Legends of Japan (3 page)

5. The
iron hat

T
HIS IS AN
old story of the priests of Ninna-ji Temple in Kyoto. Once, when an altar boy became a priest the whole membership of the temple had a feast to celebrate his taking orders. They all drank and made merry. While they were thus holding high jinks, the new priest took up a three-legged iron pot close by and playfully put it on his head. As the pot fitted him tightly, he, flattening his nose, pulled it even below his chin and began to dance. His blind dancing was so waggish that they all burst out laughing. When the merriment was over after a while, the new priest tried to pull off the pot, but in vain! It caught his ears and nose and would not come off.

"Hey, take it off!" he cried.

His voice was muffled and resounded in the pot so that the other priests could not hear exactly what he said.

They became anxious and pulled the pot by the legs as hard as they could. But the pot still would not come off. The priest's neck, having been rubbed by the edge of the pot, became bruised.

"Oh! I am choked. Take it off. Quick!" he cried again.

"Say, I have a good idea. Let's break the pot," said one of the group. With that, they struck the pot hard with a hammer, but the pot-bearer could not stand their shower of blows.

Whereupon they took him to a physician in town. The doctor was surprised to see such a strange patient. He said he was very sorry he did not know how to treat the patient, because he had no experience in handling such an unusual case. The priests were helpless so they took the pot-headed priest back to the temple and let him lie in bed.

His old mother, friends, and relatives were immediately sent for. They came and gathered at his bedside. His mother wept and grieved but the pot-wearing priest could not hear her tearful voice.

At last some one suggested, "Let's pull it off by force, even though his ears and nose might be torn off. That is the only way left for us. I don't think it will cost his life."

After that, they put in straw around his head so the pot might come off easily. Grabbing its legs, they pulled the pot so hard it seemed his head might be torn off at any moment. After some struggle, the pot finally came off, but the priest's nose and ears were injured.

We are told that, although he was cured of this peculiar sickness, he afterward suffered from these injuries and had to lie in bed for a long time.

6. The
demons
spittle

A
LONG TIME
ago there was in Kyoto a young, very pious man. He often visited Rokkaku-do (Hexagonal Shrine) to offer his devout prayer to Kannon-sama (Goddess of Mercy) enshrined there.

Once he called on a friend on New Year's Eve. When he left this friend's house, it was already dark. On his way home, as he was crossing Modoribashi (Returning Bridge), he saw many people approaching, carrying blazing torches. He thought it was a lord and his attendants, so he got out of their way by hiding himself under the bridge. Soon they were on the bridge. The man wondered who the lord could be. He put his head out from under the bridge and looked up. And lo! They were not human beings. They were all
oni
(demons) with a pair of horns on each head. Some of them were single-eyed, while others had several hands each, and still others were one-legged. He was horrified at this sight.

"Hey, there's a human being down there," one of the
oni
suddenly cried. "Let's catch him," said another. In a moment, the man was a prisoner. He feared they would eat him and resigned himself to their next action. But there was no indication of any cruelty. Presently one of them said the man was not fit to eat and thrust him away. Then they spat in his face and went off. The man now felt relieved to have his life spared. He went home in a hurry. When he reached his house, his family would not speak to him, although they looked directly at him.

"Why do you keep such silence?" he asked. But they ignored him. The man wondered what was the matter with them. After a while, there suddenly flashed into his mind the idea that the
oni's
spittle must have made his figure invisible. He could see his family and hear what they said, but they seemed to be unable to see or hear him. Now he was at a loss.

The next day was New Year's Day. His family, however, were unhappy because of the missing man. He fretfully shouted to them that he was with them in the house, but in vain. Although he patted his children on their heads, they did not seem to feel his hand. As the day passed, they began to sob for their father, thinking that he must have been spirited away. New Year's Day thus became a tragic day for them. Several days passed. The man thought that for him there was no other way left but to ask the merciful goddess for her help. Thereupon he immediately visited Rokkaku-do Shrine.

"Oh, merciful Kannon-sama, please make my body visible to my family. Please have mercy on me!" He offered fervent prayers to the goddess for two full weeks.

