Tonight’s story is another tale about romance and ghosts, although it’s not a horrific one like many that we’ve seen. Instead, this ghost story sets up an interesting false etymology for the Japanese surname Nikurube. This surname is particularly difficult to read in Japanese, and causes a lot of confusion for people who don’t know how it is read. In some rankings it is said to be the #1 most difficult name in Japanese.

There are a few different ways to write Nikurube, but one of them is 釋迦牟尼佛. Normally, those kanji are read “Shakamuni hotoke” — the name of the Buddha. Yet by some odd way, when used as a name they came to be pronounced Nikurube.

The story gives an entertaining name for why the name of the Buddha came to be a family name, but it doesn’t explain how the pronunciation actually changed from Shakamuni hotoke to Nikurube. This is also an interesting story. There are many titles and epithets used for the Buddha, buddhas, bodhisattvas. One of the common ones is Nyōrai (as in Amida Nyōrai). All of the buddhas collectively can be referred to as “the nyōrai group” or nyōraibu; -bu in this case being a suffix meaning “group.” Nyōraibu is written with the kanji 如来部. If you use an alternate pronunciation for each if the kanji in nyō-rai-bu, you get ni-kuru-be.

So, the pronunciation of the name Nikurube comes from the kanji for one of the Buddha’s epithets, but is written with the kanji for the actual name of the Buddha. It is spelled completely different from how it sounds. No wonder it’s confusing to so many people!

Now just wait until you hear why the name of the Buddha became a surname:

The Origin of the Surname ‘Nikurube’

In Nihonbashi, Edo, there was a wealthy merchant named Yorozuya Hanbei. Every year he would travel to Kyōto to make purchases, and he would stay at an inn run by a widow and her daughter. The daughter had beautiful features, and Hanbei was drawn to her and reached out to court her. She had already held affection for Hanbei for some time, and, their feelings mutual, she told her mother everything. She and Hanbei fell deeply in love with each other.

One day, Hanbei said to the girl, “My home is in Edo, and wouldn’t it be better for both you and your mother to move to Edo and live a comfortable life? I will go there first and make all of the arrangements, and then I will send for someone to bring you here. How does that sound?”

The girl was delighted and said, “I have been thinking the same thing for some time now. And, if you can’t wait until next year, I’d like to travel to Edo with you, and spend every morning and evening together.”

Hanbei was happy to hear this, but he first returned to Edo by himself. Perhaps exhausted from the journey, he fell ill upon returning home, lost track of time, and forgot about returning to Kyōto to pick up the girl.

Not knowing this, the girl waited impatiently in the capital for Hanbeti’s late arrival, and thought of nothing but him morning and night. Perhaps it was due to her worry piling up, but she soon fell ill, and finally she died. Her mother was devastated.

Meanwhile, back in Edo, Hanbei remembered the girl and thought that she must be waiting impatiently for him to come get her. He wondered how she was doing, and fondly remembered his time in the capital.

“Is this Yorozuya Hanbei’s place?” a voice asked. Hanbei looked up and saw that it was his fiance from the capital.

Hanbei was overjoyed. “Well now, how is it that you have come here? It’s like a miracle!” he said, and the two of them could not hold back their tears.

The girl lamented Hanbei’s lateness and spoke her grievances, and Hanbei made various excuses; but in the end he calmed her and welcomed her inside, introducing her to his entire family as his new wife.

“Now then, let us send for your mother in the capital to come here as well,” said Hanbei.

The girl stopped him, saying, “First let us wait two or three years.”

Hanbei didn’t see any reason to argue, and so the months and years passed. Before long, the girl became pregnant, then gave birth to a fine baby boy. When the boy was three years old, the girl’s mother came from the capital to visit Hanbei, who was delighted to see her.

The widow, sobbing, said, “Well now, just looking at you I get all choked up. It’s been three years since my daughter, whom I gave to you and who waited and waited for you to come for her, died of heartbreak when you never showed up. Since she died, I have had nobody to support me. It’s been getting harder for me to scrape by, and as you have always been a compassionate man, I thought that if I came to Edo to ask for your help you would never abandon me. So here I have come. Please help me, as you would have helped my daughter.”

Hanbei replied, “What a strange thing you say! Your daughter came down here three years ago, and now we even have a three year old child. Look, here is your grandson!” And he showed her the child.

