***THE END***
FOOTPRINTS ON THE CEILING OF HEAVEN
By Takao Kimura
This is a story about what happened in Shimouchi in the town of Seki a long, long time ago as three children entered the gate to Ryutaiji, the Great Dragon Temple chattering.
"That big storm three days ago was scary, wasn't it?" one of them, Taukichi, said. "Look at the big cedar tree in the temple grounds. It's torn out by its roots. How about your house, Yuhta? Anything neat happen there?"
"The roof off the ox shed went flying off and the cow ran away," Yuhta gestured excitedly. "Me and Mameta went looking for her yesterday and guess where we found her?"
"Drinking water out of the bottomless swamp near the temple," said Mameta excitedly, unable to stop himself from finishing off his big brother's story. As the story finished, the three of them found themselves next to the big rock that stuck out the earth on the temple's grounds. They liked to play hide and seek here and the rock was the perfect hiding place.
"Dohryoh's usually here playing already by the time we get here," Taukichi said, as more of their friends came running and yelling through the temple's gate to join them. "But he's not here today."
"Hey, where's Dohryoh?" one of them asked. "Isn't he here yet?"
"Nope, not today," Yuhta said worriedly. "Maybe there was a landslide on the road to his house and he can't get here."
"Yeah, and maybe the bridge on the way to the road washed out in the storm, too," Mameta said.
Suddenly, Taukichi struck his hand into his open fist, making a big sound and causing everybody to look his way. "Hey, I know. Let's go and explore all the damage the storm's done and on the way we can go to meet Dohryoh, too."
"Last one there's a rotten egg," shouted Yuhta and Mameta excitedly, the children running out of the temple together excitedly.
"Not that way," shouted Taukichi from the back of the pack. "Dohryoh lives to the north, in the heart of the mountain."
"Right," they yelled back, dashing off full of high spirits to the mountain in the north. But before they went too far they found a big rock twice the height of an adult blocking the road. Next to it was a big tree that had been uprooted, its trunk broken halfway over the road so that it was blocked and no one could get by. Somehow or other, though, the children managed to squeeze by and run up the road as far as they could to the top of the mountain.
"Dohryoh's house is just on the other side of the river that flows at the bottom of this road!" Taukichi said confidently, as the group slowly scrambled their way down the slope through the trees.
"Hey, I can hear the river!" called out Mameta, a natural leader, cheering them on. The roar of the river and knowing they could meet Dohryoh soon made them whoop and yell encouragement to each other, spurring them on even more, but even though they ran down in their good spirits as fast as they could, the road was in bad shape after the storm with rocks and trees everywhere and it was slow going. Together, they stumbled to the right, dodged to the left, caught a few branches across their faces, and found themselves near the river.
"Look!" shouted Taukichi, running towards the river bank, everyone following him. "The bridge. It's gone!"
They all looked, and there in the muddy, roiling water that used to be the river was the bridge, washed out and laying diagonally on the far side of the river bank, the river's waves lapping up against the broken wood.
"It took us a lot of trouble just to get this far," complained Yuhta, arms folded and stamping his feet. "How are we supposed to get to Dohryoh's place now?"
"It probably won't do any good," said Taukichi, "but let's call him and see what happens."
On Taukichi's advice, the children all put their voices together and called for Dohryoh as loud as they could.
"Dohhhh-rohhhhhh-saaamaaaa ... " they called out as one, but it got lost in the rumble of the river and didn't make it to the other side.
"One, two, three. Dohhh-rohhhh-saaaamaaaa ... " the children called out again, using their bodies like a tube to hurdle the voices from their throats.” Dohhhh-rohhhhhh-saaamaaaa . . ." Five times in all.
"Stop, stop," commanded Taukichi. "Listen. I think I hear something." Sure enough, if they listened hard enough, they could just make out Dohryoh's voice floating across the river, like the low pitch of a temple bell at night. Before they knew it, there was Dohryoh waving his hand from the far side of the river.
"Dohryoh, are you okay?" shouted out Taukichi in a loud, happy voice.
"Dohryoh, there's no bridge!" yelled out Mameta, equally as loud. "How are you going to get over here?"
But Dohryoh just smiled and shook his head, walking over to a big cedar tree as big around as an adult's arm spread. He leaped at the tree and shinnied up to the top like a monkey, where he tore off a wisteria vine twisted around the trunk.
"Tarzan!" he yelled, jumping off the top of the tree, one end of the wisteria vine in his hand, the other end fastened to the trunk of the cedar tree.
"Look!" said Mameta, blinking his eyes in disbelief. "Dohryoh's jumped down from the top of the tree!"
"Oh!" they gasped in disbelief together, as Dohryoh's black ball of a body hurled across the blue sky until it came towards the middle of the river where he let go of the vine and came flying down in front of the children, his hand and feet spread out as far as they could.
