_Ara!--Joyfully young Daikoko and Ebisu enter dancing_
Shall we tell a tale, or shall we utter felicitations? A tale:
then of what is it best that we should tell? Since we are bidden
to your august house to relate a story, we shall relate the story
of Shuntoku.
Surely there once lived, in the Province of Kawachi, a very rich
man called Nobuyoshi. And his eldest son was called
Shuntoku-maru.
When Shuntoku-maru, that eldest son, was only three years old,
his mother died. And when he was five years old, there was given
to him a stepmother.
When he was seven years old, his stepmother gave birth to a son
who was called Otowaka-maru. And the two brothers grew up
together.
When Shuntoku became sixteen years old, he went to Kyoto, to the
temple of Tenjin-Sama, to make offerings to the god.
There he saw a thousand people going to the temple, and a
thousand returning, and a thousand remaining: there was a
gathering of three thousand persons(1).
Through that multitude the youngest daughter of a rich man called
Hagiyama was being carried to the temple in a kago(2). Shuntoku
also was traveling in a kago; and the two kago moved side by side
along the way.
Gazing on the girl, Shuntoku fell in love with her. And the two
exchanged looks and letters of love.
All this was told to the stepmother of Shuntoku by a servant that
was a flatterer.
Then the stepmother began to think that should the youth remain
in his father's home, the store-houses east and west, and the
granaries north and south, and the house that stood in the midst,
could never belong to Otowaka-maru.
Therefore she devised an evil thing, and spoke to her husband,
saying, "Sir, my lord, may I have your honored permission to be
free for seven days from the duties of the household?"
Her husband answered, "Yes, surely; but what is it that you wish
to do for seven days?" She said to him: "Before being wedded to
my lord, I made a vow to the August Deity of Kiyomidzu; and now I
desire to go to the temple to fulfill that vow."
Said the master: "That is well. But which of the man servants or
maid servants would you wish to go with you?" Then she made
reply: "Neither man servant nor maid servant do I require. I wish
to go all alone."
And without paying heed to any advice about her journey, she
departed from the house, and made great haste to Kyoto.
Reaching the quarter Sanjo in the city of Kyoto, she asked the
way to the street Kajiyamachi, which is the Street of the Smiths.
And finding it, she saw three smithies side by side.
Going to the middle one, she greeted the smith, and asked him:
"Sir smith, can you make some fine small work in iron?" And he
answered: "Ay, lady, that I can."
Then she said: "Make me, I pray you, nine and forty nails without
heads." But he answered: "I am of the seventh generation of a
family of smiths; yet never did I hear till now of nails without
heads, and such an order I cannot take. It were better that you
should ask elsewhere."
"Nay," said she, "since I came first to you, I do not want to go
elsewhere. Make them for me, I pray, sir smith." He answered: "Of
a truth, if I make such nails, I must be paid a thousand ryo(3)."
She replied to him: "If you make them all for me, I care nothing
whether you desire one thousand or two thousand ryo. Make them, I
beseech you, sir smith." So the smith could not well refuse to
make the nails.
He arranged all things rightly to honor the God of the
Bellows(4). Then taking up his first hammer, he recited the
Kongo-Sutra(5); taking up his second, he recited the
Kwannon-Sutra; taking up his third, he recited the
Amida-Sutra,--because he feared those nails might be used for a
wicked purpose.
Thus in sorrow he finished the nails. Then was the woman much
pleased. And receiving the nails in her left hand, she paid the
money to the smith with her right, and bade him farewell, and
went upon her way.
When she was gone, then the smith thought: "Surely I have in gold
koban(6) the sum of a thousand ryo. But this life of ours is only
like the resting-place of a traveler journeying, and I must
show to others some pity and kindness. To those who are cold I
will give clothing, and to those who are hungry I will give
food."
And by announcing his intention in writings(7) set up at the
boundaries of provinces and at the limits of villages, he was
able to show his benevolence to many people.
On her way the woman stopped at the house of a painter, and asked
the painter to paint for her a picture.
