Folk Legends From Tono: Japan's Spirits, Deities, and Phantastic Creatures Read online

  Sasaki Yuson (b. 1881) of Komaki, who is also the head Buddhist priest of Fukuzenji Temple (of the Shingon sect), relates, “These people were born into the Oide family of Tsukumoushi village, and many of them said that Oshira-sama was the god of hunting. Long ago, when hunters were setting out on a hunt, they would pray to Oshira-sama to help them decide which mountain was best for finding game. They would put Oshira-sama between their hands and roll it around and around as done with bero-bero kagi. The hunters should go in the direction that the horse head of Oshira-sama faced.” This was how Oshira-sama informed them about where to go. It was because of the similarity in the pronunciation of the spirit’s name (Oshira) and the Japanese verb “to inform” (oshira-se) that people connected the deity with “being informed.” Even now, they ask for the kami’s instructions when they have to decide where, deep in the mountains, to safely bury the placenta membrane that is wrapped around a newborn baby. (94-84)

  Okunai-sama is the household deity that looks after the family. The Okunai-sama of Minamizawa Sankichi of Yamaguchi is a hanging scroll with a Buddhist painting on it. The painting is thought to be an image of the Amida Buddha, the deity of light and truth. It is said that you should not look at the image, because if you do it will blind you.

  Older families are called Daido because they migrated to the Tono area from the southern province of Kai in the first year of the Daido era (806 AD). The Okunai-sama of one Daido family is a wooden image, but they also have a similar hanging scroll with it. The Minamizawa family has only a scroll. On the outside of both scrolls is written “Namu Amida Buddha,” which can mean “Our trust in the person and work of the Amida Buddha” or “Save us, merciful Buddha.”

  One night a thief entered the parlor in the Minamizawa home and tried to run away with a large box, but when he touched the box, he couldn’t move his arms or legs. He remained crouched in the parlor with the box until daylight. In the morning, a member of the family found him and was shocked. Since the thief was from the neighborhood, they told him to leave right away. But the thief couldn’t move. Then a family member noticed that the door to the Buddhist altar was open. They lifted the light up so they could see the Okunai-sama scroll and then made the thief apologize for what he tried to do. Finally, he could begin to move his limbs. This happened in the 1850s. (95-74)

  There are many tales about bells or big pots sinking into river pools and ponds. The large bell that was in Kakujo fortress sank into the bell-tower pool. Even so, occasionally it can still be heard ringing from the bottom of the river. A large pot is sunk in the Hajikami Myojin river pool in Kuribashi village. It was a pot used in a “sacred water-heating ceremony” that is held to ensure a good harvest. It can still be seen underwater. It is said that if the water in the pot gets cloudy, something bad will happen.

  There is a golden Buddhist statue sunk in the pool under the Kyute Bridge over the Kogarase River. In the morning, when the sun comes up, it can be seen glistening under the water. This Buddhist statue, which was originally in the house of the Kitagawa family in Hiishi, was abandoned when the family members converted to the Shinto faith. (96-24)

  At Jofukuin in Tozenji Temple, there are large cooking pots that were used in the 1330s during the time of the High Priest Mujin. Mujin, belonging to the Buddhist Rinzai Zen sect, was a teacher of great virtue, and at any one time, he would have around two hundred itinerant Zen students studying under him. It is said that the temple’s cooking pots were always in use preparing rice porridge or something else. In the beginning, there were two cooking pots known as the “husband and wife” pots. When Tozenji Temple was moved to the castle town of Morioka in the 1430s, moving the large pots presented a problem.

  One night, there was a strange groaning sound, and the main building of the temple rumbled and shook. Several men tried to move the pots, but the pots became so heavy they couldn’t be moved. Nevertheless, they were able to carry the “wife” pot as far as Ohagi in the same village. The “wife” pot, yearning for the “husband” pot that was left behind, cried out, forcing the workers moving it to stumble and fall back. Shaken, they sat the pot down for a moment. While groaning, the pot rolled into a deep water pool. It is said that this pot is still sunk in the bottom of this pool. (97-22)

