Seven Demon Stories from Medieval Japan

by Noriko T. Reider

  sleeve, sleeve.” When she went to the field and did as instructed, thousands

  of cows behaved as she wished––they went out to the field in the morning

  and went back to the barn at night.

  “This is amazing!” the oni-father said after seeing how successfully the

  girl did her job. Then the oni-father imposed the next task.

  “Move 1,000 koku 17 of rice in the granary to another granary now.

  Don’t leave one single grain.” The girl again waved the sleeve while saying

  “sleeve, sleeve.” Thereupon, countless legions of ants came out and in only

  two hours transported the grains of rice. Seeing this, the oni-father calcu-

  lated the rice with a device he had on hand.

  “one grain is missing,” he grumbled in a foul mood, “Find it!” The

  expression on his face did not bode well for the girl, and a sense of dread

  came over her.

  “I will try to find it,” the girl managed to reply and started to look for it,

  when she saw a back-bent ant tottering about with a grain. How happy she

  was. She joyfully carried that grain to the oni-father.

  But the oni-father said, “Lock her up,” and put her in the warehouse

  fortified with iron boards. These centipedes were no ordinary centipedes;

  they were one foot long and numbered 4,000 or 5,000. They gathered

  around her with their mouths wide open to devour her. The girl almost

  fainted with fear, but as she waved the sleeve saying “Amewakahiko’s

  sleeve, sleeve,” the centipedes receded to the corners and did not come

  y.

  versity Librar

  Senshū Uni

  tesy of

  rains for the maiden. Cour

  rying g

  he ants car

  Figure 5.2. T

  154

  Part III: Women

  near her. When the oni-father opened the door after seven days, the girl

  came out safely.

  The girl was then locked in the snakes’ den. But again as she waved the

  sleeve, no snake approached her. After seven days she came out from the

  den alive. The oni-father stood dumbfounded.

  “You must indeed have been destined to become my son’s bride,” he

  said at last. “You may now see him once a month.” But the girl misheard him.

  “Did you say once a year?” she asked.

  “As you wish, once a year it shall be,” he replied throwing a melon to

  the ground. The melon hit the ground, smashed open, and became the

  Milky Way. The girl became Vega and he Altair. They now meet each other

  once a year on the seventh day of the seventh month.

  nOtes

  1. See the introduction for a brief explanation of otogizōshi.

  2. The picture scroll housed in the Berlin museum is printed in Shimada illustrations

  plates no. 7–9, illustrations 9–13, 37–41, and 69–71 (written text). The annotated written

  text is included in Matsumoto, Otogizōshi-shū 75–85. There are several picture scrolls very similar to Berlin’s picture scroll, such as those housed in the Suntory Museum in Tokyo titled

  Amewakahiko monogatari emaki (Picture Scroll of Tale of Amewakahiko, seventeenth century) and Tanabata no sōshi (Tale of Star Festival, seventeenth century) in Senshū University Library in Tokyo. Ōtsuki, “‘Amewakahiko sōshi’ kaigaka no tenkai katei” 70–71.

  3. Ishida Mizumaro notes that “according to one theory, a yojana is 14.4 kilometers”

  (cited in Genshin 11).

  4. The poem is Kokinshū or Kokin wakashū (A Collection of Poems Ancient and Modern, 905) 4: 175: “Amanogawa / momiji o hashi ni / wataseba ya / tanabatatsume no / aki wo

  shimo matsu” (It is for a bridge, of many-hued leaves to span, the heavenly stream, that the

  Weaver Maid awaits, the arrival of autumn?) (Ozawa and Matsuda 91; McCullough, Kokin

  Wakashū 48). While Izumo Asako, citing Katagiri Yōichi’s research on Kokinshūchū, writes that this edition of Kokinshū chū was not written by Fujiwara Tameie and hence cannot be definitely dated to the early Kamakura period, she says the Tale of Amewakahiko was strongly influenced by “Qian Luwei’s Tale” (Izumo 57). “Qian Luwei’s Tale” is printed in Satake,

  Kokinshū chū 224–29, 455–57.

