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Japanese Mythology
« on: August 04, 2019, 03:37:38 PM »


https://archive.org/details/mythologyofallra81gray/page/205

JAPANESE MYTHOLOGY


BY

MASAHARU ANESAKI

LITT.D.

UNIVERSITY OF TOKYO




. ..U.. . ... . .... .1 . — . . :dik M


AUTHOR’S PREFACE


T HE purpose of this book is not to tell amusing stories for
the entertainment of the curious so much as to give to the
serious reader a general view of the nature and the variety of
Japanese myths and folk-tales. Therefore the stories are told
as concisely as possible, and care is always taken to point out the
connections, conceptual or historical, that exist between differ-
ent stories.

A good deal has been said about the religious beliefs that
underlie the stories, for the author deems the mythopoeic activ-
ity of the human mind to be inseparable from its religious be-
liefs. He does not, however, commit himself to any conclusion
as to the precise nature of the connection between the two, or
as to the priority of either over the other.

On the other hand, the author is fully aware that many an
idea or story must be traced to the circumstances of the people’s
social life, which varied with each epoch in their history. That
view of the subject has been touched upon in some places,
though not so fully as the author would have done if he had not
been limited by the space allowed. Something more will be
said concerning it in the author’s Japanese Art in its Relation to
Social Life (to be published by the Marshall Jones Company).

Many books have been written on the mythology and folk-
lore of the Japanese, but they are usually limited to a particu-
lar branch of the subject or else they aim merely to entertain.
The present book may perhaps claim to be a more or less sys-
tematic treatise on the whole subject. That fact, the author
hopes, may to a certain degree compensate the reader who finds
the book disappointingly unamusing.


208


AUTHOR’S PREFACE


The author intended to include a chapter on the epic Heike
Monogatariy because its story, both the main thread and epi-
sodes, was widely recited by the rhapsodists, and became the
source of much later story-telling and dramatic writing. But
the limits of space obliged the author to omit the chapter and to
leave the subject to a separate publication.

Cordial thanks are due to the authorities of the Museum of
Fine Arts, Boston, through whose courtesy most of the illus-
trations have been taken from the works of art in its possession.


Karuizawa, Japan,
January, 1927.


M. ANESAKI


INTRODUCTION


THE PEOPLE, THE LAND AND CLIMATE IN
RELATION TO MYTHOLOGY AND
FOLK-LORE

T HE long archipelago that skirts the eastern seas of Asia,
now known as Japan, was in early times inhabited by
hairy aborigines called Ainus. The word “ Ainu ” means
“ man ” in their own language. Between two and three thou-
sand years ago parties of invaders began to come from the
mainland, probably landing at more than one point and at
many different times. These invaders drove the aborigines
gradually before them, first to the east and then to the north.
It is not certain whence the conquerors came, but the most
probable hypothesis is that they came across the Sea of Japan
from the Asiatic continent by way of the Korean peninsula.
It must not be forgotten that the basic stock of the Japanese,
like that of the Koreans, differs in many respects from the
Chinese. The origin of the Japanese must be sought some-
where further north than the home of the Chinese or Han race.
On the other hand, the affinity of the Koreans with the Japan-
ese is well established , 1 and kinship may some day be satis-
factorily traced with other races that inhabit the north of
Asia.

But the Japanese are a composite people, and the race seems
to have been modified by several immigrations, most frequently
from the eastern coasts of China, or from the southern islands,
and occasionally from the western side of the Sea of Japan.
These different stocks are distinguished by the majority of


210


INTRODUCTION


scholars in this way: the true Japanese usually has an oblong
face and an aquiline nose; the Chinese element is seen in a
flatter face and more prominent cheek-bones ; and the southern
or Malaysian type is marked by a round, dumpling face and
narrow eyes. The predominance of the Chinese features in
the western islands is very naturally explained by the easy
connection by sea between that part of Japan and the mouth of
the Yang-tze River.

On the other hand, the existence of a southern element may
be deduced from the fact that the southern parts of the western
islands are said, in legendary history, to have been disturbed
from time to time by turbulent invaders from farther south
called the Falcon-men (Haya-to) and the Bear-race (Kuma-
so). It is in this part of the country too, chiefly in the province
of Satsuma, that personal names compounded with “ bear ”
occur most frequently. Moreover the southern coasts of the
island Shikoku are rich in such names as “ So and so Horse ”j
and these coasts were naturally the nearest stepping-stones for
the immigrants from the south. Besides these prehistoric ac-
cretions to the population of the archipelago, the semi-historical
and historical records frequently mention immigrations from
China and Korea ; and these later immigrants were active in
disseminating their more advanced civilization throughout the
islands.

Having said so much for the hypotheses of modern scholars,
let us see what the ancient legends 2 of the people tell us about
their origin and their arrival at their present abode.

The creators of the islands are said to be two of the “ heav-
enly gods.” We shall hear more about them when we come
to consider the cosmological myths. One of their children was
the Sun-goddess, who ruled the universe high in Heaven and
became the progenitrix of the ruling family of Japan. Once
in August the Sun-goddess looked down toward the “ Middle
Land where Reeds Grow Luxuriantly,” i.e. the Japanese


INTRODUCTION


21 1


archipelago; she saw that the country was disturbed by various
“ evil spirits ” and that they rioted and surged “ like blue-
bottle hies.” She sent warning messages to these evil spirits,
and later several punitive expeditions were dispatched against
them and the earthly gods, who finally surrendered their lands
to the “ heavenly gods.” Among those who were thus subdued
were the descendants of the Storm-god, a brother of the Sun-
goddess, who ruled the coasts of the Sea of Japan, opposite the
eastern coasts of Korea.

After the way had thus been paved, the Sun-goddess sent
her grandson down to the islands, in order “ to rule the country
for eternity.” The party reached the island of Tsukushi
(modern Kyushu) at the summit of a high peak, and settled
down in the region of Himukai (the land “ facing the sun ”)
on the Pacific coast of the western island. As a matter of fact
that region is rich in old mounds, which are now being ex-
cavated, and a great many interesting relics of prehistoric
antiquity are being brought to light.

From the region “ Facing the Sun ” the waves of migration
and conquest swept eastward, along the coasts of the Inland
Sea. The objective was the central region, known as Yamato , 3
which was finally reached by Jimmu Tenno, the legendary
founder of the Imperial dynasty. Here again the conquerors
encountered the resistance of the “ Earth-spiders,” the
“ Eighty-owls,” the “ Long-legged-fellow,” the “ Fury-
giants,” etc.; but there were on their side, it is said, others who
belonged to the same tribe as the conquerors and who had
earlier settled down in the central region. In these battles the
descendants of the Sun-goddess were once defeated, because
they fought facing the sun, and thereafter they fought with the
sun at their backs. In the end, the solar descendants were vic-
torious and they settled in the region of Yamato which re-
mained the seat of Imperial residence up to the end of the
eighth century. The principal stock of the Japanese, repre-


212


INTRODUCTION


seated by the descendants of these conquerors, is therefore
called the Yamato race.

Whatever the mythical significance or historical value of
these stories may be, the Yamato race always believed in its
descent from Heaven and worshipped the Sun-goddess as the
ancestress of the ruling family, if not of all the people. They
also endeavoured to force this belief on the subjugated peoples,
and partly succeeded in impressing them with that and other
associated ideas. These legends and beliefs, together with the
accompanying religious practices, make up the original religion
of the Yamato race, now known as Shinto, of which we shall
presently speak further. The ancient records of Shinto 4 were
compiled early in the eighth century, for the purpose of con-
firming the celestial origin of the Yamato race and perpetuating
the history of that people. They contain cosmological myths
and legendary histories, chiefly drawn from oral tradition, but
modified by Chinese ideas, and a great deal of folk-lore is also
embroidered on the legends of the race, for the Japanese have
always reverenced ancestral traditions of any sort. These offi-
cial records of Shinto contain the chief stock of ancient mythol-
ogy, and they have been kept comparatively free from the
foreign influences which, in later years, had so much effect on
Japanese literature and art.

Naturally, the people’s propensity to tell stories and to use
mythopceically their own ideas about natural and social phe-
nomena added much mythic material to that found in the offi-
cial records. Some of it, no doubt, was introduced by immi-
grants from other lands and was therefore foreign to the
original traditions of the race. We shall not make any positive
assertions about the “ racial character ” or “ innate inclination ”
of the people as manifested in their native ideas or imagery.
Yet no one can deny that different peoples show clearly differ-
ent mental and spiritual traits in viewing their own life and in
reacting toward their environment. The natural features and


INTRODUCTION


213


climate of the land inhabited by a people no doubt have a great
influence upon their myth-making activity. But the way in
which they react to these external conditions is determined by
their temperament, their traditional stock of ideas and the alien
influences to which they have been subjected. The Japanese
were always susceptible to the impressions of nature, sensitive
to the varied aspects of human life, and ready to accept foreign
suggestion. Let us consider how these conditions influenced
the development of Japanese mythology and folk-lore.

Nature seems to have favoured the Japanese people by pre-
senting to them her most soothing and charming aspects. The
islands exhibit nearly all stages of geological formation, and
the climate ranges from the semi-tropical heat of the south-
west to the severe winters of the north. Continental magnitude
is, of course, lacking, but the landscape is richly diversified by
mountains and streams, inlets and promontories, plains and
forests. Fairies may well be imagined to roam in the woods
and by the many waterfalls 5 in the spring haze and in the sum-
mer clouds semi-celestial beings may easily be visualized ; the
dark surface of lakes surrounded by steep cliffs and soaring
peaks is well adapted to be the abode of gloomy spirits or to be
the scene of conflicts among fantastic genii. The cloud-like
blossoms of the cherry-trees are said to be produced by the
inspiration of a Lady-who-makes-the-trees-bloom, and the
crimson leaves of the maples are conceived to be the work of
a Brocade-weaving-Lady. The spirit of the butterfly appears
in the spring night, wearing pink robes and veiled in greenish
wreaths. In the plaintive singing of the “ pine insect ” the
people hear the voice of the dear one who has been reborn
among the withering bushes of the fields. On the lofty sum-
mits of snow-covered peaks great deities may dwell, and among
the iridescent clouds may be heard celestial music. Beyond the
distant horizon of the sea is the land of perpetual green of the
palace of the Sea King.


Vffl— IS


214


INTRODUCTION


The susceptibility of the people’s mind to their surroundings
is shown in the early growth of a poetry in which they sang the
beauty of nature and the pathos of human life, of love and of
war. That early poetry is simple in form and naive in senti-
ment, yet it is touching and delicate. The people felt in har-
mony with the changing aspects of nature, exhibited in the phe-
nomena of the seasons, in the varieties of the flora, in the
concerts of singing birds or insects. Their sentiment toward na-
ture was always expressed in terms of human emotions} things
of nature were personified, as men were represented as living in
the heart of nature. Man and nature were so close to each
other that the personified phenomena were never totally dis-
sociated from their natural originals. This circumstance has
often been misinterpreted by Western observers, who declare
that the Japanese lack the personifying power of imagination.
But the truth is that the degree of personification is not so
complete as it is in Greek mythology, and that the imagination
never went so far as to obscure its source in the actual physical
world.

It is also true that the Japanese myths and stories are not so
well connected and systematized as they are with the Aryan
peoples. There is in Japanese mythology a certain cycle of
cosmological ideas, but the links are often missing and many
single stories remain quite dissociated. Lightness of touch is
characteristic of Japanese imagination, and readiness in impro-
vising is no less conspicuous. The careful insistence on the
official account of the ancestry of the people may seem to
conflict with the lack of system that appears elsewhere, and
Buddhist influence certainly modified the peculiar character-
istics which determined the mythology of the race. Yet
Buddhism was adapted by the Japanese to their own mental
disposition, and the great system of Buddhist mythology was
broken up into single tales or brought down to the humbler
level of actual human experience. Delicate, imaginative, pleas-


INTRODUCTION


21 5


ing, but never lofty, sensitive but scarcely penetrating, so we
may characterize the temperament of the people as manifested
in their mythology and poetry, art and music. In consequence
of these traits there is a lack of tragic strength in their mythol-
ogy. They have no idea of a tremendous catastrophe of the
world; the conflicts that occur almost never end in sublime
tragedy but in a compromise. Even the tragedies found in
the later tales and dramas are characterized by the mournful
submission of the heroes, and only exceptionally by the conflict
of a demoniac will with fate. This may be partly owing to the
mild influence of the land and the climate, but it is largely the
result of the temperament of the people, as we shall see if we
consider their native religious ideas.

The primitive religion of the people is called Shinto, which
means the “ Way of the Gods ” or “ Spirits.” This belief
amounts to an animistic view of the world, associated with the
tribal cult of the clan deities. The word animism is used here
to mean the doctrine that the things of nature are animated like
ourselves, either by a soul or by a peculiar kind of vitality.
Seeing the world in this light, the Japanese used to revere any-
thing, whether a natural object or a human being, that seemed
to manifest an unusual power or beauty. Every one of these
objects or beings is called a kaml , a deity or spirit. Nature is
inhabited by an infinite host of these deities and spirits, and
human life is always closely associated with their thoughts and
actions. The genius of an awe-inspiring mountain is called the
deity of the mountain; it may at the same time be regarded as
the progenitor of the tribe which inhabits the foot of the moun-
tain, or, if not the ancestor, it may at least be invoked as the
tutelary god of the tribe.

Therefore the Shinto religion is a combination of nature-
worship and ancestor-cult, and in most cases the nature-myth
is inseparable from the story concerning the ancestral deity and
from his worship, because the curiosity to know the origins of


21 6


INTRODUCTION


things works as strongly toward the physical world as toward
one’s own individual and social life. That is the reason why
Shinto traditions combine the simple poetry of nature with
philosophic speculations about the origins of things. These
two aspects of Shinto are inextricably mingled in the existing
communal cults and they have given rise to many local legends
and myths. In these stories fancy played a part, but never to
the exclusion of earnest religious belief. This is the cause of
the curious tenacity of the Shinto legends among the people.

The most important foreign influence that reached Japan,
certainly so far as religion, art and literature are concerned, was
that of Buddhism. In the domain of mythology Buddhism
introduced into Japan a great deal of the Hindu imagination,
which is characterized by grandeur of scale, by richness of
imagery, by lofty flights of fancy. Buddhist literature, im-
ported into Japan and welcomed by the people, belonged to
the branch of Buddhism known as Mahayana, or the “ Broader
Communion.” In those books an infinite number of Buddha-
lands, or paradises, is said to exist, and each of them is de-
scribed in gorgeous and fanciful language. In a paradise there
are avenues of trees decorated with jewels, ponds full of lotus
flowers, birds singing perpetually in concert with the music
played by celestial beings. The air is filled with miraculous
scents and the earth is paved with precious stones. Innumer-
able varieties of celestial beings, Buddhas, saints, angels and
deities inhabit these paradises. When a large number is re-
ferred to it is spoken of as “ billions of myriads ” ( koti-niuta -
asankhya). A long time is described thus: Suppose you grind
the “ great thousand ” of worlds into fine dust and bring each
one of the particles to one of the innumerable worlds scattered
over the vast cosmos j the time required for that endless task
will perhaps compare to the number of the world-periods passed
by Buddha in his work.

Not only did the lofty flights of Buddhistic imagination ex-


Offline PrometheusTopic starter

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Re: Japanese Mythology
« Reply #1 on: August 04, 2019, 03:38:31 PM »

INTRODUCTION


217

pand and stimulate the development of Japanese mythology,
but the innumerable Buddhist stories had a remarkable influ-
ence on the growth of Japanese folk-lore. Buddha is repre-
sented as having lived past lives without number, and these
offer inexhaustible stories of adventure and compassionate acts
which are found in the Jatakas (“ Birth-stories ”), Nidanas,
and Avadanas (stories of the causes of Buddha’s attainment).
Buddhist doctrines are also elucidated by many picturesque
similes and parables. As students of Buddhism and Indian
literature know well, most of these stories are told as the actual
experience of Buddha and of others in their existence in every
form of human, animal or even plant life . 5 They were used
very often for didactic purposes in Buddhist sermons, but they
helped to stimulate folk-lore as well, by familiarizing people
with the idea of personified animals and plants and by supply-
ing plots and morals to the fabulists.

Through this channel Japanese folk-lore derived much of its
materials from the same source from which ^Esop took his
fables, and many of those Indian stories became so completely
naturalized in Japan that they are widely known among people
who do not know that they come from an alien source. We
shall set down only a few of these Hindu- Japanese stories in
this book, and pursue no further the subject of the important
Indian influence on native folk-lore. We ought to call atten-
tion, however, to the fact that Japanese folk-lore is affected
not only by these particular foreign accretions but by the gen-
eral type of idea and imagination fostered by the Buddhist
religion.

Buddhism is pre-eminently a pantheistic religion, and
teaches that every being, sentient or non-sentient, is in spiritual
communion with ourselves and is destined, together with us, to
attain Buddha-hood. All beings are separate in appearance
but make up one continuity, united by the indissoluble tie of
moral causation, and based on one and the same reality. The


218


INTRODUCTION


continuity of life pervading all existences — this teaching in-
spired the Japanese with a broad sympathy toward their fellow
beings and surrounding nature. The religious ideal of Bud-
dhism consisted in realizing in thought this truth of the oneness
of existence, and in living a life of the broadest sympathy.
Seen in this light the universe is only a stage of spiritual com-
munion, and nothing in it is outside the pale of close fellowship.

This fundamental teaching and ultimate ideal were, more-
over, brought closer to our life of sympathy by the teaching of
karma, which meant the bond of moral causation. According
to that doctrine the present life is to be viewed as one link in
the endless chain of moral causation ; one’s present life is de-
termined by the qualities of one’s own past deeds and is destined
to determine the life that is to come. That is the 11 serial
continuity ” of our existence ; in addition there is a collateral
continuity.

That expression means that the individual life is not an iso-
lated product of one’s own karma but plays always a part in
one broad common destiny, enjoyed or suffered together with
one’s fellow-beings. “ Even touching of sleeves between two
persons, as if by mere chance, is a result of the karma that
connects the two.” This sentiment is felt in every human
relation. Parents and children, husband and wife, and other
less close relationships are manifestations of the continuity that
persists through life and may persist far into the future.

Not only human relationships but the physical surroundings
of one’s life are also connected by the same tie of karma. “ If
a Buddhist sees a butterfly flying among flowers, or a dew-drop
glittering on the leaf of a lotus plant, he believes that the
connection and the affinity that exist between these objects are
fundamentally like the links that bind human beings in their
life relations. That we enjoy the joyous singing of night-
ingales among the plum-blossoms is owing to the necessity of
the karma that connects us with these creatures.”


INTRODUCTION


219


In such a pantheistic religion there was always a strong incen-
tive to the play of poetic fancy as well as a constant urge toward
close sympathy with one’s fellow-beings and one’s physical
environment. Buddha himself, according to the Indian tales,
experienced in his countless reincarnations an infinite variety of
animal lives. So all his followers may have had such experi-
ences, and many stories tell how the narrator lived once as a
bird and used to sing among flowers, whose spirit later became
his wife.

As Buddhism stimulated imagination to dwell on the ties
that connect our life with other existences, Taoism supplied
additional material for fantastic stories about the supernatural.
Taoism represented the poetic genius and romantic tendency of
the Yutzu Valley Chinese in contrast to the practical and sober
traits of the northern Chinese, represented by Confucianism.
It laid a special emphasis on the necessity of returning to na-
ture, by which it understood a life freed from all human fet-
ters, social conventions and moral relationships. Its ideal
consisted in attaining through persistent training a life in com-
munion with the heart of nature, “ feeding oneself with ambro-
sial dew-drops, inhaling mists and cosmic ether.” The Taoist
who attained this ideal condition was called a Sennin or “ Man
of the mountain,” and was supposed to roam freely in the air
and to live an immortal life. The ideal of immortal existence
was often combined with the Buddhist ideal of perfect emanci-
pation from human passions, and this religion of naturalistic
mysticism was the natural source of many imaginary tales of
men or supermen who lived “ in the heart of nature ” and per-
formed their miraculous achievements by virtue of their re-
ligious merit.

Besides the miracles ascribed to these “ Men of the moun-
tains,” some of the most popular personifications of natural
objects owe their origin to a combination of Taoist beliefs with
Buddhist naturalism, represented by the Zen school. We shall


220 INTRODUCTION

meet with one of the instances in the story of the “ Mountain
Maid.”

The physical surroundings of the Japanese and the religious
influences which have been mentioned were favourable to an
opulent growth of tale and legend in which the phenomena of
nature were personified and imagination played freely. Yet
there was one counteracting force, and that was Confucianism.

The teachings of Confucius were rationalistic, and his ethics
tended to stifle human imagination and to limit human activity
to the sphere of civic life. Although the influence of Con-
fucian ideas in ancient Japan was limited to social and civic
institutions, these ideas could not but discourage the develop-
ment of folk-lore and imaginative creations. There had been
myths and legends in ancient China, but Confucius scorned
them and made them ridiculous. The Confucian literati in
Japan in turn looked with contempt upon folk-lore and similar
romantic tales. Especially during the three hundred years
between the seventeenth and the nineteenth centuries, the com-
plete sway of Confucian ethics as the moral standard of the
ruling classes was a great hindrance to the natural development
of the imaginative power of the race. 6 Nevertheless the ancient
traditions were preserved among the people and there is in
Japan a stock of myth and legend which rivals that of any other
nation.

In considering the mythology and folk-lore of the Japanese,
it is convenient to divide the stories into four classes. These
classes are: (i) cosmological myths and stories of origins, or
explanatory myths; (2) products of the imagination, i.e. fairy
tales and similar flights of fancy; (3) the play of romantic in-
terest in human life, i.e. romantic love stories and heroic tales;
(4) stories told for their moral lessons, or those which may
be interpreted as implying morals — fables or didactic stories,
together with humour and satire. 7


JAPANESE MYTHOLOGY


CHAPTER I

COSMOLOGICAL MYTHS AND TALES
OF ORIGINS

I. SPONTANEOUS GENERATION: LIFE AND

DEATH

J APANESE mythology, like the mythologies of many other
peoples, knows nothing about a creation by fiat, but postu-
lates the origin of things in spontaneous generation and their
development by generative succession. The explanation of the
origin of the universe through creation is grand} the myths of
spontaneous generation and transformation are soothing. The
former is monotheistic, for everything is made to depend on the
will and power of one almighty creator} the latter is hylozoistic,
or pantheistic, for all existences are credited with vitality in-
herent in themselves. It was this primitive Japanese concep-
tion of things which manifested itself in Shinto animism and,
later on, harmonized well with Buddhist pantheism.

Of course, there was a certain unlikeness between Shinto
animism and Buddhist pan-psychism. The former posited
metamorphosis by chance, or by the arbitrary will of a deity,
whereas the latter explained every change by the law of cau-
sation, both physical and moral, and denied any change through
chance. Yet this theoretical difference offered no grave ob-
stacle to a harmony between the two conceptions and the
mythologies that grew out of them} the arbitrary metamorpho-


222 JAPANESE MYTHOLOGY

sis of the Shinto conception was modified by the Buddhist con-
ception of causal transformation, and the latter was simply
extended in the popular mind by a looser idea of causation.
In the end the combination of these two conceptions made uni-
versal the belief that everything is endowed with an innate
vitality, and changes within itself as well as through external
circumstances. The application of this idea to all existences
gives us the key-note to all Japanese myths and tales.

In the beginning, as the ancient records 1 of Shinto tell us,
there was chaos, like an ocean of oil. Out of the primeval chaos
grew something like the sprout of a reed. It proved to be a
deity who was called the Eternal-Ruling-Lord , 2 and together
with him were generated two deities, called respectively the
High-Producing-god and the Divine-Producing-goddess . 3
We are not explicitly told that these two were husband and
wife, yet most probably they were so conceived. At any rate
these three are regarded as the original triad in the generation
of gods, men and things. But almost nothing further is heard
about them, except that some clans claimed descent from one
or another of them and that the High-Producing-god some-
times appears behind the Sun-goddess, as if he were her nou-
menon or associate.

The primeval triad is followed by a series of gods and god-
desses, who seem to be thought of as couples and were probably
personifications of germinating powers, such as mud, vapour
and seeds. All these are said to have “ hidden themselves,”
i.e. died, but not after the fashion of human mortality. After
a succession of these spontaneous generations and disappear-
ances, a couple appeared who were destined to generate many
things and many important gods. They were the “ Male-who-
invites ” (Izanagi) and the “ Female-who-invites ” (Izan-
ami ), 4 and we must learn more about them.

The two deities were sent down to the world by “ command
of the celestial deities ” in order to bring forth things on earth.













I:

L

r. :

-

.

• .






:?




























PLATE VII


The Primeval Couple


Izanagi and Izanami, standing in the clouds and
creating an island out of the sea-water. See pp. 222—
223.

By Yeilakul, a modern genre painter. In posses-
sion of Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.




COSMOLOGICAL MYTHS


223

They descended from their home by the “ Floating Bridge of
Heaven.” 5 The male deity groped through space with his
sword, and the drops of salt water dripping from the tip of the
sword coagulated themselves into a little islet, called Ono-
koro, i.e. “ Self-coagulating.” 6 Upon that they landed and
were married, after they had gone round the islet in opposite
directions and met at the farther side. The first child born
to them was a miscarried creature, like a jelly-fish, on account
of a misdemeanour of the goddess during the wedding cere-
mony. That child was thrown into the water. Thereafter they
begot many things, or deities, such as the sea, the waterfalls,
the wind, the wood, the mountain, the field, etc. It was by the
power of the Wind-god that the primeval haze was dispersed
and things stood forth distinctly. After the birth of these and
many other deities, including the islands of the Japanese archi-
pelago (and, according to one version, also the rulers of the
universe, the sun, the moon and the storm), the birth of the
gods of fire proved fatal to the goddess, Izanami. Her death
was not unlike that of a human being from a fever, and it may
be called the first instance of human mortality. After death
she descended into Hades . 7

The death of the mother goddess is the beginning of the
antithesis between life and death, and of other cycles of similar
contrasts, like that of light and darkness, of order and atrocity,
etc.

The goddess Izanami died and descended to the Japanese
Hades, Yomotsu-kuni (“the Land of Gloom”). Her hus-
band Izanagi, like Orpheus, followed her to her subterranean
abode. The goddess asked him not to look at her. Yet, being
eager to see her, the husband lighted a little torch and, in the
darkness of the pit, beheld the ugly, decaying figure of the
goddess. She was angry at her husband’s disobedience and,
wishing to punish him by imprisoning him too in the Land of
Gloom, she pursued him as he fled. She called together all


224 JAPANESE MYTHOLOGY

the furies (Shikome, “ the ugly females ”) and ghosts of the
place, and they nearly caught him, but he threw behind him the
wild grapes and bamboo shoots that grew on his comb, and
the furies stayed to eat the fruits. After several narrow es-
capes and extraordinary experiences, the male deity succeeded
in reaching the boundary between Hades and the terrestrial
world. The furies and ghosts no longer pursued him, but the
female deity came as far as the pass into the world. There
the husband lifted a large rock and blocked up the aperture
that led to the upper world.

Then said the goddess in furious anger: “ Henceforth I
shall cause to die every day one thousand of thy people in thy
realm.” The god answered: “Then I shall give birth to one
thousand and five hundred every day.”

The two deities thus came to a final breach, and from
that day the births and deaths in this world are kept at the
proportion named. Through this breach between the origi-
nal couple who had generated all things in the world came
the division of the world between life and death. Let
us see how this antithesis is developed in a further mythic
cycle.

When the male deity succeeded in escaping capture by the
spirits of darkness and death, he purified himself, according to
the ancient custom, in a stream. The pollutions occasioned by
his contact with death in the Land of Gloom were washed
away one by one. From these stains came out various spirits
of evil and also spirits of protection against ill, the deities of
rapids, of whirlpools, etc. The last born were the Sun-goddess,
the “Heaven-illuminating Deity” (Ama-terasu), out of the
Father-god^ left eye; the Moon-god, the “Guardian of the
Moonlight Night” (Tsuki-yo-mi), out of the right eye; and
the Storm-god, the “Swift-impetuous Deity” (Susa-no-wo),
out of his nostrils. Of the three the Moon-god dwindled into
insignificance and the two others now began their contest.


COSMOLOGICAL MYTHS


225


II. THE RULERS OF THE WORLD: THE CONTEST
BETWEEN THE SUN-GODDESS AND THE
STORM-GOD

The eldest sister, the Sun-goddess, was resplendent in fea-
ture, dignified in attire, magnanimous and benignant in char-
acter, and shone gloriously in the sky. The rule over the heav-
ens was allotted to her. On the other hand, the youngest
brother, the Storm-god, was gloomy in appearance, full-
bearded, furious and impetuous in temper and strong in phy-
sique. The sea was the realm entrusted to his rule. While the
Sun-goddess fulfilled her duties and cared for the promotion
of life and light, the Storm-god was unruly, neglected his
realm and caused every sort of riot and tumult. Crying and
raging he declared that he longed for the mother’s abode, and
in his transports of fury he ravaged all the orderly arrange-
ments made by his sister, such as the irrigation works of the
rice-fields, and even the holiest place prepared for the feast
of the new harvest. The division of realms made by the
Father-god led to endless conflicts between the agent of life,
light, order and civilization and the author of disorder, destruc-
tion, darkness and death. We see the antithesis between the
primeval male and female deities, which had resulted in the
strife between life and death, transferred to a more desperate
conflict between the Sun-goddess and the Storm-god.

An interesting episode in the story is the visit of the Storm-
god to the sister’s heavenly abode, which ended in a com-
promise between the two. When the Sun-goddess perceived
that her brother was ascending toward her realm, “ the Plain
of High Heaven” (Taka-ma-no-hara), she was sure that
he was coming to usurp her domain, and made ready to meet
him, fully armed and with weapons in her hands. When at
last the Storm-god confronted her across the heavenly river


226 JAPANESE MYTHOLOGY

Yasu, 8 he explained that he had not come with mischievous
designs but simply to say farewell to his sister before going to
his mother’s realm. In order to testify to the mutual confi-
dence thus established, they agreed to exchange their posses-
sions and thereby to beget children.

