Happy Halloween!

Today marks the end of A-Yokai-A-Day — a day that is always both sad and a relief for me, as I enjoy doing this project so much, but it’s also exhausting. If you’ve enjoyed A-Yokai-A-Day, I hope you’ll consider becoming a patron (even for just $1!) to help me continue sharing new yokai tales year-round. Patreon is a major source of my income, and I couldn’t do this without the help of all of my patrons. You can become a patron here.

Tonight’s story is about lacquer, and take place place in an area of Tanba Province which is now part of Kyoto. There’s a very similar story from here in Fukui, another famous lacquerware center. So like many folktales, this is one that probably has local variations anywhere that lacquer was produced.

I’ve had the pleasure of learning a lot about lacquer since living in Fukui. Not far from my home is a place where they make traditional lacquerware in the old fashioned way. I’ve visited there several times, and the skill of the artisans as well as the variety of products that can be made are fascinating! Lacquer itself is an interesting substance. It’s basically a kind of tree sap which is very toxic and will give you a really horrible, blistering rash if you touch it. So artisans have to be careful when working with it. It also has this weird property where it dries when it gets wet. It can be used just like oil paint when pigments are added to it, but when it comes into contact with water (or even humid air) it will dry fairly quickly and harden into a very tough substance. That is a key fact to remember during tonight’s story, so keep that in mind!

The Man From Saiki Village in Tanba Province Who Became an Oni While Still Living

There was a poor man in Saiki Village in Tanba Province. He was exceedingly devoted to his parents. One day when he went to gather firewood in the mountains, he went down into the valley to drink and he saw something that looked like a large cow lying down under the water. Mystified, he looked closely and discovered that it was a hardened lump of lacquer that had been flowing down from the mountain year after year.

Thinking that this was a blessing from heaven, he began collecting the lacquer and taking it to Hida and to the capital to sell, and he became very wealthy.

His next door neighbor was an evil man, and when he heard about this situation he planned to somehow stop the man from coming there so that he could collect the lacquer for himself. He put on a large chamfron and a red wig made of yak fur so that he looked like an oni. Then he dove down into the water and waited for the man to arrive. As usual, he came to collect the lacquer, but this time he saw an oni at the bottom of the water and he ran away in fear.

The evil man was overjoyed that his plan worked, but when he tried to get out of the water he found that he could not move. He died, still in his oni disguise.

Tonight’s story is wonderfully silly. And the yokai in this story is a rare one! Instead of a tanuki, yūrei, or a daija, as this book is fond of, we have something like a kodama. To be more specific, this is the spirit of an enoki mushroom, which for some reason or another, has decided to play pranks on humans. Wonderful! Everything about this story, from the evil mushroom, to the ridiculous actor, to the way the mushroom is defeated, is just silly. I love it.

How Mankichi Tayū Became a Bakemono’s Master

In Kamitachiuri, Kyōto there was a sarugaku master named Mankichi Tayū. His noh acting was poor, and when his money ran out he decided to head to Ōsaka. On the way, he stopped to relax and drink tea at a roadside teahouse in Hirakata. It was almost dusk, so he said to the teahouse owner, “I would like to stay here for one night.”

The teahouse owner replied, “That is no problem, except that there is a bakemono who comes here every night and takes people. So we won’t be here at night.”

Mankichi replied, “Even so, I don’t mind.” And he spent that night at the roadside teahouse.

At around midnight, sure enough, he heard the sound of someone crossing the river from the other side. When he looked, he saw a rich monk standing over two meters tall. Mankichi called out to the monk:

“No, no, that kind of transformation is no good. You’re still a novice.”

The monk replied, “What kind of person are you to speak in such a way?”

Mankichi said, “I am a bakemono from the capital, and I heard that a bakemono lives around here, so I came to meet him and see how skilled he is. If he is skilled, I thought I would take him as my master, and if he is unskilled, I thought I would take him as an apprentice. That’s why I’m staying at this teahouse.”

The monk said, “In that case, show me your transformation skills.”

“Very well,” said Mankichi. And he took his noh costumes out of his pack and dressed himself up as an oni.

The monk was impressed and said, “Well now, you’re very good! Next, turn into a woman.”

“Very well,” said Mankichi. And he turned himself into a woman.

The monk replied, “I am amazed at how skilled you are! I would like to ask you to become my master from now on. I am a mushroom who lives under a hackberry tree across the river. I’ve been living here and bothering the people nearby for several years.”

Mankichi asked, “What is your least favorite thing?”

“I can’t stand soup made from miso that has been fermented for three years,” replied the monk. “And what is your least favorite thing?”

Mankichi answered, “I can’t stand freshly caught and cooked sea bream. If I eat it, I will just die right away!”

As they spoke, the dawn was beginning to break. The monk said farewell and went back across the river.

Mankichi dayū told all of the people of Hirakata and Takatsuki about his meeting with the bakemono and their conversation. Then they all gathered together and boiled some miso that had been fermenting for three years. When they poured it on the mushroom underneath the hackberry tree, it immediately shriveled up and disappeared. The bakemono was never seen after that.

