Fusehime reached for her short sword, unsheathed it, and thrust it into her belly. She moved the blade sideways, cutting herself open in a straight line. A strange white mist rushed out of the wound. Undulating, the mist enveloped the string of 108 crystal prayer beads around her neck and lifted them up into the air. Suddenly the string broke and fell to the ground, carrying with it a hundred clattering beads. The eight larger beads remained in the air, giving off light and circling. Their paths crossed as if they were bright comets passing through the sky.
Fusehime’s father, Yoshizane, and the others could do nothing to stop her. Dazed, they looked up at the still blue sky and tried to follow the dazzling globes of light. As they watched entranced, a harsh wind roared down from the mountains and carried off the eight soul-lights in different directions until they disappeared from sight. Finally, only the early evening moon remained above the mountains in the east. This was the beginning of the eight dog-heroes who would appear separately in the world and years later gather together in the Satomi clan.
Gravely wounded, Fusehime gazed steadily at the strange lights until they finally disappeared. “So!” she said. “At last I can feel happy. There actually weren’t any babies inside me at all. The gods obviously didn’t want me pregnant. Now I don’t need to doubt myself any longer. And no one else can doubt me, either. My mind is clear—as clear as that moon. I’ll be leaving with it, heading for the Pure Land beyond the western sky. Amida Buddha, please show me the way!”
As Fusehime chanted that final prayer, she pulled out the blood-spattered sword with her bloody hands and collapsed onto the ground. Her mind was so strong and her words so courageous that she hardly seemed to be a woman. Her death deeply moved everyone who saw it.
Fusehime counters Tamazusa’s resentful spirit with her even stronger spiritual power, and both she and the dog achieve enlightenment. The eight soul beads from Fusehime’s womb are reborn in the following two years as eight baby boys born to women in various locations around the Kantō Plain, later the site of Edo. Each of the boys has inu (dog) in his name, has a peony-shaped birthmark on his body, and comes into possession of one of the eight beads marked with the virtue he exemplifies. The grieving Kanamari becomes a monk named Chūdai (a name made up of two characters that, put together, mean “dog”) and wanders around the Kantō area, praying for Fusehime’s soul and searching for the eight soul beads. Eventually he finds them and explains to the possessors their relationship to one another and their future as virtuous fighters for justice and for the Satomi clan.
In the passage translated here, the first dog-hero to appear becomes partly aware of his identity. Inuzuka (literally, Dog Burial Mound)8 Shino is the son of a noted but now infirm warrior who lives in poverty near his elder half sister in the farming village of Ōtsuka (on the outskirts of what later became Edo). Shino’s grandfather, a trusted retainer of rebel Ashikaga deputy shōgun Mochiuji, has passed on to Shino’s father a precious sword—called Rain Shower (Murasame)—that possesses mysterious powers. It was entrusted to him by Mochiuji’s eldest son before he was killed and must be returned to the Ashikaga. Shino’s parents raise him as a girl in an effort to protect him. Dressed as a girl, Shino resembles Fusehime by constantly riding on his beloved dog, Yoshirō. Just before Shino was conceived, a female deity (Fusehime’s soul) riding on a flying dog threw one of the eight soul beads at Shino’s mother, suggesting that Shino is Fusehime’s virtual child.
Meanwhile, Shino’s mother dies, and Shino’s aunt Kamezasa and her husband, Hikiroku, covet the precious sword kept by Shino’s father. When Shino’s dog runs into his aunt’s house after killing her cat, his uncle severely wounds the dog with a bamboo spear, claiming that he destroyed an entitling document from the deputy shōgun. As punishment for this alleged crime, he demands the powerful sword, but Shino’s father refuses and commits suicide instead. Before he dies, Shino’s father tells the boy, now eleven, that from now on he must dress and act like a man, and he gives his son an additional warrior name, Moritaka, or Protector of Filial Devotion. It will now be Shino’s filial duty as a man to return the sword to the present Ashikaga deputy shōgun in Koga Castle. In the following scene, Shino’s dog Yoshirō has been seriously wounded by Hikiroku, and Shino’s father has just committed ritual suicide to take responsibility for the incident, leaving Shino in shock.
