LEGEND IN JAPANESE ART
ABK NO YASUNA
(Authors collection)
LEGEND
IN
JAPANESE ART
A DESCRIPTION OF HISTORICAL EPISODES LEGENDARY CHARACTERS, FOLK-LORE MYTHS, RELIGIOUS SYMBOLISM #*. $n. ILLUSTRATED IN THE ARTS OF OLD JAPAN BY HENRI L. JOLY. WITH UPWARDS OF 700 ILLUSTRATIONS INCLUDING SIXTEEN FULL-PAGE REPRODUCTIONS IN COLOUR
LONDON: JOHN LANE THE BODLEY HEAD NEW YORK : JOHN LANE COMPANY MCMVIII
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TEXT PRINTED BY THE TOK1O PRIXTlNi; COMPANY, READING. ILLUSTRATIONS PRINTED BY EDML'ND EVANS, LONDON, S.E.
INTRODUCTION
OLD JAPAX is now so common an expression that one may easily forget how short a period of time, barely two score years, separates us from the era of two-sworded warriors, whose legends and popular beliefs are fast becoming forgotten, hidden or eradicated by the influence of Western civilization.
Legends and customs are, however, happily recorded in an enduring manner in many of the articles of attire, or daily use, the exquisite workmanship of which endears them to collectors of Japanese Works of Art. Netsuke, Inro, Tsuba, Prints, etc., embody in their decoration a host of subjects, the elucidation of which forms one of the chief difficulties, and perhaps also one of the greatest attractions of Japanese collecting.
The author has for a number of years given his attention to Japanese Objets d'art, illustrating folk-lore or historical episodes, carefully noting all the information he could gather respecting them. This work, undertaken as a labour of love and for private reference, wras illustrated with sketches, stray leaves from books, and photographs from his own specimens. A special study of Japanese illustrated books helped to enlarge the scope of this note book, opening a fascinating field of research which seemed only to grow wider as the author's knowledge increased.
Japanese friends and other collectors, who in many cases had them- selves followed a similar plan, finally impressed upon the author the
vii
LEGEND IN JAPANESE ART.
desirability of publishing his bulky compilation. Although this suggestion was at first brushed aside, for the author was conscious of many deficiencies, it was finally decided to edit these notes iVun cuvieux, and to offer them to the Japonists, in the hope that they might prove useful. This is briefly the genesis of the present volume.
The Western World from which Old Japan kept aloof for so many centuries, was almost taken by surprise, when in 1868, the drastic changes following the restoration of Meiji, led the Japanese to part with the bulk of their arms, armour, and smaller objects of attire, which were as rapidly secured by European and American curio hunters. For it must be admitted that at the very beginning collectors of Japanese works of art looked upon them more as curios, interesting for their quaint or humorous side, and for the perfection of their most minute details than from any other point of view. Collections were made, chiefly composed of pretty pieces, the style of which was in its mignavdise almost on a level with the attractive graces of European eighteenth century work ; and to the influence of this taste is probably due the weakness of the modern Japanese work with which the market is now flooded.
It should be remembered that with the exception of paintings and prints, the chief objects of interest, Netsuke, Inro, and sword fittings, were articles of use, and that the owners when parting with them for a monetary consideration probably first discarded the pieces of later date, which were least prized because of their involved design and showy decoration in precious metals, although this very richness of material was a sure passport to the heart of the Western collector. To some extent this explains why the older pieces, broader in treatment, truer to Japanese taste in their simplicity, and above all, in the adaptation of the design to the nature of the object ornamented and the use to which it was to be put, were not for some time found in European collections. Now, however, a keener appreciation of the real beauties to be found in the older speci- mens of Japanese art prevails, and there is a marked tendency to collect archaic pieces, almost purely for the sake of their antiquity.
The general survey of Japanese Art has been the aim of a large
viii
LEGEND IN JAPANESE ART.
number of writers, and although the orginal sources are scarce, and too often inadequate, it is to be hoped that the various sections of this wide study will some day be fully dealt with in exhaustive monographs.
Collectors and lovers of Japanese Ob jets d'art, even when they specialise in the selection of their treasures, even when they prefer the purely orna- mental designs, all confess to the attraction exerted upon them by the subjects depicted, the symbolism of the composition, the hidden meaning of some scene. Few collectors can however be found, who have not sometimes had cause to bewail their inability to understand the artist's intention, or to name the personages represented. The vastness of the field embraced is really the best excuse for our limited knowledge ; scenes from the everyday life of the people, Shintoist or Buddhistic symbolism, episodes from the life of Chinese poets, or Japanese warriors, battle scenes from the history of both Japan and China, heroes of romance, fairy-lore, or theatrical plays, mythical animals, jostling sages and magicians of Taoist fame, all contribute to form an almost inexhaustible store of sub- jects, treated by the artist or the craftsman with such powerful realism, or such suggestive simplicity as to command the interebt, admiration, or even envy of collectors and dilletanti all over the world.
Although Japan owes to the introduction of Buddhism and the adoption of Chinese ideograms and culture the partial loss of its ancient language and history, and the prevalence of subjects of Chinese origin in its Art; yet it is also to Buddhism that its glyptic and pictorial Art owe their development, if not their very origin. The endless reproduction in carvings or paintings of the Buddha and his disciples, led the artists to turn their attention to the episodes of secular and military life ; from the chasing of sacred invocations and holy figures upon weapons and armour to which they long confined themselves, to the utilisation of floral ornament and decorative compositions of a non-religious character, there was but one step ; but the change was a slow one, which closely followed the develop- ment of the pictorial arts.
With the advent of illustrated books, the subjects more especially suited to artistic treatment were committed to print by artists educated in
ix
LEGEND IN JAPANESE ART.
ancient lore, who in many cases wrote the whole text of the books, at the same time illustrating the legends, traditions or moral lessons which they recorded. Often these works were merely intended as models for pupils to follow, and were devoted to the exposition of Chinese methods of painting, directions being given for the proper colouring of the copies. In most cases an explanatory text was added, sometimes consisting of but a few words, more often covering many pages, when the illustration becomes a mere accessory, as for instance in Elton Hokan (1688) of Hasegawa Toun. These illustrated books became from 1670 onwards, more and more numerous, and at the end of the eighteenth century we find that works entitled: "Models for Craftsmen," "Designs for Carvers, Laquerers, etc.," are fairly common.
To Tachibana Morikuni, in the early years of the eighteenth century belongs the largest share of this literature ; almost every subject came within his ken, some fifty volumes of Chinese history and legend, a popular encyclopaedia for the education of children, volumes on trees, plants, animals, rocks, follow upon pages devoted to weapons, armour, domestic utensils, and popular customs, with a wealth of detail, an accuracy of drawing, an absence of repetition which fill one with wonder. Some of Morikuni's works are more than mere illustrated books : quoting as he often did his sources of information amongst earlier works, he has left a survey of Oriental bibliography of real value to the student. Perhaps the appreciation of Morikuni's work has been minimized by the interest evinced in the gigantic production of Hokusai, who did for the artisan of the late eighteenth century, and his followers, what Morikuni had done for the previous generation.
The development of the Ukioye school of popular colour printing, whose productions, even though we see in them masterpieces of drawing, colour and technique, were despised by the contemporary educated classes, intro- duced further means for the propagation of legends and traditions, the glorification of the heroes and the dissemination of the playwright's imaginative efforts, besides the immortalisation of actors, geishas and professional beauties.
LEGEND IX JAPANESE ART.
If we wish to study the themes selected by the Japanese artist, or to find a faithful survey of old customs, it is to these books and prints that we must turn for our information. Much has been done of late years in Japan to prevent the total loss of the old traditions and to keep the details and meaning of the old customs from falling entirely into oblivion ; but the present generation, in its thirst for Western knowledge often over- shoots the mark, and studiously affects ignorance of the fashions of life, and of the beliefs of its predecessors. The European inquirer is repeatedly baffled in his quest by evasive answers, which either conceal a real ignorance, under the cloak of contempt for old ways, or are prompted by a suspicion that the inquirer credits his friends with an actual belief in exploded superstitions. The day may yet come, however, when the younger generation will regret this attitude, when folk-lore societies will find it as difficult as they do in Europe to gather and interpret the scattered remnants of the ancient ways.
In Europe, books and written documents have survived revolutions and catastrophes, thanks to the larger editions printed and the care bestowed upon their keeping ; but in Japan, earthquakes and fire wrecking the flimsy buildings have destroyed many books, creating a proportionately greater havoc, as the editions from the wood blocks were necessarily limited. A greater evil still was in store, in the shape of curio dealers, European and Japanese themselves, who used prints as packing material and tore the books to pieces to make fly-flappers.
Even when books reached Europe in a fair condition they were not safe from the vandalism of certain persons. Editions of early illustrated books, the like of which will never be found again, were ruthlessly cut up, the text thrown away, and the illustrations mounted on cartridge paper and presented to the public for sale.
It will be readily understood that the task of the seeker after enlighten- ment is not altogether an easy one ; old books are scarce, in fact hardly available outside some of the great national libraries, and it is a matter of congratulation that besides the compilation of the Koji Ruiyen now in course of publication, enterprising Japanese publishers are now reprinting
xi
LEGEND IN JAPANESE ART.
many works, amongst which for instance are the whole of Hokusai's the Zenken Kojitsu of Kikuchi Yosai, and the Wakan San Sai Dzue. But in many cases, as with the reprints of Utamaro, and of a number of prints, the old colouring and details of less importance have been treated with unwarrantable licence.
Not only were the designs of Morikuni, or of Hokusai for instance, taken as mere guides, but the artists, carvers and chasers of the eighteenth century, who doubtless were themselves draughtsmen of no mean merit, often followed slavishly the lines of the illustration. The author has purposely selected for reproduction, a number of specimens which show how strong was this influence. The prototype of a Tsuba in the author's collection showing CHINNAN and the dragon, is found in Morikuni's Ehon 0 Shukubai ; the same applies to the unique Tsuba in the Hawkshaw collection, representing also Chinnan, illustrated in the Arms and Armour of Japan (Japan Society), and another Chinnan also in the same collection is taken from the Shako Bukuro ; that of CHODORIO, evoking the KARASHISHI, can be found in Ehon Tsuhosht, from which are also taken KWAXYU with the brocade bag and the TOHAKUKWA in Mr. "\Y. L. Behrens' collection ; the modern Tsuba showing HIKO HOHODEMI, illustrated here, is from the same work.
From the Yokioku Gwashi was undoubtedly copied an inro recently seen by the author, representing Cheng She "\Yang Ti seeking refuge under a pine tree, now in the collection of Mr. Oscar C. Raphael.
THE FUJI IN A SAKE CUP is taken almost exactly from Hokusai's Thirty-six views of Fuji.
Those collectors who felt particularly attracted towards the elucidation of the scenes illustrated, have as a rule spent much time in obtaining information from their Japanese acquaintances, and stored it in note books. Unfortunately, much of this knowledge is hidden away, owing to an insufficient exchange of ideas between collectors. There are quite a number of amateurs whose collections, however large, are but little known and who in turn know little of the treasures in the possession of others.
However, all owe a debt of gratitude to the late Dr. William Ander-
xii
CHENG (SIIK WANG TI)
INRO in f.Ir. O. C. Raphael's collection
"ONCE, SHIN NO SI1KCO CAUGHI' IN A STORM WHILST HAWKING SOUGHT SHELTER UNDER AN OLD PINE IKEE, THE GNARLED LIMBS OK WHICH SHOT KOItTH FRESH LEAVES TO PROTECT HIS AUGUST HEAD AGAINST THE HEAVY RAIN, AMI THE WONDERING MONARCH CAUSED IT TO BE HONOURED \\ITII THE TITLE TAl YU~
'1'nc^ibfiua ,*foriktini 1'otcit/Ki' Givashi, /, 9-10
LEGEND IN JAPANESE ART.
son, whose Catalogue of the Japanese and Chinese Paintings in the British Museum forms an inexhaustible mine of information, not only upon the schools of painting and their representatives in the collection, but also upon the subjects treated by the artists.
The wealth of erudition displayed in this work, has made it for a score of years the key to Japanese art motives, indispensable to those insufficiently acquainted with the original literature, and the vade mecum of every collector. Later, Mr. M. B. Huish in Japan and its Art, gave the Japonists a compendium which, thanks to its large number of illus- trations and its chapters on legends, formed a welcome introduction to the study of subjects. Mention must also be made of the Dictionary of Japanese Myths at the end of the monumental Catalogue of the Tomkinson Collection, and of the pioneer work of Monsieur L. E. Bertin : Les Grandes Gnerres Civiles du Japan (1894) r'rn in illustrations of legends and historical subjects, which its author acquired during his sojourn in Japan, gathering from the lips of the Doguya the tales with which he relieves the chronicle of the mediaeval wars.
These works are now scarce, and in each of them the study of legends has been regarded as of secondary importance to the main subject of the book.
In the present work, on the contrary, there is no endeavour to deal with Art as such, but merely with the themes illustrated, and, although a few articles refer to subjects not strictly to be described as legends, the title "Legend in Japanese Art" has been selected for the sake of brevity.
Purely Buddhistic or Shintoist subjects are not very common in small works of art, with the exception of shrines, etc., which in the case of the common divinities can be easily named, and in that of rarer types require the use of special Buddhist works ; rather a large space has been devoted to the Sennins, because of the large number of types met with, whilst the Rakans have been more rapidly dealt with, as some of them defy all attempt at identification.
To facilitate research a special index has been compiled under the names
xiii
LEGEND IN JAPANESE ART.
of prominent features or attributes which should lighten the task of finding by name most of the subjects when once the characteristic feature of the specimen under investigation will have been recognised.
The Japanese index under radicals will enable the names to be found under their respective numbers in the text from their writing in Chinese characters, by referring to the first character only.
The Bibliography covers chiefly Japanese illustrated sources, a few European works only being mentioned, which are of particular interest from the standpoint of Legend, History, and Folk-lore.
It was considered imperative lavishly to illustrate from actual specimens, carefully selected from amongst the best, the stories concisely told in this dictionary, and thus to supply pictorial information not hitherto available. Tsuba and netsnke have been given the preference, owing to their wider distribution, and because they lend themselves more readily to full size reproduction.
The number of subjects treated in small objects is so large that no collection can be found covering the whole field in an altogether satis- factory manner ; it is, in fact, questionable whether such a collection could now be made. A number of collectors however, have attempted to get together representative series of the legends and historical episodes, and of pieces illustrating the life of the people. Amongst su<*h must be mentioned the Franks collections of Netsnke now in the British Museum, which shows the results of a systematic search for subjects. But the private collections are by far the richest in illustrations of this type, and it is chiefly due to the kindness of private collectors that the author is able to present a comprehensive series of illustrations of the most interesting subjects now published for the first time. It is his pleasant duty to acknowledge the valuable help afforded him by all collectors to whom he applied for permission to select and photograph specimen from their cabinets. He is chiefly indebted to Mr. Walter L. Behrens, of Manchester, whose selection of Netsnke especially, contains an extra- ordinarily large number of rare subjects ; to Mr. H. Seymour Trower, one of the earliest Japanese collectors in England, who has paid special
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LEGEND IN JAPANESE ART.
attention to subjects, and not only allowed the author to make a large selection of illustrations, but also lent him a copy of notes made during years of collecting by the late Mr. Gilbertson, who, it appears, had intended to crystallize his extensive knowledge of things Japanese into a work which unfortunately was never completed.