Jealousy once again rears its ugly head! It’s a very common theme in Shokoku hyakumonogatari. In fact, tonight’s story contains quite a few repeated themes that we’ve seen throughout this book. But what I find more interesting is what it doesn’t say.

For one, why did the wife murder Momiji? It seems quite extreme, even for the most jealous person in the world, to murder someone just for being beautiful. After all, Momiji was just a maidservant. The wife could have easily fired her. And why, in the end, does Shume become a monk? If his wife murdered the maidservant, the proper thing for a samurai to do would be for Shume to put his wife to death as a murderer. And why does Momiji’s ghost appear with the lower half of her clothing soaked in blood?

These questions all point to an unsaid answer: that Shume was sleeping with Momiji and got her pregnant. This explains the bloodstained clothing; Momiji’s ghost appears in the form of an ubume — a ghost associated with pregnancy and childbirth. It also explains why the wife was upset enough to kill the girl. And, as Shume wasn’t innocent himself, he had no recourse to punish his wife, and instead he became a monk to atone for his own sins.

The Jealousy of Shibata Shume’s Wife

In Miyazu, Tango there was a man named Shibata Shume. His wife was a jealous woman, and she suspected that Shume had his eye on their beautiful maidservant Momiji. One time, after Shume went to Edo, she tossed Momiji into a well and then sealed her inside, killing her.

When Shume returned from Edo he asked his wife, “Why did you dig a new well?”

She answered him, “It suddenly collapsed so I had to dig a new one.”

“Where is Momiji?” asked Shume.

“She quit,” replied the wife.

Shume was suspicious, but he let the matter pass.

Shume had three children, but they suddenly became ill and within 40 or 50 days all three of them died. Shume and his wife were overcome with grief and endless sorrow. Around that time, Shume’s wife was pregnant, and before long she gave birth without incident. The child was a blessing in the middle of their grief, and they showered him with affection.

Before long, the child turned three years old. He suffered repeatedly from epileptic convulsions, and they tried all sorts of treatments, but none had any effect. A rōnin acquaintance of Shume’s knew of a skilled acupuncturist, and brought him to see the child. After the acupuncture treatment, the child recovered a little bit, so Shume asked him to stay the night.

Since it was summer, the rōnin and the acupuncturist hung up a mosquito net and left the area open while they talked. While they talked, they heard the sound of geta from the alley. When they checked to see who it was, they saw a girl. From the waist down, she was stained with blood; her body-length hair was standing on end; and her face was emaciated and blue-tinged. She stepped up onto the veranda. The acupuncturist nearly fainted, and cowered in the corner. The rōnin said, “Who goes there?”

“I am a maidservant who was employed by this house, but the lady of the house, in her jealousy, falsely accused me, murdered me, and buried me at the bottom of the well. I have already taken my revenge on three of her children, and now I have come to take her fourth. No matter how much money you spend on treating him, it will not won’t be enough,” replied the girl. Then she vanished into thin air.

At that moment, they heard a scream from the back room. When they went to check, they found that the child was already dead.

Afterwards, the rōnin told Shume everything that had happened. Shume was shocked, and he divorced his wife and became a monk himself.

Hey yokai lovers! I’ll be at Toei Kyoto Studio Park all day tomorrow for the KaiKai Yokai Festival. This is Kyoto’s greatest yokai festival of the year, and it’s come to define Kyoto’s Halloween celebrations in recent years. And it’s set in Uzumasa’s Edo period samurai film set, which puts the yokai right where they belong. You won’t want to miss this one!

Anyway, on to tonight’s story!

Retribution for Kicking a Three Trunk Cedar

A certain monk of the Tendai sect went on an ascetic pilgrimage across the country with his servant. They went from Edo to Nikkō, and on the way back his servant observed a three trunk cedar tree and said, “Is this lame cedar the one that I’ve heard so much about? There are tons of cedars just like it back in Kyōto.”

Then he kicked it and continued home.

That night, the servant began to tremble and babble all sorts of things as if he was possessed. When the monk saw this, he thought it must be the work of an evil spirit, and he performed the incantations and prayers he had learned in his Tendai training.

The servant babbled, “These prayers are so powerful that I can’t stand it! I’m leaving!”

The monk commanded, “Show yourself right away and then leave.”

The servant turned into a large stone buddha.

“No, no, show me your true form,” said the monk, and continued incanting.

The stone became a 3 meter tall priest with a single eye in its forehead.

“This is not your true form either,” said the monk, and he prayed even harder.

The giant priest became a 30 meter long snake with a single 150 centimeter long horn.

“If you won’t show me your true form, then I will show you what will happen!” said the monk. And he beat the snake with the large square bead on his rosary.

“Okay, I am leaving! But my female form has tainted his body so you must wash him!”

“Then I will perform ablutions,” said the monk, and he washed the servant’s body in hot water.

Before long, the servant said, “Alright, I’m leaving now. I won’t come back after this. It’s because he kicked me. I’m telling you, your prayers are too strong. Goodbye.”

Then the snake turned into a 16 or 17 year old girl, and she left out the back door. Immediately, the servant returned to his senses.