51. The Brothers

Long ago at Yoshiachi in Shimokawara, Kakunodate there was a deep pool called Akafuchi which was filled with cinnabar. In those days two brothers at Shimokawara went every day to gather cinnabar. They made a living by selling it in town. The younger brother was quite different from his older brother and was wicked. The evil thought came to him that there was no telling how much he could earn if he gathered the cinnabar alone. One night he made a frightful looking dragon’s head with red trays he fastened together. He took it to Akafuchi and set it afloat and then went off.

Not knowing that, the older brother came as usual to gather cinnabar, but when he saw the huge dragon with its mouth wide open as if to swallow him, he turned pale and ran away.

It all happened as the younger brother had planned, and he made lots of money by himself. One day when he went as usual to the pool and started into the water, he noticed that the dragon he had made looked alive. Since he had made it himself and set it afloat, he thought there was no reason for that. He made ready to dive in. The dragon had really come alive and swallowed him in one gulp.

Akita, Senhoku-gun

Iwate: Shiwa 58, “Gourd Chōja” (Yūgao Chōja).

Akita, Senhoku-gun: Dai-ni 27, “The cinnabar at Akafuchi” (Akafuchi no shu). Example.

Hiroshima, Takata-gun: Aki 181, “The Myōjin who blew out money” (Kanefuki Myōjin).

Tokushima: Awa Iyayama 74, “The brothers who drew bows” (Yumihiki kyōdai).

Nagasaki: Shimabara 109, “The horse that dropped gold” (Kin o hiru uma). This is a humorous tale like the one about the two Mukusuke. (Old) Iki 9 Note No. 4. The older brother brought back a mikanko cat from the Dragon Palace.

Kagoshima, Amami Oshima: MK II 5 44, “The greedy elder brother” (Yoku no fukai ani).

Koshikijima: Koshiki 46, “The two brothers” (Futari Kyōdai). It turns into a tale of “Singing bones” in the legend of “Koga Saburō.”

Okinawa: Nantō 53, “The origin of the mandarin orange” (Kuganii no yurai); Nihon shū, ge 147, “Until the golden tree grew fruit” (Kogane no ki no naru made). About mandarin oranges.

Further reference:

Karin ryōzai shū, ge (In Zoku gunsho ruijū XVII 229).

Shisetsu tsukimi shū, ge (In Zoku gunsho ruijū XVII 138).

Konjaku monogatari, maki 31, No. 27. About asters and licorice plants.

Kesen fūdogusa, ge 196. The origin of Hyappiki-zuka. The older brother was poor and had only one cow. The younger was rich and had 99. He was jealous of him and burned the cow. Told here as a legend. Perhaps this is older in form than the envious neighbor.

52. The Younger Brother’s Success

This is part of “The Brothers” group. See entry on “The Brothers.”

Miyagi, Momoo-gun: Kyōdo den 2 125, “The three brothers” (Sannin Kyōdai). Each of three brothers was given five ryō and sent forth to find his way in the world for three years. Ichirō threw his coins at wild geese in the marsh, and while he slept in a shrine, he was called by an old bowl. He put it into his bosom and practiced thieving.

However, he was the oldest, not the youngest brother. It is a zato’s tale well told.

Yamanashi, Nishiyasushiro-gun: Kai 265, 273, “Morning tea” (Asacha). A story ending with a play on words. “Disliking the character for shi [death]” (Shi no ji kirai).

Tokushima: Awa Iyayama 78, “The three brothers” (Sannin Kyōdai).

A tale about seeing something in a dream is found in western countries, too. See Yearsley 169. Three go on an expedition. It does not say they were brothers.

53. The Sister and Her Younger Brother

First story:

A poor sister and brother lived together. There was a fan contest to be held at school one day. The boy went home and told his sister. She found an old frame and pasted paper on it and painted a plum tree and a nightingale.

The boy was ashamed because all his friends had magnificent gold and silver fans, and waited until the last to show his fan. When he opened it, the nightingale flew out and perched on the edge of the fan.

His fan was judged the best. His friends said that they would compare boats this time. He asked his sister to make him a boat. She made a little boat and put three clay dolls into it. The boat looked crude, but when the boy put it into the race, the three dolls set up the oars and rowed the boat. The little brother took first place again.

Second story:

Once there was a girl named Hana-no-senmatsu and her younger brother. He was the best student among his friends at school. They said they would give him a banquet one day. When he told his sister, she warned him to take the lid off each bowl and to look for steam on it. He was not to eat what was in the bowl if there was no steam.