To Mr. P. M. Saltarel, of Paris, the author owes some useful reprints of Japanese books, and the communication of the descriptive catalogue of a collection of some twelve thousand prints and pictures, including many pieces of peculiar interest, and a precis of the Ressen Den, by Mr. K. Kawada, use of which has been made in the present work.
Thanks are also due to Herr Albert Brockhaus, who kindly sent some netsnke from Leipzig for reproduction, to Mr. Michael Tomkinson of Kidderminster, to Sir Trevor Lawrence, Mr. W. C. Alexander, Professor J. Norman Collie, F.R.S., Mr. Wilson Crewdson, M.A., Herr Gustav Jacoby, Mr. Matt Garbutt, A.M.I.C.E., from whose remarkable collection of sword furniture and prints a large number of illustrations were selected, to Mr. O. C. Raphael, Mr. G. H. Xaunton, Mr. Henry J. Reiss, Mr. C. P. Peak, Monsieur M. Bing of Paris, Mr. J. C. Hawkshaw, M.I.C.E., Professor W. Harding Smith, R.B.A., to the authorities of the British Museum, the Victoria and Albert Museum, to the Institution of Civil Engineers, to Mr. E. Deshayes, Conservateur du Musee d'Ennery, who allowed the author to select in the d'Ennery collection some interesting specimens, to the Conservateur du Musee Guimet, M. de Milloue, and to the Gardien chef, Mr. J. Dumont, who supplied several photographs, to Madame Gillot for some masks in the Gillot collection, to Messrs. Yamanaka, G. H. Lee and Tregaskis for permission to photograph some pieces from their ex- tensive stocks, to all of his Japanese friends who have helped him with numerous translations, amongst whom Messrs. Kato Yasutaro, Okada, Tomita, etc., and especially, the author must tender the expression of his deepest grati- tude to his friends Professor S. Tanaka and Mr. Kato Shozo ; the former not only helped him with a number of translations and with commentaries which his deep knowledge of history made peculiarly valuable, but further, read through the manuscript with the author before it went to press, and
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LEGEND IN JAPANESE ART.
by this revision considerably improved its accuracy. Mr. Kato ungrudgingly gave the author much help, his lengthy acquaintance with the customs and the works of art of old Japan, coupled with an exhaustive knowledge of the popular literature, have been freely drawn upon by all his friends for a number of years, by none perhaps more so than the present writer. Mr. Kato kindly lent for reproduction a number of colour prints, part of his own collection, wrote most of the poems printed in the margins of this book, and generally speaking, contributed information which no mere thanks can adequately repay. The help of the printer, Mr. Jihei Nakagawa, of the Tokio Printing Company, of Reading, and the interest he took in this work must also be gratefully acknowledged.
Readers who have themselves compiled note books may be able to add to these pages, or to correct them, and the author will always be glad to hear from them on such occasions, in fact lie hopes that his compilation may load others to make public the result of their researches, and the contents of their memoranda. There must be unique pieces scattered about, each telling a rare story, or illustrating a custom, the description of which would add to our knowledge of the Art and Ancient Lore of Dai Nippon, knowledge which can only become more extensive and more critical by means of freer intercourse between collectors, and a closer study of the old Japanese books.
The design of cranes and pine embossed on the cover has been repro- duced by permission of Monsieur M. Bing, from a photograph of a Fukusa in the collection of the late M. S. Bing, sold after his decease in 1906. The figure on the back representing Toto Tenjin (Sugawara Michizane, q.v.), has been adapted from an old Japanese picture.
H.L.J.
xvi
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
LIST OF COLOUR PLATES
KEY TO INITIALS
EMBLEMS AND ATTRIBUTES LEGEND IN JAPANESE ART
vu
XIX
XXI
xxin
BIBLIOGRAPHY ,
JAPANESE INDEX
423 441
LIST OF COLOUR PLATES
ABE NO YASUNA, from a print by Kuniyoshi in the Kisokaido
series (Author's Collection) ....... Frontispiece
GHOSTS : UBUME, UMIBOZU, Goblin Cat, from the Tokaido series of prints by Kuniyoshi (Kato Shozo Collection). IGA xo TSUBOXE, from the Wakan Hiakku Monogatari of Ikkaisai Yoshitoshi (Author's Collection) . . . .To face page 24
HANGOXKO, from a Surimono by Kunisada (Matt Garbutt
Collection) ,, 48
KKIU, from a print in the Tokaido series of Hiroshige (Kato Shozo Collection) ....... ,, 60
INGO KOGO, from a print by Hiroshige, in the series Baiishu Takasago, OXOYE HAIOI, Matsu no Yurai (by courtesy of Messrs. Yamanaka) ...... ,, 96
CARUKAYA DOSHIN, from a print by Kuniyoshi (by courtesy of Messrs. Yamanaka) ........ ,, 120
VIUNRIU KOSONSHO, from a print by Kuniyoshi in the Suikoden (Kato Shozo Collection) ........ ,, 148
•\BE xo NAKAMARO, from a print by Kuniyoshi, in the Hiakku nin Isshiu [no Uchf] (by courtesy of Messrs. Yamanaka) „ 182
VICHIREX, from a print by Kuniyoshi (Wilson Crewdson's Collection) .......... „ 224
HIUSHIXGURA, from a print by Kuniyoshi (Matt Garbutt
Collection) „ 256
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LEGEND IN JAPANESE ART.
RAIGO, from a print by Chohoro Kuniyoshi (Kato Shozo
Collection) To face page 266
SOGA MOXOGATARI, from a print by Kuniyoshi (Matt Garbutt
Collection) .......... ,,
SHUNKWAM, from a print by Kuniyoshi in the Ogura
Magai Hiakku Xin Isshiu (Kato Shozo Collection) . ,,
SHIMAMURA DAXJO, from a mushaye of Chohoro Kuniyoshi
(Kato Shozo Collection) ....... ,,
OTO TACHIBAXA HIME, from a print by Hiroshige, in
the Toto Kuiseki Dzukushi \_Azuma no Mori no Kaji]
(Kato Shozo Collection) ....... „
YORITOMO, from a print by Toyokuni II. (H. Seymour
Trower Collection) ........ ,,
xx
KEY TO INITIALS
OWING to exigences of space it has been found impossible to give in full the names of the owners of specimens reproduced in the plates ; Initials have been adopted as follows :
A. Author's Collection.
A.B. Albert Brockhaus Collection.
B. Bing Collection. B.M. British Museum
C.P.P.
F.H.E.
G.
G.H.N.
G.J.
G.H.L.
H.S.T.
(Frank's Collection).
Chas. P. Peak Collection. Fred. H. Evans Collection. Gillot Collection. Geo. H. Xaunton Collection. Gustav Jacoby Collection. By courtesy of G. H. Lee, Esq.
M.E.
M.G.
M.Gt.
M.T.
H. Seymour T rower Collec- tion.
H.J.R. Henry J. Reiss Collection. I.C.E. Institution of Civil Engineers. J.C.H. J. Clarke Hawkshaw Collec- tion.
J.N.C. J. Norman Collie Collection. K.B.I. Kongo Bugei Ippan. K.S. Kato Shozo Collection.
Musee d'Ennery. Matt Garbutt Collection. Musee Guimet. Michael Tomkinson Collec- tion.
O.C.R. Oscar C. Raphael Collection. P.M.S. P. M. Saltarel Collection. T. By courtesy of James Tre-
gaskis, Esq.
T.L. Sir Trevor Lawrence Col- lection. V.A.M. Victoria and Albert Museum,
South Kensington.
W.C. Wilson Crewdson Collection.
W.C.A. W. C. Alexander Collection.
W.H.S. W. Harding Smith Collection.
W.L.B. Walter L. Behrens Collect-
tion
Y. By courtesy of Messrs. Yama- naka.
xxi
EMBLEMS AND ATTRIBUTES
IN the following pages an attempt has been made at grouping together in alphabetical sequence the principal emblems met with in the Japanese art, and interesting either for their own symbolical value, or as attributes of certain personages. In many cases, especially in glyptic art, no criterion exists for the identification of a figure beyond the expression of the face, and the emblems, or implements associated with the individual depicted. The clothing of the subject in general affords but little guidance, many artists disregarded entirely the traditional customs of the personages which they carved in wood, in ivory, or wrought in metals, to adopt some fanciful style, much in the same way as European artists have clothed Christ and his Apostles in mediaeval armour, or wrapped in roman Toga the limbs of some modern statesmen. One work how- ever, the Zenken Kojitsu gives a faithful presentment of the worthies of bygone ages, as far at any rate as their garments are concerned, for the otherwise consciencious artist Yosai, often paid little regard to the anatomical structure of his heroes.
A word may be said also regarding the curious associations of animals and plants, to which some symbolism originally attached, but which apparently have been repeated very much like the copies of Chinese pictures, out of respect for tradition only. Amongst others will be noted the Quail and Millet, Peacock and Peony, Shishi and Peony, Swallow and Willow, Tiger and Bamboo, Plum Blossom and Moon, Chidori and Waves, Deer and Maple, Boar and Lespedeza, most of which are of frequent occurrence. The Snake is also often shown coiled around a Tortoise — sometimes with
xxiii
LEGEND IN JAPANESE ART.
a jewel (Tamo), reminiscent of the Snake and Egg Myth — and then associated with Bishamon.
Another group of emblems, in which the association is more strict, is that of the " messengers " with their respective Deities : for instance, the Deer is the "messenger" of the God of Kasuga Shrine; the Crow, that of the God of Kumano ; the Dove is consecrated to Hachiman, the Monkey to the Sanno Shrines of Ohonamochi, the Fox to Inari, and the White Serpent to Benten. Horary or Zodiacal characters, in the form of animals, are also found associated, the "night" hour with the "day" hour being the usual combination.
It is almost impossible to make such a list as follows an exhaustive one, but an attempt has been made to form a compendium of the information contained in this work, and it is hoped that it has been sufficiently extended to be of some practical use. ABACUS. KAKKEI.
AIR CASTLE (Mirage). URASHIMA, OTAIFU, KAMATARI. ALGU/E (see KOBU). The ficus vesiculosus, used in the New Year's Eve Festival, and sent with gifts.
AMAKURIKARA, or KURIKARA. See FUDO Mio O.
ANCHOR (IKARI). See TAKARAMONO. Emblem of Security, safety.
,, one of the attributes of IGUCHI \o JIRO KANEMITSU, or SENDO MITSUYE.MON, brother of TOMOE GOZEN.
ANCHOR or GRAPNEL, thrown by a warrior. See IGA xo KAMI, TAIRA TOMOMORI.
ARM, cut, with or without oni. See WATANABE. ARROW, shot through a stone. RIKO ; shot in a pot, TOWOKO ; JOSAKEI. ,, shot through armour : YOSHIIYE. „ in the eye. KAMAKURA GONGORO KAGEMASA. „ in river. See TAMAYORI HIME. ,, and letter (or bird). See HONMA MAGOSHIRO. „ striking a boat. See TAMETOMO. „ striking fan. See NASU NO YOICHI.
ARROWS cut by sword-play, chiefly NITTA YOSHISADA ; OYAMADA TAKAIYE.
xxiv
LEGEND IN JAPANESE ART.
ARMOUR, thrown in the waves. YOSHIIYE. „ breaking. See SHIKORO BIKI.
ASTERS, Willow and Wine Cup. TOYEMMEI.
DAG of precious things, Takaramono. See HOTEI, DAIKOKU.
BAG of the winds. See FUJIN (Futen).
BAG of fireflies, Man reading under a — . SOXKO (Shaen).
BALES, of rice. DAIKOKU. Usually with rats, sometimes with cocks (q.v.).
BAMBOO. The bamboo (Take or Chiku *ft) is emblematic of virtue, fidelity, constancy, perhaps as an allusion to the other Chinese character. fp (Sets//, CHIEH) which means a Bamboo node, and also the virtues alluded to. In the O-Ei era, the bamboo was added to the branches of young pine used in the Kadomatsu on New Year's Eve.
BAMBOO SHOOTS (Take no ko). See Moso.
BAMBOO or Tree floating. See DARUMA, KANSHOSHI, SHACHIUSHO.
BAMBOO and SPARROWS in winter (Take-ni-Suzume), Emblem of gentleness, and friendship.
BAMBOO and TIGER. See Tiger.
BAND across the Forehead, JINGO.
BASKET. See MOJO (female Sennin). KASENKO, and several less known Sennins.
BAT (Kawahori or Komorii). Good fortune, prosperity, ornamentally treated as a subject for netsuke, sometimes with a coin held between the legs and wings and claws. Lucky emblem.
BEAR. See KINTOKI ; KUMAGAI NAOZANE. Story of the ungrateful hunter, HACHISUKE JIMMU TENNO (Kojiki).
BEARD, being painted black. SAITO BETTO SANEMORI.* „ long and black — . KWANYU.
BEES, swarming in a house, sign of prosperity.
BEES (or Wasps), escaping from a man's mouth. SHIKKU GAN JIN. KASENYO.
(} SAITO SANEMORI ^f $!£ f£ *$t is also called Nagaido Betto Sanemori because, although born in Echizen, he spent most of his life \vest, in Xagai (Musashi). He was a retainer of Yoshitomo, and the episode of the painted black beard relates to his death (see YOSHINAKA). The armour he wore then was called .Vi's/tifei no Shitatare, Brocade dress, and had been granted him by Munemori at his own request before he started back for Echizen after the Taikenmon fight in the Hogen war.
XXV
LEGEND IN JAPANESE ART.
BELL. BENKEI ; ANCHIN and KIYOHIME. TAWARA TODA. BELL, rubbed by a priest (Suzu Aral}. Perseverance and yearning after improvement.
BELL (Grelot.) Moguyo, attribute of Buddhist priests. See DANKA. BELL, BROCADE, CAULDRON. See TAWARA TODA. BELLS (jingling) on a handle. UZUME, SAMBASO. BESOM (Broom) JITTOKU ; OLD WOMAN OF TAKASAKO, (Uba). See CHARMS; see also HSIANG YEN, under JITTOKU.