Shino in Ōtsuka Village
CHAPTER 19
. . . The dog lay on the straw mat that Shino had spread for him on the ground under the eaves. His deep wounds seemed to be too painful for him to bear, and he gave off a long howl. Anxiously, Shino looked over at him.
“Yoshirō’s still alive,” he said out loud to himself. “Right after Mother took him in, she got pregnant with me. But then, also because of him, Father had to kill himself. When I think about Yoshirō and then about Father, I love and hate the dog at the same time. But I can’t just let him lie there in pain. He’s been speared too many times and will never recover. If I leave him like this, he’ll suffer terribly tonight. It would be kinder to put him out of his misery. I could use the sword that Father left me. But I shouldn’t get it stained just to help an animal. Still, the blade’s supposed to have the power to repel blood. Why shouldn’t I use it on my dog?
“Yoshirō, let me put you out of your misery. Did you understand what I was saying?”
Shino took the sword and jumped down onto the ground. When he unsheathed the sword and raised it, the dog did not show the slightest fear. He calmly extended his forelegs and turned his neck toward the blade. Moved by the dog’s courage, Shino’s fingers loosened their grip around the handle. You’re a year older than I am, he thought. My parents raised you and took care of you all these years, and I’m used to seeing you every single day. I’m very fond of you. How could I possibly kill you? Shino hesitated, unsure of himself. Still, he thought, even if Yoshirō stays alive a little longer, my uncle’s going to kill him. I’m losing my nerve. Even animals can achieve buddhahood,9 he chanted silently, repeating the phrase as if it were a prayer, as the glinting blade cut through the dog’s neck. He heard the sound of the head hitting the ground. Then, with a loud roar, the dog’s red blood shot five feet up into the air. Shino could see something gleaming inside the blood, and when he reached out and grabbed it with his left hand, the spurting blood quickly subsided and stopped.
Mysteriously, just as his father had said, there was no blood on the sword blade. Only evening dew dripped from its tip. The sword had lived up to its name Rain Shower. Shino quickly wiped off the blade with his sleeve and put it back in its sheath at his waist. Then he rubbed the clotting blood off the object that had come out of the dog’s cut throat and examined it. It was about twice the size of a large pea, round and clear like crystal, with a hole through it. Perhaps it was a decoration for a pouch string, or more probably, a prayer bead. Curious, Shino held it up to the bright moonlight. He was sure he could see a character inside it. Yes, there it was, the character for filial devotion. It wasn’t carved by a knife or made of lacquer. It had appeared on its own.
“What a strange object!” Shino said out loud, slapping his knee. “And what mysterious writing! I don’t know much about what happened, but this might be related to something Mother told me. One day she was going to make her daily prayer at the Benzaiten Shrine by the Takino River.10 On her way home, she saw a very cute puppy. As she was hurrying home with the puppy, a female god appeared in front of her and gave her a small bead. But Mother said she dropped it, and it fell near the puppy. Mother looked very hard for the bead but could never find it. She also said that around this time she discovered she was pregnant. Then in the Seventh Month of the next year,11 she gave birth to me. Later, Mother was sick for a long time, and our prayers to the gods and buddhas got no response at all, and she seemed to be dying. I wondered whether it was all because she’d lost that bead. For a while I thought she might recover if I could only find it, but I’d never seen it myself. I wouldn’t recognize it even if I saw it. The
next winter Mother died. Then, almost three years later, Father committed suicide. And just when I’m about to set out with him to the other world, a mysterious bead comes out of my dog’s throat, a bead with the character for ‘filial devotion,’ the second character of the name Father gave me. I discover this after I’ve already lost my parents and I’ve made up my mind to die! But it’s too late to be thinking about caring for my parents. What good is this thing now?” Angry, Shino threw the bead away. It struck the ground with a sharp sound and then rebounded back and fell through the front of his robe. Shino was amazed. He reached into his robe, found the bead, and threw it away again. But it rebounded back into the front of his robe. After this happened a third time, Shino folded his arms, trying to figure out what was happening. Finally he nodded his head as if he had understood.