The boy took the lids off the bowls at the banquet, but there was no steam on any of them. He remembered what his sister had said and did not eat anything except for a grain of rice that had stuck to his hand. He died when he went home.

His friends came to see, but his sister disguised herself to look like her brother and acted as though nothing had happened. They went back and ate the banquet, and all of them died. Then the sister gathered one thousand kinds of flowers and spread their juices over her brother and brought him back to life.

Kagoshima, Koshikijima

On Amami Ōshima and Okierabujima the two stories are preserved and handed down orally in perfect form.

Sanuki (Kagawa), Nakatado-gun, Honshima: Setonaikai 193. No title.

Nagasaki: (New) Iki 26, “The tree that grew gold coins” (Zeni naru ki).

Kagoshima: Koshiki 56, “The sister and her brother” No. 1 (Ane to otōto). Example. Two stories.

Amami Ōshima: MK II 2 36, 38, “The big sister and her little brother” (Nēsan to otōto). Two stories.

Okierabujima: Okinoerabu App. 1, “Lord Shimota” (Shimota dono no hanashi).

Further reference:

Mukashibanashi kenkyū II 12 20, “The sister and her younger brother” (Ane to otōto) by Iwakura Ichiro.

54. The Three Brothers

Each of three sons was given 100 ryō and sent out for three years to see who could lay up the most in his storehouse. The one who had things of the most value would inherit his father’s wealth. The youngest set out for Kyoto and bought all kinds of silk. The middle son started to trade in rice and stored lots of it. The oldest set out for wherever his feet took him. He came to the Kannon temple at Kurokawa. The building was so dilapidated that he wanted to repair it and he put new thatch on it. The same for Gongen by the gate. But people who came to worship were put to great trouble because there was no bridge there, so he hired carpenters and put up a bridge, and spent all the money he had received. After the bridge was built, the man was pleased to see worshippers come flocking. He spent the night at the temple and had a dream. He dreamed he had gotten a fishing pole, and when he woke up, there was one by his pillow. He kept it and spent the next night at Gongen. He received a fan there that would restore youth and a tin flask of sacred wine. He decided to try his fishing pole from the new bridge he had had made. He caught a little bag, and when he shook it against the railing, money came jingling out. At home his wife was worrying because his storehouse would be examined on the next day, but he came along and told her not to worry. He took out his tin flask and poured her some wine. No matter how much he poured, it did not give out. He went to his storehouse and began to shake the little bag until he filled the place with money. The next day he served his relatives wine from the flask that would not run dry. Because his storehouse was filled with money, of course the oldest son inherited his father’s wealth. He took out the fan that restored youth and used it on his mother and his wife. His mother wanted to become still younger and got out the fan when her son was away. She made herself too young and turned into a baby crawling around the place.

Iwate, Shiwa-gun

Aomori: Tsugaru m 32, “Blear-eyes, Scabby, and Louse-bitten” (Mekusare Ganbe, Shiramitagare no hanashi).

Hachinohe: MK II 4 47 (Sannin kyōdai) Two stories.

Iwate, Kamihei-gun: Rōō 12, “A thousand ryō to see a girl” (Ichimoku sen ryō no hanashi). Two stories seem to have been combined.

Shiwa-gun: Shiwa shū 16, “The fan that restored youth” (Wakagi no hōgi). Example.

Kamihei-gun: Kamihei 64, “Destroying the snake woman” (Hebi onna taiji).

Miyagi, Momoo-gun: Kyōdo den 2 125, “The three brothers” (Sannin kyōdai); Kyōdo den 3 122, “The three brothers” (Sannin Kyōdai). Both are humorous tales.

Gifu: Hidabito III 10 11, “Choosing the oldest son” (Ani erabi).

Nagasaki, Kitatakaku-gun: MK II 10 46, “The three brothers” (Sannin kyōdai). It is like a moral tale.

Kumamoto, Amakusa-gun: MK II 4 27, “The three sons” (Sannin musuko). It resembles the Kikaijima version. It is well constructed and like one used by a priest in a sermon.

Kagoshima, Koshikijima: Koshiki 38, “The three brothers” No. 1 (Sannin kyōdai).

Kikaijima: Kikai 62, 150, “The inheritance of the third son” (Sannan ga atotori) and “The three brothers” No. 1 (Sannin Kyōdai). In the first story the three brothers set out to hunt for brides. The corpse of the demon’s mother that one of them was asked to carry home on his back turned to gold. It is like “The hearth fire on New Year’s Eve.” The second is like the Amakusa tale.

Okierabujima: Okinoerabu 217, “The three brothers” (Sannin kyōdai). This story resembles a large number of legends, especially that of Koga Saburō.