Legends of Japan (6 page)

14. The long-nosed goblins

L
ONG, LONG AGO
, there was in China a bumptious
tengu
named Chira Eiju. A
iengu
is a red, long-nosed goblin who is possessed of magic powers. Although it looks like a human being, it has a pair of big wings on its back and can fly as freely as a bird. Japanese
tengu
were represented by Sojo-bo of Mt. Kurama, Taro-bo of Mt. Atago, and Jiro-bo of Mt. Hiei—all these mountains rising around Kyoto.

Once Chira Eiju, flying over the seas and mountains, came to Japan to call on Jiro-bo of Mt. Hiei. When talking with Jiro-bo, Chira Eiju boasted, "In my country, there is no one who
can
beat my magic power. Even a great magician priest is no match for me." The Japanese call a braggart a
tengu.
Chira Eiju could indeed be called a perfect
tengu.
He triumphantly boasted of his supernatural power, wriggling his long nose.

"Although I have often heard about you, I did not know that you are such a great
tengu,"
said Jiro-bo admiringly.

At that, Chira Eiju, feeling more proud, went on, "Such being what I am, Japanese magician priests are all beneath my notice. Well, my dear Jiro-bo, shall I show you the great power of my magic?"

"Oh, yes, please."

"All right. Come with me!"

They immediately went out to the busiest path on the mountain. There, Chira Eiju meant to throw a spell over passers-by. Jiro-bo, being a well-known person in the mountains, hid himself behind a big tree and watched what the Chinese
tengu
was going to do.

"Are you ready, dear Jiro-bo? Now watch me!" So saying, he quickly turned into the figure of an old Buddhist priest. In that shape, he meant to await the arrival of his victim. After a while, along came a high priest named Yokei.

"Here he comes!" Jiro-bo cried at the sight of the priest, and intently watched what Ghira Eiju would do with him. He imagined the Chinese
tengu
would have the priest walk on his hands, or turn him into a frog or a worm. Second after second, time elapsed; but nothing happened to the priest. Priest Yokei just walked briskly away, looking as if nothing was the matter with him.

Jiro-bo was not a little disappointed. "I say, dear Chira Eiju, what's wrong?" he asked, turning his head toward the Chinese goblin, and was surprised to see... no Chira Eiju there! "Hey, where are you?" When Jiro-bo looked in the distance by shading his eyes with his hand, he found the Chinese
tengu
hanging upside down from a tall tree in the valley.

"My dear Chira Eiju, what are you doing down there?" yelled Jiro-bo.

"O dear, dear! Whoever is that monk?"

"He is a famous mountaineering ascetic named Yokei. Perhaps he is on his way to the Imperial Palace to offer a prayer," Jiro-bo replied. "I expected you would have that famous priest spin himself round and round like a top."

Chira Eiju mumbled with a shudder, "Gosh! He beat me. When I saw him coming along, I rejoiced thinking 'Here comes my fellow!' But in a moment, his figure turned into a great flame and it came near me. I was almost burnt. He threw a spell of fire over me."

"Well, don't be discouraged. Try again," Jiro-bo urged.

Chira Eiju again turned himself into the figure of an old priest. Presently there came a high priest named Jinzen, riding on a palanquin, attended by a page with a cane in his hand.

"Here he comes!"

Chira Eiju had scarcely rejoiced at the arrival of his second prey, when the page turned to him and sharply shouted at him, "You rude fellow!"

That was enough. Boastful Chira Eiju once again was blown off to a distance.

"You were beaten again, dear Chira Eiju."

"Yes, but what's the matter with me today," wondered the Chinese goblin, obstinately refusing to acknowledge his defeat.

"Whoever was he? Pretending to be asleep on the palanquin, that bonze was secretly offering an exorcizing prayer. He even had a strong bodyguard, a follower of the Fire God. That's why I could not put a spell on them. I bet you I'll beat the next one."

They did not wait long before a magnificent procession came along. It was a procession of Jikei, the archbishop of the Enryaku-ji temple atop Mt. Hiei.

"Oh, here comes a big figure!" Jiro-bo, surprised at the procession of the most learned and virtuous priest in Japan, felt concerned for the unsuccessful Chinese goblin, when there suddenly appeared around Jikei's palanquin from no-one knew-where a group of five fierce lads.

These lads, wielding a whip each, warned one another, "Watch out! There lurks a goblin around here. Don't let him hurt our master!" No sooner had they uttered the words than they tried to sight the goblin.

Their action came so fast that Chira Eiju had no time to get away. All he did was to hover restlessly about. Soon he was caught by them, severely beaten, and blown off like a leaf in the wind.

"Oh, that hurts! Help me!" he exclaimed.When Jiro-bo came to him, Chira Eiju grumbled: "That bonze offered a damn prayer. Those strong bodyguards! They are the Five Paladins of Buddha. They have broken my hucklebone. Oh! Oh!"

So it was that Chira Eiju was beaten by three noted Japanese magician priests he once had thought meanly of.

"What a deep disgrace you have brought upon your own head, after coming all the way from your country! But you were lucky, because your long nose, which is our symbol, was not snapped off," Jiro-bo laughingly said.

It is told that a pair of
tengu
afterward appeared at a spa somewhere in Japan. We are sure they must have been Chira Eiju and Jiro-bo, who probably visited there for treatment.