"Taa-daa! My flying squirrel trick!" he said triumphantly, landing in front of their feet.
But the children just stood there, their mouths open in surprise, staring in disbelief.
"What are you so surprised about?" Dohryoh wanted to know, but they couldn't get a word out of their mouths after seeing such a feat. Finally, the oldest, Taukichi, was just able to speak.
"Dohryoh," he said with awe. "That was really something. Just like the monkey flying in the clouds like the old Chinese legend."
His voice broke the spell and the children came to with a start, cheering him and yelling their praise.
"Dohryoh, that was great! Teach me that flying squirrel trick, too."
"Yeah, come on. There's a wisteria tree growing just on the other side of that field. Let's go there and play."
They all ran over to the wisteria vine and argued under it over who would go first. "Yuhta's the bravest, so he'll go first."
At once, Yuhta grabbed the vine and swung as far as he could, but try as he might he couldn't repeat the flying squirrel feat. Instead, he ended with a crash on his forehead by a nearby oak tree.
"Ouch!" he cried.
"Ha, ha, ha," laughed his little brother, Mameta, who was next. "That was funny. But I'm not going to end up like you. Watch." He grabbed the rope, ran forward, and swung himself as hard as he could, but only ended up head over heels tumbling through the sky. It didn't look much like a flying squirrel at all. One after another, they all tried, but each of them ended up bashing a hip, or a shin, or a thigh. Not one of them could fly through the air with the grace of a squirrel like Dohryoh, although he did his best to teach them how. No one could do it, but they had a wonderful time trying.
The seasons changed and soon the cherry trees were in full bloom. Spring was here. It was the time of the year for everyone to start building the new main hall at the Great Dragon Temple, but before they could begin they had a big problem to solve. Plopped right in the middle of the temple grounds where the new hall would go was a huge rock, so big that the part they could all see sticking out of the ground was dwarfed by the part buried underground.
"If only that rock weren't there, we could build a wonderful new shrine," the temple priest sighed, staring at it balefully.
"That rock was thrown here by an evil goblin years and years ago," an old man who had come up to pray at the temple said to him, overhearing him.
"Is that right? A goblin?" the priest said, attacking the rock with his waist, then hands, then back, but no matter how he tried the rock wouldn't budge.
About a month later, five giant sumo wrestlers came from the capital to drum up
enthusiasm for the next big sumo tournament. One look at them and the priest immediately came up with the idea of asking them to help move the rock.
"First we have to warm up," they said, the villagers all gaping at their strength as one by one, the sumo wrestlers lifted the huge black pillar supporting the temple with a single hand. Next, the five of them squatter under the temple's big, old bronze bell and at the leaders command gave a shout and carried it about ten steps, causing the people watching bursting into loud applause.
"With that much power, there'll be no problem moving that old rock," the priest said to himself, breathing a sigh of relief.
The warm-up over, it was time to move the rock. Summoning up all the power they had, the five huge men flexed their massive legs and shoulders, spreading their hands onto the surface of the rock like a fan.
"One, two, three," they chanted, and put their backs into it, huge leg muscles straining in the dirt, but the rock wouldn't budge.
"Again," they shouted, not willing to give up. "One, two, three, lift!" But no matter how they strained and pushed, the rock wouldn't stir, not even a smidgen. Hanging their heads in shame, the wrestlers gave up, and headed for home.
Ten days later, the priest had another idea and asked the villagers to bring the ox they were raising in the village to the temple. They wrapped a length of thick wire around the rock and attached the other end to the bull. All along the length of the rope, the village's strongest and most virile young men stood, ready to help pull. They were confident this time, summoning up all the resources of the village, they could move that stubborn rock. Those not pulling cheered them on, beating drums and ringing bells to cheer them on and gather every ounce of power they had in them.
"One, two, three, pon, pon!" the drums beat out.
"One, two, three, pull!" the people yelled.
There was a wonderful sound like the rock was about to move, but in the end all that happened was the wire broke and the rock was where it always was, mocking them with its intransigence.
"Drat!" cursed the priest. "No matter what we try it won't move. It's beyond the realm of human power to make that cursed rock move!"
They were at a complete loss as to what to try next. All the posts and pillars and planks and boards and tiles for the new temple hall had been gathered and piled in the garden behind the temple waiting for the rock to be moved and building to begin. They began to think that maybe they'd even have to change their plans to build the new hall.
"Hey, Mr. Priest. Watch what Dohryoh can do," yelled out the children playing around the piles of construction materials in the yard.
"You've never seen anyone so strong," piped in Yuhta. "Dohryoh's got the power of a thousand men." The children took turns telling the priest about the story of how Dohryoh had crossed the river after the big storm last fall. They could see how the adults were troubled, so they decided to ask Dohryoh to help them out.