The Sun-goddess gave her jewels to her brother, and the
Storm-god gave her his sword. Both of them drank from
the heavenly well in the river-basin and put into their mouths
the things they had exchanged. Out of the sword in the mouth
of the Sun-goddess came forth the goddess of rapids and whirl-
pools and finally a splendid boy, whom she named her beloved
son. Out of the jewels in the Storm-god’s mouth, were pro-
duced the gods of light and vitality.

So ended the encounter on the banks of the Yasu River with
evidences of mutual confidence, which, however, proved only
temporary.

In spite of their understanding, the Storm-god did not cease
his outrageous conduct. He went so far as to destroy the rice-
fields built by the Sun-goddess and to pollute her holiest ob-
servances. After these unbearable offences not only against
her but against the holy ceremonies she had instituted,
the Sun-goddess hid herself from her atrocious brother in a
heavenly cave. The source of light disappeared, the whole
world became dark, and evil spirits ran riot throughout the
world.

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Re: Japanese Mythology
« Reply #2 on: August 04, 2019, 03:39:03 PM »

Npw eight millions of gods, embarrassed and confused,
assembled in front of the cave, and consulted among them-
selves how the light might be restored. As the result of their
consultation, many things of divine efficacy were produced, such
as mirrors, swords, and cloth offerings. Trees were set up and
decorated with jewels} cocks were brought that they might
keep up a perpetual crowing} bonfires were lighted} and a
dance was performed by a goddess called Uzume, 9 with merry
musical accompaniment. The curious dance of Uzume so




PLATE VIII


The Sun-goddess Reappearing from the
Heavenly Cave, in Front of Which the Gods
are Trying to Induce Her to Come Out by
Means of Charms and a Dance

On the left side stands the sakaki tree on which a
mirror, jewels and strings are hanging. The dancer
is Uzume (cf. Plate XXIII) who wears a curious
dress, together with stag horn moss, which is used as
a charm. She dances on a flat tub put upside down.
Beside the tub there are cocks, the “ long singing-
birds of the Eternal Land.” One god on the right
side is raising a mirror, a sign of sympathetic magic
to welcome the sun, while other gods are engaged in
opening the Heavenly Cave. The Sun-goddess is
represented as a young lady, wearing jewels on her
breast. See p. 226, and cf. Aston’s Shinto , pp. 100-
IOI.

The picture is by Yeitaku, a modern genre painter.











'




COSMOLOGICAL MYTHS


227

amused all the assembled gods that their laughter filled the air
and made the earth tremble.

The Sun-goddess in the cave heard the merry noise and was
curious to know what was going on outside. No sooner had
she opened an aperture of the cave and peeped out, than a
powerful god widened the opening and drew her out by force,
while the other gods prevented her from slipping back into the
cave. Thus the Sun-goddess reappeared. The universe was
once more brightly illuminated, evil vanished like haze, and
order and peace prevailed on earth. When the Sun-goddess
re-appeared, the eight million deities joined in joyful tumult
and their happy laughter pervaded the universe. This is the
cheerful climax of the whole cycle of the cosmological myth,
and it is an interesting fact that in modern times parts of
Haydn’s Creation have been adapted to the choral songs which
describe this scene.

Perhaps this episode originally represented the reappearance
of light and warmth after a great storm or after a total eclipse
of the sun. But the compilers of the mythological records had
also in mind an exaltation of the supreme rule of the Imperial
ancestress, threatened for a time with danger from a usurper,
the victory of order and peace over barbarism, of the Imperial
government over rebellious traitors. Although there is every
reason to believe that there was a purely natural background
for the myth of the Sun-goddess and the Storm-god, the Shin-
toists have interpreted it as a historical record, celebrating
the triumph of the Imperial rule. Nor is this interpretation
wholly devoid of truth if we consider that we have to deal with
a myth of natural phenomena combined with a race-view of
social life, a mixture in short of what German scholars call
Natur-mythus and Kultur-mythus.


228


JAPANESE MYTHOLOGY


III. FURTHER CONFLICTS AND COMPROMISES

The rule of the Sun-goddess was restored, and the assem-
bled gods decided to punish the outrageous Storm-god. His
beard was stripped off, his possessions were confiscated and he
was sentenced to banishment. Then began his wanderings and
adventures.

He descended to the region of Izumo, on the coast of the
Sea of Japan. There he killed a monster serpent with an eight-
forked head. When he cut the monster’s body to pieces, a
sword came out of its tail, and Susa-no-wo, the Storm-god, sent
the weapon to his sister goddess as a tribute to her and her de-
scendants. This sword, it is said, is handed down in the ruling
family as one of the three insignia ; the other two are a jewel
and a mirror . 10

We must pass over several other adventures of Susa-no-wo,
but it is interesting to know that he is regarded as the pioneer
in the colonization of Korea and that he is said to have planted
the forests in the region of Kii, on the Pacific coast. The place
which he visited in Korea is called Soshi-mori, which meant
“ Ox’s Head,” and another name of the god is Guzu Tenno,
“ the Celestial King of the Ox’s Head,” in which capacity he is
revered as a guardian against plague and identified with Indra,
the Hindu Storm-god. The story of his work in Kii, a name
which may mean “ forests,” is that he came down from Izumo
to the Pacific coast and planted the mountains with hairs from
his head and his beard which became trees. There is a place
on the eastern coast of Kii, where the grave of Susa-no-wo is
said to exist; the villagers celebrate his festival by covering the
grave with flowers. Thus was the Storm-god transformed into
the genius of forests.

But the chief field of Susa-no-wo’s activity was in Izumo.
There his descendants are believed to have reigned ever since


COSMOLOGICAL MYTHS


229

his time, having instituted a theocratic regime connected with
the priesthood of the sanctuary of Kitsuki, which was dedicated
to him and to his children . 11 Here the purely cosmological
myth ends and the quasi-historical tale begins, in which the
Sun-goddess’s grandson and Susa-no-wo’s son-in-law play the
chief parts.

The successor of Susa-no-wo was Oh-kuni-nushi, “ the Great-
Land-Master.” The story of his marriage with a daughter of
Susa-no-wo is the familiar one of a woman seized without the
consent of her father or even of herself. While Susa-no-wo
was asleep, Oh-kuni-nushi tied all his hair to the beams of the
house and made off with the daughter, together with her fa-
ther’s three precious things, a sword, a bow and arrows, and a
harp. Susa-no-wo was awakened by the harp, which played of
itself as Oh-kuni-nushi bore it away, but the younger god made
good his escape while Susa-no-wo was loosing his hair. Susa-
no-wo pursued the other, but when he caught up with him he
said, apparently in admiration of his subtlety: “Now I shall
give thee my daughter together with the treasures. Therewith
rule the country, and thou shalt be called Utsushi-kuni-dama,
c the Soul of the Beautiful Land.’ ” 12

In ruling the country and developing its resources, the Great-
Land-Master found a powerful helpmate in a dwarf god,
named Suku-na-biko, “ the Small-Renown-Man.” This per-
sonage approached the Land-Master as he was standing on the
beach, coming from the sea in a raft, clad in moth’s wings and
wearing a mantle of feathers. The Land-Master took up the
dwarf on his palm and learned that he was a child of the Di-
vine-Producing-goddess and familiar with the medical art.
The two became like brothers and co-operated in developing
the land, in cultivating various useful plants and in curing the
people’s diseases.

There are several amusing stories about this dwarf god, and
some of the later tales of dwarfs and elves were derived from


vxn — 16


230 JAPANESE MYTHOLOGY

these sources. His legs were so small that he could not walk,
yet he knew everything in the world and went everywhere.
His end was a peculiar one. When the millet in his fields 13
ripened he climbed one of its ears, and as the stalk rebounded
he was thrown so far off that he never came back, but went to
Tokoyo, “ the Land of Eternity.” Yet this dwarf god is be-
lieved still to appear and to lead people to places where there
are curative springs. Therefore he is often called “ the god of
hot springs,” a natural enough function for a medical divinity.

The joint activity of the two deities established the adminis-
tration of Susa-no-wo in Izumo, and a state was founded there.
Meanwhile, the Sun-goddess desired to send her beloved
grandson, Ninigi (“ the Prosperity-Man ”), to the eight is-
lands (the Japanese archipelago) generated by the primeval
couple. After several failures, her ambassadors finally suc-
ceeded in getting the better of the rulers of Izumo and other
adjoining states. The most interesting of all the episodes is
that of the subjugation of Izumo, for it deals with the conflicts
and the final compromise between the two clans, descended
from the Sun-goddess and the Storm-god respectively.

This is the story: Well understanding the difficulties of the
undertaking, the Sun-goddess sent two of her best generals,
Futsu-nushi (“ the Sharp-cutting Lord,” the genius of the
weapon) and Take-mi-kazuchi (“ the Valiant-August-Thun-
der ”) to the realm of Oh-kuni-nushi. After a long resistance
Oh-kuni-nushi and his sons, the lords of Izumo, yielded to the
demand of the armed ambassadors that Izumo should be ruled
by the August Grandchild of the Sun-goddess. But a condition
was agreed upon, that all the power of the visible world should
be delivered to the Grandchild, while things “ hidden ” should
still be subject to the rule of the Great-Land-Master and his
descendants. By “ things hidden ” was meant all mysteries
beyond the visible physical world, the occult arts of divination,
sorcery, exorcism and the medical arts.


COSMOLOGICAL MYTHS


231


The long conflict between the two parties was concluded
in this pact, which was in accordance with the original ordinance
laid down by the primordial progenitor. The cycle of antithe-
sis, between life and death, between light and darkness, between
wisdom and barbarism, did not develop into a tragic dualism
to be fought out, as in some other mythologies, but ended in
a compromise which long characterized the Japanese philoso-
phy of life, until Buddhist religion came to obscure these primi-
tive beliefs. The legendary part of Japanese history often
mentions, in connection with various misfortunes, the demand
of the Great-Land-Master for propitiation, and the helpful
advice of the Sun-goddess given in the name of her noumenon,
the High-Producing deity.

After the account of the understanding between the Sun-
goddess and the Storm-god comes the story of the descent of
Ninigi, the August Grandchild of the Sun-goddess, to the
Japanese archipelago. This story we have spoken of in the
Introduction; with it the cosmological mythology ends and
the legendary history of the country and of the ruling dynasty
begins.

IV. EPISODES AND MYTHS OF ORIGINS

The cycle of the cosmological myths aims at elucidating the
origin and formation of the world, of natural objects and —
what was more important in the view of the compilers of the
ancient traditions — the origin of the ruling dynasty. In out-
lining the ancient mythology we have omitted many episodes
which were meant to explain the sources of natural objects, of
social customs, and of human institutions. In these myths of
origins, poetic imagination worked side by side with supersti-
tious ideas, and the general conceptions of the world and of life
were combined with the belief in the efficacy of ceremonies. A
few of them, however, ought to be set down.


232 JAPANESE MYTHOLOGY

The Moon-god, as we have said, plays very little part in the
mythology, but there is one story about him that serves two
purposes. It is this: 14

The Sun-goddess once told her brother, the Moon-god, that
he must go down to earth and see what a certain goddess Uke-
mochi, “ the Food-genius,” was doing. The Moon-god ac-
cordingly descended to the place where Uke-mochi was, close
to a large katsura- tree. 15 The genius of food-stuffs, seeing the
heavenly god coming down to her, wished to entertain him.
For this purpose she turned her face toward the land, and
forthwith from her mouth came out a quantity of boiled rice;
when she turned her face to the sea, fishes, large and small,
came out of her mouth; and when she faced the mountains,
game of all sorts issued from it. Instead of appreciating this
entertainment, the Moon-god became enraged because the
goddess offered him things that came forth from her mouth,
and forthwith killed his unfortunate hostess. Out of the body
of the Food-goddess came various food-stuffs; the horse and
the cow were born from her head; silkworms were produced
from her eyebrows; millet grew on her forehead; the rice-
plant on her abdomen, etc. 16 Such was the origin of these
useful things.

When the Moon-god returned to Heaven and told his sister
of his experience, the Sun-goddess was much displeased at his
irritability and cruelty and said to him: “Oh, cruel brother,
I shall see you no more.” Therefore, the moon appears after
the sunset, and the two never look on one another face to
face.

Another story tells the origin of a ceremony for asking the
favour of the Harvest-god.

When the Great-Land-Master cultivated his rice-fields, he
gave his workmen beef to eat. There came by a son of Mi-
toshi-no-kami, the god of the harvest, who saw the fields
stained by the impurities caused by beef-eating. He told his



The Lady-who-makes-the-trees-bloom
See p. 233.

By S. Tomita.



COSMOLOGICAL MYTHS


233


father, and the Harvest-god sent a host of locusts to the fields,
which ate up nearly all the rice plants. Through his powers of
divination the Great-Land-Master learned that the disaster was
caused by the wrath of the Harvest-god. In order to propitiate
the offended god, the Great-Land-Master offered a white boar,
a white horse and a white cock. Then the Harvest-god was
appeased and taught him how to restore his rice plants, how to
fan the hemp, how to set up a phallus, and how to offer to it
various fruits and berries. So the locusts were driven away and
the Harvest-god propitiated. Thereafter the three white ani-
mals named above were always offered to the Harvest-god . 17
This is a simple story of propitiation, but the noteworthy point
is that eating beef is evidently regarded as an offence against
the Harvest-god.

We have already seen how the ratio between births and
deaths originated in a quarrel between the primeval deities.
There is a curious story that explains the short life of the
Imperial princes.

Ko-no-hana-sakuya-hime, “ the Lady-who-makes-the-trees-
bloom,” was the beautiful daughter of Oh-yama-tsumi, the
Mountain-god; and her elder sister was the ugly Iwa-naga-
hime, “ the Lady of Lock-perpetuity.” When Ninigi, the Au-
gust Grandchild, descended to earth, he was attracted by the
beauty of the Bloom-Lady and asked her father’s consent to his
marriage with her. The father offered both his daughters, but
Ninigi’s choice of course fell upon the younger. Soon a child
was born to the Bloom-Lady. The Rock-Lady said: “If the
August Grandchild had taken me in marriage, his descendants
would have enjoyed a long life, everlasting as a rock; but since
he married my younger sister, his posterity will be frail and
short-lived like the flowers of the trees.”

The trees referred to are the cherry-trees, and the story
probably originated in a poetic fancy about the trees that grow
at the foot of Mount Fuji. Fuji is a steep volcano and on its


234 JAPANESE MYTHOLOGY

peak bare rocks soar defiantly against the sky, whereas the
lower parts are covered with trees and bushes. Especially
common is a kind of wild cherry-tree with pendant branches
and delicate flowers. The Bloom-Lady is worshipped at a
lovely spot where cool water gushes forth from virgin rock, and
her shrine is surrounded by a grove of these cherry-trees. The
sanctuary has stood there from time immemorial and the per-
sonification of the Father Mountain and his two daughters
must be very ancient.

In the story the personified objects are brought into relation
with the Imperial family, and the myth is turned into an ex-
planation of the short life of its members. In that process the
story has lost much of its primitive character, and yet the
transformation of a local legend, elaborated with poetic fancy
into an explanatory myth, is interesting. The Bloom-Lady
in other stories and in pictorial representations is conceived as
a fairy who hovers over the trees, scattering in the sky the
pinkish clouds of cherry-blossoms. She is also called the
genius of plum-blossoms, because they were sometimes called
“ the flower.”

The counterpart of the Bloom-Lady is Tatsuta-hime, “the
Lady-who-weaves-the-brocade ” (of autumnal leaves). Prob-
ably she was originally a goddess of wind and therefore of
weather ; but since the place where her shrine stands, Tatsuta,
was famous for its maple trees gorgeously coloured in the
autumn, she became better known as the genius of autumn.
Another goddess, the genius of spring, Saho-yama-hime by
name, is also referred to in poems. Her name is probably
derived from the Saho-yama Hill which stands to the east of
Nara (the Imperial residence during the greater part of the
eighth century), since the east was regarded as the direction
whence the spring comes. It is also to be observed that the river
Tatsuta is to the west of Nara, and the west is the region whence
autumn appears.


COSMOLOGICAL MYTHS 235

From the many poems that sing of these two goddesses, we
select two from the English version by Clara A. Walsh. 18

“ The goddess of the Spring has spread
Upon the budding willow-tree
Her lovely mesh of silken strands;

O wind of Spring, blow lovingly
And gently, lest the willow thread
Entangled be.”

And:

“ Fair goddess of the paling Autumn skies.

Fain would I know how many looms she plies,

Wherein through skilful tapestry she weaves
Her fine brocade of fiery maple leaves —

Since on each hill, with every gust that blows,

In varied hues her vast embroidery glows.”

The ancient mythology of Japan is curiously destitute of
stories concerning the stars. One scanty reference is made to
them in connection with the funeral of Amo-no-Waka-hiko,
“ the Heavenly Youth,” after whose death a friend of his was
mistaken for him. 19 In the song sung by the wife of the latter
in which she explains that he is not Waka-hiko but his friend,
the word tana-bata is used to describe the brilliant features of
the one who shines in Heaven, because the funeral of Waka-
hiko took place in Heaven.

Now, tana-bata y though obscure in its etymology, is a festival
held on the evening of the seventh lunar month, in honour of
the two stellar constellations called the Herdsman and the
Weaver-maid. The story of these two is that they are allowed
to meet on the two sides of Ama-no-kawa, “ Heaven’s River,”
on that evening, for the only time in the year. The story evi-
dently came from China. Its romantic character pleased the
Japanese from the first and the festival has long been cele-
brated.

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Re: Japanese Mythology
« Reply #3 on: August 04, 2019, 03:39:37 PM »

The reference to tana-bata y therefore, was not to an integral


236 JAPANESE MYTHOLOGY

part of Japanese mythology, but a figurative allusion which all
Japanese would understand and appreciate. Yet the story and
the celebration were so completely naturalized that a purely
Japanese word was used for them.

The interest that the Japanese poets take in the story is illus-
trated by a poem of the eighth century, which we reproduce
here from Miss Walsh’s Master Singers of Japan : 20

“ The shining flood of Heaven’s River gleams,

A scarf of silver flung on utmost blue.

And on the shore whereby its radiance streams,

The lonely Herdsman feels his grief anew.

“ Since those far days when all the world was young,

For the Weaver-maid his longing soul has pined,

And gazing on that flood his heart is wrung
With burning love-thought, passion undefined.

“ Fain would he cross in fair, red-painted barque,

Furnished with trusty oars begemmed with spray.

To cleave the flood with level keel at dark.

Or with calm tides to cross at break of day.

“ So stands the lover by those waters wide,

Gazing all-piteous at the arching sky,

So stands he by the far-flung shining tide,

Gazing with many a heart-despairing sigh.

“ And waves her scarf, with which the wild winds play,

His arms outstretched, his soul with love afire,

While still the lagging Autumn makes delay.

Nor swift wings bridge the path to his desire! ”

The celebration of this festival is today universal} it is mostly
observed by girls and women. They set up bamboos and hang
pieces of variegated paper from the branches; they write poems
on these papers in praise of the two stars, or else prayers ad-
dressed to them asking for their sympathy in love affairs.
They tie variegated yarns to the bamboos, as offerings to the
Weaver-maid, supposed to symbolize the unending longing of
love. Besides other offerings the women pour water into a pan









'

; ’ - .





























PLATE X


The Star Festival of Tana-bata

Notice the two star constellations in the sky and
the hanks of yarn, puddings, wine, etc., offered to
them. The offerings are arrayed on a large table
placed in a garden. Koto , the Japanese harp, is on
the table, and it is played in honour of the star lovers.
See pp. 235 ff.

From Y amato Bunko , an illustrated description of
Japanese festivals and customs, printed in the 18th
century.




COSMOLOGICAL MYTHS


237


and dip in it the leaves of the kaji- tree, looking the while at the
reflections of the twinkling stars in the water. They believe
that they find omens in the appearance of the water and of the
leaves. (Plate X.)

V. THE BELIEFS CONCERNING THE SOUL

In spite of the prevalent animistic belief, not much is said
about the soul in the ancient Shinto records. The soul is con-
ceived to be something like a ball, as its appellation tama-shii ,
probably “ ball-wind,” indicates. It is composed of two in-
gredients or functions, one mild, refined and happy, and the
other rough, unruly and vigorous. 21 The former remains al-
ways with the body, but the latter can leave it and work beyond
the ken of the person to whom it belongs. It is said that the
Great-Land-Master once saw, to his amazement, his own
“ rough soul ” coming from the sea, and that this soul was the
chief agent of his achievements. But it is uncertain whether all
persons were believed to possess the double soul or only men
of special power and ability. However that may be, the soul
is an existence more or less beyond the confines of the body;
but it is again uncertain whether the soul after the death of the
body necessarily goes to one of the future abodes.

As for the future abodes, we have already heard of the
Land of Gloom 5 its antithesis is the Plain of High Heaven,
where the celestial gods reign. But even more widespread than
the belief in these places was the belief that the soul, after
death, sojourned for an indefinite time close to the abode of
human beings.

The ancient beliefs about the soul, however, were vague and
unimportant, and it is chiefly under Chinese and Buddhist
influence, especially under the latter, that the Japanese came
to define and elaborate their ideas of the soul and of its future
destination. Let us see what these ideas were.


238 JAPANESE MYTHOLOGY

The Chinese conception of the soul is based upon the physical
theory of the two principles, Yin and Yang. According to them
the soul is composed of two factors, one closely related to gross
matter, and the other subtle and aerial. The destinies of
these two factors were determined partly by the nature of the
person to whom they belonged, and partly by the place of
burial. But these ideas did not influence Japanese folk-lore so
much as the elaborate teachings of Buddhism on the matter of
transmigration.

Properly speaking, Buddhism denied a permanent resting-
place to the soul and taught a perpetual process of change in a
man’s moral character. This continuity, the serial and col-
lateral continuity of karma, as we have said before, stood for
the soul in the common belief, and the destiny of the soul was
held to be its transmigration from realm to realm, from the
heavenly world to the nethermost hell. 22 Buddhist mythology
is full of minute details about the pilgrimage of the soul to and
from these realms, and the ghosts of those who wavered un-
certainly between them were thought sometimes to appear to
men. One of the most popular tales about the wanderings of
the soul says that there is a river, on the bank of which the soul
could decide whither it would go. The stream was called
Sanzu-no-Kawa, “ the River of the Three Routes,” because the
ways departed thence in three directions, one toward the hells,
the second toward the beast life, and the third toward the realm
of the “ hungry ghosts ” (Sanskrit Preta). On these three
roads there were various posts at which the soul was examined
by the judges, the Plutos of Buddhism ; and finally there was
the dreadful king-judge, Emma (Sanskrit Yama-raja), in the
hells, who gave sentence of punishment according to the sinful-
ness of the souls that came before him. These scenes were
often depicted in pictures like the graphic representations of
the Last Judgment and the pains of hell painted by artists of
mediaeval Europe.


COSMOLOGICAL MYTHS


239

But the ghost that played the greatest part in folk-lore was
one which was neither good enough to go to the heavenly
world nor bad enough to be doomed to eternal punishment.
A soul of this kind, one which was in u chu-u ” i.e. the inter-
mediate stages, appeared in ghostly apparitions, somewhat like
a human figure but devoid of legs and ghastly in its pallor. A
ghost appears to those survivors, with whom in life it had some
connection, whether of love or of hatred, for it is attracted to
such persons either by attachment or by the desire for revenge.
These apparitions are frequent in folk-lore, but are so much
like one another that there is little need to describe them by
means of separate stories.

There is a pretty but melancholy story of the chu-u existence
which deals with the souls of dead children. Their abode is a
desolate river-basin with gravel and sand, called Sai-no-kawara,
“ the River-basin of Offering.” To quote from the hymn
dedicated to Jizo, the protector of the children : 23

“ In the pale grey Land of Meido (‘ the Realm of Gloom ’),

At the foot of Shide ( £ Wandering after Death ’) Mountain,
From the River of Souls’ dry bed
Rise the murmurs of voices,

The prattle of baby-voices,

The pitiful accents of early childhood.”

Here the souls of dead infants, deprived of their parents’ affec-
tionate care, wander without prospect, long for their relatives,
yet do not forget to play among themselves. They heap stones
and gravel in the shape of a Buddhist pagoda, and while they
play they sing in pretty childish voices:

“ Building the first Tower, and praying
The gods to shower blessings on Father;

Piling the second, imploring

The gods to shower blessings on Mother;

Heaping the third Tower, and pleading
For Brother and Sister, and dear ones.”


240


JAPANESE MYTHOLOGY

Then come cruel devils who destroy the little towers and drive
away the innocent souls of the children. But the compassionate
god Jizo comes to the rescue, the rings jingling at the tip of
his pilgrim’s staff. He steps on the sandy river-bed, and
wherever he steps lotus flowers grow. He drives away the
demons and consoles the terrified children:

“ Be not afraid, little dear ones,

You were so little to come here,

All the long journey to Meido!

I will be Father and Mother,

Father and Mother and Playmate
To all children in Meido!

“ Then he caresses them kindly.

Folding his shining robes round them,

Lifting the smallest and frailest

Into his bosom, and holding

His staff for the stumblers to clutch.

“To his long sleeves cling the infants,

Smile in response to his smiling,

Glad in his beauteous compassion.”


VI. THE BUDDHIST PARADISE AND THE
GUARDIANS OF THE WORLD

We shall have more to say of the Buddhist theory or mythol-
ogy of transmigration, especially with reference to the inferior
births, in connection with Japanese folk-lore. At present we
shall speak of the Buddhist paradise as distinguished from the
heavenly worlds, because the latter are a result of transmigra-
tion and are subject to decay, while paradise stands unchanged
beyond them all.

Buddhist mythology taught that there were numerous
“ realms of Buddhas,” 24 paradises, so to speak, furnished by
various Buddhas to receive their respective believers. These


S' " ' -

-


>

nt'- :











PLATES XI, XII, XIII, XIV
A Ghost

This is an apparition of a female ghost, with a
phosphorescent flame, and represents a soul tormented
by hatred or jealousy. The Japanese ghost is usu-
ally understood to be void of feet, but here a foot is
faintly depicted. The artist Okyo founded a real-
istic school and his works are famous for their faith-
fulness to nature. See p. 239.

By Maruyama Okyo (dated 1779). Original in
possession of Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

The Genii of the World Beyond

Shozu-ga no Baba (the guardian of the cross-roads
on the journey of the soul). Every soul transmi-
grating to the various resorts beyond has to pay a
tribute to the old woman sitting at the cross-roads
where the three ways of transmigration begin. See
p. 238.

Jizo (Ksitigarbha), the guardian of the children’s
souls. See p. 240.

Emma (Yama-raja), the Pluto of the Buddhist
hells. He is a furious manifestation of the same
genius as the benign genius, Jizo. See p. 238.

By Kukuchi Yosai (1788—1878). In possession
of Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.







COSMOLOGICAL MYTHS


241


Buddha-lands are the realizations of the compassionate vows
of those Buddhas to save beings from transmigration, and
manifestations of the immeasurable merits accumulated by
them for this purpose. The Buddhist paradise, therefore, is
an embodiment of the Buddha’s wisdom and compassion, as
well as of the faith and enlightenment of his believers, and it is
called the “Land of Purity,” (Jodo) or “Realm of Bliss”
(Gokuraku), presided over by this or that Buddha.

To dwell no longer on the doctrinal views concerning the
paradises, the beliefs in those realms of bliss had a great influ-
ence on the popular imagination, and the descriptions of those
happy conditions are frequent in myths and tales. The descrip-
tions are, however, pretty much alike and say little more than
that the paradises are the realms of perpetual splendour and
infinite bliss. Yet we can distinguish three main paradises,
qualified in different manners and located in different quarters.
They were Tosotsu-ten (Tusita), or the “ Heaven of Content-
ment,” of the future Buddha, Maitreya (Japanese Miroku),
situated somewhere high in the sky; Gokuraku Jodo (Su-
khavatl), accomplished by the Buddha Amita, the Buddha of
Infinite Light and Life, situated in the west; and lastly Ryoju-
sen (Grdhra-kuta), idealized from the Vulture Peak where
Buddha Sakya-muni is believed to have preached the “ Lotus
of Truth.”

The first, the Heaven of Contentment, is a paradise still in
formation, because the Lord Maitreya is to become a full
Buddha in the future, and his paradise has been prepared for
those who are to be led to the final perfection on his appear-
ance; therefore it is a kind of ante-room for a real paradise.
Belief in this heaven is common among the people, and many
stories are told of the occasional visits made by human beings
to it.

The idealized Vulture Peak is placed in the third world and
is to be realized by every true Buddhist in this life through his


242 JAPANESE MYTHOLOGY

enlightenment in the truths taught in the Lotus. It may be
taken to stand for the present world transformed, and this
idealization of the actual world led the true Buddhists to take
a poetic and symbolic view of their surroundings, including
the animals and flowers, and impressed them with the possibil-
ity of close spiritual communion with the external world.
When we come to speak of tales of animals and plants, we
shall refer to the idea that the soul of an animal or a plant can
be saved by the miraculous power of the scripture Lotus ;
that idea is a result of the belief in the paradise of Vulture
Peak which is within the reach of anyone who is enlightened in
the truths revealed in the scripture.

But the paradisaical conception that exercised the greatest
influence upon popular beliefs was that of Gokuraku Jodo, and
when a paradise is mentioned without qualification the paradise
of Amita-Buddha is meant. Therein is a pond filled with
ambrosia, the lotus-flowers bloom in it, the terraces of trees are
decorated with jewels, the birds of paradise sing their heavenly
songs, the bells hanging on the trees play sweet music in the
soft breeze, and hosts of angels (Tennin) hover in the sky and
scatter flowers over the Buddha and his saints. 25 These descrip-
tive details were familiar to all Japanese ; they appear again
and again in poetry and in tales, and they were often used in
daily conversations.

