246. A Series of Instructions

This is in the same group as the words of the boiling kettle. In the form of “At such a time say this—.” The humor of the series of blunders carries it along. Events are a funeral, a celebration, a fire, a blacksmith, and brawling cows and such.

Iwate, Kamihei-gun: Rōō 240, “The foolish son” (Baka musuko). The sequence in this is a little forced, or the memory is faulty; Kikimimi 526, 527, 556, “The gilt screen” (Kin no byōbu), “Receiving things” (Momo morai), and “Horned by the cow” (Ushi no tsuno tsuki).

Shiwa-gun: Shiwa shū 144, “The foolish son” (Baka musuko).

Isawa-gun: Isawa.*

Kunohe-gun: Kunohe 472, “The foolish son-in-law” No. 4 (Baka muko).

Miyagi, Momoo-gun: Kyōdo den 2 121, “The foolish son-in-law” (Baka muko).

Nagano: Chiisagata 216, 178, “Getting braced up” (Ire damashi). The bride instructs the son-in-law. He went into the midst of a dog fight and got his cheek torn off.

Is “ire damashi” a local term for “ire jie” [borrowed wisdom]? “Burned up last night” (Yube yaita). A father wrote his business on a piece of paper and gave it to his boy before he set out. Somebody came to call and asked where his father was. The boy felt in his sleeve and said, “Gone [dead]”; Kamiina 1363, “The foolish son-in-law” (Baka naru muko sama).

Yamanashi, Nishiyatsushiro-gun: Kai 93, “The foolish son” (Baka musuko). This in pretty much detail. There probably were many forms.

Tochigi, Haga-gun: Shimotsuke 76, “The foolish boy” (Baka na kozō).

Wakayama, Arita-gun: Kii 3, “The simpleton” (Ahō na otoko). This is a fragment.

Tottori: Inpaku dōwa 79, “The dangerous ohagi” (Ochii hagi no mochi).

Kagawa: Shōdojima.*

Fukuoka, Ukiha-gun: Fukuoka 153, 196, “Selling fish” (Sakana uri) and “The foolish man” (Oroka na hito).

Kurate-gun: Fukuoka 203, “The foolish son” (Baka musuko).

Ōita, Kitaamabe-gun: MK I 4 40, “The fool” (Baka no hanashi).

Nagasaki: (New) Iki 107, “The Sechihara story” (Sechihara banashi).

Further reference:

Shumi no densetsu 20. This is in great detail.

Mukashibanashi kenkyū I 9 17. Numerous examples from China.

Mukashibanashi kenkyu II 6 12. “Simple John,” a translation from Huet.

247. The Foolish Son-in-Law

Among these are old tales and some new ones. For example, throwing coins at ducks on the pond is like the story about Charcoalmaker Chōja.

Aomori: Tsugaru m 58, “Foolish son-in-law stories” (Baka muko no hanashi). Two tales. A signal by pulling a string, the ohagi were ghosts, and testing the bath water with a pickled radish. [In family style meals hot water is poured into the rice bowl at the end of the meal. It is cooled by dipping a slice of pickle into it].

Iwate, Kamihei-gun: Kikimimi 527, 539, 544, “Getting things” (Mono morai), a series of blunders; “Calling upon the father-in-law” (Shutō rei), oral messages; and “Dango,” calling them “untoko,” and about signals with a string.

Shiwa-gun: Shiwa 62, 62, 45, 90, 101, 179, 203, 206, 213, “The New Year’s Day call” (Gonenshi); “The pillow” (Makura); “Shooting with a bow and arrow” (Yumiya iri); “The three sons-in-law” (Sannin muko); “Something dangerous” (Okai monko). The mochi was a ghost, ending with the conversation between him and his mother, something not found elsewhere. “The greeting” (Aisatsu), signaling with a string; “Settoko,” an exclamation [forgetting the word for dango]; “The ornament for the pillar” (Hashira kakushi); “Pickled greens” (Takanazuke), helped by friends.