The widow was astonished, and replied, “Then I’d like to see my daughter.”

Hanbei took her inside, but the daughter, refusing to see her mother, hid herself in the closet. When Hanbei opened the closet to speak with her, the girl was nowhere to be found; instead, there was a grave tablet. Hanbet showed the tablet to the window, who burst into tears.

“So, she was so devoted to you that her spirit came here to live with you for three years! How incredible!” cried the widow.

She withdrew a grave tablet from her breast pocket and held it next to the one Hanbei was holding. On both tablets, “Shakyamuni Buddha” was written in the same handwriting. Hanbei was also moved to tears. He performed funerary services for the girl, and he made sure that the girl’s mother was provided all that she wished for.

The child grew into a young man of superb looks and intelligence, and the provincial governor at the time heard about him and took him as an employee. Hanbei’s family name was Ōtomo, but this child was born of a ghost, so the name “Shakyamuni Buddha” which was written on the grave tablet had its reading changed, and the boy came to be known as Nikurube San’ya. Since then, this family name has been handed down from generation to generation.

Tonight’s story features an onryō, the most terrifying of Japanese ghosts. Fans of yokai folklore might even think this story sounds somewhat familiar. There’s a clear connection to one of Japan’s most famous ghost tales, Sarayashiki. Everything from the ghost’s name (Kiku), to the setting (Himeji castle; mentioned later on in the story), to the absolutely cruel treatment of the serving girl, culminating in throwing her down a hole to her death (or a well). Despite the many similarities, this story is different enough that it still feels like a fresh version and not just a retelling.

There are a few parts of this story that were hard to translate, because they breezed over things that begged for more explanation. One part is the various types of torture that Kiku had to endure. The story lists water torture, the torture of the iron bars, the wooden horse, and the torture of the old tree without describing what those are. So just to quickly go over them:

• Water torture includes several unpleasant things, from splashing her with cold water, to holding her head underwater, to wrapping cloth around her face and pouring water over her (i.e. waterboarding).
• The torture of the iron bars involves binding a person’s hands and legs with heavy iron bars and then adding weight to crush them, or twisting them. It’s pretty gruesome.
• The wooden horse involves straddling someone on top of a pointed wooden device and weight their limbs down and letting gravity work its horrors. Yuck.
• And the torture of the old tree is hanging someone upside-down from a tree. From this position you can either beat them like a piñata or allow gravity to make the blood pool in their head and eventually kill them. Choices!
• Lastly, dripping soy sauce into the open wounds is pretty self explanatory. I’m not sure whether the boiling part or the salt in the wounds part would hurt more, but it is exceptionally cruel.

No wonder the girl becomes an onryō!

My favorite part of this story, though, is easy to miss. The appearance of the elderly servant at the end of the story, who orders the younger footmen to pay the girl’s cab fare. At first I wondered why one of the high ranking servants, basically the majordomo, would tell the doormen to pay double the fee for some random, unexpected woman. But the key is in his age: this man is old enough that he has served four generations of Shuri’s family. That is to say, he has witnessed every single member of Shuri’s family for four generations fall pray to Kiku. He knows what’s up, he knows the curse, and he knows there’s nothing that can be done to stop her. So he just tells them to pay the fare, and he alone knows what is coming next. Chilling!

So with that in mind, enjoy this creepy tale!

The Ghost of Kiku, Maidservant of Kumamoto Shuri

Kumamoto Shuri was an exceedingly wicked and cruel man. When he was serving at the castle, he became furious when he discovered a pin in his food, and he called his maidservant Kiku to him.

“Who ordered you to do such a thing? Tell me the truth. If you don’t tell me I will beat it out of you!”

Kiku was astonished. She said, “Oh my, I’ve made a terrible mistake. Earlier, I was sewing a kimono and I tucked the needle into my hair. It must have fallen out and into your food. I did not intend for such a thing to happen. And I was not ordered by anyone to do it. It was a simple mistake, so please forgive me.”

To which Shuri replied, “So you want to argue? Then I shall torture you.”

First he used water torture. Second was the torture of the iron bars. Third was the wooden horse. Fourth was the torture of the old tree. Fifth, he cut open her back and poured boiling soy sauce into the wounds.

