Kotto

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by Lafcadio Hearn


  "When the Fox speaks with the voice of a man, the demon's name is GWAISHŪ.

  "When blood appears on the clothes of men, the demon's name is YŪKI.

  "When the rice-pot speaks with a human voice, the demon's name is KANJŌ.

  "When the dream of the night is an evil dream, the demon's name is RINGETSU...."

  And the old book further observes: "Whenever any such evil marvel happens, let the name of the Baku be invoked: then the evil sprite will immediately sink three feet under the ground."

  But on the subject of evil Wonders I do not feel qualified to discourse: it belongs to the unexplored and appalling world of Chinese demonology, and it has really very little to do with the subject of the Baku in Japan. The Japanese Baku is commonly known only as the Eater of Dreams; and the most remarkable fact in relation to the cult of the creature is that the Chinese character representing its name used to be put in gold upon the lacquered wooden pillows of lords and princes. By the virtue and power of this character on the pillow, the sleeper was thought to be protected from evil dreams. It is rather difficult to find such a pillow to-day: even pictures of the Baku (or "Hakutaku," as it is sometimes called) have become very rare. But the old invocation to the Baku still survives in common parlance: Baku kurae! Baku kurae!—"Devour, O Baku! devour my evil dream!"... When you awake from a nightmare, or from any unlucky dream, you should quickly repeat that invocation three times;—then the Baku will eat the dream, and will change the misfortune or the fear into good fortune and gladness.

  It was on a very sultry night, during the Period of Greatest Heat, that I last saw the Baku. I had just awakened out of misery; and the hour was the Hour of the Ox; and the Baku came in through the window to ask, "Have you anything for me to eat?"

  I gratefully made answer:—

  "Assuredly!... Listen, good Baku, to this dream of mine!—

  "I was standing in some great white-walled room, where lamps were burning; but I cast no shadow on the naked floor of that room,—and there, upon an iron bed, I saw my own dead body. How I had come to die, and when I had died, I could not remember. Women were sitting near the bed,—six or seven,—and I did not know any of them. They were neither young nor old, and all were dressed in black: watchers I took them to be. They sat motionless and silent: there was no sound in the place; and I somehow felt that the hour was late.

  " In the same moment I became aware of something nameless in the atmosphere of the room,—a heaviness that weighed upon the will,—some viewless numbing power that was slowly growing. Then the watchers began to watch each other, stealthily; and I knew that they were afraid. Soundlessly one rose up, and left the room. Another followed; then another. So, one by one, and lightly as shadows, they all went out. I was left alone with the corpse of myself.

  "The lamps still burned clearly; but the terror in the air was thickening. The watchers had stolen away almost as soon as they began to feel it. But I believed that there was yet time to escape;—I thought that I could safely delay a moment longer. A monstrous curiosity obliged me to remain: I wanted to look at my own body, to examine it closely.... I approached it. I observed it. And I wondered—because it seemed to me very long,—unnaturally long....

  "Then I thought that I saw one eyelid quiver. But the appearance of motion might have been caused by the trembling of a lamp-flame. I stooped to look—slowly, and very cautiously, because I was afraid that the eyes might open.

  "'It is Myself,' I thought, as I bent down,—'and yet, it is growing queer!'... The face appeared to be lengthening.... 'It is not Myself,' I thought again, as I stooped still lower,—'and yet, it cannot be any other!' And I became much more afraid, unspeakably afraid, that the eyes would open....

  "They OPENED!—horribly they opened!—and that thing sprang,—sprang from the bed at me, and fastened upon me,—moaning, and gnawing, and rending! Oh! with what madness of terror did I strive against it! But the eyes of it, and the moans of it, and the touch of it, sickened; and all my being seemed about to burst asunder in frenzy of loathing, when—I knew not how—I found in my hand an axe. And I struck with the axe;—I clove, I crushed, I brayed the Moaner,—until there lay before me only a shapeless, hideous, reeking mass,—the abominable ruin of Myself....

  —Baku kurae! Baku kurae! Baku kurae! Devour, O Baku! devour the dream!"

  "Nai!" made answer the Baku. "I never eat lucky dreams. That is a very lucky dream,—a most fortunate dream.... The axe—yes! the Axe of the Excellent Law, by which the monster of Self is utterly destroyed!... The best kind of a dream! My friend, I believe in the teaching of the Buddha."

  And the Baku went out of the window. I looked after him;—and I beheld him fleeing over the miles of moonlit roofs,—passing, from housetop to house-top, with amazing soundless leaps,—like a great cat....

