by Osamu Dazai
Few Ezo dwellings from long ago were seen in this area. Was the weather clearing up? Which villages were visible? The travel diary Toyuki (Journey to the East) of the famous doctor Tachibana Nankei published during the Kansei era states:
Since the beginning of heaven and earth, times have never been as peaceful as now. From the Kikai and Yakyu islands in the west to Sotogahama in Oshu in the east, laws must be scrupulously obeyed. During ancient times, the island of Yakyu sounded like the foreign country of Yakyu. Oshu was partly inhabited by the Ezo people and was seen as the home of foreigners until recently. There are many different names for the place names in the southern region and in Tsugaru. The villages along the Sotogahama Road have names like Tappi, Horozuki, Uchimappe, Sotomappe, Imabetsu, and Utetsu.
These are all Ezo words. Even today in areas like Utetsu, there are customs and Tsugaru natives who are related to the Ezo people, but they have come to disdain being called Ezo. Not only the Utetsu area, the villagers in the southern part and in Tsugaru are probably Ezo. In some places, these people rapidly changed their customs and language as they came under imperial rule and have become more like the Japanese than their ancestors. For this reason, manners and refined civilization, understandably, may still need to advance.
These words were written one hundred and fifty years ago. If Dr. Nankei now underground could ride a bus today on level concrete roads, he would be dazed and snapping his head all around to see, or he may lament as in Kozo no Yuki Imaizuko (Where are the snows of yesteryear).
Nankei's Toyuki and Saiyuki (Journey to the West) are counted among the masterpieces of the Edo era. The legend notes read like a confession:
If I travel for medical knowledge, although I will chat about medical matters, I will record them elsewhere and show them to like-minded people. Although these writings record my observations during my travels, I have not verified the facts of these observations, and there are probably many errors.
It's fine to say an article resembling nonsense achieves little but is adequate to stimulate the reader's curiosity. I will not mention other regions and limit my examples to articles about the Sotogahama region. Without raising doubts, he also writes:
Minmaya, Oshu includes the port for the Matsumae sea crossing, Sotogahama in the Tsugaru domain, and Tohoku in Japan. Long ago, Minamoto no Yoshitsune escaped the Takadachi fortress and came here to cross over to Ezo (now Hokkaido). Unfavorable winds for a crossing delayed him for a few days. Unable to bear it, he placed his Kannon statue on a rock on the seafloor and prayed for favorable winds. The winds shifted immediately, and he safely crossed to Matsumae. Today, this statue is kept at a local shrine and is known as the Kannon of Yoshitsune's Wind Prayer. A large rock at the water's edge was pierced by three holes in a line like in a stable. That was the place where Yoshitsune's horses were hitched. This is the origin of the name of Minmaya (three horses stable) for this place.
He continues.
There is a place called Tairadate in Sotogahama in Tsugaru, Oshu. A place jutting into the Iwaoishi Sea north of here is called Ishizaki. A short time after passing over Ishizaki is Shudani. Narrow mountain streams flow from the towering mountains and drop into the sea. All the soil and rocks in this valley are colored vermilion. I feel awakened by the water that turned red and the brilliant colors of the morning sun reflected by the wet rocks. Many of the pebbles at this place dropping into the sea are vermilion. They say all the fish in the northern sea are red. From the impressions of redness of places in the valley, both the sentient and the non-sentient mysteriously emit the color red from the fish in the sea and even in the rocks.
I think I'll stop here.
He frightens you with his writing about a strange fish called the Old Man living in the northern seas.
No human has seen the entire body of this huge fish that stretches five to seven miles long. In rare sightings, it resembles several large islands floating on the ocean. Little by little the tail fin on the back of this Old Man becomes visible. It swallows a whale twenty or thirty fathoms down like a whale swallows sardines. Therefore, when this fish comes, the whales flee to the east and west.…
When delayed one night in Minmaya, the elderly folks from nearby homes came to visit; the grandfathers and grandmothers gathered around the hearth in the home. Together they talked about various subjects. No story was as chilling as the tsunami at Matsumae twenty or thirty years ago. At that time, the winds were quiet and the rains were far away, but they felt empty. At moments during the night, shooting stars flew across the empty sky to the east and to the west and gradually grew to a large number. Four or five days earlier, all sorts of deities flew through the sky even in broad daylight. They looked like court officials in full dress riding horseback or riding dragons or riding clouds or riding a type of rhinoceros or elephant, and transformed into a white costume. With the appearance of red and blue colors, the forms became large and small and fill the skies with strange-looking deities and Buddhas flying to the east and to the west.
