Folk Legends of Japan (5 page)

A
LONG TIME AGO
a farmer's wife was washing sweet potatoes in a stream near Ikarijima. A poor, dirty-looking priest came from somewhere and asked her: "Please give me a potato. I am too hungry to walk on."

But the woman refused him, saying: "I have no potatoes to give you."

The priest, feeble and low of spirit, went along. Strange to say, the waters of the stream disappeared at that moment and never ran again. Since then the villagers have suffered much for lack of water. The upper and lower reaches of the river have water, and only the part that runs through that village is dry.

The people say that this was done by St. Kobo in order to reprove the woman for her unkindness.

THE STREAM WHERE KOBO WASHED HIS GARMENT

Text from
Shimane-ken Kohi Densetsu Shu,
Mino-gun no. 7, pp. 5-6.

L
ONG AGO
Kobo Daishi went on a pilgrimage throughout the country. He came to Momotomataga in Toyoda-mura, and he took off his dirty clothes. He washed them in the Hinomoto River. The villagers who saw him did not know that he was a virtuous priest, and criticized him for washing dirty clothes. St. Kobo went away without saying anything. He went to Takatsu-mura, and he washed his clothes on the bank in Suko. For this reason, in Momotomataga the river dries up in summer and people often suffer from lack of water. On the other hand, in Suko, through the mercy of the priest, no one has drowned in the river.

At present almost every year the water is dried up in Hinomoto and gushes out in Kadoi.

THE PRIEST'S TOWEL

Motif Q1.1, "Saints in disguise reward hospitality and punish in hospitality," also applies here. A Korean legend of Merciful Buddha disguised as a beggar, which fits into the pattern of this and the preceding tales, is in Zong In-Sob,
Folk Tales from Korea
(London, 1952), no. 27, pp. 45-46, "The Lake of Zangje." Chinese legendary tales of Lu Tung-pin appearing as a beggar to test mortals are in Wolfram Eberhard,
Chinese Fairy Tales and Folk Tales
(New York, 1938), nos. 74, 76, 77, pp. 220-21, 222-24.

Text from Kunio Yanagita, "Folk Tales from Hachinohe,"
Mukashi-banashi Kenkyu,
II (Tokyo, 1937), pp. 329-30. Collected by Ishiyama.

Notes:
Tenugui,
a Japanese-style towel or face-cloth (see Mock Joya, II, pp. 72-73)-
Mochi,
cakes made from pounded, glutinous rice.

T
HE YOUNG WIFE
of a household kindly gave a piece of
mochi
to a traveling priest who came by the door. Afterwards, her mother-in-law counted the pieces of
mochi
and realized that the young wife had given one to the priest. She scolded the young wife and sent her to regain the
mochi
from the priest. When the priest heard the young wife's honest plea, he not only returned to her the
mochi,
but also gave her a
tenugui,
praising her gentleness.

Acting on his suggestion, the young wife wiped her face with that
tenugui
every day. Then her face became extremely beautiful. The mother-in-law envied her and borrowed her
tenugui
to use it herself. However, the mother-in-law's face gradually became horselike and at last it turned into a horse's face.

The daughter-in-law felt very sorry for her and went to the priest and begged him to turn the mother's face back to normal. The priest said that when a greedy woman wiped her face with the
tenugui,
her face would turn into a horse's face, and he instructed her to tell the mother-in-law to rub her face with the reverse side of the
tenugui.
The young wife hastily went home and relayed the instructions to her mother-in-law. When the mother did as she was told, her face became as it had been before.

And thereafter she turned into a good-hearted woman and loved her daughter-in-law.

THE KANNON WHO SUBSTITUTED

The theme of the Buddhist deity assuming the guise of a pious worshiper to ward off injury or death to the mortal occurs frequently in Japanese religious legends. Suzuki, pp. 65-68, "The Living Headless Priest," has a clay image of Kannon take the form of Priest Baizan to save him from the murderous sword strokes of his host. Murai, p. 10, "Six Jizo," tells of an image of
Jizo
that bears a sword scar meant for a boy. In the
Japan Times
for February 23, 1957, Mock Joya recounts the legend of "One-Eyed Emma," the statue enshrined at Genkaku-ji, Hatsune-cho, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, which gouged out its own eye to save the sight of a poor old lady bringing her offerings. Under "Weeping Buddha" in the
Japan Times
of March 9, 1957, Mock Joy a tells how the painting of Fudo, the God of Fire, shed bloody tears and took to itself the sickness of his young worshiper Shoku, in the thirteenth century; the painting with its bloodstained tears was later placed in Mii-dera, Otsu, Shiga-ken.

Text from
Bungo Densetsu Shu,
p. no.

Note: Kannon, a Buddhist bodhisattva, commonly known as the Goddess of Mercy.

L
OOKING UP
from a small village nestled at the foot of a certain mountain, one can see a little shrine of Kannon on the very top. A young couple used to live in that village. The wife, for all her youth, believed in Kannon with utmost sincerity. Every night, after she had finished her daily housework she visited the shrine to worship the image. Her husband did not know the reason for her going and became suspicious of the wife who went out and returned to the house every night at the same time. One day he finally lost patience with his wife and determined to kill her. So he hid in the dark woods by the roadside and waited for his wife to come back. At the usual time she returned. The husband watched her coming near and, carefully aiming at her shoulder, swung down his sword askance. At this moment the wife felt her blood run cold throughout her body.

