Part 3 (2/2)

It was at this time that the celebrated painter Tosa Mitsun.o.bu heard of it. Having ever been anxious to paint a picture of Hiyakki YakA, he thought that a sight of the ghosts in Shozenji temple might give him the necessary material: so off to Fus.h.i.+mi and Shozenji he started.

Mitsun.o.bu went straight to the temple at dusk, and sat up all night in no very happy state of mind; but he saw no ghosts, and heard no noise.

Next morning he opened all the windows and doors and flooded the main temple with light. No sooner had he done this than he found the walls of the place covered, as it were, with the figures or drawings of ghosts of indescribable complexity. There were far more than two hundred, and all different.

Could he but remember them! That was what Tosa Mitsun.o.bu thought. Drawing his notebook and brush from his pocket, he proceeded to take them down minutely. This occupied the best part of the day.

During his examination of the outlines of the various ghosts and goblins which he had drawn, Mitsun.o.bu saw that the fantastic shapes had come from cracks in the damp deserted walls; these cracks were filled with fungi and mildew, which in their turn produced the toning, colouring, and eventually the figures from which he compiled his celebrated picture Hiyakki YakA.A 1 Grateful was he to the imaginative priest whose stories had led him to the place. Without him never would the picture have been drawn; never could the horrible aspects of so many ghosts and goblins have entered the mind of one man, no matter how imaginative.

My painter's ill.u.s.tration gives a few, copied from a first-hand copy of Mitsun.o.bu's.

Footnotes.

61:1 Somewhere between the years 1400 and 1550 there lived a family of celebrated painters covering three generations, and consequently difficult to be accurate about. There were Tosa Mitsun.o.bu, Kano Mitsun.o.bu, and Hasegawa Mitsun.o.bu; sometimes Tosa Mitsun.o.bu signed his pictures as Fujiwara Mitsun.o.bu. When to this I add that there were other celebrated painters--Kano Masan.o.bu, Kano Moton.o.bu, besides their families, imitators, and name forgers--you will realise the difficulties into which one may fall in fixing on names and dates; but, as usual, I have been placed safely on high ground by a kind friend, H.E. Mr. Hattori, the Governor, whose knowledge of Art is great. Undoubtedly it was Tosa Mitsun.o.bu who painted the picture known as the Hiyakki YakA, or as 'The One Hundred Ghosts' Procession, which is celebrated, and has served as a map of instruction in the drawing of hobgoblins and ghosts, 'spooks,' 'eries,' or whatever you may choose to call them. As far as I can judge, the picture was painted about the end of the first half of the fifteenth century.

63:1 It is well known that certain fungi and mildews produce phosph.o.r.escent light amid certain circ.u.mstances. No doubt the priest saw the cracks in the wall amid these p. 64 circ.u.mstances, and the noise he heard was made by rats. I once read a story about a haunted country-house in England, the ghost in which was eventually found to be a luminous fungus.

13. Matsuo Declares the Head to be That of Kanshusai.

X A FAITHFUL SERVANTA 1.

IN the reign of the Emperor Engi, which began in the year 901 A.D., there lived a man whose name has ever since been celebrated on account of his beautiful writings, poetic and other. He was the Emperor's great favourite, and consequently he was the strong man of the day; his name was Sugawara Michizane. Needless to say, it was not very long before, with all these things in his favour, he was the head of the Government, living in luxury.

Things went well enough for a time; but the inevitable came at last. Not all the people agreed with Michizane's ideas or his politics. Secret enemies lurked at every corner. Among them was one particularly bad man named Tokihira, whose poisonous intrigues at Court were constant.

Tokihira held a Government position under Michizane, and hated him in his heart, thinking that if he could but arrange to get Michizane into the bad graces of the [paragraph continues] Emperor he himself might become leader of the Government.

Michizane was a man with whom little fault could be found, and so it came to pa.s.s that Tokihira was unable to find any cause for starting evil reports about him; but as time went on he became more determined to do evil in the end.

At last an opportunity arrived. Tokihira, who had many secret agents trying to discover something to be reported to the Emperor against Michizane, heard a statement that Prince Toki (Toki no Miya) had fallen secretly in love with the beautiful daughter of Michizane, and that they held secret meetings.

