (Sanshō no ki ni taka no su); d: 69 168, “Toasting mochi” (Mochi yaki), and “Warm wine” (Kanzake); e: 112, “Toasting mochi” (Mochi yaki); h: 84 “One to and one sho of wine” (Sake itto to issho); k 113, “The full moon” (Jūgoya no tsuki) and a: 166, “The razor” (Kamisori).
Yamagata, Mogami-gun: MK II 4 43 d: “The clever novice” (Tonchi kozō).
Miyagi, Momoo-gun: Kyōdo den 3 121 b, d: [not available].
Fukushima, Iwaki: MK I 11 35 d: “The priest and his novice” (Oshō to kozō); Iwaki 182 a: “Kwan-kwan kuta-kuta”; b: “Poison ame” (Dokuvna ame); d: “Jabbing the mochi in the ashes” (Hai no naka no mochi o tsutsuita hanashi); e: “Fufu Pata”; j: “The razor” (Kamisori).
Niigata, Minamikanbara-gun: Kamuhara 89, 145, c: “The priest and his novice” (Oshō to kozō); and a, h: “The priest and his novice” (Oshō to kozō).
Ishikawa: Kaga 93 b: 93, “The stone image ate it” (Kuta-kuta ishibotoke); j: 97 “Poisonous sake” (Doku na sake); e: 95, “The water for the priest” (Oshō no mizu); k: 98, “The broken moon” (Kata-ware tsuki); g: 100 “Dōmo Kōmo”; a: 102, “Pick it up right away” (Sukū mon ja); and h: 104, “Boil one to” (Itto taki). Nomi-gun, Shiromine: MK II 6 33 b, k: “The priest and his novice” (Oshō to kozō).
Nagano: Chiisagata e: 196, “One pillar about here” (Kono hen ni hashira ga ippon); j: 198, “The novice who liked ame” (Amename kozō); a: 199, “Whatever falls” (Ochita mono); b: 194, “Kwan-kwan kuta-kuta.”
Shimoina-gun: Mukashibanashi b: 5, “The main image and the ohagi” (Honzon to ohagi no mochi); e: 25, “The priest and the toasted mochi” (Oshō Sama to yaki mochi); d: 35, “The priest who liked sweet wine” (Amazake no suki na oshō san). A substitute for wine; d: 43, “Ikkan, the novice” (Kozō Ikkan no hanashi); j: 46, “The priest at the mountain temple and Chinseitō” (Yamadera no oshō to Chinseitō); k: 128, “The snow covered mochi” (Yuki ni uzumerareta mochi) and 109, “The mochi, the priest, and the three novices” (Mochi to oshō to sannin no kozō). This could also be put into tales of cleverness; a: 130, “The priest, his novice, and horse dung” (Oshō to kozō to maguso).
Yamanashi, Nishiyatsushiro-gun: Kai 175, e: “The novice and mochi” (Kozō to mochi); Zoku Kai 342, g: The bee drum” (Hachi taiko).
Tochigi, Haga-gun: Shimotsuke 79, b: “Pata-pata, the novice, and Uma-uma, the novice” (Pata-pata kozō to Uma-uma kozō); d: “The metal image that ate botamochi” (Botamochi o tabeta kanabutsu); e: “Dotsuki mochi.”
Kazusa (Chiba): Nansō 97, e, d: “The novice and the priest” (Kozō to oshō). Three stories.
Aichi, Kitashidara-gun: Dai-ichi 58, g: “The priest and his novice” (Oshō to kozō).
Okayama, Mitsu-gun: MK I 11 41, a: “What falls from the horse” (Uma kara ochita mono).
Shimane: Okinoshima 38, a: “The foolish novice” (Kozō no dōra).
Fukuoka, Itojima: Fukuoka 128, “The priest and his novice” (Oshō to kozō) and 139, “The priest and his novice stealing and eating” (Oshō to kozō nusumi gui). Substituting privy mochi and other filthy episodes not found elsewhere.
Munakata-gun: Fukuoka 130. The same kind of filthy stories, d: 132, “The priest and his novice, wine and mochi” (Oshō to kozō, sake to mochi).
Onga-gun: Fukuoka 131, d: “The priest and his novice, wine and mochi” (Oshō to kozō, sake to mochi).
Kurate-gun: Fukuoka 133, e: “The priest and his novice, wine and mochi” (Oshō to kozō, sake to mochi); 134, b: “The priest and his novice, stealing and eating” (Oshō to kozō nusumi gui); 135, h; “The priest falling into the privy” (Oshō benjo ni ochita); 136, j: “The novice stealing and eating” (Kozō nusumi gui).
Nagasaki: Shimabara 194, h: “One to one sho” (Itto isshō); 202, c: “Calling the beech tree his bride” (Buna o yome ni suru hanashi); and 198, b: “The sweet wine is Nembutsu” (Amazake wa Nembutsu sama).
Further reference:
Look for names such as Eikan, Gettan, and Fufu, type d. Such names are certainly adapted to fit the locality according to the narrator’s plan.
Ujishūi monogatari, No. 12. (In Nihon zuihitsu taikei, Vol. XVI)
Nihon dōwa shū 199. No place names.
Ikkyū banashi also has these. Seisuishō also has many. See Vol. III 115.
Shasekishū IV 18 o: Three children with different mothers. The priest has many children. VII 34 u: Honey is poison.
Nakata Senpo, Tojin zasso. A story of renaming novices. All have difficult Chinese characters.
Nakata Senpo. About the priest and his novice.
Chōsen mintan shū 194, “Poisonous dried persimmons.” It is said to be a story found all over the country.
Zōdan shū 2, at the end. (Kagen 2nd year, 1305.) A novice was told that trout was a razor. When he was crossing the river, he said, “See the razor. Don’t make a mistake and cut your feet.” Before that there is a story about a chicken, the father of the eggplant.
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