Guided by the monk’s lantern, Mitsuuji and Tasogare walk down a dilapidated corridor. Mitsuuji holds his sword under his arm and leads Tasogare by the hand while she loosens her sash and tries to calm herself. The large text to the right reads: “Drawings by Kunisada, Text by Tanehiko.”
I’m extremely tired tonight,” Mitsuuji finally said to Tasogare. “We don’t need to leave until late in the morning. Let’s take our time and get some rest.” Only then was he able to get the monk to leave.
9
After they were alone again, Mitsuuji continued to comfort and encourage Tasogare in the abandoned guest room. It must have been past midnight. A strong wind was blowing, and they could hear the rough soughing of many pines. The weak, low voice of an owl made them feel even lonelier. Then the woman’s shape appeared again. She was a demon woman now, and she kicked her way through the sliding doors, which were painted with an aristocrat’s oxcart.26 She waved her horns, which were like gnarled old branches, and in one hand she held an iron pole. Her eyes bore down on the two.
“Other people,” she said, “have listened to Buddhist preachings and ridden on the cart of the Buddhist law, escaping from the burning house of existence.27 Yet I—have I not destroyed the cart painted on those doors? I am one of those who will never escape. Ah, how unbearable this sadness is. The spring blossoms we watched, the autumn full moons we enjoyed together, the vows we made to become one for all time—they were all, all empty. My heart has grown bitter like dew on fern sprouts no one comes to pick, and I have come all the way here to take revenge. Who am I? The angry soul of Lady Futaba, whom you once loved but now neglect.” The woman shook out her hair until it fell the length of her body, and she stood there motionless.
At a house in the Sixth Avenue licensed quarter, the courtesan Akogi sleeps, resting against her long pipe. The ornamental scent bag hanging above her and the pattern on her robe reveal that her spirit has left her body and has gone to haunt Mitsuuji and Tasogare.
Mitsuuji laughed loudly. “There is one known case in ancient times of an aristocrat seeing a demon at the palace and driving it away. But something’s very suspicious. True, your outer robe is one that Lady Futaba likes to wear. I remember its design. So you must be someone with a grudge against her. You managed to get hold of one of her robes, and now you pretend to be a demon—to shock me with a display of jealousy and make me leave her completely. And do you also hold a grudge against me? Confess everything.”
A demon woman appears, tearing a hole through the rain-streaked sliding door panels. Her underrobe with the crow-flock pattern and the red and white dandara-pattern cane she holds in her right hand reveal that she is Shinonome in disguise. The large painting in the back of an ox carriage, which was used by Heian aristocrats, alludes to the nō play Lady Aoi and the “Aoi” chapter of The Tale of Genji.
“How dare you speak like that?” the strange woman said, shaking her head. “Time keeps passing, and your unfaithfulness has made me more miserable than the morning glory that shrivels in the early sun. So soon. Oh so soon! Yesterday I was beautiful, but today—only a dream.
11
“It is always hard for women to achieve salvation,” she said, “but know this. Your acts, too, have consequences in the bitter floating world of human existence. The cartwheel of karma never stops turning, and retribution for your own acts is now coming back to you.” She tossed aside her iron pole and in an instant unsheathed a dagger, pointed it at Mitsuuji, and lunged at him.
Earlier in the evening, Tasogare had fainted when she saw the strange shape, but now she showed no fear. Grabbing the wide sedge hat, which lay near her on the floor, she placed herself between the shape and Mitsuuji and shielded him with the hat.
The demon woman was furious. “Move,” she said, pulling Tasogare out of her way. As she did, a mountain monk pushed his way up through the floor mats and appeared beside her. He had done austerities on Mount Ōmine, where the Diamond World and Womb Word mandalas interpenetrate,28 and his linen cloak had brushed against the dew of the Pure Land paradise that manifests itself on the sacred mountain. Over his shoulders he wore the surplice that had helped him endure his many austerities and protected him from impurity, and in his hands he held large prayer beads made of red quince wood. These he fingered as he came closer to the demon woman. Suddenly he grabbed her firmly around the waist.
Tasogare fearlessly grabs the sedge hat and stands between the demon woman (center) and Mitsuuji. Kiyonosuke (right) appears in the guise of the mountain monk who repels the demon woman in the nō play Lady Aoi.