Tokihira was overjoyed at the news, and went straightway to the Emperor, who received him, hearing that he had a marvellous tale of intrigue to tell.

'Your Majesty,' said Tokihira, 'much as I grieve to tell it, a serious plot is about. Sugawara Michizane has so arranged it that your Majesty's younger brother, Prince Toki, has fallen in love with his daughter. Deeply as I regret to say it, they hold secret meetings. Moreover, Michizane, your Majesty's Premier, is scheming that your Majesty may be a.s.sa.s.sinated, or at least dethroned in favour of Prince Toki, who is to marry Michizane's daughter.'

Naturally the Emperor Engi was infuriated. He was a good and sound monarch, and had ruled the people, with the aid of Michizane, fairly, firmly, and well. He had looked upon Michizane as a personal friend; and to think of Michizane conspiring his a.s.sa.s.sination, or at all events so scheming as to place Prince Toki on the throne, and to marry his own daughter to the Prince, was more than he could stand.

He sent for Michizane.

Michizane protested his innocence. True it was, he said, that the Prince had fallen in love with his daughter; but that was not much to be wondered at. His daughter was beautiful; the Prince and she were much of the same age, and had seen much of each other from their childhood. Now that they had grown older, they found that their friends.h.i.+p had turned to love. That was all. It was not easy for a Prince of the blood royal to meet the lady of his heart quite so openly as another might; and, no doubt, they had met, for his daughter had told him so. As to the plot a.s.serted by Tokihira, that was absolutely fanciful, and it was an astonishment to hear of so dastardly an accusation.

Tokihira perceived the temper of the Emperor. By loud words and unscrupulous lies he upset all the unfortunate Michizane's protests; and the Emperor ordered Michizane to be sent for the rest of his life to Tsukus.h.i.+, in the island of Kyushu.

Accompanied only by his faithful servant Matsuo, Michizane went into exile. The punishment of Michizane, unjust as it was, broke up the employment of many others. All those who had been closely a.s.sociated with him were dismissed. Among them was Takebayas.h.i.+ Genzo, who had been one of Michizane's chief attendants. Genzo had been one of Michizane's literary pupils; consequently it is not astonis.h.i.+ng that on losing employment, Genzo fled to a small town, and out of duty took with him Michizane's wife and young son Kanshusai, aged ten. All changed their names, and Genzo, to support them as well as his own family, established a small school.

Thus it was that for some time Kanshusai escaped the wicked designs against his life that had been planned by Tokihira.

Matsuo, the faithful servant who had followed his master Michizane into banishment, heard of a vile plot to a.s.sa.s.sinate his master's son, and after many weary days of thought as to how he could prevent it he perceived that the only way would be to sacrifice his own son instead.

First he told his banished master of his intention, and having obtained leave he journeyed back to Kyoto, and sought out Tokihira himself, to whom he offered his services both as a servant and as a hunter of Michizane's son Kanshusai. Tokihira readily engaged him, thinking that now he would be sure to find the boy whom he wished to have beheaded. Tokihira had taken the place of Michizane in the Emperor's favour, and had great power; his will was almost law.

So well did Matsuo play his part in Tokihira's household and among his servants, it was not long before they were all agreed that Matsuo was most faithful to his new master, and the greatest confidence was placed in him.

Shortly after this, it came to the knowledge of Tokihira that Kanshusai was hidden, under a different name, in the school which belonged to Genzo. Genzo was ordered to send the boy's head to Tokihira within forty-eight hours.

Matsuo, ever faithful, hearing of this, went to Genzo's school in disguise and disclosed to the schoolmaster, who readily a.s.sented, his scheme for saving Kanshusai. Then Matsuo sent his son Kotaro to Genzo's school, from which he never returned alive, poor boy; and though (in all honour be it said) Genzo did not like the killing of this boy, he steeled his nerves, for the sake of his former master and to save Kanshusai's life.

With one blow of his sword he took off the innocent head.

At the appointed time Tokihira's officials called at the school to fetch it, and they carried it back to Tokihira, saying: 'Now, Lord Tokihira, there is no longer fear for the future from Michizane's son, for here is his head in this box. See! And here is the schoolmaster Takebayas.h.i.+ Genzo, who followed your lords.h.i.+p's orders and cut it off.'