BIRD, Supernatural. See HIROARI ; DAIKOKUTEN GHANA MUCHI. BIWA. See SEIOBO, BENTEN, FUJIWARA TADATOSHI. BLOWING liquid or clouds, etc. RANHA, RINREISO OSHI, TEKKAI. BOAR. See SANSO HOSHI ; OKIO ; NITTAN NO SHIRO ; SOJOBO (TENGU) ; YAMATO KANSUKE.
BOAR and FLOWERS, or Lespedeza, Hana Garuta combination.
BOAT, Man in — . Soso ; TEIZENPUKU ; SATSUSHUKEN ; HANREI.
BOAT, Man leaping. See YOSHITSUNE, NORITSUNE.
BOAT, with fan on mast. See NASU NO YOICHI MUNETAKA. See ANTOKU.
BOAT, and man fishing. KENSHI.
BOAT, in the sky. RASHIBO, Sennin.
BOW, in the water. See YOSHITSUNE.
,, with the string in the mouth ; Sasaki and also Atsumori on the Uji River.
BOW7, striking a spring out of the rock. YORIYOSHI. „ writing on the rock. JINGO.
„ poked into a tree trunk. KAJIWARA KAGETOKI and YORITOMO. „ eight-and-a-half feet long. See TAMETOMO.
BOW and ARROW, most warriors. See YOYUKI, YOSHIIYE, TAWARA TODA, MINAMOTO NO YORIMASA and INO HAYATA (killing the Nuye) RAIKO. BOWL (begging), with flowers. FUKUHIAKU ; CHEN Tu.
,, ,, with fountain ascending. NAKASAINA SONJA.
„ „ with dragon. HANDAKA SONJA. CHINNAN. As a
Buddhistic emblem it is called Teppatsu.
xxvi
LEGEND IN JAPANESE ART.
BOX, empty. URASHIMA TARO.
BOX, with goblins escaping. See TONGUE CUT SPARROW.
BOX, with mice. See ABE NO SEIMEI.
BRASERO (Kanaye), GOSHISHO, SUKUMAMO, Kou.
BRIDGE, BRIDGE POST, Chinese writing on a—. SHIBA SHOJO.
BRIDGE of BIRDS. See KENGIU and SHOKUJO, AMA xo GA\VA.
BROOM. See BESOM.
BRUSH (writing). See KIKUJIDO (Jino), KOBODAISHI, and all the poets. ,, inkstone and leaf. TANABATA.
(Fly) or HOSSO. Nearly all the RAKAXS (ARHATS), but especially KIYATAKA TASHA HATSURA TASHA, CHIUDAHANTAKA SOXJA, and also DARUMA.
BUFFALO, BULL (see Ox). See SHOHAKU, ROSHI, KIDOMARU, ZEX SECT.
BUTTERFLIES. See CHOSHIUKA.
CANDLES (three on the head). USHINOTOKI MAIRI. See CHARMS.
CARP (Koi). See EBISU, KINKO, SAJI, KENSU or KENSHI. „ leaping a waterfall : perseverance. See DRAGON.
CASH. See ZENI ; also HANASAKA Jui ; TEKKAI ; HIEN YUAN Tsi.
CASTAGNETS. See SOKOKUKIU.
CATS. See that article, and add the Cat with two tails killed by Inu Mura Daikaku ^ ^"J" J^ fa in the novel, Hakkenden.
CAULDRON, with heads. See MIKENJAKU.
CAVE, of Fuji, with Goddess. See NITTAN xo SHIRO. „ with spider ; WATANABE. „ and prisoner ; MORINAGA.
CENTIPEDE. BISHAMON ; TAWARA TODA.
CHARRIOT, in sky. KOTEI ; OHO ; see SHINANSHA, SEIOBO ; also foreigners from the KIKO Isf )}£ country who " go everywhere in flying charriots, the two wheels of which are like paddles." They are figured in the Todo Kimmo Zue, holding banners. Sky charriot with deers, see GOMO.
CHARCOAL (Sumt), symbol of prosperity, of changelessness. See also CHA No Yu.
CHECKBOARD (Go ban}; OGURI HANGWAN. SATO TAPANOBU.
xxvii
LEGEND IN JAPANESE ART.
CHESTNUT, dried, form part of the emblems used on New Year's Eve Festival ; they represent Success by punning upon their name — Kachiguri, Kachi meaning Victory.
CHESTNUT, MORTAR and WASP. See story of the Monkey and the Crab. ,, tooth-marked. See Go DAIGO.
CHOPSTICKS, must be laid on the right of the user : placing them on the left is an insult, as they are placed thus for prisoners only. Made of Enoki wood, they prevent toothache.
CHRYSANTHEMUM (Kiku), the sixteen petals variety is the Imperial badge. The flower is emblematic of Purity. See KIKUJIDO. See Fox.
CIRCLE,® of pilgrims, holding a rope which goes round the whole group, a priest in the centre beating a gong — this is called Hiakkti man ben "one million prayers," the rope is "forwarded" like a rosary, whilst the pilgrims pray.
CIRCLE, of children, the Emperor on a throne, with two officers carrying tablets ; KAKUSHIGI |$ -^ /JH testing the knowledge of his offspring.
CLOAK. See KAKUREMINO (in the sacred treasures). „ Feather — . See HAGOROMO ; TENNIN
,, STRAW COAT, Mino. See OTA DOKWAN ; also met with in
many illustrations of peasants and warriors, Moso, KOJIMO.
CLOUDS, figures on — . SEIOBO, CHODORIO, RYUKO. ,, monkey on — . See SONGOKU.
CLOVES (CnoJi), in the Takaramono, Sweetness and Health.
COCK, MOSHOGUN,! TANCHU. See SHIKUKEIWO, RYUAX, KOSHIDOSHI. HIANG Yu If| Jft, of Tsu, had a cock made of iron, weighing eight hundred pounds, and he had eight thousand officers capable of lifting it.
COMETS, are portents of calamity, preceding war, famines, or earth- quakes.
CRAB. See MONKEY and CRAB ; HEIKE KAM ; SHIMAMURA DANJO.
CRANE, Emblem of longevity, attribute of SEIOBO, JUROJIN, FUKURO-
~ Circle of people in various costumes ; at one end, outside the circle, a man with a soroban seems to count them ; at the other end, also outside, other individual. Subject shown on a Kozuka in Mr. Dehren's Collection, figured in Arms and Armour of Japan (J.S.), but no explanation of which could be found. t 'H A. -ft See ode of Seishonagon in the Hiakku nin Isshiu (Dickins 6j).
xxviii
LEGEND IN JAPANESE ART.
KUJIU, TOBOSAKU, JoFUKU, WASOBIOYE, OSHIKIO, YoRITOMO, ToYU, Jo and
UBA, KOHAKU. KAXGAI Sennin ; ISETSU ; KODOKWA ; TEIREII.
CRANE, paper. See JOFUKU, WASOBIOYE, JUROJIN, SENTARO.
CONCH SHELL, emblem of the Yamabushi. See BENKEI.
CONES, FIR—. See AKUSEX, MOJO.
CORAL (Sangoju), emblem of rarity ; one of the objects of the Taka- ramono.
COWRY SHELLS, in the Takaramono ; emblem of wealth.
CROCODILE. HAX WAN KUNG expelled one from the river of Chao Chao, circa 800 A.D., by means of a magic spell and an order to go within three, five, or seven days.
CROWS, croaking, is an omen of misfortune.
,, two in the sky, man in boat. See Soso (T'sAo T'SAO).
CYMBALS, used by temple dancers called Shasho.
DEER, or Stag, emblem of longevity. JUROJIX, TOBOSAKU, MAPLE, HORSE, MOHAKUDO.
tDEER, killed by warrior. TSUXEMOTO. ,, boy hiding in a deer skin. EXSHI.
DOG. See HAXASAKA Jui. FUSE HIME ; DOG HUNTING ; IZEXSHUN, RYUAN.
DOVE. HACHIMAX.
,, Two, above tree, with man hidden in tree. YORITOMO. DOOR, under arm. HANK WAI.
,, breaking. ASAHIXA SABURO (in Wada Kassen). DRAGON (q.v.). See BASHIKO, BOMO, CHINNAN, SHORIKEX. HANDAKA SOXJA. KAN NO Koso ; WATANABE ATSUCHI, TAWARA TODA, SUSANO-O, SANJO TAIO SEXXIX (with musical instrument), CHOSOYU. KIKUCHI JAKWA, CHOSHIX Jix. RIHAKU, T\ISHIN o FUJIN. RASHINJIN KOJINRAN, who every evening returned home to his wife five thousand miles away from Court on dragon. KIGA, SHOSHI.
DRAGON AND DEER in sky, appearing to HOKIOSHA. DRAGON, in Clouds, across FUJI ; emblem of success in life.
„ in river, awaiting the fall of a man who hangs from a
xxix
LEGEND IN JAPANESE ART.
tree, on a cliff, by means of a rope, which a small animal is gnawing through. On the cliff, robbers, or a tiger are watching him, illustration of a Buddhist parable about the perils of life ; parallel to the common expression, "between the devil and the deep sea."
DRAGON", killing, with a large axe $jlj Bf „ Staff changed into — . WONINRAN.
DRAGON FLY (Akidzii), Emblem of Japan (Akidzushima) and Victory. Also, when in connection with a Gadfly, allusion to the story of a Dragon fly having killed a horse fly which presumptuously had alighted upon the arm of Yuriaku Tenno (Kojiki CLVI.}.
DROWNING (Man— himself), with stone in his dress. MUKO ; with Anchor, TOMOMORI ; with two warriors, NORITSUNE.
DRUM. See RAIJIN ; COCK ox DRUM.
DUCKS, two in sky. OGEI.
,, (Mandarin), emblem of conjugal fidelity. ,, under a Sennin's arm. See O ETSU SHO.
EAGLE. See ROBEX.
EGG PLANT or FRUIT, Nasubi. See DREAMS.
ELEPHANT. Emblem of wisdom. See FUGEN, also DAIBU ennemi of Buddha. Commonly met on Tsuba, by Yasuchika, in commemoration of the white elephant sent from Siam to Japan during the Kioho era.
ELEPHANT, carried away by a robber. See KOKUSEXXYA. ,, and boy. TAISHUX.
FAIRY COAT (HAGOROMO). KYOCHI.
FANS. Finding a fan in the roadway is an omen of impending good fortune, meaning that the finder will soon become a man of importance, or be ennobled.
A fan attached to a branch of Bamboo carried on the shoulder was emblematic of the owner's madness, and peculiar to women. See Bakin's Okoma.
The fan is a common attribute. The Sennin GOMO has a feather fan. See FANS, KIYOMORI, ANTOKU, YOSHITSUNE, NASU xo YOICHI, ARAKI, SHIXGEN.
XXX
LEGEND IN JAPANESE ART.
FERN LEAVES (Urajiro or Moromoki), are symbolic of exuberant pos- terity ; they are used in the New Year's Eve ceremony. FIGURE, in a man's breath. TEKKAI.
,, in a monkey's breath. SONGOKU.
,, out of a man's heart. Sometimes mean a dream (RosEi),
sometimes the story of BAISHI SENNIN, a man of Danchu, who, after studying Taoism for twenty years, found on his travels a small oak tree growing out of an acorn. He had it planted, and the tree grew rapidly to a great height. Baishi lived on a rock with a tame tiger, and was able to divide his body into a number of persons, each endowed with some special branch of learning; he died at the age of ninety-four.
FIR, or PINE needles are symbolic of longevity. See Jo and UBA. FIR CONES. See AKUSEN and MOJO. FIRE (Sennin on Pyre). YOKO.
„ (Beacons). See T'AKI.
FISH and FISHING. See EBISU, KINKO, KENSU or KENSHI, SHIYEI ; SAJI, TAIKOBO. KARU (female). JISSHUDO.
FLAMES, emblem of wisdom and purity. See FUDO Mio O. FLOWERS, in alms bowl. See CHENG Tu ; FUKUHIAKU ; CHOHAKUTAN. ,, at the end of a writing brush. The Sennin, KITEKI ifp f$j
dreamt once that some flowers were growing out of his fude. In later years he became famous for his caligraphy.
FLUTE. See KANSHOSHI, OSHIKIO, HAKUGA NO SAMMI, YASUMASA, ATSUMORI and KUMAGAI, NAKAKUXI, NARIHIRA. The OTOKODATE. FLUTE, "Pan Pipes." SHOSHI, ROGIOKU. FLUTE PLAYERS:
FUJIWARA KANEAKI. Noble of the period of Go Daigo Tenno, depicted playing the flute under a tree, whilst a wolf-headed man listens.
CHORAN SAI. Once played the flute at night, and a demon, dressed in Chinese costume, came and danced in the road in front of his house. FOX. See under that word.
xxxi
LEGEND IN JAPANESE ART.
FRIENDSHIP, fast friendship, was sealed in China by the act called NIKUTAX ^j ^0, consisting of taking off one's dress so as to expose one side of the breast, this was also a mode of apologising for an offence. In Japan, Samurai vowed eternal friendship by touching swords; this was called KINCHO ^ JJ.
FROG. See that word. See also KARU, TOKUBEE.
FUNERALS are a bad omen when they overtake the interested party, but a good one when met coming from the opposite direction.
FUNGUS, Mushroom and Fungi, are emblematic of longevity; they are frequently represented, and sometimes masquerade as phalli.
GO. See GAMES. EISHUKUKEI, LUWEX, OSHITSU. ,, TABLE, OGURI HANGWAX, TADAXOBU.
Man playing Go whilst being bled ; Kwanyu (figured in Yehon Yaso, Ujikawa, of Kitao Kosuisai).
GOATS. See SOBC, KATSUYU, KOSHOHEI, SHUYUKO SEXXIX, HAKUSEKISHO.
GOHEI, representing the offering of clothes which it was customary to make to the Gods in ancient times, are used in the New Year's Eve Festival. They are characteristic of Uzurne, Shinto priests and wizards (ABE NO SEIMEI and CHUDATSU SEIMEI.)
GOOSE, the wild goose Jfj|, YEN of the Chinese was emblematic of the male principle and also of matrimony.
GOOSE, shot above clouds. See YOYUKI. ,, with paper attached. See SOBU. ,, Flight of Geese. See HACHIMANTARO, TAKEXORI, RYUJO.
GOURD. See CHOCKWARO, KADORI MIOJIX, EARTHQUAKE FISH, CHIXXAX SHORIKEN. Emblem of longevity.
GOURD (the hundred). See HIDEYOSHI. „ shaped Pot. KOKO.
HAGOROMO (q.v.), the feather coat of the Tennin. See also KYOCHI.
HALBERT. Particular emblem of KWANYU and of BISHAMON, KUMASAKA CHOHAN ; used as a weapon by court ladies.
HAMMER OF DAIKOKU, emblem of diligence, it is called Tsuchi, and is one of the Takaramono treasures.
xxxii
LEGEND IX JAPANESE ART.
HARE (USAGI). See that word. HARP. KEIKO ; SHOKKIUKUN.
„ with one string. See SONTO SEXNIN.