  The Sakuhei household of Hitoichi was quite prosperous. One day, a large metal pot in the storehouse started to make a banging or ringing noise that got louder and louder, continuing for nearly an hour. The people in the house and even some neighbors were surprised and went to see what was going on. They asked a painter named Yamana to sketch the scene where the pot was banging. They named the picture “the banging-pot deity” and prayed to it. This happened about twenty years ago. (98-93)

  In this area, parents often tell their children different stories about where they came from. Historically, folk beliefs about abnormal births often transformed into fairy tales, as in the case of the Momotaro (peach boy) tale. The gourd, which appears in many similar tales, is important in Oriental thinking. Parents say to their children, “You came to us in a gourd floating down the stream behind the house,” or “You came floating in a gourd and we picked you up and raised you,” or “You were born from a gourd,” and so on. (99-269)

  Whenever someone is called by their given name, their father’s name is placed before it. For example, Harusuke’s son’s name is Kanta, so he will be called Harusuke Kanta. Kojiro’s son Manzo would be called Kojiro Manzo. So for men, their names would be Zenemon Kume, Kichiemon Tsurumatsu, Sakuemon Kaku, Inumatsu Ushi, Magonojo Gonzo, and so forth. For women, the names would be Chokuro Kiku, Kyubee Haruno, Senkuro Katsu, and so on. Nowadays, girls are using complicated Chinese characters in their names. The same trend can be found in other areas of Japan. (100-250)

  In households that do not have horses, they greet the yama-no-kami (mountain deity) with an obitana, the cloth straps used to secure a child on one’s back. In this case, if a child is born, the obitana used for greeting is taken to a Shinto shrine or to a village crossroads. It must be returned. (101-238)

  The following nicknames are found in our area. When someone boasts (hora) a lot, he is called XX-Hora. If someone is blind or has only one eye (me), he is called XX-Mekko. If someone has lost a leg or limps (bikko), he is called XX-Bikko. If one has an injured arm or lost one (tenbo), they are called XX-Tenbo. An old man named Shinsuke is very good at singing the Yara-bushi song, so he is always called by the nickname Shinsuke Yara. A woman with eyes that don’t open very wide is called O-Kiku Itako (an itako shaman is blind). Someone extremely short is called Chintsuku Sanpei. The opposite, someone who is very tall, is called Kanemon-Naga (long). A very thin man looks like a kaneuchi water bird and is called Kaneuchi Chota. Someone who has stolen something is called Kagi (thief) Gorosuke. Someone who speaks with a wimpy voice is called Kekkoshi Sagosuke. Someone who stutters is named Jitta Sanjiro. A person with a thin red face is called Nanban Okoma (red pepper). Other nicknames may refer to body features: Mameko (bean) Tokichi, Keppe (hernia) Fukuji, Fukuro (owl) Tome, and Daija (snake) Tome. Some nicknames are related to walking styles: Kani Kuma (crab- or bearlike), Bitta Teoke (frog), Kajika Taro (fast mover), Kitsune O-kan (fox walk), and O Fudo Katsu (slow mover). It is funny that a primary school teacher who walks swinging his arms is called Udemochi Sensei (Mr. Arms). A rather small woman teacher with a small face is called Uriko Himeko (melon princess). (102-251)

  In Tsuchibuchi village, there is a place called Hanare-mori (detached woods). There are two small hills of the same shape side by side. Once, a hunter went to this area and stayed overnight. The two hills grew out of the ground and expanded their size in competition with each other. They stopped growing at dawn. This story was told by Kikuchi Choshiro. (103-8)

  Recently, scholars have said that the “Tsuzuki-ishi” in Tono resembles the “T-shaped” megalithic European burial tombs (dolmens). There are two upright stones, each two meters high, supporting a large horizontal capstone two meters w
ide and ten meters long. People can pass through the gate-like space between the rocks.

  Folklore has it that the warrior Musashibo Benkei (1155–1189), known for his great strength, put these stones in place. When Benkei did this, he first brought the capstone and sat it on top of a separate large rock called naki-ishi (weeping rock). When this happened, naki-ishi said that it was unfortunate that even though it was a rock of high status, it would forever be beneath a large rock. It wept throughout the night.

