Glimpses of an Unfamiliar Japan

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The proprietor of the tofuya had a different experience. A man in
wretched attire used to come to his shop every evening to buy a cho of
tofu, which he devoured on the spot with the haste of one long famished.
Every evening for weeks he came, and never spoke; but the landlord saw
one evening the tip of a bushy white tail protruding from beneath the
stranger's rags. The sight aroused strange surmises and weird hopes.
From that night he began to treat the mysterious visitor with obsequious
kindness. But another month passed before the latter spoke. Then what he
said was about as follows:

'Though I seem to you a man, I am not a man; and I took upon myself
human form only for the purpose of visiting you. I come from Taka-
machi, where my temple is, at which you often visit. And being desirous
to reward your piety and goodness of heart, I have come to-night to save
you from a great danger. For by the power which I possess I know that
tomorrow this street will burn, and all the houses in it shall be
utterly destroyed except yours. To save it I am going to make a charm.
But in order that I may do this, you must open your go-down (kura) that
I may enter, and allow no one to watch me; for should living eye look
upon me there, the charm will not avail.'

The shopkeeper, with fervent words of gratitude, opened his storehouse,
and reverently admitted the seeming Inari and gave orders that none of
his household or servants should keep watch. And these orders were so
well obeyed that all the stores within the storehouse, and all the
valuables of the family, were removed without hindrance during the
night. Next day the kura was found to be empty. And there was no fire.

There is also a well-authenticated story about another wealthy
shopkeeper of Matsue who easily became the prey of another pretended
Inari This Inari told him that whatever sum of money he should leave at
a certain miya by night, he would find it doubled in the morning--as
the reward of his lifelong piety. The shopkeeper carried several small
sums to the miya, and found them doubled within twelve hours. Then he
deposited larger sums, which were similarly multiplied; he even risked
some hundreds of dollars, which were duplicated. Finally he took all his
money out of the bank and placed it one evening within the shrine of the
god--and never saw it again.

12

Vast is the literature of the subject of foxes--ghostly foxes. Some of
it is old as the eleventh century. In the ancient romances and the
modern cheap novel, in historical traditions and in popular fairy-tales,
foxes perform wonderful parts. There are very beautiful and very sad and
very terrible stories about foxes. There are legends of foxes discussed
by great scholars, and legends of foxes known to every child in Japan--
such as the history of Tamamonomae, the beautiful favourite of the
Emperor Toba--Tamamonomae, whose name has passed into a proverb, and
who proved at last to be only a demon fox with Nine Tails and Fur of
Gold. But the most interesting part of fox-literature belongs to the
Japanese stage, where the popular beliefs are often most humorously
reflected--as in the following excerpts from the comedy of Hiza-Kuruge,
written by one Jippensha Ikku:

[Kidahachi and Iyaji are travelling from Yedo to Osaka. When within a
short distance of Akasaka, Kidahachi hastens on in advance to secure
good accommodations at the best inn. Iyaji, travelling along leisurely,
stops a little while at a small wayside refreshment-house kept by an old
woman]

OLD WOMAN.--Please take some tea, sir. IYAJI.--Thank you! How far is
it from here to the next town?--Akasaka? OLD WOMAN.--About one ri. But
if you have no companion, you had better remain here to-night, because
there is a bad fox on the way, who bewitches travellers. IYAJI.--I am
afraid of that sort of thing. But I must go on; for my companion has
gone on ahead of me, and will be waiting for me.

[After having paid for his refreshments, lyaji proceeds on his way. The
night is very dark, and he feels quite nervous on account of what the
old woman has told him. After having walked a considerable distance, he
suddenly hears a fox yelping--kon-kon. Feeling still more afraid, he
shouts at the top of his voice:-]

IYAJI.--Come near me, and I will kill you!

[Meanwhile Kidahachi, who has also been frightened by the old woman's
stories, and has therefore determined to wait for lyaji, is saying to
himself in the dark: 'If I do not wait for him, we shall certainly be
deluded.' Suddenly he hears lyaji's voice, and cries out to him:-]

