The spirits of the drowned are said to follow after ships, calling for
a bucket or a water-dipper (_hishaku_). To refuse the bucket or the
dipper is dangerous; but the bottom of the utensil should be knocked
out before the request is complied with, and the spectres must not
be allowed to see this operation performed. If an undamaged bucket
or dipper be thrown to the ghosts, it will be used to fill and to
sink the ship. These phantoms are commonly called _Funa-Y[=u]réï_
("Ship-Ghosts").
The spirits of those warriors of the Héïké clan who perished in the
great sea-fight at Dan-no-ura, in the year 1185, are famous among
Funa-Y[=u]réï. Taïra no Tomomori, one of the chiefs of the clan, is
celebrated in this weird rôle: old pictures represent him, followed by
the ghosts of his warriors, running over the waves to attack passing
ships. Once he menaced a vessel in which Benkéï, the celebrated
retainer of Yoshitsuné, was voyaging; and Benkéï was able to save
the ship only by means of his Buddhist rosary, which frightened the
spectres away....
Tomomori is frequently pictured as walking upon the sea, carrying
a ship's anchor on his back. He and his fellow-ghosts are said to
have been in the habit of uprooting and making off with the anchors
of vessels imprudently moored in their particular domain,--the
neighborhood of Shimonoséki.
Erimoto yé
Mizu kakéraruru
Kokochi seri,
"Hishaku kasé" ch[=o]
Funé no kowané ni.
[_As if the nape of our necks had been sprinkled with cold
water,--so we felt while listening_ _to the voice of the
ship-ghost, saying:--"Lend me a dipper!"_[39]]
[Footnote 39: _Hishaku_, a wooden dipper with a long handle, used to
transfer water from a bucket to smaller vessels.]
Y[=u]rei ni
Kasu-hishaku yori
Ichi-hayaku
Onoré ga koshi mo
Nukéru sench[=o].
[_The loins of the captain himself were knocked out very much
more quickly than the bottom of the dipper that was to be
given to the ghost._[40]]
[Footnote 40: The common expression _Koshi ga nukéru_ (to have one's
loins taken out) means to be unable to stand up by reason of fear.
The suggestion is that while the captain was trying to knock out the
bottom of a dipper, before giving it to the ghost, he fell senseless
from fright.]
Benkéï no
Zuzu no kuriki ni
Tomomori no
Sugata mo ukamu--
Funé no y[=u]réï.
[_By the virtue of Benkéï's rosary, even_ _the ship-following
ghost--even the apparition of Tomomori--is saved._]
Y[=u]réï wa
Ki naru Izumi no
Hito nagara,
Aö-umibara ni
Nadoté itsuran?
[_Since any ghost must be an inhabitant of the Yellow Springs,
how should a ghost appear on the Blue Sea-Plain?_[41]]
[Footnote 41: The Underworld of the Dead--_Yomi_ or K[=o]sen--is
called "The Yellow Springs;" these names being written with two
Chinese characters respectively signifying "yellow" and "fountain." A
very ancient term for the ocean, frequently used in the old Shint[=o]
rituals, is "The Blue Sea-Plain."]
Sono sugata,
Ikari wo [=o]té,
Tsuki-matoü
Funé no hésaki ya
Tomomori no réï!
[_That Shape, carrying the anchor on its back, and following
after the ship--now at the bow and now at the stern--ah, the
ghost of Tomomori._[42]]
[Footnote 42: There is an untranslatable play upon words in the last
two lines. The above rendering includes two possible readings.]
Tsumi fukaki
Umi ni shidzumishi,
Y[=u]réï no
"Ukaman" toté ya!
Funé ni sugaréru.
[_Crying, "Now perchance I shall be saved!" The ghost
that sank into the deep Sea of Sin clings to the passing
ship!_[43]]
[Footnote 43: There is more weirdness in this poem than the above
rendering suggests. The word _ukaman_ in the fourth line can be
rendered as "shall perhaps float," or as "shall perhaps be saved" (in
the Buddhist sense of salvation),--as there are two verbs _ukami_.
According to an old superstition, the spirits of the drowned must
continue to dwell in the waters _until such time as they can lure the
living to destruction_. When the ghost of any drowned person succeeds
in drowning somebody, it may be able to obtain rebirth, and to leave
the sea forever. The exclamation of the ghost in this poem really
means, "Now perhaps I shall be able to drown somebody." (A very
similar superstition is said to exist on the Breton coast.) A common
Japanese saying about a child or any person who follows another
too closely and persistently is: _Kawa de shinda-y[=u]réï no yona
tsuré-hoshigaru!_--"Wants to follow you everywhere like the ghost of
a drowned person."]
Ukaman to
Funé we shitaëru
Yuréï wa,
Shidzumishi híto no
Omoï naruran.
[_The ghosts following after our ship in their efforts to rise
again (or, "to be saved") might perhaps be the (last vengeful)
thoughts of drowned men.[44]]
[Footnote 44: Here I cannot attempt to render the various plays upon
words; but the term "_omoï_" needs explanation. It means "thought"
or "thoughts;" but in colloquial phraseology it is often used as a
euphemism for a dying person's last desire of vengeance. In various
dramas it has been used in the signification of "avenging ghost." Thus
the exclamation, "His _thought_ has come back!"--in reference to a
dead man--really means: "His angry ghost appears!"]
Uraméshiki
Sugata wa sugoki
Yuréï no,
Kaji we jama suru
Funé no Tomomori.
[_With vengeful aspect, the grisly ghost of Tomomori
(rises) at the stern of the ship to hinder the play of her
rudder._[45]]
[Footnote 45: There is a double meaning given by the use of the name
_Tomomori_ in the last line. _Tomo_ means "the stern" of a ship;
_mori_ means "to leak." So the poem suggests that the ghost of
Tomomori not only interferes with the ship's rudder, but causes her
to leak.]
Ochi-irité,
Uwo no éjiki to
Nari ni ken;--
Funa-y[=u]réï mo
Nama-kusaki kazé.
[_Having perished in the sea, (those Héïké) would probably
have become food for fishes. (Anyhow, whenever) the
ship-following ghosts (appear), the wind has a smell of raw
fish!_[46]]
[Footnote 46: _Namakusaki-kaze_ really means a wind having a "raw
stench;" but the smell of bait is suggested by the second line of the
poem. A literal rendering is not possible in this case; the art of the
composition being altogether suggestive.]