„ breaking with an Axe. HAKUGA, after the death of his friend. HAT, big. SAIGIO, TOBA (SOSHA), Oxo xo KOMACHI. ,, on the waters as a boat. See CHIXXAX.
„ of invisibility : Kakuregasa, one of the Takaramono treasures, the leaning of which is obscure.
HAT, in the shape of an upturned basket, KOMUSO ; also actors; a more onical form, also hiding the head, was worn by the ambulating song oilers, Yomiuri.
HEAD, in a cauldron. MIKEXJAKU.
,, of a woman, on saddle. See Yu Ki. HIMONO. HERRIXG, IWASHI. See under FISH. HOE. See HANASAKA Jui, KAKKIO, TAIZAXROFU. HORNS, all Onis. See also SHIXXO (SHEXG NUXG).
„ SENXIX with one — . IKKAKU.
HORSE (q.v.). See CHOKWARO, HAKURAKU, KOSE xo KANAOKA. HIDARI NGORO. GEXKAI ; KIOSEI. SAIWO ; SAISHIGIOKU. HORSE, White-. See SAXSO HOSHI. „ Hoof stone. See BATEISEKI.
,, and STAG. Allusion to the Chinese Eunuch CHAO KAO who ice decided that a horse could be called a stag, and vice-versa, and •afted a decree to that effect, emblematic of a fool, a foolish thing, ieign of She Hwang Ti, 210 B.C.).
HORSE, on a Go table. See OGURI HAXGWAN.
„ playing Go with his master. Story of the Chinese HANZAN. „ Eight Horses. See BOKU O (MUM-WANG). „ Hundred Horses, common subject for artistic work. ,, Stopped by a woman. See KUGUTSUME KAXEKO. ,, Stopped by a man. Ko U. ,, Hobby-, ridden by children or TEKKAI'S soul.
xxxiii
LEGEND IN JAPANESE ART.
HOWO, or PHCENIX or HOHO (q.v.), emblematic of Imperial authority. See BAIFUKU and ROGIOKU (female sennin).
IDOLS, Burning. See TANKWA.
IRIS, emblem of Victory.
JEWEL. Precious Jewel, or Tama (q.v.), or Hojiu no Tama, symbolic representation of the everlasting; carried by the sacred Bull, by the SHICHI FUKU JIN, especially JUROJIN and FUKUROKUJU, HOTEI and DAIKOKU, forms part of the Takaramono. In the form of a crystal ball, carried by Jizo BOSATSU. See also KAMATARI, RAIJIN, HANDAKA SONJA, KOKUZO (see PEACOCK), HOHODEMI, OJIN, JIXGO, and TAKEXOUCHI. ANKISEI, SHYUCHU.
JIMBASSO. See ALGU^E.
KADOMATSU (GATE PIXE TREE), made originally of pine branches plucked from a young tree, to which the Bamboo was added in the O-Ei era, and later the branches of Plum tree ; it is placed on New Year's Eve in front of every door, and has the symbolic significance of all its components, viz. : Endurance, strength, and longevity from the Pine ; virtue and fidelity from the Bamboo ; whilst the plum branches are often replaced by the sacred plant of Shinto, the Sakaki. See IKKIU ; SAIGIO.
KANAYE. GOSHISHO; Kou.
KARASHISHI, and peonies, emblem of regal power. „ Ridden by MONJU BOSATSU.
KIRIN. See JOGEN FUJIX.
.
KOBAN, buried, or in a mortar. See HAXA SAKA Jui.
KOBAN NI HAKO, or Koban in Chest, emblem of plenty ; one o the treasures of the Takaramono.
KOMBU, or KOBU, seaweed, symbolic of pleasure and joy, and usec with the Jimbasso, on New Year's Eve, in allusion to Yorokobu, "to rejoice."
KOTO. See KOTO NO NAISHI ; SONTO SENNIN. TOSHIKAGE.
KOTO, SHAMISEN AND KOKIU, the three musical instruments called San Kioku. See AKOYA.
KOTO BUKI. The character Jiu ||, meaning long life, and which is found decoratively inscribed on works of art.
xxxiv
LEGEND IN JAPANESE ART.
KOTSUBO, KAGI, KAKUREGASA, KOTOJI, KAKUREMINO, KAI.
See the treasures under the word TAKARAMOXO.
LEOPARD, OEN, YOSHIDO.
LESPEDEZA (sort of clover). Allusion to a legend that the flower was once a young lady with whom a stag fell in love. It forms a part of the offerings on ijth night of the eigth, or harvest, moon.
LILIES. See PAX FEI (Fr.i YIN).
LILIES, water. See LOTUS. The emblem of purity, with its beautiful flower above the water remaining unsullied by the mud in which grow its roots ; consecrated to the dead.
LION. See KARASHISHI.
LIZARD, water. See NEWT under CHARMS. Its ashes were supposed to be a love philtre when taken internally, or scattered upon the head of the hard-hearted maid.
LOBSTER, owing to its body being bent double, is emblematic of honourable old age. It is part of the decorations used in the New Year's Eve Festival.
LONGEVITY, is symbolised by the PIXE, and the BAMBOO, owing to their evergreen foliage ; by the CRANE, the DEER, or STAG, the STORK taking sometimes the place of the Crane ; the TORTOISE, especially the MIXOGAME, with a tail of weeds ; the GOURD ; the PEACH ; and the LOBSTER. Some of the emblems are of Chinese origin. The SHO CHIKU BAI is composed of the Pine and the Bamboo, to which the Plum is added for beauty. See also KADOMATSU.
Longevity is further personified in art by the representation together, in groups or singly, of the celebrated personages SEIOBO and TOBOSAKU (with the Peach), JOFUKU and WASOBIOYE (with the Crane), MIURA xo OSUKE, URASHIMA TARO (with the Tortoise and box), Lu WEN, and the two old pine trees of Takasago with their genii, Jo and UBA, sweeping the pine needles with besom and rake. Finally, it is indicated by the character Jiu Sp often repeated in many forms. See MANZAI.
LOTUS FLOWER. Emblematic of purity, wisdom and Buddhahood. See SAIGIO HOSHI, KASENKO, CHUMAICHEN (SHUMOCHIKU) RANSAIKWA, FUGEN
XXXV
LEGEND IX JAPANESE ART.
SEITAKA DOJI, KWANNOX. It is an attribute of the Buddhas or Dosatsus ; the white lotus is emblematic of death.
MAGATAMA (q.v.), claw-shaped stone jewels, single or strung up. They form part of the sacred Japanese regalia. See IZANAMI.
MAKIMONO, or roll book, is emblematic of wisdom ; it is the attribute of JUROJIX, and one of the treasures of the Takaramono. A makimono is attached to the umbrella of OSHO, and is also the usual attribute of the two Rakans : KARI SOXJA and DAKAHARITA SOXJA.
MAKIMONO, or SCROLL (open). See FUKUROKUJIU, KAXZAX, BUSHISHI.
MANTIS. The praying mantis is emblematic of courage.
It is often associated with the wheel, as in the proverb: "Even the sharp mandibles of the fighting mantis are set at nought by the wheel of fate" (dragon wheel). See Ehon Kojidan VI., 16.
MAPLE and DEER, emblematic of autumn ; also with Tori in back- ground, allusion to the deers of Nara.
MAPLE LEAVES (Iro), when sent to a man by his lady-love, conveyed to him in poetical fashion the news of his being jilted, the meaning being that her love (Iro) also changes like the colour of the maple leaves in autumn.
A favourite pastime consisted in preparing tea over a fire of maple leaves; this is often illustrated — , see KORE.MOCHI.
MAT, on the waves. See CHOSHIKWA, and OTO TACHIBAXA HIME.
MILKY WAY. See AMA xo GAWA.
MIRROR (q.v.). See HIDARI JIXGORI ; MATSUYAMA. Emblematic of truth and of a woman's soul. Placed under the pillow of a sick child, or under his bed, it will hasten his recovery ; the same is also said of a sword or a calcined bone. At two o'clock in the morning a mirror predicts the future. A woman once tried the experiment, and seeing her image in the shape of a beggar, she became quite parsimonious ; but her economy was of no avail — she died a beggar all the same.
MISOGI, a bamboo split at the top, and with a prayer stuck in. It was placed near a stream, on the last day of the sixth month, as an invocation.
MONKEY. See SANSO HOSHI, SOXGOKU, KOSHIX.
xxxvi
LEGEND IN JAPANESE ART.
MOON, THIRD DAY (Mikatsuki). See YAMANAKA SHIRANOSUKE. The crescent of the moon begins to show plainly on the third day of each lunar month ; this is considered a lucky emblem, and as a curve of perfect shape it gives its name to the Mikatsuki mamiye, perfect eyebrows of ladies.
MOON, man reading by moonlight on snow. RIUTO.
MUGWORT (flower) is the attribute of KASEXKO, who is clothed in its leaves. (The coat of leaves is the generic attribute of the Rishis.)
MULBERRY TREE, is supposed to be a protection against lightning, perhaps because of its diminutive height. Its wood was used for bows because of its resiliency. In the Xo Hokaso, Rishogun a warrior armed with such a bow, Kuwa no Yumi, sends an arrow through a rock.
MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS. See BIXVA, FLUTE, KOTO; see SEIOBO, TAISHIN 6 FUJIN, SONTO, Li TAI PEH, STORY OF THE EMPTY CITY (CHOHI KOMEI). HAKUGA.
NAILS (finger). When white spots occur on the finger nails they foreshadow gifts corresponding with them in number.
NAILS, driven in a tree. See CHARMS, USHI TOKI MAIRI. ,, driven in a stone. BENKEI.
NANTEEN Plant and Berries are emblematic of better fortune.
NET. Takes sometimes the place of the rope of FUDO Mio O, with the same significance. Nets were thrown over litters carrying prisoners.
NET. Man fished in a net. JISSHUDO.
NOSE (long). See TENGU, SARUTA HIKO NO MIKOTO.
OIL, spilled from a lamp between the middle of January and the middle of February means destruction by fire during the summer. There is a counter-charm of easy application : It consists in pouring water upon the head of the guilty party.
OIL, pouring from a bottle, through a ring, into another bottle. Allusion to the lesson given to the archer, CHIN NO KOSHUKU, by an oil- merchant, to whom the warrior had asked whether he knew how to shoot, and who, by way of reply, poured some oil as described above, the hidden meaning being : Every man to his trade (Ehon Tsuhoshi).
ONI (demons). See ONI ; see ONI YARAI, SHOKI, BISHAMON, YULI, CHODORIO,
xxxvii
LEGEND IN JAPANESE ART.
ENNO SHOKAKU, HAKUBAKU, WATAXABE, RAIKO, TAMETOMO, OMORI HIKOHICHI, KOREMOCHI, MlTSUXAKA, AsAHIXA SABURO, TADAMORI, To XO RYOKKO, SAXSO
HOSHI, KlSHIMOJIN, TOORI AkUMA.
See GOBLINS, GHOSTS, DREAMS, CHARMS, DAIKOKI:, BELL, MASKS, NE\V YEAR FESTIVAL. Oni eating wafer (oni ni sembei) emblematic of an easy task.
ORANGES (DAIDAIJ, bitter — . Allusion to the Chinese, meaning : For generations unto generations. Men playing Go in the orange, see under GAMES.
ORIMONO, roll of brocade, emblematic of splendour, is one of the treasures of the Takaramono.
OWL, the jj| is emblematic of filial ingratitude, it is credited with eating its dam when the opportunity arises.
OX, BULL, or BUFFALO. Lying clown is emblematic of TEXJIX.
„ ,, ,, with peonies, and gilt horns. See SHOHAKU ;
see also LAO TSZE (Rosm), OSHIKIO, KIOYO, KEXGIU, TAXABATA.
OX, with torches attached to the horns, as a ruse of war, YOSHIXAKA; being felled by a warrior. MORITOSHI.
OX, warrior hiding under an ox skin. See KIDOMARU and Usui SADAMITSU.
OX. Emblematic of the Zen Sect of Buddhism.
PAPER. See GOHEI. Cut paper called Xusa was used as offerings to the Gods instead of the original staff covered with brocade (Nishiki) used in old prayers. See MISOGI.
PAWLONNIA. Emblematic of rectitude ; with seven blossoms, Imperial badge reserved to the Emperor; with five blossoms, emblem used by the Imperial family.
PEACH, emblem of Longevity. See SEIOBO, TOBOSAKU, KYOSEXHEI, MOMOTARO.
PEACOCK. Mount of KOKUZO (the Boddhisattva padma Akhasagarba) ; also of Sarasvati (BENTEN).
PEAS (black), or MAME, emblematic of strength and health.
„ dried (SHIRO-MAME), are thrown about the floor on New Year's Eve by the YAKU OTOSHI to cast out devils. See Oxi.
xxxviii
LEGEND IN JAPANESE ART.
PEONIES. Emblem of regal power, associated with the Karashishi and the Shakkyo dance. See also SHOHAKU.
PHOENIX. See Howo. Also Sennins SHOSHI, BAIFUKU, ROGIOKU, TOIKU SAIJOSEN. Associated with the Pawlonia it is called Howo NI KIRI.
PIGS. HAKUSEKISE.
PINE (Matsu). See NEW YEAR'S FESTIVAL, KADOMATSU, Sno-CniKU-BAi. Emblem of strength, endurance, longevity, because it is believed that its sap turns into amber after a thousand years; the "Sea Pine" is a fossilised wood, almost translucent, pieces of which were much prized as netsuke.
§PINE, red and black, emblematic of happy marriage. ,, See PINE OF TAKASAGO and Jo and UBA • . PINE TREE, growing out of a man's stomach. TEIKO ~T HO was a
minor official, who once dreamt that a pine tree was growing out of his stomach ; eighteen years later he was promoted from the Sosho class to the title of Sanko —\ $£, and then he understood that his dream was a true prophecy, because the character Ko consists of eighteen ~f~ yV and Prince Q, and means also pine.
PLUM TREE (flowering). UME. See LONGEVITY, Siio-CniKU-BAi, SUGAWARA MICHIZANE, BENKEI, and YosHiTSUNE. A Chinese lady under a plum tree may be an allusion to the story of Chao shi hsiung, who in the pine groves of Mount Lo-fu saw a maiden in the distance. He went to meet her, and noticed a strong perfume of plum flowers, though no plum tree was near. He fell asleep while talking, and on waking up found himself under a flowering plum tree.
Plum tree and the Otoguisu (Nightingale), allusion to a poem of Hakurakuten ; a Daimio wanted a branch of a plum tree, then in flower, but the owner of the tree, a woman, declined to break it by her reply, in the form of a verse meaning : " If the branch is broken, where will the Otoguisu find a resting place on its return ? " (Shaho Bukuro, /.).
PLUM BLOSSOMS, in quiver (Ebira). KAGESUYE, whose popular name is Ebira Genda.