On the last night in retreat, as he was praying, he unintentionally fell asleep and had a dream. In the vision he met a holy Buddhist priest who came from behind a bamboo curtain and solemnly said, "Ho there, my faithful follower! You leave here tomorrow morning and do what you're told by the first person you meet on your way home. Follow my directions and you will be restored!" At that he prostrated himself before the priest. When he awoke from his sleep, it was already light.

He left the shrine and did not go far before he met a cattleman. He thought this was the person referred to by Kannon-sama. The cattleman approached him and said, "Hello, my dear friend, come with me." The unhappy man was pleased to think that he must have been made visible to others, and therefore he immediately followed the cattleman. They went a little way and arrived at the front gate of a big mansion. The cattleman tied his ox to a tree close by and opened the gate slightly and motioned to the man to follow him in. The invisible man said it was impossible to do that, because the chink was too narrow for him to pass through. Upon that, the cattleman angrily dragged him in by the hand. How strange! He could pass through the chink as freely as the wind. He felt as if he were still in a dream.

The cattleman led farther into the courtyard. At last they came into a rear chamber where a beautiful princess of the mansion was sick in bed attended by her parents—a lord and a lady—and many maids who were all concerned about her illness. They did not even notice the entry of these invisible intruders—you must realize now that the cattleman was also invisible to ordinary persons. The unhappy man realized his figure was still invisible and became more discouraged. The cattleman told him to hit die sick princess on die head with a wooden hammer. The man did as he was told. Every time he struck at her, she writhed in agony. At that, the lord and the lady believed that their daughter would soon die. They immediately sent for a Buddhist priest to expel evil spirits from the sick.

Shortly after, a fine priest came and practiced exorcism. He chanted a Buddhist prayer which prevented the faithful intruder from continuing his violence. The priest then chanted another prayer. At that, the pious invisible intruder's kimono suddenly caught fire, and it blazed up. Now, he was astonished. "Fire, Fire!" he cried, madly rolling about on the floor. The next moment his figure suddenly became visible. Those in the room were astonished and all asked, "Where did he come from?"

The guards came in and caught the man. The lord in person questioned him about his abrupt appearance there. The man told the lord of his strange adventure. Whereupon the priest said, "That is a miracle. Perhaps Kannon-sama of Rokkaku-do Shrine has meant to reveal this person's figure and also cure the princess." It was indeed miraculous that when the man's figure was disclosed, the princess recovered at the same time.

The man went home happily. Needless to say, all his family were delighted to see him again.

The identity of the cattleman must remain a mystery, but many people believe he was another spirit.

7. A piece of straw

L
ONG, LONG AGO
, there lived in Kyoto a young man
who had no kith or kin in the town. One day he visited Hase Temple in Yamato Province to pray to Kannon (Goddess of Mercy).

"O merciful Kannon-sama! Please give me your mercy. Since I am in dire poverty, I have nothing to eat. I shall starve to death soon. If I must starve, I would like to do it here in your presence. Please take pity on me and tell me how to live." So praying, the young man prostrated himself before the image of Kannon.

The temple priests, who saw him daily praying for something, talked about him:

"Look! That poor man is praying again today."

"I wonder what he is praying for so earnestly."

"He looks very pale. Maybe he is hungry."

"If he should starve to death there, we shall have trouble in clearing off his body."

One of them approached the poor man and asked what he was praying for. Then the man replied that he wanted the mercy of Kannon-sama, and that he would not move an inch until the goddess gave it to him.

The priests admired him for his enthusiastic praying and gave him meals so that he might not die of hunger. Thus the young man continued praying day after day.

On the night of the twenty-first day, when his term of worship was to expire, the man dozed off. In his dream a noble-looking Buddhist priest appeared and addressed him:
"You
are suffering now because you committed many sins before you came into this world. So you will not be given the mercy of Kannon. But you are so earnestly praying for her mercy that I will give you a small gift. When you leave this temple you will pick up something. That is what I give you. So you must not throw it away. Follow my directions and you will be all right."

