Kwaidan_Stories and Studies of Strange Things(奇谈)

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KWAIDAN: Stories and Studies of Strange Things

KWAIDAN: Stories and

Studies of Strange Things

By Lafcadio Hearn

KWAIDAN: Stories and Studies of Strange Things

TABLE OF CONTENTS

THE STORY OF MIMI-NASHI-HOICHI OSHIDORI

THE STORY OF O-TEI UBAZAKURA DIPLOMACY OF A

MIRROR AND A BELL JIKININKI MUJINA ROKURO-KUBI A DEAD

SECRET YUKI-ONNA THE STORY OF AOYAGI JIU-ROKU-

ZAKURA THE DREAM OF AKINOSUKE RIKI-BAKA HI-MAWARI

HORAI

INSECT STUDIES BUTTERFLIES MOSQUITOES ANTS

KWAIDAN: Stories and Studies of Strange Things

INTRODUCTION

The publication of a new volume of Lafcadio Hearn's exquisite studies

of Japan happens, by a delicate irony, to fall in the very month when the

world is waiting with tense expectation for news of the latest exploits of

Japanese battleships. Whatever the outcome of the present struggle

between Russia and Japan, its significance lies in the fact that a nation of

the East, equipped with Western weapons and girding itself with Western

energy of will, is deliberately measuring strength against one of the great

powers of the Occident. No one is wise enough to forecast the results of

such a conflict upon the civilization of the world. The best one can do is to

estimate, as intelligently as possible, the national characteristics of the

peoples engaged, basing one's hopes and fears upon the psychology of the

two races rather than upon purely political and statistical studies of the

complicated questions involved in the present war. The Russian people

have had literary spokesmen who for more than a generation have

fascinated the European audience. The Japanese, on the other hand, have

possessed no such national and universally recognized figures as

Turgenieff or Tolstoy. They need an interpreter.

It may be doubted whether any oriental race has ever had an

interpreter gifted with more perfect insight and sympathy than Lafcadio

Hearn has brought to the translation of Japan into our occidental speech.

His long residence in that country, his flexibility of mind, poetic

imagination, and wonderfully pellucid style have fitted him for the most

delicate of literary tasks. Hi has seen marvels, and he has told of them in a

marvelous way. There is scarcely an aspect of contemporary Japanese life,

scarcely an element in the social, political, and military questions involved

in the present conflict with Russia which is not made clear in one or

another of the books with which he has charmed American readers.

He characterizes Kwaidan as "stories and studies of strange things."

A hundred thoughts suggested by the book might be written down, but

most of them would begin and end with this fact of strangeness. To read

KWAIDAN: Stories and Studies of Strange Things

the very names in the table of contents is like listening to a Buddhist bell,

struck somewhere far away. Some of his tales are of the long ago, and yet

they seem to illumine the very souls and minds of the little men who are at

this hour crowding the decks of Japan's armored cruisers. But many of the

stories are about women and children,-- the lovely materials from which

the best fairy tales of the world have been woven. They too are strange,

these Japanese maidens and wives and keen-eyed, dark-haired girls and

boys; they are like us and yet not like us; and the sky and the hills and the

flowers are all different from our. Yet by a magic of which Mr. Hearn,

almost alone among contemporary writers, is the master, in these delicate,

transparent, ghostly sketches of a world unreal to us, there is a haunting

sense of spiritual reality.

In a penetrating and beautiful essay contributed to the "Atlantic

Monthly" in February, 1903, by Paul Elmer More, the secret of Mr.

Hearn's magic is said to lie in the fact that in his art is found "the meeting

of three ways." "To the religious instinct of India -- Buddhism in

particular,-- which history has engrafted on the aesthetic sense of Japan,

Mr. Hearn brings the interpreting spirit of occidental science; and these

three traditions are fused by the peculiar sympathies of his mind into one

rich and novel compound,-- a compound so rare as to have introduced into

literature a psychological sensation unknown before." Mr. More's essay

received the high praise of Mr. Hearn's recognition and gratitude, and if it

were possible to reprint it here, it would provide a most suggestive

introduction to these new stories of old Japan, whose substance is, as Mr.

More has said, "so strangely mingled together out of the austere dreams of

India and the subtle beauty of Japan and the relentless science of Europe."

March, 1904.

= = = = = = = *** = = = = = = =

Most of the following Kwaidan, or Weird Tales, have been taken from

old Japanese books,-- such as the Yaso-Kidan, Bukkyo-Hyakkwa-Zensho,

Kokon-Chomonshu, Tama-Sudare, and Hyaku-Monogatari. Some of the

stories may have had a Chinese origin: the very remarkable "Dream of

Akinosuke," for example, is certainly from a Chinese source. But the

KWAIDAN: Stories and Studies of Strange Things

story-teller, in every case, has so recolored and reshaped his borrowing as

to naturalize it... One queer tale, "Yuki-Onna," was told me by a farmer of

Chofu, Nishitama-gori, in Musashi province, as a legend of his native

village. Whether it has ever been written in Japanese I do not know; but

the extraordinary belief which it records used certainly to exist in most

parts of Japan, and in many curious forms... The incident of "Riki-Baka"

was a personal experience; and I wrote it down almost exactly as it

happened, changing only a family-name mentioned by the Japanese

narrator.