KIDAHACHI.--O lyaji-San!
IYAJI.--What are you doing there?
KIDAHACHI.--I did intend to go on ahead; but I became afraid, and so
I concluded to stop here and wait for you.
IYAJI (who imagines that the fox has taken the shape of Kidahachi to
deceive him).--Do not think that you are going to dupe me?
KIDAHACHI.--That is a queer way to talk! I have some nice mochi [14]
here which I bought for you.
IYAJI.--Horse-dung cannot be eaten! [15]
KIDAHACHI.--Don't be suspicious!--I am really Kidahachi.
IYAJI (springing upon him furiously).--Yes! you took the form of
Kidahachi just to deceive me!
KIDAHACHI.--What do you mean?--What are you going to do to me?
IYAJI.--I am going to kill you! (Throws him down.)
KIDAHACHI.--Oh! you have hurt me very much--please leave me alone!
IYAJI.--If you are really hurt, then let me see you in your real shape!
(They struggle together.)
KIDAHACHI.--What are you doing?--putting your hand there?
IYAJI.--I am feeling for your tail. If you don't put out your tail at
once, I shall make you! (Takes his towel, and with it ties Kidahachi's
hands behind his back, and then drives him before him.)
KIDAHACHI.--Please untie me--please untie me first!

[By this time they have almost reached Akasaka, and lyaji, seeing a dog,
calls the animal, and drags Kidahachi close to it; for a dog is believed
to be able to detect a fox through any disguise. But the dog takes no
notice of Kidahachi. lyaji therefore unties him, and apologises; and
they both laugh at their previous fears.]

13

But there are some very pleasing forms of the Fox-God.

For example, there stands in a very obscure street of Matsue--one of
those streets no stranger is likely to enter unless he loses his way--a
temple called Jigyoba-no-Inari, [16] and also Kodomo-no-Inari, or 'the
Children's Inari.' It is very small, but very famous; and it has been
recently presented with a pair of new stone foxes, very large, which
have gilded teeth and a peculiarly playful expression of countenance.
These sit one on each side of the gate: the Male grinning with open
jaws, the Female demure, with mouth closed. [17] In the court you will
find many ancient little foxes with noses, heads, or tails broken, two
great Karashishi before which straw sandals (waraji) have been suspended
as votive offerings by somebody with sore feet who has prayed to the
Karashishi-Sama that they will heal his affliction, and a shrine of
Kojin, occupied by the corpses of many children's dolls. [18]

The grated doors of the shrine of Jigyoba-no-Inari, like those of the
shrine of Yaegaki, are white with the multitude of little papers tied to
them, which papers signify prayers. But the prayers are special and
curious. To right and to left of the doors, and also above them, odd
little votive pictures are pasted upon the walls, mostly representing
children in bath-tubs, or children getting their heads shaved. There are
also one or two representing children at play. Now the interpretation of
these signs and wonders is as follows:

Doubtless you know that Japanese children, as well as Japanese adults,
must take a hot bath every day; also that it is the custom to shave the
heads of very small boys and girls. But in spite of hereditary patience
and strong ancestral tendency to follow ancient custom, young children
find both the razor and the hot bath difficult to endure, with their
delicate skins. For the Japanese hot bath is very hot (not less than 110
degs F., as a general rule), and even the adult foreigner must learn
slowly to bear it, and to appreciate its hygienic value. Also, the
Japanese razor is a much less perfect instrument than ours, and is used
without any lather, and is apt to hurt a little unless used by the most
skilful hands. And finally, Japanese parents are not tyrannical with
their children: they pet and coax, very rarely compel or terrify. So
that it is quite a dilemma for them when the baby revolts against the
bath or mutinies against the razor.

The parents of the child who refuses to be shaved or bathed have
recourse to Jigyoba-no-Inati. The god is besought to send one of his
retainers to amuse the child, and reconcile it to the new order of
things, and render it both docile and happy. Also if a child is naughty,
or falls sick, this Inari is appealed to. If the prayer be granted, some
small present is made to the temple--sometimes a votive picture, such
as those pasted by the door, representing the successful result of the
petition. To judge by the number of such pictures, and by the prosperity
of the temple, the Kodomo-no-Inani would seem to deserve his popularity.
Even during the few minutes I passed in his court I saw three young
mothers, with infants at their backs, come to the shrine and pray and
make offerings. I noticed that one of the children--remarkably pretty--
had never been shaved at all. This was evidently a very obstinate case.

While returning from my visit to the Jigyoba Inani, my Japanese servant,
who had guided me there, told me this story:

The son of his next-door neighbour, a boy of seven, went out to play one
morning, and disappeared for two days. The parents were not at first
uneasy, supposing that the child had gone to the house of a relative,
where he was accustomed to pass a day or two from time to time. But on
the evening of the second day it was learned that the child had not been
at the house in question. Search was at once made; but neither search
nor inquiry availed. Late at night, however, a knock was heard at the
door of the boy's dwelling, and the mother, hurrying out, found her
truant fast asleep on the ground. She could not discover who had
knocked. The boy, upon being awakened, laughed, and said that on the
morning of his disappearance he had met a lad of about his own age, with
very pretty eyes, who had coaxed him away to the woods, where they had
played together all day and night and the next day at very curious funny
games. But at last he got sleepy, and his comrade took him home. He was
not hungry. The comrade promised 'to come to-morrow.'