“This bead surely has a soul in it,” he mumbled to himself. “When Mother dropped it, Yoshirō must have swallowed it. Even twelve years later, that dog still had good teeth and shiny hair, and he jumped around like a puppy. It must have been because of the bead inside him. This bead could be the most valuable treasure in the world, the priceless jewel of the marquis of Sui or the jewel of Bian He in ancient China. Still, I won’t let a jewel make me cling to life. They say aristocrats are sometimes buried with jewels in their mouths—but those jewels were just wasted. After I’m dead, if someone wants this sword and the bead, they’re welcome to take them. It’s time to catch up with Father. I’m too far behind him already!”
Inside a dilapidated farmhouse, Bansaku, Shino’s father, has committed suicide and is lying on the floor, with bloody handprints surrounding him. After cutting off his dog’s head with a mysterious sword, Shino watches a soul bead fly up in the dog’s blood. The covetous Kamezasa and Hikiroku secretly witness the scene from behind the fence (upper left). Text: “Deciding to commit suicide, Shino beheads Yoshirō.”
Shino went back inside the room. Sitting down beside his father’s body, he prepared himself mentally to die. He took the sword his father had given him and held it up. Three times he lifted it above his head to show his respect. Then he slipped off the top of his robe and bared himself to the waist. He noticed a large peony-shaped mark on his left arm. Surprised, he bent his arm and carefully tried to wipe it off. It was black, but it wasn’t ink or anything else that would rub off. Suddenly he struck his arm.
“This mark wasn’t here yesterday,” he said. “Or even earlier today. When that bead came flying back into my robe, it hit my left arm. It stung for a moment, but it couldn’t have caused a mark this big. Father told me mysterious things happen when a country is in decline or when a person is about to die. I’ve read the same thing in Chinese books. I must be seeing something like that. But it’s just my own mind. I’m worrying too much. After I die, my body will turn back to dirt. Why should I care about spots or moles on my skin?”
Shino was a gifted, godlike child. His bravery was supported by an unshakable will, and his intelligence and ability with words equaled those of the best of the ancients. He was already as wise as Gan Luo, a royal adviser and diplomat at twelve, or the boy genius Kong Rong, both of whom gained such fame in ancient China. What a pity it was that he had decided to kill himself.
Before he can commit suicide, Shino is stopped by a friendly local farmer and by his aunt and uncle, who take him into their family and dress him as a boy. The aunt and uncle adopt Shino, hoping to steal the precious sword, and to keep up the appearance of intimacy with Shino, they announce that Shino will marry their stepdaughter Hamaji when the two become old enough. When Kyūroku, a rich representative of the Kamakura regime, asks to marry Hamaji, the couple secretly agrees and persuades Shino to go to Koga Castle to return the sword to the Ashikaga shōgunal deputy. Early on the night before Shino’s departure, they have the sword stolen and replaced with an ordinary one and plan to force Hamaji to marry Kyūroku after Shino leaves. Shino is attended by a servant, Gakuzō, who also turns out to have a peony-shaped birthmark and a bead with the word “justice” in it. An orphan, Gakuzō reveals to Shino that his family name is Inukawa (Dog River), and they become sworn brothers. Later he is revealed to be one of the dog-heroes.
Hamaji and Shino
CHAPTER 25
. . . Shino lay down, but he longed for dawn to come and couldn’t fall asleep. All alone in the world, he lay thinking about his journey and his future. No one would stop him now, yet his parents’ graves were here, and Ōtsuka was where he was born. It made him very sad to leave this place. His fiancée, Hamaji, was filled with a sadness just as fierce. She had endless things she wanted to tell Shino to stop his going, but she had no way to say them. Quietly she got up and left her bedroom. In the storeroom nearby, where her parents slept, she could hear snoring. Her parents kept her strictly away from her fiancé, and she was filled with fear that they would wake up. The path between her room and Shino’s was always closely guarded during the day, and tonight, as she walked freely toward the room of the man she loved, she moved quickly, terrified that someone might be watching. Very softly Hamaji opened the door to Shino’s room. Her knees shook violently as she stepped inside. She knew life was uncertain and constantly changing, but were she and Shino really never going to see each other again? Life seemed sad, full of pain, bitterness, and cruelty.
