Happy October, everyone!
Today marks the start of A-Yokai-A-Day, now in its 17th consecutive year!
As I mentioned in the previous post, this year’s stories come from Mimibukuro, an Edo period work by Negishi Yasumori. Mimibukuro consists of ten volumes featuring anecdotes, hearsay, and kidan (strange tales) collected and written down over a 30 year period by Negishi during his time working as a shogunate administrator on Sado Island. Many of these stories are about ghosts and yokai, or other strange phenomena.
The title Mimibukuro means “a bag of ears”—and I just love that!
The stories I share this month are in no particular order, as I am jumping back and forth between different books of Mimibukuro. Basically, it depends on what kind of painting I am in the mood to paint each day.
A-Yokai-A-Day started in 2009 as a way for me to both challenge myself artistically by doing a marathon painting project, and to celebrate Halloween by sharing some of Japan’s lesser-known spooky things with the internet. As always, I will be sharing these on social media (Bluesky only) with the hashtag #ayokaiaday, and you are all welcome to use that same hashtag to share your own yokai-related artwork, stories, and anything else this month, and join me in celebrating A-Yokai-A-Day!
Finally, if you enjoy my work, you can help support this project and my other Japanese folklore-related work by following me on Patreon.
Now, on to today’s story!
The Strange Monk’s Calligraphy
It is said this happened during the time of the grandfather of the Mizuno family, who lived in the Kohinata area.
A retainer who served as a yūhitsu (a household scribe) was sitting by the front gate one day when a monk passed by. The monk turned to the scribe and said, “I am forced to attend a calligraphy gathering today. Would you lend me your hand?”
The retainer inquired, “What do you mean by ‘lend me your hand’?”
“I would simply like to borrow it for two or three days. That would be sufficient,” replied the monk.
Though he thought this a strange request, the retainer agreed.
Not long after, when the master of the house had some business that required the retainer to take up the brush, he was utterly astonished to find he could not write even a single character. The master asked him what was wrong, and he explained what had happened with the monk.
A few days later, the strange monk returned. He said, “Well now, thanks to you I was able to complete the task. I am grateful.”
Although the monk said he had nothing to offer as a token of thanks, he took out a piece of paper with something written on it from inside his robes and said, “If a fire should break out in the neighborhood, hang this somewhere—such as above the alcove—and you will escape the fire.” With that, the monk departed.
The retainer reported what had happened to his master. His master had the piece of paper mounted on a scroll and kept it in his possession.
Afterward, it is said that the retainer regained his ability to write. Although there were frequent fires in the neighborhood thereafter, the Mizuno family was spared each time they hung the scroll. However, on one occasion, the scroll had been stored away in the storehouse and was not hung—so, while the entire residence burned completely to the ground, the storehouse mysteriously survived.