Every day, we all went outside and prayed in gratitude. For four or five days, we prayed and talked about the extraordinary events before our eyes. One evening, while looking out to sea, far off in the distance we saw something like a mountain of pure white snow. Look at that! As we looked at the mysterious object in the sea, it slowly crept toward us. Looking closely, above what appeared to be the island mountain, we saw a gigantic wave coming towards us. Tsunami! Run! Young and old, men and women scrambled to get away, but it approached rapidly. Of the houses, fields, plants, and birds and animals, not even a few remained. Only waste remained on the sea floor. Not one person from the villages on the coast survived. For that reason, the deities flying in the clouds at the beginning foretold this horrible event and were urging us to flee this land.
Events that seemed sacrilegious or from a dream are fluently written in plain text. In the current environment, I thought it best not to be too specific. You may call this absurd, but it's fun to copy the travel diary of an ancient and be immersed in a world resembling a fairy tale. In fact, I had reasons for including a few excerpts from the articles in Toyuki. I have one more. I'd like to introduce an article I think will especially amuse aficionados of novels.
Around the time I was in Sotogahama in Tsugaru, Oshu, a local government official repeatedly asked if anyone was from Tango. When asked why, his reason was a god of Mount Iwaki in Tsugaru detests men from Tango. If anyone from Tango sneaks into this land, the gods wreak havoc with the weather. The wind and rain never cease, and ships cannot enter or leave causing great hardship to the Tsugaru region.
Terrible winds continued while I was there prompting me to search for someone from Tango. Any time the weather deteriorated, the officials conducted strict inquiries. If one had entered, he was quickly expelled. When anyone from Tango left the domain of Tsugaru, the weather immediately cleared up and the winds calmed down. As well as being a hatred handed down as a custom, curiously, the officials conducted searches each time.
At Aomori, Minmaya, and other ports along the Sotogahama Road, the people of Tango were the most hated. When questioned closely for the reason why they were hated so much, the story was the god of Mount Iwaki in this province enshrines Princess Anju in the land of her birth.
The princess wandered into the province of Tango and was tormented by the bailiff Sansho. These days, anyone from that province is hated; winds and rain start; and the gods of Iwaki go wild. Along the 220 miles of Sotogahama, most of the people fished and hunted for a living or worked in ship transportation, and always prayed for favorable winds. However, whenever the weather deteriorated, the people of Tango were hated. This opinion is held at the borders, the southern part of Matsumae, and the ports, and hatred is sent to people from Tango. This much malice runs deep in people.
This story is strange. The people of Tango are greatly inconvenienced. The land of Tango is north of Kyoto Prefecture, but people from there who come to Tsugaru must pay dearly. We learned of the story of Pri
ncess Anju and Prince Tsushi as children from picture books. Sansho Dayu (Sansho the Bailiff), the masterpiece written by Mori Ogai, is well known to anyone who loves novels. The beautiful sister and brother in this tragic tale were born in Tsugaru and enshrined in Mount Iwaki after their deaths. This is not well known. In fact, I find the story doubtful.
Nankei calmly wrote about Yoshitsune coming to Tsugaru, the seven-mile-long fish, the red scales of fish and the red water dyed by the color of dissolved rocks. These may be irresponsible articles following the customary ritual of not verifying the facts. Understandably, the story of Princess Anju and Prince Tsushi also appeared in the article Iwaki-san Gongen (Buddha Incarnations on Mount Iwaki) in the Chinese-Japanese encyclopedia Sancai Tuhui (Illustrations of the Three Powers). This encyclopedia has a little Chinese writing and is hard to read, but I'm confident in writing, "In a story passed down, long ago, a man named Iwaki Hangan Masauji was lord of this province (Tsugaru). In the winter of the first year of the Eiho era (1081) while living in Kyoto, he was deported to Saikai after being slandered by some unknown person. He had two children in the province, a daughter named Anju and her younger brother named Tsushiomaru. They wandered with their mother, passed through Dewa, and reached Echigo. At Naoe Bay…" When the end is reached, the speech dissolves into, "I have doubts they are enshrined in Mount Iwaki in Tsugaru that is over two hundred miles to the north of Iwaki."
