Story Notes

More than seven hundred years ago, at Dan-no-ura, in the Straits of Shimonoséki, was fought the last battle of the long contest between the Heiké, or Taira clan, and the Genji, or Minamoto clan. There the Heiké perished utterly, with their women and children, and their infant emperor likewise—now remembered as Antoku Tennō. And that sea and shore have been haunted for seven hundred years… Elsewhere I told you about the strange crabs found there, called Heiké crabs, which have human faces on their backs, and are said to be the spirits of the Heiké warriors. But there are many strange things to be seen and heard along that coast. On dark nights thousands of ghostly fires hover about the beach, or flit above the waves,—pale lights which the fishermen call Onibi, or demon-fires; and, whenever the winds are up, a sound of great shouting comes from that sea, like a clamor of battle.

In former years the Heiké were much more restless than they now are. They would rise about ships passing in the night, and try to sink them; and at all times they would watch for swimmers, to pull them down. It was in order to appease those dead that the Buddhist temple, Amidaji, was built at Akamagaséki. A cemetery also was made close by, near the beach; and within it were set up monuments inscribed with the names of the drowned emperor and of his great vassals; and Buddhist services were regularly performed there, on behalf of the spirits of them. After the temple had been built, and the tombs erected, the Heiké gave less trouble than before; but they continued to do queer things at intervals,—proving that they had not found the perfect peace.

Some centuries ago there lived at Akamagaséki a blind man named Hōïchi, who was famed for his skill in recitation and in playing upon the biwa. From childhood he had been trained to recite and to play; and while yet a lad he had surpassed his teachers. As a professional biwa-hōshi he became famous chiefly by his recitations of the history of the Heiké and the Genji; and it is said that when he sang the song of the battle of Dan-no-ura “even the goblins [kijin] could not refrain from tears.”

At the outset of his career, Hōïchi was very poor; but he found a good friend to help him. The priest of the Amidaji was fond of poetry and music; and he often invited Hōïchi to the temple, to play and recite. Afterwards, being much impressed by the wonderful skill of the lad, the priest proposed that Hōïchi should make the temple his home; and this offer was gratefully accepted. Hōïchi was given a room in the temple-building; and, in return for food and lodging, he was required only to gratify the priest with a musical performance on certain evenings, when otherwise disengaged.

One summer night the priest was called away, to perform a Buddhist service at the house of a dead parishioner; and he went there with his acolyte, leaving Hōïchi alone in the temple. It was a hot night; and the blind man sought to cool himself on the verandah before his sleeping-room. The verandah overlooked a small garden in the rear of the Amidaji. There Hōïchi waited for the priest’s return, and tried to relieve his solitude by practicing upon his biwa. Midnight passed; and the priest did not appear. But the atmosphere was still too warm for comfort within doors; and Hōïchi remained outside. At last he heard steps approaching from the back gate. Somebody crossed the garden, advanced to the verandah, and halted directly in front of him—but it was not the priest. A deep voice called the blind man’s name—abruptly and unceremoniously, in the manner of a samurai summoning an inferior:—

“Hōïchi!”

Hōïchi was too much startled, for the moment, to respond; and the voice called again, in a tone of harsh command,—

“Hōïchi!”

“Hai!” answered the blind man, frightened by the menace in the voice,—“I am blind!—I cannot know who calls!”

“There is nothing to fear,” the stranger exclaimed, speaking more gently. “I am stopping near this temple, and have been sent to you with a message. My present lord, a person of exceedingly high rank, is now staying in Akamagaséki, with many noble attendants. He wished to view the scene of the battle of Dan-no-ura; and to-day he visited that place. Having heard of your skill in reciting the story of the battle, he now desires to hear your performance: so you will take your biwa and come with me at once to the house where the august assembly is waiting.”

In those times, the order of a samurai was not to be lightly disobeyed. Hōïchi donned his sandals, took his biwa, and went away with the stranger, who guided him deftly, but obliged him to walk very fast. The hand that guided was iron; and the clank of the warrior’s stride proved him fully armed,—probably some palace-guard on duty. Hōïchi’s first alarm was over: he began to imagine himself in good luck;—for, remembering the retainer’s assurance about a “person of exceedingly high rank,” he thought that the lord who wished to hear the recitation could not be less than a daimyō of the first class. Presently the samurai halted; and Hōïchi became aware that they had arrived at a large gateway;—and he wondered, for he could not remember any large gate in that part of the town, except the main gate of the Amidaji. “Kaimon!” the samurai called,—and there was a sound of unbarring; and the twain passed on. They traversed a space of garden, and halted again before some entrance; and the retainer cried in a loud voice, “Within there! I have brought Hōïchi.” Then came sounds of feet hurrying, and screens sliding, and rain-doors opening, and voices of women in converse. By the language of the women Hōïchi knew them to be domestics in some noble household; but he could not imagine to what place he had been conducted. Little time was allowed him for conjecture. After he had been helped to mount several stone steps, upon the last of which he was told to leave his sandals, a woman’s hand guided him along interminable reaches of polished planking, and round pillared angles too many to remember, and over widths amazing of matted floor,—into the middle of some vast apartment. There he thought that many great people were assembled: the sound of the rustling of silk was like the sound of leaves in a forest. He heard also a great humming of voices,—talking in undertones; and the speech was the speech of courts.

Hōïchi was told to put himself at ease, and he found a kneeling-cushion ready for him. After having taken his place upon it, and tuned his instrument, the voice of a woman—whom he divined to be the Rōjo, or matron in charge of the female service—addressed him, saying,—

“It is now required that the history of the Heiké be recited, to the accompaniment of the biwa.”

Now the entire recital would have required a time of many nights: therefore Hōïchi ventured a question:—

“As the whole of the story is not soon told, what portion is it augustly desired that I now recite?”

The woman’s voice made answer:—

“Recite the story of the battle at Dan-no-ura,—for the pity of it is the most deep.”

Then Hōïchi lifted up his voice, and chanted the chant of the fight on the bitter sea,—wonderfully making his biwa to sound like the straining of oars and the rushing of ships, the whirr and the hissing of arrows, the shouting and trampling of men, the crashing of steel upon helmets, the plunging of slain in the flood. And to left and right of him, in the pauses of his playing, he could hear voices murmuring praise: “How marvelous an artist!”—“Never in our own province was playing heard like this!”—“Not in all the empire is there another singer like Hōïchi!” Then fresh courage came to him, and he played and sang yet better than before; and a hush of wonder deepened about him. But when at last he came to tell the fate of the fair and helpless,—the piteous perishing of the women and children,—and the death-leap of Nii-no-Ama, with the imperial infant in her arms,—then all the listeners uttered together one long, long shuddering cry of anguish; and thereafter they wept and wailed so loudly and so wildly that the blind man was frightened by the violence and grief that he had made. For much time the sobbing and the wailing continued. But gradually the sounds of lamentation died away; and again, in the great stillness that followed, Hōïchi heard the voice of the woman whom he supposed to be the Rōjo.

She said:—

“Although we had been assured that you were a very skillful player upon the biwa, and without an equal in recitative, we did not know that any one could be so skillful as you have proved yourself to-night. Our lord has been pleased to say that he intends to bestow upon you a fitting reward. But he desires that you shall perform before him once every night for the next six nights—after which time he will probably make his august return-journey. To-morrow night, therefore, you are to come here at the same hour. The retainer who to-night conducted you will be sent for you… There is another matter about which I have been ordered to inform you. It is required that you shall speak to no one of your visits here, during the time of our lord’s august sojourn at Akamagaséki. As he is traveling incognito,he commands that no mention of these things be made… You are now free to go back to your temple.”

After Hōïchi had duly expressed his thanks, a woman’s hand conducted him to the entrance of the house, where the same retainer, who had before guided him, was waiting to take him home. The retainer led him to the verandah at the rear of the temple, and there bade him farewell.

It was almost dawn when Hōïchi returned; but his absence from the temple had not been observed,—as the priest, coming back at a very late hour, had supposed him asleep. During the day Hōïchi was able to take some rest; and he said nothing about his strange adventure. In the middle of the following night the samurai again came for him, and led him to the august assembly, where he gave another recitation with the same success that had attended his previous performance. But during this second visit his absence from the temple was accidentally discovered; and after his return in the morning he was summoned to the presence of the priest, who said to him, in a tone of kindly reproach:—

“We have been very anxious about you, friend Hōïchi. To go out, blind and alone, at so late an hour, is dangerous. Why did you go without telling us? I could have ordered a servant to accompany you. And where have you been?”

Hōïchi answered, evasively,—

“Pardon me kind friend! I had to attend to some private business; and I could not arrange the matter at any other hour.”

The priest was surprised, rather than pained, by Hōïchi’s reticence: he felt it to be unnatural, and suspected something wrong. He feared that the blind lad had been bewitched or deluded by some evil spirits. He did not ask any more questions; but he privately instructed the men-servants of the temple to keep watch upon Hōïchi’s movements, and to follow him in case that he should again leave the temple after dark.

On the very next night, Hōïchi was seen to leave the temple; and the servants immediately lighted their lanterns, and followed after him. But it was a rainy night, and very dark; and before the temple-folks could get to the roadway, Hōïchi had disappeared. Evidently he had walked very fast,—a strange thing, considering his blindness; for the road was in a bad condition. The men hurried through the streets, making inquiries at every house which Hōïchi was accustomed to visit; but nobody could give them any news of him. At last, as they were returning to the temple by way of the shore, they were startled by the sound of a biwa, furiously played, in the cemetery of the Amidaji. Except for some ghostly fires—such as usually flitted there on dark nights—all was blackness in that direction. But the men at once hastened to the cemetery; and there, by the help of their lanterns, they discovered Hōïchi,—sitting alone in the rain before the memorial tomb of Antoku Tennō, making his biwa resound, and loudly chanting the chant of the battle of Dan-no-ura. And behind him, and about him, and everywhere above the tombs, the fires of the dead were burning, like candles. Never before had so great a host of Oni-bi appeared in the sight of mortal man…

“Hōïchi San!—Hōïchi San!” the servants cried,—“you are bewitched!… Hōïchi San!”

But the blind man did not seem to hear. Strenuously he made his biwa to rattle and ring and clang;—more and more wildly he chanted the chant of the battle of Dan-no-ura. They caught hold of him;—they shouted into his ear,—

“Hōïchi San!—Hōïchi San!—come home with us at once!”

Reprovingly he spoke to them:—

“To interrupt me in such a manner, before this august assembly, will not be tolerated.”

Whereat, in spite of the weirdness of the thing, the servants could not help laughing. Sure that he had been bewitched, they now seized him, and pulled him up on his feet, and by main force hurried him back to the temple,—where he was immediately relieved of his wet clothes, by order of the priest. Then the priest insisted upon a full explanation of his friend’s astonishing behavior.

Hōïchi long hesitated to speak. But at last, finding that his conduct had really alarmed and angered the good priest, he decided to abandon his reserve; and he related everything that had happened from the time of first visit of the samurai.

The priest said:—

“Hōïchi, my poor friend, you are now in great danger! How unfortunate that you did not tell me all this before! Your wonderful skill in music has indeed brought you into strange trouble. By this time you must be aware that you have not been visiting any house whatever, but have been passing your nights in the cemetery, among the tombs of the Heiké;—and it was before the memorial-tomb of Antoku Tennō that our people to-night found you, sitting in the rain. All that you have been imagining was illusion—except the calling of the dead. By once obeying them, you have put yourself in their power. If you obey them again, after what has already occurred, they will tear you in pieces. But they would have destroyed you, sooner or later, in any event… Now I shall not be able to remain with you to-night: I am called away to perform another service. But, before I go, it will be necessary to protect your body by writing holy texts upon it.”

Before sundown the priest and his acolyte stripped Hōïchi: then, with their writing-brushes, they traced upon his breast and back, head and face and neck, limbs and hands and feet,—even upon the soles of his feet, and upon all parts of his body,—the text of the holy sûtra called Hannya-Shin-Kyō. When this had been done, the priest instructed Hōïchi, saying:—

“To-night, as soon as I go away, you must seat yourself on the verandah, and wait. You will be called. But, whatever may happen, do not answer, and do not move. Say nothing and sit still—as if meditating. If you stir, or make any noise, you will be torn asunder. Do not get frightened; and do not think of calling for help—because no help could save you. If you do exactly as I tell you, the danger will pass, and you will have nothing more to fear.”

After dark the priest and the acolyte went away; and Hōïchi seated himself on the verandah, according to the instructions given him. He laid his biwa on the planking beside him, and, assuming the attitude of meditation, remained quite still,—taking care not to cough, or to breathe audibly. For hours he stayed thus.

Then, from the roadway, he heard the steps coming. They passed the gate, crossed the garden, approached the verandah, stopped—directly in front of him.

“Hōïchi!” the deep voice called. But the blind man held his breath, and sat motionless.

“Hōïchi!” grimly called the voice a second time. Then a third time—savagely:—

“Hōïchi!”

Hōïchi remained as still as a stone,—and the voice grumbled:—

“No answer!—that won’t do!… Must see where the fellow is.”…

There was a noise of heavy feet mounting upon the verandah. The feet approached deliberately,—halted beside him. Then, for long minutes,—during which Hōïchi felt his whole body shake to the beating of his heart,—there was dead silence.