And the painter questioned her, sayings "Shall I paint you the
picture of a very old plum-tree, or of an ancient pine?"
She said to him; "No: I want neither the picture of an old
plum-tree nor of an ancient pine. I want the picture of a boy of
sixteen years, having a stature of five feet, and two moles upon
his face."
"That," said the painter, "will be an easy thing to paint." And
he made the picture in a very little time. It was much like
Shuntoku-maru; and the woman rejoiced as she departed.
With that picture of Shuntoku she hastened to Kiyomidzu; and she
pasted the picture upon one of the pillars in the rear of the
temple.
And with forty-seven out of the forty-nine nails she nailed the
picture to the pillar; and with the two remaining nails she
nailed the eyes.
Then feeling assured that she had put a curse upon Shuntoku, that
wicked woman went home. And she said humbly, "I have returned;"
and she pretended to be faithful and true.
(1) These numbers simply indicate a great multitude in the
language of the people; they have no exact significance.
(2) Kago, a kind of palanquin.
(3) The ancient ryo or tael had a value approximating that of the
dollar of 100 sen.
(4) Fuigo Sama, deity of smiths.
(5) "Diamond Sutra."
(6) Koban, a gold coin. There were koban of a great many curious
shapes and designs. The most common form was a flat or oval disk,
stamped with Chinese characters. Some koban were fully five
inches in length by four in width.
(7) Public announcements are usually written upon small wooden
tablets attached to a post; and in the country such announcements
are still set up just as suggested in the ballad.
Now three or four months after the stepmother of Shuntoku had
thus invoked evil upon him he became very sick. Then that
stepmother secretly rejoiced.
And she spoke cunningly to Nobuyoshi, her husband, saying: "Sir,
my lord, this sickness of Shuntoku seems to be a very bad
sickness; and it is difficult to keep one having such sickness in
the house of a rich man."
Then Nobuyoshi was much surprised, and sorrowed greatly; but,
thinking to himself that indeed it could not be helped, he called
Shuntoku to him, and said:--
"Son, this sickness which you have seems to be leprosy; and one
having such a sickness cannot continue to dwell in this house.
"It were best for you, therefore, to make a pilgrimage through
all the provinces, in the hope that you may be healed by divine
influence.
"And my storehouses and my granaries I will not give to
Otowaka-maru, but only to you, Shuntoku; so you must come back to
us."
Poor Shuntoku, not knowing how wicked his stepmother was,
besought her in his sad condition, saying: "Dear mother, I have
been told that I must go forth and wander as a pilgrim.
"But now I am blind, and I cannot travel without difficulty. I
should be content with one meal a day in place of three, and glad
for permission to live in a corner of some storeroom or outhouse;
but I should like to remain somewhere near my home.
"Will you not please permit me to stay, if only for a little
time? Honored mother, I beseech you, let me stay."
But she answered: "As this trouble which you now have is only the
beginning of the bad disease, it is not possible for me to suffer
you to stay. You must go away from the house at once."
Then Shuntoku was forced out of the house by the servants, and
into the yard, sorrowing greatly.
And the wicked stepmother, following, cried out: "As your father
has commanded, you must go away at once, Shuntoku."
Shuntoku answered: "See, I have not even a traveling-dress. A
pilgrim's gown and leggings I ought to have, and a pilgrim's
wallet for begging."
At hearing these words, the wicked stepmother was glad; and she
at once gave him all that he required.
Shuntoku received the things, and thanked her, and made ready to
depart, even in his piteous state.
He put on the gown and hung a wooden mamori (charm) upon his
breast(1), and he suspended the wallet about his neck. He put on
his straw sandals and fastened them tightly, and took a bamboo
staff in his hand, and placed a hat of woven rushes upon his
head.
And saying, "Farewell, father; farewell, mother," poor Shuntoku
started on his journey.
Sorrowfully Nobuyoshi accompanied his son a part of the way,
saying: "It cannot be helped, Shuntoku. But if, through the
divine favor of those august deities to whom that charm is
dedicated, your disease should become cured, then come back to us
at once, my son."