As Hamaji came closer to Shino, he sensed someone approaching and pulled his sword to his side. Suddenly he jumped up, shouting, “Who is it?” But there was only silence. Shino suspected someone might be listening for the sound of his breathing and trying to find out where he was sleeping in order to put a sword through him in the dark. Sure that he was in danger, Shino turned the lamp in the direction of the intruder. It was Hamaji. She had stopped, modestly, at the back edge of the mosquito netting covering his bed. She lay face down on the floor, sobbing silently, doing her best to muffle her sobs, but Shino could see tears coming from her eyes. She was obviously very upset and in great pain.
Shino was a brave man and had never feared anyone, but now his heart was pounding. He tried to calm himself as he stepped outside the netting, unhooked it, and put his bedding away.
“Hamaji,” he said, “why have you come here in the middle of the night when you should be sleeping? Don’t you know the saying, ‘Don’t bend down to adjust your shoes while you’re in a watermelon patch, or reach up to straighten your headpiece while you’re under a plum tree’? People will suspect us.”
Hamaji, indignant, wiped away her tears and raised her head. “You ask as though you didn’t know why I’ve come. Has our relationship come to nothing more than this? Yes, I know, we’re only engaged, and our marriage is still nothing but a promise. We haven’t gone through with the final ceremonies, so you have a certain right to speak like that. But haven’t my parents declared to everyone that we’re going to be married? And on tonight of all nights, when you’re about to leave this house forever, there would be nothing shameful in saying a few words of good-bye to me. But no, you act as if nothing were happening, even up to the moment you leave. And you don’t make the slightest attempt to say even a single word to me. Do you have any feelings at all?”
Shino sighed deeply. “I’m a human being. I’m not made of wood or stone. I’m very aware of what you feel for me. But my aunt and her husband hate me every minute I’m here, so there was no way I could meet you and tell you what I was planning. I know how real your love for me is. Even though I have to hide my feelings, I’m sure you know how deeply I love you. Koga’s just forty miles from here. They say a round trip takes only three or four days, so please be patient until I come back.”
“Now,” Hamaji said, wiping away her tears, “you’re lying to me. Once you leave, there’s no reason for you ever to come back again. Here you’d be a caged bird longing to be in the sky with your friends. When a man leaves the village he was born in, it means he wants to find a lord who’ll take him in and give him a stipend for life. As you know, my stepparents are unreliable, and now they’ve decided to get rid of you. Th
ey’re sending you on this trip, and they don’t expect you to come back. And you, you can hardly wait to leave. So once you leave, that’s the end. Tonight is the last time we’ll ever see each other.
“I have four parents.” Hamaji continued. “You’ve probably already heard about all of them, but my stepparents won’t tell me anything about my real parents. From what I’ve been able to put together from rumors, my real father is Nerima Heizaemon’s retainer, and I have brothers. I don’t know our family name, though. My stepparents have shown me much kindness by bringing me up, but I also owe a great debt of gratitude to my real parents, who brought me into the world. So I’d like very much to know more about my real parents. But I’m a woman, and I haven’t been able to talk to anyone about this. I keep it inside myself and worry, and many nights I don’t sleep at all. I’ve prayed with all my heart to every god there is to let me see my real parents for a moment in a dawn dream. But no.
“This has been going on for many years. It’s almost more than I can bear. And then, in the Fourth Month of last year, everyone was saying that the Toshima and Nerima clans, with all their retainers and servants, had been cut down by their enemies. People said no one at all was left alive. When I try to imagine how my parents and brothers were killed, it grieves me until I can’t think about anything else. Often I can’t control my feelings, and I have to be very careful not to let my stepparents see me crying. I thought that if I confessed to you, you could help me learn the names of my real parents and brothers. You’re the only one I can ask. Please, find out where they died and pray for their souls. I can’t hide anything from you. Why should I? You’ll be my husband for as long as I live.
Early Modern Japanese Literature: An Anthology, 1600–1900 Page 125