At last the gruff voice muttered close to him:—

“Here is the biwa; but of the biwa-player I see—only two ears!… So that explains why he did not answer: he had no mouth to answer with—there is nothing left of him but his ears… Now to my lord those ears I will take—in proof that the august commands have been obeyed, so far as was possible”…

At that instant Hōïchi felt his ears gripped by fingers of iron, and torn off! Great as the pain was, he gave no cry. The heavy footfalls receded along the verandah,—descended into the garden,—passed out to the roadway,—ceased. From either side of his head, the blind man felt a thick warm trickling; but he dared not lift his hands…

Before sunrise the priest came back. He hastened at once to the verandah in the rear, stepped and slipped upon something clammy, and uttered a cry of horror;—for he saw, by the light of his lantern, that the clamminess was blood. But he perceived Hōïchi sitting there, in the attitude of meditation—with the blood still oozing from his wounds.

“My poor Hōïchi!” cried the startled priest,—“what is this?… You have been hurt?”

At the sound of his friend’s voice, the blind man felt safe. He burst out sobbing, and tearfully told his adventure of the night.

“Poor, poor Hōïchi!” the priest exclaimed,—“all my fault!—my very grievous fault!… Everywhere upon your body the holy texts had been written—except upon your ears! I trusted my acolyte to do that part of the work; and it was very, very wrong of me not to have made sure that he had done it!… Well, the matter cannot now be helped;—we can only try to heal your hurts as soon as possible… Cheer up, friend!—the danger is now well over. You will never again be troubled by those visitors.”

With the aid of a good doctor, Hōïchi soon recovered from his injuries. The story of his strange adventure spread far and wide, and soon made him famous. Many noble persons went to Akamagaséki to hear him recite; and large presents of money were given to him,—so that he became a wealthy man… But from the time of his adventure, he was known only by the appellation of Mimi-nashi-Hōïchi: “Hōïchi-the-Earless.”

Sumikko no Heather

For today Heather found an interesting senryu that goes as follows:

棚釣ってわざとあたまをぶって見る

Putting up a shelf, and bumping his head on purpose.

Header Image: Melody from Pixabay.

References

• Blyth, R.H. (1949) “Senryu: Japanese Satirical Verses”. Japan: Hokuseido Press.
• Hearn, Lafcadio (1904). “Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things” Boston; Houghton, Mifflin and Co.

You can listen to the full podcast episodes here: Japan Archives, or wherever you listen to Podcasts.

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We also started a Youtube channel for Japan Archives.

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Story Notes

We jump to late autumn when Yasuke is in attendance to Nobunaga. A messanger arrives at Azuchi castle bringing a message from General Hideyoshi. His siege at Tottori Castle against the Mori (the Clan who helped Yasuke and the Jesuits get through the ocean pirate territory) was not going as planned and so Nobunaga dispatched his top Generals Akechi Mitsuhide and Takayama Ukon to go and reinforce Hideyoshi.

But Yasuke for now was to remain on standby with the other Samurai. Nobunaga’s armies were expanding and taking over his enemies as the months rolled by, but still Yasuke remained cloistered and bound to Azuchi Castle.

News finally arrived saying the Tottori siege has once more turned in favour of Nobunaga’s troops in by early November. Yasuke was to head south for Iga with Nobunaga and the Samurai pages. War was calling, though they did arrive a little late.

Now we have talked of the Iga clan briefly before in passing, the clan known for their Ninja prowess.

And when Yasuke and the others arrived to find their enemies already dead. Iga Province was engulfed in flames, after only a week of Nobunaga’s forces arriving in Iga. The battle missed they inspected the area, the men in charge here clamering to give a better banquet than the last for their visiting Lord and his retinue.

But one day on inspection, Yasuke looking down at one of the headless corpses of the felled Iga suddenly found the world exploding around him. Men were obliterated in the explosion, Yasuke rising to find the what he had thought as corpses now rising from the dead. The ninja had tricked them, lying in wait, and so they attacked. Fighting through the smoke, Yasuke made his way to Nobunaga and his son Nobukatsu and together they fought off the remaining Ninja until none were left.

And so after this short battle, they all returned to Azuchi Castle.

During the winter Nobunaga visited one of the Jesuit seminaries just outside his castle, a surprise visit to see what they were up to. And so they met Father Organtino again (who we have previously mentioned) and gave them a tour. They were shown around and when the time for Mass came Nobunaga excused himself to return to his castle, with Yasuke at the invitation of Organtino staying for the service before returning home himself.

New Year finally came, with Lords flocking to the castle to pay their respects, the whole castle was to be cleaned, New Year meant a great cleaning of every area and home, Yasuke’s included.

A celebration was planned for the first day of the New Year. A tour of the castle was to be given, included a golden pavilion Nobunaga had had built for the Imperial Family to visit. A most impressive feat when the Imperial Family had never visited anywhere outside of Kyoto in his life. But during the tour, there was a landslide. Nobunaga and Yasuke were safe at the front of the procession, but at the back 50 plus men went down with the landslide. Many having to be sent for healing. It was a bad start to the new year.

Two weeks into the New Year the traditional bonfire commenced with Nobuanaga’s own twist added in. Another horse event. Yasuke with the Samurai pages were the first to enter into the arena, the Matsubara horse ground constructed close by to the Jesuit seminary. It is nice to think that perhaps Yasuke took more of a part in this event unlike the previous now that he had spent much more time on horseback due to being a part of Nobunaga’s retinue.

By March 1582 war came again, this time from the Northern Takeda Clan. The Clan and its territories was disintegrating, and after one of the loyal Takeda retainers defected to the Oda Clan, Nobunaga saw it as time to send his son Nobutada there to crush them once and for all.

For now Yasuke remained at the castle again, but all those from the North who defied the Oda. Well, Yasuke did get to see them. Their severed heads displayed below Azuchi castle for all to see. Each labelled with who they were, hair combed to look nice, rouge added to cheeks to give them colour. Once the heads spoiled they were carted off and burned. Traditionally they would have been sent back to their family, but in this instance the distance was too great.

And so on March 28th, 1582 Yasuke finally left Azuchi castle once more with Nobunaga, heading nothing to join the war against the Takeda. One more final push to destroy those that remained, even though most had already fallen under the attack of Nobunaga’s son.

The further north they went, the colder it became, until snow lay all around them. Yasuke and the rest of the army were in a place called Iida when the final ruler of the Takeda, Katsuyori was revealed to them to have been defeated. His head, and his sons Nobukatsu arriving in an ornate box. (It should be said here that Nobukatsu was technically Nobunaga’s grandson, via adoption).

They continued north until they passed the castle of Takatō, eventually reaching a town known as Suwa where they halted. Only one building remained which Nobunaga made his headquarters, with his first order to disposed of all the dead laying in the streets of the town. Yasuke and everyone remained here for 2 weeks, the local lords who had turned against the old leaders flocking here to give their respects over to Nobunaga.

Rumours began to swirl as they remained in Suwa, that Yasuke may have received a lordship of his own. In fact, the Jesuit Mexia reported a rumours from the time at Azuchi that ‘Nobunaga would make him a Tono,’ a lord of his own.  Over the days Nobunaga gave out lands and power to his new followers, promoting other people he had known for years. But for Yasuke, no new title of power was given over to him.

And so, with work against the Takeda all but finished now. Nobunaga decided he wanted a holiday. He sent his armies home, and keeping only a few hundred men, including Yasuke they headed back south to Mount Fuji for Nobunaga’s holiday. This area was under the authority of Tokugawa Ieyasu and he would ensure Nobunaga had the best vacation he had ever had. Every night Nobunaga stayed at a newly constructed pavilion with teahouse included.

But sadly the tea house was too small for Yasuke, and so he often ate elsewhere.

As the days passed and they left Fuji, they made their way to Hitoana, a cave where it is said the goddess of Mount Fuji lived. Here another pavilion awaited them and then Ieyasu told them a tale of the cave.

The Story was known as Fuji no hitoana sōshi 富士の人穴草子, The Tale of the Fuji Cave and I manage to find a journal telling its tale online. So I will keep that for a future episode, perhaps even the bonus or main episode to follow on from our tale of Yasuke. But let us just say it is a story about a Samurai who ventures on down to hell.

And so eventually the holiday for Nobunaga, Yasuke and his men finally drew to its inevitably close after journeying to the coast, and they made their way back to Azuchi Castle.

He tasked Akechi Mitsuhide, one of his trusted generals, upon their return to gather and prepare for a 3 day banquet but just before Tokugawa Ieyasu arrived, Nobunaga had all the food thrown away, telling Akechi it was unfit. And so another meal had to be prepared, much to the embarrassment to Akechi.

Nobunaga’s rage was quickly forgotten after receiving word again regarding the Mori Clan and Tottori castle, they had prepared one last counter attack against Nobunaga’s general Hideyoshi. And so Nobunaga tasked Akechi to return to his castle to prepare for war again.

Nobunaga, Yasuke and 30 others left for Kyoto, to spend the night at Honnō-ji Temple before heading to besiege the Mori Clan again.

But this night, most of them would die, in what would become known as the Honnō-ji Incident. It was June 1st, 1582, and as the Hour of the Tiger arrived. Yasuke and the others were attacked in Honnō-ji temple. They had been betrayed. The humiliated general Akechi Mitsuhide had brought his armies to bring an end to Nobunaga. Yasuke ran to his lord finding him and Mori Ranmaru in a secluded courtyard behind his quarters. Gun fire broke out all around them, Yasuke holding onto Nobunaga’s sword until he called for it. Nobunaga fought with bow until it snapped, and then he asked Yasuke for his sword.

It was time for Yasuke to fight side by side with his Lord. Now don’t forget Nobunaga had brought 30 men with him, Akechi had brought several thousand. It was a battle they could not win. They fought, no doubt Yasuke losing track of how many he had killed, but there was no end to Akechi’s forces.

They had retreated inside, and it had helped to keep the men at bay. This room they could defend, at least for now. Nobunaga has taken a spear to the shoulder, and who knows what injuries Yasuke has sustained. The temple was set a light by Akechi’s men, and Nobunaga took an arrow into his leg. By now there were less than ten of his men left. Nobunaga ordered all to hold as long as they could, so it would give him time to commit seppuku, ritual suicide. He asked Yasuke and Ranmaru to remain with him for this act.

He placed the sword to his belly, instructing Yasuke that his head and sword was to be taken to his son Nobutada, it could not fall to the enemy. Nobunaga’s last ever order was to Yasuke, and to him alone.

Nobunaga carried out seppuku, Ranmaru finishing it by slicing of the Lords head, before he himself committed seppuku, this time the act of beheading falling to Yasuke. The head of Nobunaga bundled up, and his Lords sword in hand, it was time for him to leave. Yasuke fought his way out and emerged out of the burning temple. Yasuke ran towards Nijo Castle where Nobutada resided, and gaining entry he presented the head to him.

But Nijo Castle would soon fall as Yasuke looked on. Nobutada soon committing seppuku himself. His head and that of his fathers buried under a walkway to then be devoured in flame. Akechi’s forces broke in, Yasuke fought until he was brought down by 4 men, all holding him down with all their strength. Another samurai demanded he surrender his sword and his did so, but they did not kill him. They dragged him out of Nijo into the streets of Kyoto for an audience with Akechi.

Akechi looked at him stating ‘this man is not Japanese and has no honour; otherwise, he would already be dead.’ And so he demanded his retainer take the ‘black beast’ as he called him to the Temple of the Southern Barbarians. The same church Yasuke had been in the day before he had come into the service of Nobunaga.

In the mission his wounds were cared for, Father Frois, the interpreter who first welcomed Yasuke here, pressing him for news on what the hell had just happened. Two days later Akechi’s forces lay waste to Azuchi, burning the castle and everything down’ Yasuke’s home included.

This coup was not embraced by the people, Nobunaga had been brining peace to the country that hadn’t been seen in 100 years. And it was only a week later that Akechi Mitsuhide was killed, speared by nothing more than a bandit on the road side.

Months passed, Yasuke still at the mission. Still technically a Samurai, but one with no master. A ronin. No-one was asking for him as the dealt with the fallout from this coup, Nobunaga’s successor finally being chosen. His 2 year old grandson. But of course, he held no power. Power now would be held by Hideyoshi, Nobunaga’s most trusted general when he was alive. Eventually Yasuke was sent back to where he started, the port city of Nagasaki.

And after the autumn of 1582 we don’t really know what became of Yasuke.

There are stories here and there, stories of African’s in Japan that may or may not be him.

But I feel they are for another day, when we have taken in the story of Yasuke we have been telling.

I don’t want to blur the lines of what we know was Yasuke and what only may have been him.

So they will come in the future. And episode for all the men who may or may not have been this great man.

Poem Notes

Today we have a poem from Ōshikochi Mitsune, a waka poet from the Heian Period.

The poem comes from a book dating to 1908 where they call his poem ‘The Quest.’ So far we only have the English and we will continue to research and try to find the Japanese. We hope you enjoy the poem.

Ye who would leave the fretting world, and go
Far up among the Hills to seek release
From Sorrow ‘mid the Silence and the Snow,
What will ye do it there ye find no Peace?

Header Image: Meiji Era Print of the Honnō-ji Incident.

