Toyoo’s elder sister, the Ōyas’ second child, lived in a place called Tsubaichi with her husband, a merchant named Tanabe no Kanetada. They were delighted to have Toyoo visit them and, taking pity on him for the events of the past few months, consoled him warmly, saying, “Stay here just as long as you like.” Tsubaichi was near the temple at Hatsuse. Among the many buddhas, that of Hatsuse in particular was known as far away as China for its wonderful effectiveness and so drew many pilgrims from the capital and from the countryside, especially in the spring. Since the pilgrims always stayed here, travelers’ lodgings lined the streets. The Tanabe family dealt in lamp wicks and other goods for the sacred flames. Into the crowd of customers came a beautiful, aristocratic lady with a servant girl, apparently on an incognito pilgrimage from the capital, asking for incense. Seeing Toyoo, the servant girl said, “The master is here!” Startled, he looked up—it was Manago and Maroya. Crying out in terror, he fled to the back. “What is going on?” asked Kanetada and his wife. “That demon has followed me here. Do not go near it,” said Toyoo, desperately looking for a place to hide. “Where? Where?” cried the other customers. Manago went among them and said, “Do not be startled, people. My husband, do not be afraid. In my sorrow at having incriminated you through my own imprudence, I wanted to seek out your home, explain the circumstances, and put your heart at rest. I am overjoyed that I could find this place and meet with you again. Shopmaster, please listen carefully and decide for yourself. If I were some kind of monster, could I appear among this crowd of people and, moreover, at noon on such a tranquil day as this? My robes have seams; when I face the sun, I cast a shadow. Please consider the truth of what I say and throw off your doubts.” Feeling more like himself again, Toyoo said, “It is clear that you are not human, for when I was arrested and went with the soldiers, we found the place in a shambles, utterly unlike its condition of the day before, and there, in a house befitting a demon, you sat alone; and when the soldiers tried to capture you, you caused a clear sky suddenly to shake with thunder, and then you disappeared without a trace. All of this I saw with my own eyes. Why have you come chasing after me again? Go away at once.” Weeping, Manago said, “Truly, it is no wonder that you think this way, but listen now a little longer to my words. Hearing that you had been taken to the government office, I approached the old man next door, to whom I had shown some kindness in the past, and persuaded him to transform the place quickly into a house in the wilderness. Maroya contrived to have thunder sound when they tried to arrest me. After that, we hired a boat and fled to Naniwa.21 In my desire to learn what had become of you, I prayed to the Buddha here. It is through his great compassion that, with the sacred sign of the twin cedars,22 we have flowed again together on the rapids of joy.23 How could a woman have stolen those many sacred treasures? That was the doing of my late husband’s wicked heart. Please consider carefully and try to grasp even a dewdrop of the love I feel.” The tears streamed down her face. Now suspicious, now sympathetic, Toyoo could find nothing more to say. Kanetada and his wife, seeing Manago’s reasonableness and feminine demeanor, no longer harbored the slightest doubt: “We were terrified by Toyoo’s account, but surely such things could not occur in this day and age. We are deeply moved by the feeling you have shown in your long search and shall let you stay here, even if Toyoo does not agree.” They showed her to a room. Ingratiating herself to them during the next day or two, she entreated them, and they, moved by the depth of her determination, prevailed on Toyoo and finally arranged a wedding ceremony. Toyoo’s heart melted day by day; he had always rejoiced in her beauty, and as he exchanged thousand-year vows with her, clouds rose by night on Mount Takama of Kazuraki, and the rains subsided at dawn with the bell of the temple at Hatsuse.24 Toyoo regretted only that their reunion had been so long delayed.
The Third Month came. Kanetada said to Toyoo and his wife, “Of course, it does not compare with the capital, but it surpasses Kii: Yoshino, fair of name, is a lovely place in spring.25 Mount Mifune, Natsumi River—one would never tire of the views even if one saw them every day, and how fascinating they will be right now. Let us set off.” Manago smiled and said, “People of the capital, too, say that they regret not seeing the place that good people consider good,26 but since childhood I have suffered from an ailment that causes blood to rush to my head when I go among a crowd or walk a long distance, and so, to my deep regret, I cannot go with you. I eagerly await the souvenir that you will surely bring me from the mountains.” Kanetada and his wife encouraged her, saying, “Yes, walking would no doubt be painful. We do not have a carriage, but one way or another we shall not let your feet touch the ground. Think how worried Toyoo would be if you stayed behind.” Toyoo said, “Since they have spoken so reassuringly, you cannot refuse to go, even if you collapse on the way.” And so, reluctantly, she went. Everyone dressed gaily, but none could compare with Manago’s beauty and elegance. They stopped at a certain temple with which they had long been on friendly terms. The head priest welcomed them: “You have come late this spring. Half the blossoms have fallen, and the warbler’s song has grown a bit wild, but I shall show you where to find the good spots that remain.” He served them a beautifully simple and refreshing evening meal. The sky at dawn was thick with haze, but as it cleared they looked out from the temple’s high vantage point and could clearly see monks’ residences here and there below. Mountain birds were chirping everywhere; trees and grasses blossomed in a profusion of color. Although it was a mountain village like any other, they felt as though their eyes had been opened anew. Thinking that the falls offered the most for a first-time visitor, they employed a guide familiar with that area and set out. They wound their way down the valley. At the site of the ancient detached palace, the rapids crashing along the boulders and the tiny sweetfish struggling against the current delighted their eyes.27 They spread out their cypress boxes and reveled in the outing as they dined.