Kunohe-gun: Kunohe 472, “The foolish son-in-law,” No. 4 (Baka muko).

Yamagata, Shōnai [the plain around Yonezawa]: Hanashi I 7 67, “Yo-saku from the mountains” (Yama no Yosaku). It is a tale about a series of blunders handed down as a story about Yosaku of Tachiyazawa.

Fukushima, Iwaki-gun Iwaki 176, “The foolish son-in-law” (Baka muko o hanashi). Seven tales.

Niigata, Minamikanbara-gun: Kamuhara 194, “The foolish son-in-law” (Baka muko no hanashi). Five tales. Planting a single grain of millet was thought to be a polite deed. I have not heard of another like this.

Ishikawa: Kaga 81, “The foolish son-in-law” (Baka muko dan). Three tales about instructions. Fuitokosa for dango.

Yamanashi, Nishiyatsushiro-gun: Kai 206, “Memorizing a phrase” (Goi no atama). Three tales. Signaling with a string, rice cakes are ghosts, and oral messages.

Nagano, Shimoina-gun: Mukashibanashi 37, 38, 48, 106, 116, 124, “Knotholes and charms for the protection from fire” (Fushi no ana to hibuse no ofuda); “Untokoshō”; “The son-in-law who paid a sick call” (Omimai ni itta muko dono); “The son-in-law who ate pickled radish in the bath” (Ofuro de takuwan o tabeta muko dono).

Chiisagata-gun: Chiisagata 177, 214, 215, “The charm for fire protection” (Hi no yōjin fuda), “Untokoshō,” “Cooling the bath water” (Oyu zamashi), putting a piece of radish into it to cool it.

Kitaazumi-gun: Kitaazumi 1 192. No titles. Knothole, pickled radish in bath water, dango. Kitaazumi 2 151, “Foolish son-in-law stories” (Baka muko no hanashi). Four stories. Dango, the father-in-law’s illness, etc.

Tochigi, Haga-gun: Shimotsuke 83, “The foolish son-in-law” (Baka muko sama no hanashi). Six tales. Dango, knotholes, imitating his wife and putting his clothes on wrong, the cake box showing its teeth, the manju’s insides came out and it died, the jar of sweet wine.

Wakayama, Ito-gun: Kōshō 10 22, “The foolish man” (Baka jii).

Tottori, Yazu-gun: Inpaku min I 1 17, “The foolish son-in-law” (Baka muko). The dangerous ohagi. Inpaku dōwa 79, “The leaping dango” (Tobikoshi dango).

Hiroshima: Aki 195, 196, 198, “The foolish son-in-law” Nos. 1, 2 and 3 (Oroka muko). Carrying oral messages, testing the bath water with a pickled radish, knotholes.

Fukuoka, Miyako-gun: Fukuoka 191, “The foolish son” (Baka musuko). He went to his bride’s village and praised buckwheat blossoms with words to praise chrysanthemums. It looks newly invented. Munakata-gun: Fukuoka 204, “The foolish son-in-law” (Oroka na muko dono). Respect for the knotholes.

Saga, Kishima-gun: Kōshō 10 17, “The foolish man and the manjū” (Baka jii to manjū).

Nagasaki: Shimabara 261, “The foolish son-in-law” (Baka muko banashi). Twelve tales.

Kagoshima, Kimotsuki-gun: MK I 8 9, “Shūjū of Hinatayama” (Hinatayama no Shūjū no hanashi). The story of the leaping dango is told as a Hinatayama tale. An example of it is also in Kitchyomu stories.

Kikaijima: Shima II 431, “The foolish son-in-law” (Baka muko). Blundering in a series of greetings.

These are freely expanded, probably by professionals. Caution should be used in son-in-law tales because originally they were about what appeared to be a foolish man who turned out splendidly. (Shiwa-gun mukashibanashi 44, 90.) The tales that only tell about his stupid deeds are derived tales. These are close to the story of the three brothers.