References

• Lockley, T & Girard, G. (2019) African Samurai: The True Story of Yasuke, a Legenedary Black Warrior in Feudal Japan. Tokyo: Tuttle-Mori Angency Inc.
• R. Keller Kimbrough. (2006) Japanese Journal of Religious Studies [Online only: 1–22] Nanzan Institute for Religion and Culture.
• Shotaro, K. & Peake, C.M.A (1908) “Sword and blossom poems from the Japanese. Volume III.” Tokyo: T. Hasegawa.

You can listen to the full podcast episodes here: Japan Archives, or wherever you listen to Podcasts.

Follow us on Social Media: Instagram: @japan_archives

We also started a Youtube channel for Japan Archives.

And another for other creative endeavours!

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Story Notes

Now the poems we will talk of today come from the man’yōshū, a large poetry collection of 20 volumes and more than 4,500 waka poems. The document in question was divided into three genres. “Zoka” songs at banquets and trips, “Somonka” songs about love between men and women, and “Banka” songs to mourn the death of people. Ōtomo Yakamochi took a large role in the compilation of it and we have talked a little about him before on episodes 19 and 49 of the show.

Now these poems by Manzei (沙弥満誓) are found in here like I just said. But there are some who would call them his lost poetic sequence, and we will get into that after we have talked about Manzei.

This was an interesting topic for me, as he was a man who some books I had mentioned him off hand making me feel he was well known and I should know who he was, others stated there is nothing known about him except when he lived. And that irked me, so I was determined to see if there was anything out there. And there was, eventually I came across an article.

 Manzei was his religious name, and before this he was called Kasa Maro and we first find him in a document from 704 when he received a title known as Junior Fifth-rank Lower-grade. (Don’t ask me what that means, I still have yet to find something useful to me which really goes into detail about these court ranks and they seem very complex. Here’s hoping I find something soon)

Two years later in 706 we see him named the Governor of Mino Province (now Southern Gifu Prefecture), a post which he received again in 708. Here, presumably he governed rather well, undertaking the construction of the Kiso highway.

By 717 he had been promoted again to Junior Fourth-rank Upper-grade and gained the titles of Inspector General of Owari, Mikawa and Shinano Province. All in all he was doing very well for himself politically.

And in 720 he was raised to the prominent position of Udaiben, Great Controller of the Right. This administrative position was charged with the supervision of four ministries: Military, Justice, Treasury and the Imperial Household. So it was a very powerful position for a man who has started out as a small provincial governor.

But here we seem to have hit the peak of his career. We have a gap in his life, and we have a fall from grace it seems.

In 721 the retired Empress Genmei fell ill, and three days after in perhaps desperation to make her better the throne made an order for ‘a hundred consecrated men and women’ to be dedicated to religion so they may pray for the recovery of Empress Genmei. Kasa Maro contacted the throne asking for permission to also enter into religion to do the same for the Empress and they said yes.

I am unsure here if that meant he was part of the 100 people or if he saw it an opportunity to change his job and was in theory and extra person to the original 100.

However, their prayers were unanswered, Genmei died within the year. She died and the throne needed someone to blame, and so they turned to those of religion stating ‘the monks and nuns in the capital mischievously preach the remission of sin even though their own knowledge is as shallow as their understanding is trivial; meanwhile they neglect their monastic vows… they start by feigning the practise of religion, and end up clasping unto themselves lecherous abominations.’

And this may have acted as one of the reason for what happened next for Manzei and his fall from grace. In 723 he was posted to Kyushu to supervise the construction of Tsukushi Kanzeonji, and here he actually came into contact with Ōtomo Tabito and his poetry circle. He being the father of Ōtomo Yakamochi, one of the compilers of the man’yōshū. And it is here in Kyushu he spent the rest of his life and died.

Now why do I say this was a fall from grace?

Well here is why. Kyushu was seen in old Japan as a place of exile, no matter how much the role you were given on the island was sugar coated, made to seem like a great role to take. Everyone new Kyushu meant exile, one that was impossible to return from. Ōtomo Tabito being one of the rare few who got back into the capitals good graces and could return. Going to Kyushu meant you would remain there until you passed on into death.

But the thing is, we don’t really know why has was sent into this exile, and why did he ask to go into religion when he had such a prominent position in Japan as Great Controller of the Right. Two years went by from him asking to go into religion to his exile. That would have been enough time for someone to have thought up a great end to his life, one that suited a man who had done something wrong to feel he had to flee into religion. And what was more, with the prayers of those failing to heal Empress Genmei, that could have only added fuel to the fire to have him shipped off into exile. All in all we don’t know what occurred, but as a man who constructed the Kiso Highway it would make sense they chose for him a position in exile involving an engineering project, this one in question being he undertaking of Kanzeonji in Tsukushi (Kyushu) like we have said.

Even if he didn’t flee into religion, it could have been he was forced to some degree by his enemies, this was a period of time after all in Japan where all those of power had enemies. And in doing so there is the thought that it was to ensure he had no descendants due to the celibacy his religious vows entailed. So in essence any potential family line and power would have died out with him. But this also did not occur, he sired at least one son and by 866AD three men claimed to be fifth generational descendants of him. But also this would echo back to the state crying out that the men and women of religion were breaking vows and falling into debauchery when they were blamed for the death of the Empress.

And this is really everything we have to say about Manzei, a man who we know many things about, but of the one thing we need to truly understand to make sense of his fall from grace, we annoyingly known nothing have.

Looking at his poems in the man’yōshū, it was like they were cannibalized to some extend, broken and shifted around to fit into the man’yōshū in the areas which best went with the theme of the specific poem. In fact several others within the man’yōshū have been discovered to have under gone this. A three poem sequence on the death of Shōtoku Taisha for instance.

Manzei’s poems were placed into Books 3, 4 and 5 of the man’yōshū, but luckily in doing so they did not alter the order in which they were written allowing for an easy reconstruction. And associated notes next to the poems also aided in the reconstruction of them as well as detailing some of the information we know of Manzei’s life. We can even narrow down the poems creation to between 723 and 730 showing that all of them were written after his exile, and I feel the first poem in his 7 poem sequence will be evident of that.

Only these seven poems in the man’yōshū are known by his. If he did others they have not survived.

But now let us turn our attention to his poems. Heather as usual will read the Japanese but I think perhaps today I can read the English (unfortunately the journal I found did not have the original Japanese script). We have both read the same article for this episode so there will be none of me trying to figure out the meaning in English.

Header Image: Edo Period Copy of the man’yōshū.

References

• Miller, R.A. (1981) “The Lost poetic Sequence of the Priest Manzei”. Monumenta Nipponica, Vol. 36, No.2, pp.259-274133-172.
• Steven D. Carter, Traditional Japanese Poetry: An Anthology.
• 1000 Poems from the Manyoshu: The Complete Nippon Gakujutsu Shinkokai Translation

You can listen to the full podcast episodes here: Japan Archives, or wherever you listen to Podcasts.

Follow us on Social Media: Instagram: @japan_archives

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Story Notes

Today we had two folktales from a very old source, The Folk Lore Record dating to 1878. So sit back and enjoy the tales.

The Bewitched Tea-Kettle

This story is originally called the Bunbuku Chagama.

A time ago the priest of a Buddhist Temple at Tatebayashi, in the province of Pekin, found an old iron boiler amongst a lot of lumber, one of the kind of tea-kettles formerly used on great occasions.

It looked as if it had been ill-used, it was so old and battered. But the priest was a thrifty man, and a lover of old-fashioned things; so he was looking to see what he could make use of amongst the lumber that his predecessor had left behind him. He cleaned the old kettle, and, filling it with water, set it on the fire to boil. To his great amazement it seemed to move, and the head, tail, and four legs of a badger seemed to grow out of it, before he could say the ever-ready prayer of his sect.

It then jumped from the fire and tried to escape; but the priest calling to the neophyte to come and aid him, they beat the badger down with brooms and caught it, and put it into a box. Now there was a dealer in old metal in the village who was known to the priest, and the neophyte was sent to bring him to the temple, but nothing was to be said about the tricks of the pot.
When the box was opened to show the dealer, it seemed to be the same old rusty, dirty thing it was before the priest cleaned it, so the dealer would not give more than about ten cents for it. The priest, however, after some attempts to obtain more for such a heavy kettle, closed the bargain, glad to be rid of it.

The dealer found it heavier to carry than he at first thought, but he managed to get it home. The same night he was awoke from his sound sleep by noises that seemed to come from the corner where he had placed the tea-kettle, but they ceased when he sat up to watch.

Fancying there might be a thief, he was cautious; and presently, in place of the pot, he saw a great badger dancing about, in a way that astonished him, skipping from place to place and balancing itself in the strangest attitudes until the poor man was quite frightened.

Early the next morning he went to a friend, another old-metal dealer, and
told him about the badger’s tricks. This old man had heard when a child about the story of a tea-kettle that was bewitched, and he thought that perhaps the one bought from the priest might be the same. He advised his friend, therefore, to exhibit the kettle as a curiosity, for, if the badger’s good will and confidence could be gained, it would bring its possessor a fortune. He also advised that no prayers should be said, or religious ceremony observed, near the place where the tea-kettle was, as such would annoy the badger and inter-fere with the exhibition. The dealer took his friend’s advice, and, erecting a temporary building, succeeded in getting the badger to show off his tricks in public.

When the tea-kettle was placed on the stage it would not move till there was a crowded audience; then, assured that every one had paid his entrance fee, it would gradually develop head, limbs, and tail, and go through the funniest performances on a tight-rope, with umbrella, fans, etc., dancing and tumbling, finally disappearing suddenly, and here the old rusty tea-kettle would be seen back on the stage again.

The dealer became a very rich man, but he feared he had incurred the wrath of Nin-rai-oama (Buddhist divinity), and he therefore made presents of money to the temples that the priests might pray for him, and avert the punishment he feared he had incurred; for, by giving up a portion of his wealth, he hoped to enjoy the remainder for many years, and be sure of a happy hereafter free of trouble.

The priest who had sold the tea-kettle was a clever man, and had no difficulty in obtaining enough money to build a fine new temple, the dealer believing he was thus making the road easy for himself in the next world. There was a special place built for the tea-kettle. It was canonized, and named ” Great Enlightened Spirit of Bum-buku ;” and is still to be seen.

The Sparrows Wedding

In the days of old, there lived in the forest at the back of an old shrine, not far from the pathway, a sparrow called Chiyo-suke. He had been for a long time looking about for a suitable wife for his eldest boy Chiyo-taro, being anxious that he should settle down and become more steady and industrious.

As usual, he had formerly arranged with a neighbour a match between his daughter and Chiyo-taro, but the girl had died, and the boy was now, as his father thought, free. Such was not the case, however, because one day, when Chiyo-taro went to visit the shrine of his tutelary saint, he met the daughter of Suzu-yemon, and was so much charmed by her pretty face and modest ways that he fell in love with her directly, and, boy-like, suddenly decided that he would have her or none for his future wife.

When he went home he took the first opportunity to confide his wish to his mother, and, as she had heard the story of Suzu-yemon, all about his being caught and his tongue cut by the cruel old woman, and also how kind and dutiful his daughter Osuzu always was to her friends, she promised to help him. Chiyo-suke was sorry his son had not made a grander match, but, as there was nothing to be said against the character of Osuzu and her family, he, with a little coaxing, consented.

The next thing to be done was to find some elderly woman, who was intimate with both families and a good match-maker, to act as a go-between in such cases, and who was smart and clever in finding out everybody’s business. Now there is rarely much trouble in finding out such a one, for, if they manage well, they are sure to receive nice presents from all parties, and they generally try. hard to earn them. Dressing herself in her best clothes, and asking that one of Chiyo-suke’s maidservants might attend upon her to make a little more show, the match-maker paid a visit to Osuzu’s family.

The good folk guessed the object of the visit to be an offer of marriage for their daughter, but as in duty bound, according to olden custom, they cleverly avoided appearing to know it, and evaded every attempt to bring round the chat to that subject. After many pipes of tobacco had been whiffed, and tiny cups of tea sipped, they at length admitted that Osuzu was not as yet betrothed, but they were in no hurry, there was plenty of time, and her pretty face and cleverness would get her a rich husband by-and-by.

The match-maker hinted that Chyo-suke’s son would be a very good match. He was rich, handsome, and clever, not; any worse than other young men, and so forth. She pressed her point, and finally obtained the consent of Osuzu’s friends to return to Chiyo-suke and arrange for a formal meeting of the two families. Elated with her success, she commenced in earnest, and the result waa that in a few days the middlemen or witnesses were appointed.

The bridal gifts were chosen by the bridegroom, amongst other things a beautiful girdle, a bundle of white fibre, fish, wine, etc. In return the bride’s family sent him a complete dress of ceremony, wine, etc., and on the day of the wedding her bridal outfit would be sent to her future home. A lucky day was now chosen for Osuzu to leave her old home, to go to her future one. Chiyo-taro’s friends and neighbours met at his house on the evening of the happy day with their paper lanterns, which they lighted to go to meet the bride and her friends.

When the chair in which Osuzu was carried arrived at her new home, she was lifted out of it and carried into the house with a great fuss, for it is not lucky to allow the bride to walk in for the first time lest she should touch with her feet certain places, and that would be a bad omen. She was first taken to the Buddha shelf, the family shrine, and to the Shelf of the Gods and other places, to kneel before them and pray to be admitted into the family, and for prosperity to her new home-she still wearing her beautiful new silk dresses and the veil of floss silk over her head. Then she was led to the best room, where a grand feast was spread out, and seated beside Chiyo-taro.

