Folk Legends of Japan (24 page)

The princess was filled with sadness. She said she could not live without Saburo and she threw herself into Lake Suwa.

Meanwhile Saburo walked on and on underground and finally he came to a beautiful village. Some villagers saw him and hailed him as a great samurai. Thereafter, Saburo became the son-in-law of a certain house in the village and had a son. Thus nine years passed.

One day when Saburo was reading a book alone he shed tears. When his wife questioned him he told her the story and said he still loved the princess. His wife felt sorry for him and said: "You may go to search for her with nine rice bowls."

Saburo was glad. He started on the journey and came to the temple called Shinraku-ji in Onuma-mura. The village children ran from him, crying: "Here comes a snake." This frightened Saburo, and he began looking for water in which to hide. Suddenly he saw the princess beckoning to him from Lake Suwa. So he too entered the lake.

One day some years after that Saburo's underground wife was weeping. Her son saw her and asked why she wept. She told him about his father. Then the boy made nine rice bowls for her, and sent her to search for Saburo. After she had looked in many places, she came at last to Lake Suwa.

Ever since then there always appears across the surface of Lake Suwa a streak of upheaved ice. People call this the "God Crossing the Lake" and say it marks Saburo's path down under the lake as he travels back and forth between the homes there of the princess and his wife.

THE HEIKE REFUGEES

The great struggle between the Heike (Taira) and Genji (Minamoto) clans in the second half of the twelfth century is a Japanese epic, which has contributed lavishly to literature, drama, art, and folklore. After twenty years in power the Heike were crushed in 1185 by the Genji, and their samurai dispersed to remote corners of Japan. Hence the legend arose in more than one hundred mountain villages that Heike lords had founded their
mura
and procreated their families
—
although a good many more Heike survivors than history records would be needed to justify their claims (Yanagita,
Mountain Village Life,
pp. 6-8, 455). The inhabitants of some islands south of Kagoshima also claim to be Heike descendants. Near Miyazaki in Kyushu houses were pointed out to me as being of Heike-type construction, with sloping thatched roofs.

Text from
Bungo Densetsu Shu,
pp. 62-63,to which Miss Y. Ishiwara adds a note: "I heard that those people, especially the women, sell fish from pails carried on their heads. They themselves say they are the descendants of the Heike."

I
N KATBE-MURA,
Kita Amabe-gun, live the people called Sha, who are said to be the descendants of Heike refugees. After the splendid days of the Heike, during which they said that all those who did not belong to their clan were not human beings, all the Heike people, oppressed by the rising power of the Genji, were obliged to get out of the capital city. On that occasion they had no time to make rice balls, so they just cooked rice in bags and started out saying
"Sha iko,"
meaning "Well now, let's go." They were driven away by the Genji to the west until at last they arrived at the shore which is the present Kaibe-mura. That they had said
"Sha"
when they ran away was known to other people, and they were called
"Sha"
after that.

In these days they still retain certain old customs such as hanging from their heads bags which contain cooked rice, and carrying things in pails on their heads. According to tradition, these customs originated when they carried rice bags on their heads as they crossed the river when driven away by the Genji.

THE LAST OF THE AKI

Here is a family tradition of refugee-warriors, told by Mrs. Hitoshi Kawashima Saito to her granddaughter Kayoko Saito on June 1, 1957, in Tokyo. Mrs. Saito heard the story from her grandparents in Kochi-ken (formerly Tosa), and learned it in her elementary-school history lessons. The last paragraphs are clearly her own personal comments.

I
N THE AGE
of the civil wars [1467-1600], Tosa was divided into seven districts and each of them was governed by a feudal lord. Aid, which was one of the seven districts, at the eastern end of Tosa, was ruled over by the lord Aki Kunitora who lived in Doi Castle. It seems that our place was named Aki after his surname.

During that stormy period it was reported that the army of Chosogabe Motochika, a strong feudal general who later reduced and governed all Tosa until 1599, had begun marching on Doi Casde to lay siege and capture it. Aki Kunitora gathered all his forces at Yanagare, which, though at some distance from the castle, was deemed the safest point to make the defense.

