Folk Legends of Japan (23 page)

The king asked him: "Have you really the jewel from which golden flowers grow?" And the boy answered: "Yes, I have. But unless it is tended by a woman who does not break wind, the jewel will not bloom with golden flowers."

Then the king said: "There is no woman who does not break wind." The boy said: "Then why did you drive out my mother? I have the jewel that my mother gave me." And he took out the jewel. The king looked at it and said: "I was wrong. I will give you much money. So go back to your mother and live happily with her."

But then the child said: "As I am your first child, I cannot make a branch family. So I must stay here." So the king made him his successor.

THE TALE OF YURIWAKA

Japanese trade with the maritime nations of expanding Europe, beginning in the middle of the sixteenth century, brought an unexpected import in the story of the Odyssey. Adapted to the Japanese scene, the tale has enjoyed strange curves of popularity, both in oral legend and in literary forms: puppet plays, lurid novels, pantomimic chants, and children's readers. Ulysses is replaced by Yuriwaka, a favorite minister of an early emperor. Esther L. Hibbard points out, in her comprehensive study, that the story of Ulysses would appeal to Japanese sympathy for the betrayed, lonely islander, and arouse Japanese admiration for the martial hero. Donald Keene gives the Polyphemus episode as a Japanese scholar heard it at the Dutch trading post in Nagasaki in 1774
(Japanese Literature,
New York: 1055, pp. 90-91). Motif Kt 815.1, "Return home in humble disguise," occurs here.

Text from
Bungo Densetsu Shu,
pp. 8-10.

I
N ANCIENT TIMES
there was a governor of Bungo by the name of Yuriwaka. His father was Kimimitsu, Minister of the Left at the imperial court in Kyoto. Yuriwaka possessed great strength and always used iron bows and arrows. By order of the emperor he was appointed Governor of Bungo, and went down to Tsukushi to destroy the Mongolian forces which were attacking Japan at that time. He fought against them at sea near the island of Tsushima and at last gained victory by the aid of the gods. On the return voyage to the homeland Yuri-waka anchored his warboats by the shore of Genkai Island. As soon as he landed on this small island he took a nap, for that was his habit.

Among his retainers there were two brothers, Beppu Taro and Beppu Jiro. The elder brother, Taro, enticed his younger brother into a plot of rebellion against their lord. While Yuriwaka was fast asleep they secretly set sail from the island, leading away all the boats, and left him stranded alone. On returning to the province of Bungo they told Yuriwaka's wife that he had been killed in battle, and they delivered the same report to the imperial court. In consequence they came into possession of all the province of Bungo, and they lived in luxury. Moreover, Beppu Taro's arbitrariness reached such a point that he persecuted in many ways the wife of Yuriwaka, for whom he felt an immoral passion.

The helpless lady was in great distress, but she clung to the hope that her dear husband might be alive somewhere. So she sent Yuriwaka's pet falcon, named Midorimaru, off into the air with a letter from her tied to its leg. When she let it go, she told the bird to fly to her husband if it felt sympathy for her. The falcon flew away into the clouds. In the meantime Beppu Taro treated the lady more bitterly than ever, and when he realized that she would never obey him, he determined to drown her in a pond. However, an old gatekeeper sympathized with her and had his own daughter, Lady Manju, substituted for the lady.

Meanwhile, Yuriwaka woke up after a long sleep and perceived that he had been deserted on the island. There he had to remain without any means of returning to his homeland. One day a falcon flew down beside him. He looked at the bird and saw that it was his pet falcon, Midorimaru. Then he found and read his wife's letter that was tied to its leg. Learning how the Beppu brothers had revolted, he was enraged by their infidelity. He bit his finger and wrote a letter with the blood, Tying the letter to the falcon's leg, he let the birdflyback to the home-land. The falcon flew away high in the sky and safely returned to the lady's hiding place. She was glad to see the letter from her husband,. but the blood writing saddened her heart. She tied an ink-stone and a brush to the falcon and sent it back to Yuriwaka again. Those diings were too heavy for the falcon to carry, and after barely reaching Genkai Island its energy was entirely exhausted, and it fell into the water to the.

Afterwards Yuriwaka was saved by a fishing boat and returned to his homeland. He secured a position as a servant in the Beppu house, naming himself Kokemaru. One New Year's time when the Beppu brothers held the ceremony of the first shooting of the New Year,. Kokemaru, who attended the ceremony as a servant, laughed at Beppu's archery. Beppu grew angry and ordered Kokemaru to shoot with the iron bow and arrow which only Yuriwaka had used. In response to the order, Kokemaru stood up with the iron bow and arrow. He spoke to Beppu, accusing him of infidelity, and revealed himself. "I myself am Yuriwaka, to whom you have done treachery."

No sooner had he said so than he shot Beppu to death.

Yuriwaka explained matters to the imperial court and was reap-pointed the Governor of Bungo. For the repose of the soul of faithful Lady Manju, who had drowned herself in the pond in place of his wife, Yuriwaka established a temple by the pond and offered donations. The temple was named Manju-ji after the girl. Yuriwaka also built a shrine at the spot where he had buried the corpse of his pet falcon Midorimaru, and erected a temple for the salvation of its spirit.

Yuriwaka passed away in peace in Bungo Province. It is said that he was buried under the mound which bears the name of the Mound of Yuriwaka.

THE STORY OF KIHACHI

This hero-legend has the true folk rawness usually softened by collectors and writers of folk tales. The close identification between the hero Takeiwatatsu-no-mikoto and the spirit of Mt. Ojo is clearly seen. Motif A 972.1, "Indentions on rocks from imprints of gods and saints," occurs.

