The Spell of Japan Part 13

"It is rather fine weather to-day," said the youngster.

"Yes, it is very fine," replied the old fellow.

"I am Gamataro, the oldest son of Lord Bullfrog, Prince of the Lotus Ditch."

"Your lordship must be weary with your journey. I am Sir Frog of the Well in Kyoto. I started out to see the great ocean from Osaka, but I declare my hips are so dreadfully tired that I believe I'll give up my plan and content myself with a look from this hill, which I have been told is half-way between the two cities. While I see Osaka and the sea, you can get a good look at Kyoto."

"Happy thought!" cried the Osaka frog. Then both reared themselves up on their hind legs, and stretching up on their toes, body to body, and neck to neck, propped each other up, rolled their goggles, and looked steadily, as they supposed, on the places they each wished to see.

Now every one knows that a frog has eyes mounted in that part of his head which is front when he is down, and back when he stands up. Long and steadily they gazed, until at last, their toes being tired, they fell down on all fours.

"I declare!" said the older frog, "Osaka looks just like Kyoto!

As for that great ocean those stupid maids talked about, I don't see any at all, unless they mean that strip of river which looks for all the world like Yedo. I don't believe there is any great ocean!"

"For my part," said the other, "I am satisfied that it's all folly to go further, for Kyoto is as like Osaka as one grain of rice is like another."

Thereupon both congratulated themselves upon the happy, labour-saving expedient by which they had spared themselves a long journey. Then they departed, after exchanging many compliments, and, dropping once more into a frog-hop, leaped back in half the time ... the one to his well, the other to his pond. And so to this day the frog in the well knows not and believes not in the "great ocean!"

Excellent collections of fairy tales have been made by F. Hadland Davis--"Myths and Legends of j.a.pan"--and R. Gordon Smith--"Ancient Tales and Folklore of j.a.pan." Children love to read about Princess Blossoming Brilliantly Like the Flowers on the Trees, and Princess Long as the Rocks, about Prince Fire Shine, and Prince Fire Shade, and the other delightful characters with strange names. The story of "The Magic Sword, the Glittering Jewel and the Heavenly Mirror" is perhaps an especial favourite.

A good example of the legendary narrative is that of Hachiro Tametomo the Archer, told in English by Madame Ozaki in her "Warriors of Old j.a.pan" and given here much condensed.

HACHIRO TAMETOMO THE ARCHER

Hachiro was the eighth son of an ill.u.s.trious family. As a child he gave promise of being a very strong man, and as he grew older this promise was more than fulfilled. He early showed a love of archery, and his left arm being four inches longer than his right, there was no one in the realm who could bend the bow better or send the arrow farther than he could. He became the most skilful archer in all j.a.pan.

By nature Hachiro was a rough, wild lad who did not know what fear meant, and he loved to challenge his brother, Yos.h.i.tomo, to fight. As he grew older he grew wilder still, so that even his own father found him unmanageable. One day a learned man came from the palace of the Emperor to give the boy a lecture. In the course of his talk he spoke of Kiyomori, an enemy of the house, as a clever archer. At this Hachiro laughed aloud in scorn, and told the learned man that he was both foolish and ignorant.

This rudeness was so contrary to the rules of j.a.panese courtesy that it made the lecturer very angry, and when his discourse was finished he rebuked the boy sternly for his behaviour. When the boy's father heard what had happened he, too, was angry with his son for daring to dispute with one who was his elder and superior, and refused to keep him any longer beneath his roof, sending him away to the island of Kyushu.

Now Hachiro did not mind his banishment in the least. On the contrary, he felt like a hound let loose from the leash, and rejoiced in his liberty. Free to do as he liked at last, his thirst for conflict became so great that he could not restrain himself. He challenged the men in all the neighbouring provinces to match their strength against his, and in the twenty battles which followed he was never defeated. He was like the silkworm eating up the mulberry tree, for just as the worm devours one leaf after another, so Hachiro fought and fought, one after another, the inhabitants of all the provinces anywhere around, till he had them all under subjection. By the time he was eighteen the boy had thus mastered the whole western part of j.a.pan, and had made himself chief of a large band of outlaws noted for their reckless bravery.

