Tales of Old Japan Read online

  TALES OF OLD JAPAN

  TALES OF

  OLD JAPAN

  A.B. Mitford

  TUTTLE PUBLISHING

  Boston • Rutland, Vermont • Tokyo

  Published by Tuttle Publishing,

  an imprint of Periplus Editions (HK) Ltd.

  with editorial offices at 364 Innovation Drive, North Clarendon, VT 05759 U.S.A.

  © 1966 by Charles E. Tuttle Co., Inc.

  All rights reserved

  No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

  First Tuttle edition, 1966

  Twentieth printing, 2002

  LCC Card No. 66-25436

  ISBN 978-1-4629-0333-7 (ebook)

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  PUBLISHER'S FOREWORD

  THE valuable lessons to be gleaned from this book of the history of Japan and toward the understanding of the people and things Japanese provoked this reprinting of A. B. Mitford's popular work.

  By far it is the best anthology of its kind on Japanese literature. Adding credence to its authority and acceptability, Robert Louis Stevenson cited Mitford's collection of true stories, legends, fairy tales, etcetera, in an article the famous author wrote entitled, "Books Which Have Influenced Me."

  First published nearly a century ago in 1871, Tales of Old Japan was written by Algernon Bertram Freeman-Mitford, First Baron Redesdale during his tenure (1866-70) as Attache to Japan. The diplomat-author arrived in the country only just over a decade following the opening of isolationist Japan's seaports, initiated by the entry of American Commodore Matthew Calbraith Perry and his "Black Ships" at Shimoda in 1854.

  In addition to learning about Japan through the reflection of its literature, Mitford's work contains valuable chronicled records on his own eye-witness report as one of the first foreigners to ever participate in a hara kiri ritual, and his delvings into the religious teachings of Japan in his day.

  PREFACE

  IN the Introduction to the story of the Forty-seven Rônins, I have said almost as much as is needful by way of preface to my stories.

  Those of my readers who are most capable of pointing out the many shortcomings and faults of my work, will also be the most indulgent towards me; for any one who has been in Japan, and studied Japanese, knows the great difficulties by which the learner is beset.

  For the illustrations, at least, I feel that I need make no apology. Drawn, in the first instance, by one Odake, an artist in my employ, they were cut on wood by a famous wood-engraver at Yedo, and are therefore genuine specimens of Japanese art. Messrs. Dalziel, on examining the wood blocks, pointed out to me, as an interesting fact, that the lines are cut with the grain of the wood, after the manner of Albert Diirer and some of the old German masters,—a process which has been abandoned by modern European wood-engravers.

  It will be noticed that very little allusion is made in these Tales to the Emperor and his Court. Although I searched diligently, I was able to find no story in which they played a conspicuous part.

  Another class to which no allusion is made is that of the Goshi. The Goshi are a kind of yeomen, or bonnet-lairds, as they would be called over the border, living on their own land, and owning no allegiance to any feudal lord. Their rank is inferior to that of the Samurai, or men of the military class, between whom and the peasantry they hold a middle place. Like the Samurai, they wear two swords, and are in many cases prosperous and wealthy men, claiming a descent more ancient than that of many of the feudal Princes. A large number of them are enrolled among the Emperor's body-guard; and these have played a conspicuous part in the recent political changes in Japan, as the most conservative and anti-foreign element in the nation.

  With these exceptions, I think that all classes are fairly represented in my stories.

  The feudal system has passed away like a dissolving view before the eyes of those who have lived in Japan during the last few years. But when they arrived there it was in full force, and there is not an incident narrated in the following pages, however strange it may appear to Europeans, for the possibility and probability of which those most competent to judge will not vouch. Nor, as many a recent event can prove, have heroism, chivalry, and devotion gone out of the land altogether. We may deplore and inveigh against the Yamato Damashi, or Spirit of Old Japan, which still breathes in the soul of the Samurai, but we cannot withhold our admiration from the self-sacrifices which men will still make for the love of their country.