However, one of his men betrayed him. The traitor crossed Mt. Myoken secretly and told Chosogabe that if he would take such-and-such a route and attack the castle from behind, it would certainly fall into his hands. Chosogabe followed his advice and set fire to Doi Castle, taking advantage of Kunitora's absence.

When Aki Kunitora perceived that his castle was burning furiously, he realized that it was too late for him to recover his power. So he ordered two of his subjects to take his wife to the home of her birth, and he on his part committed suicide by
hara-kiri
in the yard of Jote-ji. This temple was just above my house, and stood about midway between Yanagare and Doi Castle.

The faithful subjects of Kunitora who had accompanied Aki's wife to her native house returned to find their dead lord at Jote-ji, and they too killed themselves by disembowelment. Now we can see three tombs at the yard of Jote-ji, standing side by side with the tomb of Kunitora in the center. Also there is an old, ruined well in the back yard in which Kunitora's subjects washed the bloody sword with which their lord had cut his stomach.

When peace came, Kunitora's wife visited Jote-ji to see her husband's tomb. On that occasion she secretly brought a small seedling of cedar in her sleeve and planted it in front of Kunitora's tomb. The cedar grew to be a huge big tree, and is called the Sleeve Cedar by the village people even today.

Near the remains of Doi Castle is a pond called the Noblewomen's Pond. Formerly this was a moat which surrounded the castle, and it was so named because all the noblewomen inside plunged into its waters when the army of Chosogabe assaulted and burned the castle. They say that sometimes you can hear the cries of the women from the pond and see the shadows of noblewomen in the dusk. It is prohibited, or rather regarded as despicable, to catch fish there, so you can see many fish swimming in the pond.

The offspring of the traitor now live in Kodai-ji, which is a mile from my house. In my elementary school days, we called them "the savages of Kodai-ji" when we quarreled with them, and it was, so to speak, an unwritten law that they should not go to nor look at Jote-ji.

By the way, the ancestor of our family, Kawashima, was one of the fugitive warriors who came to Aki from the next country when his lord was defeated by Chosogabe. They settled at Ueno in Aki and began farming, as did most of the fugitive warriors when their lord was defeated.

RELICS OF BENKEI

Benkei is a legendary warrior of astounding strength who served the famous hero Yoshitsune on the side of the Minamoto dan against the Taira in the civil wars of the twelfth century. Joly writes, pp. 20-22, no. 74: "The son of a priest of Kumano, in Kit, he was of so boisterous a nature as to receive the nickname of Oniwaka (young demon); as such, he is depicted fighing with the Yamabushi, or capturing a huge fish in a waterfall.... He grew to a height of eight feet and was as strong as one hundred men; a stone is still shown in the gardens of the temple of Yoshino in which he is said to have driven two big iron naib." Anesakigives the background of the Benkei and Yoshitsune legends, pp. 310-11, in his chapter "Heroic Stories," and plate no. 35 shows their celebrated encounter on the Gojo Bridge. A Noh drama, "Benkei on the Bridge," probably from the fifteenth century, also dealing with this episode in which the stripling conquered the giant soldier-monk, is translated in Arthur Waley,
The No Plays of Japan
(New York, n.d.), pp. 115-20.

Text from
Shimane-ken Kohi Densetsu Shu,
Yatsuka-gun, p. 23.

T
HERE IS A HILL
called Benkei-mori in Nagami, Honjo-mura, Yatsuka gun. A small shrine formerly called Benkichi's Shrine, which is now in the precinct of Nagami Shrine, stands there. According to a document kept in the shrine, the woman named Benkichi was the daughter of a samurai in the province of Kii [now Wakayama-ken]. She was born on May 5, in the third year of Taiji [1129]. For some reason she came to Nagami in Honjo-mura in the third year of Kyuan [1147] and stayed there. After three years she met a
tengu
on a mountain path and conceived a child. In the thirteenth month she gave birth to Benkei.