However, all Kiku said was, “There’s nothing more that I can say except what I already told you. Please, just fire me!”

To which Shuri replied, “I see I have been too lenient in my punishments as you will not confess.”

He ordered the peasants to bring two or three thousand snakes, then he dug a hole and put Kiku in it, and had the snakes released into the hole.

Kiku told the other servants, “It seems I will not survive this. Please, at least call my mother and let me say goodbye to her.” They pitied her, and called Kiku’s mother and arranged for them to meet.

Upon seeing Kiku’s condition, her mother looked up at the heavens and fell to the ground, and cried out, “In order to serve the samurai we have been prepared for a lot, but to this kind of torture as a source of amusement?! When you die, come back as an onryō and take revenge for this! Never forget it!”

Kiku replied, “Be at ease. I will bear this grudge not just against Shuri’s entire family, but against seven generations of his family! If you don’t believe me, plant sesame seeds in front of the place where I die. They will sprout within three days. Consider this as proof. Now I am free. Goodbye.”

And with that, she bit off her tongue and died.

Kiku’s mother was anxious, and so she planted sesame seeds as instructed. As promised, they sprouted within three days. And sure enough, on the third day, Kiku appeared to Shuri and declared her grudge, listing all of the ways he had wronged her. Then she said, “I’ll be back,” and left.

After that, Shuri began to babble incoherently, spouting confessions of all the evil things he did and acting like a madman. On the seventh day, he died. After that, Shuri began to haunt his descendants to death.

Shuri the 4th served under Matsudaira Tadaaki at Himeji in Harima Province. Kiku’s ghost appeared before a packhorse driver on a road about 8 km away and said, “I am traveling to Shuri’s estate and would like to borrow a horse.”

The horse driver assumed she was just an ordinary person and refused, saying, “It is almost night, and the way home will be long.”

“I will pay extra,” said Kiku. She offered him 160 mon – double the normal price of 80 mon.

When they arrived at Shuri’s estate, Kiku got off the horse and went inside, and the horse driver asked the servants for payment.

“What are you talking about? You didn’t have anybody on your horse!” said the servants.

The horse driver replied, “Just now I brought a lady here. You have to pay her fare!”

As they argued, a voice came out of nowhere. It was Shuri’s elder servant, ordering them to pay the horse driver: “Kiku has come back. Pay the 160 mon fare.”

After that, Shuri suddenly became ill and, possessed by Kiku, began to babble about the various ways in which she had been wronged by his ancestor. On the seventh day he died.

For four generations, they tried various prayers and exorcisms, but none were effective; each time that a successor was named, Kiku came and killed him.

The yokai in tonight’s story is a fan favorite: the two-tailed version of a bakeneko, known as a nekomata. In a way it’s almost a touching story, about a pet who loves its master so much that it would do the unthinkable. On the other hand, it’s equally horrifying. Why make up such a lie? What were the cat’s long-term plans? Was the cat behind the wife’s death in the first place? Knowing that this was a nekomata, all sorts of nefarious answers pop into mind… In any case, go hug your pets!

The Nekomata That Changed into Itō Genroku’s Wife

In Shinobu, Oshū, there was a man around 20 years old named Itō Genroku. He was a skillful man with a kind heart, and people came from all over to ask him to become their son-in-law.

He heard that a certain person in the same province had a beautiful daughter, so he invited her to come and be his wife. But while they fell deeply for each other, the new wife caught a slight cold and ended up dying. Genroku was deeply grieved; he shut himself away in his home and never left, spending all of his time pining for his wife.

One day, a friend of his named Takeuchi Hyōe came to give his sympathy for Genroku’s pain. He entered Genroku’s room, they talked for a while, and then he left; but something troubled him about Genroku’s condition, so he secretly reached out to Genroku’s parents and said, “There’s something strange about Genroku’s condition, so please check in on him every night.”

That night, Genroku’s parents creeped close to Genroku’s bedroom and listened. In the early hours of the morning, after everyone had gone to bed, they heard an unknown woman’s voice speaking affectionately to him. Genroku’s parents were astonished, and when morning came they called Hyōe and told him about the intimate conversation they heard.

“I thought so…” said Hyōe. They summoned Genroku to his parents’ room and spent the night drinking and merrymaking, while Hyōe went to Genroku’s bedroom and waited. Sure enough, in the early hours of the morning after everyone had gone to sleep, a woman’s voice came out of nowhere and said affectionately, “I’m here.”