According to Buddhist cosmology, the innumerable para-
dises are inhabited by beings of ideal perfection, and the uni-
verse, which contains countless worlds, is thronged with spirits,
some benevolent and some malicious.

Postponing the consideration of the malicious spirits to a later
Chapter, we may say a word here about the great guardians of
the world, the kings of the hosts of benevolent spirits. They
are four in number and are represented as warriors in full
armour, with swords or spears in their hands, and trampling
upon demons. The guardian of the east is Jikoku-ten (Dhrta-


COSMOLOGICAL MYTHS


243

rastra), “the Watch of the Lands ”j the south is guarded by
Zdcho-ten (Virudhaka), “ the Patron of Growth ”j in the west
stands Komoku-ten (Virupaksa), “ the Wide-gazing ”j and in
the north Bishamon-ten (Vaisravana), “the Wide-hearing”
or “ Renowned.” They are always on the watch for demons
who attack the world from the four quarters of the heavens,
and have special and tender care for Buddhists . 26 There were
pictures of these guardian kings in most Buddhist temples and
they were favourite figures in the religion of the people. Of
the four, Bishamon was most popular and in later times he was
even vulgarized into a patron of wealth.

It will be interesting here to refer to the Chinese counterpart
of the Buddhist guardians. Chinese cosmology teaches two
cosmic principles, Yin and .Yang, and five elements in the for-
mation of the world j and the guardians of the world repre-
sented principles and elements predominant in each of the four
quarters. The guardian of the south, where the positive prin-
ciple, Yang, rules, and the fiery element predominates, is sym-
bolized as the “ Red Bird.” In the north rules the “ Dark
Warrior,” a tortoise, the symbol of Yin, the negative principle,
and of the element water. The “ Azure Dragon ” in the east
symbolizes the growing warmth of spring and the element
wood. The “ White Tiger ” in the west represents autumn and
the metallic element . 27 These Chinese world-guardians existed
side by side with the Buddhist kings, without being confused
with them in the popular mind . 28


CHAPTER II


LOCAL LEGENDS AND COMMUNAL
CULTS

TOPOGRAPHY AND THE DIVISION INTO CLANS

T HE larger islands of Japan are intersected everywhere by
ranges of hills and rivers flowing between them, which
cross the islands perpendicularly to their length. Every valley
has its characteristic features, surrounded by fantastic peaks or
occupied by lakes that fill the low ground. The sea-coasts are
usually marked by bold cliffs, by alternate inlets and promon-
tories, by islets and rocks scattered over the bays. The land
thus widely diversified was, in ancient times, divided among
tribes of varying character and occupation; even to this day the
communes retain many of the ancient traditions and observances,
which they associate with ancestral memories and maintain as a
matter of local pride. The topographical features and the com-
munal heredities sufficiently explain the invention and preserva-
tion of scores of local legends peculiar to the different provinces
and communes.

The compilation of oral traditions, in the eighth century,
was primarily intended to give sanction to a political unity based
on the worship of the chief deity, the Sun-goddess. Yet many
communal legends and folk-tales were embedded in the central
narrative which dealt with the origin of the nation. Some
stories were common to many tribes, others were apparently
known only to single communities; but all found place in the
national mythology. Moreover, by special command in 713
— very near the time of the greater compilation — the local


LOCAL LEGENDS — COMMUNAL CULTS 245

legends in each province were collected, and in course of time
several records of that sort, called Fudo-ki , or “ Records of Air
and Earth,” were compiled, of which a few are preserved com-
plete, while of others many fragments remain. In later cen-
turies, especially during the feudal ages, similar labours were
undertaken, and besides the official registers of feudal states
there is a quantity of literature concerning the geography and
the local traditions of different provinces. These books are
usually called Meisho-Zuye which we may translate as “ Illus-
trated Guidebook to Famous Places,” and they supply rich ma-
terial for the study of local legends, a kind of H eimats-kunde ,
as the Germans call it, of the various provinces and cities.

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Re: Japanese Mythology
« Reply #4 on: August 04, 2019, 03:40:14 PM »

In these stories, the origins of natural objects and phenomena
are ascribed to the primeval deities 5 the personification of such
objects is interwoven with the historical traditions of the tribes
and their ancestors ; and to the creative activity of mythical be-
ings are attributed the formation of the land, the source of
streams and fountains, of plants and animals. These stories,
partly the result of ancestral memories, partly the result of the
naive imagination of the primitive folk, were recorded in the
Meisho-Zuye, were sung by bards and handed down from gen-
eration to generation in folk-songs, and often they were made
a part of religious ritual and of festival observance.

If we consider the matter rightly, folk-lore is a living thing.
Legends change, grow and migrate, as communities expand and
social conditions change, as intellectual interests widen and the
imaginative faculty becomes refined. When a new region was
made habitable or a secluded valley was opened to communica-
tion, the unfamiliar hills, rocks, forests and streams gave rise to
new stories. During the centuries of the feudal regime , when
semi-independent clans kept close within their respective dis-
tricts, the clan spirit showed itself in legends that glorified the
past of the tribe and lauded the genius of the region it inhabited.
The strife between two neighbouring clans often became in


vm — 17


246 JAPANESE MYTHOLOGY

these legends a contest between the genii of the respective terri-
tories, or of certain striking natural features in those territories,
such as a mountain or a lake. In them we find popular bits of
folk-lore entangled with the mythopoetic inventions of the
literati, and Shinto ideas are confused with imagery suggested
by Buddhism or Taoism. It is probably true that legendary
invention was more active when the country was politically di-
vided and the clan spirit reigned, than in the times of national
unity. Today the complete unity of the nation, together with
the increased facilities of communication, tends to destroy the
characteristic features of the provincial life 5 moreover the
spread of scientific education causes more and more of the peo-
ple to look upon the old stories as silly. There may come a day
when the ancient legends will be only preserved in written col-
lections; yet it is a question, not only in Japan but elsewhere,
whether the mythopoetic faculty of mankind is destined wholly
to disappear before the realism of modern education.

However that may be, in ancient Japan the local folk-lore
was an inseparable part of the communal cult of the tribes.
The belief in the common origin of the clan folk was testified
to by the cult of their ancestral or tutelary deity, cemented by
religious observances and perpetuated by the ever-flowing
stream of legend. Striking natural features, such as a hill or a
forest, a promontory or a lakeside, were of old and are today,
dedicated to the clan deity, who was believed to be the ancestor
of the tribe, or to the tutelary genius of the region. A simple
shrine of wood stands in the gloomy shade of old trees, usually
at a spot which commands the best view of the sacred place, and
it becomes the centre of communal life. There the people as-
semble on festival days, at thanksgivings for harvest, at prayer-
meetings for rain or for deliverance from pestilence, and on
other occasions of common interest. Some memory of the deity
is preserved in a natural object which is believed to have had
its origin in the benevolent interest of the deity in the people of



















PLATE XV


Furo-No-Yashiro, a Shinto Shrine Dedi-
cated to a Sword Believed to Possess Mirac-
ulous Power

Notice the topography and surroundings of the
spot and several adjunct shrines beside the main
building in the centre. The trees surrounding the
shrine are chiefly pines and sugi. For an account of
such shrines see pp. 246—7.

Taken from Y amato Melsho Zu y the illustrated
descriptions of the famous places in the province of
Yamato.





LOCAL LEGENDS — COMMUNAL CULTS 247

his choice. That object may be a giant tree, which the deity is
said to have planted, or in which his spirit is believed still to
abide. It may be a rock, on which he once sat, or which is sup-
posed to be his weapon left behind him and petrified. It may
be a fountain which the deity has caused to gush forth.

Besides the chief shrine there are likely to be many subsidiary
shrines in the neighbourhood. Each is dedicated to a peculiar
deity or spirit and has its own story associated with the divine
or miraculous manifestation of the worshipped one. These
smaller shrines are scattered about in various places, in a grove,
or by the waterside, or close to a waterfall, or on a hillock. It
is not necessary to erect a shrine, however, in order to indicate
the sacred character of a place. A straw-cord to which pieces of
paper are tied, the sign of sanctity, can be suspended for this
purpose. A tree near which a spirit appeared or a miracle took
place is often distinguished in this way, and a cool fountain, a
giant rock, or an old grave, may be thus marked even if it has
no definite divine association.

In short, every place is regarded as sacred if there is some
tradition of gods, spirits, fairies or ancestors connected with it,
and those places are set apart and consecrated according to the
customs of the ancient Shinto religion. The whole country is
studded with sanctuaries of this kind; each locality has at least
one such, and stories are told about each of them. The motives
of the different stories are often much alike, but each is jeal-
ously preserved not only in oral tradition, but in religious ob-
servances and festivals, among the community to which it is
peculiar. To that extent, the Japanese people may be said to be
still living in a mythological age; in fact the Shinto religion
teaches that the country is the land of the gods, who even now
linger among human beings and hover about in the sky, among
the forests, or on the peaks and hills.

The oldest of the local legends is concerned with a curious
topographical feature of the province of Izumo, to which, as


248 JAPANESE MYTHOLOGY

the reader will remember, the Storm-god was exiled by the
heavenly powers.

This region is believed to have been the scene of much that
happened during the age of the great gods, and since time im-
memorial the great shrine of Kitsuki has stood on the shore of
the Sea of Japan. Izumo is the province which was by chance
the first home in Japan of that poetic genius, Lafcadio Hearn,
and there he gained his earliest appreciation of the Japanese
people and of their art and their poetry. In Izumo there seems
to linger some breath of the age of fable, the result doubtless
of the venerable antiquity and the charming beauty of the
region.

The province occupies a narrow strip of land between the Sea
of Japan and the mountain range that forms the backbone of
the mainland. On its northern side there is a long peninsula
connected with the mainland on the west by a sandy beach, and
separated, on the east, by narrow straits from similar sand
beaches. This is the way in which the tradition explains that
peninsula:

Omi-tsu-nu (“ Beach-Field-Master ”) was a grandson of
Susa-no-wo, the Storm-god, whom he succeeded as ruler of
Izumo. He saw that his country was only a narrow strip
of land and he wished to enlarge it. Accordingly he looked
northward toward Korea and saw that there was plenty of un-
used land along the eastern coast. He fastened a long rope to
that piece of land and tied the other end of the rope to Mount
Sahime. Then he caused his people to pull on the rope and
draw the land toward Izumo. When the piece was finally
joined to Izumo, the rope was left lying on the beach, which is
therefore called So-no-hagahama, “ the long beach of hemp.”
In similar fashion he pulled pieces of land from islands in the
Sea of Japan, and fastened them to the coast of Izumo. The
last of those ropes he bound to Mount Taisen, and its remains
made the beach of Yomi (see the map). So the Beach-Field-


OKI



Illustrating the Story of the Addition of Pieces of Land to Izumo by Omi-isu-nu




LOCAL LEGENDS — COMMUNAL CULTS 249

Master succeeded in enlarging his land by adding to it the penin-
sula which now makes the northern part of the province. 1

With regard to Izumo, the names of the province and of
some places in it are said to have originated in connection with
the adventures of Susa-no-wo, after he had been expelled from
the Plain of High Heaven and had come down to that province.
As he walked beside the river Hi, the Storm-god came upon an
old couple who wept in distress. Their only daughter, Won-
drous Inada-Princess, was to be sacrificed to a dragon, who de-
manded a young woman every year. Susa-no-wo escorted the
girl to the place of sacrifice, on the upper part of the river. The
dragon appeared and drank all the sake - beer that was set out for
him and then attacked the girl, whereupon the valiant Storm-
god chopped the animal to pieces. The girl subsequently be-
came the wife of Susa-no-wo.

As the wedding approached, Susa-no-wo went about the prov-
ince in search of a specially lovely spot for the ceremony.
When he came to a certain place, it gave him the greatest pleas-
ure, and he said: “My heart is refreshed” ( suga-suga-shi ).
Hence the place is called Suga, and there to this day stands a
shrine dedicated to the god and his wife. Moreover, at the
marriage he sang a poem of celebration which ran thus:


Yakumo tatsu
Izu-mo yahe-gaki
Tsuma-gome ni
Yake-gake tsukuru —
Sono yahe-gaki wo!


Many clouds arise,

On all sides a manifold fence,
To receive within it the spouses,
They form a manifold fence —
Ah! that manifold fence! ” 2


Hence came the name “ Izumo ” which means “ the rising
clouds,” and hence also came Lafcadio Hearn’s Japanese name
“ Yakumo ” which means “ the eightfold clouds.”

Thus Susa-no-wo became the lord of Izumo, and the Great
Shrine of Kitsuki was erected in his honour. With his shrine,
pre-eminent in its sanctity, are connected many stories and ob-
servances that concern Susa-no-wo and his descendants. Ac-


250 JAPANESE MYTHOLOGY

cording to one of the stories this sanctuary is the place where all
the deities of Japan assemble in the tenth lunar month, in order
to arrange all the marriages that are to occur in the country dur-
ing the coming year. This is evidently to be traced to the story
of Susa-no-wo’s marriage at this spot to Inada-Princess, and it
also reflects the Japanese custom of arranging marriage through
an intermediary called a go-between.

The assembly of the gods is said to be held at four o’clock in
the morning of the first day of the tenth month, and the people
carefully keep indoors at that hour in order not to disturb the
deities. When all the gods have come together the Dragon
King brings his offering to the assembly. The Dragon King,
accompanied by innumerable hosts of maritime beings, appears
on the sea 5 the sea is illuminated, the tide rises, and the sky is
full of radiance. This scene is represented in a mystery-play
of the fifteenth century. The priest who attends the Great
Shrine goes to the beach to receive the dragon’s offerings: this
is an annual ceremony. A peculiar fact connected with this
myth of the gods’ assembly at Kitsuki is that in other parts of
Japan the tenth month is called the “ month without gods ”
(Kami-nashi-zukt ) , but in Izumo it is called the “ month with
gods ” ( Kami-ari-zuki ) .

Susa-no-wo, the Storm-god, is the subject of the story of hos-
pitality, and his wanderings are supposed to have taken him to
the various places where his shrines stand. Although the origin
of the story is not certain, the names of the persons concerned
seem to be of Korean origin. This is the story:

After he had been driven from the Plain of High Heaven,
Susa-no-wo travelled about as a miserable outcast. One night,
when the rain was pouring down, he knocked at the door of a
man named Kotan-Shorai. 3 Seeing a man clad in a mean straw
mantle and wearing a rain-hat made of a kind of reed, Kotan
thought it safer to turn away the dubious visitor. Susa-no-wo,
in great distress, then knocked at the door of Somin-Shorai, a










PLATES XVI, XVII


A Pair of Screens with Landscapes

A. Mount Tsukuba. B. Mount Fuji.

The pictures are not intended for illustration of
the legend of the two mountains, but simply for the
sake of landscape. Yet we can see how the two
mountains conspicuously seen from the plain of
Hitachi and neighbouring provinces gave rise to the
legend of hospitality ascribed to them. See p. 251.

By Kano Shosen (died in 1880). In possession of
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.





LOCAL LEGENDS — COMMUNAL CULTS 251

brother of Kotan. Somin gave the traveller a hospitable wel-
come. Next morning the Storm-god took leave of his host with
gratitude and said to him: “ I am Susa-no-wo, the god who con-
trols the spirits of fury and pestilence. By way of discharging
my indebtedness to you I shall protect you and your descendants
from the attack of evil spirits, if you will attach to your gate-
way a sign that can be recognized.” Hence comes the custom
of putting up at the gate a charm against pestilence or smallpox
on which is written “ the descendants of Somin-Shorai.”

This same story is told in another form, being applied geo-
graphically:

Long, long ago, when Mi-oya-no-kami, the Ancestor-god,
went about the country, one evening he asked for lodging at
Mount Fukuji in Suruga. The god of Fukuji was a miser and,
unwilling to give the traveller food, turned him away from the
door. The Ancestor-god, resenting the discourtesy, said:
“ Thou art a miser and shalt suffer for thy discourtesy and be
henceforth covered with snow and frost. Food shall always be
scanty for thee and few people shall come to visit thee.” Then
the itinerant god turned to Mount Tsukuba, in Hitachi, and
there he was warmly received by the god of Tsukuba. The
Ancestor-god thanked him and said: “ Thou art a kind-hearted
man. Henceforth thou shalt always have an abundance of food
and many people shall visit thee.” Accordingly Mount Fukuji
is rarely visited and is hoary with snow and frost, but Tsukuba
is ever popular and attracts many pilgrims. 4

Simple legends, one much like another, are told about foun-
tains. A certain man, gifted with miraculous power, is said to
have dug in the ground and set free a fountain. The man to
whom this power is ascribed is often Kobo Daishi, the founder
of Shingon Buddhism in the ninth century. In north-eastern
Japan, the miracle is often ascribed to Yoshi-iye, the famous
general who led the expeditions against the Ainus in those prov-
inces in the eleventh century, and the legends seem to have had


252 JAPANESE MYTHOLOGY

their origin in the belief that the general was under the protec-
tion of the god Hachiman, or “ Eight-banners,” whose shrine
is situated at Iwa-shimizu, or the “ Virgin-rock fountain.”

The stories of Kobo are always associated with his missionary
wanderings. Once when he was travelling, the story runs, he
was received by an old woman who lived in a place destitute of
water. Kobo, in order to reward her for her hospitality, created
the fountain by stabbing the earth with his pilgrim’s staff.

Yoshi-iye’s exploits are said to have occurred during his mili-
tary expeditions. One summer day, we read, his soldiers suf-
fered from heat and thirst. The general prayed to his tutelary
god, Hachiman, and when he pierced a rock with his bow and
arrow a gushing fountain appeared, thereafter never to run dry.

Hot springs are believed to have had their origin in a divine
appearance of Suku-na-biko, 5 the medicine-man among the an-
cient gods.

Among the legends relating to Kobo Daishi there are many
that account for certain local peculiarities. There are no foxes
in the island of Shikoku. That is because Kobo drove out the
animal as a punishment for its attempt to deceive the great Bud-
dhist teacher during his wanderings through Shikoku. In
places where there are no mosquitoes, the fact is explained by
Kobo’s special favour, shown to the inhabitants of the place
because they received him hospitably.

There is a village in Kozuke where Irish potatoes do not grow
well. When Kobo came to that village and asked for potatoes
the proprietor of the farm told him that the potatoes were as
hard as stones, for he was not willing to give them to the beggar
monk. Kobo said: “ Is it really so? Then it shall always be
so.” Henceforth the potatoes raised in that village were really
as hard as stones.

There is at a certain place a mountain stream whence vapour
rises. Once when Kobo passed that stream a boy came to him
and asked him to write some letters for him. Having no paper


LOCAL LEGENDS — COMMUNAL CULTS 253

Kobo wrote some letters in the air. The boy then asked Kobo
to write more on the water of the stream. Kobo wrote the Chi-
nese ideogram for dragon and intentionally omitted one point.
The boy, miraculously too, added the point. Then still more
miraculously the ideogram became an actual dragon which flew
off out of the water. Hence the trace of the flying dragon
above the water.

Fine trees are frequently made the theme of local legend,
and twin trees especially are connected with the memory of
lovers. Among trees the pine plays the greatest part, and next
to it the sugi- tree, the camphor-tree, and the gingko.

Here is the story of twin pine-trees told in the ancient Fudo-
ki of Hitachi: Once upon a time there were in Hitachi a fine lad
of the name Nase and a handsome girl of the name Aze. 6 Each
of them was famous for a beauty which caused the other vil-
lagers to admire as well as to envy them. They fell in love
with each other, and one night, on the occasion of the annual
meeting of the villagers for exchanging poems, Nase and Aze
exchanged verses which gave expression to their love. 7 They
left the others and betook themselves to a forest close by the sea
shore. Here they talked of their love through the night.
There was no one else there, but the pine-trees played gentle
music on their murmuring needles, and they passed the night as
if in a sweet dream.

When over the ocean horizon the day began to dawn and the
morning twilight penetrated into the pine forest, the lovers for
the first time realized that they were far from their home.
They were afraid to return to their own people, because of the
insinuations of the other young people and the censure of their
elders which they would have to meet. They wished to remain
forever by themselves, apart from the world. They embraced
each other and wept, and were metamorphosed into the two
pine-trees, entwined with each other among the other trees.

In this story the twin trees are symbolic of a passionate love,


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Re: Japanese Mythology
« Reply #5 on: August 04, 2019, 03:40:48 PM »

254 JAPANESE MYTHOLOGY

but in another legend two pine-trees are likened to an old couple
and represent conjugal fidelity, i.e. the famous trees of Taka-
sago, of which we shall speak in a later chapter.

On the sea coast, where the wind blows constantly from one
point of the compass, there are often trees whose branches ex-
tend only in one direction. Nearly every one of those trees has
a story of its own which tells the reason why the branches seem
to yearn toward some object in the direction toward which they
point. This is a typical one:

In Tango, upon a long, sandy beach, there is such a pine-tree,
the branches of which extend toward Miyako, the capital. The
daughter of a nobleman in Miyako was stolen by a kidnapper,
as often happened in the middle ages. She was taken to Tango
and sold to a local chief. She often stood under this tree gazing
toward her home and weeping for her parents. The tree felt
sympathy for the poor girl and gradually turned all its branches
in the direction of her home.

Rocks furnish similar motives to the myth makers. The most
famous one is the standing rock of Matsura, on the western
coast of Kyushu, whence ships used to embark for China. Once
when a court noble was despatched to China, his wife Sayo-
hime accompanied him to Matsura, watched the ship that car-
ried her husband vanish beyond the horizon, and stood there,
waving her scarf in farewell, until her figure was metamor-
phosed into the rock, which stands there today and is known as
the rock of Sayo-hime. A curious projection of the rock is said
to be the hand with which she waved him good-bye.

Climatic conditions furnish useful material for local legends.
This is one of the stories concerning the periodical storms that
visit Japan in autumn. It is the story of the “ Hira hurricane,”
Hira being the name of the mountain range that soars above
the western shore of Lake Biwa, the largest lake in Japan.

Once upon a time there lived a fine young man, the keeper of
a lighthouse on a promontory on the eastern side of Lake Biwa.


LOCAL LEGENDS — COMMUNAL CULTS 255

A fair maiden lived in a village across the lake from the light-
house. Once the girl visited the promontory and saw the light-
house keeper. They fell in love and agreed to meet by night,
when no one should know of it. So the maiden used to visit the
beloved every night, crossing the lake in a small boat. Whether
on a calm night the ripples reflected the moon’s light, or whether
in darkness the lake was rough and angry, the girl’s boat never
failed to reach the promontory, because the twinkling light
guided her safely to her beloved.

The summer passed in this way and the autumn came. The
young man had been made happy by the loving girl’s faithful-
ness j but at last her audacity, and her indifference to the danger
of discovery or of death by drowning, so unusual in a young
girl, aroused in the heart of the young man something like sus-
picion. He began to question whether the girl was really a hu-
man being or whether she was a dragon-girl or an ogre. At last
he determined to see whether she could find her way to him
without the guiding light, and so one night he extinguished the
light in his lighthouse. The girl, as usual, had set out in her
boat, but when the light went out she quickly lost her way. She
rowed about helplessly, quite uncertain where she was. She be-
came desperate, and made up her mind that her lover was faith-
less. In her grief and terror she cursed him, herself and the
world. Finally she leaped into the water, with the prayer that
a storm might destroy the lighthouse. No sooner had the girl’s
body disappeared in the water, than the wind rose and soon be-
gan to blow to a hurricane. The storm raged all night. When
morning dawned, the lighthouse, together with its keeper, had
disappeared, for the waters had swallowed it up.

Hence, every year, on that very day, a certain day in the
eighth lunar month, a storm rages over the lake. It blows from
the range of the Hira Mountains, where the unfortunate girl
once lived, and therefore it is called the Hira hurricane.


CHAPTER III


FAIRIES, CELESTIAL BEINGS,

THE MEN OF THE MOUNTAIN.

I. THE SOURCES OF FAIRY TALES

T HE Japanese people always believed in the existence and
activity of spirits, both of natural objects and of the dead;
yet curiously enough, their mythology, as handed down in
Shinto tradition, is poorly supplied with fantastic beings and is
quite vague in giving personality to its deities. Many of the
deities are hardly more than names, others are worshipped as
the ancestors of the various clans, and the stories about them are
taken by the people as facts rather than as bits of poetic imagina-
tion. That is chiefly because the early Shinto records were com-
piled, as we have said, in the form of historical narrative, their
authors desiring to produce something that should rival Chinese
history in antiquity and supposed authenticity. What we recog-
nize today as myths were originally made to appear as historical
facts, just as the official history of China had carefully turned
the racial legends of that people into alleged chronicles of pure
fact. The pseudo-rationalism of the Shinto records is largely a
product of Chinese, that is, of Confucian, influence.

It must not, however, be supposed that the Japanese were in-
capable of imagining the existence of fairies and other fantastic
beings. We shall find many traces of fairies and similar beings
in the ancient traditions of the Japanese, and there is a very con-
siderable store of fairy stories in the literature and oral tradi-
tions of the people. The greater part of this sort of fiction
seems to have been derived from Chinese and Indian sources,


FAIRIES, CELESTIAL BEINGS 257

and the Japanese genius is more often shown in the skilful adap-
tation of such stories to local conditions than in original in-
vention. The strain of Hindu ideas and stories came, of
course, through the channel of Buddhist literature, which
derived in turn from the highly refined Vedic and Sanskrit
literature. It reached Japan chiefly through Chinese trans-
lations.

The Chinese stories were mostly derived from non-Confucian
sources, chiefly from the Taoist literature. In a strictly histori-
cal study of Japanese fairy tales, it would be necessary to dis-
tinguish critically these two elements of continental origin from
the smaller stock of native lore. But in this work we shall con-
fine ourselves to setting down some of the stories as they are
commonly circulated among the people, without considering
their sources or the changes they have undergone during the
process of adoption.

II. THE FAIRY-MAIDEN

A fairy who is quite indigenous to Japan is Ko-no-hana-
sakuya-hime, “ the Lady-who-causes-trees-to-bloom.” To her
we have already referred in speaking of the myths of origins.
She is the fairy of cherry-blossoms, and is represented as hover-
ing in the sky and making the cherry-trees bloom, probably by
breathing on them. Her marriage with the grandchild of the
Sun-goddess may be regarded as an instance of the marriage of
a celestial maiden to a human being.

But a more typical example of such a union is offered in the
story of the Swan-maiden. This maiden has no personal name 5
she is conceived to be a celestial maiden furnished with feathers
or wearing a robe of feathers. The most highly idealized ver-
sion of the story is “ The Robe of Feathers ” in one of the No
dramas. In brief it is as follows:

Once, on a fair day, a number of fairy maidens came down


258 JAPANESE MYTHOLOGY

to earth and bathed in a fountain, hanging their feathery robes
on trees near the pool. A man passed by the place and seeing
the beautiful garments took one of them down from its tree.
The maidens in alarm at the intrusion flew off to the sky; but
the maiden whose robe had been taken, could not fly away with
her companions but had to remain on earth and marry the man. 1
She gave birth to a child, and then having, by stratagem, recov-
ered her feathery robe, she flew back to Heaven.

The story is a version of the tale of the Swan-maiden so well
known in the folk-lore of various nations, though there is no
proof that the Japanese story was borrowed from any other peo-
ple. But in its idealized version in the No drama the maiden
is represented as one of the fairies in attendance on the heavenly
princes who reside in the Moon palace, an idea clearly taken
from a Buddhist story of the moon. Moreover, in this version
the maiden preserves her virginity intact, and the chief motive
of the tale is the contrast between the noble purity of the celes-
tial maiden and the greed of mankind. The story is as fol-
lows: 2

It was a beautiful spring day. A celestial maiden came down
to the pine forest of Hiho, a sandy beach on the Pacific coast
whence there is a grand view of Mount Fuji soaring into the
sky on the other side of the water. The maiden was charmed
by the beauty of the place and forgot her heavenly home. A
fisherman happened to pass by; he perceived a miraculous scent
which perfumed the air, and saw a wonderful robe of feathers
hanging on a pine-tree. While the fisherman was examining
the robe and wondering what it was, the fairy appeared to him
and told him that it was hers — the robe of feathers which was
a property of all the heavenly maidens. The greed of the man
was aroused and he rudely refused to return the robe. The
maiden lamented her loss and finally persuaded the fisherman
to return the robe by dancing before him one of the celestial
dances. The scene is described as follows:


259


FAIRIES, CELESTIAL BEINGS

(Fairy’s lamentation)

Fairy

“ Vainly my glance doth seek the heav’nly plain.
Where rising vapours all the air enshroud,

And veil the well-known paths from cloud to cloud.”


Chorus


“ Clouds! wand’ring clouds! she yearns, and yearns in vain.
Soaring like you to tread the heav’ns again;

Vainly she sighs to hear, as erst she heard,

The melting strains of Paradise’ sweet bird:

That blessed voice grows faint. The heav’n in vain
Rings with the song of the returning crane;

In vain she lists, where ocean softly laves,

To the free seagull twitt’ring o’er the waves;

Vainly she harks where zephyr sweeps the plain;

These all may fly, but she’ll ne’er fly again! ”


(Fairy’s dance)


Fairy


“ And in this firmament a palace stands
Yclept the moon, built up by magic hands; ”


Chorus

“ And o’er this palace thirty monarchs rule,

Of whom fifteen, until the moon be full.

Nightly do enter, clad in robes of white;

But who again, from the full sixteenth night,

One ev’ry night must vanish into space,

And fifty black-rob’d monarchs take their place.
While, ever circling round each happy king,
Attendant fays celestial music sing.”


Fairy

“ And one of these am I.”


Chorus

“ From those bright spheres
Lent for a moment, this sweet maid appears:


260 JAPANESE MYTHOLOGY

Here in Japan she lights (heav’n left behind)

To teach the art of dancing to mankind.

E’en when the feath’ry shock

Of fairies flitting past with silv’ry pinions

Shall wear away the granite rock!