248. The Son-in-Law’s Oral Instructions

The son-in-law who was trained in what to say when going to his father-in-law’s house blundered.

Iwate: Kunohe 471, “The foolish son-in-law” No. 3 (Baka muko). The son-in-law asked a man who was fishing along his way to his father-in-law’s place what to say. The man said, “Only this many before breakfast [referring to his catch].”

This tale comes a little nearer to being a story of good luck. A different man caught fish here, but it may have been told earlier as being about the son-in-law.

Fukushima, Iwaki-gun: Iwaki 178, “The foolish son-in-law” (Baka muko no hanashi).

Hida (Gifu), Ono-gun, Niugawa-mura: Zoku Hida 129, “When the simpleton attended a funeral” (Baka na otoko no sōshiki maeri).

Further reference:

Densetsu minwa ko 323. The title “The son-in-law who imitated words” appears.

Kyōgen ki also has one.

“Praising the cow” and “The man who can remember only one thing” belong to this group.

249. The Son-in-Law on a String

Iwate: Kunohe 470, “The foolish son-in-law” No. 2 (Baka muko). His bride taught him three phrases for responses. The cat and the loincloth.

250. The Dango Son-in-Law

This should have some connection with “Dango Jōdo.”

Iwate: Kunohe 469, “The foolish son-in-law” No. 1 (Baka muko).

Miyagi, Moyoyashi-gun: Kyōdo den 2 117, “The foolish son-in-law” (Baka muko).

Momoo-gun, Jūgahama: Kyōdo den 1 178, “A certain foolish son-in-law” (Aru baka muko).

Osaka, Minamikawachi-gun: MK I 11 38, “Shichikō and the dango” (Shichikō to dango). It is set apart from foolish son-in-law tales.

Fukuoka, Kurate-gun: Fukuoka 193, “A place called Noma” (Noma to iu tokoro no hanashi).

Yame-gun: Fukuoka 196, “The fool” (Baka no hanashi).

Kurume: Fukuoka 197, “The manjū” (Manjū no hanashi); Fukuoka 111 “Chienoyama.”

Ōita, Hayami-gun: MK II 1 44, “Rice cakes are ghosts” (Mochi wa bakemono).

251. Rice Cakes are Ghosts

The bride told her husband before they went to pay a call upon her father that mochi meant ghost, so he would not eat too much of it. He really thought it was dangerous and did all sorts of foolish things.

Fukushima, Iwaki-gun: Iwaki 179, “The foolish son-in-law” (Baka muko banashi).

Miyagi, Momoo-gun: Kyōdo den 2 122, “The foolish son-in-law and fukude mochi” (Baka muko to fukude mochi).

Ōita, Hayami-gun, Tateishi: MK II 1 44, “Rice cakes are ghosts” (Mochi wa bakemono). It is told in some detail as a story about a foolish son-in-law at Takachiho in Hyūga. The explanation of the wife becomes rather tedious.

252. The Jar and the Little Stone

“The Stone and the Wine Jar”

Once upon a time when a foolish son-in-law went to visit his father-in-law, the old man had rice cakes covered with sweet bean paste made and set out for a treat. The young man could not get over that sweet taste. After the old man had settled down to sleep, the young man took the opportunity to get the bean paste jar out of the cupboard where he had watched it put. He stuck his head into it and ate his fill. Then he could not get his head out. In the meantime he wanted to go to the privy. While he was crouching there, his father-in-law came along. The old man finished without noticing him, but there was no wood chip handy to use. He picked up a little stone and made it do. He tossed it away when he was through with it. The stone landed on the jar on the son-in-law’s head and broke it. The two men talked it over and agreed to say nothing about what they had done. Some time later the two of them were invited to a wedding ceremony at the home of a relative. The father-in-law was urged to sing at the banquet. He started off, “At the margin of the lake the stork and the tortoise” [kame may mean tortoise or a jar]. The son-in-law interrupted him angrily, “You wiped yourself with that stone!” Thus the story came out.