But the mysterious comrade never came; and no boy of the description
given lived in the neighbourhood. The inference was that the comrade was
a fox who wanted to have a little fun. The subject of the fun mourned
long in vain for his merry companion.

14

Some thirty years ago there lived in Matsue an ex-wrestler named
Tobikawa, who was a relentless enemy of foxes and used to hunt and kill
them. He was popularly believed to enjoy immunity from bewitchment
because of his immense strength; but there were some old folks who
predicted that he would not die a natural death. This prediction was
fulfilled:

Tobikawa died in a very curious manner. He was excessively fond of
practical jokes. One day he disguised himself as a Tengu, or sacred
goblin, with wings and claws and long nose, and ascended a lofty tree in
a sacred grove near Rakusan, whither, after a little while, the innocent
peasants thronged to worship him with offerings. While diverting himself
with this spectacle, and trying to play his part by springing nimbly
from one branch to another, he missed his footing and broke his neck in
the fall.

15

But these strange beliefs are swiftly passing away. Year by year more
shrines of Inari crumble down, never to be rebuilt. Year by year the
statuaries make fewer images of foxes. Year by year fewer victims of
fox-possession are taken to the hospitals to be treated according to the
best scientific methods by Japanese physicians who speak German. The
cause is not to be found in the decadence of the old faiths: a
superstition outlives a religion. Much less is it to be sought for in
the efforts of proselytising missionaries from the West--most of whom
profess an earnest belief in devils. It is purely educational. The
omnipotent enemy of superstition is the public school, where the
teaching of modern science is unclogged by sectarianism or prejudice;
where the children of the poorest may learn the wisdom of the Occident;
where there is not a boy or a girl of fourteen ignorant of the great
names of Tyndall, of Darwin, of Huxley, of Herbert Spencer. The little
hands that break the Fox-god's nose in mischievous play can also write
essays upon the evolution of plants and about the geology of Izumo.
There is no place for ghostly foxes in the beautiful nature-world
revealed by new studies to the new generation The omnipotent exorciser
and reformer is the Kodomo.

NOTES

Note for preface

1 In striking contrast to this indifference is the strong, rational,
far-seeing conservatism of Viscount Torio--a noble exception.

Notes for Chapter One

1 I do not think this explanation is correct; but it is interesting,
as the first which I obtained upon the subject. Properly speaking,
Buddhist worshippers should not clap their hands, but only rub them
softly together. Shinto worshippers always clap their hands four times.

2 Various writers, following the opinion of the Japanologue Satow,
have stated that the torii was originally a bird-perch for fowls offered
up to the gods at Shinto shrines--'not as food, but to give warning of
daybreak.' The etymology of the word is said to be 'bird-rest' by some
authorities; but Aston, not less of an authority, derives it from words
which would give simply the meaning of a gateway. See Chamberlain's
Things Japanese, pp. 429, 430.

3 Professor Basil Hall Chamberlain has held the extraordinary position
of Professor of Japanese in the Imperial University of Japan--no small
honour to English philology!

4 These Ni-O, however, the first I saw in Japan, were very clumsy
figures. There are magnificent Ni-O to be seen in some of the great
temple gateways in Tokyo, Kyoto, and elsewhere. The grandest of all are
those in the Ni-O Mon, or 'Two Kings' Gate,' of the huge Todaiji temple
at Nara. They are eight hundred years old. It is impossible not to
admire the conception of stormy dignity and hurricane-force embodied in
those colossal figures. Prayers are addressed to the Ni-O, especially
by pilgrims. Most of their statues are disfigured by little pellets of
white paper, which people chew into a pulp and then spit at them. There
is a curious superstition that if the pellet sticks to the statue the
prayer is heard; if, on the other hand, it falls to the ground, the
prayer will not be answered.

Note for Chapter Two

1 Dainagon, the title of a high officer in the ancient Imperial Court.

Notes for Chapter Three

1 Derived from the Sanscrit stupa.

2 'The real origin of the custom of piling stones before the images of
Jizo and other divinities is not now known to the people. The Custom is
founded upon a passage in the famous Sutra, "The Lotus of the Good Law."

'Even the little hoys who, in playing, erected here and there heaps of
sand, with the intention of dedicating them as Stupas to the Ginas,-
they have all of them reached enlightenment.'--Saddharma Pundarika, c.
II. v. 81 (Kern's translation), 'Sacred Books of the East,' vol. xxi.