Oh, magic strains that fill our ravished ears!

The fairy sings, and from the cloudy spheres,

Chiming in unison, the angels’ lutes,

Tabrets and cymbals and silv’ry flutes,

“ Ring through the heav’n that glows with purple hues,
As when Someiro’s western slope endues
The tints of sunset, while the azure wave
From isle to isle the pine-clad shores doth lave,

From Ukishima’s slope, — a beauteous storm, —
Whirl down the flow’rs; and still that magic form,
Those snowy pinions, fluttering in the light,

Ravish our souls with wonder and delight.”

Fairy

“ Hail to the kings that o’er the moon hold sway!

Heav’n is their home, and Buddhas, too, are they.”

Chorus

“ The fairy robes the maiden’s limbs endue ”

Fairy

“ Are, like the very heav’ns, of tend’rest blue: ”

Chorus

“ Or, like the mists of spring, all silv’ry white,

Fragrant and fair, — too fair for mortal sight!

Dance on, sweet maiden, through the happy hours!
Dance on, sweet maiden, while the magic flow’rs
Crowning thy tresses flutter in the wind
Raised by thy waving pinions intertwin’d!

Dance on, for ne’er to mortal dance ’tis given
To vie with that sweet dance thou bring’st from heav’n
And when, cloud-soaring, thou shalt all too soon
Homeward return to the full-shining moon
Then hear our pray’rs, and from thy bounteous hand
Pour sev’nfold treasures on our happy land;



PLATE XVIII


The Fairies of the Cherry Blossoms Playing
Music in Unison with the Koto Played by
the Emperor Temmu

The costume of the sitting Emperor is not of the
7th century but of the 10th century. The fairies are
depicted in the attire of Buddhist angels (Tennin).
See p. 261.

Taken from Y amato Meisho Zu.







26 i


FAIRIES, CELESTIAL BEINGS

Bless ev’ry coast, refresh each panting field,

That earth may still her proper increase yield!

But ah, the hour, the hour of parting rings!

Caught by the breeze, the fairy’s magic wings
Heav’nward do bear her from the pine-clad shore,

“ Past Ukishima’s widely-stretching moor,

Past Ashitaka’s heights, and where are spread
The eternal snows on Fujiyama’s head, —

Higher and higher to the azure skies,

Till wand’ring vapours hide her from our eyes! ”

The “ Azuma dance,” as it is called, is supposed to have its
origin in the dance of this fairy on the beach of Miho, and in
like manner the “ Goset ” or u Five Tact dance ” is ascribed to
the fairies of the cherry-blossoms. When the Emperor Tem-
mu, who reigned in the seventh century, was playing on the
Koto in the palace of Yoshino, the place of cherry-blossoms,
five fairies appeared in the sky, playing on their instruments in
harmony with the royal musician, and danced before him the
dance of five tacts. Thereafter, the music and the dance be-
came one of the festivities regularly observed after each Im-
perial coronation. In the No drama, the chorus describes the
scene in these words:

“ O what a wonder!

Music is heard in the sky,

Miraculous perfumes fill the air,

Petals fall from heaven like rain drops!

Are these not signs of a peaceful reign?

Hearken! sweet beyond all imagination
Sound and resound in unison
Harps and guitars, flutes and horns,

Bells and drums, of all kinds;

A grand orchestra makes harmonious the serene air, —

The soothing breeze of the spring.

To the accompaniment of heavenly music
Celestial maidens dance, hovering in the air,

Fluttering their sleeves of feathers,

Flying and wavering among the cherry-blossoms.”
vm — 18


262 JAPANESE MYTHOLOGY

Another story in which a fairy maiden descends to the earth
is that of “ the Lady of Brilliancy ” (Kaguya-hime). One of
the versions is as follows:

Once upon a time an old man lived in the province of Suruga,
where is Mount Fuji. He cultivated bamboo-trees. One
spring two nightingales made their nest in his bamboo grove,
and there he found a charming little infant who called herself
Kaguya-hime. The old man took the child and nursed her with
great affection. When she grew up she was the most beautiful
girl in the country. She was called to the Imperial residence
and was made Princess-consort of the Emperor. Seven years
passed after the marriage and one day the Princess said to her
husband: “ I am not like you a human being, yet a certain tie has
held me to you. Now my time on earth is ending and I must
return to my celestial home. I am sorry to leave you, but I
must. In memory of me keep this mirror, in which you may see
my image.”

With these words she disappeared from his sight. The Em-
peror missed his beautiful consort so much that he determined
to follow her to Heaven. Accordingly he climbed to the sum-
mit of Fuji, the highest mountain in the country, carrying the
mirror in his hands. Yet when he had reached the summit he
could find no trace of the lost maiden, nor could he by any
means ascend further toward Heaven. His passion was so
strong that a flame burst out of his breast 3 and set the mirror
ablaze. The smoke drifted up into the sky, and from that day
it continually arises from the summit of Fuji.

Another version of this story is known as “ The Bamboo-
hewer.” According to this version the old man found the tiny
girl within a bamboo stem, and when she grew up many men
sought her in marriage. She asked her suitors to achieve some-
thing difficult and promised to marry the one who should best
accomplish the task assigned to him. Five suitors agreed to sub-
mit to the test and each was bidden to bring a certain precious


FAIRIES, CELESTIAL BEINGS 263

thing to the lady. The suitors did their best, but they all failed.
Accordingly each man invented a clever falsehood to account
for his want of success. But the maiden saw through their
stories and rejected them all. So far the story is didactic and
satirical.

Now the ruling Emperor, hearing of the girl’s beauty, wished
her to come to his palace, but she would not, though she sent
him letters and poems. The Emperor found some consolation
in reading these communications, but suddenly he learned that
the maiden was of heavenly origin and was going back to her
father’s palace in the moon, on the night of the full moon in
mid-autumn. The Emperor, wishing to keep the maiden on
earth, sent an army of troops and ordered them to guard her
house. The night came, a bank of white clouds appeared in the
sky and the troops found themselves unable to shoot or to fight
because their arms and legs were paralyzed. So the maiden
was brought home by her father, the Moon King. She left a
casket of medicines and a letter to the Emperor. After the
maiden’s disappearance, the Emperor sent his men with the
casket to the summit of Fuji. There they burnt the medicines
and hence arises the smoke of the volcano.

Not only do celestial maidens descend to earth and wed hu-
man beings in Japanese folk-lore, but a maiden of the deep sea
realms sometimes becomes the wife of a mortal, though when
such marriages occur, according to the tales, the man usually
descends to her abode. Universally, however, the fairy and her
mortal lover are destined to an early separation. These stories
of the sea-maidens are not merely romantic love tales ; they are
largely occupied with the description of a world beneath the
ocean or far beyond the sea. The separation of the married
couple is the result of the yearning of the being, who has left
his or her true element, for the old home. When the maiden
descends from Heaven, her return is due to the expiration of her
alloted term on earth, while, when a human husband has gone


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Re: Japanese Mythology
« Reply #6 on: August 04, 2019, 03:41:19 PM »

264 JAPANESE MYTHOLOGY

down into the sea, the separation follows the breaking of a
promise he has made. Moreover, the stay of the human bride-
groom in the ideal realm seems very short to him, but when he
returns to the world he finds that he has been a long time away.
His earthly abode has disappeared and all his relatives have
long been dead. This motive, which reminds the reader of Rip
van Winkle’s experience, hints at the contrast between the evan-
escent existence of mankind and the endless duration of the
ideal life.

The idea of a world beyond our own was stimulated by Bud-
dhist and Taoist teachings, and in the later development of these
stories such influences are clearly to be seen.

The most famous story of this type is that of the fisher boy
Urashima — or more properly Urashima Taro, u the Son of
Beach-Island.” His native place is generally located in Tango,
on the Sea of Japan, but sometimes in Sumi-no-ye, on the Inland
Sea. The oldest versions are found in the Shinto chronicles and
in an anthology of the eighth century . 4 In the chronicles his
stay in the world beyond is said to have lasted seven hundred
years and his return is mentioned as a historical fact. The story
was later connected with the Buddhist tradition of the Dragon
Palace (Ryu-gu), and the maiden of the story is known as Oto-
hime, the youngest daughter of the Dragon King.

The story, in its simplest form, is as follows: The fisher boy
Urashima was abroad upon the sea in his boat when he saw a
young lady coming toward him. She wished to take him to her
home, and he followed her to a distant realm in the deep water,
where stood a splendid palace. The lady was the daughter of
the king, and Urashima married her. After three years of
happy married life had passed, Urashima was seized by the de-
sire to see his parents at home. His wife was too tender to
resist him and, on parting, gave him a casket which would bring
him back to the Dragon Palace, on the sole condition that he
should never open it. Urashima came back to his native place


FAIRIES, CELESTIAL BEINGS 265

but found it totally changed. To his dismay he learnt that sev-
eral hundred years had passed since he had gone away and that
his mysterious disappearance had been handed down as a tradi-
tion among the villagers. In great distress of mind, hoping to
find some solace in the casket given him by his wife as the pledge
of returning to the Dragon Kingdom, he opened the lid. He
was astonished to see wisps of white smoke rise from the casket
and drift away toward the sea. No sooner was the casket emp-
tied than his whole body was shaken by a chill ; presently his
hair grew white and he became an old man, hundreds of years
old. Urashima died on the spot and he is enshrined there on
the coast of Tango. 5

The story of Urashima stimulated the invention of various
story-tellers who added curious details to the forms of it cre-
ated by them. One version, probably of the fifteenth century,
says that Urashima, after having opened the casket, was meta-
morphosed into a crane, a bird which is supposed to live a thou-
sand years, and that he, the crane, and his wife, the tortoise, are
even now living on indefinitely. This tale illustrates a peculi-
arity of that age — the unwillingness of the people to listen to
stories that were in the least tragic in character, in spite of, or,
perhaps, because of the fact that it was a time of warfare and so-
cial disintegration. On the other hand, a modern writer who
has dramatized the story depicts Urashima as the typical repre-
sentative of the youth of today, who seeks after dreamy ideals
without being willing to make strenuous effort or submit to
methodical training.

A similar story concerning the daughter of a Sea King is
ascribed to the grandmother of the legendary founder of the
Empire. 6

Hiko-Hohodemi, “ the Flame-flash,” once lost a fish-hook
which he had borrowed from his elder brother Ho-no-susari,
“the Flame-fade.” When the former was urged by his
brother to return the hook and was troubled as to what he


266 JAPANESE MYTHOLOGY

should do, a certain old deity advised him to travel beyond the
sea. Accordingly he passed over the sea in a boat and arrived
at a palace built of some material like the scales of fish. It was
the residence of the Sea King, and there Hiko-Hohodemi met a
beautiful woman. She was Toyd-tama-hime, “ the Lady
Abundance- Jewel,” the daughter of the king, and the king was
glad to have his daughter married to a deity from heaven —
for Hiko-Hohodemi was a descendant of the Sun-goddess.
After the couple were married they lived a happy life together
for three years, when the husband revealed to his fairy wife
that he had come to her realm in search of the lost fish-hook.
It was quite an easy matter for his father-in-law, the ruler of
the deep sea, to find the hook, and Hiko-Hohodemi thereupon
journeyed back with it to his home-land, followed by his wife.

Now, after they had come to the terrestrial abode, the fairy
wife gave birth to a son. Before the delivery the mother, ac-
cording to custom, was taken to a cottage specially built for the
occasion. The wife asked the husband not to look into the cot-
tage at the moment of birth because she must then take on her
original shape of a woman-dragon. In spite of his promise, the
husband peeped into the cottage, and so the wife left her hus-
hand and child and returned to her home beyond the sea.

The Buddhist and Taoist influences were of momentous im-
portance in the development of fairy lore in Japan, and the
primitive conceptions of ideal or fantastic existences were by
those influences made much more definite and elaborate. In
general the Buddhist importations were of two categories, one
being the Devatas (Japanese Tennyo or Tennin, the heavenly
maidens), who hover in the sky, and the other the Nagas
(Japanese Ryujin, or dragon spirits), who reside in the deep
sea. The Chinese or Taoist literature introduced the Hsien
(Japanese Sennin), literally “ the Men of the Mountains,” who
are semi-celestial beings, mostly of human origin, and who per-
form magic feats and live immortal lives. 7 These immortals


FAIRIES, CELESTIAL BEINGS 267

are of both sexes, old and young, some of weird appearance and
others with handsome and noble features } but all are fed on
ambrosial foods and live lives of total emancipation, neither
molested by, nor caring for, human affairs. Although the be-
ings of these different categories were occasionally amalgamated
in a new realm completely Japanese in invention, they are usu-
ally kept quite distinct. Let us take up the three categories one
after another, and examine a few stories that illustrate the parts
which they play in Japanese mythology.

III. THE BUDDHIST FAIRIES, THE TENNIN AND

THE RYUJIN

In India the Devatas are female deities in general, but the
word is also applied to the female genii of trees and fountains.
Buddhist lore is full of these beings, some of whom are defi-
nitely personified though others are mere abstractions. The
Japanese Tennyo, who are copied from the Devatas, roam in
the sky, clad in fluttering veils and without wings. They play
music and scatter flowers in the air, and their presence is per-
ceived through their celestial music and their heavenly per-
fume. Often they are borne aloft on iridescent clouds and de-
scend to hill-tops or promontories, or they illumine the dusk of
the forests. They surround pious Buddhists and perform the
duties of ministering angels 5 they inhabit the blooming woods
in the guise of flower fairies ; they appear wherever good musi-
cians play on their instruments, and join in concert with the hu-
man performers } sometimes they appear as women, and love
stories are told of their love affairs with men. They are repre-
sented in sculpture, and appear as panel decorations in Buddhist
templesj they are depicted in pictures, sung of in poems, cele-
brated in fairy tales, and some of them are actually worshipped
in shrines in certain very beautiful spots. Occasionally they are
identified with Shinto goddesses, and since the thirteenth cen-


268 JAPANESE MYTHOLOGY

tury such confusions are common in folk-lore as well as in art
and religion.

The Hindu Naga is a creature who lives in the deep sea and
whose body is conceived to be like that of a serpent. In Bud-
dhist books some Naga tribes are said to live among the moun-
tains, but they are always spoken of as guardians of water.
Whether or not the Japanese story of the Sea-god is a product
of Hindu influence, the conception of Ryujin, the Dragon-god,
was very early amalgamated with that of the Sea-god, and the
latter, the father of Lady Abundance- Jewel, was often identi-
fied with Sagara, one of the Hindu Naga kings. The Ryujins
inhabit the deep sea, where there stands a splendid palace built
of coral and crystal, and where the Dragon King, Ryu-wd, rules.
The Dragon King has a human body, though he wears a serpent
on his crown, but his retainers are serpents, fishes and other ma-
rine monsters. The Dragon King is a noble and wise being,
the guardian of Buddha’s religion and of Buddhists. But his
benevolence is often defeated by the silly or malicious conduct
of his ignorant kinsfolk, and on this account the dragon world is
sometimes engaged in warfare with the heavenly kings. The
dragon tribes are also believed to have the rain and the storm in
charge. So stories are repeatedly told of wise Buddhist priests
who can control these marine monsters and cause them to give
rain in time of drought, or of Buddhist pilgrims and mission-
aries sailing between Japan and China who command the
dragons to quiet the rough sea, or of a Buddhist zealot, waiting
for the appearance of the future Buddha, and metamorphosed
into a dragon and living on indefinitely beneath the water.

The most conspicuous figure of the sort in folk-lore is a
daughter of the Dragon King. Her Japanese name is Benten,
the Hindu Sarasvatl. She is believed to be the guardian of
music and public speaking and also the giver of wealth. She is
represented as a Hindu goddess, clad in variegated robes with
long sleeves and with a jewel in her crown. Sometimes she is


FAIRIES, CELESTIAL BEINGS 269

said to have appeared in person to a famous musician, sometimes
in response to the prayer of a pious Buddhist for wealth, some-
times in the shape of a beautiful woman she attracts the love of
human beings. She partakes of the nature of a celestial maiden
as well as that of a Dragon Princess and she is often identified
with certain goddesses of the sea in the old mythology. She is
worshipped at many beautiful spots on the sea coast. The rep-
resentation of her appearing from waves reminds one of the
classic myths of Venus, and her constant association with a musi-
cal instrument, biwa (Sanskrit vina, a kind of banjo) adds her
to the company of the Muses. Her worship has been very
popular since the twelfth century, and in later times she came
to be regarded as one of the seven deities of good fortune of
whom we shall hear more.

Many local legends cluster about her and her shrines. The
most famous of the shrines dedicated to her is that of Itsuku-
shima, or Miya-jima, “ the Isle of the Temple,” well known
to tourists as the isle where neither birth nor death was per-
mitted to take place — a sort of Japanese Elysium. The island
is situated in the Inland Sea and a shrine dedicated to a Sea-
goddess has stood on its beach since time immemorial. Later it
was enlarged and adapted to the worship of Benten, who had
come to be identified with the original Sea-goddess. The pres-
ent temple is extremely curious and beautiful. It consists of a
group of buildings and galleries, standing on a sandy beach
upon which the tide rises until the edifices appear as if they
floated on the water — a veritable image of the Dragon Palace.
Along the galleries hang rows of iron lanterns, and their light
is reflected in the sea below, while the sacred deer roam about
on the beach, near to the temple, when the water is low. The
steep and rocky heights of the island rise behind the temple,
furnishing a splendid background for the picturesque and grace-
ful Dragon Palace. The man who conceived the idea of com-
bining the grandeur of nature with the beauty of architecture,


270 JAPANESE MYTHOLOGY

and who embodied the story of the Dragon Palace in the wor-
ship of the Dragon Princess, was Kiyomori, the military dicta-
tor of the twelfth century and the hero of the epic Heike
Monogatari.

While Kiyomori was the governor of the province in which
this island is situated, he one day went forth upon the sea and
saw a tiny boat approaching his boat. It was a boat of shell
which shone with the lustre of pearl, and it hoisted a scarlet sail
of fine satin. Therein three fairy-like ladies were seen. Kiyo-
mori received these ladies with great reverence, and they told
him that they were Benten (or the ancient Japanese Ichiki-
shima-hime) and her two sisters. They promised the warrior an
extraordinarily fortunate career, if he should enlarge the tem-
ple and renew the worship of the deities. He hastened to obey
their command, and from that time Kiyomori’s family has al-
ways borne the scarlet ensign, which once floated in mastery
over the whole of Japan.

Another spot famous for the worship of Benten is Chikubu-
shima in Lake Biwa. The island rises steeply from the water
and its cliffs are overgrown with evergreens. The poets are
never tired of singing of its beauty, and popular fancy attributes
all sorts of fairy wonders to the place. There stands a shrine
dedicated to Benten, whose music is heard in the waves and
ripples that beat against the rocky cliffs, and whose image is seen
hovering in the sky when the moon transforms the island and
its surroundings into a realm of silvery light. It is said that, on
a certain day in spring, when the full moon is in the sky, all the
deities and fairies of the country meet at Chikubu-shima and
make up a great orchestra. One folk-tale connected with this
concert of the gods is about a boy who was somehow trans-
formed into a fairy being and added to the company. He dis-
appeared, leaving with his foster-father the instrument which
he used to play. Naturally enough, musicians deem it a great
honour to practise their art at Chikubu-shima ; and one is said to


FAIRIES, CELESTIAL BEINGS 271

have seen the goddess herself, who appeared to him and in-
structed him.

There is another famous Benten shrine on E-no-shima, “ the
Picture Island,” near Kamakura, on the Pacific coast. The
legend connected with this shrine is that the Fairy Queen en-
shrined there was wedded to a Dragon King who lived in a
pond on the main island, close to the sandy beach that connects
the island with the mainland. According to this story, the
dragon was an unsightly and serpent-like being, and Benten is
said to have yielded to the passionate love of the creature only
after long resistance.

The belief in the serpent tribes of the sea is general, and
there are many stories concerning them and the mysteries of the
under-water world where they are supreme. Most often they
have to do with the storms which the Dragon Kings can arouse
or quell, or with mysterious lights that are seen on the sea.
These lights are called Ryu-to, or “ lanterns of the dragon,”
and are believed to appear on festival nights at certain sanctu-
aries on the sea shore. The most famous one is the Ryu-to that
heralds the approach of the dragons, who bring offerings to the
deities assembling at the Great Shrine of Izumo, on the Sea of
Japan. No one but the priests of the shrine is permitted to go
abroad on that night ; the priests go down to the beach and re-
ceive the offerings of the Sea-gods. The ebb and flow of the
tide are ascribed to the power of these marine fairies, who have
a mysterious jewel-crystal that can make the sea rise or fall.
The serpent tribes are supposed to be eagerly covetous of other
crystals that have similar magic power.

There is an interesting tale which illustrates this belief. It
is concerned with the mother of Fujiwara-no-Fusazaki, a fa-
mous minister of state. Thus it runs :

Once the Emperor of China sent across the sea certain
sacred treasures of his land which he wished to deposit in a
Buddhist temple, which was founded and supported bv the


272 JAPANESE MYTHOLOGY

Fujiwara family. The ship that carried the treasures to Japan
encountered a terrible storm, as it approached the coast of Sanuki,
in the Inland Sea. The storm arose with mysterious sudden-
ness and it subsided as suddenly. When the storm had passed,
the captain of the ship noticed that one of the treasures was
missing. This was a crystal in which the image of Buddha was
perpetually reflected. The other treasures were safely trans-
ferred to the temple, and then Fubito, the chief of the Fu-
jiwara family, began to consider how to recover the lost crystal.
He strongly suspected that it had been stolen by the Dragon
King, who had been guilty of a similar offence on other
occasions.

So Fubito went down to the coast of Sanuki and hired all the
divers of the province to search for the lost treasure. None of
them was successful, and Fubito had abandoned all hope of
finding the crystal, when a poor fisher-woman begged that she
might try. The reward she asked was to have her only child 8
brought up in the noble family of Fujiwara, if she should find
the divine crystal. No one believed she could succeed, but she
was permitted to try.

She dived into the water and sank down and down until she
came in sight of the Dragon Palace and saw the crystal gleam-
ing on the top of a tower. The tower was surrounded by vari-
ous kinds of sea monsters, and at first she saw no way of getting
at the crystal. But fortunately the guards were asleep, and the
fisher-woman audaciously climbed to the top of the tower. She
seized the crystal and tried to swim away, but the guards awoke
and pursued her so closely that she could not escape. Suddenly
it occurred to her that blood was abhorrent to these sea monsters
and kinsfolk of the Dragon King. She stabbed herself, and the
sea monsters were afraid to pursue her any further through
the bloody water. When the man above pulled her up out of
the sea by the long rope that was tied about her waist, she was
at the point of death, but the treasure was found hidden in her


FAIRIES, CELESTIAL BEINGS 273

bosom. So the treasure was recovered by the woman who sac-
rificed her life for her child.

The child, the story goes on to say, was adopted by Fubitoj
he became the famous statesman Fusazaki and built a Buddhist
temple at the spot in memory of his mother. The temple
stands there to this day. 9

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Re: Japanese Mythology
« Reply #7 on: August 04, 2019, 03:41:53 PM »

We may add another story to illustrate the nature of the
Dragon King as the guardian of Buddhism as well as of the sea
route. In the Middle Ages, many pious priests attempted to go
over to China and further to India, but only a few succeeded in
reaching China and none got as far as India. Now, a monk, be-
ing desirous of visiting the home-land of Buddhism, passed sev-
eral nights at the shrine of Kasuga in praying for the safety of
the journey. One night a Dragon King guarding the Kasuga
shrine appeared to him and persuaded him to abandon the plan,
because the scene of Buddha’s sermon on Vulture Peak could be
shown by him in vision. The priest complied with the counsel
and was shown the vision.

Inferior to the Dragon tribe but, like them, a denizen of the
sea, is Ningyo, the Fisher-woman. 10 Her head is that of a
woman with long hair but her body is that of a fish. This mer-
maid-like creature often appears to human beings in order to
give them advice or warning. Pearls are said to be her tears,
and according to one tale a fisherman who caught her in his net,
but set her free, received her tears as a reward which filled a
casket with pearls. Another belief about her is that a woman
who eats of her flesh gains perpetual youth and beauty, and
stories are told of women who were fortunate enough to have a
taste of that miraculous food.

Another fairy-like being of marine origin is the Shojo;
though he does not actually belong to the sea but is believed to
come across it to Japan. Probably he is an idealized personifi-
cation of the orang-outang which is native neither to China nor
to Japan, though occasional specimens have, in one way or an-


274 JAPANESE MYTHOLOGY

other, found their way thither. The Shojo is a merry embodi-
ment of Epicureanism, who, deriving his chief pleasure from
perpetual drinking, is therefore regarded as the genius of sake-
beer. His face is red or scarlet and boyish in appearance. His
long red hair hangs down nearly to his feet; he has a dipper
for ladling sake, wears gaudy dresses of red and gold, and
dances a sort of bacchanalian dance.

There are no definite stories about these creatures, but a
group of two or three Shojo is often depicted in pictures or
modelled in little statues; and their characteristic dance is per-
formed to the accompaniment of choral songs which praise
them and the drink they love.

IV. THE TAOIST IMMORTALS

Next let us consider the Sennin, “ the Man of the Moun-
tain,” the ideal man of Taoist mysticism, as he is modified by
the popular imagination of the Japanese. The Sennins are be-
lieved to perform supernatural feats; they can fly through the
air, ejecting their own images from their mouths, walk upon the
waves of the sea, produce a horse from a magic gourd, summon
mysterious animals at will out of vacancy, and so forth. But
the essential thing about them is that they are beyond the effect
of worldly change and commotion and enjoy immortal lives in
blissful serenity and total emancipation from care. They are
ideal recluses who have passed beyond all human limitations
and are in perfect communion with nature; the men in whom
the macrocosmos is embodied and who are therefore the true
“ children of nature.”

They are variously said to have their home amidst some dis-
tant mountains, or in the happy islands, or even in the sky itself,
and their assembly is conceived to be like a meeting of poets or
of “ free talkers.” But the Sennins are pre-eminently indi-
vidualists, and even when they feast together, each of them is


FAIRIES, CELESTIAL BEINGS 275

sufficient unto himself and finds his enjoyment in himself. This
myth has its source in the long period of unrest in China during
the centuries that followed the fourth. At that time of social
disintegration many talented men retired from the world.
These mysterious recluses came to be idealized by the people,
and in time to be confused with supernatural beings. The idea
of the secluded and meditative life found sympathy in Japan
during the time of confusion in the fourteenth and fifteenth
centuries, and their stories of the Sennins became the popular
fairy-tales of the period.

The best known of the Sennins are Tob 5 -saku, tc the Prime
Man of the East,” and Weiwdbo, “ the Queen Mother of the
West.” The former is an old man who never grows any older,
and who lives somewhere in the East. His immortality is sym-
bolized by a peach which he holds in his hand, and evidently he
represents the ever rejuvenating vitality of the spring. The
Queen Mother lives on a plateau, close to Heaven, far to the
west of China. She is a beautiful lady of eternal youth, sur-
rounded by a court of young fairies and revered by all Sennins
and fairy-like beings as their queen.

Many of the Sennins are associated with the animals or plants
that symbolize their respective qualities. For instance, Rafu-
sen, which probably means “ the Buoyant Subtlety,” is the fe-
male genius of the plum-blossom, the flower beloved by Chi-
nese and Japanese poets as the pioneer of spring and the typical
representative of pure perfume and chaste beauty. Rafu-sen is
supposed to wander among the plum-trees in the night, espe-
cially in the moonlight. Kinko Sennin, “ the High Man with a
Harp,” rides on a pure white crane and plays on his instrument
as he flies through the air. Kiku-jido, “ the Grace-boy of the
Chrysanthemum,” is the genius of that flower. He is an eternal
boy and lives somewhere in the mountains, at a fountain by
which chrysanthemums bloom and from which, by the virtue of
the flowers, a stream flows endowed with wonderful curative


276 JAPANESE MYTHOLOGY

power. Gama Sennin, or “ the Toad-Master,” has the power
of producing any number of toads and of riding on them
through the sky.

These and many other Chinese Sennins were imported into
Japan where they are more often represented in painting than
celebrated in folk-lore. But Japan also produced its own Sen-
nins. The most conspicuous of them is En-no-Ozuna, known as
Gyoja, or “ the Ascetic Master.” Gyoja is the mythic figure of
a famous ascetic who disciplined himself among mountains in
the eighth century. He is said to have built a rocky bridge
from one mountain to another, by enforcing the service of gods
and spirits, demons and goblins. During this work, the genius
of one of the mountains connected by the bridge refused to
obey Gy oja’s command, because he was so ugly that he hesitated
to appear among the other spirits. Gyoja punished the diso-
bedient spirit by shutting him up in a cave, in which he is con-
fined to this day. This story perhaps refers to that stage in the
religious history of Japan, when the Taoist-Buddhist ideal
was getting the better of the old native beliefs. Further, it is
said that Gyoja was condemned by the government authorities
as a magician, and during his exile he performed a number of
supernatural feats. This typical Japanese Sennin still exerts a
certain spell over the popular imagination, and his image is to
be seen in many a cave, seated on a chair with a staff in his hand.

According to the usual belief, however, the Sennins are in
danger of losing their supernatural powers if they are tempted
to yield to human passions, as was Ikkaku Sennin, “ the One-
horned.” 11 He passed through a long training and gained the
power of performing miracles. He was once engaged in strife
with the Dragon tribe and confined them all within a cave. As
a result no rain fell — because rain is controlled by the Dragons
— and the whole land suffered from a disastrous drought.

Now the king of the land, Benares, learned the cause of the
calamity, and contrived a stratagem to tempt the powerful Sen-



! i. !' . . •- ?- -

?

n •’ v , . i








PLATES XIX, XX, XXI


A Group of Three Pictures Representing the
Realm of the Taoist Immortals (Sennin)

A lady Immortal riding on the mythical peacock,

howo.

A palace standing on high terraces and command-
ing a wide view of mountains and waters, where the
Immortals are gathering.