Iwate, Kamihei-gun

This story does not seem to be one that came out naturally. It may be the work of a zatō, but it can be recognized as rather old.

Iwate: Shiwa 217, “The stone and the syrup jar” (Ishi to amegame). It resembles the Kamihei tale.

Kamihei-gun: Kikimimi 537, “The little song” (Kouta). Example.

Fukushima, Iwaki-gun: Iwaki 176, “The foolish son-in-law” (Baka muko no hanashi).

Gifu: Hidabito IV 10 41, “The man who liked tororo” (Tororozuki no otoko). A man who liked tororo stole the mixing bowl. It got stuck on his head. He hid in the privy. Another man came there and picked up a stone. After he had finished, he tossed it away and it broke the bowl. The two agreed to keep things secret. That ends the story. It is not about a man and his father-in-law.

Hiroshima, Yamagata-gun, Nakano-mura: MK I 12 33, “The foolish son” (Baka na musuko). When the one began his song, “The stork and the tortoise...” the other chimed in, “You wiped yourself with a stone.”

Nagasaki: Shimabara 286, “Wiping with a stone” (Ishi de shiri o fuita hanashi). This story depends upon the skill with which it is told. It is like rakugo in this respect. It seems to me it is also in some old book, perhaps Seisuishō.

253. Tying the Pillow on

A foolish son-in-law went to make a visit at his father-in-law’s house and used a pillow for the first time. It kept slipping away. He tied it to his head with his loincloth. He explained why when it was discovered. One version is that it was the custom in his village and another, that it was a charm for catching pheasants.

Fukushima, Iwaki-gun: Iwaki 177, “Tying the pillow on the head” (Atama o makura ni musubitsuketa hanashi).

Miyagi, Momoo-gun: Kyōdo den 3 118, “The foolish son-in-law” (Baka muko). The first version. A simple form like this was probably the early version.

Gifu: Hidabito IV 2 21, “Good manners” (Tokoro no sahō). The first form. He talked it over with his friends and they all went with him to stay over night. They all tied their pillows onto their heads with their loincloths to show they did it that way, too.

Inaba (Tottori), Yazu-gun, Saji-mura: Inpaku min I 1 38, “The pillow and the loincloth” (Makura to fundoshi). The second form. However, the telling is rather broken up. That the son-in-law finally came out ahead gives it a different feeling.

In Rikuchū there is an example in which it is combined with chasing a pheasant. In the story in Shiwa-gun mukashibanashi 177 it is added to the story of the three sons-in-law (Hachinohe).

254. The Three Sons-in-Law

Three daughters married at the same time. The son-in-law that had difficulties showed up splendidly while the other two lost face. This seems to be the origin of stories about foolish sons-in-law.

Aomori, Hachinohe: MK II 11 29, “The three sons-in-law” (Sannin muko).

Iwate: Shiwa 44, 90, 81 “The boy from Nambu” (Nambu kozō) and “The three sons-in-law” (Sannin muko). Two stories with the second title.

Miyagi, Momoo-gun, Kita-mura: Kyōdo den 1 182, 177, “The three sons-in-law” (Sannin muko). Same titles. A young man from town, one from a village, and one from the hills were taken by their brides to visit their father-in-law. The one from the hills brought no gift. In the night he got up and went to attend to his needs. A bow was hanging there, so he shot an arrow. In the morning two storks were found shot in the yard. The father-in-law asked, “Who did this morning’s big deed?” The son-in-law answered that he did. The next night he did something filthy on the porch. The father-in-law asked again, “Who did this morning’s big deed?” The men from the town and the village both spoke up and said they did. This is related to the tale about the lucky hunter.

In the other story, the bride of the third son-in-law tried hard to throw stones at wild geese. She hit one and hung it by the front door. She told her husband to say he did it. The rest of the story is like the first. The other sons-in-law look foolish in these.

This story proves that in the old form the foolish son-in-law succeeded.

Further reference:

Tabi to densetsu XIII 7 24, Korea. The youngest of three sisters became the bride of a toad. He entered a contest with the other two and won. The explanation is lacking. This, however, is evidence that the son-in-law tales among humorous stories branched off from stories about marriages with a deity.