In Sansho the Bailiff, Ogai writes "…leaves the house in Shinobu-gun, Iwashiro." In other words, the characters for the name Iwaki are read as Iwaki and as Iwashiro. I believe confusion set in and eventually that legend was adopted by Mount Iwaki in Tsugaru. But the people in Tsugaru long ago firmly believed Anju and Tsushio were children of Tsugaru and fittingly cursed Sansho the Bailiff. We as sympathizers of Anju and Tsushio were delighted with the belief that if anyone from Tango entered Tsugaru, the weather worsened.
I'll stop here with the folklore of Sotogahama. Our bus arrived in Imabetsu, where M lives, around noon. As I said earlier, Imabetsu is a port city that could be described as modern. Its population was close to four thousand. N led me to M's house for our visit. His wife greeted us and said he was out. It seems he was a little ill. Whenever I encounter this kind of situation at another's home, I have the habit of immediately wondering if I had a fight with him. Was I right or wrong? The appearance of an author or a newspaper reporter at a nice home easily makes people uneasy. As an author, that should pain me. An author who has not experienced this pain is stupid.
"Where did he go?" N casually asked. He set down his backpack and said, "I'll rest here for a while," and sat on a step at the entrance.
"I'll call him," she said.
"Oh, I'm sorry," said N calmly and asked, "Is he at the hospital?"
"Uh, I believe so," softly said the attractive, shy woman as she slipped on her geta clogs and went outside. M worked in a hospital in Imabetsu.
I sat down beside N on the step and we waited.
"Did he know we were coming?"
"Uh, well," said N and calmly smoked his cigarette.
"Unfortunately, you can't show up at lunchtime," I said a little worried.
"Well, we brought our own lunches," he said smugly. The last samurai Saigo Takamori was probably like this, too.
M returned home. He smiled bashfully and said, "Welcome."
"Sorry but we can't stay," said N and stood, "If we're going by boat, I'd like to go right away by boat to Tappi."
"Oh," said M and slightly bowed his head, "Well, I'll see if it's running."
M headed to the harbor to ask, but the boat was canceled.
"That settles it," said my guide not looking particularly disappointed, "Well, will you let us rest here to eat our bento lunch?"
"We're fine sitting here," I said with great reserve.
"Won't you come in?" M meekly asked.
"Why don't we go in?" said N and calmly removed his gaiters, "We'll plan the next step of our itinerary more carefully."
We passed into M's study. There was a small hearth, and a charcoal fire crackled. The bookshelves were stuffed with books. The collected works of Paul Valery and those of Izumi Kyoka were included. Nankei, who concluded with confidence "manners and refined civilization still need to advance," may come this far and faint.
"I have sake," said the genteel M and blushed, "Shall we have a drink?"
"No, no, if we drink here," N started to say but laughed it off.
"It's all right," said M, who grasped the situation immediately, "I set aside sake for you to take to Tappi."
"Ha, ha," said N and playfully added, "Oh no, but if we start drinking now, we may not be able to go to Tappi tomorrow."
M's wife silently brought in the bottle of sake. From the beginning, his wife was a quiet woman but was not particularly angry at us. I thought about it again favorably to me.
"Should we have a little but not enough to get drunk?" I proposed to N.
"If I drink, I'll get drunk," said N with authority, "Shall we stay in Minmaya tonight?"
"That's good. Today, you can spend a relaxed day in Imabetsu and walk to Minmaya. A leisurely walk would take about an hour, right? No matter how much you drink, the walk is a cinch," M suggested. We decided to spend the night in Minmaya and began drinking.