PLUM BLOSSOMS, in hair. The Sennin Sonkei Jft $fc composing a poem, which means : " If I sit on a pine root I shall live one thousand
xxxix
LEGEND IN JAPANESE ART.
years ; If I place a sprig of plum in my hair, the snow of February will fall on my sleeves."
PORTRAIT of a lady being painted ; See OSHOKUX.
POT or URN. See Li TAI PEH (RIHAKU), KOKO. SHOJO.
PUMPKIN, carried by MEISOGEX.
PRISON (breaking). KIDOMARU, KAGEKIYO ; KOSEX, KING OF YETSU.
RAIN. See OMI HAKKEI ,, flying in — . RESSHI. „ and Sunshine. See FOXES' WEDDIXG.
RAKE. See Jo and UBA.
RAT. See DAIKOKU, NIKKI DANJO, RAIGO, SESSHIU.
REFLECTION, double reflection of a Sennin's face in a river : OFUSHI 3E M "F" whose real name was Hotei. He was a man of Joyo, who supported his family by his knowledge of medicine. He learnt magic from the Sennin Shori $|f $f|, and afterwards lived without ever eating anything. One day, along a river, people noticed his reflection in the water, in the shape of two bodies, and on their expressing astonishment thereat, Ofushi showed them that he had ten shadows. The matter was reported to Shinshu jf|L ^, of So (Sung), who had him imprisoned, but he escaped by miraculous means and disappeared for ever.
RICE. When children dropped rice on their clothes they were told that they would be transformed into cows.*
RICE POUNDING, the poor Buddhist priest, Daikan Zengi (in tattered garments). ORO Sennin.
RICE STEMS, throwing from clouds. TANBO, female Sennin.
ROCK, emblematic of stability. See FUDO.
„ being thrown. See ASAHIXA SABURO, Owo IKO, SANADA YOICHI, MIURA YOSHIZUMI, MATANO GORO. See STONES.
ROCK. Cleaving with a sword. UYEMOX xo KAMI NOBUYORI. „ transpierced by an arrow. RIKO.
ROSARY, the black and strong smelling seeds of the >f/£, Hiian
Compare the other belief about dropping food, quoted in Andrew Lang's Custom and Myth.
Xl
LEGEND IN JAPANESE ART.
tree were used as beads for rosaries as it was thought that their odour frightened away evil spirits ; See CIRCLE.
SAKE CUPS, URN or DIPPER. See SHOJO.
SCEPTRE, worn (rubbing on sleeve). MOKI.
SCROLL (see Makimono). See BENKEI (KAN.HNCHO).
SEALS, were to be affixed an odd number of times, otherwise the document was unlucky, and if it were a bill or note of hand for instance, it was commonly believed that it would eventually be dishonoured should there be an even number of seals on it.
SEAWEED. See New Year's Festival. SEAWF.KD GATHERING ; see WAKAME KARI.
SHARKS. See ASAHINA SABURO (in Menken Kojitsii).
SHELL (conch). War trumpet. Emblem of the YAMABUSHI. See BENKEI. Horafuki, "Blowing the conch" is still proverbial, meaning to boast and make more noise than work.
SHELL (cowry). Emblem of wealth in Takaramono. „ (Haliotis), listened to by mermaids.
SHO, musical instrument. See OSHIKIO; SHINRA SABURO YOSHIMITSU ;
TOKOKEI.
SHOE, Sennin with one — . RANSAIKWA ; also DARUMA. „ Duck changed into a shoe. See OKYO. „ Woman changed into a shoe. See HIEN YUAN Tsi. „ See story of CHORIO and KOSEKIKO. SNAKE, white. See BENTEN.
„ See JIRAIYA, TSUYENORI, TAWARA To DA, SUSANO-O, GOMO,
SHIGEMORI, SEN-JO-RAKU dance.
SNAKE, Two-headed, killed by Sze ma Kwang.
„ UWABAMI (q.v.), large snake, killed by Egara no Heida (Wada
family) during the rule of Hojo Yoshitoki.
SNEEZING, has ominous meanings : if once, the affected person is praised somewhere ; if twice, reviled ; if three times, it is a sure proof that he has " Kaze wo Totta" (caught the wind), i.e., a "cold." SPADE. KAKKIO, KAKO, HANASAKA Jui.
xli
LEGEND IN JAPANESE ART.
SPARROWS, are emblematic of gentleness.
,, walking like ducks, with one foot in front of the other ;
emblematic of a very rare occurrence.
SPARROWS. See SHITAKIRI SUZUME. Story of the TONGUE CUT SPARROW.
SPIDER, in a cave. TSUCHIGUMO. See WATANABE and RAIKO, KAMI GASHI HIMK.
SPIDERS, are emblematic of craft, generally magical craft, as all spiders become oni after dark. See BAKKMONO.
STAFF. Emblematic of most Sennins and Rakans, and of the three Gods, JTROJIN", FUKUROKUJIU, HOTKI. There is often a makimono attached to the staff. The staffs of old men were made in China, of a knotty wood called ^J§ Chii. See WONINRAN ; SHINRAN SHONIN.
STAFF, with three or more rings : Shakujo, emblem of the BOSATSU. See Jizo.
STAG, or DEER. Emblem of Longevity (q.v.), companion of Jurojin.
STAG and MAPLE are symbolical of Autumn.
STAR (shooting), is the soul of a person who lias just died.
STARS. TANADATA ; SOYUDO.
STONES. See under that word.
STORK, interchanges with the crane as emblem of long life. See WASOBIOYE, KOHAKU, HIDA NO TAKUMI.
STRING. If the string used in binding the hair breaks, it is an evil omen, and foretells the loss in a short while of a friend or a husband, according to sex. String used for binding parcels of gifts must be of many colours.
SWORD, Sennin on — . See SHORIKEN. ,, biting — . MORINAGA.
,, breaking to pieces. Mio NO YA (IVAGEKIYO). Ri-A.
„ Two-edged, Ken, priest sword, praying-for-rain sword ; See
Ama Kurikara, attribute of wizards and rain priests.
TABLE, man reclining on — . TAIKOBO, ROSEI.
TIGER (white). KOREIJIN.
xlii
LEGEND IN JAPANESE ART.
TIGER, killed by a blow of the fist. BUSHO, one of the heroes of the Suikoden.
TIGER, killed with a spear. See KATO KIYOMASA. SHINKI ^ ^f.
,, used as a seat by a Sennin, from whose heart issue two men, going in opposite directions, one walking on a road, the other going to heaven,* BAISHIN $£ ^ f[|| X- (In the work jj|f HJ J|| ^ lye zu boku shu.)
TIGER. See HOKEN ZENSHI, SHINRETST, Buxsno, HADESU, HATTARA- SONJA, KOKUSENNIA, KIIKU Sennin, Yu Liu, Busno, SESSIIIDO, SHIIKI, TOHO, TEISHINEN.
TIGER and LEOPARD. OKX.
,, (Tora). Sign of the Zodiac. ,, and DRAGON. See DRAGON. ,, being painted. See MATAHEI. TILES, on the head. See KAKUDAITSU.
THUNDER ANIMAL. See RAIJIN, SUGARU, YOSHIHIRA, MICHIZANE. THUNDER and LIGHTNING issuing from picture. See CHOSOYU,
TOHAKKUKWA.
TOAD, is credited with magic powers. See FROG, GAMA SENNIN,
JlRAIYA, KOSHIN.
TORTOISE. Emblem of Longevity. See URASHIMA TARO, ROKO, GAMA, KOAN ; JOREN, and under LONGEVITY. See MINOGAME.
TORCH, all night scenes. Usui SADAMITSU, NITTA TADATSUNE, HIRAI, YASUMASA, NITAN NO SHIRO in the cave of Fuji, WADA TANENAGA, WATANAISE ATSUCHI and the Dragon, SOGA brother's revenge, KOGA SABURO, Story of the lost Cash, Seaweed Gathering.
TREE, fabulous; see SEIOBO, HORAI, MOON, MOON-CHILD; the ^{^ Nih was said to be a thousand feet high, it flowered only once in a thousand years, and its fruit took another nine thousand years to reach maturity. The Tree or Wood 7JC Ki (Chin. Muh) is one of the five elements of the Jikkan in Far-Eastern lore. The Magnolia is especially interesting because such a tree, called ^j|, grew on the tomb of Confucius ;
0 See FIGURF.
xliii
LEGEND IN JAPANESE ART.
the Buddhists of China set also great value upon the horse chestnut f£J>, which they identify with the Saul.
TREE TRUNK, as weapon ; HANGAKU, TOMOF. GOZEN. „ Man hidden in—-. SHOTOKU TAISHI; YORITOMO. „ whipping. KIUSHOKI.
UDONGE, is a fabulous flower, blooming once in a thousand years; its name appears to be familiarly given to a plant which grows on ceilings in the damp atmosphere, and the advent of which is considered to be an omen of impending success. It is suggested that it is merely a nest of insects or a fungus. The Wakan Sanstn' Zue calls it a fig tree (Basho, Ichijiku}. UMBRELLA. See SANFI-SIII, Osno.
VASE of Sake. See Snojo, TURKIC SAKK TASTERS, RIHAKU. „ man reclining by. See Li TAI I'EII, TAIKOBO. ,, Chinese boy breaking . See SIIIBA OXKO. WAR CLUB. See Rocmsmx, TOSAUO, BKNKKI. WATERFALL. See Frno, LNDO MORITO, SOKU.
WAVES, man on. See DARTMA, SiiAsnirsiio, CIIOSHIUKA, TOHOSAKU. „ woman jumping in — . See OTO TACUIBANA HIME.
,, Ghosts issuing out of -. See BKNKKI arid HEIKK, TAIRA NO
ToMOMORI, I 'MI Bo/CU.
WAVES, Sennin on--, on sword. SIIORIKKN.
,, Bell on--. See Bell of MEIDIRA.
„ Buddha's statue on — . See JIKAKU DAISHI.
WEAVING. TANABATA, KKNGIU, Kria-JiN, OTOIIIMK, BUNKI MANDARA,
TOYEI.
WHEEL, flaming—. See HELL.
WHEEL and mantis. See MANTIS.
WOMAN, in the Sky. See SEIOBO, GKNSO, TANABATA, BAKOKU, KASENKO, RYUKO.
YUZURI. The leaf or Yuzuri ha is used emblematically in the New Year's Eve decorations, meaning that the father will not die before his son is a grown-up man, as the leaf of the Yuzuri does not fall before another replaces it.
LEGEND IN JAPANESE ART
LEGEND IN JAPANESE ART
i. ABE NO YASUNA 35C TcM* ^ Father of Abe no Seimei, and to whom is sometimes attributed as a wife a white fox which had taken the shape of a beautiful woman to bewitch him. This story is told to the effect that once as he was walking in the gardens of the temple of Inari, reciting his poems, a party of nobles passed by in pursuit of a fox, which they were hunting to kill for his liver, then used as a medicine. The fox ran into the gardens, stopping near ABE who caught the animal, and hid it in the ample folds of his kimono before its pursuers could enter the temple grounds, thus saving its life. A year later ABE fell in love with, and married a beautiful girl KUZUNOHA, who gave birth to a boy, and soon after died of some fever. Three days after her death she appeared to him in a dream, enjoining him not to grieve, as she was only the fox he had saved. One version of the story says that Kuzunoha, lived three years with Abe, at the end of which she left him, and before departing, wrote on the panels of the room :
Koishikuba
Tazune kite miyo,
Izumi naru
Shinoda no mori no
Urami Kuzu no ha.
A that is : L-*
If you are in love, come and seek in the forest of Shinoda, in Izumi, and you will find a Kuzu leaf (Kuzu no ha).
The Kuzu plant, Pueraria Thunbergiana, was used by weavers.
i
.
LEGEND IN JAPANESE ART.
2. ABE NO NAKAMARO T£ fo f$ J& & was the son of NAKATSUKASA TAYU FUNAMORI. He is one of the celebrated poets, sometimes included amongst the thirty-six poets (q.v.), and ancestor of Abe no Yasuna.
Abe no Nakamaro was sent to China when 16 years old, in the second year of Ruki (A.D. 716) to discover the secret of the Chinese calendar. Suspected by the Emperor, he was invited to a dinner on the top story of a high pagoda, and made drunk, after which, while he was asleep, the Chinese removed the stairs and left him to die of hunger. Legend has it that he bit his finger until the
^ blood ran, and with it wrote on his sleeve :
*J
^ Awo una bara (Ama no hara),
/I? furi sake mireba,
Y 1 > v Kasuga nara,
J if 7 \ Mikasa no yama ni,
u u rS Ideshi tsuki kamo :
^L. " When I see the heavenly plain open, I think myself at Kasuga, contemplating
the moon, rising above the three summits of Mikasa . . Ah !
After his escape, he set out for Japan, but^being shipwrecked, he went to
Annam, and again to China, where he entered the civil service of the Emperor,
and died (770).
3. ABE NO SADATO *£ fg1 j| ft The opponent of Kiyowara Takenori at the battle of Toriumi (See Takenori). He is supposed to have been partly of Aino blood, and was famous for his huge stature. At thirty-four years of age, he was nine feet high, and his girth exceeded the combined lengths of seven arrows. His younger brother was ABE NO MUNETO who, when defeated during the nine years war (Zenku nen no Eki), was brought captive to Kioto, by Yoriyoshi (q.v.). Prior to his execution a Kuge, came to him with a branch of the flowering plum tree, and asked him what he called it. Abe no Sadato's
f> -^ reply in the form of a poem has been preserved :
* ^1 Waga kuni no,
-j_ j.j^, Ume no hana towa,
7 3 Mitsuredomo,
Jn •%-
Oho miya bito wa, Nani to yuran.
< S-
u p
Q ~ <§
LEGEND IN JAPANESE ART.
" In our country, where I saw it often, we call it " [/me," but for the true name, we look to a courtier to tell us."
4. ABE NO SEIMEI T£ fn Bjf 5^ or KAMO YASUNARI, or KAMO HOGEN. Court Astrologer, son of Abe no Yasuna, occasionally shown with his fox mother Kuzunoha, who holds a writing brush in her mouth. He cured a grave illness of the Emperor TOBA, proving that he was bewitched by no other than his own favorite concubine TAMAMO NO MATE, in whom Seimei detected a nine tailed fox (Kiubi no Kitsune) (See Tamamo no Maye). His name is sometimes given as Abe no Yasunari.
Once, having heard that a bird disrespectfully dropped something upon the head of a courtier of the rank of Kurando, he explained the incident as an omen that this noble would be murdered. The Kurando spent a night in religious practices, and great was his surprise in the morning, to see a man come to beg his forgiveness, as he had intended to murder him.