225. The Foolish Bride

Iwate, Kamihei-gun: Kikimimi 555, “Words using the prefix o” (O tsuke kotoba) and “Nightingale words” (Uguisu kotoba). The first only shows skill in hayamonogatari.

Fukushima, Iwaki-gun: Iwaki 179, “The foolish bride” (Baka yome no hanashi).

Nagasaki: Shimabara 275 276, “Words to say when making a call” (Yosoiki kotoba) and “Imitating the cat” (Neko no mane). A story about breaking wind is added to the latter.

256. Wanting to Go as a Bride

This is an example of a kind of irony being carried into farming districts.

Iwate, Kamihei-gun: Kikimimi 561, “Wanting to go as a bride” (Yome ni yukitai hanashi) and “Warming hands” (Te aburi). In the first story the woman was refused because she had bad eyes. She said, “Oh, look, the red ants and the black ants are wrestling on the mountain over there.” This story is also in the Mura no hanashi column of Okunan shinpō. In the second story, when she was refused because she was still a child, she came out and said, “Oh, how cold I am this morning. Even if I’m 19, my hands are cold.”

257. The Foolish Village

Stories supposedly about Noma, Masuko, Sawada, Kawatsu, Mokujiri, Sechihara, Gokasho, Akiyama, Toyama, and the like are found in every region.

Miyagi, Tamatsukuri-gun, Onikōbe: Kyōdo den 2 84, “The Onikōbe story” (Onikōbe mukashibanashi).

Nagano: Kitaazumi 1 192. No title; TD XII 5 39, “The Masuma stories of fools” (Masuma no baka banashi) by Oshio Takashi. Foolish village tales are called Masuma stories in Takita-mura, Awa-no-kuni. There is one among them which resembles kunihiki [pulling an island across].

Hyōgo, Yōfu-gun: Dai-ichi 68, “Yokoo in Oya” (Oya no Yokoo banashi).

Tottori, around Tottori City: Inpaku min I 3 130, “Making a bream fish” (Tai o tsukuru). A Sajiya story; Dai-ni 90, “A fool from Yamashiro” (Yamashiro no baka banashi). Eleven stories. A story about a place beyond Iwakuni in Yamaguchi. Most of these make fun of men who know nothing about the sea. Mokujiri stories make fun of people from Mokujiri. One from the foolish village tales tells about throwing away the insides of a wreath shell because they were said to be intestines. He ate the shell.

Yamaguchi, Toyoura-gun, Tsunojima-mura: (No source). Around here the stories about Kichigo of Nakatsu are famous. Zatō brought the story of Sangorō, the charcoal-maker, and such here. The Noma story.

Fukuoka, Kurate-gun: Fukuoka 193, “A place called Noma” (Noma to iu tokoro no hanashi); Dai-ichi 76, “Chikuzen Noma stories” (Chikuzen Noma banashi) by Ono Gokatsu.

Miyako-gun: Fukuoka 221, “The Sashida story” (Sashida banashi) and “The Sechihara story” (Sechihara banashi).

Buzen (Fukuoka), Chikujō-gun, Kii: Kokugakuin XXXI 4 69, “Changes in the region of Miyako-gun in Buzen” (Buzen no kuni Miyako-gun chikei no hensen). It is said to be a story from Sawada-mura, Miyako-gun, Fukuoka. [This item is not clear.]

Nagasaki: (New) Iki 107, “The Sechihara story” (Sechihara banashi). There is no village with that name on the island, but there is one in Kitamatsuura-gun.

Kagoshima: Shima*, “Hinatayama.” There is a story about a little man at Hinatayama; Kikai 142, “Hinatayama.” Also, a story in Satsuma called “Shūjū of Nittōzan.” Shūjū was said to be a small man like Issun Bōshi. It is handed down as being about Tokuda Tahei (Tokuda Takeemon), an eccentric who was a little man.