“Life,” he said, “is as fleeting as a flash of lightning. Humans should not hold grudges, and no one ever needs to grieve. Realize this and be enlightened!” As he spoke, he tried to force the demon woman down onto the floor.
But the woman quickly pushed his arm away. “Enough,” she said. “I suffer so much I will never be saved, and my bitterness is very deep. Tonight I will take revenge for something I can never, never forget. This man is the offspring of the man who destroyed my father. What I do now I do for my father’s anguished soul. May it now leave this world, liberated at last!” She ran once more at Mitsuuji.
“Stop!” Tasogare said, stepping in the demon woman’s way again, with no regard for her own life.
To everyone’s horror, Tasogare slits her throat. Shinonome rushes toward Tasogare, flinging her demon woman mask to the floor. Both Mitsuuji and Kiyonosuke (left) gasp at the sight.
The mountain monk quickly came up behind the demon woman. “Malicious being, out!” he said. “You pretend to attack my lord’s lover, then suddenly want to harm my lord.”
Very slowly the three circled one another, the demon woman determined to stab Mitsuuji, and the other two equally determined to stop her. Mitsuuji stood calmly nearby, watching with no hint of surprise on his face. The mountain monk waited, and when he saw a chance, he grabbed the demon woman’s forearm, twisting it until she was on the floor. Then he sat on her, not allowing her the slightest movement.
“Ah, is there no pity anywhere?” Tasogare said. She seemed ready to go to the demon woman but didn’t. Shocked, she uttered only “Oh!” and collapsed forward onto the floor.
“She must be afraid again,” Mitsuuji said, going toward her. “That demon’s not even very frightening. She certainly is fainthearted.” But when Mitsuuji reached Tasogare, he was shaken. “Ah!” he exclaimed. “She’s cut her throat with a razor. She’s hardly breathing.”
“Of all the things!” the mountain monk said. “Now we’ve lost our valuable hostage.” His grip on the demon woman loosened momentarily, and she pushed him away and flung off her demon mask. It was Shinonome. She went to her daughter and lifted her in her arms.
“I did all those horrible things just for you,” Shinonome said, overcome with grief. “So you could find a good place for yourself in the world. Do you really hate me so much you’ve killed yourself? What a shame, what a terrible shame!”
Impatient, Mitsuuji came up to her. “Listen, Shinonome, listen carefully. You dressed yourself up as a demon woman, but I could see it was you by the way your feet moved—just like a dance master’s.
12
“It’s fortunate you’ve come,” Mitsuuji said. “Just now I was about to capture you and question you, but then Tasogare committed suicide. I want to ask you about many things, but first, let me tell you we know it was you who broke into the shōgunal storehouse and stole the Kogarasumaru sword.29 Your thin robe with the folding fan designs is missing a sleeve—that’s clear evidence. I noticed the robe stretched out to dry when I visited Korekichi’s house to see his sick mother, and I wanted to know more about it. Then, fortunately, you invited us in, and I became intimate with your daughter. Every time I’ve visited, including tonight, I’ve looked for the sword, but it was nowhere in the house. You’ve given it to someone else. And now you’re going to tell me who you gave it to.” He came up and stood beside Shinonome.
The mountain monk also came up to he
r. “My name is Nikki Kiyonosuke,” he said, “and I was in charge of guarding the shōgunal treasure house. It was a cloudy night in the Fifth Month. I saw a shape escaping, but it was so dark I couldn’t really make out anything. While we were struggling, the moon came out from behind the clouds, but the light was very dim. I could see that the thief was a woman, but she had a towel over her face, so I couldn’t see her face. I used my pronged pole, though, and ripped off one sleeve of her robe as she got away. I presented the sleeve as evidence, and then I myself went searching everywhere for the sword. When I came to your house, I had no idea you were the thief, but Lord Mitsuuji quietly pointed out to me that the cypress-blade folding fan design on the torn sleeve matched the design on the robe pieces that were stretched out to dry, and he ordered me to watch you. So I’ve paid close attention to you in your different disguises. I didn’t see the thief’s face, but there’s definitely something about your appearance that reminds me of her. And now you’ve plotted to kill my lord Mitsuuji. There must be a reason for it. It’s time to confess.”
