Glimpses of Unfamiliar Japan Volume I Part 28

The name signifies 'head-box.' It was the ancient custom to place the head of a decapitated person upon a kubi-oke before conveying the ghastly trophy into the palace of the prince desirous of seeing it.

Notes for Chapter Thirteen

1 Yama-no-mono ('mountain-folk,'--so called from their settlement on the hills above Tokoji),--a pariah-cla.s.s whose special calling is the washing of the dead and the making of graves.

2 Joro: a courtesan.

3 Illicium religiosum 4 Literally: 'without shadow' or 'shadowless.'

5 Umi-yama-no-on.

6 Kusaba-no-kage 7 Or 'him.' This is a free rendering. The word 'nushi' simply refers to the owner of the house.

Notes for Chapter Fourteen

1 ''Eight clouds arise. The eightfold [or, manifold] fence of Idzumo makes an eightfold [or, manifold] fence for the spouses to retire within. Oh! that eightfold fence!' This is said to be the oldest song in the j.a.panese language. It has been differently translated by the great scholars and commentators. The above version and text are from Professor B. H. Chamberlain's translation of the Kojiki (pp.60-64).

2 Professor Chamberlain disputes this etymology for excellent reasons.

But in Izumo itself the etymology is still accepted, and will be accepted, doubtless, until the results of foreign scholarship in the study of the archaic texts is more generally known.

3 Planeca j.a.ponica.

4 So absolutely has Shinto in Izumo monopolised the Karashishi, or stone lions, of Buddhist origin, that it is rare in the province to find a pair before any Buddhist temple. There is even a Shinto myth about their introduction into j.a.pan from India, by the Fox-G.o.d!

5 Such offerings are called Gwan-hodoki. Gwan wo hodoki, 'to make a vow.'

6 A pilgrim whose prayer has been heard usually plants a single n.o.bori as a token. Sometimes you may see n.o.bori of five colours (goshiki),-- black, yellow, red, blue, and white--of which one hundred or one thousand have been planted by one person. But this is done only in pursuance of some very special vow.

7 'On being asked if there were any other love charm, the Newt replied, making a ring with two of his toes--"Only this." The sign signifies, "Money."'

8 There are no less than eleven princ.i.p.al kinds of j.a.panese names. The jitsumyo, or 'true name,' corresponds to our Christian name. On this intricate and interesting topic the reader should consult Professor B.

H. Chamberlain's excellent little book, Things j.a.panese, pp. 250-5.

9 That I may be wedded to Takaki-Toki, I humbly pray.--A youth of eighteen.'

10 The gengebana (also called renge-so, and in Izumo miakobana) is an herb planted only for fertilizing purposes. Its flowers are extremely small, but so numerous that in their blossoming season miles of fields are coloured by them a beautiful lilaceous blue. A gentleman who wished to marry a joro despite the advice of his friends, was gently chided by them with the above little verse, which, freely translated, signifies: 'Take it not into thy hand: the flowers of the gengebans are fair to view only when left all together in the field.'

Notes for Chapter Fifteen

1 Toyo-uke-bime-no-Kami, or Uka-no-mi-tana ('who has also eight other names), is a female divinity, according to the Kojiki and its commentators. Moreover, the greatest of all Shinto scholars, Hirata, as cited by Satow, says there is really no such G.o.d as Inari-San at all-- that the very name is an error. But the common people have created the G.o.d Inari: therefore he must be presumed to exist--if only for folklorists; and I speak of him as a male deity because I see him so represented in pictures and carvings. As to his mythological existence, his great and wealthy temple at Kyoto is impressive testimony.

2 The white fox is a favourite subject with j.a.panese artists. Some very beautiful kakemono representing white foxes were on display at the Tokyo exhibition of 1890. Phosph.o.r.escent foxes often appear in the old coloured prints, now so rare and precious, made by artists whose names have become world-famous. Occasionally foxes are represented wandering about at night, with lambent tongues of dim fire--kitsune-bi--above their heads. The end of the fox's tail, both in sculpture and drawing, is ordinarily decorated with the symbolic jewel (tama) of old Buddhist art. I have in my possession one kakemono representing a white fox with a luminous jewel in its tail. I purchased it at the Matsue temple of Inari--'O-Shiroyama-no-Inari-Sama.' The art of the kakemono is clumsy; but the conception possesses curious interest.

3 The j.a.panese candle has a large hollow paper wick. It is usually placed upon an iron point which enters into the orifice of the wick at the flat end.

4 See Professor Chamberlain's Things j.a.panese, under the t.i.tle 'Demoniacal Possession.'

5 Translated by Walter Dening.

6 The word shizoku is simply the Chinese for samurai. But the term now means little more than 'gentleman' in England.

7 The fox-messenger travels unseen. But if caught in a trap, or injured, his magic fails him, and he becomes visible.

8 The Will-o'-the-Wisp is called Kitsune-bi, or 'fox-fire.'

9 'Aburage' is a name given to fried bean-curds or tofu.

10 Azukimeshi is a preparation of red beans boiled with rice.

11 The Hoin or Yamabushi was a Buddhist exorciser, usually a priest.

Strictly speaking, the Hoin was a Yamabushi of higher rank. The Yamabushi used to practise divination as well as exorcism. They were forbidden to exercise these professions by the present government; and most of the little temples formerly occupied by them have disappeared or fallen into ruin. But among the peasantry Buddhist exorcisers are still called to attend cases of fox-possession, and while acting as exorcisers are still spoken of as Yamabushi.

12 A most curious paper on the subject of Ten-gan, or Infinite Vision-- being the translation of a Buddhist sermon by the priest Sata Kaiseki-- appeared in vol. vii. of the Transactions of the Asiatic Society of j.a.pan, from the pen of Mr. J. M. James. It contains an interesting consideration of the supernatural powers of the Fox.

13 All the portable lanterns used to light the way upon dark nights bear a mon or crest of the owner.

14 Cakes made of rice flour and often sweetened with sugar.

15 It is believed that foxes amuse themselves by causing people to eat horse-dung in the belief that they are eating mochi, or to enter a cesspool in the belief they are taking a bath.

16 'In Jigyobamachi, a name signifying 'earthwork-street.' It stands upon land reclaimed from swamp.

17 This seems to be the immemorial artistic law for the demeanour of all symbolic guardians of holy places, such as the Karashishi, and the Ascending and Descending Dragons carved upon panels, or pillars. At k.u.mano temple even the Suijin, or warrior-guardians, who frown behind the gratings of the chambers of the great gateway, are thus represented--one with mouth open, the other with closed lips.

On inquiring about the origin of this distinction between the two symbolic figures, I was told by a young Buddhist scholar that the male figure in such representations is supposed to be p.r.o.nouncing the sound 'A,' and the figure with closed lips the sound of nasal 'N'- corresponding to the Alpha and Omega of the Greek alphabet, and also emblematic of the Beginning and the End. In the Lotos of the Good Law, Buddha so reveals himself, as the cosmic Alpha and Omega, and the Father of the World,--like Krishna in the Bhagavad-Gita.

18 There is one exception to the general custom of giving the dolls of dead children, or the wrecks of dolls, to Kojin. Those images of the G.o.d of Calligraphy and Scholarship which are always presented as gifts to boys on the Boys' Festival are given, when broken, to Tenjin himself, not to Kojin; at least such is the custom in Matsue.