  5. According to the legend, the Weaver, a daughter of the Emperor of Heaven, fell in

  love with a cowherd(“ ‘Amewakamiko zō’ no hensen ni kansuru ichi kōsatsu” 17). and came

  to neglect her weaving duties. This angered the Emperor, who separated the lovers, placed

  them on different sides of the Milky Way (the “great river of heaven”), and allowed them to

  meet only once a year, on the night of the seventh day of the seventh month.

  6. Michael Como writes that the cult of the Weaver and the Cowherd is known to have

  arrived in Japan by the reign of Emperor Tenmu (reigned 673–86) at the latest and that the

  Weaver Maiden and the Cowherd festival is the best-documented cult in Nara Japan, with

  clear roots in the Chinese festival calendar. Como 38–39, 110.

  7. The Realm of the Four Guardian Kings ( Catur-maharaja-kayikah) is located above the

  realm of humans but below the realm of Brahma. See Sadakata 56, 58.

  Tale of Amewakahiko

  155

  8. Katsumata conjectures that the text that was written soon after the completion of

  Kokinshū kanajo. Katsumata, “‘Amewakamiko zō’ no hensen ni kansuru ichi kōsatsu” 16.

  9. Roger Thomas of Illinois State University suggests insightfully that the confusion

  between “Amewakahiko” and “Amewakamiko” might have something to do with the fact

  that the phonemes hi/bi and mi often appear interchanged in many classical works (e.g.,

  sabishi vs. samishi and the like).

  10. Izumo Asako uses the name Amewakahiko rather than Amewakamiko in her article.

  11. Doi writes, “In Apuleius’s story, according to the oracle of Apollo at Miletus, he is a

  son of Draco, a monster with wings of wind and feared by all gods” (166). I could not find

  the words “a son of Draco” in Cupid and Psyche, but there is a description of Cupid as

  “something cruel and fierce and serpentine;

  That plagues the world as, borne aloft on wings,

  With fire and steel it persecutes all things.” (Apuleius, Cupid and Psyche 47)

  This description sounds like a dragon. In the notes, E. J. Kenney writes, “The allusive

  description of Cupid as the monster exploits his attributes to make him sound like a fire-

  breathing dragon; ambiguity was the stock-in-trade of oracles” (Apuleius, Cupid and Psyche

  131).

  12. on the forty-ninth day after one’s death, it is believed that the soul of the deceased

  starts its new life on the other side of this life (or rebirth). Buddhist memorial services for

  the intermediate existence between one’s death and rebirth are held every seven days until

  the forty-ninth day.

  13. “Hachikazuki” is often considered a Japanese Cinderella story. For an English transla-

  tion, see Steven 315–31.

  14. Ikeda-AaTh 411C, “Snake Paramour.” Also see Ikeda-AaTh 312B “Snake Husband

  Killed.” See Ikeda, A Type And Motif Index of Japanese Folk-Literature 74–75, 103–4; Seki,

  “Types of Japanese Folktales” 69–70. For an example story, see Dorson 117–18. Dorson

  writes that “Thompson has the pertinent Motif T475.1, ‘Unknown paramour discovered by

  string clue,’ with solely Japanese references” (117).

  15. See, for example, Tokuda, Otogizōshi jiten 142.

&nb
sp; 16. The poem pivots on the phrases isa shira[zu] (I know not) and shirakumo (white clouds).

  17. one koku is approximately 180 liters. one thousand koku are therefore about 180,000

  liters, or 40,863 US gallons.

  6

  Blossom Princess ( Hanayo no hime)

  Japanese Stepdaughter Story and Provincial Customs

  likE Many oThEr sToriEs in This book, ThE TalE Hanayo no hime, or

  Blossom Princess (ca. late sixteenth century or early seventeenth century),

  belongs to otogizōshi. 1 Among around 400 otogizōshi, three stories— Blossom Princess, Hachikazuki (The Bowl Girl), and Ubakawa (The Bark Gown)2—can

  be identified as Cinderella-type stories because they have suspected folklore

  origins and abundant fairytale motifs (Mulhern, “Cinderella and the Jesuits”

  409). In these three otogizōshi stories, the stepdaughter receives from Kannon

  (Avalokiteśvara, Bodhisattva of Compassion) or yamauba (a mountain crone)

  clothes or a bowl that hide the girl’s beauty until her true lover appears.

