Today’s yokai is not very well known, and I’m pretty sure this post will be the first time it has ever been translated into English. This one comes from very close to my hometown in Japan — it’s from Nanjo in the middle of Fukui prefecture, a very rural and mountainous area. The name is very confusing to me — it is written with the kanji for gecko (守宮, yamori), yet in this case the name is pronounced imori, which means newt. So written it implies that this is a gecko yokai, but spoken it sounds like a newt yokai, while in actuality it refers to a gecko yokai. The two animals look alike and are sometimes confused as it is without crossing their names like that. But I guess if it wasn’t strange, it wouldn’t be a proper yokai, right? | 今日の妖怪はそんなに知られていない物だと思います。そのため多くの人はこの妖怪の英語の説明を見た事がないかもしれませんね。
今回の妖怪は私のいる地域にとても近い南条（現在の南越前町）にまつわる妖怪です。この妖怪の名前にはちょっと混乱しました。漢字では守宮（ヤモリ）ですが、今回のケースでは「いもり」と発音するのです。漢字表記上はヤモリの妖怪のようで、発音上はイモリの妖怪のようになるという不思議な感じですが、本来はヤモリの妖怪を指しているといわれています。イモリとヤモリは大変よく似ているため間違われる事も多いですが、人々を混乱させるという事は妖怪であるという一つの証でもありますよね？

Imori

Imori (守宮)

Long ago, in Echizen province, lived a monk named Jingai Shuso. He was a monk of the Soto school, and was living in hermitage out in the mountains. He lived off of wild mountain plants and whatever charity the people from the local village would bring him, although he spent almost all of him time in secluded meditation. One day was reading in his hermitage near the ruins of Yu-no-o castle when suddenly a small man (about 5 or 6 inches tall) wearing a black hat and carrying a cane appeared and started talking to him. Being a good monk, Jingai did not let the stranger interrupt his studies, and just continued reading. This angered the man, who complained that the monk was ignoring him even though he was standing right there. Again, Jingai ignored the tiny man, who then became very angry. He hopped up on to his cane and flew at Jingai, who brushed him away with his fan. The tiny man fell to the ground and swore revenge on Jindai.

Shortly afterwards, 5 women about 5 or 6 inches tall came up to Jingai and complained about how he treated the old man. While they complained, all around them appeared 10,000 more tiny people, with sleeves rolled up and armed with canes. They swarmed upon Jingai and beat him with their canes. It was like an army of tiny, painful ants attacking him. In the distance, he could see their general: a tiny man decked in red and a lacquered samurai helmet. The tiny general called out: “Get out of here and never return, or else we will pop your eyes and slice off your ears and nose!” By now, some tiny men had climbed upon his shoulders, and they began to eat his ears and nose. Jingai brushed them off and ran away.

The monk ran away from the horde to a nearby gatehouse. When he arrived there, there were already thousands of tiny men all over, who knocked him down. The general said to him: “We heard you were rude to our friends. As a punishment, we will cut off your hands and feet!” Thousands of tiny katanas were drawn from their tiny sheathes, and Jingai was surrounded.

Jingai, now terrified, apologized to the little men for not considering their feelings, and asked them to spare him. The general told him that if he was truly sorry, he would let him go, and ordered his men to eject Jingai from the gatehouse. Jingai got the heck out of there.

The next day, reflecting on what had happened, Jingai investigated the direction he came from. He discovered a large hole in the ground that was swarming with geckos. Gathering some local villagers for help, he dug up the hole. It was over 3 meters deep, and full over over 20,000 geckos! Deep inside, he discovered a 12 inch long gecko, which he realized must have been the general.

The eldest villagers explained to Jingai that long ago an ally of Nitta Yoshisada built a castle near there, and it was destroyed in a battle. The the souls of the dead bushi (warriors) and the castle lord haunted the remains of the old castle well. Ever since, they had been causing all kinds of mischief in the area.

Jingai began chanting sutras to give the souls a proper burial, and as he finished chanting, the thousands of geckos were all destroyed. Jingai and the villagers took pity upon the dead beasts. They collected the bodies and burnt them on a funeral pyre, giving them a proper burial, and with the mountain of ashes build a grave for the imori.

Are you interested in yokai? Can’t get enough of strange Japanese culture? Then you should check out my book, The Night Parade of One Hundred Demons, on Amazon.com and learn the story behind over one hundred of these bizarre monsters! |

Imori

Imori (守宮)

守宮は戦で命を落とした侍の魂が守宮となって現れたものである。

僧の塵外首座（じんがいしゅそ）は越前国湯尾にて、村から離れて普段は人も来ないような藪の中にある湯尾の城跡で庵を結んで書見をしていた。ある日、小さな小人（5~6インチ程）が現れ塵外に話しかけ始めたのであるが、塵外は驚きもせず書物を読み修行を続けた。すると、側に人が立っているにもかかわらず無視をし続ける塵外の無礼に小人は怒りだし、机に飛び乗り怒りを露わにした所、塵外はものともせず扇子でこれを払い落したのだという。これに小人は非常に憤慨し、塵外に報いを受けさせる事にした。

その少し後、５人ほどの５~６インチくらいの女が塵外の元に来て、さっきの男が塵外の孤独を癒しに来たという事、そしてその男に対する仕打ちがあんまりであった事を抗議した。そしてその最中、なんと１万人もの腕まくりした小人が杖を持って現れ、塵外を一斉に打ち付け攻撃を始めたのである。さらには後ろの方から大将らしい烏帽子をかぶった男が「ここから出ていかねばお前の目をくり抜き耳と鼻を削ぎ落すぞ！」と叫んだのである。すでに小人は顔の近くに登ってきていたため塵外は慌てて彼らを振り落とし庵から逃げ出した。

やっとの思いで逃げ出した塵外は遠くに門を見つけたためそこに向かって走った。しかしたどり着いた先にはすでに何千もの小さな男たちが待ち構えており、襲いかかって彼を倒し、そして大将がこう告げた「お前は送られた客人に無礼をはたらいたため、その報いを受け手足を切り落とされるのである！」そして刀を抜いた小人達に塵外は包囲されたのである。

これには塵外も恐れ戦きいて、思慮が足りなかった事を謝罪して許しを請うた。すると大将は心からの謝罪であれば許そうと言って塵外をそのままそこから追い出したのである。

翌日、塵外は昨夜の事を思い出しながら帰ってきた道を調べてみた。するとその先には大きな穴がありイモリが出入りしていたのである。そこで、村人たちとともにその穴をより深く掘ってみた所、３ｍばかり掘った所に無数のイモリを発見し、中には１２インチ程のイモリ（きっと大将であろう）までいたのだという。

村の年寄りによると、かつて新田義貞に味方した者がそこに城を建てたのであるが、戦に負けて城は落ち、武士の魂が古井戸に取り憑いて以降悪さをするようになったのだという。

この話を聞いた塵外は古井戸を訪れると、そこには無数の守宮がいた。そこで塵外が経文を唱えて弔った所、守宮達は皆死んでいったという。塵外は村人たちとともにその亡骸を丁重に弔い守宮の墓をつくったという。

他の妖怪にも興味をもっていただけたなら、是非アマゾンから「The Night Parade of One Hundred Demons（百鬼夜行）」をどうぞ！