Someone approached them, stepping from boulder to boulder. It was an old man with hair like a bundle of hemp threads, but with sturdy-looking limbs. He came alongside the falls. Seeing the group, he eyed them suspiciously, whereupon Manago and Maroya turned their backs and pretended not to see him. Glaring at them, the old man muttered, “Disgraceful. Demons. Why do you go on deceiving people? Do you think that you can get away with this before my very eyes?” Hearing him, the two sprang to their feet and plunged into the falls. Water boiled up into the sky, and they vanished from sight. Just then, as though the clouds had overturned a pot of ink, rain began to fall so hard that it might have crushed dwarf bamboo. The old man calmed the panicky group and led them down to the village, where they cringed together under the eaves of a shabby house, feeling more dead than alive. The old man said to Toyoo, “Looking closely at your face, I see that you are tormented by that demon. If I do not help you, you will surely lose your life. Be very careful from now on.” Pressing his forehead to the ground, Toyoo related the affair from the beginning. “Please help me keep my life,” he pleaded fearfully and respectfully. The old man said, “It was just as I expected. That demon is a giant snake and very old. Having a lascivious nature, it is said to bear unicorns when it couples with a bull, and dragon-steeds when it couples with a stallion. It appears that out of lust, inspired by your beauty, it has attached itself to you and led you astray. If you do not take special care with one so tenacious as this, you will surely lose your life.” When the old man had finished, they were more terrified than ever and began to pay reverence to him as though he were a god in human form. The old man smiled: “I am not a god. I am an old man named Tagima no Kibito who serves at the Yamato Shrine. I shall see you on your way. Let us go.” He started out, and they followed him until they reached home.28
The next day, Toyoo went to the village of Yamato, thanked the old man, and gave him three bolts of Mino silk and twenty pounds of Tsukushi cotton.29 “Please perform a purification rite to protect me from the monster,” he asked respectfully. The old man accepted the gifts and divided th
em among the priests under him, keeping not a single measure for himself. Then he turned to Toyoo: “The beast has attached itself to you out of lust for your beauty. You, for your part, have been bewitched by the shape it took and have lost your manly spirit. If henceforth you summon your courage and calm your restless heart, you will not need to borrow an old man’s powers to repel these demons. You must quiet your heart.” Feeling as though he had awakened from a dream, Toyoo thanked the old man profusely and returned. To Kanetada he said, “It is because of the unrighteousness of my heart that I have been deceived by the beast these years and months. There is no reason for me to presume on your family, neglecting my duty to my parents and elder brother. I am deeply grateful for your kindness, and I shall come again.” So saying, he returned to the province of Kii.
“The two sprang to their feet and plunged into the falls.”
When they heard of these dreadful events, Toyoo’s parents, Tarō, and Tarō’s wife felt even greater pity for him in his blamelessness and also feared the demon’s tenacity. “It is because he is single,” they said, and discussed finding a wife for him. In the village of Shiba lived a man known as the steward of Shiba.30 He had sent his daughter into service at the sovereign’s palace, but his request that she be relieved had been granted, and, thinking that Toyoo would make a fine son-in-law, he approached the Ōya family through a go-between. The talks went well, and in no time the two were engaged. An escort was sent to the capital for her, and so the palace lady, whose name was Tomiko, happily came back home. Having grown accustomed to her years in service at the palace, she surpassed other women in the beauty of her manners and appearance. When Toyoo was received in Shiba, he saw that Tomiko was a great beauty. Satisfied in every respect, he could barely remember the giant snake that had been in love with him. Nothing unusual occurred the first night, and so I shall not write about it.31 The second night, Toyoo was feeling pleasantly tipsy. “Considering your years of living in the palace, I suppose you have grown to dislike us rustics. I wonder which captains and councillors you slept with there. It is too late now, but I am quite provoked with you,” he said playfully. Tomiko looked up quickly: “And I am all the more provoked with you, who have forgotten your old vows and bestowed your favors on this undistinguished person.“32 The voice was unmistakably Manago’s, though her form had changed. Appalled, Toyoo felt his hair stand on end and was speechless with horror. The woman smiled: “Do not be startled, my husband. Even though you have quickly forgotten our vows of the sea and of the mountains,33 a bond from a former life ensured that I would meet you again. But if you believe what others say and try to avoid me, I shall hate you and take revenge. However tall the mountains of Kii may be, I shall pour your blood from the peaks into the valleys. Do not throw away your precious life.” He trembled with fear and felt faint, thinking that he was about to be taken. Someone emerged from behind a folding screen, saying, “Master, why do you fret so? This is such an auspicious match.” It was Maroya. Aghast, Toyoo shut his eyes and fell face down. Manago and Maroya spoke to him by turns, now soothing, now threatening, but he remained unconscious until dawn.