Tokihira was pleased, but not perfectly a.s.sured that the head was the right one: so, knowing that Matsuo had previously been employed by Michizane, and that he must know if it were Kanshusai's head or not, he called him, ordering him to take the head out of the box and identify it.

Poor Matsuo! Imagine his feelings at having to draw his only son Kotaro's head from the box, and hold it up by the hair, and a.s.sure the Lord Tokihira that it was indeed the head of Kanshusai, Michizane's son! He did so, however, with great nerve and splendid fort.i.tude, thus saving the life of Kanshusai, and fulfilling his duty to his banished master Michizane.

Matsuo's fidelity is still adored by those who know the story.

Not long after a terrible thunderstorm came over Kyoto. A thunderbolt crashed through Tokihira's palace and killed him. To this day people say that Michizane's spirit came down in the shape of that thunderbolt to be avenged.

Footnotes.

65:1 This little tragedy, showing the deep loyalty which was general 1000 years ago, was told to me by Mr. Matsuzaki of the Kencho (Government Office).

14. Okawa Plunges the Hosokawa Deed Into His Stomach.

XI PRINCE HOSOKAWA'S MOST VALUABLE t.i.tLE-DEEDSA 1.

SEVERAL hundred years ago there dwelt in lands of the Hosokawas a widow and her daughter, a beautiful girl of seventeen, named Kazuye. O Kazuye San's father had been foully murdered some six months before, and both Kazuye and her mother had made up their minds to devote their fortune and their lives to bringing the criminals to justice. In these efforts they received no help, but spent the whole of their money, until at last they were almost forced to beg in the street for food. Day after day, however, they continued to pray in the temple for help, and never once lost heart or weakened in their purpose. O Kazuye told her mother that were she fortunate enough to gain the affections of a man, even he should be sacrificed in the effort after vengeance.

One day it came to pa.s.s that the poverty-stricken appearance of Kazuye and her mother, returning as usual from praying in the temple, aroused the mirth of a party of roughs, who proceeded to insult them. A handsome young samurai, Okawa Jomoyemon, happened to come along. Drawing his sword, he very soon put the roughs to flight. Having done this, and bowing low, he asked whom he had the honour of serving.

O Kazuye answered for her mother, and quickly recognised that this handsome youth was just such as she had longed to meet, so that he might fall in love and wish to help her in seeking out the murderer of her father. Therefore, not unnaturally, she encouraged him; and he fell in love with her. In the meanwhile an old friend of Kazuye's father, feeling great sorrow for her, had found a place for her in Prince Hosokawa's household; and there she won such favour in the eyes of the Prince (or, as the t.i.tle then was, Daimio) that the other maids began to be jealous.

It happened that one evening Okawa, now desperately in love with O Kazuye, in spite of being the retainer of another Daimio, felt that he must see her at all costs. He arranged a secret meeting, and eventually found his way to Kazuye's apartment. Still full of desire for vengeance, she seized upon the occasion to pour forth her story and implore a.s.sistance.

Okawa, being a true knight-errant, vowed that he would speak no more of love until he himself had hunted down and killed the murderers of Kazuye's father. Just as he had finished making this vow, one of the jealous maids (who had been listening) made her presence known, and rushed off to tell her mistress.

What was to be done? Okawa, the retainer of another Daimio, caught in the castle secretly conversing with one of the Hosokawa maids of honour! Surely both he and she would suffer death! O Kazuye was not long in thinking. She hid her lover in an old armour-case. That, however, was no use. She was instantly summoned into the presence of the Daimio, and the armour-chest was carried in as well.

The Daimio, furiously angry, ordered that O Kazuye should be killed. Okawa spoke up. He said that she was in no way responsible for this secret meeting, that the fault was entirely his; and begged that he might be allowed to die in place of her. Moreover, he told, the whole story of Kazuye's life, and mentioned that her ambition in life was to avenge the death of her father.

The Daimio was greatly touched. Recognising the chivalry on both sides, he took Okawa into his own service, promising at the same time to aid them both in fulfilling their purpose.

Tears of grat.i.tude came into Okawa's eyes, and he vowed there and then to sacrifice his life for Hosokawa on the very first opportunity.

After about a year had pa.s.sed a great fire broke out in the castle. It was so sudden that nothing could be done. The wind, fanning the flames, barely gave time for the people to escape, much less to carry off the family valuables.

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