I
The following is not a story,--at least it is not one of _my_ stories.
It is only the translation of an old Japanese document--or rather
series of documents--very much signed and sealed, and dating back to
the early part of the present century. Various authors appear to have
made use of these documents: especially the compiler of the curious
collection of Buddhist stories entitled _Bukkyō-hyakkwa-zenshō_, to
whom they furnished the material of the twenty-sixth narrative in that
work. The present translation, however, was made from a manuscript copy
discovered in a private library in Tōkyō. I am responsible for nothing
beyond a few notes appended to the text.
Although the beginning will probably prove dry reading, I presume to
advise the perusal of the whole translation from first to last, because
it suggests many things besides the possibility of remembering former
births. It will be found to reflect something of the feudal Japan
passed away, and something of the old-time faith,--not the higher
Buddhism, but what is incomparably more difficult for any Occidental
to obtain a glimpse of: the common ideas of the people concerning
preëxistence and rebirth. And in view of this fact, the exactness
of the official investigations, and the credibility of the evidence
accepted, necessarily become questions of minor importance.