From the moment I entered this room, there was one obstacle. The collection of literary essays of the fifty-year-old writer I criticized in Kanita was neatly arranged on M's desk. Readers are great people. Although I abused this author so much on that day on Kanranzan in Kanita, M's trust in this author did not seem the least bit shaky.
"Hey, let me see this book."
I was worried and restless. I borrowed M's book, flipped it open, and began reading with keen eyes. I wanted to pick out any flaw and sing a victory song. However, the place I read seemed to have been written when the writer was on edge and thoroughly absorbed. I read in silence. I read one page, two pages, three pages, and finally five pages, then I tossed the book aside.
"The part I read was fairly good. But his other works have some bad parts," said the sore loser.
M seemed delighted.
"The binding is splendid," I quietly said and added sour grapes, "If a large type like this is printed on this sort of high-grade paper, the text will look magnificent."
M ignored me and did not say a word but smiled the smile of a winner. The truth is I did not feel humiliated. I was relieved the text I read was good. More than finding errors and singing a song of triumph, I didn't understand how good that feeling is. I'm not lying. I long to read fine compositions.
Hongaku-ji is a famous temple in Imabetsu. It is known that the head priest was the great priest Teiden. He was written about in Aomori-ken Tsuushi (A Brief History of Aomori Prefecture) by Takeuchi Umpei.
It states:
Priest Teiden was the child of Niiyama Jinzaemon of Imabetsu and soon became a disciple in the Hirosaki Seigan-ji Temple and trained at Senshou-ji Temple in Iwakidaira for fifteen years. From the age of twenty-nine, he served as the chief priest at Hongaku-ji Temple in Imabetsu, Tsugaru. For his education until Koho year 16 (1731) when he reached forty-two years of age, he traveled to neighboring provinces in addition to traveling throughout the Tsugaru region. As during a memorial service for the erection of the gilt bronze pagoda in Koho year 12, throngs of pious men and women from the territory, such as the southern region, Akita, and Matsumae, were seen on pilgrimage to the temple.
N, the Sotogahama guide and town councilor, suggested we visit that temple.
"Talking about literature is fine, but your talk is not general. Some of it is curious. So no matter how much time passes, you will never become famous. Now, Priest Teiden," said N, who was fairly drunk, "Priest Teiden delayed explaining Buddha's teachings and first planned to advance the welfare of the people. If he hadn't, the people wouldn't have listened to anything about Buddha's teachings, you see. Priest Teiden revived industry and…" he interrupted himself with a burst of laughter.
; "Well, let's go. It would be a shame to come to Imabetsu and not see Hongaku-ji. Priest Teiden is the pride of Sotogahama. I say that but the truth is I still haven't seen it. This is a good opportunity. I want to see it today. Why don't we all go?"
As we drank, I talked about literature with so-called weird spots with M. He seemed to agree. But N's passion for Priest Teiden was intense, and he finally got our lazy butts up.
"Let's drop by this Hongaku-ji Temple then walk straight to Minmaya," I said as I sat on the step an the entryway and fastened my gaiters.
"Well, are you coming?" I invited M.
"Yes, I should go with you to Minmaya."
"I'd be grateful if you did. With this energy, I think we can have a long discussion about the town administration of Kanita at an inn in Minmaya. The truth is I've become melancholy. When I see you, I'm reassured. Mrs. M, tonight I'm borrowing your husband."
"All right," she said with a smile. She seemed more relaxed. No, she was probably resigned.
We filled water bottles with sake and set out in good cheer. Along the way, N shouted, "Priest Teiden! Priest Teiden!" The roof of the temple was in our sights when we came across an old woman selling fish. The cart she pulled was stacked with an assortment of fish. I found a sea bream about two feet long.
"How much for this sea bream?" I asked without guessing the price.
"One yen, seventy sen."
Cheap, I thought.
I bought it. However, after buying it, I was poor. And I was going to a temple. Carrying a two-feet-long fish to a temple was a strange plan. I became glum along the way.
"That purchase made no sense," said N twisting his mouth in scorn, "Why did you buy that?"