A male Immortal, called Kinko Sennin, riding on
a Chinese dragon, the symbol of infinity. See pp.
274 ff.

By Kano Seishin ( 1 8th century?). In possession
of Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.







PLATE XXII


FAIRIES, CELESTIAL BEINGS 277

nin and thus to set free the Dragons. To that end the king sent
the most beautiful of his court ladies to the mountain where the
One-horned was living. The Sennin was so much charmed by
the lady’s beauty that he consented to drink the wine she offered
him. As the Sennin became intoxicated his powers departed
from him and the dragons were able to break out from their
confinement. The Sennin aroused himself and tried to fight his
enemies. But it was too late. The dragons escaped into the
sky and the rain poured down in torrents. So the king’s plot
succeeded and the land was refreshed.

Another well known example of a fallen Sennin is that of
Kume-no-Sennin. He lived as an ascetic among the mountains
near Kume-dera, a Buddhist temple, and attained the remark-
able power of feeding on air and flying in the sky. One day,
when he was enjoying himself in the air, he saw beneath him a
woman who washed clothes by the river side. His attention was
attracted by the white feet of the woman gleaming in the
water. He yielded to the allurement and thereby lost his super-
natural power. He fell to the earth, fortunately unhurt, but he
never regained his miraculous gifts. He is said to have married
the woman and left posterity. His fate is always quoted as a
typical instance of downfall from on high 5 but the story seems
also to be one of that numerous class which deals with a mar-
riage between a heavenly being and a human being. 12

Not only are stories of Sennins widely popular in Japan, but
belief in these supernatural beings is to a certain extent still a
living force among the people. Candidates for Sennin-ship
feed themselves on dry vegetable food and avoid any cooked
food; they go to and fro among the mountains, they bathe often
in cold water and seldom sleep under roofs. They hope for
the immortality of the bodily life and they believe themselves
to have certain supernormal powers. One of them was sure that
he saw purple clouds coming down from Heaven ready to re-
ceive him if he should jump from a lofty cliff. He dared to


vm — 19


278 JAPANESE MYTHOLOGY

perform the feat, but his assurance proved to be a delusion and
he was killed. Yet these miracle-mongers are often revered by
the common people and stories about them are in very frequent
circulation.

The Men of the Mountain, self-sufficient as they were, had
their own society. Their meetings were often pictorially repre-
sented. (Plates XX and XXI.) These were supposed to oc-
cur in an ideal region called Senkyo, the realm of the Sennins, a
region among the mountains where pine-trees symbolic of lon-
gevity grow soaring to the heavens, and where terraces com-
mand wide views that correspond to the free and spacious minds
of the Sennins. There they exchange opinions, compose poems,
play music or engage in meditation. This ideal realm was the
paradise of the Taoists, but unlike the Buddhist paradise, it is
not a shining or resplendent world. It is only an ideally beauti-
ful spot inhabited by those immortals, who form a community
of their own, but are not so well organized and united as those
who dwell in the Buddhist paradises.

The Senkyo was often depicted in pictures which in turn stim-
ulated poetic imagination in the Japanese to dreams of ideal
serenity and aloofness, of total emancipation from all worldly
anxieties, of immortal felicity and of freedom from illness and
death. Many Japanese Buddhists, who were much imbued
with Taoist doctrines, attempted to copy the ideal life of the
immortals. They imitated the gathering of the immortals in
the tea-party of a peculiarly quiet and contemplative type, or
in meetings for free conversation and rhyming competition, and
they planned their abodes and gardens in imitation of the ideal
Senkyo. 13 In short, the conception of the Senkyo was a source
of real inspiration to the folk-lore and the aestheticism of the
Japanese.

It was in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries that the Chi-
nese ideas of the Sennin and the Senkyo found widest circula-
tion in Japan and became assimilated with the popular beliefs


FAIRIES, CELESTIAL BEINGS 279

of the Japanese. That period was an age of eclecticism, and
just as the Buddhists readily absorbed the Taoist ideals of life,
so the Shintoists no longer clearly distinguished their own ideas
and traditions from Buddhist conceptions. This tendency re-
sulted in the establishment of a group of deities, or immortals,
who were regarded as the patron genii of fortune and longevity,
and were taken from all available sources. The group under-
went several changes, but toward the end of the sixteenth cen-
tury it fell into a definite arrangement and became known as
the “Seven Deities of Good Fortune” (Shichi Fukujin).
These deities are:

1. Ebisu, originally the miscarried son of the primeval de-
ities, who was like a jelly fish, 14 is modified to a merry patron
of good fortune. He has a round white face with a perpetual
smile. In his right hand he carries a fishing-rod with which he
catches the sea-bream, the fish that is regarded as symbolic of
good luck.

2. Daikoku, “ the Great Black Deity,” who was a modifica-
tion of the Hindu Maha-kala, 15 was combined with the Japa-
nese O-kuni-nushi, “ the Great-Land-Master,” whose name,
written in Chinese ideograms, was pronounced like Daikoku.
This deity is represented as a dark-skinned, stout man with a
smiling face. He bears a bag on his shoulder and a mallet in
his right hand. He stands on two rice bags, which, together
with the bag on his shoulder, symbolize an inexhaustible source
of wealth, and the mallet is also believed to produce anything
wished for by his worshippers. The rat is the animal associated
with Daikoku.

3. Bishamon, the Buddhist Vaisravana, is the guardian of
the north, who subjugates the devils and protects the righteous.
In popular thought he is the giver of wealth, and the Buddhist
shrine in his right hand is supposed to contain money. He is
associated in pictures and folk-lore with the centipede.

4. Benten, whom we have seen as a fairy, is the only female


280 JAPANESE MYTHOLOGY

figure in the group; she is regarded as the patron of female
beauty as well as of wealth. Her messenger is the white ser-
pent.

5. Fuku-roku-ju, or “the genius of Fortune-Wealth-Lon-
gevity,” is a Chinese figure said to have been once a Taoist sage.
He is also spoken of as an incarnation of the southern pole stars.
He has a singularly long head, which is believed to be emblem-
atic of all that he gives to mankind. He is always accompanied
by the white crane, symbolic of longevity.

6. Ju-rojin, “ the Aged Man of Longevity,” is also a Taoist
immortal and a patron of long life. A dark-brown deer is his
animal and he wanders among the trees and grasses, which are
symbolic of health and long life.

7. Hotei, the lover of children, is a fat monk who is believed
originally to have lived in China. He is an embodiment of
cheerfulness, and is always playing with children, whom he
sometimes takes about in the bag which he carries. His bag is
also said to contain many treasures which he bestows on those
who never worry about the troubles of this life.

In this group of deities, or immortals, we have a combination
of mythical figures of Hindu, Chinese, and Japanese origin
which have been a good deal vulgarized by the popular desire
for riches and good fortune. These deities have their worship-
pers, but they are not always treated with respect. They are
often made the subjects of comic representations, pictorial or
theatrical, and are favourite themes for folk-song. The Japan-
ese genius for cheerfulness and merry-making has made pos-
sible the curiously contradictory aspects in which the seven de-
ities appear both in art and literature.















-


'


.

r

. t







r
















PLATES XXIII, XXIV, XXV, XXVI


UzUME AND THE SEVEN DEITIES OF GOOD
Fortune

Uzume is the goddess, or female genius, of cheer-
fulness, famous as the one who danced before the
Heavenly Cave and induced the Sun-goddess to come
out. Here she is made companion of the seven Deities
of good fortune, who are arrayed in the picture from
left to right as follows: — Uzume, Ebisu, Benten,
Ju-rojin, Daikoku, Fuku-roku-ju, Hotei and Bisha-
mon. The whole company is represented at a merry
banquet. See p. 279.

By Kazan, also known as Toshu (early 19th
century). In possession of Museum of Fine Arts,
Boston.

The Seven Deities of Good Fortune in
Landscapes

Daikoku sitting in a cottage filled with rice, and
Hotei treading a foot-path with two children.

Ebisu fishing in a boat and Bishamon appearing on
a cloud close to a waterfall.

Fuku-roku-ju flying on a crane, Ju-rojin sitting in
a pavilion, and Benten playing music on the water-
side, where a dragon appears. See p. 279.

The whole group is depicted in a faint echo of the
classic style of the Kano Academy and adapted to the
popular taste of the age.

By Kano Yosen, also known as Korenobu (died
1808). In possession of Museum of Fine Arts,
Boston.






CHAPTER IV


DEMONS, VAMPIRES AND OTHER
GHOSTLY BEINGS

T HE Japanese adopted the Buddhist angels and the Taoist
immortals with very little modification ; but it was other-
wise with the demons and other ghostly beings that were taken
over from Hindu or Chinese sources, and it is often extremely
difficult to trace the identity of such conceptions. It is a fact,
however, that the evil spirits of the ancient native mythology
are vague and shadowy objects, hardly more than names. 1 Al-
most all the demons or ghostly beings in Japanese folk-lore are
of foreign origin, though Japanese imagination has shaped
them into forms quite unlike those which they wore in other
lands.

Creatures of this sort may be divided into three classes,
though the lines between the classes are in many cases obscure.
They are:

i. Ghosts, pure and simple, which are deteriorated forms of
wandering human souls.

2. Demons, beings of infernal origin, created to chastise the
wicked, but often busy in pure mischief and then almost comic
in character.

3. Aerial vampires, called Tengu, and similar furious spirits
that rage in the air.

It may be expedient at this point to say something more con-
cerning the Buddhist doctrine about the transmigration of the
soul. Besides the four superior stages on the way to Buddha-
hood, there are various classes of inferior unperfected spirits.
The highest of them inhabit the heavens (Deva). Of these

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Re: Japanese Mythology
« Reply #8 on: August 04, 2019, 03:42:41 PM »

282 JAPANESE MYTHOLOGY

celestial or angelic beings, we have already spoken. These
heavens are not to be mistaken for paradises, because their ce-
lestial inhabitants are subject to change and decay. Next comes
mankind, whose inferior souls become in turn the hungry ghosts
(Japanese Gaki, Sanskrit Preta). Some of these ghosts are
merely tormented by perpetual hunger and thirst, but some
others are vengeful spirits who roam about the world and do
evil to those whom they have cause to hate, or even to quite in-
nocent persons. The next class are the Asura, or furious spirits,
cruel and arrogant, and much more powerful than ordinary
ghosts. These are usually the reborn personalities of those who
died in battle ; eager for revenge they hover in the sky, fighting
among themselves, or attacking those human beings who were
their enemies. The lowest order of existence is found in the
infernal regions (Naraka). The spirits born in this dark place
appear rarely in the world 5 but the devil, or Oni, who inhabits
the hells plays a considerable part in popular folk-lore.

I. THE DEVIL

The Oni range from the giant who may devour the whole
world, through ogres and vampires, to the little goblin-like
mischief-makers. But the Japanese usually think of an Oni as
an ugly and hideous devil, who comes up from the infernal re-
gions, to drag down sinners to the hells, to punish wicked men
who are still alive, or to terrify men of bad disposition. His
body varies as to its colour ; it may be blue, pink, or grey;
his face is flat, his wide mouth stretches from ear to ear. On his
head grow horns; he has often a third eye on his forehead; his
feet have three toes with pointed nails, and his fingers are also
three in number. He is nearly naked and his loin-cloth is made
of the skin of a tiger. He can walk about the world or fly
through the air. In his right hand he often carries a big iron
rod furnished with sharp spikes.


VAMPIRES AND GHOSTLY BEINGS 283

These demons are supposed to appear with a cart wrapped in
flames, to seize the soul of a wicked man who is about to die.
The cruel torments they devise for lost souls in hell are the
subjects of much vivid and fantastic imagination. But they be-
long to the purely Buddhist mythology and bear a curious re-
semblance to the imps and devils of mediaeval Christian super-
stition.

But in spite of their terrifying aspect, the Oni of Japanese
folk-lore have a distinctly comic aspect. They are fond of in-
terfering in human affairs, but they are easily baffled by simple
incantations or charms, and their consequent irritation is often
made the subject of a humorous story. They are easily de-
ceived, and their demoniac strength as well as their frightful
appearance makes them all the more ridiculous when they are
fooled or made helpless by those whom they meant to annoy.

A curious old tale, told in a collection of stories that was writ-
ten in the twelfth century, illustrates in an amusing manner this
peculiarity of the Oni. It is known as “ Taking Off the
Lumps ” (Kobu-tori). 2

There was once an old man who had a big lump on his right
cheek. One day he stayed so late in the forest cutting wood
that he was obliged to take shelter for the night in the hollow
of a large tree. In the middle of the night he heard confused
noises near by and at last he realized that they were made by a
group of Oni, which included every variety of devil. He
peeped out to watch them and saw them sitting at a merry ban-
quet and dancing one after another, some skilfully and others
most awkwardly. The old man was very much amused at the
sight, and, being overtaken by a desire to take part in the frolic,
he crept out of the tree and began to dance too. The devils
were amazed at the unexpected apparition, but were delighted
to have a human being in their company and to observe the old
man’s clever dancing.

They spent an hour or two very pleasantly, and when they


284 JAPANESE MYTHOLOGY

parted, the Oni asked him to come again another night and
show them more of his art. The old man consented, but the
devils insisted on a pledge. They might have taken his nose
or ears, but decided to take the lump on his right cheek, 3 for he
made them believe that was the thing he was most loth to part
with.

When the old man got home to his village, the people were
amazed to see the lump gone from his cheek, and the story soon
circulated through the whole community. Now there was an-
other old man in the same village who had a lump on his left
cheek. Hearing the wonderful story, this man wished that the
devils might remove his lump in the same way. The following
night he went to the mountain, as he had been instructed, and
waited for the coming of the devils. They came as before and
began to eat and drink and dance. The old man crept out of
his shelter timidly and tried to dance. But he was no dancer,
and the devils soon saw by his awkward movements that he was
no match for the man who had danced for them the night be-
fore. They were very angry; they seized the old man and con-
sulted among themselves how they should punish him for his
impertinence. They finally decided to attach the lump which
they had taken as a pledge from the first man to the right cheek
of their prisoner. So the old man with a lump on his left cheek
got one on his right cheek as well and came back to the village
in great distress.

The story teller adds a didactic remark to the effect that one
should never envy another’s fortune. But the moral is appar-
ently an afterthought of the writer; the original motive of the
story was purely humorous.

The same collection contains other stories about devils, in
which they appear now as terrible, now as comic objects. For
instance, a wandering itinerant monk once met a frightful devil
among the mountains. In spite of his monstrous and dreadful
aspect, the devil was weeping bitterly. The monk wondered at





•i!' • U . T; ,i;{.












PLATE XXVII


Frolic of Demons

Two parts of a long roll representing a frolic of
monstrous beings, animals and demons, after the
model of the famous caricature painter Toba Sojo.
See p. 283.

By Hironobu (early 1 8th century). In possession
of Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.





VAMPIRES AND GHOSTLY BEINGS 285

that and asked the reason of it. The devil explained that he
had once been a human being, and because of the revengeful
spirit which he cherished toward his foe he had become a devil.
He had succeeded in taking revenge not only on his enemy but
on his descendants through several generations, for a devil lives
much longer than human beings. Now he had killed the last
of his enemy’s lineage, and he had no more enemies whom he
could injure. Yet he must continue to live gnawed by the cease-
less desire for revenge.

The misery of this devil consumed by passions which he could
not satisfy embodies a lesson which the Buddhists were fond of
teaching, yet a monster weeping for such a cause has something
grimly humorous about him. From this story perhaps comes
the familiar proverb — (l Tears even in the eyes of a devil.”
Another proverb runs — “ Even devils know how to pray to
Buddha,” and it is a favourite subject for pictures. A devil
with a face of horrible ugliness is drawn in monastic robes and
beating a little flat bell that hangs from his breast; he is sup-
posed to repeat Buddha’s name in unison with the sound of the
bell. Devils caricatured in this way are abundant in Japanese
painting, especially in the work of the later genre painters.

As a counterpart to the devils, Japanese folk-lore has a sort
of archangel Michael in the person of Shdki. He is said to
have lived in China in the eighth century. The story runs that
after he had failed in his official career he killed himself. Yet
the Emperor showed him great honour after his death, and he
undertook to guard the Imperial palace against devils. He is
represented as a giant wearing the coronet and robes of a Chi-
nese official of that time and having a sword in his hand. His
eyes glare about angrily and his cheeks are covered by a beard.
He chases the devils about remorselessly, and in pictures of his
devil-baiting, the contrast between his gigantic figure and the
ugly little mischief-makers is made highly amusing. (Plate
XXVIII.) The figure of Shoki always appears on the flags


286 JAPANESE MYTHOLOGY

hoisted on the Japanese May Day, a festival 4 on which the evil
spirits of plague and disease are exorcised.

Some of the Oni are said to possess a miraculous mallet,
quite like that of Daikoku, 5 which can grant anything that is
desired. A story that bears upon this point is that of Issun-
boshi, “ the One-inch Dwarf.”

Once upon a time, an aged couple who were without children
prayed to the god of Sumiyoshi for a child, even if he should
be only one inch in height. Their prayer was granted and a
pygmy boy was born to them. He was called Issun-boshi, or
“ the One-inch Boy,” and he was a clever child. When he
grew older, though he grew no larger, he wished to see the
world and to start a career in Miyako, the Imperial capital.
His parents gave him provisions, and the dwarf started on his
journey, taking a wooden plate and a chop stick, which he used
as a boat and rudder in crossing streams. When he came to
Miyako he was taken into service by a nobleman and soon be-
came a useful servant.

One day he escorted the princess of the house to the temple
of Kiyomizu, and on the way back an Oni stopped them and
threatened to devour them. The clever and courageous Issun-
boshi jumped into the mouth of the Oni and pricked the Oni’s
mouth and nostrils with his sword, which was a pin. The Oni,
finding the pain unbearable, sneezed out the curious little as-
sailant unhurt and ran away. When the Oni had vanished the
princess found a mallet, apparently left behind by the Oni in
his flight. Now she knew that the Oni sometimes had a won-
derful mallet which could cause any wish to be realized, and so
she took it up and swung it, crying out that Issun-boshi should
become a man. The One-inch Dwarf immediately became a
man of noble stature. The princess was grateful to him for
saving her from the Oni; and Issun-boshi was grateful to the
princess for making him a man. So they married and lived
happily ever after.















...

"? ;

'
















PLATE XXVIII


Shoki, the Devil-Hunter

Shoki, the devil hunter, appearing from within a
curtain, and a little oni coming through the temple,
dancing. The little demon is apparently intoxicated.
He wears a tripod incense-burner on his head and has
a cup in his hand. See p. 285.

By Kano Hogai (died 1 888). In possession of
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.




VAMPIRES AND GHOSTLY BEINGS 287


II. THE HUNGRY GHOST AND THE FURIOUS

SPIRIT

Less dreadful but perhaps more miserable than the Oni, are
the Gaki, or hungry ghosts, who perpetually suffer from hun-
ger and thirst, and before whom any food or drink is consumed
in flames. In the Buddhist books they are of various descrip-
tions, but in Japanese folk-lore they are wretched beings, ter-
ribly emaciated except as to the belly, which is swollen abnor-
mally. The swollen belly and the wide mouth symbolize their
never-sated hunger, and they flock wherever there is any waste
of food and drink. Not many stories are told about them, but
any human being, who is greedy either for money or in appe-
tite, is likened to a Gaki. So besides the pictures of the Gaki,
which are very common, there is frequent reference to these
unhappy creatures both in tales and in proverbs.

The third order of lost spirits introduced into Japanese
mythology by Buddhism is the Shura, or “ Furious Spirit.”
The abode of the Shuras is the sky, where they gather to fight
one another in hostile groups. In appearance they are like war-
riors j their roars of rage are like the thunder, while their
throng often obscures the sun or moon. The Shuras are rein-
carnations of warriors who died in battle. There are no Valkyr-
ies in Japanese folk-lore j these furious beings are all males,
and they embody the spirit of hatred and revenge. The Shuras
were confused more or less with another type of creature, prob-
ably Chinese in origin, a sort of aerial ogre who is very com-
mon in Japanese folk-lore, under the name of Tengu.

The Tengu is of two kinds, the principal and the subordinate.
The chief Tengu wears red robes like a bishop, and a small
coronet like that of a mountain priest, and he carries a fan made
of feathers in his right hand. His expression is angry and
threatening, and he has a prominent nose, which is supposed to


288 JAPANESE MYTHOLOGY

be symbolic of pride and arrogance. The Tengu chiefs have
distinct personalities and titles, and each of them is believed to
reside on a particular high peak. On the other hand, the in-
ferior Tengus are subject to a chief and must always serve him.
Their mouths resemble the beaks of birds and their bodies are
furnished with small wings. In that respect they are like the
Hindu Garuda but they are much smaller in stature. They
flock in a giant cryptomeria tree, near where their chief resides,
and thence fly to and fro as they are despatched on his er-
rands. Therefore they are called Koppa Tengu, or “ Leaflet
Tengus.”

The Tengus are, as we have said, reincarnations of those
whose high and revengeful spirit is unquenched, of those who
were proud and arrogant, especially priests, or of those who
died in battle. These beings hold counsel in the top of a great
cryptomeria and, according to the decision, attack those whom
they hate or whom they wish to fill with their own proud spirit.
In the ages of war, the three centuries that followed the four-
teenth, the Japanese were obsessed by superstitious dread of the
Tengus and stories about them were manifold.

Closely allied with the Tengu and the Oni are the genii of
thunder and of wind, called Rai-jin and Fu-jin respectively.
Their nativity is uncertain but they are much like the Oni. The
spirit of thunder is a red Oni and the spirit of wind, blue. The
Rai-jin has a round frame behind his back, to which are fastened
little drums. The Fu-jin has a large bag, from which he pours
forth streams of wind, from a breeze to a hurricane, according
to the extent to which he opens the bag. There are no particu-
lar stories about them, but they are frequently represented in
statues and pictures, sometimes humorously, as when Rai-jin
is shown tottering about like a drunkard, or Fu-jin is swept
away by the wind that he himself has let loose.














PLATES XXIX, XXX, XXXI, XXXII


Sojo-bo, the Chief of the Tengu, Together
with the Small Tengu

Sojo-bo appears here as a furious spirit hovering
among dark clouds. A coronet on his head is like
that worn by the mountaineering priests; he has a
pilgrim’s staff, instead of the fan of feathers; his
robes are those of regular Buddhist monks. The little
Tengu are here represented as birds. See p. 309.

By Donshu, of the modern Kyoto School, dated
1852. In possession of Museum of Fine Arts,
Boston.


Thunder and Wind
See p. 288.

By Kyosai (died 1889). In possession of Museum
of Fine Arts, Boston.

Yama-uba, the Mountain-Woman, and Her
Son Kintaro, the Child of Nature

The Mountain-Woman appears here as a fearful
woman of the mountain, wearing variegated but
worn-out robes, with fruits in a basket. Her son,
Kintaro, is represented in red colour, therefore dark
in the reproduction. See pp. 289 ff.

Taken from the Kokka, in a private collection
in Osaka. A duplicate of the same picture executed
on a wooden plate is in the galleries of Itsukushima.
By Rosetsu, an unruly disciple of the realist Okyo
(died 1799).


>'f.\ V '£*'**& ( ?'§ '







VAMPIRES AND GHOSTLY BEINGS 289


III. OTHER GHOSTLY BEINGS

These then are the ghostly beings imported from the Asiatic
continent and modified by the Japanese. We shall next de-
scribe some of the original Japanese conceptions of the same
sort. These are all of later origin, probably not earlier than
the fourteenth century.

Yuki-onne, “ the Snow-Woman,” is a young woman ghastly
white in complexion, slender in stature, gentle and alluring in
manner. She appears to any one who is exhausted by struggling
against a snow-storm. She soothes him and lulls him to sleep,
until the man loses consciousness and dies. She is said some-
times to incarnate herself as a beautiful woman and to marry a
man, whom she finally kills.

Myojo-tenshi, “ the Morning-star Angel,” is a handsome
boy clad in the manner of a noble prince. He appears to wise
and virtuous men and guides them on their journey. This is
said to have happened often to itinerant monks, and thus the
belief belongs rather to the purely Buddhist lore than to folk-
lore at large.

Japanese folk-lore has no clear conception of a class of beings
like Dryads or Nymphs, but there are tales about the spirits of
particular forests, fountains, and lakes. The spirits of forests
and mountains are generally ghostly creatures either male or
female, while those of the waters are fishes, tortoises or ser-
pents. One of the genii of mountains is Yama-uba, “the
Mountain- Woman,” who is believed to roam about in the
mountains and to appear in various shapes. Her name seems
once to have been a general word for all female spirits of the
mountains, but later it was applied to one particular spirit about
whom stories began to be told.

One of the tales concerning the female spirits of the moun-
tains is that of Momiji-gari, or “ The Maple Itinerary ”j there


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Re: Japanese Mythology
« Reply #9 on: August 04, 2019, 03:43:51 PM »

290 JAPANESE MYTHOLOGY

is a famous version of this story in the lyric drama. One
autumn day a warrior went into the mountains to enjoy the
beautiful crimson of dying maple leaves. When he had gone
deep into the forest, he came upon a company of ladies holding
a feast behind brilliant curtains of satin which were drawn
around them. He joined their company and was pleasantly
entertained, especially by the chief of the party, a young noble-
woman. While the warrior was enjoying himself with music
and the rice-beer that the lady provided, the sky suddenly dark-
ened and a furious storm rushed down from the surrounding
mountain peaks. In the midst of the confusion the lady was
transformed into an alarming demon which threatened his life.
The terrified warrior roused himself from the spell under
which he lay and, regaining his composure and his courage,
managed to make his escape from this treacherous spirit. In
this story, the female genius is not given a name 6 but she re-
minds one strongly of Yama-uba.

Yama-uba, “ the Mountain-Woman ” sometimes assumes a
terrifying aspect, but she is generally represented as a hand-
some woman and is said to have married a warrior. Their little
son is called Kintaro or Kintoki. The boy is a genuine child of
nature, sturdy and courageous ; he fears nothing and plays with
wild animals. He may be called the Siegfried of Japanese
folk-lore. He is said to have become a retainer of the famous
warrior Raiko, of whom we shall hear in Chapter VI. 7 In the
lyric drama the boy’s mother is idealized into a fairy, a person-
ification of the clouds and mists, who roams among the moun-
tains and also visits human abodes. This is an extract from the
drama in question.

Chorus

“ Mountain-maid we call her.

But no one knows her birth-place or her fixed abode.

She lives in the clouds and beside all the streams.

There is no place, even among the remotest mountains,

Where traces of her are not found.”


VAMPIRES AND GHOSTLY BEINGS


291


The Maid

“ Although I am not a human being.”

Chorus

“She manifests herself in a wondrous figure of monstrous size,
Formed out of clouds and mists.

And by transforming herself according to her surroundings. . . .
See the willow leaves bursting green from the buds,

And the flowers blooming, beautifully pink,

All by themselves and left to themselves.

Likewise the Mountain-maid ever roams about the world.
Sometimes she consoles the wood-cutter,

By giving him a resting place under a blooming tree,

Along the trails on the slopes of mountains . . .

Again she steps into the window,

Beside which a girl manipulates her weaving loom,

And tenders her help to the toiling hands;

Just as the nightingale singing on the willow tree
Weaves the green threads of the pending branches.”

Chorus

“ In the spring, as the blooming season approaches,”

The Maid

“ I roam about searching for blossoms.”

Chorus

“ In the autumn, when the evening is calm and the air translucent,”

The Maid

“ I migrate from mountain to mountain.

Enjoying the silvery light of the moon.”

Chorus

“ In the winter, when the clouds bring storm and snow,”

The Maid

“ I hover in the flying snow, along the slopes and peaks.”


JAPANESE MYTHOLOGY


292


Chorus

“ She roams endlessly among the clouds of illusion;
And see her figure like the mountains,

Yet changing perpetually.

She hovers around the peaks,

Her voice is echoed from the dales.

The figure close by only a moment ago
Is passing away, moving up and down,

To the right and the left, encircling the summits,
Wandering along the ranges, flying and drifting,
And finally leaving no trace behind.”


CHAPTER V


ROMANTIC STORIES

A LWAYS and everywhere love is a powerful stimulus to
sentiment and imagination. No emotion is so readily
idealized by the human mind, and the literature, oral or written,
of every people is rich in the romantic fictions that deal with
the countless aspects and manifestations of the tender passion.
Every love story, of course, reflects the prevailing sentiment
and the social environment of the time in which it was pro-
duced. Accordingly no story can be called absolutely universal
in its appeal. Yet some are so naive, so simple, and so touching,
that they live on from age to age, always bearing a message to
the human heart. They are filtered, as it were, through the
varying sympathies of generations, and everyone finds some
echo of his own experience in them. The romantic story of this
sort is a product of what Richard Wagner called the rein-
menschlich , and is to be distinguished from tales and novels
that are more intricate in structure and more intense in passion,
but at the same time less direct and less certain in their appeal
to the emotions of the race. Such stories belong to the common
emotional tradition of mankind. We know that the heroes and
heroines are creations of the imagination, yet we cannot escape
the feeling that they have a reality more genuine than that of
many actual men and women. Theirs is an ideal reality; they
are changeless and immortal prototypes of the lovers of every
age and clime.

There were two great epochs in Japanese history favourable
to the production of romantic stories of this special type. In
the ancient days down to the end of the eighth century, the im-


TOI — 20


294 JAPANESE MYTHOLOGY

agination of the race was still in the primitive and mythopoeic
stage of development. In that epoch nature myths were often
translated into simple and charming tales animated by the mo-
tive of human love. Again between the tenth and twelfth cen-
turies there was an age of romantic sentiment which had its
origin in the peculiar atmosphere of the court life and was stim-
ulated by the Buddhist conception of reality. Later, in the
fifteenth century, there was a revival of this interest in romantic
love, but the movement was not creative as the other two had
been; it only refined and elaborated the materials handed down
from former times.