Hearing from his father these kind words of farewell, Shuntoku
felt much happier, and covering his face with the great rush hat,
so as not to be known to the neighbors, he went on alone.
But in a little while, finding his limbs so weak that he was
afraid he could not go far, and feeling his heart always drawn
back toward his home, so that he could not help often stopping
and turning his face thither, he became sad again.
(1) See Professor Chamberlain's "Notes on some Minor Japanese
Religious Practices," for full details of pilgrimages and pilgrim
costumes, in Journal of the Anthropological Institute (1898). The
paper is excellently illustrated.
Since it would have been difficult for him to enter any dwelling,
he had often to sleep under pine-trees or in the forests; but
sometimes he was lucky enough to find shelter in some wayside
shrine containing images of the Buddhas.
And once in the darkness of the morning, before the breaking of
the day, in the hour when the crows first begin to fly abroad and
cry, the dead mother of Shuntoku came to him in a dream.
And she said to him: "Son, your affliction has been caused by the
witchcraft of your wicked stepmother. Go now to the divinity of
Kiyomidzu, and beseech the goddess that you may be healed."
Shuntoku arose, wondering, and took his way toward the city of Kyoto,
toward the temple of Kiyomidzu.
One day, as he traveled, he went to the gate of the house of a
rich man named Hagiyama, crying out loudly: "Alms! alms!"
Then a maid servant of the house, hearing the cry, came out and
gave him food, and laughed aloud, saying: "Who could help
laughing at the idea of trying to give anything to so comical a
pilgrim?"
Shuntoku asked: "Why do you laugh? I am the son of a rich and
well-famed man, Nobuyoshi of Kawachi. But because of a
malediction invoked upon me by my wicked stepmother, I have
become as you see me."
Then Otohime, a daughter of that family, hearing the voices, came
out, and asked the maid: "Why did you laugh?"
The servant answered: "Oh, my lady, there was a blind man from
Kawachi, who seemed about twenty years old, clinging to the
pillar of the gate, and loudly crying, 'Alms! alms.'
"So I tried to give him some clean rice upon a tray; but when I
held out the tray toward his right hand, he advanced his left;
and when I held out the tray toward his left hand, he advanced
his right: that was the reason I could not help laughing."
Hearing the maid explaining thus to the young lady, the blind man
became angry, and said: "You have no right to despise strangers.
I am the son of a rich and well-famed man in Kawachi, and I am
called Shuntoku-maru."
Then the daughter of that house, Otohime, suddenly remembering
him, also became quite angry, and said to the servant: "You must
not laugh rudely. Laughing at others to-day, you might be laughed
at yourself to-morrow."
But Otohime had been so startled that she could not help
trembling a little, and, retiring to her room, she suddenly
fainted away.
Then in the house all was confusion, and a doctor was summoned in
great haste. But the girl, being quite unable to take any
medicine, only became weaker and weaker.
Then many famous physicians were sent for; and they consulted
together about Otohime; and they decided at last that her
sickness had been caused only by some sudden sorrow.
So the mother said to her sick daughter "Tell me, without
concealment, if you have any secret grief; and if there be
anything you want, whatever it be, I will try to get it for you."
Otohime replied: "I am very much ashamed; but I shall tell you
what I wish.
"The blind man who came here the other day was the son of a rich
and well-famed citizen of Kawachi, called Nobuyoshi.
"At the time of the festival of Tenjin at Kitano in Kyoto, I met
that young man there, on my way to the temple; and we then
exchanged letters of love, pledging ourselves to each other.
"And therefore I very much wish that I may be allowed to travel
in search of him, until I find him, wherever he may be."
The mother kindly made answer: "That, indeed, will be well. If
you wish for a kago, you may have one; or if you would like to
have a horse, you can have one.
"You can choose any servant you like to accompany you, and I can
let you have as many koban as you desire."
Otohime answered: "Neither horse nor kago do I need, nor any
servant; I need only the dress of a pilgrim,--leggings and
gown,--and a mendicant's wallet."