They drank wine from the same cup, whilst the friends clapped their hands and congratulated them. She was then led to a side room, and her robes were changed for a beautiful bright-coloured crepe dress and a gold brocade girdle. During the feast her robes were changed several times, to exhibit to admiring friends the extent of her wardrobe, and by the time daylight was dawning every one had feasted so heartily that they were nearly all asleep.

This was said to be the grandest wedding known in the forest for many long years. Chiyo-taro was a good, kind, husband, and he and Osuzu were happy and prospered, living to old age.

Poem Notes

Today from Heather we have an annonymous Senryu.

清書書に知らぬ字のある親の顔

In the fair copy there’s a character he doesn’t know ー the father’s face.

References

• Blyth, R.H. (1949) “Senryu: Japanese Satirical Verses”. Japan: Hokuseido Press.
• Pfoundes, C. (1878) “The Bewitched Tea-Kettle”. The Folk Lore Record, Vol.1, pp.118-119.
• Pfoundes, C. (1878) “The Sparrow’s Wedding”. The Folk Lore Record, Vol.1, pp.131-133.

You can listen to the full podcast episodes here: Japan Archives, or wherever you listen to Podcasts.

Follow us on Social Media: Instagram: @japan_archives

We also started a Youtube channel for Japan Archives.

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Story Notes

Today I wanted to try and piece together the history of the Sacred Regalia in Japan. Where as England has their crown jewels for example, in Japan they have these Regalia, or the Sanshu no Jingi as they’re known in Japan. 

These items consists of the Sword Kusanagi, the Mirror Yata no Kagami and a Jewel known as Yasakami no Magatama. These days it is said the original mirror is kept in the Ise Grand Shrine, with the original Sword being housed in the Atsuta Shrine. The Jewel is held inside the Royal Palace. This Jewel is kept alongside a replica sword in the Kenji no Ma (or Room of the Sword and Seal) and upon the coronation of a new Emperor the Jewel and Sword are used for a kind of ‘transfer’ ceremony of the item from one Emperor to another. This ceremony known as the Kenji Togyo no Gi. Now, saying that, a news article I read included pictures of the sword and jewel in boxes being carried onto a Shinkansen. Now considering the ceremony happened in Tokyo where the apparent items used are held, I am a little confused where they were actually brought from as they according to the rest of the research I did, they are in the Palace where the ceremony occurred. 

There is also a replica mirror held in the palace, in the Kashikodokoro, one of the three palace shrines.  

Now the sword we have already brought into our little show, having been found inside the tail of the Dragon Yamato no Orochi. Then handed over by Susano-o who found it to his sister the sun kami Amaterasu.  

As for its appearance, we may be able to turn to an account from the Edo Period when repairs were carried out at the Atsuta Shrine including replacement of the outer wooden box housing the sword. At the time there was a priest called Matsuoka Masanao who said he and a few other priests saw the Sword and this is his description of it: 

“a stone box was inside a wooden box of length 150 cm, with red clay stuffed into the gap between them. Inside the stone box was a hollowed log of a camphor tree, acting as another box, with an interior lined with gold. Above that was placed a sword. Red clay was also stuffed between the stone box and the camphor tree box. The sword was about 82 cm long. Its blade resembled a calamus leaf. The middle of the sword had a thickness from the grip about 18cm with an appearance like a fish spine. The sword was fashioned in a white metallic color, and well maintained.”  

And in a strange turn of events, kind of like the curse of Egyptian mummies, afterward the grand priest found himself banished with all the other priests save for Matsuoka dying of strange diseases. 

But where did the Jewel and Mirror come from? According to the tales, the Jewel was giving to Amaterasu by the kami of Heaven (Takamagahara) and the mirror was actually a mirror we have come across before. This being the mirror that was used to coax Amaterasu out the Rock Cave when she fled and brought darkness to everything. 

A man known as Daniel Clarence Holtom stated all the was back in 1928 that out of the 3 Sacred Regalia the mirror is now the only one to exist in its original form and the claim has received a lot of support over time.  

Now eventually all of these items were gifted down to a man known as Ninigi, his full name is much longer, so I will leave it at Ninigi. He was a descendant of Amaterasu and she gifted these items to him with the decree of subduing all of Japan so that he and his descendants could rule over it. 

Emperor Suijin (10th Emperor 97-30BC) 

The Emperor Suijin had a big problem to deal with during his reign, the problem being widespread pestilence in Japan.  

Until this point the Regalia had been held safe in the Palace, but the Emperor fearing the pollution of these items instructed numerous copies of the Mirror and Sword to be made.  

The Mirror and Sword were then moved to Kasanui in Yamato and one of his daughters known as Toyotsukiiri-hime was entrusted with their worship. 

Emperor Suinin (11th Emperor – 29BC-70AD) 

A small note on the Sacred Regalia during the reign of Emperor Suinin, he again has the Regalia moved. This time giving them a home in the Naiku Shrine (or Inner Shrine) at the Grand Ise Shrine in Mie Prefecture. He charges his daughter, Yamato-hime with the worshipping of these objects.  

Emperor Keiko (12th Emperor 71-130AD) 

Now the Regalia in question here merely relates to the Sword.  

Emperor Keiko had a son, known most famously now by the name Yamato Takeru. 

Now this man, during this life he held many exploits, and I will give him an episode to himself, however one such exploit included him using the Sacred Sword. Approaching his aunt, Yamato-hime who we just mentioned from the reign of Emperor Suinin, still in charge at these times with the worship of the sacred regalia, he asks to borrow the sword. 

His next job in his several exploits, was to deal with people known as the Emishi (some believe this to be a term for the Ainu). On his way he comes across a chieftain who attempts to kill him in a grass fire. Yamato Takeru, uses to sword, mowing down the grass around him to escape before then killing the chieftain. He then continues on with his exploit. (I find the fact he mows down grass interesting, and I feel perhaps this tale may have been used as a way to elaborate on why the sword is called Kusanagi, as it translates to ‘Grass Mower’). 

After his subsequent death during this final expedition, the sword then finds itself houses in the Atsuta shrine in Aichi Prefecture.  

6th Century 

I am unsure as to an actual date for this, only finding that it occurred in the 6th century, which could mean it occurred under the reign of several different Emperor. Records say that the sword was stolen in the 6th Century by a monk who came from Silla (this being in modern day Korea). However, his ship allegedly sank and the sword eventually washed up on shore at Ise, where it was recovered by Shinto Priests. 

Emperor Go-Suzaku (69th Emperor – 1036-1045) 

A rather big jump now, from the 12th to the 69th Emperor Go-Suzaku. A jump of some 1000 years.  

It is said that in 1040, the compartment which contained the Sacred Mirror was burned in a fire, however, whether the mirror was merely damaged or entirely lost is not said.  

Emperor Antoku (81st Emperor – 1180-1183) 

Another jump now, from the 70th to the 81st Emperor..  

A short lived Emperor, who sadly died at the age of six. 

In fact Antoku was named crown prince at at the very early age of one month old. But did not actually ascend until the ripe old age of two, all power held by his grandfather, a man known as Taira no Kiyomori. 

Now in his final year of life, and as Emperor ended at the battle of Dan no Ura.  

This was the culmination of a feud between the Minamoto and Taira Clans. The Minamoto Clan decree Go-Toba as Emperor, causing their to be two at once. And so Minamoto no Yoshinaka entered the capital of Kyoto causing the Taira Clan with Emperor Antoku to flee with the Sacred Treasures.  

The Battle of Dan no Ura, was a naval battle, and the Taira clan here found themselves defeated. And so the Empress Dowager, Taira no Tokiko, at the time jumps into the ocean to her death with the Sacred Regalia, however the Jewel and Mirror were saved. This also ended the young Emperors life, aged, six. The sword was lost here. However, these apparently were the copies of the original Regalia made over 1000 years ago now under the orders of Emperor Suinin.  

Due to these events, the following Emperor Go-Toba had a kind of unofficial ceremony in that the handing over of the sacred treasures from the previous emperor to the new did not occur.  

Emperor Go-Hanazono (101st Emperor – 1428-1464) 

We’re making a big jump here, some 300 years almost, until I found mention of the Sacred Regalia again. 

It appears that during his reign, two people attempted to over throw the Emperor, these known as Kusunoki Jiro and Hino Arimitsu. They decreed that a different person, Takayoshi-O was the Emperor, he being a grandson of the 98th Emperor Go-Kameyama (according to the family tree in the book I have) 

Now they make an attempt to overthrow the Emperor, entering into his Palace. Fortunately the Emperor escaped, but these uprisers managed to get hold of the Regalia and flee to Enryaku-ji. Here they were mostly defeated by the bakufu, and Takayahi-O and Hino Arimitsu were made to commit seppuku. During this the sword was dropped and recovered, but some other members of the party managed to carry off the Jewel. They then set up Takayoshi-O’s sons Takahide-O and Tadayoshi-O as then next in line, according to their own wishes. 

Another attempt was made to recover the Jewel in 1457 by Taro Sayemon. He kills these two princes and get hold of the Jewel, but he is then counter attacked and loses it again. The next year, looking again for others they can call Emperor, they choose Takamasa-O, the third brother but he was killed by someone known as Kodera Tobyoei, and finally the Regalia was restored to the Emperor in Kyoto.  

Emperor Naruhito 

Now reaching the modern day we turn to Emperor Naruhito, who ushered in the new age called Reiwa, to replace that of Heisei. 

News articles did talk a little about the regalia in association with him stating that during his inauguration two boxes were presented to him. One said to house the Sword and the other the Jewel. As we mentioned before, the mirror was not brought as it does not appear to be required. And this all leads into the rights and passage of coronation rules, customs and regulations, which I will delve into at a later point and hopefully be able to bring it to you in a future episode.  

Poem Notes

Well, we’ve touched on botany in the podcast, but only briefly dabbled in entomology. Let’s dive further into a new topic of biology as we talk about one of the sounds of the Japanese summer, the cicada. I found a really interesting article about cicada in Japan, and I’m including the link in the show notes. From this link, I encountered the man’yōshū – which we’ve briefly talked about before.

But – instead of finding the poem with the semi, I happened to find one about “higurashi” Higurashi are called evening cicadas, and is one of the over 30 species of cicada that can be found in Japan. Their songs can sound early in the morning or later in the evening, but it appears that they are most active in the autumn. An interesting fact, well for us at any rate, is that the kanji can be said to be taken from the miscanthus. This Basho despised plant is one of the habitats for this species of cicada. 
 
The poet is named Otomo no Yakamochi, who we have spoke of before, in Episode 19 – our culinary episode about curry.  One of the 36 Poet Immortals.
 

隠りのみ居ればいぶせみ慰むと出で立ち聞けば来鳴くひぐらし 

komori  nomi
oreba ibuse mi nagusamu to  
idetachi kikeba  
kinaku higurashi  

Google Sensei had this to say: If you’re in the hiding place, I’m in a hurry, if you’re comforting, you’ll hear me when you stand. I’m including it because… it’s just entertaining.  
 
Now, I did try to do some translation work myself, but since this poem dates back to around the 700s, my dictionary had some difficulties. I did ask the professor for the parts I had troubles with but… (awaiting reply) 
 
I’ve got two different translations from two different sources.

Tired of sitting indoors all day long,
I seek the garden for colace, only to hear
The shrill chirps of the cicadas.

Here is the second one from wakapoetry.net:

Shut indoors and
Sunk in misery,
I wonder what would console me;
Going outside, I listen and,
The evening cicadas come calling…

I prefer the chirping poem – because as I am sure Thomas can attest, while the cicada is definitely one of the sounds of summer, it can be amongst the most deafening.  

But we do have a third version for you. One devised by the Professor.

Just being locked and staying in my room depress me,
thus to refresh myself
I went out and listened to a cicadas coming and chirping.

References 

• https://www.smh.com.au/world/asia/japan-s-new-emperor-naruhito-inherits-imperial-regalia-20190501-p51iz0.html 
• https://edition.cnn.com/style/article/japan-enthronement-royal-regalia/index.html 
• http://www.wakapoetry.net/mys-viii-1479/ 
• https://www.japantimes.co.jp/opinion/2013/05/27/commentary/japan-commentary/the-transient-rasping-that-captivates-the-poets/#.Xyy7zy2cbOQ 
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tanna_japonensis
• 1000 Poems from the Manyoshu: The Complete Nippon Gakujutsu Shinkokai Translation. Dover Publications
• Ackroyd, Joyce. (1982). Lessons from History: the Tokushi Yoron.
• Encyclopedia of Japan. Tokyo: Shogakukan. 2012.
• Holtom, Daniel Clarence (1928), “The jewels”, The Japanese enthronement ceremonies; with an account of the imperial regalia, Tokyo: Kyo Bun Kwan.
• Kodansha. (1993) ”Japan: An Illustrated Encyclopedia”. Tokyo: Kodansha Ltd. 
• Kurita Hiroshi (1898) “Investigation of Imperial Regalia (神器考證, Jingi Kōshō)”
• Littleton. C.S. (1995) “Yamato-takeru: An Arthurian Hero in Japanese Tradition”. Asian Folklore Studies, Vol. 54, No.2, pp.259-274. 
• Louis Frederic, translated by Kathe Roth (2002) “Japan Encyclopedia”. London: Harvard University Press.
• MacMillan, P. (2018) ”One Hundred Poets, One Poem Each: A Treasury of Classical Japanese Verse”. St. Ives: Penguin Classics.
• McCullough, H. C. (1988) The Tale of the Heike. . Stanford University Press.
• Ponsonby, F. (1959) “The Imperial House of Japan.” Kyoto: The Ponsonby Memorial Society. 
• Tamaki Masahide, Endorsement of Gyokusensyu (玉籤集裏書, Gyokusenshū uragaki) c.1725.

