Greetings yokai fans!
It’s Obon in Japan right now, which is the time when the lids are lifted off the boiling cauldrons of hell, and the dead are allowed to return to the world of the living to be with their relatives. I love the idea that even hell has days off.
Today’s story doesn’t have anything to do with scary ghosts, demons, or hell, but it is a great little story that is perfect for sharing around the table with beers and snacks at 3 am.
I’m going to have to ask for your opinions on this one. In Japanese, the story is hilarious. At least it had me and my wife in stitches. The absurdity tickles in just the right places. However, some things are always lost in translation and I’m curious to hear your reactions from this English language version of the story.
Naturally, the first part that could get lost in translation is botamochi itself. I explained it in last week’s intro post, so you should all be familiar with it now. However, it’s one of those terms that just can’t really be translated. Not many non-Japanese are familiar with the food, so without an explanation of the snack before hearing the story, it might leave people scratching their heads in confusion.
After that, styles of speech is hard to translate accurately. The way in which the botamochi bakemono speaks is quite amusing, but is virtually impossible to transfer into another language. Comedy is one of the hardest things to translate, so I’m curious if it’s still funny to readers who hear it in English first.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy this very rare, very local story that I’m quite sure has never been told in English before today!
ぼた餅化け物
ぼたもちばけもの
Translation: botamochi monster
Habitat: underneath floorboards
Diet: unknown
Appearance: Botamochi bakemono are audio phenomena which come from underneath a house’s floorboards. It gets its name from botamochi, a sweet made from sticky rice covered in brown azuki paste.
Behavior: Botamochi bakemono are sound mimics. They prank people by copying the voices of people who live in the house.
Origin: Botamochi bakemono appears in Tachibana Nankei’s 1797 book Tōyūki, a collection of local tales collected from villages around Japan.
Legends: Long ago, at a certain farmer’s house in the village of Shinjō (present-day Sabae, Fukui Prefecture) a strange voice was heard. The voice came from underneath the floorboards, and repeated everything that was said in the house. Everyone in the house was shaken up. They tore up the floorboards to see who was playing a prank on them, but nobody was there.
Rumors about the strange voice spread amongst the neighborhood. A group of young men gathered in the farmer’s house to test the phenomenon. Sure enough, anytime one of them spoke, a voice from under the floorboards repeated back whatever they said.
They tried to guess the source of the voice. One of them called out: “You’re an old tanuki, aren’t you?”
“I am no tanuki!”
Another young man took a guess: “I know! You’re a kitsune!”
“I am no kitsune!”
One by one, they took turns guessing what kind of yōkai it was.
“You’re a neko (cat)!”
“An itachi!”
“A kappa!”
“A kawauso!”
“An ugoromochi (mole)!”
The voice answered no to all of them.
Finally, one of the young men called out half-jokingly, “All right then, you’re a botamochi!”
The voice replied: “That’s right. I am a botamochi.”
After that the mysterious voice was referred to as a botamochi bakemono. News of it traveled throughout the village and eventually reached the castle. A number of government officials were sent to investigate. They spent the night at the farmer’s house and called out to the botamochi bakemono, but the strange voice remained silent for the while night.
After the government officials left, the voice once again began to repeat everything that the villagers said. Time and time again, government officials were dispatched to the house, but each time they visited, the botamochi bakemono remained silent. Eventually they had to give up and close their investigation.
About one month after the investigation was officially closed, the mysterious voice ceased altogether. It was never heard again.