3 The original Jizo has been identified by Orientalists with the
Sanscrit Kshitegarbha; as Professor Chamberlain observes, the
resemblance in sound between the names Jizo and Jesus 'is quite
fortuitous.' But in Japan Jizo has become totally transformed: he may
justly be called the most Japanese of all Japanese divinities. According
to the curious old Buddhist book, Sai no Kawara Kuchi zu sams no den,
the whole Sai-no-Kawara legend originated in Japan, and was first
written by the priest Kuya Shonin, in the sixth year of the period
called TenKei, in the reign of the Emperor Shuyaku, who died in the year
946. To Kuya was revealed, in the village of Sai-in, near Kyoto, during
a night passed by the dry bed of the neighbouring river, Sai-no-Kawa
(said to be the modern Serikawa), the condition of child-souls in the
Meido. (Such is the legend in the book; but Professor Chamberlain has
shown that the name Sai-no-Kawara, as now written, signifies 'The Dry
Bed of the River of Souls,' and modern Japanese faith places that river
in the Meido.) Whatever be the true history of the myth, it is certainly
Japanese; and the conception of Jizo as the lover and playfellow of dead
children belongs to Japan. There are many other popular forms of Jizo,
one of the most common being that Koyasu-Jizo to whom pregnant women
pray. There are but few roads in Japan upon which statues of Jizo may
not be seen; for he is also the patron of pilgrims.

4 Except those who have never married.

5 In Sanscrit, 'Yama-Raja.' But the Indian conception has been totally
transformed by Japanese Buddhism.

6 Funeral customs, as well as the beliefs connected with them, vary
considerably in different parts of Japan. Those of the eastern provinces
differ from those of the western and southern. The old practice of
placing articles of value in the coffin--such as the metal mirror
formerly buried with a woman, or the sword buried with a man of the
Samurai caste--has become almost obsolete. But the custom of putting
money in the coffin still prevails: in Izumo the amount is always six
rin, and these are called Rokudo-kane, or 'The Money for the Six Roads.'

7 Literally 'Western Capital,'--modern name of Kyoto, ancient
residence of the emperors. The name 'Tokyo,' on the other hand,
signifies 'Eastern Capital.'

8 These first ten lines of the original will illustrate the measure
of the wasan:

Kore wa konoyo no koto narazu,
Shide no yamaji no suso no naru,
Sai-no-Kawara no monogatari
Kiku ni tsuketemo aware nari
Futatsu-ya, mitsu-ya, yotsu, itsutsu,

To nimo taranu midorigo ga
Sai-no-Kawara ni atsumari te,
Chichi koishi! haha koishi!
Koishi! koishi! to naku koe wa
Konoyo no koe towa ko to kawari..

Notes for Chapter Four

1 Yane, 'roof'; shobu, 'sweet-flag' (Acorus calamus).

2 At the time this paper was written, nearly three years ago, I had
not seen the mighty bells at Kyoto and at Nara.

The largest bell in Japan is suspended in the grounds of the grand Jodo
temple of Chion-in, at Kyoto. Visitors are not allowed to sound it. It
was east in 1633. It weighs seventy-four tons, and requires, they say,
twenty-five men to ring it properly. Next in size ranks the hell of the
Daibutsu temple in Kyoto, which visitors are allowed to ring on payment
of a small sum. It was cast in 1615, and weighs sixty-three tons. The
wonderful bell of Todaiji at Nara, although ranking only third, is
perhaps the most interesting of all. It is thirteen feet six inches
high, and nine feet in diameter; and its inferiority to the Kyoto bells
is not in visible dimensions so much as in weight and thickness. It
weighs thirty-seven tons. It was cast in 733, and is therefore one
thousand one hundred and sixty years old. Visitors pay one cent to sound
it once.

3 'In Sanscrit, Avalokitesvara. The Japanese Kwannon, or Kwanze-on, is
identical in origin with the Chinese virgin-goddess Kwanyin adopted by
Buddhism as an incarnation of the Indian Avalokitesvara. (See Eitel's
Handbook of Chinese Buddhism.) But the Japanese Kwan-non has lost all
Chinese characteristics,--has become artistically an idealisation of
all that is sweet and beautiful in the woman of Japan.

4 Let the reader consult Mitford's admirable Tales of Old Japan for
the full meaning of the term 'Ronin.

5 There is a delicious Japanese proverb, the full humour of which is
only to be appreciated by one familiar with the artistic representations
of the divinities referred to: Karutoki no Jizo-gao, Nasutoki no Emma-
gao.