  Other TUT BOOKS available:

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  CHINA COLLECTING IN AMERICA by Alice Morse Earle

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  THE COUNTERFEITER and Other Stories by Yasushi Inoue; translated by Leon Picon

  CURIOUS PUNISHMENTS OF BYGONE DAYS by Alice Morse Earle

  CUSTOMS AND FASHIONS IN OLD NEW ENGLAND by Alice Morse Earle

  DINING IN SPAIN by Genie Beene and Lourdes Miranda King

  EXOTICS AND RETROSPECTIVES by Lafcadio Hearn

  FIRST YOU TAKE A LEEK: A Guide to Elegant Eating Spiced with Culinary Capers by Maxine Jf. Saltonstall

  FIVE WOMEN WHO LOVED LOVE by Saikaku Ihara; translated by William Theodore de Bary

  A FLOWER DOES NOT TALK: Zen Essays by Abbot Zenkei Shibayama of the Nanzenji

  FOLK LEGENDS OF JAPAN by Richard M. Dorson

  GLEANINGS IN BUDDHA-FIELDS: Studies of Hand and Soul in the Far East by Lafcadio Hearn

  GOING NATIVE IN HAWAII: A Poor Man's Guide to Paradise by Timothy Head

  HAIKU IN ENGLISH by Harold G. Henderson

  HARP OF BURMA by Michio Takeyama; translated by Howard Hibbett

  THE HAWAIIAN GUIDE BOOK for Travelers by Henry M. Whitney

  HAWAIIAN PHRASE BOOK HAWAII: End of the Rainbow by Kazuo Miyamoto

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  A HISTORY OF JAPANESE LITERATURE by W. G. Aston

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  JAPANESE ETIQUETTE: An Introduction by the World Fellowship Committee of the Tokyo Y.W.C.A.

  THE JAPANESE FAIRY BOOK compiled by Yei Theo­dora Ozaki

  JAPANESE FOLK-PLAYS: The and Other Kyogen translated by Shio Sakanishi

  JAPANESE FOOD AND COOKING by Stuart Griffin

  JAPANESE HOMES AND THIER SURROUNDINGS by Edward S. Morse

  A JAPANESE MISCELLANY by Lafcadio Hearn

  JAPANESE RECIPES by Tatsuji Tada

  JAPANESE TALES OF MYSTERY & IMAGINATION by Edogawa Rampo; translated by James B. Harris

  JAPANESE THINGS: Being Notes on Various Subjects Connected with Japan by Basil Hall Chamberlain

  THE JOKE'S ON JUDO by Donn Draeger and Ken Tremayne

  THE KABUKI HANDBOOK by Au
brey S. Halford and Giovanna M. Halford

  KAPPA by Ryunosuke Akutagawa; translated by Geoffrey Boxvnas

  KOKORO: Hints and Echoes of Japanese Inner Life by Lafcadio Hearn

  KOREAN FOLK TALES by Im Bang and Yi Ryuk; translated by James S. Gale

  KOTTO: Being Japanese Curios, with Sundry Cobwebs by Lafcadio Hearn

  KWAIDAN: Stories and Studies of Strange Things by Lafcadio Hearn

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  MODERN JAPANESE PRINTS: A Contemporary Selection edited by Yuji Abe

  MORE ZILCH: The Marine Corps' Most Guarded Secret by Roy Delgado

  NIHONGI: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697 by W. G. Aston

  OLD LANDMARKS AND HISTORIC PERSONAGES OF BOSTON by Samuel Adams Drake

  ORIENTAL FORTUNE TELLING by Jimmei Shi- mano; translated by Togo Taguchi

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  THIS SCORCHING EARTH by Donald Richie

  TIMES-SQUARE SAMURAI or the Improbable Japanese Occupation of New York by Robert B. Johnson and Billie Niles Chadbourne

  TO LIVE IN JAPAN by Mary Lee O'Neal and Virginia Woodruff

  THE TOURIST AND THE REAL JAPAN by Boye de Mente

  TOURS OF OKINAWA: A Souvenir Guide to Places of Interest compiled by Gasei Higa, Isamu Fuchaku, and Zenkichi Toyama

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  UNBEATEN TRACKS IN JAPAN: An Account of Travels in the Interior Including Visits to the Aborigines of Yezo and the Shrine of Nikko by Isabella L. Bird

  ZILCH! The Marine Corps' Most Guarded Secret by Roy Delgado

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