In the stories of the two epochs which I have mentioned, the
characters are sometimes personifications of natural objects, but
more often they are human beings who represent the sentiments
and ideals of the period. First let us reproduce a story from
the ancient mythological records, which deals with personified
phenomena of nature . 1

There were two brothers, Haru-yama no Kasumi-onoko and
Aki-yama no Shitabi-onoko, i.e. “ the Mist-man of the Spring
Mountain ” and “ the Frost-man of the Autumn Mountain.”
At the same time there lived a beautiful girl named Izushio-
tome, i.e. “ the Grace-maiden,” who was born of the eight di-
vine treasures — the spear, jewels, etc. — brought over by a
Korean prince to Japan. Now, the elder brother, the Frost-
man of Autumn was eager to marry the girl, but she would have
none of his love. He told his younger brother, the Mist-man
of Spring, of his failure and promised to make him a fine pres-
ent if he should succeed in winning the girl. The Mist-man
said that he felt sure of his success, and then asked his mother 2
how he should win the heart of the girl. His mother made for
him robes of the fine tendrils of the wistaria and gave him a bow
and arrows to carry when he visited the maiden. When the
Mist-man arrived at the house of the Grace-maiden, his robes
were purple, and his bow and arrows also were adorned with


ROMANTIC STORIES


295


beautiful wistaria flowers. The girl welcomed the handsome
flower-bedecked youth, married him and had a child by him.

The Mist-man then went to his elder brother, told him of
his success and asked for the promised present. But the Frost-
man was very jealous of his brother and would not fulfil his
promise. So the Mist-man went to the mother and complained
that his brother had deceived him. The mother in turn was
angry with the Frost-man and laid a curse upon him 3 that he
should wither like an uprooted bamboo and fall sick. Accord-
ingly the Frost-man became seriously ill. Yet when he re-
pented of his breach of faith, and prayed for his mother’s par-
don she forgave him 5 he was cured, and all lived together in
harmony.

Another story which also deals with a girl and her two lovers
dates from the eighth century. Although the story seems origi-
nally to have had a natural background, it is told as if it were
an actual episode of human love, and the graves of the three
were often in later years pointed out to sympathizing passers-by.
The story runs thus : 4

There lived in the province of Settsu a girl famous for her
beauty, who was known as the maiden of Unai. Many lovers
wooed her, but she cared for none of them. When all the
others had given up hope, two young men, equally handsome,
remained as undiscouraged suitors. Each vied with the other in
trying to win the girl’s heart by visiting her and making her
costly presents. The parents, ready to see their daughter mar-
ried to one of the young men, but unable to decide between
them, determined that an archery contest should decide the
question. The suitors came on the appointed day, equipped with
bow and arrows. The girl and her parents stood by to watch the
contest, and the suitors were to shoot at a bird that had alighted
on the surface of a river that flowed by the maiden’s house.
They shot, and each arrow hit the bird, one at the head and the
other at the tail. So the matter was still undecided.


296 JAPANESE MYTHOLOGY

The girl, tormented by the difficulty of choosing between her
lovers, grew despondent and threw herself into the river. The
two lovers thereupon lost all desire for life and followed the
example of their beloved. So the three were joined in death
and they were buried together on the river bank, the maiden in
the middle and a lover on either side.

Before giving examples of the stories produced during the
second romantic epoch, we ought to say something about the pe-
culiar ideals of that interesting time. It was the age of the
“ cloud-gallants ” and the “ flower-maidens,” of the luxurious
nobles and ladies who moved amidst the romantic and artificial
surroundings of the Imperial court. It was an epoch of aes-
theticism and sentimentalism, in which free rein was given to
emotions that were refined and cultivated by the somewhat en-
ervating atmosphere of Miyako, the Imperial capital. Every
member of this picturesque society, man or woman, was a poet,
sensitive to the charms of nature and eager to express every
phase of feeling in verse. Their intimate feeling for nature
and for the varied emotions of the human heart was expressed
in the word aware , which meant both “ pity ” and “ sympathy.”
This sentiment had its source in the tender romanticism of the
age; it owed much, too, to the Buddhist teaching of the oneness
of existences, of the basic unity that joins together different be-
ings, and which persists through the changing incarnations of
one individual. That conviction of the continuity of life, both
in this existence and hereafter, deepened the sentimental note,
and widened the sympathetic reach of aware. It is not strange
that the reign of aware produced many romances of love, both
in actual life and in the stories of the period.

Not only through its metaphysical doctrine of the unity of
existence and of the continuity of karma, but through the ideal
of the “ One Road,” Buddhism impressed on the “ cloud-
gallants ” and the “ flower-maidens ” of that time a sense of
the oneness of life. According to this teaching, beings, whether






-






' • ' • : ' ' • ' ?






' -






















PLATE XXXIII

The Maiden of Unai and Her Lovers
Shooting Birds

See p. 295.

Taken from Settsu Meisho Zu drawn by Yutei
(late 1 8th century).




ROMANTIC STORIES


297

human or animal or even vegetable, are destined finally to at-
tain ideal perfection. The basis is common, the aim is the same,
and the way leading to the perfect enlightenment is one for all
beings, whatever their different dispositions and capacities.
This was the teaching of the “ One Road,” and the Buddhist
scripture which expounded it most fully was the Lotus of
Truth / the Johannine Gospel of Buddhism. The book is full
of similes and parables, apocalyptic visions and stimulating
prophecies, and it gave tremendous impetus to the romantic
sentiment of the age. The greatest romance of this period was
the Genji Monogatari , the stories of the love adventures of
Prince Genji, and the author of that book has embodied the
truths taught in the Lotus with singular felicity and charm in
his graceful narrative.

The stories of Prince Gen ji’s love adventures are not re-
markable for plot or incident, but they are very delightful in
their affectionate association with the beauties of nature. In
other words, the varied characters of the women who figure
in these love affairs are not only illustrated by the circumstances
of love, but by their suggested likeness to certain seasons and
to certain physical surroundings. For instance, the Lady Vio-
let is an intelligent and sprightly woman, whom the prince met
while she was quite a child, and her love affair with him is nar-
rated in a succession of tender episodes and of happy days like
a perpetual spring. On the other hand, the Lady Hollyhock,
the prince’s legitimate wife, is a jealous woman of passionate
temperament} her life runs stormily, tormented by her hus-
band’s waywardness, and she is even attacked by the revengeful
spirit of another jealous woman . 6 These stories, excellently
representative of the sentiment of aware , appealed to the Japa-
nese of the Middle Ages so deeply that they became the classic
models of romantic love tales. They were repeatedly sung in
verse, referred to in other books, embodied in lyric dramas, and
depicted in pictures} and the persons and incidents of the stories


298 JAPANESE MYTHOLOGY

attained so much reality in the people’s minds that many authors
treated the romances as if they were actual and not fictitious ad-
ventures. The popularity of the stories may be seen from the
fact, that a set of symbols 7 was devised to stand for each chap-
ter of the book, and for its particular persons, circumstances and
instances.

Besides Genji Monogatari there are several books represent-
ing the same ethos and sentiment, and some of the tales attained
a popularity rivalling that of Genji. The scenes where these
stories are laid were often visited, and some persons were said
to have seen the romantic lovers in apparitions, to have con-
versed with them and to have converted their souls, still en-
tangled in the passion of love, to the Buddhist religion. Such
Buddhistic romantic tales are found composed in lyric dramas
since the fourteenth century, and the old romances obtained a
still wider circulation through them. These dramas, called
“ Utai,” are not dramatic, in the modern sense of the word, but
are rather lyrical narratives of the persons who have had such
experiences, recited in a kind of chant to the accompaniment of
orchestra and choral song. In these performances, which are
called “No ”, the characters who appear on the stage are two
or three in number ; they converse in recitative and perform cer-
tain dances. The No are not unlike the Greek tragedies in tech-
nique, but the subjects are sentimental and romantic rather than
tragic. These plays were performed before assemblies of
nobles and warriors, and even today they are patronized by the
educated classes, and the stories they represent are known al-
most universally among the people. Although these stories do
not belong to folk-lore in the proper sense, they may as well be
illustrated here, since they are so characteristic of the people’s
vein of sentiment.

First of all these is the story of Ono-no-Komachi, the ideal-
ized type of female beauty in Japanese literature and folk-lore.
She was a court lady who flourished in the ninth century. Not


ROMANTIC STORIES


299


only did her beauty attract many “ cloud-gallants ” to woo her,
but she was a poetess of high gifts. Having met with ill for-
tune in her love for a certain nobleman, she rejected all other
suitors, left the court, and lived out a long life as a recluse.
Many stories are told about her, but the best known is that of
her appearance to the poet Narihira, who is himself the hero of
many romantic stories, and her conversation in verse with him.

The story ascribes her cruelty toward lovers to her pride in
her own beauty, and asserts that her solitary life in later years
was the just punishment for that pride. The unfortunate
Komachi is often depicted in pictures as a miserable old woman
sitting on a sotoba , a piece of wood erected beside a tomb in
memory of the dead. It is of this Komachi, lonely and for-
gotten, that the poem speaks:

“ The flowers and my love
Passed away under the rain,

While I idly looked upon them!

Where is my yester-love? ” 8

Thus she died 5 no one buried her, and her corpse remained
exposed to the weather. Some years later Narihira, the poet
of love, passed a night at the spot, not knowing that it was there
that Komachi had died. He heard a faint voice among the
bushes, and it repeated a poem complaining of the solitude.
Then Komachi’s apparition disclosed itself, and confessed to
Narihira that she repented of her pride and suffered sadly from
loneliness. On the following morning Narihira discovered a
decayed skull among

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Re: Japanese Mythology
« Reply #10 on: August 04, 2019, 03:44:33 PM »
the grass. “ Think,” the story concludes,
“ of the transitoriness of physical beauty and the vanity of all
pride in it.”

The poet Narihira was one of the “ cloud-gallants ” of the
ninth century, whose life was a succession of romantic love af-
fairs. There exists a collection of stories which is ascribed to
his own pen. One of them is about his boyhood love, and is
called the story of the Tsutsu-izutsu, or “ Well-curb.”


300 JAPANESE MYTHOLOGY

Narihira had a girl friend whom he had loved since early
childhood. Often, in their early years, they stood beside a well,
and, leaning together on the well-curb, exchanged smiles as
each looked into the other’s face, reflected in the water. When
Narihira grew up, he fell in love with another woman. His
former love stood beside the well, alone; she thought of those
early days and, remembering the poems he had composed on
the well-curb, wrote verses of her own, contrasting the happy
past with the unhappy present.

That is the old story. The No-drama, “ Well-curb,” has for
its scene this old well. An itinerant monk visits the place and
meets the ghost of the woman, deserted by her lover. She tells
him her story, performs a dance expressing her despair, and
vanishes. The chorus sings:

“ The soul of the dead woman, the ghost of the poor girl,

Colourless like a withered flower,

Leaves no trace behind it, in the temple-ground of Arihara.

The dawn approaches as the bell rings gently;

In the twilight of the early morning there remains

Only the frail banana-leaves 9 wavering in the morning air,

No sound is heard but the melody that the breeze plays on the pine
needles.

The dream is broken and the day has come.”

Let us return to the famous stories of Prince Genji. He was
a prince of royal birth, so handsome and so debonair that he
was called “ the Bright.” One of his mistresses, the lady of
the Sixth Avenue, had been abused and insulted by his jealous
wife, Lady Hollyhock; and when she died, her revengeful
spirit attacked not only Lady Hollyhock but other mistresses of
the prince. The prince always remembered the dead woman
affectionately and once made a visit to the country place where
her daughter was living.

A No-drama takes this country place for its scene. As is very
often the case in these dramas, an itinerant monk visits the place
on an autumn night. The pale light of the moon silvers the air,


ROMANTIC STORIES


301

and the insects among the long grasses sing their plaintive tunes.
There the ghost of the unfortunate lady of the Sixth Avenue
appears to the monk, who saves her tormented soul. The mo-
tive in this No-drama consists in the contrast between the agony
of the ghost and the serenity of the night 5 but among the peo-
ple it is popular because it celebrates the passionate attachment
of the lady to the prince even after her death.

Quite similar in motive and effect is the lyric drama “ Eve-
ning-glory.” This is the story:

Prince Genji once took a mistress named Yufugawo, or
“ Evening-glory,” 10 to an abandoned palace in the Sixth
Avenue. During the night a ghost appeared to the lovers.
Poor Yufugawo was so terrified by the apparition that soon
after Genji found her dead. The desolate solitude of the place,
the ghastliness of the apparition, and the tender care of the
prince for the terrified girl are so vividly described in Genji
Mono gatari, that the name of Yufugawo and that of the pal-
ace, “ the villa on the river bank,” came to suggest always a sad
and tragic ending to a love affair, or the unhappy separation by
death of lover and beloved.

A lyric drama founded upon this story has for its scene a
flower festival held early in autumn and organized by a monk
for the flowers’ spiritual enlightenment. Various flowers are
displayed in front of a Buddhist altar and the monk offers his
prayer for the spirits of the flowers. Then, among the blos-
soms the pale “ Evening-glory ” begins to smile, and from it
appears the figure of the dead woman. Her unhappy spirit is
soothed and pacified by the religious merit of the festival ; she
expresses her thanks for her salvation, and vanishes among the
flowers.

From the many other love stories in the same book, let us
take one other concerning General Kaoru, the Fragrant, a son
of Prince Genji — for the book continues its narrative into the
second generation of this amorous family. Kaoru was a man


302 JAPANESE MYTHOLOGY

of tender heart, but more quiet and reserved than his father,
and the stories in which he appears are on the whole less gay
than those of which his father is the hero.

Kaoru loved a princess called Ukifune, which means “ the
Floating Boat.” She lived in the country with her hermit
father and took no part in the social life of Miyako. Kaoru
often visited the princess in her lonely home, the retirement of
which he found grateful, but circumstances hindered him for a
while from visiting her, and the diffident princess dared not
even write to him in Miyako. Not unnaturally she grew sus-
picious that her lover was unfaithful, and another prince named
Niou, “ the Scented,” who was Kaoru’s rival, lost no opportu-
nity to encourage that suspicion. In this mood of despondency,
Ukifune used often to wander along the river bank near her
home. Her own name, “ the Floating Boat,” suggested to her
mind the evanescence of life and vanity of all hopes, and the
swollen stream of the river, which the rains had filled, seemed
to invite her. So she threw herself into the water, but was
saved by a monk who was passing by. Thereupon she became a
nun and passed the rest of her life in a nunnery. Such is the
melancholy story 5 its gentle pathos appeals strongly to the
Japanese mind.


CHAPTER VI


HEROIC STORIES

A MONG every people, the deeds of early heroes easily
take on a mythical or semi-mythical character, and when
the hero lived far in the past his fame is so much affected by
this mythopceic process that it becomes difficult to tell what are
historical facts and what are legendary embellishments. There
is still another type of heroes whose actual existence can never
be established, but whose legendary deeds are so much a part of
popular tradition that they are always thought of as persons no
less real than those whose exploits are unquestionably authentic.
We shall, in a brief survey of the Japanese heroic tales, draw
illustrations from both classes.

A very famous hero in the ancient mythology was Susa-no-
wo, the Storm-god, who, as we have heard, vanquished the
eight-headed dragon and saved a young woman from being sac-
rificed to that horrible monster. Similar stories are told about
his sons, who are said to have subjugated various “ gods ” who
were found in their dominions, the modern province of Izumo.
But we need not delay over these stories, which are purely
mythical ; the strictly heroic stories may be said to begin with
the valiant Yamato-Takeru.

This prince was an emperor’s son and he is said to have lived
in the second century, a.d. He was sent on an expedition
against the disobedient tribes of the west, in order to revenge
the atrocities which they had committed upon his brothers. On
one occasion, disguised as a young woman, he gained admittance
to the house of a chief, and his disguise was so ingenious that
the enemy had no suspicion of the truth. The chief became in-


304 JAPANESE MYTHOLOGY

toxicated at a feast, which he gave for the supposed lady, and
the prince stabbed him and subjugated the whole tribe. We
are told that the title “ Japan-Warrior-Hero ” was given to
Yamato by the dying chief in admiration of the prince’s sub-
tlety and courage . 1

After his triumphant return the prince was sent to the eastern
provinces, where the Ainu aborigines were still unsubdued.
On the way he prayed at the holy shrine of Atsuta, where had
been deposited the sword which Susa-no-wo took from the
eight-headed dragon that he slew. Now, Yamato-Takeru took
the miraculous sword with him, and it was this sword which
saved him from serious peril among the Ainus. The barbari-
ans pretended to surrender to the prince, and invited him to a
hunt on a wide prairie, but they set fire to the underbrush while
the prince was in the midst of the wilderness. With his sword
he hacked down the bushes around him, and having escaped un-
hurt from the fire he subdued the barbarians. Hence the mi-
raculous sword is always called Kusa-nagi, “ the Grass-mower.”

At another time during this expedition the prince’s boat was
overtaken by a terrible storm. Knowing that the Sea-gods had
caused the storm by way of revenge upon the possessor of the
sword which had been taken from them, and that they would
not allay the tempest without a human sacrifice, the prince’s
consort threw herself into the water. Thereupon the boat was
able to cross the sea in safety.

After several further adventures, the prince returned to
Atsuta. There he heard that an evil spirit was in revolt on a
mountain not far from the place, and went forth to bring it to
terms. But this proved to be the last of his adventures, for he
fell sick of a fever, which the evil spirit brought upon him. He
returned to Atsuta once more, but did not recover from his sick-
ness. When he died and was buried, a white bird flew out of
the mound. Another burial mound was raised at the spot where
the bird disappeared from sight. But again the bird flew out


HEROIC STORIES


305

and a third mound was erected. So there are three places, each
of which is said to be the prince’s grave . 2 The metamorphosis
of the prince into a bird may be interpreted in several ways, but
we have no room to discuss its meaning.

Next to Yamato-Takeru comes the Empress Jingo, who is
said to have subjugated the principality of Korea in the third
century. Her expedition was undertaken in obedience to the
oracle of a deity, and the voyage is said to have been effected
by the help of two jewels presented to her by the Sea-gods.
One of these jewels had the miraculous power of raising the
waters of the sea, and the other had that of lowering them. By
means of these treasures the Imperial lady could control the
ebb and flow of the tide and bring her mighty army safely across
the sea.

Whatever the historical source of this legend may be, the
heroine together with her son , 3 born on the return from the ex-
pedition, and her aged councillor, are a famous triad of heroes.
Their images are often carried in the annual dolls’ festival for
boys, and their favour is invoked in order that the boy may par-
take of their heroism and their victorious prowess.

In the eleventh century began the heroic age of Japan, char-
acterized by the rise of the warrior class. The clan that played
the greatest part in the history of the time was the Minamoto,
and among the early heroes of the Minamoto clan, Yoshi-iye
is the most popular. Yoshi-iye celebrated the ceremony that
marked his attainment of manhood before the sanctuary dedi-
cated to Hachiman, the son of JingS, and in later times these
two heroes were revered as the patrons and protectors of the
Minamoto clan, and therefore of warriors in general.

The animal closely associated with the hero-deity, Hachiman,
the god of Eight Banners, was the white dove, and the Mina-
motos always regarded the appearance of doves above their
battlefields as a good omen. The heroic deeds of Yoshi-iye are
associated with his military expeditions to the north-east of


30 6 JAPANESE MYTHOLOGY

Japan, and reference has already been made to local legends
about him. 4

The most popular and famous of the early Minamoto gen-
erals is Raiko, or more properly Yorimitsu. He was always
surrounded by four valiant lieutenants, 6 and there are tales
about each one of them. The best known of their joint adven-
tures is the expedition against a group of devilish beings, whose
head was Shuten Doji, or “ Drunkard Boy,” and who had their
stronghold on Mount Oye-yama.

The Drunkard Boy was a kind of ogre who fed on human
blood. His face was boyish but he was of giant size and went
clad in scarlet robes. His retainers were devilish beings, vari-
ously repulsive in appearance. As their forays for plunder and
outrage spread from the neighbourhood of their abode to the
capital, and noble ladies became their victims, the government
ordered Raiko to vanquish the devils. Already, Tsuna, one of
Raiko’s four lieutenants, had overcome a great ogre and cut off
one of his arms, so there was reason to hope that the Drunkard
Boy was not invincible either, but it was not an easy matter for
Raiko and his followers to make their way into the strongly
fortified haunt of the ogre.

Raiko determined to disguise his men as a company of the
mountaineering priests, who were accustomed to wander about
the hill country. In this way the party gained admittance to
the deviPs stronghold, to which they were guided by a mysteri-
ous man, who also gave Raiko a quantity of magic drink with
which to intoxicate the ogres.

The ogres received them unsuspectingly, and when evening
was come, the supposed priests offered the Drunkard Boy and
his retainers the drink which they had brought, and amused
them by singing and dancing before them. When the ogres ap-
peared to be sufficiently befuddled, the warriors threw off their
priestly robes, appeared in armour and helmets, and succeeded
after a hard fight in killing the chief ogre and all his retainers.








. y ..

? 0 * • . ?


ill . ... ? , V i


5fi! '


. < br • •

> S' .

i‘. >!-• • fi| .



























PLATE XXXIV


Shuten Doji, the Drunkard Boy

Taken from a long scroll of the 1 8th century, a
poor specimen of the Kano school. The part shown
here represents Raiko offering the magic wine to the
Drunkard Boy, the latter being entertained by his
devilish retainers who are dancing and singing.
Raiko and his five retainers are in the disguise of
mountaineering priests. Behind them stand their
travelling trunks, which they carry on their backs on
the journey. See p. 306.

Original in Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.




HEROIC STORIES


307

The spirit of the Drunkard Boy raged furiously even after the
death of his body, and his head, cut off by Raiko, soared upward
in the air, and tried to attack him. But the heroes, through
their valour and the divine assistance, remained masters of this
extraordinary situation. The city of Miyako was filled with
joy when the triumphant Raiko, together with his four lieu-
tenants, came back bearing the monstrous head of the Drunkard
Boy, and leading a train of women whom they had delivered
from captivity in the ogre’s den. 6

The alternate rise and fall of the two military clans, Mina-
moto and Taira, which took place in rapid succession during the
last half of the twelfth century, was a rich source of heroic
stories. These two clans are collectively called Gem-Pei, 7 and
their rivalry, their victories and their defeats form the substance
of epics, romances and dramas. One of the most popular epical
heroes is Tametomo, the famous archer; but still more well
known are Yoshitsune, his friend and retainer Benkei, and his
mistress, Shizuka.

We shall better understand their stories, if we know some-
thing about the historical background of those legends. The
two military clans became influential in the political arena
through the civil war of 1157, although the way had long since
been prepared for them. But the balance of power between
them was not easily preserved, and when another civil war broke
out in 1159, the Minamotos were totally defeated by the Tairas.
In the war of 1157 each party was equally divided in the two
contending camps; Tametomo was on the losing side, and one
of his brothers fought on the other, and in the passion of the
moment dared even to execute his own father. Tametomo, of
whom we shall hear more later, was exiled to an island in the
Pacific Ocean. In the second war the Tairas, as we have said,
overcame the Minamotos, and the Minamoto leader, Tame-
tomo’s brother, was killed. He left three sons, whom the con-
querors were about to put to death, but whom they finally


308 JAPANESE MYTHOLOGY

spared. That act of mercy bore unfortunate fruit for the
Tairas, for these three boys lived to vanquish them thirty years
later. When that time came, the eldest of the three orphans
was the chief of the Minamoto clan, but the most famous war-
rior was Yoshitsune, the youngest of the three brothers and the
most popular of all Japanese heroes.

Now Tametomo, the unlucky uncle of Yoshitsune, was fa-
mous for his archery even in boyhood. Discontented with the
conditions in Miyako, where the Fujiwara oligarchy oppressed
the military men, Tametomo fled from the capital and went
into the west, when he was only fourteen years old. There his
adventures among the local warriors made him a dreaded hero
and the leader of many less famous chiefs. When in 1157 war
broke out in Miyako, Tametomo returned to fight on the fa-
ther’s side. But his party was finally defeated, his father was
killed and he himself went into exile.

But his adventurous spirit was not subdued. He overcame
the inhabitants of the island where he was banished and ruled
over them as a king. The government of Japan learned of it
and sent an expedition to the island. When Tametomo saw the
ships approaching, he took his strongest bow and with an arrow
hit one of the ships, so that a large hole was pierced in its side,
and the ship sunk. The wonderful archer could have sunk the
other ships in the same way, but he hesitated to do that or even
to defend himself by the help of the islanders, because either
course meant that more men would be killed on his own account.
Accordingly he withdrew to the interior of the island and killed
himself.

That is the old legend, but the popular imagination was
never satisfied with such an ending, and desired to have the hero
preserved for more heroic deeds. A tradition was long current
that Tametomo had not died, but had fled out of the island and
had more wonderful adventures somewhere else. Taking that
for a foundation, a writer of the nineteenth century pretended


HEROIC STORIES


309

to tell the later life of the hero — how he went over to the
Loochoo islands and founded there a royal dynasty. This
fancy, together with the fictitious exploits which the writer pro-
vided for his hero, became so popular, that many people today
believe in the historicity of those stories and call Tametomo the
first king of the Loochoo islands.

The second and more famous hero was Yoshitsune, who as a
child was called Ushiwaka. In the second civil war, he nar-
rowly escaped with his life, and the legends say that he and his
brothers were spared by the victorious chief of the Tairas be-
cause of his love for their mother. The youngest of the three
was sent to a monastery at Kurama, a mountain in the north
of Miyako, and lived there as a page to the abbot, with the name
Ushiwaka Maru.

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Re: Japanese Mythology
« Reply #11 on: August 04, 2019, 03:45:07 PM »

The little Ushiwaka even in his childhood was always plan-
ning to revenge his family’s defeat by the Tairas. Considering
that the first qualification of a good warrior was accomplished
swordsmanship, the boy betook himself every night, when
everyone else was asleep, to the forests near the monastery,
where he practised tirelessly with a wooden sword against the
standing trees. The harsh and tyrannical rule of the Taira
clan had already begun to provoke the people to revolt, and, ac-
cording to the legends, the supernatural Tengu folk sympa-
thized with the spirit of rebellion. The genius of Mount Ku-
rama was one of them, a chief Tengu named Sojo-bo. One
night Sojo-bo appeared to Ushiwaka, to offer his aid to the lad,
sympathizing with his enthusiasm for revenge.

Imagine the scene. In the blackness of night among the
mountains there was not a sound. Suddenly the giant monster
Tengu stood before the boy armed with his wooden sword.
The Tengu’s furious eyes glared in the darkness of the forest,
his robes were scarlet, and in his right hand he carried the Tengu
fan . 8 The giant Tengu asked the boy why he continually exer-
cised himself in the use of the sword. Ushiwaka confessed his


VHI — 21


310 JAPANESE MYTHOLOGY

burning desire for revenge, and the Tengu, in high approval of
his ambition, promised to teach him certain secrets in the art
of swordsmanship and to instruct him in military tactics and
strategy. Then S 5 jo-bo called his retainers, the Leaflet Tengus,
and bade them give Ushiwaka the benefit of their experience
and skill in perfecting his sword play.

After that Ushiwaka met the Tengus every night, and very
soon the boy became so great a master of fencing that none of
the minor Tengus was his match. Finally Sojo-bo, proud of
the boy’s progress, taught him all the secrets of the military art
and gave him a roll in which all those secrets were written
down. So Ushiwaka was graduated, as it were, in military sci-
ence at the forest school of the Tengus, and all his famous
military achievements in later years are believed to be the result
of Soj o-bo’s zealous instructions.

Ushiwaka was not so conceited as to believe that his unaided
prowess was sufficient to carry his plans to success, and he prayed
regularly to Kwannon, the goddess of mercy, for constant pro-
tection and guidance. For that purpose, he visited every night
a temple of the goddess called the Kiyomizu Kwannon, in the
south-eastern part of Miyako. On the way he had to cross
the bridge of Gojo, the Fifth Avenue Bridge, which spanned
the river Kamo, the Arno of the Japanese Florence, and the
nightly appearance of the mysterious youth, his face veiled in
thin silk, became a subject of gossip among the people of
Miyako.

At that time there was a soldier monk named Benkei, who
had formerly belonged to the monastery of Mount Hiei, but
who was then sojourning in Miyako seeking some exciting ad-
venture. Benkei heard the tale of the veiled youth and was
eager to find out whether he was a human being or a supernatu-
ral apparition. Accordingly Benkei armed himself with vari-
ous weapons — several swords, a heavy iron rod, a large saw,
etc., and put on his black monastic robes and hood.



PLATE XXXV


USHIWAKA AND BeNKEI, ON THE BRIDGE OF GojO

or Bridge of the Fifth Avenue in Miyako

Note the contrast between the boyish youth veiled
in a white mantle and the giant monk clad in black.
See pp. 309 ff.

By Ukuta Ikkei (died 1858). In possession of
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.




HEROIC STORIES


3ii

As he lay in wait for the mysterious lad, he heard the sound
of the boy’s lacquered clogs on the planks of the bridge. Nearer
and nearer he came until just as he reached the middle of the
bridge, the giant monk stood forth and cried: “Stop, O lad!
Who art thou? ”

Ushiwaka paid no heed to the challenge. The sturdy Benkei
tried to stop him, but the boy pushed forward without so much
as looking at the monk. This provoked Benkei so much that he
aimed a sword stroke at the boy, which the latter parried with
a blow that struck the weapon from the monk’s hands. Under-
standing that he had a serious fight on his hands, Benkei caught
up his iron rod, but the lad leaped high in the air and avoided
the powerful swinging blow. To make matters worse he
laughed mockingly at the angry monk, who aimed blow after
blow at his elusive opponent — all in vain. The boy leaped
around, above, before and behind him as if he were a bird. The
long training of Ushiwaka in his fencing matches with the
Leaflet Tengus proved its value, and Benkei had finally nothing
to do but to kneel before the mysterious lad and ask his pardon . 9
Ever after Benkei was a faithful retainer of Ushiwaka and
fought at his side in all his battles until at last he died for his
young lord’s sake.