L.H.

Tokyo, Japan, January 20th, 1904.

KWAIDAN: Stories and Studies of Strange Things

THE STORY OF MIMI-NASHI-

HOICHI

More than seven hundred years ago, at Dan-no-ura, in the Straits of

Shimonoseki, was fought the last battle of the long contest between the

Heike, or Taira clan, and the Genji, or Minamoto clan. There the Heike

perished utterly, with their women and children, and their infant emperor

likewise -- now remembered as Antoku Tenno. And that sea and shore

have been haunted for seven hundred years... Elsewhere I told you about

the strange crabs found there, called Heike crabs, which have human faces

on their backs, and are said to be the spirits of the Heike warriors [1]. But

there are many strange things to be seen and heard along that coast. On

dark nights thousands of ghostly fires hover about the beach, or flit above

the waves,-- pale lights which the fishermen call Oni-bi, or demon-fires;

and, whenever the winds are up, a sound of great shouting comes from

that sea, like a clamor of battle.

In former years the Heike were much more restless than they now are.

They would rise about ships passing in the night, and try to sink them; and

at all times they would watch for swimmers, to pull them down. It was in

order to appease those dead that the Buddhist temple, Amidaji, was built at

Akamagaseki [2]. A cemetery also was made close by, near the beach; and

within it were set up monuments inscribed with the names of the drowned

emperor and of his great vassals; and Buddhist services were regularly

performed there, on behalf of the spirits of them. After the temple had

been built, and the tombs erected, the Heike gave less trouble than before;

but they continued to do queer things at intervals,-- proving that they had

not found the perfect peace.

Some centuries ago there lived at Akamagaseki a blind man named

Hoichi, who was famed for his skill in recitation and in playing upon the

biwa [3]. >From childhood he had been trained to recite and to play; and

while yet a lad he had surpassed his teachers. As a professional biwa-hoshi

he became famous chiefly by his recitations of the history of the Heike

KWAIDAN: Stories and Studies of Strange Things

and the Genji; and it is said that when he sang the song of the battle of

Dan-no-ura "even the goblins [kijin] could not refrain from tears."

At the outset of his career, Hoichi was very poor; but he found a good

friend to help him. The priest of the Amidaji was fond of poetry and music;

and he often invited Hoichi to the temple, to play and recite. Afterwards,

being much impressed by the wonderful skill of the lad, the priest

proposed that Hoichi should make the temple his home; and this offer was

gratefully accepted. Hoichi was given a room in the temple-building; and,

in return for food and lodging, he was required only to gratify the priest

with a musical performance on certain evenings, when otherwise

disengaged.

One summer night the priest was called away, to perform a Buddhist

service at the house of a dead parishioner; and he went there with his

acolyte, leaving Hoichi alone in the temple. It was a hot night; and the

blind man sought to cool himself on the verandah before his sleeping-

room. The verandah overlooked a small garden in the rear of the Amidaji.

There Hoichi waited for the priest's return, and tried to relieve his solitude

by practicing upon his biwa. Midnight passed; and the priest did not

appear. But the atmosphere was still too warm for comfort within doors;

and Hoichi remained outside. At last he heard steps approaching from the

back gate. Somebody crossed the garden, advanced to the verandah, and

halted directly in front of him -- but it was not the priest. A deep voice

called the blind man's name -- abruptly and unceremoniously, in the

manner of a samurai summoning an inferior:--

"Hoichi!"

"Hai!" (1) answered the blind man, frightened by the menace in the

voice,-- "I am blind! -- I cannot know who calls!"

"There is nothing to fear," the stranger exclaimed, speaking more

gently. "I am stopping near this temple, and have been sent to you with a

message. My present lord, a person of exceedingly high rank, is now

staying in Akamagaseki, with many noble attendants. He wished to view

the scene of the battle of Dan-no-ura; and to-day he visited that place.

Having heard of your skill in reciting the story of the battle, he now

KWAIDAN: Stories and Studies of Strange Things

desires to hear your performance: so you will take your biwa and come

with me at once to the house where the august assembly is waiting."

In those times, the order of a samurai was not to be lightly disobeyed.

Hoichi donned his sandals, took his biwa, and went away with the stranger,

who guided him deftly, but obliged him to walk very fast. The hand that

guided was iron; and the clank of the warrior's stride proved him fully

armed,-- probably some palace-guard on duty. Hoichi's first alarm was

over: he began to imagine himself in good luck; -- for, remembering the

retainer's assurance about a "person of exceedingly high rank," he thought

that the lord who wished to hear the recitation could not be less than a

daimyo of the first class. Presently the samurai halted; and Hoichi became

aware that they had arrived at a large gateway; -- and he wondered, for he

could not remember any large gate in that part of the town, except the

main gate of the Amidaji. "Kaimon!" [4] the samurai called,-- and there

was a sound of unbarring; and the twain passed on. They traversed a space

of garden, and halted again before some entrance; and the retainer cried in

a loud voice, "Within there! I have brought Hoichi." Then came sounds of

feet hurrying, and screens sliding, and rain-doors opening, and voices of

womeni n converse. By the language of the women Hoichi knew them to

be domestics in some noble household; but he could not imagine to what

place he had been conducted. Little time was allowed him for conjecture.