15. Bewitched by a boar

I
N THE NORTHWESTERN
part of Kyoto, there rises a 3,050-foot mountain named Atagoyama. It is the highest mountain among those surrounding the city, and its name is often quoted in local school songs together with another famous mountain, Hieizan, and the Kamo River. From olden times, many faithfuls of the city used to climb up the mountain to pay their monthly visit to Atago Shrine on the top. This shrine is dedicated to the God of Fire Prevention.

An interesting tale is still told about this mountain.

Once upon a time, there lived on the top of Atagoyama an old priest who devoted all his life to the study of Buddhism. Every day he sat upright on a straw mat, with his eyes half-closed, and loudly recited the Lotus Sutra, hour after hour.

Those who knew him believed that he was the holiest priest in the country. To tell the truth, he was just reciting it without understanding its meaning at all. "He might be a learned fool," a Japanese saying goes. At any rate, he was well content with his life on the mountain.

At the foot of this mountain lived a pious old hunter who made his living by shooting deer or boar. As he was well acquainted with the priest, he would call on the latter with some present and have a chat with him.

One day the hunter came up to the priest's abode, bringing some fruit as a gift. The aged bonze, so very pleased with his visit, entertained him warmly, talking of one thing and another for hours. Toward the end of their pleasant conversation, the priest suddenly drew closer to the hunter and said in a low tone, "By the way, my good man, have you ever seen Buddha? These days I have the pleasure of seeing him at night. As you know, I have long devoted myself to the study of Buddhism, so I think my devotion has been rewarded at long last. When it grows dark outside, he appears at this poor cloister. What a majestic scene it is! I sincerely recommend that you stay here tonight and see him, too."

Hearing this story, the hunter exclaimed with astonishment, "What! You say, Buddha makes his holy appearance here. Indeed, I can't believe it. Never! But if what you say is really true, I should like to see him, too."

As recommended by the priest, he decided to stay at the cloister overnight to see the holy figure of Buddha. While waiting for the sunset, he was served supper. When left alone in the room after the meal, he called in a young priest who happened to pass by and asked him whether Buddha had really made his holy appearance there. The young priest replied that what the aged priest had told was true, and that even he himself had seen his holy figure several times. Despite this assurance, he was still doubtful that a common believer like himself could really see Buddha just as the well-trained priest did.

In the meantime, the sun set in the west and it
grew
dark.
In
the room the hunter sat up face-to- face with the
aged priest and was expecting the mysterious Buddha at any moment. It was not
a
moonlit night, and not a single star was seen in
the
sky. All was still and everything was wrapped in darkness. Every now and then, leaves rustled in the wind and tu-whoos were heard among the trees as the night wore on.

Now it was midnight. Suddenly the eastern sky began to brighten up as if the moon were sticking out her round face from behind the clouds. Then this strange brilliance came nearer and nearer toward their place, and several minutes later it came to find its way into the matted room in which the two were sitting. And lo! Up in the splendor there appeared the figure of Holy Buddha riding on the back of a white elephant. It was a very divine spectacle indeed! This resplendent figure, which had come close enough to the building, suddenly stopped its movement in the air.

As for the priest, he, from the beginning of these mysterious happenings, kept himself flat on the floor wrapped in the brilliant presence of Buddha, shedding tears of joy on the mat. The hunter kept watching every movement of the figure with curiosity until the prostrate priest, turning to him, whispered, "Well? Did you see him and bow to him, too?"

"Yes, sir," answered the hunter, hurriedly bending his forehead to the mat.

But he thought, "This is a little funny. It's quite natural that a well-trained priest like him should, with his virtue, be able to see Buddha. But how could I, who am not practiced in asceticism at all? Let me see, there must be something fishy about this Buddha. All right, I'll find it out."

With quick action, he raised himself up, fixed an arrow to the string of his bow, pulled it as round as the full moon and shot it out into the darkness. The arrow flew straight on toward the mysteriously illuminated figure as a piece of iron is attracted by a magnet, and hit it right in the heart.

All of
a
sudden the light faded and everything was covered with darkness. Silence prevailed for
a
few seconds. But soon the silence was broken by
a
succession of rattling noises. At the unexpected profane conduct of the hunter, the priest was so astonished that for a moment he could not utter a single word.

Regaining his senses after a while, he cried bitterly, "O you, what a thing you have done! Could there be greater impiety than this?"

The hunter felt so sorry for him. But as he had
a
definite thought in mind, he persuaded the miserable priest not to cry any more.

"I'm very sorry for you, my respected saint. When I set my eyes upon his figure, I got an impression that something was fishy about him. So I had to find it out by any means. Please don't cry any more and don't worry about damnation."

Thus he tried all possible ways and means to console the priest, who was now sunk in deep sorrow, but in vain. Meanwhile the veil of darkness began to fade away, and everything was awaking from its sleep, bit by bit. As soon as it grew light enough, the hunter stepped down on the ground and approached the spot where the monster had probably been standing on the preceding night.

To his great surprise, the ground there had in a single night turned into a sea of blood. And the marks of blood dotted the soil toward the valley beyond. He carefully traced these bloodstains one hundred yards, walking on the flat ground and climbing down the rocky slope, and found himself at the bottom of the deep valley at last.

There he saw a huge wild boar lying dead, its heart pierced with an arrow. At this horrible sight, the priest who had come after him was astonished, as he saw the true shape of the resplendent Buddha with his own eyes.

Now he did not feel sorrow any longer. He even felt ashamed of himself for believing he had acquired supernatural power through many years of learning.

It is told that there have not been any more mysterious events of that kind on the mountain since then.