I was at Kyoto Toei Film Studios all day today for the KaiKai Yokai Festival, so tonight’s write-up will be brief… Thanks to everyone who came to my booth at the festival today!
Tonight’s story is for all the readers who have been outraged at all the stories about samurai killing tanuki, foxes, and snakes so far. Tonight the animals get their revenge!
The Tanuki Who Summoned 25 Bodhisattvas
In eastern Ōmi, there is a place called Sakōtō Village. Deep in the mountains, there is a temple. Whenever the priest of this temple would visit the village, a tanuki would follow him and steal his food to eat.
One time, the priest picked up a mochi-shaped stone in Yokawa and took it home, roasted it on his hearth, and waited for the sun to set. Just as he expected, a tanuki came and started searching for food in the usual places.
“If you stop stealing from now on, I will give you a present,” said the priest. Then he picked up the roasted stone with fire tongs and tossed it at the tanuki. When the tanuki grabbed it and tried to eat it, it suffered severe burns and ran away.
Afterwards, the idol on the altar would sometimes glow with a bright light. The priest thought it was a holy sign, and he became even more devout.
One night, the Buddha appeared to the priest in a dream and commanded him, “When you wake up from this dream, you should throw yourself into the fire and attain buddhahood. I will then come for you and take you away to the Western Pure Land.”
The priest woke up and, thinking it was a holy sign, told everyone around, “On an appointed day, I shall walk into the fire and leave this world. Come and witness!”
Everyone around wept and said, “Oh my, what an admirable thing.”
When the day came, a huge crowd of worshippers from all over the country gathered, all of them waiting to see the coming of the Buddha. The priest had built a 1.8 meter square stone fire pit and stacked it full of charcoal and firewood. Wearing new white robes and a kerchief, he climbed onto the pyre and began to pray. Sure enough, around noon, from the west came a procession led by the Buddha triad of Amitaba, Kannon, and Seishi, followed by 25 other bodhisattvas playing the shō and hichiriki, and giving off shining light.
“Light the fire!” said the priest.
The fire was lit, the pyre went up in flames, and the priest burned to death. Meanwhile, the procession of buddhas revealed their true form and burst out in roaring laughter. Everybody was shocked to see two or three thousand old tanuki running off into the mountains. The tanuki that was burnt by the stone got its revenge.