When Benkei was seventeen years old his mother died. He enshrined her as the goddess Benkichi and left this place. These things are written in detail in Benkei's letter, which is said to have been presented to the shrine by Benkei. Near Benkei-mori there is a well. Tradition says that Benkei took his first bath at his birth with water from this well.

A small island called Benkei-jima is in the sea off the coast of Nohara in Honjo-mura. Trees grow thick on its mountain. According to tradition, Benkei was a very naughty boy and in his ninth year he was abandoned on this island. Benkei played the game of fox and geese with the
tengu.
While they were playing, the
tengu
taught Benkei many tactics. The stone base which they used for the game was later carried by boat to another place. But the boat was overthrown by a sudden storm and the stone base sank into the sea.

This island is connected,to the mainland by a narrow sand path. It is said that Benkei made this path, by dropping little stones which he carried in his sleeves and skirt, for the purpose of escaping from the island. There is also the place called Benkei's Smithy at Shinjo in the same village, where Benkei is said to have had his sword forged.

BENKEI'S STONE MORTAR

Text from
Shimane-ken Kohi Densetsu Shu,
Hikawa-gun, p. 52.

O
N THE BORDER
of Kamiyokan and Yao in Yokan-mura there is a place called Ishiusu [Stone Mortar]. There are two big stones there, each in the shape of a mortar. It is not known how long they have been there, but tradition says that when Benkei went to exchange the bell of Wanibuchi Temple for that of Taisen Temple in Hoki Province, he brought them down to this place. Each stone weighs almost sixty pounds. Men who boast of their strength have tried to place one on top of the other, but no one has succeeded.

THE FAMOUS HORSE IKEZUKI

In heroic saga, ballad, romance, and epic, the warrior-hero is customarily accompanied by a horse and dog of matchless powers, whose attainments add to his fame. The steed Ikezuki has achieved legendary renown in his own right. Eiichiro Ishida in his study of "The
Kappa
Legend
" (Folklore Studies,
IX, 1050, pp. 1-152
),
refers to various traditions about Ikezuki to show their close connection with rivers and marshes and dragons who cover mares. He writes: "The legend of the kappa trying to lure horses into the water, and the idea of setting up pastures by the water-side so that dragons or water-gods might breed with mares, and the superstition that famous horses have appeared either out of the water, or some place near the water, may all be considered to... form a part of a common folklore" (p. 3).

Text from
Shimane-ken Kohi Densetsu Shu,
Yuchi-gun, pp. 5-6.

T
HE
J
ISHO ERA
[1177-81] marked the high point of the horse fair of Asuma. Horse-dealers from various regions gathered to attend the fair. Numerous shows and performances were put on, and the people thronged to see them.

In that time the famous horse Ikezuki was born near Ryuzu Waterfall in Matsukasa-mura, Iishi-gun. While a young colt, he lost his mother. Longing for his dead mother, he walked by the basin of the waterfall and saw his reflection in the water. He took this to be his mother and jumped into the water to go to her. Of course it was nothing but a vision, and the colt could not find his mother in the water. So he came out and looked at the water's surface. There he saw his mother again and jumped in once more. Almost every day he repeated the same action. In this way he learned by himself how to swim.

In the third year of Jisho [1179] Ikezuki was taken from this place by a horse-dealer. When they came to Tsugahongo, the river was so high owing to the melting snow that it seemed impossible to cross. But when Ikezuki saw many horses and cows coming in a row toward Asuma fair, he did not hesitate any more, but jumped into the angry waves and swam straight to the other side. As soon as he got there, he neighed aloud and ran away toward the fair, passing Tsuganishi and Utsui. When he came running at a furious speed, all the people at the fair were frightened. A clever man among them was able to tie the horse to a tree. After a while Ikezuki's owner arrived. He wanted to sell the horse but no one dared buy such a spirited steed. So there was nothing for the horse-dealer to do but start home, taking the horse with him.