Caught between Mitsuuji and his retainer, Shinonome suddenly raised her dagger and plunged it deep into her own stomach. Then she gave out a great sigh. “Now that I’ve come this far,” she said, “why should I hide anything? I’ll tell you now how karma worked itself out in my life. It’s a long story, but please listen to it all. I once was named Yokogumo.
Placing one foot on the table, Shinonome commits seppuku as she tells her story, and Mitsuuji and Kiyonosuke listen attentively. The sedge hat is smeared with Tasogare’s bloody handprints.
13
“My father was Itabatake Noritomo, the former governor of Ise Province. He led a rebellion against the shōgun, but he was surrounded at Kontaiji Castle and destroyed by Yoshimasa.30 I am the only member of the clan who survived. I escaped with my wet nurse, and she helped me get a job serving in the palace. When I was twenty, it must have been, I had a secret affair with a low-ranking young samurai named Shigesaka Hamon. Soon I found I was pregnant. It was Tasogare. Then people began to notice my condition, so we had to run away. We found a small house near Tadasu,31 and my husband hid the fact that he was a samurai with a family name and pretended to be a commoner named Dorozō. At that time Yoshimasa’s favorite was Lady Hirugao, and one of her ladies-in-waiting was Dorozō’s younger sister Kikyō.32 Through his sister, Dorozō got a job as a servant running errands for Hirugao outside the palace, and eventually Hirugao came to treat him just like one of her regular retainers.
A scene from seventeen years earlier. Hitting the floor with her long pipe, Shinonome admonishes her husband Dorozō, who holds a handscroll containing the secrets of stealth. Tasogare (left), still a child, plays by a small two-panel screen.
“One day when Tasogare was three, Dorozō told me he’d heard that the Itabatake clan possessed very rare techniques for achieving virtual invisibility. And he asked me to teach the techniques to him if they’d been transmitted to me. Well, my wet nurse had given me a keepsake sword from my father as well as an amulet dedicated to our clan god. She also passed on to me a scroll describing the clan’s secret stealth techniques. When I got it out and showed it to Dorozō, he read right through it and then told me very happily that at last his hopes were going to be realized. I thought this was very strange and asked him why anyone would want to use those techniques when the country was at peace.
“‘Yoshimasa loves many women,’ he answered, lowering his voice, ‘but one of them, Hanagiri,33 is more beautiful than all the rest, and she’s caused Hirugao to lose her place as the shōgun’s favorite. These days he almost never visits Hirugao. So she asked me to get rid of Hanagiri for her. But I didn’t know how to get into the women’s quarters unseen, and I had to keep putting it off. Then I remembered that your clan was supposed to have some special techniques. Now I’ve read the scroll, and I’m finally ready. I’ll do the job tonight.’
“I was astounded. ‘Has poverty brought your spirit down so low,’ I asked, ‘that you’re willing to do a thing like this? Why in the world are you going to kill a woman who’s never done a thing to harm you? And Hanagiri’s pregnant now, so you’d be taking two lives. Don’t even think of doing it.’
“But he refused to listen. ‘Kikyō owes a lot to Hirugao,’ he said, ‘and so do I. Hirugao’s enemy is my enemy.’ That same night he managed to get into the women’s quarters, but he was careless and killed Hirugao by mistake. He knew he could never raise his head in front of me again, so he never came home. He became a monk and went around the country praying for the dead woman’s soul. After five years, though, he was killed accidentally by Kikyō.34 But you know about that already, Mitsuuji. While Dorozō was dying, he didn’t mention he had a wife and child. I’d already taken Tasogare and gone somewhere else, and when Dorozō heard about it later he thought I’d remarried and was extremely bitter.
14
“After I left Dorozō, I made a living teaching dancing and managed to remain a widow, but we were very poor, and in the summer of the year Tasogare was fifteen, a man said he wanted her for his mistress. It was a miserable situation. She didn’t like the man, but I made her sleep with him anyway. After Tasogare had a baby girl, the man’s wife became very jealous and forced him to break off the relationship. I had a granddaughter, but after the man stopped coming we couldn’t take care of her and gave her away.