Text from
Aso no Densetsu,
pp. 34-36.

Note:
Mikoto,
a title applied both to Shinto gods and to legendary persons of high rank, here translated as "lord."

T
AKEIWATATSU-NO-MIKOTO
liked to shoot arrows more than anything else. Sometimes he shot from the heights of Tano, aiming at the stone at Oga-ishi in the west, and sometimes he sat on the peak of Mt. Ojo and shot at the same stone. Mt. Ojo is sometimes called Doben-dake [Buttock Peak] because he sat on top of it. This mountain has several gullies. They are said to be the places where this lord's urine ran down the mountainside.

One day the lord sat on Mt. Ojo as usual, attended by a strong man named Kihachi from Aso, and shot his strong arrows at the stone. His arrow sometimes hit the stone and sometimes missed. The spot where his arrows dropped is now called Ya-buchi [Arrow Abyss]. Kihachi, who possessed supernatural strength, was ordered to retrieve the fallen arrows. Ninety-nine times he brought arrows to Mt. Ojo and returned to the stone called Mato-ishi. But he was so tired by the hundredth time that he kicked the arrow with his toe toward the lord on Mt. Ojo. The lord became very angry and was going to kill Kihachi when he returned. Kihachi in fear ran away as fast as he could. The lord ran after him. He overtook Kihachi at Yabe and forced Kihachi down with his arrow. Then Kihachi broke wind. The name Yabe originated from this time. [
Be
means "breaking wind."] It is supposed to mean "Arrow Breaking Wind." The other explanation is that Yabe means "Breaking Wind Eight Times."

The lord was confused by Kihachi's breaking wind; he loosened his hold, and Kihachi escaped. Kihachi ran to Madonose at the border of Mitai, and he fought with the lord on opposite sides of the Itsugase River. When the lord broke off a big rock and threw it over to the other side, Kihachi threw it back. When the lord pulled up a big pine tree and threw it at Kihachi, Kihachi threw it back. But finally the lord overcame and caught Kihachi. This time he cut off Kihachi's head at once. But Kihachi's head returned to his body immediately. When the lord cut off Kihachi's hand, it returned to his arm. And when he cut off his foot, it also returned to his leg. Strong as he was, the lord was very much embarrassed by this, but fmally he cut offKihachi's arms and legs and buried each part in a separate place. And at the same time he buried Kihachi's body in Takachiho, which now is called Kihachi's Tomb. Each of the places where his limbs are buried is now called Oni-zuka [Demon Mound]. As for Kihachi's head, it flew up into the sky when it was cut off.

After that time Kihachi's spirit cast a spell on the lord's crops. Every year in the warm season of June he caused a frost to fall from the sky and spoil the crops. All the plants in the fields withered. The lord took pity on the people who were suffering from lack of food, and he spoke to Kihachi's spirit:

"Spirit of Kihachi, please come down to earth, that I may enshrine you in the center of Aso-dani."

So the spirit of Kihachi descended and was enshrined as Shimomiya—The Frost Shrine.

KOGA SABURO

This local legend of Suwa, Nagano-ken, dealing with the adventures of the hero Koga Saburo, who rescues a princess from another world, has attained considerable fame. When modern printing methods were adopted in Japan at the end of the sixteenth century, the tale was cast into fiction and drama. The Kabuki play
Account of Koga Saburo in the Cave
was performed in 1808 (Ikeda,pp. 81-82). There are elements here of a world-wide heroic legend, Type 301, "The Three Stolen Princesses," to which the epic of Beowulf belongs, where a hero descends underground and vanquishes a monster (briefly suggested below by reference to a
tengu).
As the
Minzokugaku Jiten
points out in its entry on "Koga Saburo," the idea of a man's being metamorphosed into a serpent and deified as a water god is widespread in Japan (e.g., in "Hachiro's Transformation," p. 126-27).

The notion present here of a male serpent or dragon visiting a female one via an underground passage, as in the legend of Hachiro and Tatsuko, is also thoroughly Japanese. In Suzuki, pp. 58-60, "The Frog Stones," a road was constructed by villagers in Kumamoto-ken to enable a female stone to visit more easily a male stone each night.

The text below was told by Ichino Okabe, 72, a farmer's wife in Sakae-mura, and is printed in
Minami Saku-gun Kohi Densetsu,
pp. 82-83. It is obviously fragmentary, as tales collected directly from the lips of the folk are apt to be.

O
NCE UPON A TIME
there were three brothers, Taro, Jiro, and Saburo. One day they set out together to go hunting on Mt. Tadeshina. The beautiful daughter of a certain lord heard of their plans and asked them to take her with them. So the four of them went together. But when they came to the pond called Futago-ike, the princess suddenly disappeared. The brothers looked everywhere for her. Finally they discovered a deep cavern in the earth.

Saburo, the youngest brother, looked down the cavern and called out: "Is Princess Tokiyo down there?"

The princess answered from the bottom of the cavern: "Is Saburo there?"

Still peering into the hole, Saburo saw the princess standing beside a palace. So the three brothers quickly made a basket with some vines and lowered it into the cavern. They called for the princess to get into the basket, and then they pulled her up out of the hole. But when she was safe on the ground she said in a sad voice: "I was in such a hurry that I forgot the precious book of sutras that my parents gave me and left it down in the hole."

So Saburo went down into the cavern to get the book for her. In the palace there was a
tengu,
and he was in trouble because of the sutra. The brothers waiting up above became impatient when Saburo did not return and they dropped the vine rope.