"Dohryoh, stop hiding and come out here!" ordered Taukichi, turning around to face the back of the garden. A little while later, he appeared from behind the piles of building materials littering the yard.
"Dohryoh," the priest said with a deep, serious face. He was getting desperate and willing to try anything by now, even these children's fairy tales. "Will you lend us your power to help move this big rock? The children all seem to think you can do anything. Why don't you show me what you can do?"
Smiling, Dohryoh went over to the big rock and stood there patiently looking at it and thinking. "I know this rock," he said. "We always hide behind it when we play hide and seek. It's buried in there pretty deep. But the ground's really soft around here. Soft ground like that, it'll be hard to move it. I'll tell you what. Spread some sturdy planks on the ground around it. That should do the trick. Then, once I get it out, I'll throw it away in the bottomless swamp just outside the temple gate."
The villagers looked at Dohryoh with disbelieving faces, but the priest quickly moved to bring some strong, thick boards and spread them out around the rock under Dohryoh's feet. The children's faces were starting to twitch under the strain of dealing with such sceptical grown-ups.
"Come on, Dohryoh. You can do it," called out Taukichi quickly. "Throw the stupid rock in the swamp and show 'em."
Dohryoh looked over at Taukichi then waved and rolled up the sleeves of his kimono with a jerk. Before they knew what he was doing, he thrust his arms out until they were as wide around as a big pine tree. With hands like an Indian god (the two Deva kings), he put his hands on the rock and concentrated the full force of his power on the rock. Dohryoh's face turned red and the earth started to shake, jolting and rumbling like a wave was rolling through it.
"Yaa, look! The rock's moving! It's coming out!"
"Unbelievable! Look! It is! No human could do that!" the villagers yelled out in surprise. Little by little, the tremors of the rock moving gathered into a swell and a commotion ran through the crowd. Each time the rock moved a little further, they scrambled to fill in the hole with stumps and wood and soil. Finally, the rock was all the way out of the ground and they'd filled in the hole.
"Okay, let's go," Dohryoh said, stopping to close his eyes for moment in front of the rock and gather his strength. He murmured something to himself, then opened his eyes and bent over the rock and put his hands on it.
"Aaarghh!" he yelled out suddenly, lifting the big rock as high as ten tatami mats. His face got redder and redder and he lifted it all the way up over his shoulders and head. The rock was so heavy the board under his feet was pushed all the way into the ground! Dohryoh had picked up the rock and was walking towards the bottomless pond! It looked like he would stumble for a minute, but he took first one step, then another, and stopped himself from falling.
The villagers became so hushed at the thought of Dohryoh failing that they closed their eyes and started to pray.
"”Nanmandabu. ”Nanmandabu," they prayed, eyes pressed closely shut lest they jinx him.
"Come on, Dohryoh! You can do it!" cheered the children, clapping their hands in time to the beat of Dohryoh's footsteps, as he started to walk faster and faster. Finally, before anyone knew it, he was at the edge of the pond. With a final shout, he lifted the rock high in the air and threw it out into the water, raising up a high splash of water into the air.
"Wow! Just like a waterfall!"
"It's gone! The rock is gone! We're being sprayed with the tears of god!" the villagers yelled, embracing each other and shedding tears of joy as they danced around under the pillar of water splashing high up into the heavens.
"”Banzai!” Banzai! Hurray!" the children yelled, running up to Dohryoh to shake his hand and embrace him.
"That first board was a strong one from the temple scaffolding, so I was able to do it," he said.
They went back to the temple and gathered around the hole where the big rock had been. One of the carpenters reached into the ground and pulled out a board. The priest looked, and right there in the middle were Dohryoh's footprints stamped cleanly into the board. The carpenters got out their tools and tried to sand them off, but the more they sanded the more the footprints stood out.
"It's no use. Dohryoh pushed so hard the bottom of his feet soaked all the way through the board," one of the carpenters said in admiration, while the priest looked on, nodding and folding his arms.
"It's thanks to Dohryoh that we can build the Great Hall for the temple," he said. "In order for future generations to understand what went on here today, I'm going use that plank to make the ceiling of the Great Hall. It'll be there forever and no one will ever forget the great favour Dohryoh has done for us."
"Hurray! Hurray! What a good idea!" the villagers all cheered and put their hands together around the plank and prayed.
"”Nanmandabu.” Nanmandabu."
Even today, if you go to the Great Dragon Temple in Shimouchi in the town of Seki where Dohryoh was enshrined as the town's Guardian Deity, and look up at the ceiling of the Great Hall, you can see the bottom o
f Dohryoh's feet stamped into the wood; footprints on the ceiling of heaven.
The Love of a Silver Fox: Folk Tales from Seki CIty Page 22