  The two first of the Tales have already appeared in the Fortnightly Review, and two of the Sermons, with a portion of the Appendix on the subject of the Hara-Kiri, in the pages of the Cornhill Magazine. I have to thank the edItôrs of those periodicals for permission to reprint them here.

  LONDON, January 7, 1871.

  CONTENTS

  THE FORTY-SEVEN RÔNINS

  15

  THE LOVES OF GOMPACHI AND KOMURASAKI

  42

  KAZUMA'S REVENGE

  68

  A STORY OF THE OTOKODATÉ OF YEDO

  90

  THE WONDERFUL ADVENTURES OF FUNAKOSHI JIUYÉMON

  142

  THE ETA MAIDEN AND THE HATAMOTO

  176

  FAIRY TALES

  203

  THE TONGUE-CUT SPARROW

  205

  THE ACCOMPLISHED AND LUCKY TEA-KETTLE

  208

  THE CRACKLING MOUNTAIN

  211

  THE STORY OF THE OLD MAN WHO MADE WITHERED TREES

  TO BLOSSOM

  215

  THE BATTLE OF THE APE AND THE CRAB

  219

  THE ADVENTURES OF LITTLE PEACHLING

  222

  THE FOXES' WEDDING

  225

  THE HISTORY OF SAKATA KINTOKI

  228

  THE ELVES AND THE ENVIOUS NEIGHBOUR

  230

  THE GHOST OF SAKURA

  232

  HOW TAJIMA SHUMÉ WAS TORMENTED BY A DEVIL OF HIS

  OWN CREATION

  276

  CONCERNING CERTAIN SUPERSTITIONS

  285

  THE VAMPIRE CAT OF NABÉSHIMA

  287

  THE STORY OF THE FAITHFUL CAT

  296

  HOW A MAN WAS BEWITCHED AND HAD HIS HEAD SHAVED

  BY THE FOXES

  298

  THE GRATEFUL FOXES

  304

  THE BADGER'S MONEY

  314

  THE PRINCE AND THE BADGER

  319

  JAPANESE SERMONS

  323

  THE SERMONS OF KIU-Ô, VOL.
I. SERMON I

  334

  THE SERMONS OF KIU-Ô, VOL. I. SERMON II

  347

  „ „ SERMON III

  360

  APPENDICES:—

  AN ACCOUNT OF THE HARA-KIRI

  375

  THE MARRIAGE CEREMONY

  410

  THE BIRTH AND REARING OF CHILDREN

  421

  FUNERAL RITES

  427

  LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

  THE RÔNINS INVITE KÔTSUKÉ NO SUKÉ TO

  PERFORM HARAKIRI

  Frontispiece

  THE WELL IN WHICH THE HEAD WAS WASHED

  19

  THE SATSUMA MAN INSULTS OISHI KURANOSUKÉ

  26

  THE TOMB OF THE RÔNINS

  36

  THE TOMB OF THE HIYOKU

  51

  GOMPACHI AWAKENED BY THE MAIDEN IN THE ROBBERS' DEN

  53

  FORGING THE SWORD

  71

  MATAGORÔ KILLS YUKIYÉ

  75

  THE DEATH OF DANYÉMON

  79

  TRICKS OF SWORDSMANSHIP AT ASAKUSA

  114

  THE DEATH OF CHÔBEI OF BANDZUIN

  123

  FUNAKOSHI JIUYÉMON ON BOARD THE PIRATE SHIP

  147

  JIUYÉMON PUNISHES HIS WIFE AND THE WRESTLER

  157

  FUNAKOSHI JIUYÉMON AND THE GOBLINS

  160

  "GOKUMON"