The husband wiped the blood from his sword and put the sword back in its sheath. When he returned to his home, he was astonished to see his wife, whom he thought he had slashed to death. He marveled, and went back to see the place where he had struck his wife. Sure enough, there were the dots of blood on the ground. He retraced his steps homeward, and asked his wife: "Didn't you feel something strange at such and such a time in such and such a place?" Then the wife answered: "Just at that time something made my blood run cold." The husband could not but confess all that had happened.

The next morning he awakened early and was surprised to see blood dotted all the way from the entrance of his house to the shrine on top of the mountain. When he looked at the statue of Kannon, he was again surprised to see a scar on the statue's shoulder, on the place where he had struck his wife the night before.

Now this Kannon is still popular in the neighboring villages, and they celebrate a festival for her on January 24 every year.

THE STATUE OF BUDDHA AT SAIHO-JI

To the theme of the substituting Buddha are joined here motifs that fall under "Magic Statue" (D1268) and "Images" (V120), and the specific miracle of D1551, "Waters magically divide and close."

Text from
Shimane-ken Kohi Densetsu Shu,
Ohara-gun, pp. 8-9.

T
HE PRINCIPAL IMAGE
of Saiho-ji at Iida, Sase-mura, Ohara-gun, is the seated statue of Amida Buddha, almost three feet in height. It has a burn on its left cheek. The following story tells the reason why.

A maidservant who worked in the house by the gate of this temple worshiped the image every morning and evening within the temple. For many years she had never failed to do this. Every time she cooked rice, in the morning and in the evening, she took some rice out of the pot and offered it to the image of Buddha. At last this became known to the mistress of the house, who grew enraged and pressed a heated iron rod on the pretty cheek of the maid. With a scream, the poor maid ran out of the house.

That night the master of the house had a strange dream. The shining golden Buddha stood by his pillow and spoke to him: "Your maid has been very pious and worshiped me for a long time. Therefore I substituted myself for her in the time of her disaster." As the master looked at the face of the Buddha, he saw blood running down his left cheek. As soon as he awakened from the vision, he arose and went to the temple. There he was astonished to see the appearance of the image, for blood was running down its cheek. Struck with awe, he returned home and talked with his wife. Greatly disturbed, they looked at the face of the maid, but it was as pretty as before, and bore no trace of injury. They asked her about the event of the previous day, but she answered that she knew nothing of it. At her words the master and the mistress realized that the image of Buddha was really injured in place of the pious maid. The mistress repented of her deed. People who heard of the occurrence were deeply moved by the grace of Buddha and worshiped the image more sincerely than ever.

In later days Lord Matsudaira of this province worshiped this image at Saiho-ji very earnestly. He decided to move the image to the newly built temple of Gessho-ji. According to his order, the holy statue was carried away by forty strong men. On the way they stopped over at Shigaraki Temple. While the image was resting there, it spoke to the priest in a dream: "I want to go back to Saiho-ji." And it shone brightly every night. All the priests thought this strange and reported the matter to the lord. Then the lord issued an order: "Have the sculptor make a statue just like that image and install it in Gessho-ji. As for that image, carry it back to Saiho-ji."

So the people started to take it back to Saiho-ji. Strangely, this time the holy statue became very light and was easily carried by only five or six porters. When they came to the river called Aka-kawa, a storm suddenly arose, and the skies began thundering and hailing. Rapidly the river rose to a great height and was soon impossible to cross. But the porters of the holy image boldly plunged into the water, firm in their belief that the image would protect them from drowning. Indeed, the angry waves immediately subsided and lowered to a heel's height. The porters could easily cross to the other side. But when the other travelers followed the porters and attempted to wade the river, the waters rose up again, and the raging waves overflowed the river banks.

People were filled with awe and spoke to one another about this miracle of Buddha, who, they thought, had subdued the dragon underneath the water.

THE EARLESS JIZO OF SENDATSUNO

The collector points out that Hearn published a similar legend under the title "Mimi-nashi Hoichi" in
Kwaidan
in 1904, taken from an old Japanese storybook
Gayu Kidan
(Strange Stories Told While Resting). In Hearn's tale the ghosts of the Heike listen to
biwa
music in places famed for Heike legends, and at the tomb of the Emperor Antoku.

The small village of Sendatsuno was named for Heike refugees fleeing from the Genji disguised as
sendatsu,
or guides for mountain pilgrims. The Heike are said to have turned on and killed their pursuers. Many families in the village claim to be Heike descendants. Tombs of the Emperor Antoku and his followers are on nearby hills, and none can approach unless they are barefooted.

Text from
Tosa no Densetsu,
II, pp. 8-13.

Notes:
Jizo,
a Buddhist bodhisattva, the guardian deity of children.
Biwa,
a four-stringed Japanese lute.
Heike Monogatari,
the tale of the Taira family (Heike) in their bitter struggles with the Minamoto family (Genji).