Hyōe hid underneath the blankets. The woman said, “Why don’t you speak to me tonight? Are you angry because I am late? I arrived late because I ran into some trouble.” She begged him for forgiveness and pulled back the covers to climb into bed. Hyōe looked up and saw that her mouth was split open from ear to ear and she had horns sprouting from her head, but her black penciled-on eyebrows, red and white makeup, and styled up bangs looked exactly like Genroku’s wife.

Hyōe said, “I’ve got you!” He seized her and stabbed her with both of his swords. Their fight was so chaotic that the noise made people light lanterns and come to see. In the lantern light, Hyōe was able to overpower her, and he stabbed her over and over. Upon closer inspection, it was Genroku’s pet cat of many years.

When Hyōe told what happened to Genroku, Genroku was astonished and grateful. He explained, “Seven days after my wife died, she appeared to me and said, ‘I was resurrected by Lord Enma, under instruction that for one hundred days we must tell nobody about this. During that time, I will visit you in secret. You must not let anybody know about this!’ Until now, I kept everything under wraps. So, it turns out she was a nekomata… Thanks to you, Hyōe, my life was saved.”

Tonight’s story once again deals with the topic of attachment, as in the Buddhist sin of improper attachment to others. And like several stories we’ve read so far, it uses snakes as a symbol of that attachment. In this case, the suffering caused by attachment is pretty extreme, and it’s hard not to feel sorry for the father.

The Tumors of Heirokuzaemon of Shimōsa Province’s Father

In a place called Yokkaichi in Usui, Shimōsa Province, there was a man named Heirokuzaemon. One time an itinerant monk came to his place and asked for lodging. Although he had asked for a room, the monk stayed up all night long reciting the Lotus Sutra without sleeping. Throughout the night, he heard something moaning, “Look… Look…” on the other side of a shōji partition.

The monk was bewildered. In the morning he asked Heirokuzaemon, “Do you have a puppy in the other room? Something was moaning all night long.”

Heirokuzaemon replied, “I am ashamed, but as you are a monk let me tell you. The one who was moaning is my father. For more than twelve years he has been suffering. First he developed a tumor on his right shoulder, then he developed a similar tumor on his left shoulder, and after that a large hole appeared in each of them. When he looks to his left, the right tumor says, ‘Look this way!’ Whenever he looks to his right, the left tumor says, ‘Look this way!’ He is tormented day and night by these boils telling him, Look this way! Look this way! so that he has spent the last twelve  years squatting with his hands on the floor, looking left, then looking right, over and over again. For the first five or six years I tried to help him with medical treatments and exorcisms, but they had no effect, so for the last five or six years I’ve just left him there.”

The monk listened, and then replied, “Let me meet him.”

“Very well,” said Heirokuzaemon, and he brought the monk to his father.

“Tell me about when these tumors first appeared,” said the monk to the father.

The father said, “I am ashamed to tell you this. When I was younger, I laid with a servant girl. Heiroku’s mother was the most jealous woman in the world, and she strangled the servant girl to death. Not three days after the servant girl was killed a tumor appeared on my right shoulder. Seven days after that Heiroku’s mother died, and not three days after that a tumor appeared on my left shoulder. Both tumors tell me, ‘Look this way! Look this way!’ and if I refuse even once, the pain becomes so unbearable, like being strangled to death. For the past twelve years they have been ordering me to look at them without rest.”

The monk listened carefully and replied, “Then, let me say a prayer for you.” He uncovered the father’s shoulders, sat behind him, faced the tumors, and recited the Lotus Sutra. Doing so, a tiny snake stuck its head out of the hole in the right tumor. The monk recited faster and with pausing, and soon the snake’s head stuck out nine centimeters. Holding the sutra in his hand, the monk pulled the snake out of the hole. Then he turned towards the left tumor and recited the sutra, and a snake stuck out its head just like before, so holding the sutra in his hand, he pulled that snake out of the hole. He constructed two burial mounds for the snakes, recited prayers over them and mourned them.

Afterwards, the tumors healed and the holes closed up. Both father and son were overcome with gratification. It is said that everyone in this area became devout believers in the Lotus Sutra.