For Otohime held it her duty to set out by herself all alone,
just as Shuntoku had done.
So she left home, saying farewell to her parents, with eyes full
of tears: scarcely could she find voice to utter the word
"good-by."
Over mountains and mountains she passed, and again over
mountains; hearing only the cries of wild deer and the sound of
torrent-water.
Sometimes she would lose her way; sometimes she would pursue
alone a steep and difficult path; always she journeyed sorrowing.
At last she saw before her--far, far away--the pine-tree called
Kawama-matsu, and the two rocks called Ota(1); and when she saw
those rocks, she thought of Shuntoku with love and hope.
Hastening on, she met five or six persona going to Kumano; and
she asked them: "Have you not met on your way a blind youth,
about sixteen years old?"
They made answer: "No, not yet; but should we meet him anywhere,
we will tell him whatever you wish."
This reply greatly disappointed Otohime; and she began to think
that all her efforts to find her lover might be in vain; and she
became very sad.
At last she became so sad that she resolved not to try to find
him in this world anymore, but to drown herself at once in the
pool of Sawara, that she might be able to meet him in a future
state.
She hurried there as fast as she could. And when she reached the
pond, she fixed her pilgrim's staff in the ground, and hung her
outer robe on a pine-tree, and threw away her wallet, and,
loosening her hair, arranged it in the style called Shimada(2).
Then, having filled her sleeves with stones, she was about to
leap into the water, when there appeared suddenly before her a
venerable man of seemingly not less than eighty years, robed all
in white, and bearing a tablet in his hand.
And the aged man said to her: "Be not thus in haste to die,
Otohime! Shuntoku whom you seek is at Kiyomidzu San: go thither
and meet him."
These were, indeed, the happiest tidings she could have desired,
and she became at once very happy. And she knew she had thus been
saved by the august favor of her guardian deity, and that it was
the god himself who had spoken to her those words.
So she cast away the stones she had put into her sleeves, and
donned again the outer robe she had taken off, and rearranged her
hair, and took her way in all haste to the temple of Kiyomidzu.
(1) One meaning of "Ota" in Japanese is "has met" or "have met."
(2) The simple style in which the hair of dead woman is arranged.
See chapter "Of Women's Hair," in Glimpses of Unfamiliar Japan,
vol. ii.
At last she reached the temple. She ascended the three lower
steps, and glancing beneath a porch she saw her lover, Shuntoku,
lying there asleep, covered with a straw mat; and she called to
him, "Moshi! Moshi!(1)"
Shuntoku, thus being suddenly awakened, seized his staff, which
was lying by his side, and cried out, "Every day the children of
this neighborhood come here and annoy me, because I am blind!"
Otohime hearing these words, and feeling great sorrow, approached
and laid her hands on her poor lover, and said to him:--
"I am not one of those bad, mischievous children; I am the
daughter of the wealthy Hagiyama. And because I promised myself
to you at the festival of Kitano Tenjin in Kyoto, I have come
here to see you."
Astonished at hearing the voice of his sweet-heart, Shuntoku rose
up quickly, and cried out: "Oh! are you really Otohime? It is a
long time since we last met--but this is so strange! Is it not
all a lie?"
And then, stroking each other, they could only cry, instead of
speaking.
But presently Shuntoku, giving way to the excitement of his
grief, cried out to Otohime: "A malediction has been laid upon me
by my stepmother, and my appearance has been changed, as you see.
"Therefore never can I be united to you as your husband. Even as I now
am, so must I remain until I fester to death.
"And so you must go back home at once, and live in happiness and
splendor."
But she answered in great sorrow: "Never! Are you really in
earnest? Are you truly in your right senses?
"No, no! I have disguised myself thus only because I loved you
enough even to give my life for you.
"And now I will never leave you, no matter what may become of me
in the future."
Shuntoku was comforted by these words; but he was also filled
with pity for her, so that he wept, without being able to speak a
word.