  The Cinderella-type stories, particularly Blossom Princess, are known for their

  strong association with folklore.3 This chapter highlights some of the note-

  worthy folkloric elements, such as the legend of “obasute” (Deserted old

  Woman) reflected in the figure of a yamauba. While examining the relation-

  ship between the texts of Blossom Princess and three mukashibanashi (folktales),

  namely “Ubakawa,” “Komebuku Awabuku” (The Komebuku and Awabuku

  Sisters), and “obasute,” I will also look at Blossom Princess as a text replete

  with contemporary customs and beliefs, especially in the area of Suruga

  Province (present-day central Shizuoka prefecture). Notable contemporary

  manners and customs, such as shūto-iri (literally, “entrance of the father-in-

  law”) and female inheritance, are described well in Blossom Princess.

  texts Of blOssOM PRincess

  The number of extant Blossom Princess texts is fairly small (Matsumoto,

  “Minkan setsuwa kei no Muromachi jidai monogatari” 8), and basically

  Blossom Princess exists in a single version (Mulhern, “Cinderella and the

  Jesuits” 447); four printed texts from woodblocks and two written copies

  156

  DOI: 10.7330/9781607324904.c006

  Blossom Princess

  157

  exist (Inai 26–27). All four printed texts are from the same woodblocks,

  and the text consists of three books. They are in the possession of the

  Akagi Library ( MJMT 10: 515–55), the Tōhoku University affiliated library

  (Shimazu, “Hanayo no hime”), the Tenri Library, and the Tōyō Library. One

  of the two written copies exists in the Hiroshima University Japanese lit-

  erature research room, and its content is almost identical to the woodblock

  version ( MJMT 10: 515). The whereabouts of the other copy, formerly in

  the possession of Takano Tatsuyuki, are not known (Inai 27).

  Plot summary of blossom Princess

  The heroine, Blossom Princess, is born in answer to her parents’ prayers to

  Kannon. Her mother dies when she is nine years old. Moritaka, her father,

  dotes on her and continues to pray for his wife’s happiness in the after-

  life, but he remarries at the urging of his relatives. The stepmother hates

  Blossom Princess because Moritaka pays attention only to his daughter.

  While Blossom Princess’s father is away from home, the stepmother has a

  samurai kidnap and abandon her on a remote mountain near Mt. Fuji. The

  Moritaka household grieves the loss of Blossom Princess, but unbeknown

  to the stepmother, Moritaka and the princess’s nurses are consoled when a

  miko (diviner) predicts Blossom Princess’s safety.

  In the meantime, on the mountain the princess meets a yamauba who

  gives her a small bag of treasures and an ubakinu, or yamauba’s transforming

  clothes, to make the wearer look old. The yamauba also gives directions to a

  certain human habitation where she can work. While the princess works as

  a hearth maid at the mansion of a chūnagon (middle councilor), Saishō, the

  middle councilor’s youngest son, falls in love with her. Saishō soon takes

  her to his nurse’s house, where he can see her at his ease. Realizing that the

  son is visiting a woman, Saishō’s mother holds a “bride’s contest” so the

  son will be embarrassed and leave Blossom Princess. But on the day of the

  competition, the bag the yamauba has given to Blossom Princess produces

  fine clothes for her to wear and other valuable treasures. Blossom Princess’s

  beauty and gifts impress everyone at the contest. She is happily married to

  Saishō and reunited with her father. In the meantime, the stepmother and

  her nurse clandestinely leave Moritaka’s house for whereabouts unknown.

  Saishō moves to Blossom Princess’s father’s estate to inherit the lordship

  and manage the estate with Blossom Princess. The couple is blessed with

  many children, and Blossom Princess’s father marries the middle council-

  or’s niece and lives happily ever after.

  of the Cinderella-type stories, Blossom Princess is by far the longest.

  Unlike Hachikazuki, which includes many rhetorical descriptions of scenery

  158

  Part III: Women

  and feelings, the elaborate plot of Blossom Princess makes the text long

  (Matsumoto, “Minkan setsuwa kei no Muromachi jidai monogatari” 26).