You can listen to the full podcast episodes here: Japan Archives, or wherever you listen to Podcasts.

Follow us on Social Media: Instagram: @japan_archives

We also started a Youtube channel for Japan Archives.

And another for other creative endeavours!

The post E49 The Sacred Regalia appeared first on A History of Japan - 日本歴史.

Story Notes

Names

The Kappa (河童) has had various name throughout it long history including Midzuchi, Kawatarō and Kawa-warawa just to name a few.

Appearance and Interests

When it comes to appearance for this creature which is particular to the island of Kyushu, there is the general consensus of a creature with a sort of depression upon its head full of water from which the creatures power stems. But other part of it can be left to interpretation.

Some would tell you the creature is the size of a 12-13 year old, but others would say even smaller, the size of only a 2-3 years old.

Body wise again it can vary widely, their faces can be ape-like, a times with shaggy hair, others say it could have a tiger like face with a snout, and others still would say it looks like an otter.

Their bodies can be like a tortoise, sometimes they can have wings and scaly bodies.

Webbed feet and hands, a greenish body, the ability to rotate their arm and leg joint freely, as well as a fishy odor also round out the many ways in which these creatures can be depicted. But all agree on the depression holding water on their head.

To sleep they must leave water and remove their waterproof skin called amagawa.

And when it comes to things they enjoy, they are mostly known for their love of cucumbers and sumo wrestling, but at times they have been shown to enjoy eggplants and melons.

But when it comes to their run ins with people, there is something else they enjoy, the shirikodama. (mentioned below)

Similar creatures

There are other Yokai said to be off shoots or at least types of Kappa. The Kawa Akago (川赤子) and Suiko (水虎) being two examples. The first lives high up in mountain streams and resemble human babies, and the second resembles a pangolin with knees as sharp as tiger claws. This one hails from the Sushui River in China.

Worship

Some religions such as Tsugaru, see them as water kami and so they are worshipped. Some agricultural communities see them as suijin, water spirits, and so celebrating them will ensure enough water for the rice fields the coming year.

If you need to appease resident kappa then leaving cucumbers at nearby shrines is a good bet.

Kappa Attack and your best defense

So a kappa has a high chance of attacking you (though some tales show them saving drowning children) and all of these attacks will take place in water or at the water’s edge.

So if you want to avoid this, one superstition is don’t go swimming after eating cucumbers, they’ll smell it and it will draw them to you.

But what is the shirkodama?

Apparently it is a type of life-force, which lives in your colon.

And due to its location, well let’s just say, if the Kappa wants to take it, there is only one place they can go through to try and steal it. So mind your butt while your swimming.

Some others say they don’t always go for the shirikodama and just want your liver, but they will steal go the same way of retrieving it.

 If they are not in the mood for your life-force, still please avoid them in the water, they might just drown you because they can.

And if you run into them on land, the prepare to fight them.

Unless you want to repel them away from you. We have a wood block print from 1881 showing just how you can do that by Tsukioka Yoshitaka, and that is to fart in the kappas general direction to get them to go away.

But lets assume you don’t do that and you have to fight them. What’s the best way to do it?

Well first of all they are respectful  in a fight, bow to them before fighting, and the creature will do the same. This will cause the fluid to fall out of its head, taking away its power meaning you can fight and win against them.

However winning is not good, if you do so you will waste away and die. Certain parts of japan say kappa claim two people a year through fights.

So perhaps it is best to repel them with the aforementioned method?

Kappa Tales

Our earliest reference comes from the Nihonshoki, in 379 involving a midzuchi.

A strong man declares that he has grown tired of the kappa killing people, and so approaching the river he throws in some calabashes, saying if he can sink them he will leave the creature alone, if he cant then he will kill the kappa.

Another tale relates to Tokyo.

There is a bridge in Tokyo called Kappa Bridge, legends says the very first Kappa Bridge to be built was built by a rain coat merchant who used Kappa as laborer’s.

Our next tale comes from a publication which brought together many folktales from the area of Tono.

There was a pond called Gorobei on the Sawahi River. A person once lived close to the rivers banks and he would often go to collect water from there. One day he wandered off and a kappa came forth trying to drag the persons horse into the water and take it for themselves by tying its reigns around its waist. But the horse was too strong and dragged the dangerous kappa into its stable. The kappa panicked, and tried desperately to find a place to hide. But the only place was under the horses feed bucket. Eventually when the person came to feed the horse he picked up the bucket to find the kappa there. The creature immediately apologized for its bad behavior and said it would stop being a thief, it even wrote a letter of apology which is still kept to this day by the owner of the house.

I did come across a sctory of remarkable similarity to the one above which goes as follows.

In times of old a Kappa once lived in the river of Kawachi, he had the habit of taking a killing numerous villagers and their livestock. One day he tried to steal a horse, but the horse was too strong, dragging the creature into a nearby field and so the villagers came together to tie up the creature.  Most cried for the creature to be killed, for all the death it had caused them, but the owner of the horse had a different idea. He wanted the creature to promise to stop his evil acts and so a document was drawn up. But the kappa, though it could speak, said he could not write, and so he signed the document by dipping its hand into some ink and pressing it down onto the page. And from that day the kappa never killed again.

This document was kept at the temples of Kawako-no-miya built on the banks of the river kawachi.

Another tale we came across goes as follows.

A woman once went to use her outhouse, but was scared away after she felt a hairy hand stroke her buttocks. And so she fled telling the local doctor who said he would deal with the problem. He goes to the outhouse and waits for that hairy hand before cutting it off and taking it to his office.

The next day, a kappa comes asking for his hand back, he says if he doesn’t apply medicine soon he will be unable to reattach it. The doctor allows this on the condition that the kappa signs a waver saying he will teach him how to fix bones.

A popular novel by Akutagawa Ryunosuke was written about Kappa in 1927 and went as follows.

A psychiatric patient, called “Number 23”, tells the story of a time he visited the land of the kappa. He had lost his way in the mountains of Hotakadake and was surrounded by a group of the strange creatures, who then showed him around their home. 23 relates how he met with kappa of many occupations. One of them, Geeru, told him that unemployed laborers are gassed and then eaten by the other kappa. He met another kappa called Tokku, a skeptical poet who had committed suicide and appeared to 23 as a ghost by means of necromancy. Tokku, while concerned about being famous after his death, admires writers and philosophers who have killed themselves. On his return to the real world, 23 muses that the kappa were clean and superior to human society and becomes a misanthrope.

Legacy

The Kappa zushi rolls are named after these creatures.

In the modern day now they have lost much of their sinisterness and act as mascot for tourism and even in TV adverts to sell things. One such mascot is called Kapal and he is the kappa mascot for Shiki City.

They have changed a lot over the years.

Song Notes

Hakushu Kitahara was a tanka poet. He was born into a sake brewing family in Fukuoka prefecture in 1885. He went to Waseda University to study English literature but didn’t graduate.

He wrote for several literary magazines, but today we are going to focus on his work from the children’s literary magazine Akai Tori. This magazine was published from 1918-1931, and eventually stopped completely in 1936. This magazine’s goal was to create, collect, and elevate children’s literature and songs. They asked several poets of the day to help with their goals. Hakushu Kitahara was one of the poets asked to contribute.

Today, the lyrics of the song is from him. Now, in my research I didn’t see a conclusive link from this song to the literary magazine, but based on the title I feel 90% confident that this song comes from Akai Tori. The song is called Akai tori. 

akai tori, kotori  
naze naze akai
akai mi wo tabeta
shiroi tori kotori
naze naze shiroi
shiroi mi wo tabeta
aoi tori kotori
naze naze aoi
aoi mi wo tabeta

Red bird, little red bird
Why are you red?
I ate a red fruit!
White bird, little white bird,
Why are you white?
I ate a white fruit!
Blue bird, blue bird,
Why are you blue?
I ate a blue fruit!

The lyrics are just cute, and silly and would have made me laugh as a child. Of COURSE eating a blue fruit doesn’t turn you blue! Unless of you went to visit Willy Wonka perhaps. But the cheerful and repetitive verse is easy for children to learn, and also beginning Japanese students too.

We’ll come back to more children’s songs, called doyo again, as there are more Japanese poets who wrote for the Akai Tori, and someday we hope to do an episode on this magazine too!

Cover Image: Kappa by Kitagawa Utamaro.

References

• Davis, F. H. (1992) “Myths and Legends of Japan.” New York: Dover Publications, Inc. 
• Foster, M.D. (2015) “The Book of Yokai: Mysterious Crestures of Japanese Folklore.” Californai: University of California Press.
• Kodansha. (1993) ”Japan: An Illustrated Encyclopedia”. Tokyo: Kodansha Ltd. 
• Kunio, Y & Kizen, S, translated by Ronald A. Morse. (2015) “Folk Legeneds from Tono.” London: Rowman & Littlefield.
• Louis Frederic, translated by Kathe Roth (2002) “Japan Encyclopedia”. London: Harvard University Press.  
• Wright, D. (2019) “Japanese and English Nursery Rhymes.” Tuttle Publishing.
• Yoda, H. and Alt, M. (2016) “Japandemonium: Illustrated: The Yokai Encyclopaedia of Toriyama Sekien.”. New York: Dover Publications, Inc. 
• Yoda, H & Alt, M. (2008) “Yokai Attack: The Japanese Monster Survival Guide” Tokyo: Kodansha International Ltd.
• https://www.nippon.com/en/japan-glances/jg00125/children’s-songs-in-japan.html
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hakushū_Kitahara
• https://www.nippon.com/en/japan-glances/jg00125/children’s-songs-in-japan.html

You can listen to the full podcast episodes here: Japan Archives, or wherever you listen to Podcasts.

Follow us on Social Media: Instagram: @japan_archives

We also started a Youtube channel for Japan Archives.

And another for other creative endeavours!

The post E43 Kappa appeared first on A History of Japan - 日本歴史.

Story Notes

In ancient Japan, blossoms were a symbol of new life, new beginnings. But this began to change through in second half of 19^th century, accelerating dramatically in the 1930’s. They changed them to be a symbol of death. Propaganda to the Japanese people who never questioned. Classical poems were deliberately misinterpreted, it became normal that the Japanese spirit involved the willingness to die for the emperor, much like the cherry blossoms who quickly died.  

And so trees everywhere were replaced to a new breed known as somei-yoshino. Wild trees and varied varieties were being taken down for this tree to fuel this new propaganda of death for the state. 

And one man saw the blossoms of Japan being lost, and so he set out to ensure their survived for future generations. He would discover new species, some in his own back yard and already extinct in Japan. He would choose names such as Hokusai, and Asano for new breeds he discovered. He would be one of the first to artificially hybridise the cherry blossoms. 

But that is a part of this tale for later, and so we shall start at the very beginning. 

Today we talk about Collingwood Ingram, a man who would later become known as Cherry Ingram. He was the wealthy grandson of the founder of the Illustrated London News. 

Born on October 30^th 1880 he was unfortunately a sickly child with respiratory problems, and so when his family was in London he didn’t go outside much, a city which at the time was filled with disease and smoke. As he grew up his family cared for several albino birds when he was young, birds which they often took with them as they moved from their London home to the countryside, as well as on their holidays.  

Being brought up around birds, and being able to wander the countryside as he had no school ensured that by the age of 11 Collingwood could already distinguish the sound of most birds, and by aged 15 he had written his first unpublished book on birds with illustrations in his own hand. And this would start his fascination with birds for many years to come and lead him to becoming an ornithologist.  

Now Collingwoods fascination with Japan began in the 1890’s but we don’t really know why. There was access at the times to books on Japan and that likely played some role, or perhaps even it was there family dogs which were a breed known as Chin’s and were a Japanese breed. Additionally he could have been exposed to the culture, though in perhaps a comically if not derogatory fashion through plays which started to appear in England from Japan as Japan began to open up its borders to the world after decades of being a closed nation. Such shows included the Mikado and the Geisha. Whatever cultivated Collingwood into being fascinated with this country only made him want to visit there himself. And so, when he reached adulthood he decided it was time to go. And he arrived in Japan on the 5^th September 1902 in the port of Nagasaki, after taking a long journey there by boat. 

After he arrived, he wrote many things about the country, saying he found Japan ‘becoming, [with] tidy cheques of paddy fields, bamboo groves, little villages and usually a clear, swift running stream.’ 

Now I would have thought after wanting to come here so strongly he would have stayed and explored for a long time, after all he was a wealthy man for the time. However, he only stayed this first time for 15 days. And during his time here he visited places such as Kyoto, Tokyo, Hakone and the island of Enoshima, where a local priests gave him a tour. Collingwood at the time did not know Japanese and so politely nodded along to everything the priest said to him that day.  