“Master, why do you fret so? This is such an auspicious match.”
Then Toyoo slipped out of the bedroom, went to the steward, and described to him these frightening events. “How can I escape? Please help me find an answer,” he said, keeping his voice low in case someone was listening behind him. The steward and his wife blanched at the news and were grief-stricken: “What shall we do? There is a monk from Kurama Temple in the capital who goes on a pilgrimage to Kumano every year.34 Yesterday he took up lodgings at a temple atop the hill across the way. He is a wonderfully efficacious dharma master, revered by everyone in the village for his skill in exorcising plagues, evil spirits, and locusts. Let us call on him for help.” They sent for him quickly and, when he finally came, explained the situation. With his nose in the air, the monk said, “It should not be difficult to capture these fiends. You need not worry.” He spoke as though nothing could be easier, and everyone felt relieved. First he asked for some orpiment, which he mixed with water and poured into a small flask. Then he turned toward the bedroom. When everyone ran to hide, the monk said with a sneer, “All of you stay there, young and old. I shall capture this giant snake now and show it to you.” He advanced toward the bedroom. The moment he opened the door, a giant snake thrust out its head and confronted him. And what a head this was! Filling the door frame, gleaming whiter than a pile of snow, its eyes like mirrors, its horns like leafless trees, its gaping mouth three feet across with a crimson tongue protruding, it seemed about to swallow him in a single furious gulp. He screamed and threw down the flask. Since his legs would not support him, he rolled about and then crawled and stumbled away, barely making his escape. To the others he said, “Terrible! It is a calamitous deity; how can a monk like me exorcise it? Were it not for these hands and feet, I would have lost my life.” Even as he spoke, he lost consciousness. They held him up, but his face and skin looked as though they had been dyed black and red, and he was so hot that touching him was like holding one’s hand to a fire. He appeared to have been struck by poisonous vapors, for after he came to himself he could move only his eyes, and, although he seemed to want to speak, he could not produce a sound. They poured water over him, but finally he died. Seeing this, they felt as though their spirits had fled their bodies, and they could only weep in terror.
Composing himself, Toyoo said, “Since it pursues me so tenaciously and cannot be exorcised by even such an efficacious monk, it will track me down and catch me as long as I am here between the heavens and the earth. It is false hearted of me to let others suffer for the sake of my own life. I shall not ask for help any longer. Please set your minds at ease.” He started toward the bedroom. The steward and his wife cried, “Have you lost your senses?” but he paid no attention and kept going. When he opened the door gently, all inside was calm and quiet. The two were seated facing each other. Tomiko turned to Toyoo: “What enmity has led you to enlist another to capture me? If you continue to treat me like an enemy, I shall not only take your life, but also torment the people of this village. Be glad that I am faithful to you; forget your fickle thoughts.” As she spoke, she put on coquettish airs, moving him to disgust. Toyoo replied, “It is as the proverb says: ‘Though a man means no harm to the tiger, the tiger will hurt the man.’35 Your unhuman feelings have led you to pursue me, and even to torment me time and time again, and, what is more, you answer my playful words by speaking of a horrible revenge. You terrify me. Nevertheless, your love for me is, in the end, no different from the love that humans feel. It is cruel for me to stay here and cause these people to grieve. If only you will spare Tomiko’s life, you may take me anywhere you wish.” She nodded joyfully in agreement.
Toyoo went again to the steward and said, “Since I have been possessed by this wretched demon, it would be wrong for me to stay on here and torment everyone. If I may have your permission to depart right now, I am sure that your daughter’s life will be spared.” The steward refused, saying, “I know one end of the bow from the other, and the Ōyas’ view of such an unavailing notion would put me to shame. Let us think some more. There is a priest named Hōkai at the Dōjōji in Komatsubara, a venerable prayer master.36 He is very old now, and I have heard that he does not leave his room, but surely he will not reject an appeal from me.” He galloped off on horseback. Since the way was long, he reached the temple at midnight. The old priest crept out of his bedroom and listened to the story. “Indeed, you must be perplexed. Having grown so old and foolish, I doubt that I will be of any use, but I cannot ignore a calamity in your family.37 You go ahead; I shall follow soon.” He took out a stole scented with the smoke of poppy seeds and gave it to the steward.38 “Trick the monster into coming close, throw this over its head, and press down with all your might. If you falter, it will probably escape. Pray well and do your best,” the priest instructed him carefully. Rejoicing, the steward galloped back.
NOTES
1. Murasaki Shikibu, The Tale of Genji, trans. Edward G. Seidensticker (New York: Knopf, 1976), pp. 394–400.
2. Donald L. Philippi, trans., Kojiki (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1969), pp. 178, n. 4, 415, additional n. 21.
Tales of Moonlight and Rain Page 17