  The reader follows the story from two perspectives: one considers the hero-

  ine and the other Moritaka’s household. The major plot tracks the events

  surrounding Blossom Princess, and the reader is informed on a regular and

  timely basis what is happening to Blossom Princess’s family and nurses

  during her absence. It is “closest to the classical novel in its graceful fluid

  style, characteristically Japanese in its vocabulary and imagery” (Mulhern,

  “Cinderella and the Jesuits” 446).

  YaMauba anD kannOn

  one term requiring explanation that is “characteristically Japanese in its

  vocabulary and imagery” is yamauba. The medieval Noh text aptly titled

  Yamamba 4 describes yamamba ( yamauba) as “a female oni living in the mountains.”5 Even now, to many contemporary Japanese the word yamauba con-

  jures up images of an ugly old woman who lives in the mountains and

  devours humans. The witch in the Grimm Brothers’ Hansel and Gretel and

  Baba Yaga of Russian folklore can be considered Western counterparts of

  the yamauba figure. The Konjaku monogatarishū (Tales of Times Now Past; ca.

  1120) depicts one such yamauba in the story titled “Sanseru onna minamiya-

  mashina ni yuki oni ni aite nigetaru koto” (How a Woman with Child Went

  to South Yamashina, Encountered an oni, and Escaped).6 A young preg-

  nant woman secretly gives birth in the mountain hut of a seemingly kind

  old woman, only to discover that she is actually an oni with plans to eat her

  newborn baby. In Blossom Princess, the heroine is extremely frightened about

  encountering the yamauba primarily because of the yamauba’s reputation for

  eating people.

  The image of the yamauba is complex. In stark contrast to the yam-

  auba’s representation in the woman-with-child story, some tales represent

  a yamauba as a nurturing character. orikuchi Shinobu writes that a yamaub
a

  was originally a virgin offered to a mountain deity. The maiden nursed the

  deity to health and later became his wife (orikuchi, “okina no hassei” 363).

  The yamauba’s nurturing image is often associated with motherhood.7 Hori

  Ichirō writes, “In the popular belief of rural areas, the mountain deity is

  believed to be a goddess who gives birth to twelve children every year. She

  is therefore called Mrs. Twelve ( Jūni-sama), and her twelve children symbol-

  ize the twelve months of the year” (Hori 167). Indeed, in the fifteenth cen-

  tury, the Zen priest Zuikei Shūhō (1391–1473) recounts in his diary titled

  Gaun nikkenroku that a yamauba gave birth to four children: “The reason

  Blossom Princess

  159

  why the summer of that year had lots of rain was because the yamauba

  gave birth to four children, namely, Haruyoshi (Good Spring), Natsusame

  (Summer Rain), Akiyoshi (Good Autumn), and Fuyusame (Winter Rain)”

  (Tokyo Daigaku Shiryō Hensanjo 125). The year’s abundant rainfall, the

  priest suggests, is the result of the yamauba’s multiple childbirths. The chil-

  dren’s names seem to reflect an expression of reverence to a higher power

  and hope for good seasonal weather to come.

  An interesting parallel appears in a folktale that describes a yamauba

  giving birth to a baby boy. In this story titled “Yamauba hōon” ( Yamauba’s

  Gratitude), the yamauba comes to a married couple in a village and asks for

  shelter while giving birth, which the sympathetic couple gives her (Miyazaki

  428–30). After the safe birth of her baby, the yamauba asks the couple to

  name the baby as well as her other nameless children. The couple feels

  honored and names the first child Natsuyoshikō (Good Summer), the sec-

  ond Akiyoshikō (Good Autumn), and the third one Fuyuyoshikō (Good

  Winter)—names very similar to those in the Gaun nikkenroku. The yamauba

  rewards the couple with two boxes—one that magically produces abundant

  gold and one filled with yarn.8 Here, the yamauba as an oni-woman is clearly

  a bringer of wealth. As Yoshida Atsuhiko points out, the roots of the

  yamauba can be found in various female deities in Japanese myths, such as

  Ōgetsuhime in Kojiki (Ancient Matters, 712) and Ukemochinokami in Nihon

  shoki or Nihongi (Chronicles of Japan, 720), who produce food from differ-