On another occasion, the despotic ruler Michinaga, was prevented by his favorite dogs, from advancing along a certain road ; Abe stated that some miscreant must have been at that time "praying at the hour of the Ox" (Us/ii no toki mairi) as an incantation against Michinaga's life. He had the place where the dogs had stopped dug up, and found concealed in a pot, a scroll with Michinaga's name written in red, in a manner which he said, was known only to a man named Doma Hoshi. Whereupon, he made a magical paper stork which immediately flew straight to Doma Hoshi's house, with such startling effect that the suspected man confessed his guilt, and as a result forfeited his life. Abe no Seimei is also shown in a wizard's competition, conjuring white mice from an empty box.
5. ACARA (See FUDO).
6. ACHALA (See AISEN MIYO O).
7. ADACHIGAHARA *£ H >T Jj£. The Goblin of Adachigahara was an old cannibal woman. She is always represented with, a kitchen knife, and sometimes preparing to kill a child. In the popular play she is said to have been of high rank, and attached to the court of a prince who suffered from a
LEGEND IN JAPANESE ART.
strange disease. The only remedy then known consisted of the blood of a child born during a certain month, and the woman killed children to cure her master. When the cure was successful she confessed her guilt, but was pardoned. She lived in Oshu (Mutsu). Amongst other legends it is said that one winter evening, a pilgrim came to the door of her hut and asked permission to spend the night in her kitchen. The woman refused at first, but finally acceded to his entreaties, and allowed him in. After a few minutes she went out, forbidding him to look in a certain room, but the pilgrim was too inquisitive to obey, and whilst the woman was away, he opened the door and found the room full of human bones and bespattered with the blood of the goblin's victims. Taking his hat and staff he flew away, the old woman who was then just returning, in her true shape as a goblin, running after him (Ozaki).
8. ADZUMAYA KUMI. One of the personages of the GENJI MONOGATARI, who elopes on the river Uji, with her lover Nio GIOBU Kio.
9. AGATA. Divinity worshipped at Uji, and who is believed to cure venereal diseases.
10. AGNI DEVA. Fire divinity, One of the Twelve Deva Kings (Jiu ni Ten) q.v. : K \VATEN ^ ^.
11. AGONAOSHI JIZO f| fR| j& |j| or Jizo who has no jaw. Divinity worshipped at a temple in Old as a jaw healer, because in one of his previous lives he tore away his lower jaw. Prayers are addressed to him to cure toothache, another remedy consisting in using Yanagi chopsticks (q.v.) (Hearn).
12. AIKIO ^ ^ or SEGON or KWANZEON BOSATSU, one of the sons of Benten, shown with a bow and arrow, transformation of Avalokitesvara.
13. AIKU ^ JffiJ The concubine of SATO TADANOBU (q.v.).
14. AIR CASTLE (Shin Kiro) f^ ^ ig£ The Castle of Riujin the Dragon King of the Sea, appearing in the clouds (See Story of Bimbo).
Mirage caused by the breath of a clam rising above the waters, and accordingly represented, either as a group of small buildings inside the partly open shell of a clam, or as a castle rising in the clam's breath. Sometimes called
4
ABIi NO NAKAMAKO (./. AUACIIIGAIIAKA (./.)
ASAHINA AND SOGA (M.G.)
AMATERASU (li:i..K.) ASAHINA SABURO (A.)
LEGEND IN JAPANESE ART.
the Clam's dream. The mirage is called Shin Kiro, and as an allusion, the personages in Hokusai's fairy tale A Shin Kio have huge shells instead of heads.
15 AISEN MIYO O H ^ HJ3 3£ Transformation of ACHALA the In- satiable or the Indomitable. God of love, although represented with a fierce expression, three eyes, a halo, and six arms.
1 6. AKAHITO (YAMABE NO) ^ A [Ul ill One of the celebrated poets, sometimes classed amongst the six, lived in the eighth century, and has been deified as God of Poetry.
17. AKAMBE ~f # :/ -< 4 A child's game sometimes performed with a mask of Okame or some other No character, corresponds with " Do you see any green in my eye?" (Compare Bekkako).
1 8. AKECHI $J |? (See ODA NOBUNAGA).
19. AKOYA PP[ ~t^f JH. A famous courtesan of Gojyo, near Kyoto, who having been the mistress of the Heike captain KAGEKIYO, (q.v.) was suspected of having given him refuge, when he had to flee for his life, after Yoritomo's army had defeated the Taira clan at the battle of Dan no Ura (1185). Torture failing to bring any information from Akoya, one of the Magistrates, HATAKEYAMA SHIGETADA, had her brought into court one day in her best attire, and after reproving her for her obstinacy, commanded her to play on some musical instru- ments : a Koto and a Samisen, much to the indignation of his colleague IWANAGA. The girl improvised a short poem containing a play on the words Kage and Kiyoki, and by her masterful performance convinced him of her innocence, because, as he remarked " fine music can only be played with a pure heart."
20. AKUBO ^ ^ i (AKUBOZU) "No" character representing a wicked priest, he wears a coarse beard, and carries a halbert.
31. AKU HACHIRO ^ A IB Celebrated warrior, who defended the castle of Takasagu, fortified by Hata Kokuzaemon, against the attacks of KURD IYEMITSU. He threw upon the besiegers a rock, so large that fifty ordinary men could not lift it, and so crushed to death many warriors, then uprooting a tree,
5
LEGEND IN JAPANESE ART.
the trunk of which was nine feet long, he executed a sortie single handed againsl the enemy.
22. AKUMA ^ |H (TooRi AKUMA), One of the many Ghosts or Goblins with sword in hand, a huge head and flaming eyes. Akuma, or Ma an synonymous and mean evil spirit. One day, a nobleman drinking sake or the verandah of his house saw the Toori Akuma floating towards him ir the sky, with a naked sword in its hand. Frightened by the hideous apparition he hid himself under a tatami (mat), and peeping, saw the goblin enter the next house. Hearing a terrible uproar he went to enquire, and found that his neighbour, thinking to kill the Toori, had slain his wife, his children and his servants.
23. AKUSEN fl f£ (Wu TS'UEN), One of the Taoists Rishis of the Chinese, shown as a wild looking hairy man, clad in the usual leaf dress and eating fii cones. He is said to have lived 300 years, gathering simples in the mountains. Once he offered pine cones to the Emperor who refused to partake of this food, but those who accepted the Sennin's diet attained everlasting life. He used to wear his hair very long, and could run as fast as the swiftest horse.
24. AMAKURIKARA, Abreviated form of AMARIO NO KURIKARA (/H ^'J HP JH] RYO. Name of one of the Dragons, and sometimes engraved on swords, or wrapped around scabbards as in the Amagoi ken of the celebrated Kobodaishi (q.v.). Amario, meaning rain Dragon, and Kurikara rio : Dragon entwining a sword.
25. AMANGAKO (Utatesa : Sadness), one of the demons. See Koshin.
26. AMA NO GAWA ^©Jl|, The Heavenly River, the Via lactea, also called Tenga, or Ginga, the Silvery river. See the Stories of Wu Un Jin, Chan K'ien, and of Kengiu and Shokudjo (The Spinning Maiden) and the Bridge of Birds (TANABATA).
27. AMA NO KAGU YAMA ^ f| \\). The mountain in Yamato where the angel hung up her clothes in the story of Hagoromo (q.v.).
28. AMARIO M II, Rain Dragon.
b
LEGEND IN JAPANESE ART.
29. AMATERASU jHMM.itift- The " Heavenly Shiner." The Sun Goddess and legendary ancestor — or rather ancestral divinity — of the reigning dynasty of Japan, born of the left eye of IZANAGI. Suffering from the insults of her brother SUSANO O, she retired into a cave, casting darkness over the world and closed the opening of the cave with a rock. OMOHI KANE NO KAMI then had a mirror eight feet in diameter forged by AMA-TSU-MAURA, and also a string of five hundred jewels, which were suspended in front of the cave as peace offerings. Then AME-NO UZUME-NO MIKOTO, arrayed in a somewhat immodest garment of tree branches, began a frantic dance outside the cave till the eight hundred myriad deities burst into a huge roar of laughter. Amaterasu, slightly opening the door, asked what was the meaning of this rejoicing, Uzume replying : We are glad because there is a deity more illustrious than your Augustness. Meanwhile the mirror was pushed nearer to the Goddess, who beholding her own image came out of the cave, and whilst AME-NO KO-YA-NE closed back the cave, TAJI KARA drew across her back the rope of rice straw to prevent her returning to the cave.
To the Sun Goddess were reserved certain parts of the sea shore, on which fishing was strictly prohibited. In the VHIth century, a samurai retainer of Yamabuki Shogen of Tamba, fled to Tsu, after his master had been murdured by some traitor. He took with him his master's daughter whom he married, and changed his own name to Heiji. Poverty however beset the couple, and the man violated the prohibition mentioned above. He was found drawing his nets from the sea, and buried alive on the sea shore. His grave is still shown at Akogi-ga- Ura, and the name of the place has been bestowed upon a popular dramatized version of the story.
Amaterasu O Mi Kami is also called Tenshoko Daijin ; Shimmei, and Daijingu.
Students of comparative folk-lore may see a curious parallel between the retirement of the Sun Goddess in the cave and the Greek myth in which Zeus conceals Dionysios Dithyreites from his consort Here in a deep cave. It is also interesting to note that Japanese mythology recognizes a Sun Goddess and a Moon God (Susano-6), in contradiction to the Greek and Roman myths, but in agreement with the Egyptian, Aryan, and Norse legends.
7
LEGEND IN JAPANESE ART.
30. AME NO MINAKA NUSHI 3£ fP r\> ±. According to the Kojiki, the God standing in the centre of the world before the creation, the Nihongi name him Kuni Toko Tachi no Mikoto. He is the ancestor of the creative couple (Izanagi and Izanami), who followed sixteen generations later.
31. AME NO TAJIKARA WO NO KAMI 5£ ^ -ft £f jji$. The strong God who rolled back the door of the cave after Amaterasu had been decoyed out of it by Uzume's dance.
32. AMIDA flSj gg P£ (Endless life), the Buddha Amithabha, who with Kwannon, presides over the paradise of the West. Chief Buddha of the MONTO (SHIN) Sect.
33. AMOSHA VAJRA ^ g? ^ ill [pif JH ^] (See Fuku Kongo).
34. ANAN (ANANDA) ^ fr$, also called TAMON, a cousin and the youngest of the disciples of Gautama the Buddha, believed to have been endowed with a wonderful memory and who remembered the whole of the Buddha's sermons.
35. ANCHIN T£C J£- A Yamabushi, wandering priest of the Shugendo sect, victim of Kiyohime (q.v.).
36. ANKISEI T£ tj} ^ of Roya-Fukyo was a well known drug seller whom the people of sea shore called Senzaiko (Prince Thousand Years). He was kept speaking for three nights with the Emperor Shiko of the Shin dynasty, who offered him untold wealth in gold and brocade, but the sage went away and left all the presents at a place named Fukyotei, with some jewelled red shoes, and a few books.
37. ANTOKU TENNO T£ f| ^ Jl. Grandson of TAIRA KIYOMORI. This child Emperor was overthrown when five years old by the Minamoto clan, and replaced on the throne by his brother Go TOBA. He was carried away by his grandmother Nn NO AMA to the temple of Itsukushima, where the priests gave him a fan with a red disc, which was supposed to be the soul of the Emperor TAKAKURA (A.D. 1169-1180). Later in 1185, this fan was nailed to the mast of the
8
LEGEND IN JAPANESE ART.
Taira ship at the battle of DAN-NO-URA, where Nii no Ama, and Antoku jumped into the sea and were drowned. (Compare the story of Luh Siu Fu, who, defeated by Kublai Khan, jumped into the waves with the boy Emperor, last representative of the Sung dynasty of China.) See YOSHITSUNE and NASU YOICHI NO MUNETAKA. He was thereafter popularly believed to have been deified, and worshipped under the name Suitengu.
38. ANDO ZAEMON SHOSHU £ & £ $j ffi Ig 5f, One of the
retainers of Hojo Takatoki, the last of the Hojo family of regents of Kamakura (1312-1333); and uncle of Nitta Yoshisada's wife (q.v.).
ANIMALS. —MYTHICAL.
39. According to the generally received opinion, the mystic animals are shown, the male with the mouth open, to represent the letter A, initial of the Sanskrit alphabet, the female with the mouth shut, representing the last letter N of the sacred alphabet. This however does not agree with the carved wooden Shishis guardians of the Temples Yasa ka and Yakushiji, figures of which are given in the Nikon Kogio Shi Taisho Zu, and in the Kokkwa (177). These figures dating from the thirteenth century present the reverse combination of features.
The mystic animals are also embodiments of the Yin and Yang doctrine of Chinese philosophy ; besides the Chinese Lion or Karashishi (q.v.), the monster most often represented as a Temple guardian is the Korean dog : Kama Inu, with two horns, and sometimes the Tama on its head, but lacking the curly mane and tail of the Karashishi, which are replaced by straighter and less ornamental appendages. Descriptions will be found in their alphabetic order of the various Dragons, Kirins, Karashishi, the Howo bird, Tanuki, the Fox Kitsune, the Tiger Tora, Namazu, Baku, Takujiu, Kappa, Nuye, Kamaitachi, Minogame.
To this list must be added the Suisai (See Kirin).
The Kecho, gigantic bird killed by Hiroari (q.v.) ; the Hakutaku, figured by Yanagawa Shigenobu, appears identical with the Takujiu (q.v.), apparently through a mistake.
9
LEGEND IN JAPANESE ART.
HIYAKUDORI, the two-headed bird, with a body like a bird of paradise, and two long tail feathers, represents in popular imagination the emblem of faithful love, embodying the spirits of Kompachi and Komurasaki.
From the Chinese have also been taken the two-headed pig, or sow, with the second head in lieu of tail ; the two-headed snake, one of which was killed by Sze ma Kwang, and of which a strange specimen exists in a Netsuke, in the collection of Mr. W. L. Behrens : the two heads have taken the appearance of witches heads with the regular Hannya mask, and the scaly body of the creature is wrapped around the trunk of a man. It has been suggested that this curious piece may refer to the story of Nukwa (Jokwa) or to that of Ippen Sh5nin (q.v.), but without certainty.
Cobras with multiple heads, so common in Indian Art may have inspired the story of the eight-headed snake or dragon killed by Susanoo no Mikoto. A snake several hundred feet long is sometimes depicted, as in the Houncho Nen Dai Ki Dzi rising amongst warriors whom he swallows, with their horses and armour, it is called the Tani, and in the book quoted is depicted with its spirit : a warrior issuing from a burial ground. It is the ghost of Tamichi (367 A.D.) who was killed in Yezo by a poisoned arrow.
Amongst Monkeys, SONGOKU, the companion of Sanzo Hoshi comes first, with the boar CHOHAKKEI, a four-headed monkey is described by Chinese writers as an omen of forthcoming flood.