  So Benkei decided to make other rocks the foundation. Once he got a foothold under the rock, he shifted it atop its current base. On the underside of the capstone of “Tsuzuki-ishi,” there are impressions of Benkei’s footprint. The name naki-ishi has been used since this time. Even now, there are tear-like drops on naki-ishi as it stands off to the side of “Tsuzuki-ishi.” (104-11)

  At one time, there were seven ponds in Aozasa. In one of the ponds there was a rock called miko-ishi, or female spirit rock. A girl named Heavenly Child came to play there. She took off her robe, placed it on the spirit rock, and then bathed in the pond. A man named Sosuke came to the pond to fish and saw her extraordinary robe on the rock. He grabbed it, placed it in his fish basket, and left. Because the girl didn’t have her robe, she couldn’t fly back to heaven. She gathered leaves to hide her bare body and went down to the village to find out who had taken her robe.

  Near the pond she asked where the home was of the man who had been fishing. The reply was, “A short distance from here there are three houses. Sosuke lives in the middle house.” The girl went to Sosuke’s house and asked, “Are you the one who took my robe? If so, how about returning it?” He said it was an exceptional robe, and that is why he took it.

  Then he lied, saying that he “gave it to his local lord.” Actually, he had just hidden it. The girl was very sad because without it she couldn’t return to heaven. For a while she cried, wondering what to do. Then she looked up and said, “Given the situation, could you let me use some of your fields for planting? I want to plant lotus flowers (a Buddhist symbol) so I can spin thread to weave another robe.” She also asked Sosuke to build a bamboo-leaf hut near the pond where the “spirit rock” was. She went to live in it. It is said that the name of the village, Aozasa (green bamboo leaves), was taken from this bamboo-leaf hut that was built there.

  The lotus flowers planted in the fields finally bloomed. Heavenly Child then started to make thread. Day and night she would sing songs in a beautiful voice while she was weaving in the hut. Sosuke was firmly warned not to peek into where she was weaving, but her voice was so lovely he couldn’t resist looking in. But all he heard was the sound of the weaving loom, and she couldn’t be seen. He thought that perhaps she was at Mt. Rokkoushi weaving.

  Sosuke finally gave his lord the robe that he had been hiding. Soon after, the girl wove an image of the Buddhist universe (mandala), and she asked Sosuke to give it to his lord. The lord thought it was exceptional and said he wanted to meet the woman who had woven it. The lord told Sosuke to tell her that if there was anything she wanted, she should just ask for it.

  When the girl heard what the lord said, she had nothing particular to request. All she replied was that she wanted to be of service to the lord. Right away, Sosuke took her to the lord. Since there were no women as beautiful as she was, the lord was happy and took her in. The lord treated her kindly, but she ate nothing, did no work, and was always depressed.

  Before long, it was summer again, and it was the season to air out the family clothing. The robe that Sosuke had given to his lord, the one that originally belonged to the girl, was also put outside to be aired. Seeing an opportunity, the girl grabbed the robe and put it on. She then flew off in the direction of Mt. Rokkoushi.

  The lord’s grief lasted a long time. The woven image of the Buddhist universe (mandala) that the girl had made is now housed in Komyoji Buddhist temple in Ayaori village. This is how the village name of Ayaori (woven fabric) came into being. The seven ponds are gone now, and only the deity (kami) called the “Lord of the Pond” is worshipped there. (105-3)

  In Ayaori village there is another story about how a long time ago a spirit came down from heaven and wove some fabric. It is said that a piece of this fabric is still in Komyoji Temple. There is also the story that in another temple, different from Komyoji, there is an image of the Buddhist universe (mandala) woven by some deity from heaven. (106-4)

  4

  Sidestepping Misfortune and Evil

  Risk reduction is always a smart move, and folk wisdom, magical foxes, sacred chants, charms, Chinese fortune-telling methods, and anything else that gives an advantage in warding off evil is always welcomed by struggling peasants. Spiritually gifted people, like the shamans, psychics, and mystics who populate these tales, live in the villages or float from place to place offering insight into life’s uncertainties.