There are many tales of the warlike deeds of Yoshitsune, as
Ushiwaka came to be called, and of Benkei his friend. To-
gether they won great victories over the Tairas, and together
they went into banishment when Yoshitsune suffered under his
elder brother’s jealousy and suspicion. These tales, especially
that of the last desperate fight, and of Benkei’s last moments,
when he died facing alone the arrows flying from the bows of
his triumphant enemies, are told today with a never-flagging
admiration and enthusiasm . 10 But they are too many and too
long to be told here, and we will speak of only a single episode
in the heroic life of Yoshitsune.

After his brilliant victories which broke the power of the


312 JAPANESE MYTHOLOGY

Taira clan, Yoshitsune remained in the Imperial capital,
Miyako, but he soon became estranged from his elder brother,
the military dictator. The head of the Minamoto clan was en-
vious of his younger brother’s fame, and there were plenty of
courtiers who were ready to feed his jealousy and his suspicion.
He ended by banishing Yoshitsune, who was driven out of
Miyako by a surprise attack. He took refuge in Yoshino, a
place long famous for its beautiful cherry-blossoms. There too
he had to take arms against the treacherous monks whom his
brother’s emissaries had roused against him.

All this time he was accompanied by Benkei and other faith-
ful retainers and also by his mistress Shizuka. When he was
driven out of Miyako, one of his lieutenants died for him. His
peril was such that he had to disguise himself as a mountaineer-
ing priest, and to go about with only one or two followers. The
pitiful situation of the hero, his sorrow over the death of his
faithful retainer, and his sad parting with his mistress, are all
subjects of favourite legends.

The tragic story of Yoshitsune’s banishment makes a pathetic
ending to his brilliant earlier career. From that time his life
was a succession of misfortunes and hardships and he finally
met death in defeat, 11 but through it all he remains noble and
courageous, and the heroic quality of the man is shown no less
in his bearing under adversity than in his triumph on the battle-
field. No other hero of Japan, whether historical or imaginary,
is so popular as Yoshitsune ; and no other had a career so full of
brilliant, romantic exploits, of pathetic misfortunes, and of
thrilling vicissitudes.

The four centuries which followed the twelfth witnessed the
rise of the feudal regime. War between the clans was con-
tinual and the period is naturally rich in heroic romances. Most
of the stories are founded too firmly on historical fact to be
treated in a book of mythology. But the age did produce a
good many stories of heroic deeds that were wholly imaginary


HEROIC STORIES


3i3

or even fantastic, but which did, nevertheless, reflect perfectly
the spirit of the time.

The chief motives in these stories were adventure and re-
venge. Of the former class the story of Raiko’s expedition
against the ogre Drunkard Boy, which we have already told, is
fairly typical. One of the earliest and most famous stories in
which revenge supplied the motive is “ Soga.” This is the
story of two orphan boys who succeeded, in the face of many
difficulties, in killing the murderer of their father. The epi-
sode is a historical one. It took place in the last part of the
twelfth century and so much moved the sympathy and imagina-
tion of the people that the story has grown to be a permanent
part of Japanese folk-lore . 12

The story is too authentic to be in place here, but there are not
a few romantic tales of this period which are, so far as we know,
purely imaginative.

The most popular of them all is the story of Momotaro, or
“ the Peachling Boy .” 13 It is so popular today that the folk-
lorists of Japan are planning to erect a bronze statue of the
fictitious boy-hero. Every Japanese child knows the story well.
Thus it runs:

Once upon a time there was an old couple who lived near the
mountains. One day as the wife was washing clothes in a brook,
a large peach came floating down the stream. The old woman
took the fruit to her husband, and when he opened it a strong
baby boy emerged. The old couple adopted the boy, who grew
up to be a bright and stirring lad. He determined to go upon
some lively adventure, and decided in the end to visit the Isle
of Devils. His mother made some sweet dumplings for him,
and Momotaro started off alone with his provisions. On the
way a dog met him and asked of him one of the dumplings.
Momotaro gave him one and the dog followed on after him.
Then, in similar manner, Momotaro’s company was increased
by a monkey and a pheasant, and they all sailed away for the


3 H JAPANESE MYTHOLOGY

devils’ island. On their arrival they attacked the stronghold of
the devils, and it proved to be not a difficult task for them to
subjugate the monsters. They came back with much treasure
which they had taken from the devils. The old couple wel-
comed the boy joyfully, and the animal friends of Momotaro
danced before them.

An heroic tale associated with the fairies of the sea, is that of
Tawara Toda, “ the warrior Toda of the Rice-bale,” who is
said to have lived in the eleventh century. One night, when
Toda crossed ths famous bridge of Seta over the outlet of Lake
Biwa, he saw a monstrous serpent lying on the bridge. He
passed by it with calm composure as if it were nothing extraordi-
nary. Later that night a young woman paid a visit to his house.
She explained that she was the daughter of the Dragon King,
and that she admired him for the cool courage which he had
shown on the Seta bridge, for it appeared that the great serpent
was the young lady herself in another form. She then asked
him whether he would undertake to vanquish a monstrous centi-
pede which was killing many of her kinsfolk.

Toda, quite ready to oblige the lady, went out upon the bridge.
As he awaited the monster he watched the lightning flash around
Mount Mikami on the other side of the lake, and he saw two
glaring lights like burning mirrors — the eyes of the monster
centipede. Toda shot two arrows at those gleaming eyes, but
the arrows rebounded as if from iron plates. Then Toda, real-
izing that spittle was a poison fatal to a centipede, shot a third
arrow wetted with saliva. The monster fell lifeless, and the
dragon folk were saved from the threatened extermination of
their whole race.

The following night the dragon lady visited Toda again to
thank him for his valiant help in time of need. She asked him
to honour her and her kinsfolk by visiting her palace. He fol-
lowed her to the palace under the water of the lake, where he
was entertained with every delicacy that the water can produce.










? r .


/. .. •„ ? ;
' . ? ’ . : • . ; . . . . c




-

? .







PLATES XXXVI, XXXVII


Momotaro, the Peachling Boy in the Isle of
Devils Receiving Their Homage

Momotaro sits under a pine-tree surrounded by his
retainers, the Monkey, the Dog and the Pheasant, to
whom the devils are bringing jewels, corals, etc. A
large hat and a mantle raised on a tablet in front of
Momotaro are the mythical garments, wearing which
any one could pass unnoticed by others. On the ex-
treme left two devils are taking the mysterious mallet
(See p. 286) together with jewels. See p. 313.

A pair of screens in bright colours, by Shiwokawa
Bunrin (late 1 8th century). The work is dated
1792. In possession of Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.










HEROIC STORIES


3i5

As he was leaving the palace, the Dragon King gave him three
giftsj a bale of rice which proved to be, like Fortunatus’s purse,
inexhaustible, a roll of silk which gave him a never-ending sup-
ply of clothing, and a bell which had come first from India and
had been hidden at the bottom of the lake for a long time.

Toda dedicated the bell to a temple on the lake-side and kept
the other two treasures himself. In his further adventures he
found the miraculous things of the very greatest service, and
from his possession of the unfailing rice-bale he was always
called by the people, Tawara Toda, “ Lord Toda of the Rice-
bale.” “


CHAPTER VII


STORIES OF ANIMALS

S HINTO animism is still a living force among the Japanese
people. As we have seen already, Japanese mythology
based its conceptions of things on the belief that everything ani-
mate or inanimate has its soul, with activities more or less analo-
gous to those of the human soul. This belief is not seriously
entertained today, but during the period when myths and leg-
ends had their origin, the popular imagination was full of
animistic imagery. Not only were animals and plants supposed
to think and act after the fashion of man and woman, but their
metamorphosis into other forms of life as well as into human
beings was the principal theme of folk-lore.

Buddhism encouraged this animistic conception of nature
through the teaching of transmigration. Mankind is, accord-
ing to this doctrine, only one of the manifold phases of exist-
ence which include celestial beings, animals, plants, and even
goblins and demons. Animals are indeed less self-conscious
than mankind, and plants again still less mobile and intelligent,
yet their lives may pass into those of human beings or into other
forms of existence. Philosophically speaking, the Buddhist
doctrine is not mere animism, yet, as it was understood by the
popular mind, it really amounted to an elaboration and exten-
sion of the original animism of Shinto. Accordingly the naive
tales about animals and plants, which come down from primi-
tive times, have often been enriched by touches of pity and
sympathy or by sad reflections on the miseries of existence in
general, which show clearly the influence of Buddhist teachings.
Since one’s dearest friend after his or her death may have been


STORIES OF ANIMALS


3i7

born again as an animal or plant, and since one may have once
passed oneself through such a phase of transmigration, other
existences are not held to be foreign and remote, but are con-
nected with ourselves in one way or another, either by a kinship
in the past, or else in the future. These reflections and senti-
ments early determined the people’s attitude toward other be-
ings, stimulated the mythopceic propensity of their imagination,
and deepened their sympathetic interest in the creatures about
whom the tales are told.

Most often it is the odious shrewdness of some animal or an
amusing peculiarity in its behaviour that forms the basis of the
animal tale. There are also many stories about animals which
have shown special gratitude or attachment to human beings,
and these usually reflect the mutual interdependence of all ex-
istences and the special emphasis laid by both Buddhism and
Confucianism on the virtue of gratitude. Naturally these fa-
bles, for such they are in fact, have often a moral or didactic
purpose, and some of them may be heard of when we come to
speak of the didactic tales which are so common in Japanese
folk-lore.

Perhaps the oldest of the animal stories is that of the “ White
Hare of Inaba,” 1 which is told in connection with the adven-
tures of Oh-kuni-nushi, the hero of the Izumo tribe.

Once there lived in the island of Oki a white hare. He
wished to cross the water and to reach the mainland. Accord-
ingly, he asked a crocodile whether he had as many kinsfolk
as he, the hare, had, and pretended to believe that the crocodile
had overstated the size of his family. He told the crocodile to
call every one of his tribe and make them lie on the surface of
the sea in a long row. “ I can then step over you and count
how many crocodiles there are in the world,” said the hare.

The crocodiles agreed to the proposal and formed one long
row from Oki to the mainland ; so the hare jumped over them
until it came to the last one which lay close to the shore. Proud


3i 8 JAPANESE MYTHOLOGY

of the success of his trick, the impudent hare began to laugh at
the ease with which the stupid crocodiles had been duped. But
he boasted too soon; the last crocodile seized him, plucked out
all his fur and sank beneath the water. So the unfortunate hare
was left lying on the beach naked and shivering.

Now there was a family of many brothers in Izumo. Every
one of them wished to win the love of a certain princess who
lived in Inaba. They all set out for Inaba to lay siege to the
lady’s heart, but the older brothers were cruel to the youngest,
Oh-kuni-nushi, and made him carry all their luggage. So the
poor brother toiled along far behind the others. As they walked
along the beach the elder brothers saw the hare, and instead of
sympathizing with the poor animal’s pain, they deceived him
into thinking that he could relieve it by plunging into the sea-
water and then exposing his body to the wind and sunlight.

When the hare followed their mischievous advice, his skin
cracked open and bled, and he suffered intolerably from the
pain. Then Oh-kuni-nushi came up, pitied the suffering ani-
mal, and told him to wash in fresh water and cover his body
with the soft pollen of the cat-tail. The hare was very grate-
ful to the young man and said to him: “ None of your cruel
brothers shall marry the lady of Inaba, but you alone shall win
the lady’s heart.” The hare’s words were fulfilled. Oh-kuni-
nushi married the lady and became the ruler of Izumo, and
when after their death memorial shrines were built for him and
his wife, the White Hare of Inaba shared their honours with
them.

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Re: Japanese Mythology
« Reply #12 on: August 04, 2019, 03:46:24 PM »

I. GRATEFUL ANIMALS

The most popular of the grateful animals in Japanese folk-
lore is the sparrow.

Once upon a time a kind-hearted old woman saw a sparrow
whose wings were injured so that it could not fly. She picked
the bird up, put it in a cage and nursed it until its strength was


STORIES OF ANIMALS


3i9


restored. When the bird was quite well, the woman let it out
of the cage and the bird flew away in great delight. Some days
later, as the old woman was sitting on her verandah, the self-
same sparrow flew up and left a little seed as if to express its
gratitude. It was a seed of the gourd, and when the old woman
put it in the ground the plant grew sturdily and bore many
gourds. The woman harvested the gourds and got a great
quantity of delicious pulp from them. Moreover, she pre-
served the dry gourds, which miraculously furnished an inex-
haustible store of rice. So the old woman was able to feed her
less fortunate neighbours through the generosity and gratitude
of the little bird.

Another woman lived next door, but she was greedy and
malicious. She knew all about her fortunate neighbour and was
very envious of her luck. Thinking that the same inexhaustible
wealth might be obtained from any sparrow, she struck one
down and then nursed it, as her neighbour had done. In the
same manner also she released the sparrow when it had re-
covered from the wound. After some days, the sparrow re-
turned and left her also a gourd seed. She planted it and the
plant bore a few gourds. But the pulp was so bitter that even
the greedy woman could not eat it. She preserved the dry
gourds and hoped to get rice out of them. The gourds were
indeed as heavy as stones, and the old woman felt sure that she
could get more rice than her neighbour. But when she opened
them, not rice but bees, centipedes, scorpions, serpents and other
vermin came out of them and stung the woman until she died
of the poison.

Another version of the same story is known as the tale of
“ The Tongue-cut Sparrow.” It is even better known than the
other, though that is probably the original one. Once there was
a greedy and cruel woman. She punished a sparrow, which had
eaten some of her starch, by cutting out its tongue. Her neigh-
bour, a kind-hearted woman, nursed the poor bird, and the


320 JAPANESE MYTHOLOGY

sparrow flew away when its wound had been healed. By and
by the kind woman with her husband made a visit to the spar-
row’s house which was all built of bamboo. The sparrow and
its fellows welcomed the old couple and entertained them hos-
pitably. They gave them delicious food and drink and per-
formed for them the famous sparrow-dance. 2 When the old
couple took their leave, the sparrows presented them with two
caskets, one large and one small. The good old man said: “ We
are old and we cannot carry a great casket like this, so let us be
content with the smaller one.” When they got home they
opened the casket, and out of it came an unending succession of
precious things.

Now the greedy woman who had cut the sparrow’s tongue
was envious of her fortunate neighbours. She inquired where
the sparrow’s house was to be found, and made a visit there
together with her husband, who was, like herself, covetous and
jealous. They were entertained by the sparrows as their neigh-
bours had been, and when they started home, accepted the
larger of the caskets which were offered them, because they
thought that it must contain more precious things than the other.
When they reached home they opened the casket, and lo! not
jewels but goblins and monsters came out of it and devoured
the greedy couple.

The didactic purpose of this story is quite clear.

Another bird celebrated for its grateful spirit is the manda-
rin duck. Once upon a time, says a popular story, there was a
rich man who was extremely fond of birds. One day he caught
a beautiful male mandarin duck and brought it home. A cage
was made for the bird and it was entrusted to the care of a
young servant. The servant took the greatest interest in the
duck, but it was depressed and melancholy and would eat noth-
ing. The servant tried every means he could think of to tempt
the bird’s appetite, but in vain. A maid-servant who was em-
ployed in the same house told him that she could guess why the


STORIES OF ANIMALS


321


duck was so sad. The mandarin duck, she said, was always ex-
tremely devoted to its mate, and the captive was doubtless pin-
ing for the mate from which it was separated. She advised the
man to let the duck go lest it should die of sorrow. The serv-
ant was afraid that his master would be angry if the bird were
released, but the maid persuaded him to be merciful to the duck
even at the risk of his master’s anger. So the bird was set free
and it flew away in great delight. When the master found the
cage empty he was furious. The servant admitted his fault and
asked pardon for his carelessness, but the rich man was by no
means appeased and henceforth treated the servant with great
harshness.

Now when the maid-servant saw the unhappiness which her
advice had brought on her fellow servant, she began by pitying
him and ended by falling in love with him. The man re-
sponded both to her pity and to her love, and the two showed
their mutual affection so openly that the other servants of the
house began to speak evil of them. The master at last heard
the gossip about the love affair of the two servants, and some-
how learned the share they had had in the escape of the man-
darin duck. His anger was rekindled and he bade the other
servants bind the man and the girl and throw them into the
river. Just as they were about to be cast into the water, two
messengers from the provincial governor appeared on the
scene and announced that a decree just issued forbade any pun-
ishment by death within the province. So the two servants
were released and taken by the messengers to the governor’s
official residence. On the way the sun set, and in the dusk the
two messengers seemed to disappear like mist. The man and
the woman sought for them in vain. The couple lay down to
sleep in an abandoned hut, where the two messengers appeared
to them in a vision and told them that they were indeed the
mandarin duck which had been set free and his mate. They ex-
pressed their gratitude to the two servants, resumed their shape


322 JAPANESE MYTHOLOGY

as birds and flew away. The two servants married and lived
happily ever after, loving each other as devotedly as do the
mandarin duck and his mate.

In another story it is the dog that plays the leading part.
Once upon a time there was a local official who was covetous and
greedy. He got money by raising silk-worms which it was his
wife’s duty to feed. Once she failed to rear them successfully
and the husband scolded her and turned her out of doors.
Abandoned by the husband and left with only one silk-worm,
she lavished all her care upon it. One day the precious worm,
upon which her hope of a living depended, was eaten by her
dog. She thought at first of killing the dog, so furious was her
anger, but she reflected that the worm could not thus be re-
stored, and that the dog, after all, was her only companion.
She was quite at a loss how to sustain life, but she calmed her
troubled mind by thinking of Buddha’s teaching of love and of
karma.

One day her dog somehow had his nose injured. The
woman found a white thread protruding from the wound and
tried to pull it out. The thread came out endlessly until she
had got hundreds of reels of fine silk thread. Then the dog
died. She buried the animal under a mulberry-tree, praising
Buddha for the grace which he had shown her through the
dog. The tree grew swiftly and silk-worms appeared among
the leaves. The silk which they produced proved to be the best
in the country, and the woman sold it all to the Imperial court.
Her former husband coming to learn of this, repented of his
greed and cruelty. He rejoined his wife and thenceforth they
lived in peace and prosperity.

The list of grateful animals is a long one. It includes the
cow, the monkey, fishes, the dog, the horse, and even the wolf
and the fox; but the bee is perhaps cast for this role as often as
any other creature. The following is one of the most popular
of such stories.


STORIES OF ANIMALS


323

Once there lived in Yamato a warrior named Yogo. He was
totally defeated in a battle and took refuge in a cave. There
he saw a bee caught in a spider’s web, and, in sympathy for the
fate of the unhappy insect, he broke the web and set it free. As
he slept in the cave, he saw in a dream a man clad in brown
robes, who stood before him and said: “ I am the bee that you
rescued and I shall repay my indebtedness by helping you in
your next battle. Do not despair, but fight again, even though
your followers are few. But be sure that you build first a little
shed and put therein a great many jars and bottles, as many as
you can find.”

' Encouraged by this vision, Yogo gathered his retainers and
made preparations as he had been bidden. Then innumerable
bees appeared from all directions and hid themselves in the
bottles. The enemy learned that Yogo was at large again and
sent an army to attack him. When the battle was joined the
bees came out of their shelter and stung the swarming troops of
the enemy until they fled in confusion and Yogo won a great
victory.

As a last instance of this type of tale let us give the story of
a grateful crane which married her benefactor.

Once there was a nobleman who lost all his fortune and lived
in a country place. One day he saw a hunter catch a pretty crane
which he was about to hang. Out of pity the nobleman begged
the hunter to spare the crane’s life. But the cruel man would
not let the bird go without an ample ransom, and since the kind-
hearted nobleman had nothing left but his precious sword, he
offered it to the hunter, and was glad to surrender this last relic
of his former greatness since he could thus save the life of the
crane.

The next evening a young lady accompanied by a single re-
tainer came to his door and asked shelter for the night. The
host was amazed to see such a fine lady in that retired place, but
he received her hospitably. The lady told him that she had


324 JAPANESE MYTHOLOGY

been driven from her home by a cruel step-mother 3 and, since
she had no place to go, she asked if she might stay with him in
the cottage. The nobleman permitted her to do so, and in the
course of time the two fell in love and were married. The
young wife gave the husband a quantity of gold that she had
brought with her, and so the couple lived very comfortably to-
gether. But their idyllic life did not last long. One day the
feudal lord of the region organized a large hunting-party, and
the wife had to tell her husband that she was in reality the crane
which he had once saved and that she must now return to her
home in the kingdom of the birds. She took her husband to the
wonderful palace of her parents, but the couple were finally
separated by fate. 4

II. REVENGEFUL AND MALICIOUS ANIMALS

The revengeful animal is as common in Japanese folk-lore
as his grateful fellow. Sometimes the animals revenge them-
selves on one another, sometimes on mankind. In these stories
we usually meet with an expressed belief in the power of witch-
craft which malicious animals possess, and their achievements
are often triumphs of malice and shrewdness. Animal cunning,
especially in nursery tales, is contrasted with human foolish-
ness while nothing is more common than a superstitious dread
of the power for mischief that certain animals are supposed to
possess. Theoretically we may divide the stories of this sort
into those that are told for the entertainment of children, and
those which are the product of deep-seated popular superstition.
Yet a good many stories are on the border line and partake of
both characters, and it is such stories that unfortunately tend to
make children timid, fearful and superstitious. We shall take
up first the stories of witchcraft and wicked malice, and go on
to those which are only tales for the nursery.

The animals regularly credited with uncanny powers are the


STORIES OF ANIMALS


325


fox, the badger, the cat, and the serpent; other animals are only
occasionally said to be so gifted. We have read about the ser-
pent in connection with the myths of the Dragon tribe. Of the
other three, the fox is the most ancient figure of superstition,
the stories about him dating from the tenth century or even
earlier. The cat and badger entered into folk-lore later, prob-
ably since the fourteenth century. In every case, Chinese in-
fluences seem to have given the first stimulus to the Japanese
imagination. The earliest native lore handed down no super-
stitions of this kind . 5

The most famous fox-witch is Tamamo-no-Maye, a court
lady who is said to have lived early in the twelfth century. In
reality she was a very old fox with an eight-forked tail, and her
peculiar wickedness consisted in turning herself into a beautiful
woman and in bringing ruin on a state by tempting its ruler to
sin. She had succeeded wonderfully in this disagreeable art in
India and China, and then she came over to Japan, thanks to her
power of swift flight through the air. While she was engaged
in her malicious machinations, her secret was discovered by a
wise nobleman who finally broke her spell by the miraculous
power of a divine mirror. Before the mirror the fox lost its
power of transformation, appeared in all its dreadful hideous-
ness, and flew away eastward. An army sent in pursuit of the
monster was aided by the host of warriors who issued from the
mirror, and the fox was killed.

Its evil spirit took refuge in a rock that stood on the prairies
of Nasu, and so thereafter any one, human being or animal, who
touched the rock was instantly killed. The stone was long
known as the “ Death-stone ” of Nasu-no. The evil spirit was,
however, finally exorcised by a virtuous monk and the rock
ceased to be a death-stone . 6

This is the story of a revengeful fox: Once there was a peas-
ant named Jinroku. One day he found a fox sleeping in the
bushes upon his farm. Out of pure mischief he frightened the


vrn — 22


326 JAPANESE MYTHOLOGY

animal and chased it until it was almost exhausted, but he did
not kill it. Some days afterward, Jinroku saw in a dream a di-
vine figure which told him that there was a great quantity of
gold in a vase buried deep in his farm. Jinroku was not at first
so credulous as to believe in the truth of the dream, but when
the same vision appeared again and again to him and to other
members of his family, he was tempted to unearth the hidden
treasure. Keeping the matter a secret he began with his sons to
dig. Their toil, however, was unsuccessful, and he soon aban-
doned his search for the money.

Then in a dream the same figure appeared and, rebuking Jin-
roku for his lack of faith and patience, said: “ I am the patron
god of gold and fortune, and I know well the existence of all
the treasures in earth. Thou hast failed in discovering this
treasure, since thou hast not put full confidence in my oracle,
and also because thou hast wished to keep the revelation a se-
cret. Now then, make a great feast, invite all thy neighbours;
make the revelation public, and begin to dig in earnest. Then
thy success will be certain. Have no doubts.” Jinroku was
now thoroughly convinced of the genuineness of the apparition
and did in all things as he had been told. This time a few pen-
nies were found, and, encouraged by that result, Jinroku dug
deeper and deeper. A few more pennies appeared one after an-
other, but no treasure was found, and Jinroku became an object
of ridicule to all his neighbours. So did the tortured fox re-
venge itself on its tormentor.

There is no room to tell all the stories of this type, but we
will add one instance of pure mischief of which the fox was sup-
posed to be guilty.

Once, long ago, a man went, with his servant, to look for a
lost horse. After much fruitless search they were making their
way through a meadow. They saw a gigantic cryptomeria-tree
standing in the way, although they had never before seen any
tree in this meadow. They almost doubted their own eyesight,






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PLATE XXXVIII


A Badger in the Disguise of a Buddhist Monk

A badger in disguise of a Buddhist monk sitting
beside a water-kettle on the hearth. See p. 329 and
The Wonderful Tea-Kettle in Hasegawa’s
Japanese Fairy Tale Series, no. 16.

A rough drawing by Hokussi (early 19th century).
In possession of Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.




STORIES OF ANIMALS


327

yet both saw the tree very clearly. They thought then that they
had mistaken the spot, but that they knew to be impossible, and
as a last resort they concluded that the mysterious tree must be
the work of some evil spirit. So they shot arrows at the giant
tree, and immediately it disappeared. They got home safely,
and when, next morning, they returned to the meadow, they
found an old fox lying dead with a few twigs of cryptomeria in
its mouth . 7

The stories that deal with the badger are similar to those
about the fox, but the badger is never so malicious as Reynard.
Both animals are usually represented as deceiving men by turn-
ing themselves into the likeness of human beings — a monk or
a boy — a distinction that was perhaps suggested by the differ-
ent colours of the two animals. The cat also, especially if it be
old, is dreaded as a malicious creature ; and though the trans-
formations of the fox and the badger are usually temporary,
the cat often takes human shape permanently, and is the active
agent in a long and complicated story like that of the fox
Tamano. During the feudal regime , especially in the eight-
eenth century, many stories were current in which a cat was said
to turn itself into a beautiful woman in order to become the
mistress of a feudal lord and to cause the ruin of his state. But
these stories are not, properly speaking, folk-lore, though they
illustrate the popular belief in the cat’s malicious nature and
magical power.

The colours of the cat’s fur had much to do with popular
ideas about the creature. The most dreaded cat was a red or
pinkish brown animal which was called the “ golden flower ”
cat. Then came a cat in which the three colours, black, white
and brown, were mixed. The magical powers of black or
white cats were believed to be less remarkable, but a totally
black cat was thought to have the power of foretelling the
weather, and sailors were always glad to have one about their
ship.

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Re: Japanese Mythology
« Reply #13 on: August 04, 2019, 03:47:40 PM »


328 JAPANESE MYTHOLOGY

The following is a characteristic story about a u golden
flower ” cat.

Once upon a time a Samurai found a “ golden flower ” cat in
the forest and brought it home to his mother, who became ex-
tremely fond of it. Some time later, the cat disappeared, and
immediately the old lady began to avoid the light, complaining
that her eyes troubled her sadly. Yet she would have no medi-
cal treatment, and her son, in spite of his anxiety, could not per-
suade her to come forth from the dark corners in which she hid
herself. Then suddenly, two of the housemaids disappeared,
and no trace of them could be found, until one day, a servant,
digging in the garden, discovered the clothes of the two girls
covered with blood-stains, and on digging further uncovered
their bones. The horrified servant hurried to the house to tell
his master what he had found, but he was met by his master’s
mother, who in furious anger threatened the servant with death,
if he should tell anybody of his discovery. The servant was so
much frightened at the old lady’s threats that he left the house
in silence.

A few days later the Samurai’s neighbour saw the old woman
washing her bloody mouth in a brook near the house. While
he watched her a dog came up, and the old lady, as soon as she
perceived the dog’s approach, leaped over a hedge and ran away.
This convinced the neighbour that the “ golden flower ” cat had
devoured the Samurai’s mother and transformed itself into her
likeness. He went to the Samurai and told him what he had
seen. The latter took several dogs to his mother’s room and
opened the door. The witch-cat was powerless before the dogs
and they promptly killed it.

Another story of a malicious cat is concerned with shooting
arrows. Once there was a Samurai boy who used to hunt with a
bow and ten arrows. One day, when he was leaving the house,
his mother advised him to take one arrow more than usual.
The boy did as she suggested without asking the reason. He


STORIES OF ANIMALS


329

spent the whole day without seeing any game, and as the eve-
ning came on, he sat down to rest upon a rock. While he sat
there enjoying the calm evening and the rising moon, curiously
enough, another moon rose behind him in the west. He was
amazed at the sight and quickly made up his mind that it must
be the work of an evil spirit. Accordingly he shot an arrow at
the second moon. It struck the moon but rebounded harm-
lessly from it. The boy shot his second arrow, then his third
and fourth, and so on to the tenth — all in vain. Then he took
the eleventh and discharged that also. There was a dreadful
cry and the sound of something falling to the ground. He
went up to the spot and found a giant cat lying dead with a
mirror in its paws.

He hurried home and told the adventure to his mother. She
told him that she had seen a cat early in the morning counting
his arrows, and she had advised him to take an extra arrow be-
cause she had thought the cat’s behaviour very suspicious. The
cat, it seemed, had a mirror with which it protected itself against
the ten arrows 5 but since it thought there were no more than
ten, it had then let the mirror fall and was hit by the eleventh
arrow.