  167

  A WRESTLING MATCH

  170

  CHAMPION WRESTLER

  173

  GENZABURÔ'S MEETING WITH THE ETA MAIDEN

  179

  THE TONGUE-CUT SPARROW

  206

  THE ACCOMPLISHED AND LUCKY TEA-KETTLE

  209

  THE HARE AND THE BADGER

  213

  THE OLD MAN WHO CAUSED WITHERED TREES TO FLOWER

  216

  THE APE AND THE CRAB

  220

  LITTLE PEACHLING

  223

  THE FOXES' WEDDING

  226

  THE DEPUTATION OF PEASANTS AT THEIR LORD'S GATE

  234

  THE GHOST OF SAKURA

  238

  SÔGORÔ THRUSTING THE PETITION INTO THE SHOGUN'S LITTER

  245

  THE CAT OF NABÉSHIMA

  288

  THE FEAST OF INARI SAMA

  311

  A JAPANESE SERMON

  326

  TALES OF OLD JAPAN

  THE FORTY-SEVEN RÔNINS

  THE books which have been written of late years about Japan, have either been compiled from official records, or have contained the sketchy impressions of passing travellers. Of the inner life of the Japanese, the world at large knows but little: their religion, their superstitions, their ways of thought, the hidden springs by which they move—all these are as yet mysteries. Nor is this to be wondered at. The first Western men who came in contact with Japan—I am speaking not of the old Dutch and Portuguese traders and priests, but of the diplomatists and merchants of eleven years ago —met with a cold reception. Above all things, the native Government threw obstacles in the way of any inquiry into their language, literature, and history. The fact was that the Tycoon's Government—with whom alone, so long as the Mikado remained in seclusion in his sacred capital at Kioto, any relations were maintained—knew that the Imperial purple with which they sought to invest their chief must quickly fade before the strong sunlight which would be brought upon it so soon as there should be European linguists capable of examining their "books and records. No opportunity was lost of throwing dust in the eyes of the new-comers, whom, even in the most trifling details, it was the official policy to lead astray. Now, however, there is no cause for concealment; the Roi Fainéant has shaken off his sloth, and his Maire du Palais, together, and an intelligible Government, which need not fear scrutiny from abroad, is the result: the records of the country being but so many proofs of the Mikado's title to power, there is no reason far keeping up any show of mystery. The path of inquiry is open to all; and although there is yet much to be learnt, some knowledge has been attained, in which it may interest those who stay at home to share.

  The recent revolution in Japan has wrought changes social as well as political; and it may be that when, in addition to the advance which has already been made, railways and telegraphs shall have connected the principal points of the Land of Sunrise, the old Japanese, such as he was and had been for centuries when we found him eleven short years ago, will have become extinct. It has appeared to me that no better means could be chosen of preserving a record of a curious and fast disappearing civilization, than the translation of some of the most interesting national legends and histories, together with other specimens of literature bearing upon the same subject. Thus the Japanese may tell their own tale, their translator only adding here and there a few words of heading or tag to a chapter, where an explanation or amplification may seem necessary. I fear that the long and hard names will often make my tales tedious reading, but I believe that those who will bear with the difficulty will learn more of the character of the Japanese people than by skimming over descriptions of travel and adventure, however brilliant. The lord and his retainer, the warrior and the priest, the humble artisan and the despised Eta or pariah, each in his turn will become a leading character in my budget of stories; and it is out of the mouths of these personages that I hope to show forth a tolerably complete picture of Japanese society.

  Having said so much by way of preface, I beg my readers to fancy themselves wafted away to the shores of the Bay of Yedo—a fair, smiling landscape: gentle slopes, crested by a dark fringe of pines and firs, lead down to the sea; the quaint eaves of many a temple and holy shrine peep out here and there from the groves; the bay itself is studded with picturesque fisher-craft, the torches of which shine by night like glow-worms among the outlying forts; far away to the west loom the goblin-haunted heights of Oyama, and beyond the twin hills of the Hakone Pass—Fuji-Yama, the Peerless Mountain, solitary and grand, stands in the centre of the plain, from which it sprang vomiting flames twenty-one centuries ago.1 For a hundred and sixty years the huge mountain has been at peace, but the frequent earthquakes still tell of hidden fires, and none can say when the red-hot stones and ashes may once more fall like rain over five provinces.