  In the 1870s, Sasaki Kizen heard the following story from his grandfather. Someone saw two Buddhist priests (spirits or possibly even a tengu) in red robes in a balloon-like globe flying south in the sky over Mt. Rokkoushi. In the 1826 Tales from the Rabbit Garden (Toenshosetsu), there was an image of a metal sphere with glass windows. (107-235)

  In some villages there are taboo locations that children are afraid to go near. One of these spots is Tatsu-no-mori (dragon or thunder god forest) in Tsuchibuchi village. Here there are quite a few horse chestnut trees surrounded by a fence. At the base of the trees, there are a number of iron arrowheads sticking up out of the dirt. The iron is old and rusted. The forest is dark even at midday and has an eerie feeling. Once a villager caught a small red fish resembling an iwana river trout in the stream that flows through the forest, and he is said to have been cursed by a deity. Red-colored things are said to be messengers of the deities.

  It is said that nothing living in this forest, snakes or anything else, can be killed. Even flowers and grasses can’t be picked. People make a special effort not to pass through this forest. If they must go through it, they bow in respect to the chestnut trees so as not to upset the spirits there. There was a youth who saw a village woman in the forest dressed the same as before she died some years ago. Also, an old person from Minamizawa said that if you go by the forest late at night, there are two unknown girls standing around aimlessly.

  In this area, in addition to Tatsu-no-mori, there are similar magical, demonic, or evil (ma) locations. Just in Tsuchibuchi village alone, there are locations like the Kumano Forest moat, the Yokomichi cave, and the Daido Okami earth mound where spirits like to gather. In addition, there are certain roads that people are afraid of traveling. (108-124)

  If the first person a man meets when he leaves home is a woman, he will be lucky all day. If he meets the chief priest (osho) of a temple, he must take three steps backward and spit. If he comes across a snake, it’s a day of good fortune. Or if a snake crosses the road in front of him from the right side, they say futokoro-iri (into one’s breast pocket), which means you will receive some money. (109-255)

  This happened about thirty or forty years ago. There was a middle-aged man from Otomo village who looked like a simpleton and was very eccentric. He had a black image of the Buddha on the palm of his hand and would chant, “Menno, menno,” while telling people’s fortunes. (110-128)

  Some time ago, an itinerant priest was sent to Ayaori village. He didn’t eat or go to the bathroom. He only concentrated on carving a statue of the Buddha. Legend has it that because he was so talented at wood sculpture, a villager went to ask him to carve something for him. But before anyone knew it, the priest was gone. Or perhaps, it is said, he was the famous wood carver and traveling Buddhist priest Mokujiki Shonin (1718–1810). (111-127)

  The ancestors of the wealthy Murahyo household in Tono were once very poor. Then, when passing along the path at a place called Nabegasaka at the base of Mt. Atago, an ancestor heard a voice call out from the bushes, “Put me on your back and take me! Put
me on your back and take me!”

  He stepped over and looked in the bushes, and there was a single Buddhist statue. He put it on his back and took it to be enshrined at the top of Mt. Atago, which is the protector against fire. From then on, it is said, the ancestors also became remarkably prosperous. (112-136)

  It is said that when the center of a candle flame does not burn blue, a fire or a disaster will occur. Some years ago (1927), when there was a major fire in Tono City, the wife in a certain house close to the source of the fire thought that it was strange that the flame in the candle she placed on the household altar that morning was not burning blue. Before long, the fire spread outside of the neighborhood and caused considerable damage. (113-147)

  There is a style of fortune-telling (uranai) that allows someone at home to know the condition of others wherever they might be traveling. This is how it works. First, you gather up a number of short sticks equivalent to the number of people you are interested in tracking. Next, write the names of those people on the sticks. Then fill a washbasin with water and float the sticks in it.

  Depending on the movement of the sticks, one can know what is happening with the various people. Mr. Sasaki’s grandmother went on a pilgrimage to Zenkoji Buddhist temple with twenty-four or twenty-five other people. At home, Mr. Sasaki’s mother put sticks for the people on the trip in water, and by the movement of the sticks, she could tell who Grandma was walking with that day. By doing this in the evening she would know that Grandma was walking with so-and-so and at night that she was sleeping beside so-and-so. One day, the sticks for Grandma and a relative’s grandmother, whom she usually walked with, were not side by side in the water. She stirred up the water a few times, but the sticks always showed the same result.