The origin of this and others should be explained.

Further reference:

Zoku Minakata zuihitsu 188. It is told about Hiraga Gennai.

258. Mochi in the Bathroom

Blundering at an inn. A country jake ate the rice husks and salt set out in the bathroom. They served rice cakes [shaped like soap] for him at the inn. He watched what others did with soap and washed his face with mochi.

This appears more often as a story about a foolish son-in-law and joined with the story about pickled radish.

Hiroshima: Aki 239, “The mistakes of the country jake” (Inaka mono no shippai).

Kyūshū: Bungo kijin 90, “Washing the face with mochi” (Omochi de senmen). A story exactly like the Sawada story.

Further reference:

Gūishō, fuku 30, 3 82. It is told as an anecdote.

Seisuishō II 69. A story here about pickled radish and the bath.

259. “Turn the Long Head Around

A foolish man was told to bring a wash basin [chōzu]. He looked for somebody with a long head [chōzu]. He twisted it around [mawase].

Iwate, Kamihei-gun: Kikimimi 501, “Turning the long head around” (Chōzu mawashi). [Bring water for washing hands.]

Tokushima, Mima-gun Iyayama: MK II 1 31, “Ise Daiyū.”

Fukuoka, Miyako-gun: Fukuoka 220, “The Sashida story” No. 4 (Sashida banashi). Fukuoka 233, “The bark of the paper mulberry tree (Kōso no kawa no hanashi). There are one or two Noma stories in this collection.

260. Pulling Screens and Tossing Dumplings

Foolish men from a village went on a journey and gave up trying to handle a screen at the inn.

Fukui, Sakai-gun: Nanetsu II 3 28, “The foolish village” (Oroka mura). A story about trying to do like the village head. He said, “I gave up at noodles to hang on the ears and digging up dango.”

Nagano, Chiisagata-gun: Osa 119, No. 10, “Foolish son-in-law” (Baka muko). He came home singing, “I wrapped the noodles around my neck once, threw manjū, slammed screens, and then day dawned.”

Chiba, Sanbu-gun, Chiyota-mura: (No source). This story is told as happening at Kawazuyu.

Yamaguchi, Yamashiro: Dai-ni 90, “Stories about a fool from Yamashiro” (Yamashiro no baka banashi). Eleven tales.

Fukuoka: Dai-ichi 76, “Chikuzen Noma tales” (Chikuzen Noma banashi) by Ono Aname.

261. Hanging Noodles on the Ears

“Putting noodles around the neck”

Are rumors about foolish villages derived from tales of the three sons-in-law?

Iwate, Kamihei-gun: Kikimimi 552, “Manjū and noodles” (Manjū to sōmen). Tossing dumplings and hanging noodles around the neck are told as a foolish son-in-law tale.

Toyama: TD III 2 81, “Hanging soba on the ears” (Mimikake soba no hanashi). Also, throwing manjū.

Nagano: Chiisagata 212, “Otsukiyaren.” This is in the form of a foolish son-in-law tale about pulling screens.

Yamanashi, Nishiyatsushiro-gun: Kai 239, “Hōren-heiyō.” A story about a priest and his novice.

Tokushima, Mima-gun, Iyayama: Awa Iyayama 136, “The simpleton” (Oroka banashi).

Nagasaki, Iki-gun: (Old) Iki 20, “The bag to jump into and putting noodles around the neck” (Tobikomi bukuro to kubikake somen).

Further reference:

Seisuishō. Raw “Yajirō” and cooked “Yajirō.”

262. Shaking Rice

(No source.) They let a man who is dying listen to the sound of rice being shaken. This is told at Inbi, Minamiamabe-gun, Ōita.

263. Not Celebrating New Year

There is a place name of that sort in Nagato (Yamaguchi), Toyo-ura-gun, Yoshimi and around Murotsu in Suō (Yamaguchi). They do not make mochi there at New Year. It is said that it is because of a curse of a cat that was burned to death. When they make mochi, it is full of cat hairs and not fit to eat.