  In the midst of a nest of venerable trees in Takanawa, a suburb of Yedo, is hidden Sengakuji, or the Spring-hill Temple, renowned throughout the length and breadth of the land for its cemetery, which contains the graves of the Forty-seven Rônins,2 famous in Japanese history, heroes of Japanese drama, the tale of whose deeds I am about to transcribe.

  On the left-hand side of the main court of the temple is a chapel, in which, surmounted by a gilt figure of Kwanyin, the goddess of mercy, are enshrined the images of the forty seven men, and of the master whom they loved so well. The statues are carved in wood, the faces coloured, and the dresses richly lacquered; as works of art they have great merit—the action of the heroes, each armed with his favourite weapon, being wonderfully life-like and spirited. Some are venerable men, with thin, grey hair (one is seventy-seven years old); others are mere boys of sixteen. Close by the chapel, at the side of a path leading up the hill, is a little well of pure water, fenced in and adorned with a tiny fernery, over which is an inscription, setting forth that " This is the well in which the head was washed; you must not wash your hands or your feet here." A little further on is a stall, at which a poor old man earns a pittance by selling books, pictures, and medals, commemorating the loyalty of the Forty-seven; and higher up yet, shaded by a grove of stately trees, is a neat inclosure, kept up, as a signboard announces, by voluntary contributions, round which are ranged forty-eight little tombstones, each decked with evergreens, each with its tribute of water and incense for the comfort of the departed spirit. There were forty-seven Rônins; there are forty-eight tombstones, and the story of the forty-eighth is truly ch
aracteristic of Japanese ideas of honour. Almost touching the rail of the graveyard is a more imposing monument under which lies buried the lord, whcse death his followers piously avenged.

  And now for the story.

  At the beginning of the eighteenth century there lived a daimio, called Asano Takumi no Kami, the Lord of the castle of Akô, in the province of Harima. Now it happened that an Imperial ambassador from the Court of the Mikado, having been sent to the Shogun1 at Yedo, Takumi no Kami and another noble called Kamei Sama were appointed to receive and feast the envoy; and a high official, named Kira Kôtsuké no Suké, was named to teach them the proper ceremonies to be observed upon the occasion. The two nobles were accordingly forced to go daily to the castle to listen to the instructions of Kôtsuké no Suké was a man greedy of money; and as he deemed that the presents which the two daimios, according to time-honoured custom, had brought him in return for his instruction, were mean and unworthy, he conceived a great hatred against them, and took no pains in teaching them, but on the contrary rather sought to make laughing-stocks of them. Takumi no Kami, restrained by a stern sense of duty, bore his insults with patience; but Kamei Sama, who had less control over his temper, was violently incensed, and determined to kill Kôtsuké no Suké.

  One night when his duties at the castle were ended, Kamei Sama returned to his own palace, and having summoned his councillors2 to a secret conference, said to them: " Kôtsuké no Suké has insulted Takumi no Kami and myself during our service in attendance on the Imperial envoy. This is against all decency, and I was minded to kill him on the spot; but I bethought me that if I did such a deed within the precincts of the castle, not only would my own life be forfeit, but my family and vassals would be ruined: so I stayed my hand. Still the life of such a wretch is a sorrow to the people, and to-morrow when I go to Court I will slay him: my mind is made up, and I will listen to no remonstrance." And as he spoke his face became livid with rage.

  Now one of Kamei Sama's councillors was a man of great judgment, and when he saw from his lord's manner that remonstrance would be useless, he said: " Your lordship's words are law; your servant will make all preparations accordingly; and to-morrow, when your lordship goes to Court, if this Kôtsuké no Suké should again be insolent, let him die the death." And his lord was pleased at this speech, and waited with impatience for the day to break, that he might return to Court and kill his enemy.