Then she said to him: "Since your wicked stepmother bewitched you
only because you were rich, I am not afraid to revenge you by
bewitching her also; for I, too, am the child of a rich man."
And then, with her whole heart, she spoke thus to the divinity
within the temple:--"For the space of seven days and seven nights
I shall remain fasting in this temple, to prove my vow; and if
you have any truth and pity, I beseech you to save us.
"For so great a building as this a thatched roof is not the
proper roof. I will re-roof it with feathers of little birds; and
the ridge of the roof I will cover with thigh-feathers of
falcons.
"This torii and these lanterns of stone are ugly: I will erect a
torii of gold; and I will make a thousand lamps of gold and a
thousand of silver, and every evening I will light them.
"In so large a garden as this there should be trees. I will plant
a thousand hinoki, a thousand sugi, a thousand karamatsu.
"But if Shuntoku should not be healed by reason of this vow, then
he and I will drown ourselves together in yonder lotos-pond.
"And after our death, taking the form of two great serpents, we
will torment all who come to worship at this temple, and bar the
way against pilgrims."
(1) An exclamation uttered to call the attention of another to
the presence of the speaker,--from the respectful verb "to say."
Our colloquial "say" does not give the proper meaning. Our
"please" comes nearer to it.
Now, strange to say, on the night of the seventh day after she
had vowed this vow, there came to her in a dream Kwannon-Sama who
said to her:
"The prayer which you prayed I shall grant."
Forthwith Otohime awoke, and told her dream to Shuntoku, and they
both wondered. They arose, and went down to the river together,
and washed themselves, and worshiped the goddess.
Then, strange to say, the eyes of blind Shuntoku were fully
opened, and his clear sight came back to him, and the disease
passed away from him. And both wept because of the greatness of
their joy.
Together they sought an inn, and there laid aside their
pilgrim-dresses, and put on fresh robes, and hired kago and
carriers to bear them home.
Reaching the house of his father, Shuntoku cried out: "Honored
parents, I have returned to you! By virtue of the written charm
upon the sacred tablet, I have been healed of my sickness, as you
may see. Is all well with you, honored parents?"
And Shuntoku's father, hearing, ran out and cried: "Oh! how much
troubled I have been for your sake!
"Never for one moment could I cease to think of you; but now--how
glad I am to see you, and the bride you have brought with you!"
And all rejoiced together.
But, on the other hand, it was very strange that the wicked
stepmother at the same moment became suddenly blind, and that her
fingers and her toes began to rot, so that she was in great
torment.
Then the bride and the bridegroom said to that wicked stepmother:
"Lo! the leprosy has come upon you!
"We cannot keep a leper in the house of a rich man. Please to go
away at once!
"We shall give you a pilgrim's gown and leggings, a rush hat, and
a staff; for we have all these things ready here."
Then the wicked stepmother knew that even to save her from death
it could not be helped, because she herself had done so wicked a
thing before. Shuntoku and his wife were very glad; how rejoiced
they were!
The stepmother prayed them to allow her only one small meal a
day,--just as Shuntoku had done; but Otohime said to the stricken
woman: "We cannot keep you here,--not even in the corner of an
outhouse. Go away at once!"
Also Nobuyoshi said to his wicked wife: "What do you mean by
remaining here? How long do you require to go?"
And he drove her out, and she could not help herself, and she
went away crying, and striving to hide her face from the sight of
the neighbors.
Otowaka led his blind mother by the hand; and together they went
to Kyoto and to the temple of Kiyomidzu.
When they got there they ascended three of the temple steps, and
knelt down, and prayed the goddess, saying: "Give us power to
cast another malediction!"
But the goddess suddenly appeared before them, and said: "Were it
a good thing that you pray for, I would grant your prayer; but
with an evil matter I will have no more to do.
"If you must die, then die there! And after your death you shall
be sent to hell, and there put into the bottom of an iron caldron
to be boiled."
_This is the end of the Story of Shuntoku. With a jubilant tap of
the fan we finish so! Joyfully!--joyfully!--joyfully!_