For your reading pleasure, here is a list of links to all of the story posts containing Ino mononoke roku, posted for A-Yokai-A-Day 2019:
Introduction
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5
Day 6
Day 7
Day 8
Day 9
Day 10
Day 11
Day 12
Day 13
Day 14
Day 15
Day 16
Day 17
Day 18
Day 19
Day 20
Day 21
Day 22
Day 23
Day 24
Day 25
Day 26
Day 27
Day 28
Day 29
Day 30
Greetings yokai fans!
Today is the final day of A-Yokai-A-Day, and the final entry in Ino Mononoke Roku! I know you’ve been waiting patiently for this, so I’ll just keep the intro quick. I wanted to say thanks for your support this month. Without your generous patronage, I would not be able to literally spend a whole month translating and painting, every single day. So thanks to all of you for making this possible.
I will have November’s yokai plans up in a day or two, but tomorrow I will be spending the day sleeping in and catching up on emails and chores that I haven’t been able to do because of A-Yokai-A-Day.
And now, on to the moment you’ve all been waiting for: the exciting conclusion of Ino mononoke roku!
By the thirtieth day, all of Heitaro’s friends, family, and neighbors had spread the news far and wide of the bizarre haunting at the Ino residence. As for Heitaro himself, the strangeness had been going on for so long that he had practically grown used to it.
That day, a well dressed and sharp looking samurai in his 40’s came to visit Heitaro. At his first glance, Heitaro recognized that this man was the source of the whole haunting.
“Ah, the yokai’s true form finally shows itself!” Young Heitaro grabbed his katana and swore to take the samurai down in a single cut.
As soon as Heitaro’s sword was drawn, the samurai vanished. Then, from Heitaro’s ceiling came a voice: “Please, put your sword away.”
Heitaro cooled his head. He put his sword away and waited to see what the spirits’ next move would be.
Then, the lid of his hearth popped off, and a massive puff of thick smoke billowed into the room. The smoke gathered together and congealed into the shape of a large head.
A boil on the thing’s forehead began to swell up. Suddenly a massive amount of smoke and worms burst forth from the boil. Worms covered the floor and crawled all over Heitaro.
Worms! It had to be worms! Heitaro hated worms!
Then, a pair of eyes sprouted from the wall and began to glare at Heitaro. A mouth appeared beneath them and laughed at him.
As the worms crawling over his body and into his clothes approached Heitaro’s absolute limit, they suddenly vanished.
Phew!
Then the mysterious samurai materialized once more.
“My name is Sanmoto Gorozaemon. I am a demon lord. Another demon lord named Shinno Akugoro and I had a contest to see who was scarier. We would each scare one hundred people, and the winner would become the top demon lord. I scared eighty five people before you, Heitaro. You would have been my eighty sixth. But I could not scare you. Your courage is exceptionally rare, and deserves to be rewarded.”
Sanmoto Gorozaemon presented Heitaro with a wooden mallet.
“One day my competitor may come for you. If he does, strike a pillar with this mallet, and I shall come to your aid. We will defeat Shinno Akugoro together.”
Heitaro noticed that a god of protection was sitting beside him.
Then, a splendid palanquin appeared, and Heitaro’s yard was filled with dozens and dozens of yokai of all shapes and sizes. Sanmoto Gorozaemon climbed into the palanquin, and the yokai hoisted it up onto their shoulders.
The demons gathered into a big parade and carried the palanquin off into the night sky. They danced and cavorted as they went.
Heitaro watched the night parade disappear into the clouds, returning to wherever they had come from.
Twenty nine days! “How long will this continue,” thought Heitaro. The haunting showed no sign of letting up.
As Heitaro sat wondering what kind of surprise the spirits had in store for him today, an ill wind began to blow into his house.
And on the strange wind, something twinkling…
Sparkles, like tiny stars, floated in on the foul wind and spread throughout every room of Heitaro’s house. They lodged themselves into every crack and crevice.
Luckily, nothing was burned.
During the twenty eighth day, Heitaro heard the distant sound of shakuhachi being played.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, a huge group of mendicant monks appeared! They filed into Heitaro’s yard, his balcony, and every room until his whole house was filled with monks.
All day long the monks played their ear-piercing flutes. All night long too.
Poor Heitaro just lay in bed and closed his eyes…
Another sleepless night.
On day twenty seven, Heitaro sat down to work at his writing desk. Even though it was midday, darkness began to grow all around him, like rolling clouds.
Eventually, it became as dark as blackest night. Poor Heitaro couldn’t see anything at all, let alone write.
Then, all of a sudden, it became blindingly bright!
That night, mysterious noises were heard all around Heitaro’s house. Among them were the sound of wooden clappers being struck, and women’s laughter.
On night twenty six, Heitaro was once again visited by a woman’s head. In place of a neck and body, she had only a single arm.
The head flew into Heitaro’s room and glared at him. Then she bounced about on her hand like it was a pogo stick.
Heitaro tried to ignore her, but she bounced up onto him and started petting and pawing at his face and body.
It was a rough night.
On the twenty fifth day, Heitaro stepped out on the balcony overlooking his backyard.
He stepped down from the balcony to go into his garden, but when his foot landed where the stepping stone should have been, instead of a stone there was a big blue yokai instead!
Heitaro’s foot sunk into the monster’s belly, like soft mud. It was sticky, gooey, and cold.
Gross!
Heitaro wasn’t too happy about it either, but he managed to keep his cool.