The title of tonight’s story, “Demon Fire,” is a direct translation of its title in Mimibukuro: “Onibi.” Normally I prefer not to translate the names of yokai and other phenomena, because they retain their unique meanings better when left in Japanese. However, I decided not to do so here because the story never actually mentions onibi. In fact, it specifically describes the phenomenon out as tengubi (or the like). There are a lot of mysterious fireball yokai, and they go by all kinds of names; however it sounds like we can blame this specific case on a tengu.
Tales about strange fireballs are quite common, and mysterious fires are a staple sign that ghosts or yōkai are nearby. Sometimes they are cold fires that give off no heat and don’t harm anyone; other times they are hot, or they drain the life force from anyone nearby. It’s clear from this tale that people did consider them to be harbingers of danger, one way or another.
The story takes place in Hakonejuku, in what is now Kanagawa Prefecture. The -juku suffix indicates that this was a station town, in this case on the Tōkaidō route that linked Edo with Kyōto. This was a major roadway in the Edo period, and the 53 stations of the Tōkaidō, immortalized in many woodblock print series, were popular as both rest stops for travelers and tourist destinations. Hakone, in particular, was well known as a hot spring resort town, and this tale takes place at one of these resorts, where a bunch of guards are enjoying their summer vacation off from work.
The man called “old man Ishikawa” in the story (who seems to be the origin of this tale as well) appears several times in Mimibukuro, and is one of Negishi’s acquaintances.
Demon Fire
While on ōban guard duty, I [Ishikawa] stayed at Hakonejuku. Since it was summer, I and my fellow guards gathered at a traveller’s inn, drank sake, and were enjoying the cool air, when we saw a single, round flame rise from the mountain across from us and into the sky. Wondering what it could be, we watched in curiosity as it split into two and flew about, then merged back together and split again into many parts. It was rather amusing.
Then the flames began to come our way. Everyone grew alarmed and began to shout, “What could it be?”
The innkeeper overheard us and quickly came to our room. Terribly frightened, he said, “Hurry, you must get inside, or there will be danger!”
He quickly began barring the doors. All of the men, too, were seized by an inexplicable fear and went inside.
It must have been one of those things they call tengubi or the like.
This tale was told by old man Ishikawa.