This band became so powerful that the Government decided to interfere and put a stop to the outlawry. A regiment of soldiers was sent against them, but without effect: Hachiro could not be brought to surrender. As a final resort the Government, hoping thus to bring the son to bay, arrested Hachiro's father, and severely punished the old man for being the parent of an incorrigible rebel.

Although Hachiro was so rude and undisciplined by nature, there was hidden deep in his heart a sense of duty to his father, and on this his enemies had counted. He was greatly distressed at what had happened, and feeling that it was inexcusable to let his father suffer for his own misdoings, he gave up, without the least hesitation, all the western lands which had cost him such hard fighting. Then, taking with him ten men, he went to the capital and sent in a doc.u.ment signed and sealed in his own blood, asking the pardon of the Government for all his former offences and begging for the release of his father. When those in authority saw his filial piety, they could not find it in their hearts to treat him with severity, so they merely rebuked him for his lawlessness and set the old man free.

Soon after this a civil war broke out in the land, for two brothers of the late Emperor aspired to sit on the Imperial throne. Hachiro and his father fought on one side, while his elder brother, Yos.h.i.tomo, fought on the other. Hachiro was not yet twenty years of age, but was more than seven feet in height.

His eyes were sharp and piercing, like those of a hawk, and he carried himself with pride and n.o.ble bearing. He was consulted about the tactics to be used in a great battle, and if his advice had been followed, the history of j.a.pan might have been quite different. As it was, the enemy won the victory.

On seeing the foe approaching the gate where he was stationed, Hachiro exclaimed, "You feeble worms, I'll surprise you!" and taking his bow and arrow he shot a _samurai_ through the breast.

The arrow was carried in alarm to the general. It was made from strong bamboo and the metal head was like a chisel--it looked more like the arrow of a demon than a man, and the general retired in fear from before the gate.

When Yos.h.i.tomo came up, however, he was not afraid, but cried out, "What a wicked deed you commit to fight against your elder brother!" To this Hachiro answered, "It is wrong for me to take up arms against my brother, truly, but are you not an undutiful son to take up arms against your father?" The elder brother had no words to answer this, and Hachiro knew that he could kill him as he stood there. But they were brothers, born of the same mother, and he felt that he could not do it. Yet he could not resist raising his bow and arrow and taking a good aim at the helmet which Yos.h.i.tomo wore, shooting his arrow right into the middle of the star that topped it.

In the end Yos.h.i.tomo's forces were so much greater that Hachiro and his father were taken prisoners. The older man was put to death, but Hachiro's courage aroused sympathy, even in the hearts of his foes. It seemed a pity to kill so brave a man, and so they set him free. But to prevent his using his wonderful skill against them they cut the sinews in both his arms, and sent him to the island of Oshima.

The simple island folk recognized in him a great man, and he led a happy life among them. One day, while standing on the beach thinking of his many past adventures, he was seized with a desire for more. So, stepping into a boat, he set out on a voyage of discovery. He came to an island which was inhabited by people with dark red faces and shocks of bright red hair.

Landing, he went up to a large pine-tree and uprooted it with as much ease as if it were a weed, brandishing it above his head and calling aloud, "Come, you demons! Fight if you will! I am Hachiro Tametomo, the archer of j.a.pan. If you will be my servants and look up to me as a master in all things, it is well--otherwise, I will beat you all to little pieces!" He could have done it, too, because his arms were as strong as ever, notwithstanding the sinews had been cut. So the inhabitants prostrated themselves before him, and he took possession of the island. Later, however, he returned to Oshima.

Now the island of Oshima has always been free from smallpox, and the reason is that Hachiro lived there. One day a little man, no bigger than one foot five inches, came floating in on the waves, sitting on a round straw mat.

"Who are you?" Hachiro asked.

"I am the germ of smallpox," answered the pigmy.

"And why have you come here to Oshima?"

"I come to seize hold of the inhabitants!"