“We were having a very hard time getting along, and then one day someone came and told me he’d heard I knew some powerful stealth techniques. He promised to give me a very nice reward if I could get inside the shōgunal treasure house, steal a short sword called Karasumaru, and deliver it to him. Then he held some gold pieces out in front of me. Ah! As soon as I saw that gold, I started thinking about how I could buy my daughter the clothes she wanted. And instead of making her suffer, I could help her find a man she loved. I loved Tasogare so much I couldn’t see straight. Years before, I’d tried to stop Dorozō, but now I was the one who made a bad mistake. I stole the sword and turned it right over to the man. Then I remodeled the house on Fifth Avenue and got us new things and clothes—all with the money he gave me.
“And then you came to visit Korekichi and saw the blossoms on the crow gourd vines and asked a man to pick some. I could see Tasogare had fallen in love with you and was longing to meet you, so I went next door and invited you over. I still didn’t know you were Mitsuuji, but you obviously weren’t an ordinary person, so I thought you would be a good match for Tasogare. While we were entertaining you, this man here, Nikki Kiyonosuke, came to the door wanting to see you. Well, I was sure I’d seen him before, and then I remembered. He was the one who ripped off my sleeve after I’d stolen the sword. My face was hidden, so he couldn’t have seen it, but in the dim moonlight I’d seen his face clearly. I was afraid to be in the same room with him, so I left, pretending I was going to get some saké. And the next morning, when I saw the face of the nun whom Tasogare had invited in, it was Kikyō, my husband’s sister. It had been a long time, but we both remembered each other. After you left, we began talking about the old days, and we both got carried away and cried a lot. Kikyō also told me about you, and I learned who you were. Before she left, she gave me the robe Lady Futaba had given her and told me to use it for Tasogare if she got lucky and began to appear in high places.
15
“Then, at the beginning of this month, the same man who asked me to steal the sword came to my house again. ‘I hear Mitsuuji is coming to see Tasogare,’ he said. ‘He’s still young, but he’s very intelligent and sees things. He’s blocking a very important plan. If you can dispose of him, I’ll give you twice as much as I did before. If you refuse, well, then I’ll come here with a lot of other men, and we’ll put you and your daughter away along with Mitsuuji.’ Then he disappeared. I thought about how Tasogare was the daughter of a man who tried to kill your mother, Hanagiri, and I knew if you ever heard about that from Kikyō, you would never stay with her. That would be the end of it. You’re the son of the
shōgun Yoshimasa, who destroyed my father, Noritomo. You were the closest I could get to my real enemy, so why shouldn’t I take revenge for my father and use the money to help my daughter find someone else to marry? I’m sure Tasogare told you how I spent all my time coming up with a good plan.
“And then earlier tonight you shocked me with the hokku about the crow gourds that you wrote on the torn sleeve of my robe. You already knew I’d stolen the Kogarasumaru sword. I remembered that when you were describing your dream to Kikyō, you said that Lady Futaba was extremely jealous. So I turned Futaba’s padded robe into this long outer cloak and dressed up the way I am now. I was going to stab you while you were confused. But then my daughter committed suicide. After that I just couldn’t go on. I have nothing left to hope for, so I decided to commit suicide too.” Shinonome talked to the very end without giving in to her pain.
Tasogare, also in great pain, was still breathing. “I never imagined,” she said to Mitsuuji, “all the things that were on your mind. I thought you were coming to see me only because you loved me, even though I was a poor commoner, and I found myself loving you more and more. I had discovered the terrible thing Mother was planning to do, so I left and came all the way here to this temple with you. Earlier tonight, I was frightened by the strange woman’s shape, and after I fainted, you held me in your arms. Later, when the demon woman’s shape burst through the sliding doors, I was afraid at first, but when I looked closely, I recognized the embroidery on her robe. It’s the one the nun gave her. And her voice sounded exactly like Mother’s, so I realized she’d come here to kill you. What utter sadness I felt then! It was the end of everything. But if I killed myself, I thought she might relent, so I used the razor I brought with me. But it was all for nothing. Now Mother’s killed herself, too. The words written on the hat you held over us when it started raining, ‘We two traveling together,’ I think they must have been saying mother and daughter would soon be setting out together for the other world. But how could we possibly go together to the Pure Land paradise? Mother’s demon costume shows well enough where she’s going—she’s already being tortured in hell. Ah, sadness beyond sadness!” She began to cry uncontrollably.
Early Modern Japanese Literature: An Anthology, 1600–1900 Page 116