Fishes of mythical character appear to have been credited with medicinal properties. Anderson mentions the dog-headed fish, which cries like a child, as a sure cure against madness ; and the fish with one head and ten bodies, whose flesh is a preventative of boils.
Many animals were endowed with magical properties, such as the snake, frog and slug (see JIRAIYA), the dog of Hanasake jiji, the acolytes of Sanzo Hoshi, some cats, the invisible Kamaitachi, the Mukade or centipede (see Tawara Toda), the newt used as a charm, some are believed to exist in the Moon (Hare), in the Sun (Three-legged Crow), in the Milky way (Tiger of a thousand years).
Nearly all the mythical animals are familiars of Sennins, and as such will be found under Emblems.
10
LEGEND IN JAPANESE ART.
Semi-human creatures may also find place under the heading of Mythical Animals, while the anthropological freaks described in all seriousness in the Wakan Sansai Dzu Ye, and illustrated in Hokusai's Mangwa have been placed under Foreigners (mythical) because they are described by the Chinese as people from foreign lands.
Descriptions will be found further of the Gario, the Ningyo, Mujima, Tennin, Tengu, the latter perhaps derived from the mythical inhabitants of Futan, which are pictured with wings, beak and feathers on a human body (depicted under the name Umin, by Hokusai).
40. APES ];£ /£ <jf|. The three mystic Apes (SAMBIKI SARU) are the attendants of Saruta Hito no Mikoto or Koshin, the God of the Roads, they are :
MIZARU, with a hand over his eyes, who sees no evil. KIKAZARU, covering his ears, who listens to no evil. IWAZARU, his hand on his mouth, who speaks no evil.
41. ARHATS (See Rakans). The sixteen disciples of Buddha.
4.2. ARAKI (MURASHIGE) ^ TJC, A Samurai whom ODA NOBUNAGA wished to kill. Nobunaga hit upon a scheme which consisted in summoning Araki to his audience, placing himself in such a position that the samurai's neck came in line with the sliding panels separating the audience chamber from the daimio's room, and having the shoji slammed together as the man knelt, so as to decapitate him. Araki, however, suspecting the trap, laid his iron fan in the groove, jamming the shutters, and saving himself. Another story says that Nobunaga ordered him to eat many rice cakes (manju) which he had threaded on his sword.
43. ARIWARA NO NARIHIRA # M ^ ¥, One of the six celebrated Poets (See NARIHIRA).
44. ASAHINA SABURO $§ Jt ^ H IB, Strong warrior of the Xllth Century, son of TOMOE GOZEN. His prowess and feats of strength are often found illustrated, amongst others his descent to Hades where he browbeat the old hag of the three roads SODZUKA NO BABA ; and after defeating the Onis in a trial
ii
LEGEND IN JAPANESE ART.
of strength by neck pulling (Kubi-hiki) is entertained as a guest by the King of Hades YEMMA O. He subjugates the Oni of Kikai ga Shima, swims with a shark under each arm whilst on a cruise in Chinese waters with the Shogun Sanetomo, uproots a tree at the battle of Hikkane (1180) and uses the huge trunk as a war club.
The younger of the Soga brothers, Juro Sukenari, had for mistress the woman Tora of Oiso. One evening when he was feasting at her house with Hatakeyama Shigetada and Asahina Saburo, Tora handed the cup to her lover first, instead of Hatakeyama, who was the highest personage in the room. Hatakeyama became incensed at this lack of courtesy, and sought to be revenged. The elder brother, Goro, who was a few doors away, had a sudden idea that Juro was in danger, and went to his assistance. As he opened the door, Asahina Saburo tried to drag him in forcibly, but he stood his ground, and left in the hands of Saburo his Kusazuri (shoulder plate of the armour).
Being entertained at Okuno by a hunting party of Yoritomo's retainers, Asahina demonstrated his strength by lifting a rock seven feet long and throwing it from the edge of the cliff into the sea. Through an anachronism, it has been wrongly stated in some books that a youth of sixteen (Sanada Yoichi) was passing below at the time, and Asahina (who had a grudge against him) sought to crush him with the stone, but the youth received the mass in his hands and forthwith threw it back upwards to Asahina. In the true version the incident occurs between Matana no Goro and Sanada Yoichi. Asahina Saburo is also depicted amongst dwarfs, or breaking a door during the Wada feud.
45. ASAMA g£ fg] or KO NO HANA fc %> SAKUYA HIME, The Goddess of Fuji, also called SENGEN.
46. ASAZUMA FUNE ^ lH $§, A woman standing in a boat, dressed like Shizuka with flowing robes and long hair hanging down her back. She was the mistress of the fourth Tokugawa Shogun lyetsuna, who preferred her company, in endless boating parties, to the cares of government. A poem referring to this preference brought its author, Hanabusa Icho, the penalty of exile.
47. ASHIKAGA /£ ^Ij, Family of Shoguns descendants of the Minamoto, who were in power from 1336 to 1573.
12
TASL'KI (.(.) NINE TAIL BADCKK (.!/. ATSUMORI (-!/. 7.)
I1AKU ("'./.«) BASIIIKO (II'.C.A.)
BUMBl'KU CHAGAMA (//.T.7.)
THE MACIC KKTTI.K (./.) TANUKI NO HARA TSUZUM1 (F.H.K.)
LEGEND IN JAPANESE ART.
48. ASHI ODORI /£, jj|j, A toy, representing a buffoon's antics, a man lying on his back with his feet in the air, each foot carrying a Shishi mask.
49. ASHINAGA (CHOKYAKU) P Jt long legged men generally shown with TENAGA or long arms. These mythical personages are said to live on the sea shore in north China near Hung Sheung Tree. They live upon fish which the Tenaga catches with his long arms, being the while perched on the back of the long-legged Ashinaga who wades into the sea. They are often met with in various attitudes jointly or separately.
50. ASHUKU Pnj (fjjj, One of the GO-CHI-NYORAI, the five Gods of Wisdom and Contemplation.
51. ATAGO (HOMUSUBI) J| ^, Deity protective against fire.
52. ATAKA (Gate of) $£ ^, Place where BENKEI (q.v.) foiled SAYEMON TOGASHI and helped YOSHITSUNE to make good his escape from his half brother and enemy YORITOMO. (Kan Jin Cho episode.)
53. ATSUMORI (TAIRA) |fc ^ [^], also named MUKAN NO TAYU $£ f ^ ^ ATSUMORI, son of FUJI NO TSUBONE, and adopted son of TAIRA TADAMORI. He had been left in 1184 when sixteen years old to defend the town of Ichi no Tani, then beseiged KUMAGAI NAOZANE, a general of Yoshitsune's army. The defeat of the Taira was so complete that nearly all had escaped to their boats, and Atsumori was on his way to join them, playing the flute the while, when Kumagai entered by the western gate and heard him. He was on the point of killing the youth when he noticed the beauty of his face and was reminded of his own son. Atsumori would have escaped with his life but for the companions of Kumagai who taunted him for sparing a Taira. The Minamoto general killed Atsumori and sent his head and flute to Yoshitsune. Soon after he became a monk. Atsumori is said to have left a widow, who became a nun and is credited with the invention of the folding fan, by the refreshing use of which she cured the Abbot of a temple, of a malignant fever. This invention is however attributed also to a fan maker of 670 A.D. (See FANS.) It is worth noting that Atsumori's teeth were blackened, a custom which then applied to young nobles
LEGEND IN JAPANESE ART.
of both sexes. (See also Kumagai Naozane.) A fanciful version of the story of Atsumori forms the subject of the popular play Ichi no Tani Futaba Gunki.
54. AUSHASHIMA ^ H (Burning Head) or Ushijima, a divinity shown with an Axe or a Dorge in its left hand, and with its left leg raised (Buddhistic).
55. AWOTO SAYEMON FUJITSUNA W Wi £ If PI 31 IPL a retainer of Hojo Tokiyori famous for his wit, and particularly for the loss of ten small coins in the Nameri gawa. (See Lost Cash.)
56. BADGER (TANUKI) >§•, the Racoon faced Dog (Nyctereutes Procyonides or Viverrinus) is one of the animals credited with magical or supernatural powers. As a Goblin it is a peculiarly mischievous creature taking all sorts of disguises to waylay, deceive or annoy wayfarers. Standing by the road side on its hind legs it distends its belly (or rather Scrotum) and striking it with its fore- paws uses it as a drum Tanuki no hara tsnzumi ; wrapped in a kimono, it begs like an itinerant monk, waylays folks at night across paddy fields, causes fishermen to draw up their nets empty and only laughs at their misfortune. When in priestly disguise it is called TANUKI Bozu. It is often met with represented wrapped in lotus leaves and with a lotus flower doing duty as a hat, carrying in one paw a bill for sake ; also, with distended scrotum, Hachi jo jiki (8 mats wide) Kintama as a Kimono, or as a means of smothering a hunter. Amongst classical Tanuki stories, see the lucky tea kettle (BUMBUKU CHAGAMA) and the revenge of the Hare (Story of KACHI-KACHI YAMA).
The Shogun IEYASU has been irreverently nicknamed " The Old Badger" (FURU TANUKI.)
A trinity of pot bellied personages sometimes met with, shows Tanuki in company with the FUGU fish and the fat, hilarious God of Luck, HOTEL
57. BAG OF HOTEI ^ff ^ (See TAKARAMONO), the bag of precious things.
58. BAG OF PATIENCE *& & gf. An invisible bag, in which a man who suffers a wrong is supposed to hide his mortification. Used as a model for Netsuke, with the word Patience ^ ^ written on it, and the owner tying it up.
H
LEGEND IN JAPANESE ART.
59. BAGEN J5 7C- (See GAMA SENNIN.)
60. BAKEMONO fa $}. Generic name for GHOSTLY GOBLINS, Bakemonos are shown without feet, and with long straight hair, BAKEMONO TOFU is the goblin seller of bean cake who goes about after midnight and with whom it is fatal to hold conversation.
The BAKEMONO TORO is a lantern shown at the temple of Futaara in Nikko, to which it was presented in 1292, by Kanuma Gonsaburo. It used to take human shape and attack the passers-by, until a plucky warrior instead of flying away struck at the Bakemono with his sword, inflicting a deep cut to the top of the lantern.
GUMBARI NIUDO, is the New Year's eve ghoul.
HITOTSUME Kozo, with one eye only, a large hat on his head, carries a ball of fire in a sieve.
KAKUREZATO, a blind old man, with a knotted staff, whose business it is to carry bad people to Hades.
KAZANE NO ENKON Jf| 0) $5 ^|- The ghost of Kazane, depicted as a female with large round face, touzled hair and sometimes biting the blade of a curved knife. She was a jealous wife who was murdered with a scythe by her husband, Yorimon, and then thrown in a river. Her husband married again after his crime, and the ghost of the murdered woman haunted him and his new wife night and day, until the monk Yuten Shonin (q.v.) prayed for the disappear- ance of the ghost. In Hokusai's Mangwa, she is represented with one eye shut (symbolical of the moon) and the other open (symbolical of the sun). His pictorial treatment of the legend is, however, different in his illustrations to the Skin Kazane Gedatsu Monogatari of Bakin (1807) a general description of which has been given by the Goncourts.
OKiKU^f;&;C7)$*|lf. The Well Ghost, popularly called Bancho Sarayashiki (Plate-house of Bancho) from the name of the street in Tokyo, though is supposed to have originated at Banshu in Harima. It forms the subject of a play, Aoyama Tessan (Shuzen) was a Hatamoto, and the possessor of ten pieces of precious plate received from the Dutch, the keeping of which was entrusted to a maid, O Kiku, who steadfastly refused to accept Aoyama's love. In course of time the desperate
15
LEGEND IN JAPANESE ART.
soldier hid one of the plates, and suddenly ordered O Kiku to produce the whole. A hundred times she wearily counted them, but could only find nine. Aoyama then suggested that if she became his mistress he would overlook her supposed carelessness. She refused and he killed her, throwing her body into an old well.
Since then her ghost visited the place, counting one — two — three nine!
finishing with a heartrending wail, until Mitsakuni Shonin exorcised the well. In Mitford's version, the woman is said to have actually broken a plate, and being imprisoned by Aoyama, she managed to escape and threw herself in the well. The ghost issuing from the well faces the picture of Kazane in Hokusai's Mangwa (Vol. X).
MIKOSHI NIUDO, bald headed, pulls its tongue and lolling it about, looks over screens.
MITSUME Kozo or MITSU ME NYUDO, short necked with a long hairy face embellished with three eyes, one of which is in the centre of the forehead. Sometimes depicted as the ghost of the Palace of SOMA, frightening a court lady.
TOORI AKUMA, hideous flying goblin.
ROKUROKUBI with a long neck is occasionally shown as a female with three arms, often the male and female are depicted together.
UBUME, the old woman of the under world, who comes with a child in her arms and beseeches the passer-by to hold the infant a while and then goes away. The weight of the child increases by degrees, taxing the strength of the good- natured individual, and finally drops to the ground in the shape of a huge boulder. This adventure is related of Urabe Suyetake, retainer of Raiko.
As a parallel to the Ubume, note the myth of the old woman of Miiggelsberger in Altmark near the Teufelsee. She is seen in the form of a beautiful fair girl combing her hair who wishes to be set free from the enchantment which binds her to an underground castle : — the only way to do so is for a man to carry her on his back round the church three times without looking backwards albeit strange sights and hideous beasts surround the rescuer, and the woman will grow heavier as the task proceeds until the man drops.
"VAMA UBA, the mountain nurse is another female goblin, occasionally
1 6
BAKEMONO
GHOST (-/.«.)
MITSUMli KO7.O (.-/./,'.)
GHOST (II--.L.K.)
(JIIOST (H.S.T.)
KAZA.Mi (O.C.K.)
OKIKU (//..S.7-.) HADC.EK ('.HOST (;/'./..«)
CAT OF NABESHI.MA AM) ROKUUOKUlil (.I/.C )
M1KUSHI MUDO (O.H.N.)
LEGEND IN JAPANESE ART.
described as having a mouth under her hair, the locks of which transform them- selves into serpents, or catch small children, upon whom the Yama Uba feeds. Yama Uba (q.v.) mother of Kintoki, however, differed from these.
YUKI ONNA, the woman of the snow, seen in YABUMURA. (See Yuki-Onna).
TANUKI Bozu, the Badger disguised as a monk, KITSUNE Bi the Fox fire (Will-o'-the-wisp) are other goblin manifestations. More will be found under FOXES (KITSUNE). All spiders after dark become goblings, namely : Hiratakumo, the flat spider, Jikumo, the earth spider, Tenaga Kumo, the long legged, and Tot ate Kumo, the trap -door spider.
THE NUKE KUBI is a human head that leaves its body after dark. (See Hearn's Ghostly Japan and also his chapter on Ghosts in The Romance of the Milky Way (1905).
UMI Bozu, the Sea priest, is a huge ghost, rising from the sea ; usually shown frightening Kumanaya Tokuzo.