And as he finally left Japan for the first time he said, “my visit to Japan has been so enchanting that I have no time to do else than stand agape and watch the different vistas pass away without record in my journal. But a brief fortnight has left me with more memory pictures than months of travel elsewhere.  

It wouldn’t be for another 5 years until he returned once more to Japan.  

The next time he stepped foot in the country would be 20^th April, 1907, and this time he brought along with him his wife Florence. Though he had still yet to gain an interest in Cherry Trees, he actually came this time in the hopes of being the first British person to find the eggs of a bird called White’s Thrush and bring them home. In Tokyo he applied for paperwork, but Japan being Japan it took 3 weeks for it to finished. And then he went on a walking tour of Fuji immediately. Eventually, almost luckily as it appears the birds were hard to find, and with local help a nest was found bearing eggs of the White Thrush. When he returned home again to England, his expedition had found him leaving with 74 kinds of birds, numerous bird eggs as well as many writings and illustrations he had done during this expedition.  

When WW1 came around he found himself in France, where he continued his study into birds. But after the War he needed to find somehow to go back to a normal life, and realising there was nothing new in the world of ornithology for him he desperately sought a new hobby. And this is when he turned his attention to the plant world.  

In 1919 they moved to Kent for a fresh starts. The home had a dilapidated garden he wanted to spruce up, the perfect project for someone who needed a new hobby. But the garden held a secret he hadn’t at first noticed, and these were 2 ornamental cherry trees.  

When he saw these trees bloom, he knew what he now wanted, to be the foremost expert on cherry blossoms as well as being the man to collect as many cherry tree varieties as possible and have it become the largest collection of such trees.  

But to be an expert, he needed somewhere to start and there were not that many books on Japan at the times. Works he could have had access to were ones such as ‘Things Japanese’ a dictionary about the culture from 1890. Flora Japonica from 1835 by Phillip von Siebold and Bushido: The Soul of Japan from 1900.  

So we jump forward a few years to 1925, a mere six years after moving to Kent and he had already become an expert on cherries and boasted a collection of seventy cherry varieties.  

‘Notes on Japanese cherries’ was written by him and published in 1925 in the Royal Horticultural Journal, which was a great achievement for him at the time. 

But the more trees he sought and bought, the more he found himself buying the same trees time and again. He found out now that cherry trees at the time had not really been properly classified yet, and additionally English sellers would give these cherry trees English names to increase their appeal. Each seller giving their own unique names to them, making it even harder for Ingram to know if he had already bought a particular tree or not. And so he would buy them, hoping he was gaining a new breed, only to find himself disappointed.  

And so he then asked for the help of two Japanese cherry experts. Manabu Miyoshi, from Tokyo Imperial University and Gen-ichi Koizumi from Kyoto Imperial University. They would be better suited in helping him figure out if trees he had were the same, as well as identifying trees he had but didn’t know the true names of. 

And one such type was of the two cherry trees that lived in his garden from the day he moved in. Even after all these years of research and collection, he still did not known what kind of cherry tree had been here when he arrived. 

He knew the two trees were the same, but the same what? And so he sent leaf samples to Miyoshi, only to find out they not have a name. Apparently it was a species never recorded before, at least in Japan. And so Collingwood decided to name the species himself, and this is the species he dubbed Hokusai.  (I promise this is an unintentional call back to last episode). 

After more research he finally settled on something about the cherries of Japan. From what he could tell as of right now, there were 10 wild species in Japan, and through years of human interaction there were now more than 400 flowering varieties. 

As he continued his research, and continued to expend his collection he went far and wide for his cherry trees.  

He contacted friends to send or swap saplings with him. Additionally at the time the Yokohama Nursery opened in 1907, and so he could easily import cherry trees from Japan. And not to forget the Botanical Gardens of Kew, which he relied on as well and he was lucky in that regard as he had a friend who worked there who could help him out. Other trees still came from others with links to the New York Botanical Gardens. Collingwood had connections around the world he could draw on to bring together all the cherry varieties in existence.  

But, in the early 1920’s he could not get a hold of more cherries in England, and so he knew he had to return to Japan. To find varieties not importable, perhaps not yet known or discovered, And he did so.  

In a lucky turn of events, around the time he wanted to return, his garden was visited in 1924 by Duke Takatsumasa, a man with connections to the Imperial Family, and who also knew Ingram through Isai Iijima, a man who all those years ago had helped him get permits so he collect the bird eggs in Japan.  

And so with the Dukes help he drew up a list of 4 places he needed to go to look for cherry trees. First, Temples and Shrines in Kyoto, second Tokyo. Third would be the foothills of Mount Fuji and lastly the small city of Nikko north of Tokyo.  

And so he headed to Japan again in 1926. This would be his final visit to Japan. He would collect many specimins, even meet with cherry blossom experts, but the country would not take his breath away as it had once done. The industrilaizition of Japan had change it all in his mind.  

Ingram wrote while he was there ‘it appears, that the commercialization of Japan has caused the cult of these beautiful trees to wane.’ Cherry gardens which had been cultivated for years by shoguns had now been left abandoned, forgotten, or torn down, cherry trees were disappearing. At least the old breeds it appeared.  

Collingwood knew some would still be hanging on in the mountains, but the want to care for them had now gone. And the government was now looking for a symbol of unity, and the easy to grow and maintain somei-yoshino variety was looking more and more appealing over everything else.  

Ingram even realised quickly after arriving in Japan that 4 trees in his garden were not available in japan. Cherry blossom varieties had already started to become extinct in the very country that venerates them so highly.  

And it was now that Ingram not only wanted more species, but he also wanted to save all of those that were now in decline.  

And he wrote at the time ‘it may not be too late to save some from oblivion.” 

Collingwood would find himself to be in luck. In Kyoto he found himself renewed, with temples full of blossoms. In Kiyomizu-dera, by the waterfall there, he found a tree he did not yet have (based off the edo-higan type), and so asked for cutting from it to be sent to his home. At the Kyoto Imperial Palace he found one more (an unusual looking Yama-zakura), and at the Hirano Shrine he found yet another 3 (a type of Kiku-zakura, Imose and Taoyame). 

Collingwood though did find himself confused by the cherry names here with people saying ‘Kyoto is the ancient capital. There is no need to follow Tokyo customs.’ And so just like in England, he found name choices for blossoms of the same kind varying wildly between Tokyo and Kyoto. 

It became apparent as he travelled more that most people didn’t see the threat of losing these blossoms, everyone in japan, especially the government thought, the ones disappearing from the cities would live on in the mountains, and so they need not take any action. They would still be around, even if no longer seen. But Collingwood did not believe that was safe for these trees, that they likely would not survive.  

He went to visit Yohsino, once the mecca of Japanese cherry blossoms, only to find  a thinly planted group of trees and scraggly specimens. This was due in part to the government, here Shugendo was prevalent, but was now banned by the government and so the area had fallen into decline. And so Collingwood sadly on to meet the head of all cherry lore, Seisaku Funatsu and they took a cherry viewing along the Arakawa River which runs through Tokyo. 

Here it was known as the Five Colored Cherry Trees of the Arawaka River.’ And at one time it had been beautiful. Some of the beauty did remain, some trees still bloomed beautifully every year but… 

New drainage works, had led to many being cut down, and those that remained were now greatly affected by pollution of the rapidly changing and modernizing city. Sesaku related how he had replaced lost trees with saplings over time, but sadly they kept being stolen and so he had had to stop.  

I will say here that you can still see blossoms here to this day, but the book I read says it is a shadow of its former self. And it would be interesting to see how beautiful this area once was.  

But going back to the tale, luckily many of these blooms from here and the local area survive now around the world due to Collingwoods help but also two other men known as Takagi Magoemon and Kengo Shimizu. Magoemon once collected specimens from the gardens of the daimyos and other areas, and when the daimyos left and the new government came he prayed for forgiveness and climbed the fences into these now abandoned properties to take cutting of these trees so they would continue to live. And later when the Arakawa area flooded, the local people demanded cherry trees to hold the soil together better for future flooding. Kengo Shimizu was the governor of the area and knew of Magoemons collection, and so many species were replanted into the area.  

From the Arakawa River Collingwood now travelled onwards now to Nikko, where he found and collected seeds from the Sargent cherry, and in the small village of Kami Yoshida, he uncovered a previously unknown cherry variety and eventually had cuttings of it delivered to his home. This was the tree he dubbed Asano, after the Samurai from the 47 Ronin.  

Overall everything was looking good. Like Collingwood would not only expand his collection greatly but could actually ensure the protection of varieties from going extinct.  

And so it was time to tell the people in power in Japan that there blossoms were dying.  Though Collingwood may have been averse to giving a speech on it himself, he was asked by Aisaku Hayashi to do so. And this all finally happened in April of 1926. 

Reporters’ and photographers came, and 150 of japans most powerful came to listen.  

Collingwood then said the following, “Why is it, that your flowering cherries often seem to do better in England than their native country? I would like to confess to a feeling of disappointment with regard to the size and condition of some of the trees growing in your parks and public places. Long before aesthetic Japan became contaminated by the hustle and bustle of the Western races, your people produced, an amazing number of varieties. In recent years not only has there been no attempt whatever made to improve these varieties, but many of them are in serious danger of extinction. Were it not for enthusiasts… you would have permanently lost most varieties. I feel confident that in years to come, the Japanese will have to seek some of their best sorts in Europe and America.’ 

He then rounded off his speech by telling them of the trees in his garden, now no longer growing in Japan. And that he would reintroduce them to Japan no matter the cost. He just didn’t know how he was going to do it yet.  

Sadly, after presenting them with his thought as well as the facts, there was little if no impact, the government had other priorates getting the economy on track. After all, this was  after the 1923 Kanto Earth Quake and saving a few trees, when they still had so many other types of cherry blossoms just did not seem important to them in the slightest. 

And so he returned home, I suppose hoping that perhaps the government would do something, not matter how small it may have been. But failing that, he at least could still continue to protect the blossoms himself, even if the government of Japan wouldn’t. 

Finally, after many months, the cuttings he had asked for, from the species he had seen in Japan finally arrived and he immediately got to work in having them grow in his garden. Some had sadly died on the long journey, but fortunately a great many others had survived. The collection grew and he soon found himself as the trading centre for cherry blossoms, and his collection spread around the world, ensuring cherry blossom thrived even more, though still not in Japan.  

And finally, after all of this, after all of the effort to protect these trees, in the early 1930’s it was time to finally start sending these trees back to Japan. 

And that is where I want to leave it for today.

Poem Notes

Thomas didn’t realize that Hokusai  would send me into a glorious meandering of wonder that would take me places like… wikipedia and google.  
 
Also company sponsored  senryu contests that give such gems as “Comparing ages at the class reunion.” And toilet paper. Yes, toilet paper in which you can get the top 20 senryu written on the sheets for the low low price of 350yen. I feel like there’s a joke to be had here, but I can’t find one.  

Oh, yeah, and also there’s a manga called senryu girl – about a girl who can only communicate in 5-7-5 syllables. Yup. There’s an anime too. There’s so much on senryu my head is still spinning.  

The term senryu came from the name Karai Senryu, who lived from 1718-1790. He was a tenja, or judge of poetry competitions. He published the poem collection Yanagaridu in 1765.  
 
Senryu are haiku, but not all haiku are senryu. Both share the same 5-7-5  pattern, but haiku are generally serious poems written about nature with season words or “kigo” .  Senryu on the other hand, are comic/humorous poems that rely on wordplay, and GLORIOUS GLORIOUS PUNS. And sometimes rather adult humor.  For this podcast though, we’ll keep things on the more everyone approachable side.  
 
Also, senryu were often composed by amateur’s and there are several senryu contests, such as the Dai-Ichi insurance company Sarariman senryū konkūru. Or office worker’s  senryu competition. I’ve included a couple of links where you can read the translated winners since I believe copyright restrictions prevent me from reading them here unless I get permission. To be on the safe side, I’ll just give you the links in case you want to explore more! Oh, and there are even senryu contests in English, too.  

I am going to do something a little different – instead of starting from the beginning, let’s work our way back in history for senryu – starting with a very amateur English senryu.  

Look for a poem 
Open “One Hundred Poems” 
But I choose Basho 
 
I’m poking a bit of fun at myself – quite often I seem to choose from the One Hundred Poems, but lately I seem to gravitate towards Basho or perhaps poets connected by Basho. 
 
I’ve composed one in Japanese too – and that’s even more amateur and I just don’t think I am ready to share that one yet.  
 
That’s the beauty of senryu – anyone can do them, and well, lots of people do! It’s a very approachable form of poetry, and one we need to delve into further. 
 
We’ll continue looking at senryu next week, with a little more history and a senryu in Japanese. 

References

• Abe, N. (2020) “Cherry Ingram: The Englishman who saved Japan’s Blossoms.” London: Penguin Random House.
• Carter, S. (2019) ”How to Read a Japanese Poem”. New York: Columbia University Press.
• Japan Times: Subtle Humor Haikus Cousin Senryu Roll
• Japan Times: Salaryman Senryu
• Wakapoetry.net
• Wikipedia Senryu
• Wikipedia Senryu Girl

You can listen to the full podcast episodes here: Japan Archives, or wherever you listen to Podcasts.

Follow us on Social Media: Instagram: @japan_archives

We also started a Youtube channel for Japan Archives.

And another for other creative endeavours!