With that, the priest disappeared and the man came to himself. He thought that the priest must have been Kannon-sama in disguise. So he at once left the temple for home, bidding farewell to the kind temple priests who gave him a package of rice balls for lunch.

As he came a little way from the temple he suddenly stumbled over a stone. When he tried to raise himself he found something in his right hand. "What is it?" he wondered.

It was a piece of straw.

"A piece of straw! Let me see.... Oh, yes, this must be what Kannon-sama has bestowed upon me." So, instead of throwing it away, he carefully put it into his pocket and went on farther.

As he was passing by a paddy field a bee came flying from somewhere and buzzed about his head. Though he beat at it again and again, it still came back to him, so he angrily caught it and tied it with the straw to the end of a twig he had in hand. But the bee went on buzzing with the straw attached to it.

It was not long before he met an ox-drawn court carriage attended by a group of men. Riding in the vehicle were a court lady and her little son. Seeing the bee, the boy wanted it so earnestly that the lady politely asked the traveler to give her son the insect.

The poor man, though unwillingly, gave the bee to the boy, who then became very happy with the insect. In return for the bee, the lady gave him three oranges wrapped in a sheet of paper. The man was very happy to find that the piece of straw had now turned into three oranges and he hung them from the twig.

The sun was shining very brightly. Soon the young man came across a group of travelers—a beautiful lady and her servants. She appeared quite exhausted from walking under the burning sun. As a matter of fact, she was very thirsty and badly wanted a drink of water. But since they found neither a well nor a pond around, the servants did not know where to find any.

One of them asked the young man where they could get drinking water for their mistress. Then the man, replying that no water could be obtained around there, asked why they needed it. They told him that they were on their way to Kannon Temple with their mistress, who was very thirsty.

Hearing that, the man felt very sorry for her and offered them his oranges to appease her thirst. They gratefully received them and took them to the lady who was resting by the road. She was so thirsty that she ate them all in a moment and expressed her deep gratitude to the poor man. In return for his kindness, she gave him silks.

The man was very happy to receive the fine goods and expressed his thanks to the merciful goddess, who had now turned the gift of straw into silks. That night he sought a night's lodging in a farmhouse.

Early next morning he left the house to continue his journey and before he went a long way he ran across a samurai on horseback accompanied by a group of footmen. Since it was a fine horse, the young man stood still to watch it. All of a sudden the animal fell down and died for no apparent reason. The samurai, who was very surprised at the sudden death of his favorite horse, mounted a second to continue his trip. And he told his retainers to clear away the body of his dead animal.

The man, witnessing this scene, promptly proposed to exchange the dead horse for his silk goods. Since the footmen were at a loss as to the means of clearing away the animal, they accepted his offer and went away with the silks.

Left alone, he said to himself:

"A piece of straw, which I had received from Kannon-sama, turned into three oranges at first, then into silk goods, and now into a dead horse. I am sure Kannon-sama will soon bring this dead animal back to life."

He purified himself by washing his hands and rinsing his mouth and prayed to the goddess: "O merciful Kannon-sama! Please bring this dead horse back to life at once. It must be what you have bestowed upon me."

Behold!

The dead animal suddenly opened its closed eyes and raised its head. At this sight the poor man was greatly delighted and helped the animal rise to its feet. Thanking Kannon-sama for her mercy, he immediately took the horse into a wood by the road to give it a good rest. The animal soon regained strength, and so the man continued his journey to Kyoto riding on the horse.

When he came into a village near Kyoto, he saw a wealthy family busily preparing themselves for a journey. The man thought: "If I should be seen riding on such a fine horse in the capital, I should be mistaken for a horse thief and arrested by the police. It seems better to sell this horse to that family who will perhaps need it for their trip."

Whereupon he immediately got off his horse and asked the family if they would buy it. Admiring the animal, the master of the family said that he had never seen such a fine horse and proposed to buy it at once. But as payment for the horse, he gave the man his vast paddy fields. Therefore the young man had to settle down in the village. From that day on he worked very hard on the farm, which produced plenty of rice crops in autumn. Many years later foe at last became the richest farmer in the village. Thanking Kannon-sama for her tender mercy, he lived a happy life with his family.