'Borrowing-time, the face of Jizo;
Repaying-time, the face of Emma.'

6 This old legend has peculiar interest as an example of the efforts
made by Buddhism to absorb the Shinto divinities, as it had already
absorbed those of India and of China. These efforts were, to a great
extent, successful prior to the disestablishment of Buddhism and the
revival of Shinto as the State religion. But in Izumo, and other parts
of western Japan, Shinto has always remained dominant, and has even
appropriated and amalgamated much belonging to Buddhism.

7 In Sanscrit 'Hariti'--Karitei-Bo is the Japanese name for one form
of Kishibojin.

Notes for Chapter Five

1 It is related in the same book that Ananda having asked the Buddha how
came Mokenren's mother to suffer in the Gakido, the Teacher replied that
in a previous incarnation she had refused, through cupidity, to feed
certain visiting priests.

2 A deity of good fortune

Notes for Chapter Six

1 The period in which only deities existed.

2 Hyakusho, a peasant, husbandman. The two Chinese characters forming
the word signify respectively, 'a hundred' (hyaku), and 'family name'
(sei). One might be tempted to infer that the appellation is almost
equivalent to our phrase, 'their name is legion.' And a Japanese friend
assures me that the inference would not be far wrong. Anciently the
peasants had no family name; each was known by his personal appellation,
coupled with the name of his lord as possessor or ruler. Thus a hundred
peasants on one estate would all be known by the name of their master.

3 This custom of praying for the souls of animals is by no means
general. But I have seen in the western provinces several burials of
domestic animals at which such prayers were said. After the earth was
filled in, some incense-rods were lighted above the grave in each
instance, and the prayers were repeated in a whisper. A friend in the
capital sends me the following curious information: 'At the Eko-in
temple in Tokyo prayers are offered up every morning for the souls of
certain animals whose ihai [mortuary tablets] are preserved in the
building. A fee of thirty sen will procure burial in the temple-ground
and a short service for any small domestic pet.' Doubtless similar
temples exist elsewhere. Certainly no one capable of affection for our
dumb friends and servants can mock these gentle customs.

4 Why six Jizo instead of five or three or any other number, the reader
may ask. I myself asked the question many times before receiving any
satisfactory reply. Perhaps the following legend affords the most
satisfactory explanation:

According to the Book Taijo-Hoshi-mingyo-nenbutsu-den, Jizo-Bosatsu was
a woman ten thousand ko (kalpas) before this era, and became filled with
desire to convert all living beings of the Six Worlds and the Four
Births. And by virtue of the Supernatural Powers she multiplied herself
and simultaneously appeared in all the Rokussho or Six States of
Sentient Existence at once, namely in the Jigoku, Gaki, Chikusho, Shura,
Ningen, Tenjo, and converted the dwellers thereof. (A friend insists
that in order to have done this Jizo must first have become a man.)

Among the many names of Jizo, such as 'The Never Slumbering,' 'The
Dragon-Praiser,' 'The Shining King,' 'Diamond-of-Pity,' I find the
significant appellation of 'The Countless Bodied.'

5 Since this sketch was written, I have seen the Bon-odori in many
different parts of Japan; but I have never witnessed exactly the same
kind of dance. Indeed, I would judge from my experiences in Izumo, in
Oki, in Tottori, in Hoki, in Bingo, and elsewhere, that the Bonodori is
not danced in the same way in any two provinces. Not only do the motions
and gestures vary according to locality, but also the airs of the songs
sung--and this even when the words are the same. In some places the
measure is slow and solemn; in others it is rapid and merry, and
characterised by a queer jerky swing, impossible to describe. But
everywhere both the motion and the melody are curious and pleasing
enough to fascinate the spectator for hours. Certainly these primitive
dances are of far greater interest than the performances of geisha.
Although Buddhism may have utilised them and influenced them, they are
beyond doubt incomparably older than Buddhism.

Notes for Chapter Seven

1 Thick solid sliding shutters of unpainted wood, which in Japanese
houses serve both as shutters and doors.

2 Tanabiku.

3 Ama-terasu-oho-mi-Kami literally signifies 'the Heaven-Shining Great-
August-Divinity.' (See Professor Chamberlain's translation of the
Kojiki.)

4 'The gods who do harm are to be appeased, so that they may not punish
those who have offended them.' Such are the words of the great Shinto
teacher, Hirata, as translated by Mr. Satow in his article, ~ The
Revival of Pure .Shintau.

5 Machi, a stiff piece of pasteboard or other material sewn into the
waist of the hakama at the back, so as to keep the folds of the garment
perpendicular and neat-looking.

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