The post EP42A A Passion for Cherry Blossoms appeared first on A History of Japan - 日本歴史.

Cat Folklore covers so much in Japan, and there is no way we could do it all in one episode for you all, so lets delve into a little part of the Cat Folklore that fills Japan.

Story Notes

Cat Folklore and Supernatural cats, can fall into the term of Yokai understandably. But they can also be classed as Henge (変化 shape-shifters). But we can even class most of the supernatural cats as Strange Cats (Kaibyo 怪猫). 

I won’t get into the history of Hello Kitty today, perhaps she deserved something to herself but we will talk about many strange cats, look into folktales of cats, and we will definitely be talking about the Lucky Cat and see how there are actually more than one kind of them.  

But first a question, have you ever seen a Japanese family name with the kanji for cat? General belief is that there are no families sing this Kanji in their family names due to the cats supernatural associations.  

So let’s dive into the world of cats. We have touched on the before with our first ever bonus episode surrounding the dog Shippeitaro, so if you haven’t given that a listen yet then please do, so what else is there to tell? 

Well let’s start by quickly looking at the practice you still see a lot in Japan of cutting off the cats tail. I personally don’t agree with the practice, but it does seem to have it origins in the superstitious past, from a time when cats were mysterious and supernatural. 

And to find this answer we turn to Lafcadio Hearn, and his many writings from his time in Japan, they were all compiled and published in 1906 by Elizabeth Bisland and one of them talks about how certain cats, such as Izumo cats are born with long tales. Now due to the mysticism surrounding these animals, it was thought that, should they be able to keep their long tails, then they would grow up to turn into for instance a Nekomata which we will talk about soon. 

But when did cats arrive in Japan. They aren’t native at all, well unless you look into strange tales of the Cat Folklore surrounding the Yamaneko, or Mountain Cat, which was as big as a cougars and striped like tigers. But apparently they went extinct sometimes before 300BC, and little is really known of their existence. Cats as we know them as house pets, there is evidence going back all the way to the third century BCE for cats from grave sites at the Karakami Site in Iki. Though at the time, they were in Japan in such low numbers, there wasn’t a viable population for them to breed and survive so these cats were likely traded curiosities and nothing more. Prized by their owners and so buried alongside them.  

It isn’t likely until Buddhism was on the rise in Japan around 552 that cats came arrived to stay and we have records from here talking of cats. However, the first definitive record of a cat comes from March 11 889, from a diary known as the Kanpyō Gyoki (寛平御記) which was the diary of Emperor Uda. And he wrote the following 

I wish to express my joy of the cat… the color of the fur is peerless, none could find the words to describe it… I affixed a bow about its neck but it did not remain for long… in rebellion it narrows its eyes and extends its needles… when it lies down it curls into a ball like a coin.. You cannot see its feet… when it stands, its cry expresses profound lonliness, like a black dragon floating above the clouds… its color allows it to disappear at night. I am convinced it is superior to all other cats.  

So we can see cats were loved even by the highest of people in Japan, and I do enjoy the idea of the Emperor putting a little bow onto his cat. 

So we have records of cats, but the actual Kanji can be found from the Asuka Period (538 to 710) when its appears in the word Mikeneko 三毛猫, or Three Colored Furry Beast. And I suppose this could be our first supernatural cat. It is said to have been dangerous with fiery eyes, and incredibly intelligent but also vengeful to those who would betray it. Funnily enough there is little else known about this strange creature, but if you are in Japan you may have heard the term Mikeneko before, as it is now used as the name for Calico Cats which are seen as rather luckily. So this creature has undergone quite the change through the centuries.  

Now let’s talk about the Cat Folklore surrounding the Nekomata 猫股, or Forked Cat. Now this cat is portrayed rather well throughout history, in various ways. We can see it portrayed by Toriyama Sekien who we have mentioned before where he shows three cats in various stages of turning into a Nekomata. But we can also find it portrayed in the Hyakkai Zukan and the Bakemono no e where they are shown wearing a geishas robe and playing the shamisen. This is a little tongue in cheek, as we have said before that shamisan are made using a cats skin. But what is a nekomata specifically. Well, legends say that when a cat should reach a certain age they will gain the ability to walk on its hind legs, as well as learn to talk and have its tail spilt into two. So when did we first hear about this creature? Well they turned up in a diary called the Meigetsuki, or Diary of the Clear Moon by Fujiwara Teika, who was our poet from episode 15.  

He writes that on August 8th 1233 a nekomata came from the mountains and ate multiple people. I am not sure how the became associated with eating human flesh, but is is definitely an idea that lingered as we can see it again in the book Essays in Idleness where they state, deep in the mountains lives the Nekomata, it is said it will feed on humans.  

So if you are ever in the mountains and see a standing cat with two tails, I think it would be best to steer clear. But what is more interesting is that, during these original accounts they were seen as a seperate breed of cat, it wasn’t until the Edo Period when it was thought owned cats would grow old and turn into the Nekomata. Over time as well they went from small sizes, to being boar sized in 1685, by 1775 they were as big as a panthers and by 1809 they had become described as over 6 feet long. It is interesting to see how these legends can change over time.  

But one last thing, I can’t remember where I read this but, something to think about for the Edo thinking for these cats. During this time, most lamps would be lit using fish oil, something cats would have loved to have had. So it seems that perhaps people saw there cats through the Shoji paper doors, seeing only the shadow of their cat on its hind legs which only led to the idea of their cats undergoing transformation.  

So lets us end with a quick Nekomata Tale, from 1660. 

There was once a monk from the temple of Gyogan-ji who wandered around singing the praises of the Buddha, and he told me this tale.  

One night I was out in the mountains singing until I decided to return home. When I reached a brook I searched for a safe place to cross, and that is then when the Nekomata came out to strike, It grabbed my leg, climbed to my neck and sunk in its teeth. I fell into the brook crying for help, and luckily someone heard me and rushed to find me. 

What is going on? They cried. They pulled me from the creek, my possessions and money had been washed away. Having saved me, I and everyone else returned home.  

Now lets us turn to the Cat Folklore of the Neko Musume 猫娘 or Cat Daughter. A trope which is rather popular in anime these days, with females characters being part cat with cute cat like ears and at times a tail. 

But their origins are less than happy as we trace this kind of creatures to, I don’t like the term but they find their origins from what we once called Freak Shows. I won’t be using that term again, its just to give an idea of what I mean. Carnivals of extradordinary people, if not outright forgeries to entice people into spending their money. In Japan these were known as Misemono 見世物. These shows were often hurriedly produced and crude and finds its way back to the Edo Period, although they may be a little older than that, and actually at times were benefit performances to raise funds for shrines and temples. I suppose the most famous of tall of these kinds of shows was by PT Barnum, who you may know, especially from the film Greatest Showman. Infact, his famous Fiji Mermaid, was created in a Japanese Misemono and found its way to his show.      

However, back to the Neko Musume. She was exhibited in the Asakusa District of Edo reaching the height of popularity in 1769. It was said she was exactly how a human cat hybrid would appear (unfortunately there are no pictures of her). Whether this was from a kind of birth defect or even clever prosthetics we will never know, and she had all but faded from fame by the 1780s as Misemono fell into decline.  

But that isn’t quite the end for these particular cat. They appeared again in 1800 with tales surfacing about this creatures. And I will briefly go over them now. This one comes from the Ashu no Kijo.  

There was once a merchant who had a daughter. His daughter had a rough tongue, and a fondness for licking things. Due to this, the nature of her parentage only came into question and eventually was given the name of Neko Musume. 

The second tale surrounding Cat Folklore comes from the Ansei zakki, and was a collection of stories seen as fact at the time of their writing. This tale comes from 1852. 

In Tokyo, there was once a girl named Matsu. Since childhood she had fondess for dragging discarded heads and guts from fish from the garbage before eating them. She was nimble and would often trap mice and rats to eat. 

Due to this she gained many names including Neko Kozo, Cat Child and Neko Bozu, Cat Priest.  

Her nature was strange to others, some thinking the essence of a cat had mingled with hers as a baby leading to how she was today. 

Her mother prayed and summoned doctors to try and see if she could take the cat out of her daughter. She even beat her, but nothing worked.  

In the end, she shaved her daughters head and sent her to be a nun but even that did not work. Still her behavior continued and so she was expelled from the nunnery.  

Matsu was bullied by the other children, they chased her, but as she was nimble she could always get away by climbing up and running over rooftops. She became respected by other adults who saw her as useful with rat problems, and so her mother began to rent out her child to others, Matsu given to clambering under peoples homes and feast on the rats there.  

And that is the strange tales of the Neko Musume, I didn’t enjoy learning of the origins, I think shows like that were cruel, but it is history and should be learnt.  

Now I want to move onto the third and maybe final thing for today. There are so many tales we could tell, so many other types of cats we could do, like the Kasha, Bakeneko, Gotoku Neko, the list goes on. But I don’t want to go overboard. We can easily fo a part 2 to this in the future.  

But I want to end on something that should be rather familiar to most people. The waving cat, the lucky or inviting cat, or as it is known in Japan, the Maneki Neko.  

First of all did you know that they can come in different colors? Each having different connotations. Red is for relationship success and illness prevention, black keeps evil at bay, gold is for money, green for health, blue for academic success and even pink for help with love. 

Some say a raised left hand brings in money, but other would say the complete opposite.  

But what of its origins? 

Well that can be a little contended wth Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto all claiming its origins back in the Edo Period. But the earliest made forms can be traced back to the Asakusa Districts of Tokyo. In their original form, they were rather different to today. Made of clay and with a raised paw they lacked the flair of modern maneki neko, and these precursors were known as marushime, meaning something close to affixing wealth and fortune to yourself. These precursor cats were portaryed in the markets of Sensoji by Utagawa Hiroshige in 1851 and a year later a tale of their origins was born. 

A woman, it is said once lived with her cat, she was poor, and rent was due. However, she could not pay. And so her cat came to her in a dream saying the gods had not abandoned her in this time of need. 

All she need do is take clay from under her home and sculpt a cat. Bake it to  make a figurine and then with it praise the Buddha. Riches and fine cloth will then come to you in kind. 

This tale is told to this day at the Imado Shrine in Asakusa, who claim it as the birth place of the marushime. Sadly though, I don’t think they sell them now, and you can only buy Maneki Neko there. 

But when did they morph and change into this new form? When did it gain its new style and items like the bib, coin and other attachments? 

We don’t know! 

All we know is their popularity only continued to increase from 1876 after a news article was made about them.  

I personally would love to be able to buy on of the original versions of this lucky cat. Unfortunately I have yet to see one in Japan. So lets just hope it works out in the end.  

One final thing, have you ever heard of Tama the cat? 

She was once the staion manager of Kishi Station, Wakayama Prefecture.  

Born in 1999 she would come to the train station with her owner and because of her the amount of  visiting the station increased, which was good as the station had almost closed due to funding.  

Sadly she died in 2015 but her job lived on with her succesors Nitama, Suntamatama and Yontama, literally Second, Third and Fourth Tama.  

It is fascinating seeing how cats had such sinister links through history but now have become symbols of prosperity and in the case of Tama, tourist attractions almost. 

So that was our first look into Cat Folklore, I am sure we will be back to look at some more cats of supernatural origin in the future.

Poem Notes

Takashi Matsumoto was born in Tokyo January 5, 1906. He was born into a family of Noh actors and started acting in Noh plays from the age of 8.  

Growing up, he was interested in calligraphy, Chinese literature, and English. He was also interested in comic storytelling, called rakugo. 

It wasn’t until he was recovering from illness in 1921 that he started to develop an interest in haiku.  He joined a haiku group and began to study under the haiku poet Takahma Kyoshi.  

When he was 20 he retired from Noh due to health issues and turned his career towards haiku.  

He had his own literary magazine called Fue. He also wrote a novel about Hosho Kuro, another Noh actor. He was also awarded the Yomiuri Literary Prize in 1954.  

He died in 1956. He was 50 years old. 

hitogirai – can be said to be deep and philosophical, but it’s humorous when said by a cat.

References for cat folklore

• Andrew L. Marku (1985) “The Carnival of Edo: Misemono Spectacles From Contemporary Accounts” Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies, Vol. 45, No. 2, pp. 499-541 
• Bakemono no e, from Brigham University Online: https://search.lib.byu.edu/byu/record/lee.991658?holding=ufs3as1qscmd6ed0
• Bisland, Elizabeth (1906) “The Life and Letters of Lafcadio Hearn,” New York: Mifflin and Co. 
• Davisson, Z. (2017) “Kaibyo: The Supernatural Cats of Japan.” Seattle: Chin Music Press 
• Morris Edward Opler  (1945) “Japanese folk belief concerning the cat” Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences Vol. 35, No. 9 pp. 269-275  
• Poem from today: https://idea1616.com/neko-haiku/
• Rabinovitch, Judith N; Minegishi, Akira (1992). “Some literary aspects of four kambun diaries of the Japanese court: Translation with commentaries on excerpts from Uda Tennō Gyoki, Murakami Tennō Gyoki, Gonki and Gyokuyō” . The humanities. Section II, Language and literature; Journal of the Yokohama National University. 39 (1–13). 
• Takashi Matusmomo from Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Takashi_Matsumoto_(poet)
• Tama the Cat from: http://travel.cnn.com/cat-saves-japanese-train-station-586471/
• Yoda, H. and Alt, M. (2016) “Japandemonium: Illustrated: The Yokai Encyclopaedia of Toriyama Sekien.”. New York: Dover Publications, Inc.