"You would spread the hateful pestilence--Silence! I am Hachiro."

At that the smallpox microbe shrank and shrank until he was the size of a pea, and then he floated away for ever, as mysteriously as he had come.

On hearing of this, the Minister of State decided that Hachiro was becoming too powerful and popular a hero. When the young man saw the soldiers approaching the island, he seized his bow and, pulling it to the shape of a half-moon, sent an arrow that upset the boat and pitched the soldiers into the sea. After thinking the matter over, however, he decided that if he fought against the Government it would bring disaster upon the islanders who loved him, and it would be better to die at the height of his glory. So he committed _hara-kiri_ and thus saved himself from all dishonour and the people of Oshima from further trouble.

[Ill.u.s.tration: ARMOUR AND WEAPONS OF ANCIENT WARRIORS.]

Of a different sort altogether is the legend of the "Theft of the Golden Scale," so charmingly rendered into English by Mr. Brownell.

THE THEFT OF THE GOLDEN SCALE

Daredesuka was a _ronin_ bold, and Eikibo was a beautiful _geisha_. One day Daredesuka asked Eikibo to be his wife, a request that _geishas_ will generally accept, for it puts them in the highest of the four cla.s.ses of society, ranking almost as well as the n.o.bility. But Eikibo only laughed and said, "Such promises are like the little flies that live a day and then no one knows what has become of them!"

Daredesuka cried, "It is not so! Give me some test, for I must have you know I speak the truth. Shall I bring you pearls from the deep sea, or golden scales from the dolphins on Nagoya Castle? Only say the thing, and I will do it, for you must believe me."

Eikibo looked at him and said merrily, "Yes, I must believe you if you bring me a dolphin's golden scale from the ridge of the fifth story of the tower. I know Nagoya well, for I am there every year. Yes, I should know you spoke the truth if you brought the scale!" And she laughed again, for to the _geisha_ the parents of a truthful man are not yet born. Then she added, "_Sayonara!_ My call-time for the Full Moon Tea-house over the river has arrived. I beg your honourable pardon, I must go now.

Next month I shall be at the great _matsuri_ at Nagoya, where I am to dance. Bring me the scale, and I shall know your heart!"

Two nights later he was in Nagoya.

Now Daredesuka was a wonderful man with kites. He had made large ones when he was with his old lord, and had once dropped a line far over a junk that was blowing out to sea, and so saved many lives. He decided that he would use a kite to get the scale that Eikibo had declared would tell if he spoke true. Secretly he went to work and made a kite so large that he was sure it would carry the weight of his body. He found another _ronin_ to help him in his strange plan, and on a stormy night, in wind and rain and clouds, he went up with his kite, and secured a golden scale from the ridge of the fifth story of the tower. But the tool he had used in prying it off was wet and slippery, and it fell from his hands to the ground far beneath him. The guards' attention was attracted. At the fatal moment a rift in the clouds let the moon shine down, and they discovered the kite. So it happened that when Daredesuka reached the earth they caught him with the golden scale. But because he was a _samurai_ he was allowed to commit _hara-kiri_, and performed the act serenely before the State officials.

Eikibo did not do the fan dance at the _matsuri_ in Nagoya, for on the morning of the day on which she was to appear, an old priest found her body on Daredesuka's grave.

At first it seemed that the opening of the country to foreigners was to be a death-blow to the old j.a.panese forms of art and literature.

Translations of American and European books have become very common, and Western ideas permeate their work. But side by side with the newer forms, the cla.s.sic writings are again coming into vogue.

Paradoxical as it may sound, much of the cla.s.sical j.a.panese literature is Chinese. This is especially true of the older works, but it holds good only in less degree to-day. Chinese has always been the written language of the students, and of the higher cla.s.ses in general, while j.a.panese was considered fit only for the common people, much as English was regarded down to the time of More's "Utopia." But while written in Chinese characters, much of this literature is distinctly national in spirit and feeling, and belongs as much to the country as does that written in the native tongue. Only within recent times has the common language of the people been used for writing books and scholarly treatises.