One version is told as a foolish village tale. Somebody came to sell pine boughs for door decorations two or three days after New Year and could not sell them.

Nagasaki, Ikinoshima: (Old) Iki 9 Note No. 4. This is a note about sending a New Year pine to the Dragon Palace.

These may be early forms, but they make good humorous tales.

264. The Pheasant-Crow

A man went along with a pheasant hung at his side for a sample and asked if anyone wanted to buy a crow. When somebody said he wanted to buy one, he brought out a real crow. He said the other was just for display.

Hyōgo, Yabu-gun, Ōya: Dai-ichi 68, “Yokoo from Oya” (Oya no Yokoo banashi). A pheasant and a sparrow.

Tottori, the neighborhood of Tottori City: Inpaku min I 4 194, “The crow and the pheasant” (Karasu to kiji). Three stories about a man from Sajiya. Also, the Kichiemon story in Tabi to densetsu I 3. A wild duck and a crow, a viper and a harmless snake, the wreath shell, and such.

Selling a one-eyed cow by pasting a sign, “One-eyed cow for sale,” over its eye. Putting urine into a wine bottle and passing it around, saying it was wine. People drank it. Probably these are offshoots of the pheasant-crow story. Or they may be told as true stories.

265. The Zatō’s Eggs

A foolish village tale. It is clearly the work of a zatō and something carried around by one.

Aomori, Hachinohe: MK II 11 30, “The foolish village” (Oroka mura). A zatō spent the night at Kogarumai. When he spread out his mosquito net, they said, “The zatō has set up his nest.” He forgot his manju when he left. They said, “The zatō laid an egg and left.”

There is a story, also, in the neighborhood of Itsukaichi in Musashi that calls a manjū a zatō’s egg.

266. Herring Roe

There is a foolish village story in which they think herring roe should be thrown into a bamboo thicket to soften it before it is eaten.

Shiga, Takashima-gun, Kenkuma-mura: MK I 10 47, “Thicket roe” (Yabu no ko).

Fukuoka, Ukina-gun: Fukuoka 152, “The herring roe and the man from the country” (Kazu no ko to inakabito).

267. The Mirror at Matsuyama

This tale has been handed down as a humorous one from the start. It has been restored. The interest is in how people did not know what a mirror was.

Iwate, Hienuki-gun: MK I 11 31, “The mirror and the father” (Kagami to oyaji). No part about a nun arbitrating. It has been clearly constructed by a priest, but the principal characters are a man and his dutiful son. There is a part in which they went to town and said foolish things. Perhaps it is an earlier version of the story of the mirror.

Fukushima, Iwaki-gun: Iwaki 76, 161, “The priest judge” (Bōzu saiban).

Niigata, Minamikanbara-gun: Kamuhara 166, “The nun mediator” (Ama san chūsai). A son who loved his dead father bought a mirror because he thought it was an image of his father. This caused a quarrel with his wife. A nun mediated.

Is there another story added to the Matsuyama mirror story?

Gifu, Yoshiki-gun: Hidabito V 6 7, “The nun judge” (Ama saiban). The story of a filial son goes as far as where the feudal lord gave the man a mirror as a reward.

Tokushima: Awa Iyayama 110, “The mirror at Matsuyama” (Matsuyama kagami).

Nagasaki: Shimabara 139, “The mirror and the quarrel between the husband and wife” (Kagami to fūfu genka). It is in the Gokashō story.

Further reference:

Kyōdo kenkyū II 474; III 282.

Rekishi to kokubungaku No. 27. “Kagami wari okina ekotoba.”

Zoku Kyūō dōwa, ge (Izumi 84). A man from a land that did not know mirrors.

Nakata Senpo, Nihon dōwa no shin kenkyū 350. The tale is in India, China, and Korea. It has been carried to many countries.

Chōsen mintan shū 364. An added tale.

Hokumu sagen. (In Taikei koki 262).

Mukashibanashi kenkyū I 9 17. China.