You can listen to the full podcast episodes here: Japan Archives, or wherever you listen to Podcasts.

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Story Notes

This is a tale on En no Ozunu, from Episode 22. This tale can be found in the nara ehon, now this is an over all term from what I can tell for woodblock printed book or handscrolls of a certain size from the Muromachi period into the Edo. I am afraid the book I have consulted doesn’t say which specific ehon this tale comes from.

It is said that growing up he lost his father at the age of two and so was brought up by his mother afterwards. Eventually, he decided to turn their home into a temple when he became 34 years of age, enshrining with an 8 foot tall statue of the kami known as Miroku. (The kami of happiness)

Now the story sadly doesn’t say what became of his mother when he turned their home into a temple, but soon after its completion he gifted the temple to the court and retired to the Mountains of Katsuragi where he began to wear clothes made from bark, and subsisted of nothing but pine needles.

Wandering the mountains became his life, and at time he ventured to other ranges close by. One day, whilst walking through the Omine range he looked over to the peak known as Shaka Peak and he could feel the power which radiated from it.

Drawn to the power he went to the summit where he came upon an 9ft tall skeleton. Now the sheer size of the body wasn’t the only thing of interest, though dead, the skeleton still grasped with an iron grip two things. In his left, there was a bell. In it’s right, a single-pronged vajra.

This find, increased Ozunu’s faith and so that night he prayed to the kami Miroku. And Miroku that night spoke back.

“The skeleton you have found is yours, it is you. For seven of your past lives you were an ascetic of this mountain. The body is you. If you want the bell and the vajra, chant the Mantra of the Peacock King.”

He went away to learn this mantra, finding himself filled with new abilities from the very moment he began to utter it. He could suddenly fly to any place he wanted to on a cloud of five colours, and so he returned to the Shaka Peak to see the skeleton again.

But, it had disappeared, the bell and the vajra now laying on the ground waiting for him.

From here, now holding these two items he coveted, he look north and saw Golden Peak. Another place which radiated power. A mountain which had flown from India when Emperor Kimmei was on the throne, flying upon a white cloud to nestle itself into to country of Japan. En no Ozunu knew of the legends surrounding the mountain, that when Mirkou returned as the buddha far in the distant future, the earth would become covered in gold, and until then, all the gold waits patiently, inside of Golden Peak.

Ozunu feared for the future and the sinful ages to come, and so wanted a kami who could guide others to salvation, He prayed, day in and day out for a thousand days, until the kami Zao Gongen came forth, taking on the appearance of a very quiet and kind being. Ozunu was unimpressed, fearing and wondering how such a kindly kami could save the deluded being from the sins of what was to come. And so Zao Gongen left.

Ozunu prayed anew and again Zao Gongen returned, this time taking on a fearsome form. Taking the fierce pose used to crush demons, and brandishing a three-pronged vajra in his right hand.

Now. A few years are said to have passed as Ozunu retrated into a cave, bringing all kinds of creatures to him with his new found powers so that they may serve him. During these years he made various outings to all the sacred mountains of Japan, including Fuji and Asama. And even during this time he went to the land of the Immortals.

Now after all these years, Ozunu decided it would be best for a bridge to be constructed. All the way from the Katsuragi Mountains to the Golden peak to allow all his followers to make journeys between the two. And searching for someone who could do this very job, he came across Hitokotonushi (the kami of Katsuragi).

Sadly this rock bridge was never built, but it was more the fault of Ozunu than of the kami. The kami had always been ashamed of his appearance and so would only work during the night. Ozunu furious by this decision bound the kami in a spell and threw him to the bottom of the ravine. A very callous act for a religious man if you ask me.

Soon after the court of the Emperor found themselves with an attendant who became possessed. And under questioning they revealed themselves to be Hitokotonushi, who announced that Ozunu was making a rebellion and had to be stopped.

Emperor Mommu, who ruled at the time immediately sent a letter demanding his presence, but Ozunu refused. He sent his soldiers, but Ozunu flew away. It was only after they took his mother prisoner did Ozunu finally appear in the palace, where his mother was immediately freed.

And so the Emperor had him exiled to Oshima. During the day he behaved, he stayed on the island.

But at night, he flew to Mount Fuji. Hitokotonushi knew of this and again possessing an attendant informed the Emperor, and demanded that Ozunu be put to death for disobeying the Emperor.

Soldiers came to take his life, but all failed. Their bows broke, as did their swords when they attempted to take the mans life.

Ozunu then asked for a soldiers sword, and taking it, he licked the blade 3 times, before handing it back. The soldiers were in awe from that moment, where he had licked the blade they know saw engraved the name of the kami of Mount Fuji. They returned to the Emperor then to tell them their tale, Mommu realising now Ozunu was not an ordinary man and so had him pardoned and his exile lifted.

Now Ozunu had grown tired of Japan, and so climbed into a large bowl with his mother and flew to China on his five coloured cloud.

But that is not quite where the tale ends.

Enter into this tale the man known as Taicho, who came from the province of Echizen. He also was a great ascetic who powers were well known and regarded. This man also found himself used as the vessel of Hakusan, the kami of White Mountain, and the kami often used Taicho as a means to speak to others.

Taicho, like Ozunu once had, set out to visit all the sacred mountains of Japan, eventually coming to Katsuragi where he stayed for a night. During his sleep, Hitokotonushi reached out to him, begging for him to be freed, that Ozunu had bound him with a spell, revealing he was bound inside a mossy boulder.

Taicho awoke, and found the boulder and attempted to free the kami, but as soon as he did so Ozunu suddenly appeared full of fury. Taicho fled and no-one attempted to free Hitokotonushi again.

References:

• Tyler, R. (1987) “Japanese Tales.” New York: Pantheon Books.

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Story Notes

There are many temples in Ueno Park, and honestly the episode we did on them didn’t even really scratch the surface. And we will definitely be returning to not only talk more about the temples, but to also look at some of the interesting parts of the parks. But for now, here are the things we talked about in Episode 25.

Ueno Park

Now of course, we should start off by talking about the park in general. Now the park itself was established all the way bac, in 1873 on land which had once belonged to the temple of Kanei-ji which still exists close by. Prior to the expansive park, there were numerous other building throughout the area, linked to the temple we have just mentioned. However, in 1868, during the Boshin War we find that a lot of these building were sadly destroyed. The Boshin War in question, for those wondering, was a battle in which the forces of the Tokugawa Shogunate were defeated in battle by a sect of people who wished to restore the Imperial Family of Japan to their original place of power. Whereas right now they had become more of a type of figurehead and nothing more.

After the destruction of many of the buildings, the city of Tokyo found themselves trying to think what they should now do with all of this open land, and so many varied proposals were put forwards including using the site as a medical school or hospital. However, we owe it to a Dutch man known as Bauduin for this area becoming the park it is today. And so in January of 1873 the Dajo-kan issued the area to be established as a public park.

Noting that ‘in Prefectures including Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto, there are places of historic interest, scenic beauty, and recreation and relaxation where people can visit and enjoy themselves.

And with that little aside about the park, let’s delve into some of the temples here.

Kiyomizu Kannon-do

Kiyomizu Kanno-do was founded back in 1632, originally as part of the Kanei-ji Temple complex which covered this area. The temple, however, was not originally located here but moved in 1694 to the place it still resides today, and later between the years of 1990 and 1996 the whole complex was given a full-scale restoration.

Now the temple is of note as it is said to have been styled of the very large and grand temple of Kiyomizu-dera located in Kyoto, and other temples in the park also have been styled off area close by to the old capital of Kyoto which we will talk about soon.

Visiting this temple, you will find it dedicated primarily to Senju-Kannon Bosatsu as well as Kosodate-Kannon and so this temple has grown particularly popular for women who are wishing to try and conceive a child. Due to this, the temple also provides many charms and amulets which you can buy to help with conceiving a child.

One of the other more famous aspects of this temple is the pine tree here, which has been grafted to grow into a circle, and due to this it has gained the name of Tsuki no Matsu (The Pine Tree of the Moon). Most notable this tree was depicted in the artist Hiroshige’s 100 Famous Views of Edo made between 1856 and 1859. Sadly the tree here today is not the original and dates back to only 2011. Through the viewing platform of the temple, and looking through the circular pine you have a view down to the Shinobazu Pond and Benten-do Temple.

Kanei-ji

As we have said, we owe thanks to the temple of Kanei-ji as one of the reason why Ueno Park exists today. Originally this temple had a large complex of over 30 different buildings in the area, and throughout its history it had strong ties to the Tokugawa Shogunate which helped it stay rather rich. And that it was one of the reason it was so badly affected in the Boshin War, when the Shogunate fought against Pro Imperial Forces. There still remains a pagoda to this day for this temple (standing now next to Toshogu Shrine), however, the only was to now access it is to pay entrance into the Ueno Park Zoo.

We know the temple was founded in 1625 by a monk with the name of Tenkai. And going back to temples here being modelled off those from or near Kyoto we can see that Kanei’ji was modelled after that of Enryaku-ji, located upon Mount Hiei. Now cleverly the full name of Kanei’ji is Toeizan Kaneiji, and Taeizan means ‘Mount Hiei of the East,’ its name acting as a link to the area which inspired its construction. The Kanei part of the temples name comes from the fact that it was built during the Kanei Era which dates from 1624-1644.

This temple acted as the Kimon (which we discuss in Episode 16) for the area. Built to the North-East of Edo Castle to protect it from the bad luck which was said to comes from the North-Easterly direction. Almost in homage to this Kimon element, the main Kanei’ji building which is located now just outside of Ueno Park is covered in ornamental roof tiles known as Oni-gawara of ‘Devil Tiles.’ These tiles, using Oni imagery were designed to helped in scaring away the evil forces which stemmed from the north-east.

A final thing I wanted to mention which I found interesting was a particular monument here within the temple complex known as the Mushizuka-hi. The Monument to Insects. This monument was set up back in 1821 as a dying request by a man known as Sessai Mashiyama who lived from 1754 to 1819. During his lifetime as well as being a aristocrat he is know to have created a book called the Chuchijo, a natural history book on insects which included a lot of sketched. Now in the hopes of honouring and appeasing the creatures who had died so that he could use them a models of his sketches this monument was constructed and can still be seen to this day in the temple grounds.

Toshogu Shrine

The Toshugu Shrine, stands next to the Pagoda of Kanei’ji temple, this shrine being founded back in 1627 as a place to enshrine the founder of the Tokugawa Shogunate, Tokugawa Ieyasu. In this place, Ieyasu is also called by the name of the ‘God Lord’ or Tosho-daigongen in the original Japanese. Now the main building here is rather impressive in that it has survived since its construction in 1651, meaning not only did it survive the Boshin War but it also lasted through the Great Kanto Earthquake in 1923 which devastated the city of Tokyo and surrounding Prefectures, including Chiba and it survived the bombings of World War 2.

The shrine is known for the bronze lanterns which are located within its ground, 50 in total, and additionally many people come here to visit the Peony Garden attached to the complex. The Peony Garden always seems busy and is 700 yen for entry. (I sadly have yet to visit the garden).

Gojoten and Hanazono Shrine

Now these two temples are located on the same grounds right next to one another. It is said that no one can remember exactly when Hanazono Shrine first came here, only that it has been here ‘for a long time.’ However, we do know that after the establishment of Kanei’ji, Hanazono became the guardian of the temple.

Gojoten similarly has very old and tentative origins. We don;t know the exact time when it came to be, however, legends state it was founded some 1900 years ago. It was then relocated for a time elsewhere in Tokyo, but finally returned here to Ueno Park in 1928. The current buildings of both shrines date from 1928.

Benten-do and Shinobazu Pond

Let us start with the Shinbazu Pond, which the temple of Benten-do sits within.

Now the story goes that this pond was styled to be Tokyo own Lake Biwa, which is a rather large lake just to the north-east of Kyoto. Again the people of Edo were attempting to bring more of the old capital into the new capital. A few years after the establishment of Kanei’ji, the monk who founded it (Tenkai) decided to build a smaller island within the pond. The island, known now as Bentenjima was built to imitate the island of Chikubushima which sit within Lake Biwa. So too, the temple of Benten which was built upon it was made as a replica of a temple which sat upon the island of Chikubushima. Historically this temple was only accessible by boat until the construction of a bridge in 1672. Sadly the original building did not survive the bombings of World War Two and the current building dates from 1958.

The temple itself enshrines the goddess of Benten (or Benzaiten) within it and she can find her origins back to the country of Indian where she was seen as a river goddess, and apparently the associations she had with water never truly went away which is why her temple can be seen upon the water of the pond. Overall she is thought of as the goddess of things that flow, such as words, wisdom, wealth, music and dance. Additionally, a statue of her within the temple shows her with eight arms holding different weapons to signify her keeping evil at bay. Due to her associations with music, people often come to this place to pray to her so they may be successful within the arts or to pray for a successful business.

And there you have it, some of the history behind the temples of Ueno Park. We hope it helps you to understand a little more, the places you will see on your wanderings around the park.

You can listen to the full podcast episodes here: Japan Archives, or wherever you listen to Podcasts.

Follow us on Social Media: Instagram: @japan_archives

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