After he had been helped to mount several stone steps, upon the last of

which he was told to leave his sandals, a woman's hand guided him along

interminable reaches of polished planking, and round pillared angles too

many to remember, and over widths amazing of matted floor,-- into the

middle of some vast apartment. There he thought that many great people

were assembled: the sound of the rustling of silk was like the sound of

leaves in a forest. He heard also a great humming of voices,-- talking in

undertones; and the speech was the speech of courts.

Hoichi was told to put himself at ease, and he found a kneeling-

cushion ready for him. After having taken his place upon it, and tuned his

instrument, the voice of a woman -- whom he divined to be the Rojo, or

matron in charge of the female service -- addressed him, saying,--

"It is now required that the history of the Heike be recited, to the

KWAIDAN: Stories and Studies of Strange Things

accompaniment of the biwa."

Now the entire recital would have required a time of many nights:

therefore Hoichi ventured a question:--

"As the whole of the story is not soon told, what portion is it augustly

desired that I now recite?"

The woman's voice made answer:--

"Recite the story of the battle at Dan-no-ura,-- for the pity of it is the

most deep." [5]

Then Hoichi lifted up his voice, and chanted the chant of the fight on

the bitter sea,-- wonderfully making his biwa to sound like the straining of

oars and the rushing of ships, the whirr and the hissing of arrows, the

shouting and trampling of men, the crashing of steel upon helmets, the

plunging of slain in the flood. And to left and right of him, in the pauses of

his playing, he could hear voices murmuring praise: "How marvelous an

artist!" -- "Never in our own province was playing heard like this!" -- "Not

in all the empire is there another singer like Hoichi!" Then fresh courage

came to him, and he played and sang yet better than before; and a hush of

wonder deepened about him. But when at last he came to tell the fate of

the fair and helpless,-- the piteous perishing of the women and children,--

and the death-leap of Nii-no-Ama, with the imperial infant in her arms,--

then all the listeners uttered together one long, long shuddering cry of

anguish; and thereafter they wept and wailed so loudly and so wildly that

the blind man was frightened by the violence and grief that he had made.

For much time the sobbing and the wailing continued. But gradually the

sounds of lamentation died away; and again, in the great stillness that

followed, Hoichi heard the voice of the woman whom he supposed to be

the Rojo.

She said:--

"Although we had been assured that you were a very skillful player

upon the biwa, and without an equal in recitative, we did not know that

any one could be so skillful as you have proved yourself to-night. Our lord

has been pleased to say that he intends to bestow upon you a fitting reward.

But he desires that you shall perform before him once every night for the

next six nights -- after which time he will probably make his august

KWAIDAN: Stories and Studies of Strange Things

return-journey. To-morrow night, therefore, you are to come here at the

same hour. The retainer who to-night conducted you will be sent for you...

There is another matter about which I have been ordered to inform you. It

is required that you shall speak to no one of your visits here, during the

time of our lord's august sojourn at Akamagaseki. As he is traveling

incognito, [6] he commands that no mention of these things be made...

You are now free to go back to your temple."

After Hoichi had duly expressed his thanks, a woman's hand

conducted him to the entrance of the house, where the same retainer, who

had before guided him, was waiting to take him home. The retainer led

him to the verandah at the rear of the temple, and there bade him farewell.

It was almost dawn when Hoichi returned; but his absence from the

temple had not been observed,-- as the priest, coming back at a very late

hour, had supposed him asleep. During the day Hoichi was able to take

some rest; and he said nothing about his strange adventure. In the middle

of the following night the samurai again came for him, and led him to the

august assembly, where he gave another recitation with the same success

that had attended his previous performance. But during this second visit

his absence from the temple was accidentally discovered; and after his

return in the morning he was summoned to the presence of the priest, who

said to him, in a tone of kindly reproach:--

"We have been very anxious about you, friend Hoichi. To go out,

blind and alone, at so late an hour, is dangerous. Why did you go without

telling us? I could have ordered a servant to accompany you. And where

have you been?"

Hoichi answered, evasively,--

"Pardon me kind friend! I had to attend to some private business; and

I could not arrange the matter at any other hour."

The priest was surprised, rather than pained, by Hoichi's reticence: he

felt it to be unnatural, and suspected something wrong. He feared that the

blind lad had been bewitched or deluded by some evil spirits. He did not

ask any more questions; but he privately instructed the men-servants of the

temple to keep watch upon Hoichi's movements, and to follow him in case

that he should again leave the temple after dark.

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