From the many nursery stories about revengeful animals we
select that of the fox-cub that took revenge on a badger which
had betrayed its mother. 8

Once a forest was so much ravaged by the hunters that there
remained in it only a badger and a fox and the fox’s male cub.
They lived together in much distress, and when all their provi-
sions were exhausted, the fox and the badger devised a plan to
get some food. The badger feigned to be dead and the fox,
turning itself into a human being, carried the apparently dead
badger to the market.

The fox got money for the badger and bought food with it j
then the badger managed to escape and made its way back to
the forest. When the provisions thus obtained were exhausted,


330 JAPANESE MYTHOLOGY

the animals repeated the trick, but this time the fox played dead
and the badger sold its body. The malicious badger, however,
wishing to have all the food for itself, cautioned the buyer to
watch it carefully and to make sure that it was dead. The man
who had bought the fox killed it accordingly, and the badger
ate up all the food and would not give a taste to the fox-cub.

The cub understood the treachery of the badger and planned
a subtle revenge. One day he said to the badger very inno-
cently: “ Uncle, people know that both the fox and the badger
are experts in witchcraft, but no one knows which of us is the
more skilful in the art. Let us have a competition and see
which is the cleverest.” The badger laughed at the cub’s con-
ceit, but agreed to the plan, intending to find a way to get rid of
the cub also. So the two animals went together to the town to
try their magic powers upon human beings. As they came near
the town the cub fell behind and disappeared. The badger
therefore sat down to rest near the edge of the town; by and
by it saw a long procession passing over a bridge, with the palan-
quin of a Daimyo in the centre. The badger was sure that this
show was an illusion wrought by the cub, and jumped at once
into the midst of the procession, crying out: “ Now, you stupid
cub ! I have discovered thy trick. Surrender to me ! ” But the
procession was a real one, and the Daimyo’s retainers beat the
insolent badger to death with their staves, while the cub looked
on from a safe distance. So the little cub took his revenge on
the murderer of its mother.

A more amusing nursery tale is that of “ The Monkey and
the Crab.” 9 Once there was a crab who lived near a persimmon
tree. When the fruits were ripening, the crab wished to have
some, but since he could not climb the tree, he asked a monkey
to throw him down some persimmons. The monkey took the
ripe ones for himself and threw the unripe ones down to the
crab. The poor crab was hit by a hard persimmon and, when it
died, many baby crabs came out of its womb.


STORIES OF ANIMALS


33i


Now the children of the crab wished to take revenge on the
murderer of their mother, but they were too small to fight the
monkey. So they begged help from other creatures and inani-
mate objects, and those which came to their assistance were a
chestnut, a junori , 10 a bee, a pounder and a rice-mortar. The
chestnut crept into the monkey’s house and hid itself in the
oven. When the monkey came home and approached the stove
to fill its tea-kettle, the chestnut burst and injured the mon-
key’s eyes. The monkey opened a case where it kept a kind of
bean-cheese, in order to apply this to the burned place, and the
bee flew out and stung the monkey’s face . 11 The frightened
monkey slipped on the junori and fell down. Then the
pounder and the mortar fell from the roof upon the monkey
and knocked it senseless. The crabs thereupon attacked the
helpless monkey and cut it into pieces.

III. THE SERPENT

Of all the animals in Japanese folk-lore, the serpent plays
perhaps the greatest part, and superstitious ideas concerning the
“ walking rope ” are still widely held by the people. The ser-
pent, especially if it be white, is regarded as the patron of
wealth and is almost worshipped as a symbol of the goddess
Benten. We have seen an instance of that in the tale of “ Toda
of the Rice-bale.” But often the serpent is represented as a
very malicious and revengeful creature. A jealous woman is
likened to, or said to turn herself into, a serpent. In one story
a woman pursuing her fleeing lover becomes a large serpent as
she crosses over a stream, and then coils around and melts a
bronze bell in which the unfaithful lover has concealed him-
self . 12 In another story a warrior renounced active life and be-
came a monk, because when he saw the shadows thrown upon a
paper screen by his wife and concubine, their hair was trans-
formed before him into serpents which fought one another . 13


332 JAPANESE MYTHOLOGY

The serpent is also regarded as a symbol of lasciviousness.
That idea gave rise to many stories of the obstinate attachment
of a serpent to a woman, and the consequent birth of a child,
either human or semi-monstrous. Some families were even be-
lieved to have descended from such a union and to be protected
by their serpent progenitor.

We may add also that many a lake or pond is believed to
have a serpent as its genius, though it is not always clear whether
a mythical dragon or the actual reptile is meant. Stories about
these genii are much alike all over Japan, and nearly the same
story is frequently told of different localities. These semi-
mythical serpents are believed to possess miraculous powers, es-
specially that of controlling weather, and offerings are made on
the lake-side in time of drought. The male genii are said occa-
sionally to tempt women into the water, while the female ser-
pents may appear in the shape of beautiful women and marry
human beings. They appear sometimes as ordinary serpents,
but many of them are supposed to have the power to transform
themselves into monstrous dragons.

Here follows one of these stories, that of the male serpent
Nanzo-bo. There was once a Buddhist monk called Nanzo-
bo . 14 He was desirous, like some Buddhists in the Middle
Ages, of witnessing the work, and hearing the sermons of, the
future Buddha Maitreya, who, it was prophesied, was to appear
in the world after some billions of years. Guided by a divine
oracle, he decided to become a dragon, and by that means to
survive in the water until Maitreya should appear, for the
dragon is believed to be so long-lived as to be almost immortal.
For this purpose he retired to a lake-side at the foot of Mount
Kotowake; there he recited continually the Lotus of Truth , and
by the virtue of that disciplinary act was gradually transformed
into a serpent.

One day he saw a young lady coming to him who said that
she was attracted by his voice as he recited the holy text, and












PLATE XXXIX


Wedding of Monkeys

Wedding of animals, such as foxes, rats, etc., is
frequently told in stories and depicted in pictures.
Here we have a picture of the wedding of two
monkeys. The monkey bridegrom sitting on the left
is singing the wedding song, while the bride, wearing
a white head-cover, is raising the wedding wine-cup
on her head. On the table between them are seen a
little pine-tree, a symbol of longevity and prosperity, a
crab, also a symbol of longevity, and the sea-weed
kombu, signifying “ joy,” because of a play of words
connecting the word kombu with the word yorokobu y
“ to be glad,” “ to be in joyful state.” See p. 333.

By Sosen (dated 1799). In possession of Museum
of Fine Arts, Boston.




STORIES OF ANIMALS


333

wished to cohabit with him . 15 He was surprised at her request,
but on learning that she was the serpent genius of the lake, he
complied with her wish and they lived together in the lake. A
few days later, the wife serpent said to him: “ There is a male
serpent in another lake near by who has long wished to marry
me. If he should come here to see me he will surely be very
angry to find you here. Be ready for him.”

Not long after, the other serpent appeared, and a fight im-
mediately began. The serpent attacked Nanzo-bo with its
eight-forked head, and Nanzo-bd fought with his nine-forked
head, for the eight-rolls of the holy scripture on Nanzo-bo’s
head became each a head and thus gave him nine. Nanzo-bo
won the fight and the rival dragon fled discomfited to its home
lake where it lived as a small serpent.

IV. LOVE AND MARRIAGE OF ANIMALS

Love and marriage between different animals or between an
animal and a human being are often the subject of Japanese
folk-tales. The most famous story is that of the female fox
Kuzu-no-ha, who fell in love with a warrior and lived with him
through years of married life. The episode of her parting
from the son born of the marriage has been dramatized, and to
that drama the story owes its popularity, for as a tale it has no
special originality or interest of incident . 16 In a similar story
the spirit of an old willow-tree, O-Ryu by name, is married to a
warrior and has to part from him when the tree is cut down. In
the dramatized form of the story, the chief motive is the agony
she manifests as each axe stroke cuts deeper and deeper into the
tree.

A popular nursery tale which tells of an animal marriage is
“ The Mouse’s Wedding.” 17 The simple story relates how
two young mice wedded, quite as human beings do. But an-
other version of the story is didactic in tone and inculcates the


334 JAPANESE MYTHOLOGY

moral that a marriage should be arranged between equals, not
between people of different stations in life. It says that a ven-
erable couple of mice were extremely proud of their only
daughter and wished to have her married to a person of high
rank. But when she was rejected in turn by the Moon, the
Cloud, and the Wind, the parents finally decided to give her in
marriage to one of their mouse clerks . 18

“ The Owl and the Eagle ” is another popular story of this
type. Once upon a time, it says, there lived an owl named
Fukuro. He fell in love with a bullfinch, Miss Uso-dori, who
lived in another forest, attracted by the beauty of her singing.
Fukuro consulted his retainers, the crow Kurozaemon and the
heron Shimbei, as to how he might win the favor of Uso-dori.
They told him that the lady had rejected the suit of the eagle,
Lord Uye-minu (“ Never-looking-upward, ” i.e. fearless), and
advised the owl to abandon his hope. But the owl would not
follow their advice and sent a love-letter to Uso-dori through
Miss Shiju-gara (the Manchurian great tit).

The letter was both witty and passionate , 19 and Miss Uso-
dori was so moved by it that she replied as follows:

“ I am in no way worthy of your love and admiration and do
not wish to arouse the jealousy of others through accepting your
love, especially that of Lord Uye-minu. Yet in the distant
future, when flowers shall bloom in Heaven and fruits shall be
ripe on earth, we shall meet in the western paradise of Amita-
Buddha.”

Fukuro understood this response to mean a meeting after
death and a polite rejection of his love. Dejected at his failure
and struggling between his passion and his determination to be
resigned, he suddenly found comfort in the counsel of a certain
deity whom he worshipped. This deity revealed to him the
hidden meaning of the letter: that the flowers in Heaven were
stars, the fruits on earth, dawn, and the paradise a shrine of
Amita-Buddha on the western side of the hill. Fukuro was


STORIES OF ANIMALS


335

overjoyed at this happy interpretation and went at once to meet
his beloved at the shrine.

Now the other birds very soon learned of the meeting and
they wrote poems complaining of the good fortune of Fukuro.
From them the eagle Uye-minu found out what was going on,
and he flew into a jealous rage. His retainers attacked the
lovers when next they met near the shrine of Arnita; Fukuro
managed to escape, but Uso-dori fell a victim to their violence . 20
Fukuro, the owl, was so much distressed by the death of his be-
loved that he donned monastic robes and went about the coun-
try as an itinerant monk. That is the reason why you always
find the owl in the forests near Buddhist temples.

V. THE INSECTS, ESPECIALLY THE BUTTERFLY

Finally, insects are not unknown in folk-lore, though they
are much more commonly the subject of poetry and painting.
Yet they do appear as fairies, play with flowers, return indebt-
edness, or seek after Buddhist enlightenment. We have heard
the story of the grateful bee, and there are similar tales about
grateful fire-flies or butterflies. Dragon-flies are often sung of
in folk-music, and a particular kind, red in colour, is thought to
be associated with the returning of the dead to their old homes
in this world . 21 The butterfly in folk-lore is a tiny fairy with
variegated wings; the cricket weaves on its loom and warns men
by its singing to prepare for the coming winter; matsu-mushi
(Calyptotryphus marmoratus), the “ pine insect,” pines and
waits for its friend . 22

Of all these, the butterfly is the most popular, and certain
instrumental music and a characteristic dance representing the
fragile little creature are often performed at festivals . 23 The
butterfly appears also in the No-drama. This is the story:

An itinerant monk visits Miyako and passes a night in a de-
serted palace. It is a calm spring night ; the air is soft and hazy


336 JAPANESE MYTHOLOGY

and the tender light of the moon illumines the scene. A woman
appears and tells the monk of the glories of the past, when
flowers bloomed in the gardens and music and feasts made the
place merry. Then she confesses that she is in reality the spirit
of the butterfly, which enjoys the company of all flowers except
the plum-blossom (Japanese mne) which blooms very early in
spring, and she asks the monk to lead her to the Buddhist en-
lightenment through which she can live in communion with all
beings. She is then transformed into a butterfly, clad in pink
with a green wreath upon her head and variegated wings. The
monk recites the scripture Hokke-kyd , “ The Lotus of Truth,”
and as he recites, the butterfly sings and dances. The last part
of the drama is composed of the fairy’s song and the chorus,
which is as follows:

“ Flowers bloom according to the seasons,

Her heart roams among the stems of the trees.

Here, close to the Imperial gardens, in the deserted palace ground,
Wild flowers bathe in the soft breeze of spring,

The yellow birds [Japanese nightingales] sing among the branches.
See the butterfly dancing among the clouds of blossoms,

Among the petals flying like snow-flakes,

Fluttering her sleeves and sweeping aside the petals.

Oh ! what a charming sight it is to see !

When the spring has passed and summer has gone,

And autumn is passing, and all the flowers are withering,

There remains only the frosty white of the chrysanthemums.

Round and about the tiny twigs on which the flowers remain,

The butterfly dances like a turning wheel,

Turning and whirling she is turned toward Buddhahood.

See the fairy dancing the dance of the Bodhisattva,

Of the dancing and singing celestials.

Her figure little by little withdraws from us,

Into the dawning sky of the spring night;

See her wings wavering in the whirling circles of mists,

See how her figure gradually disappears in the morning haze! ”

By way of transition to the stories of the plants and flowers
let us add one more tale of the butterfly, in which it appears











































PLATE XL


The Classical Dance of the Butterflies

The classical dance, known as the Bu-gaku , is of
continental origin, being derived from India, Indo-
China, China and Korea; but several forms of it were
developed in Japan in the course of the 9th, 10th and
nth centuries. The Butterfly Dance shown here,
representing butterflies dancing among flowers, is one
of these Japanese versions.

By Hirotsura (died 1864), Tosa School. See p.
335. In possession of Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.


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Re: Japanese Mythology
« Reply #14 on: August 04, 2019, 03:48:23 PM »

STORIES OF ANIMALS


337

as the incarnation of the human soul roaming among the flow-
ers which it had loved during its earthly life.

Once upon a time there was a young man named Sakuni.
His life was spent in planting and tending flowers. He mar-
ried a girl who had the same tastes. The couple cared for noth-
ing but the beautiful flowers in their spacious garden. A son
was born to them and the boy inherited their love for flowers.
After many years of this idyllic life the husband and wife died.
The son cultivated his plants and grasses more carefully than
ever, as if indeed they were the spirits of his dead parents.
When spring came the boy observed that two butterflies ap-
peared day after day and fluttered together among the flowers.
He loved the butterflies and took care that no ill befell them.
One night he dreamed that his dead parents came to the garden,
moved about admiring the flowers, and finally became butter-
flies. Next morning the boy hastened to the garden and found
the same butterflies flying about among the flowers, just as he
had seen them in his dream. So he knew that the lovely butter-
flies were really the souls of his parents, and he fed them on
honey and sheltered them carefully.


CHAPTER VIII


STORIES OF PLANTS AND FLOWERS

W E have already had occasion to speak often of trees and
flowers and to tell certain stories about them. There are
many such, and all are based on the popular belief that plants
are endowed with souls not unlike the human soul. There is
no hint of malice or shrewdness in their nature, for the trees and
flowers are thought of as pretty fairies or similar beings, always
gentle and modest. They converse with one another or with
human beings ; they have love affairs among themselves or
marry human beings, like the willow tree, which, as we saw,
transformed itself into a woman. They apply to Buddhist
monks for instructions in Buddhist teachings and attain a cer-
tain degree of enlightenment. When they fight, as they occa-
sionally do, they are never ferocious. In some instances the
plant manifests gratitude, as did the garden radishes which ap-
peared as armed men and defended the man who was extremely
fond of that vegetable . 1

The plants and flowers, like the insects, are less figures of
folk-lore than of art and poetry; and yet they are often per-
sonified in poetry, and some of these poems gave rise to inter-
esting stories; moreover flowers that are depicted frequently in
pictures have come to assume quite definite personalities in the
popular imagination. Finally, the places which plants and
flowers occupy in the festivals of the seasons are closely asso-
ciated with the mythical persons who are celebrated at those
festivals. We have seen already that certain plants are always
associated with the Sennins, and we shall hear more of them
when we come to the “ Floral Calendar.”


STORIES OF PLANTS AND FLOWERS 339


I. MYTHICAL TREES

Very old trees are regarded as semi-divine, and there are
many such, famous all over Japan. There are also mythical
trees, pure creations of the imagination. Besides the heavenly
tree of Buddhism, Japanese folk-lore has a celestial tree in the
katsura (Cercidiphyllum japonicum), a kind of laurel which is
said to live in the moon and to be visible in the dark spots on its
surface. Although the idea seems to be of Chinese origin, it
has become so naturalized in Japan that the “ katsura of the
moon ” is a common expression. A poem of the ninth century
says:

“ Why does the moon shine so brilliantly
On this clear autumn night?

May it perhaps be because

The celestial katsura reddens in bright crimson,

Like the maple leaves in our world? ”

One of the giant trees attributed to the mythical age is the
monstrous kunugi (Quercus serrata), a kind of oak, which is
said to have stood in the island of Tsukushi and to have been so
enormous that the shadow it threw in the morning and at sun-
set reached hundreds of miles from the place where it stood.
When it fell, the stem was like a long hill-range, and hundreds
and thousands of people could walk upon it. The story seems
to have been invented to explain the origin of the coal which is
abundant in that island.

Another mythical tree is the giant chestnut which is said to
have stood in the district of Kurita (“Chestnut-field ”) in the
province of Omi. Its branches spread so far that the nuts fell
scores of miles away, and one of the mounds made up of these
nuts is supposed to be in the province of Ise. The shadow of
this tree covered many districts, and the people of Wakasa, in
the north-west, complained that the rice crops failed because
of that shadow. So the governor of Omi ordered the tree to be


340 JAPANESE MYTHOLOGY

cut down, and many wood-cutters were set at work. But all the
cuts they inflicted upon the stem of the tree were mysteriously
healed during the night, and on the following morning the
giant chestnut stood unhurt.

This strange phenomenon was owing to the fact that the
spirits of other trees and grasses respected the giant tree as their
king and came every night to heal its wounds. However, it
happened one night that a certain kind of ivy, called hito-kusa -
kazura , or “ one-grass-ivy,” came with the others to minister to
the great tree. But the chestnut was too proud to be nursed by
such an insignificant thing as the ivy, and rejected its service.
The ivy was insulted and planned to be revenged on the
haughty chestnut tree. So it appeared in a vision to the wood-
cutters who were wearying of their fruitless task, and told them
how the miraculous restoration was brought about. Moreover,
the revengeful ivy told them how to prevent the healing by
burning the tree. When this was done, the wounds could not
be healed and the giant tree fell. The place where it fell is the
“ Tree Beach” on the Lake Biwa in Omi.

II. THE GENII OF THE PLANTS

Among the trees the pine is the most conspicuous in the land-
scape, and therefore in painting, poetry, and folk-lore. 2 The
most renowned of pine-trees are the two at Takasago, whose
genii are said to appear often in the moonlight, like a white-
haired man and his wife, cleaning with besoms the ground
strewn with pine-needles. One version of the story makes the
husband the genius of a pine-tree that stands on the other side
of the sea, and it tells how he comes every night to Takasago.
The story is a very slender one, and the circumstance that makes
the trees so famous is that they appear in a popular lyric drama,
in which the old couple call down blessings on the peaceful
reign of the Emperor. The song is in part as follows:


STORIES OF PLANTS AND FLOWERS 341

“ The waves are still on the four seas,

Soft blow the time-winds, yet the trees
Sway not, nor rustling foliage stirs.

In such an age blest are the firs
That meet and age together.

Nor heavenward look and reverent gaze,

Nor words of gratitude and praise
Our thanks can tell, that all our days
Pass in this age with blessings stored
By bounty of our Sovereign Lord! ” 3

This is a favourite song at weddings, and the genii, symbolic
of longevity and conjugal fidelity, are also displayed on such
occasions in miniature representations on tablets.

The cryptomeria (Japanese sugi) is almost as frequently
mentioned as the pine in Japanese folk-lore. It does not as-
sume the fantastic shapes in which the pine often grows} it is,
on the contrary, famous for its straightness and symmetry, and
for the luxuriant density of its foliage. A giant sugi or a group
of such trees is frequently associated with a Shinto shrine, and
the tree has become almost symbolic of the gloomy mystery of
a Shinto sanctuary — a Gothic structure, so to speak, built by
nature’s hands. The sugi is also believed to be the favourite
abode of the Tengu folk, who hold their assemblies in sugi-
groves.

A very old story in which the sugi - tree appears is that of the
sanctuary of Miwa which is dedicated to the Great-Land-Mas-
ter.

A woman who lived in Yamato was visited every night by a
handsome man who would not reveal his identity. The woman,
wishing to know who he was, tied a long string to his clothing,
and followed it when he left her in the morning. She found
that the man disappeared in the mountain of Miwa at a spot
where three giant sugi - trees stood. The group of trees was
thereafter regarded as the abode of the divine Great-Land-
Master, and so the sanctuary of Miwa has no temple buildings


vin — 23


342 JAPANESE MYTHOLOGY

but is sheltered by the trees. Somewhat similar stories are told
about several other Shinto holy places.

The genius of the icho , or gingko-tree is an old woman. The
stem and branches of the gingko, as the tree grows old, produce
curious pendant overgrowths which are fancied to resemble a
woman’s breasts. Accordingly the genius of the tree is held
to have especial care over nursing-mothers, and it was often
the custom of mothers to worship an old gingko-tree.

In quite recent years a singular story became current in Toky 5
concerning a gingko-tree that grew in Hibiya Park, in the heart
of the city. The place was originally waste ground in which
no trees grew except this one old gingko. When the park was
being constructed, the gingko began to wither, much to the dis-
tress of the gardeners. Every expedient was tried to keep it
alive, but all apparently in vain. One day toward evening,
when the chief gardener was standing alone by the tree, con-
sidering whether there was anything else he could do to pre-
serve it from decay, an old woman suddenly stood by him. She
asked why he was troubled and he told her. The old woman
smiled and said: “ The gingko is the tree of milk, as you know.
Now it is a long time since this old tree has tasted milk. Pour
plenty of cow’s milk about its roots and the tree will thrive
again.” Then she disappeared as mysteriously as she had ap-
peared. The gardener did as she advised, and the tree began at
once to recover its strength. It still stands in the centre of the
park.

III. THE FLOWER FAIRIES

The Flower Fairies of Japanese folk-lore are in all essentials
like the Buddhist Tennin, and are always associated in the popu-
lar mind with music and dancing. We have spoken of the five
fairies of the cherry-blossoms ; there are two others which are
met with in the lyric dramas. One is the fairy of the purple
wistaria that blooms early in summer, and the other is that of


STORIES OF PLANTS AND FLOWERS 343

the basho y or banana-plant, the leaves of which are sadly torn
by the autumn wind.

In the drama about the wistaria-fairy the scene is laid on the
beach of Tako on the coast of the Sea of Japan. Here follows
a part of the choral song sung in accompaniment to the dance of
this fairy:

“ Quite without help of boat or chariot
Glides the Spring onward.

Leaving behind the singing cetterias and the flying petals.

Beneath the white clouds of the fading cherry-blossoms,

The wistaria drops its violet dew-drops.

Behold the moon in the hazy sky of the spring night,

Dimly reflected in the water which the wistaria dyes with its bright
violet.

Rare indeed is a sight like this on the beach of Tako
Where the pines grow on the far-stretching strand.”

“ The soft zephyr of the spring evening
Plays its melody on the needles of the pines,

And breathes the air, ‘ Live Thousands of Years.’

And on the branches hang the blooming wistaria,

Whose violet clusters, like iridescent mists,

Trail over the dense growth of the evergreen forest.

Behold the fairy dancing amidst the purple haze,

Fluttering her sleeves made of the feathery clouds of clustering
wistaria.

Sing, O ye trembling leaves of the pendant willows.

Dance together, O ye flying petals of flowers,

Dance with them, O fairy of the wistaria-grown field!

The colours and the scents of trees and flowers melt and mingle
In the serene air of the Tako beach,

Where the ripples quietly undulate
In the misty light of the moon,

Reflecting the fluttering garments of the dancing fairy.

On and on, to and fro,

Dances the fairy of the purple wistaria,

Until the morning twilight dawns on the iridescent clouds,

Until finally her figure is lost in the trailing mists.”

Another lyric drama is constructed around the very different
dance of the fairy Basho. The scene is laid at a hermitage


344 JAPANESE MYTHOLOGY

among mountains, where a hermit monk recites every evening
the scripture Hokke-kyd. A woman visits the place every night
and sits outside the hermitage. One night the monk asks her
who she is. She confesses that she is the genius of the basho-
plant that stands in the garden . 4 She says: —

“ Here in the desolate garden I appear!

Having bathed in the dew of grace,

Bestowed on the leaves of bashd by the shower of Truth,

— Of the Truth, which is not easily to be met with —

Behold Basho, thus transformed and clad in human robes,

Yet without flowers.”

(Th en Basho and the chorus alternately')

“Frailty and evanescence
Are not merely qualities of womanhood,

But here Basho, clad in robes of dull colours.

Without the tints and beauties of the flowers
Stands, shy, with tattered sleeves! ”

( Basho dances in choral songs )

“ Whether sentient or devoid of sense,

Whether a blade of grass or a tree,

Life is nothing but a manifestation

Of the ultimate reality, which is without any distinctive marks,

A formation nourished by rain and dew,

Composed of frost and snow,

Appearing on the field of the universal soul,

Of the cosmos, present even in the dust . 5 . . .

Life is only a dream, transient like Basho’s leaves! . . .

In the pale purity of the moonlight,

Clad in the robes of ice,

Wearing the skirt of frost,

Woven of the warp of frost and the woof of dew ( she dances ) .
Like the Moon-fairy’s robe of feathers,

Like her, I wave my sleeves of banana-leaves,

The sleeves fluttering like fans of banana-leaves,

And cause wind to sweep over
Miscanthus and patrinia, grasses and flowers,

Growing in the desolate garden of the hermitage.


STORIES OF PLANTS AND FLOWERS 345

Delicate as the dew, subtle as a phantom,

All is dispersed by the wind.

Blowing over the giant pine-trees,

Blowing over thousands of leaves and flowers.

Behold thousands of leaves and flowers
Have all been shattered and scattered;

No figure of the woman can be traced.

But torn leaves of basho lie upon the ground! ”

A story in which the Buddhist element is very conspicuous is
that of “ Mr. Butterfly and his Flowers.” 6

There was a man who lived in a suburb of Miyako and who
never married, but devoted himself to cultivating the flowers
in his garden. Besides the flowers he had no other companion
than his old mother, to whom he was profoundly devoted. No
one knew his name, but he was known as Mr. Butterfly. When
his mother died he was left alone among his flowers, but even
they added to his melancholy, for they were destined to fade
and wither, and it grieved him to see them die when the frosts
of autumn came. As he looked about his garden and listened
to the mournful sound of the Buddhist temple-bells which ring
in the dusk of the evening, he could not keep his mind from
brooding on the evanescence of worldly things, and he finally
decided to abandon the world.

Accordingly he became a hermit and went to live among the
mountains far from Miyako. One evening there was a knock-
ing at his gateway. He went out and found there an old lady
clad in bluish robes who asked him to preach to her on the re-
ligion of Buddha. He hesitated at first to let her in, but on
second thoughts decided that he might safely admit so old a
woman. While she sat in the hermitage and listened to the
monk’s discourse a young lady dressed in willow green and
wearing a purplish mantle came in and sat down quietly beside
the older woman. Then, curiously enough, as if emerging
from the mist, more ladies appeared, one after another, one
clad in yellowish green, another in white and pink, another in


346 JAPANESE MYTHOLOGY

white and purple, etc. Finally the congregation became a com-
pany of nearly thirty women, old and young, clad in variegated
colours, all of whom listened attentively to the hermit’s sermon.
The hermit did not know what to make of all this, but he went
on stoutly with his sermon, emphasizing the vanity of the
worldly life and describing the final destiny of all existences,
not only of mankind but of plants and beasts as well. When he
made an end, the women expressed their appreciation and con-
fessed that they were in reality the spirits of the flowers he had
loved and that they had come in order to share in his Buddhist
attainment. Each of them left a poem, which was an expres-
sion of gratitude as well as a confession of faith. 7

As the last of them disappeared, the morning dawned; the
grasses and bushes that grew around the hermitage quivered
softly in the morning air and sparkled cheerily with new-fallen
drops. The hermit was impressed anew with the truth of the
teaching that all creatures were destined to become Buddhas,
and he lived for the remainder of his life in great piety.

A good many pretty and romantic stories are told to account
for the origin of various plants and flowers. Ominameshi (Pa-
trinia scabiosaefolia), for instance, is a grass with a slender stalk
and tiny yellow clustered flowers that bloom early in autumn.
Side by side with the delicate ears of susuki (Miscanthus sinen-
sis) it bends and sways in the autumnal breeze and suggests the
idea of tenderness and submissiveness. Therefore it is called
ominameshi, the “ woman flower.” 8

The story of its origin is as follows:

A certain woman, as the result of a misunderstanding, be-
lieved herself to have been abandoned by her lover who was
named Ono-no-Yorikaze. She therefore committed suicide by
throwing herself into a river that flowed near the man’s house.
When she was buried, a peculiar kind of grass grew out of her
grave. This grass was the Patrinia. The lover, Yorikaze,
grieved bitterly for his unhappy mistress and at last he too


STORIES OF PLANTS AND FLOWERS 347

drowned himself. He was buried beside the woman, and out
of his grave grew the Miscanthus. Ever since the two grasses
grow side by side and are rarely to be found apart.

A similar story is told about a kind of ivy with tiny leaves
which grows on the rocks. Its name is T eika-kazura } Teika
being the name of a poet who lived in the thirteenth century.
The poet loved a princess who was also a poetess. She died and
was buried in the precincts of Nisonin, a Buddhist monastery
in Saga, near Miyako. Teika grieved for her so passionately
that his attachment was embodied in the ivy which clung to her
tomb. Even today the stone covered with the ivy is shown to
those who visit the monastery.

The plants are not invariably harmless and affectionate, how-
ever ; here is a story in which they show jealousy and quarrel-
someness.