See also : Adachigahara, Abe no Seimei, Akuma, Cat of Nabeshima, Kama Itachi, Raiko, Shutendoji, Watanabe, Tamamo no Maye, and Kappa.
61. BAKOKU ^ ||s (SENNIN) lived in the cave Enka, in the Konron (Kwen-lun), where he served the great sage CHOYO-SOSHI 1|t |||f jjj§ jljjjj while his wife SONSENKO ^ fill ^ stayed at home to compound some drugs. One day, he heard some music, and looking up, saw his wife in the clouds, with two pages with halberts and flags. He wrote a line on the nearest gate and went away. He is depicted as a sage watching his wife riding in the clouds, surrounded with handsome attendants.
62. BAKU jf||, also called SHIROKINA KAMI, from a Chinese character which used to be hung in houses against pestilence, and is still painted on pillows to promote slumber. A mythical animal who feeds on the bad dreams of men, and is invoked by the words : Devour, o Baku \ (Baku Kurae). It has a hairy head with a long proboscis like an elephant's trunk, two tusks, a spiny backbone, a spotted hide and an ox tail, and it is said that one was once met, which spoke like a man. [Hearn, Kotto.] It is presumably inspired by the appearance of the tapir. There appears to be some confusion in Hearn's paper, as he gives the alternative name Hakutaku which usually applies to a different creature.
17
LEGEND IN JAPANESE ART.
63. BANYU GAWA J| A Jl|- River which was formerly called SAGAMI GAWA, though it takes its source in Kai. It owes its new name to the following incident : INAGA SABURO SHIGENARI, retainer of the Shogun YORITOMO, once celebrated the opening of a new bridge upon this river, in the presence of the Shogun. Suddenly, a dark cloud arose off the water, accompanied by a storm and the apparition of evil spirits. Yoritomo's horse took fright and jumped into the river, where it died at once. This event took place in the twelth month of the ninth year of Kenkyu, and to this incident is also attributed Yoritomo's death a short time later.
64. BASEISHI J| $c •¥• One of the Sennins.
65. BASHIKO Jjji ffi j||. A Sennin, the legendary Chinese physician MA SHE WANG, said to have lived from 2697 to 2597, B.C., at the time of Hwang Ti, and to have been specially skilled in the treatment of horses. He is represented performing acupuncture on the throat of a sick dragon, or carried into the clouds on the back of his grateful patient, whom he had cured by this operation and a draught of liquorice.
66. BATTLES :— DAN NO URA (1186). (See Minamoto, Taira, Yoshitsune.)
UJIGAWA (1184). (See Ichirai, Sasaki Takatsuna.) ICHINOTAKI. (See Yoshitsune, Tadanori, Atsumori.) ISHIBASHIYAMA. (See Yoritomo, and Sanada Yoichi.) YASHIMA. (See Yoshitsune.)
67. BATEISEKI fijj $$ ~fc, or Horse-hoof stone, is a jet black mineral like obsidian in appearance but capable of being cut and polished and made into small objects. Its name is due to the legendary story of it having been formed when the mare of SASAKI TAKATSUNA, plunged into the waters of the lake Dogo in search of her drowned foal, striking the bottom with her hoofs.
68. BEAUTIES OF NATURE. The three beauties of nature are the Moon the mountains, the Flowers in the rain and the Snow on the country.
69. BEGGARS. Amongst picturesque beggars, the most common is Komuso, the disgraced Rdnin, playing the flageolet with a tall basket resting on his shoulders hiding his head, two holes being left
18
BAIFUKU (ll-:l..K.) BENTEN (.)/.<;.)
BEKKAKO ('f •) BAIFUKU (.-/.)
BI.IN1) MUSICIAN (il.l-;.)
KOMUSO (O.i'.K.) BEI.l. OF MIIDEKA (tl.li.)
LEGEND IN JAPANESE ART.
for the eyes, he is depicted almost in every ferry boat, with the Saru Mawashi or monkey showman. But in reality the begging monks are probably the most numerous, the Sennichi Bozu begs for a thousand days, gathering money to help sick people, the Namatsu Bosu begs for some temple, and calls attention by striking together two pieces of wood, the Takuhatsu (Begging friar), hails from some buddhist temple, with staff, bronze bell and rosary, to prove his bona fides. The pilgrims to the temple of Kompira, called Kompira Mairi share with the pilgrims of the Nichiren sect to the temple of Seishoko (Kato Kiyomasa) a similar occupation, the latter accompany their tramping with the clanging of hand drums and the invocation, Namu mio ho renge kio. — In fact, most pilgrims beg and are called Junrei. The Saimon Katari, plays the role of a story teller and beggar, and uses a conch shell as distinctive musical instrument. Gozenno are blind women carrying Samisen. Kadotsukc are musical beggars in Tokyo.
70. BEIFUKU or BAIFUKU (MEI FUH) $£ H- One of the Sennins, shown riding on a Ho\vo bird (Phcenix). He was a Chinese governor of Nan Ch'ang (Nansho-no-Jo), who, disgusted with the corruption then prevailing, resigned his post in 14 B.C. and retired to mount Hiko, in Yunnan, where he penetrated the secrets of the genii, and having drunk of the elixir of everlasting life, returned to his native Show Ch'un. After a short while, some genii and a Lu-an bird (Peacock or Phcenix) swooped down from the skies and carried him away to the Taoists Paradise.
71. BEKKAKO ^ ^> $* "2 ^ Derisive gesture consisting in pulling downwards the lower eyelids, with or without accompaniment of putting out one's tongue, and often both eyelids are pulled down by the index fingers, while the thumbs are placed in the corners of the mouth. The meaning is the same as in France or in England (" No, you won't or " See my eye "). It is commonly found on representations of boys hiding some object, as for instance, a mask in the AKAMBE Game.
72. BELL OF DOJOJI $j[ Jfc % SEE KIYOHIME (Wrapping of the Bell).
73. BELL OF MIIDERA H ^ ^- This bell was hung according to
19
LEGEND IN JAPANESE ART.
legend, over twenty centuries ago, in the Temple of GION SOJA which the Buddha himself had built. It got into the possesion of RIUJIN, the Dragon King, whose daughter OTOHIME later presented it to TAWARA TODA (q.v.). The latter gave it to the temple of MIIDERA in the famous Monastery founded in 600 A.D, by the 38th Emperor of Japan TENCHI TENNO. It was subsequently stolen by BENKEI (q.v.). This bell is five and a half feet high, and its dull surface is accounted for by a legend. In the old days it used to shine like a mirror, but once, a Kyoto beauty beholding the bell, climbed upon it, and wishing aloud that she might have such a fine mirror, began playing her fingers around the reflection of her face, the metal shrank from her touch, leaving a dull corroded surface in place of the fine polish.
The bell is sometimes shown carried over the waves by oni, or represented alone, but more often carried on his back by Benkei, although the burden was nearly half a ton in weight.
74. BENKEI (MUSASHIBO) |$ J| [j£ H J^], also called SENNINKIRI. Hero of the twelfth century, whose history has become wrapped in legend. The son of a priest of Kumano, in Kii, he was of so boisterous a nature as to receive the nick- name of ONIWAKA (young demon) ; as such, he is depicted fighting with the Yamabushis, or capturing a huge fish in a waterfall. When seventeen years of age, he started in his career as a wandering priest (Yamabushi), and is often represented in that dress with the skull partly shaven, and supporting a small hexagonal cap, or blowing in the conch shell, which forms one of the attributes of that sect, or even inside a huge conch shell, drinking Sake to his heart's content. He grew to a height of eight feet and was as strong as one hundred men ; a stone is still shown in the gardens of the temple of Yoshino in which he is said to have driven two big iron nails. Later in his life, he posted himself at one end of the Gojo bridge in Kyoto, and there challenged all comers, reaping a fine harvest of nine hundred and ninety nine choice swords. In vol. XII. of the Mangwa, he is depicted attacking the wife of a fencing master with his spear, but the woman (Osono) caught the weapon under her arm, and held it fast, and escaped with her life. One day to complete his collection, he challenged YOSHITSUNE, who, though smaller in size easily beat him, thanks to his very
20
BENKEI
USHIWAKA (A-..V.) KANJINCHO (A.) GOJO NO 1IASIII (M.I,.
11ENKEI AND THE BELL (I--..I.M-)
BENKEI AND YOSHITSUNE (A.)
KICNKEI IN THE SHELL (A.)
CAPTURE OF TOSAIiO (A.)
LEGEND IN JAPANESE ART.
thorough training as a swordsman under the tuition of a Tengu Sojobo. Benkei then became the most faithful follower of his victor, with whose story his own becomes linked till the end. The fight on the Gojo Bridge is often met with especially on Tsuba, and is sometimes tersely suggested by the simple design of a pecular bridge post. One of the most celebrated of Benkei's own exploits is the carrying away of the bell of Miidera (see above), which he wanted to take to Hiyeisan, and which he actually took away on his shoulder with the beam still attached, and his paper lantern acting as a balance weight. As soon as Benkei reached Hiyeizan, he began to strike the bell with the other Yamabushis, but the faintest of sounds could only be obtained, like a dismal wail, till under the repeated blows it grew louder and louder, distinctly uttering " Miidera ye Yuko" ("I want to return to Miidera . . . ! "). Benkei, in a rage shouldered the bell again, dropped it on the edge of the mountain, and giving it a running kick, sent it back all the way down to the very door of the Miidera monastery. A less romantic version says that he made such noise with the bell for a whole night that the Abbot beseeched him to return it, and he did so, on condition of his being given as much Miso soup as he could swallow : a boiler five feet wide !
When Yoshitsune was compelled to escape from his half-brother Yoritomo, by flying from place to place, he determined to seek refuge in the castle of HIDEHIRA the Daimio of Oshu, whence he proceeded with Benkei and two others, in the disguise of Yamabushis. They found their way stopped in Kaga, by a barrier which had been erected at ATAKA (San no Kuchi), and which was guarded by a troop of Yoritomo's men under the command of SAYEMON TOGASHI, who refused to allow them to pass through. Benkei remonstrated with the only result that Sayemon threatened to behead the whole party. Feining resignation to this fate Benkei and his companions began praying to prepare for death, thus impressing Sayemon, who afraid to blunder, asked whether they had not some proof of their bona fides. Benkei seized the opportunity by drawing from his sleeve a roll, which he began to read, taking care not to let Sayemon look too closely at it. The document purported to be a letter from the Abbot of HOKOJI commanding them to collect monies for the reconstruction of the Todai temple of Nara ; Sayemon who according to the Shako Bukuro, was aware of their identity, appeared to be satisfied, when one of his party whispered to him
21
LEGEND IN JAPANESE ART.
pointing out Yoshitsune. Benkei, equal to the occasion, swiftly turned, and reviling Yoshitsune for what he styled irreverent demeanour, gave him a stiff beating and apologized to Sayemon for the disgraceful conduct of that young monk, thus succeeding in getting through the gate. This is known as the Kan Jin Cho (subscription list) episode. At some previous time, when Yoritomo had sent Tosabo Shoshun to murder Yoshitsune by stealth, Benkei discovered him and brought him to the presence of his master.
He is also shown attaching, by order of Yoshitsune, a notice to the plum tree of Amagasaki, which had been the subject of a poem of the Emperor Nintoku's. Benkei is often represented with seven weapons, swords, bow and arrow, axe, kanabo, etc. Benkei died erect, pierced by numberless arrows, on the bridge of the fortress of Takadachi, in Oshu, at the battle of Koromo Gawa, where Yoshitsume was defeated by Fujiwara Yasuhira in 1189. But legend says that only a dummy was on the bridge, and that he escaped with his master.
75. BENTEN p % also BENTEN SAMA and DAI BENZAITEN ^ ~% J$. ]£C> The only female member of the SniCHi-FuKU-JiN or Gods of Good Fortune, she is the Goddess of learning and speech, the transformation of SARASVATI, and her attributes are the Dragon and HAKUJA, the white serpent sometimes shown with the appearance of the former : as an old man with white eyebrows and a crown. She is also the Goddess of Love, and is particularly worshipped at Enoshima, (in connection with this temple, see the Story of Hojo Tokimasa) and in the islands of Chikubushima, Miyajima (Itsukushima).
Benten has fifteen sons : the fifteen youths (Jingo Dojii) Aikio, Hanki, Hikken, Guiba, Inyaku, Jusha, Keisho, Konsai, Kwantai, Sanyo, Sensha, Shusen, Shomo, Tochiu, and Zensai (q.v.)
Benten is variously depicted with eight hands, vajra hilted sword and chakra, rope, axe, bow and arrow, as the Happi Benten, and the Kongo mio Benzaiten, or merely as Dai Benzai ten with the sword and Tama. Her worship replaced that of Itsukushima (daughter of Susano-o), subsequently to the introduction of the Shingon sect by Kobodaishi. (See Anderson and Butsu Dzo Dzui.)
22
LEGEND IN JAPANESE ART.
Benten is also called Kotokuten (Kung Te) or Goddess of meritorious works and Ako mio-on-ten, Goddess of the marvellous voice.
A popular story quoted by Puini (II sette genii della felicita) says that Bunsho, daughter of Shimmiyosu Daimiojin prayed to Benten to grant her male heirs. One day she gave birth to 500 eggs, and afraid least some monster might issue from the eggs, she had them placed in a basket and put in the Rinzugawa near by. A fisherman lower down rescued them from the stream, and set them in warm sand to hatch ; great was his astonishment a few days later, at finding instead of chicks, a crowd of boys. The poor man asked the advice of the head man, who advised him to seek help from the charitable lady Bunsho, and thus the boys were returned to their progenitor, educated as befitted their station, and their mother was deified.
76. BEN WA ~j\ ^Q. Chinese sage, shown on one side of a river, with a jade stone, whilst on the other, a Prince looks at him. He brought the stone to the King, who would not believe it was jade, owing to its size, and sentenced him as an impostor, but Benwa stood his ground, and after repeated audiences, convinced the Prince of the purity of the gem.
77. BIDORI. (See the Tongue cut Sparrow.)
78. BIMBO j^ 2>,. Bimbo was a poor farmer of Hakuzan in Echizen, whose worldly possessions after twenty years of unremitting toil, were barely three-quarter of an acre of land, and who, having no son, wished to adopt a boy, One day, as he was leaving the field, a storm broke out, and lightning fell at his very feet, dazzling him. After many invocations to the Gods, he was starting for home, when he noticed a rosy little boy lying on the ground, whom he picked up and 'took to his wife. They called the baby RAITARO : The first born of the Thunder God, a Gift from RAJJIN. Prosperity followed, and Bimbo changed his name to KANEMOCHI. When Raitaro was eighteen years old, he took the shape of a dragon and flew away towards a castle shaped group of clouds, far away above the hills. When Kanemochi and his wife were buried, their gravestone was hewn in the shape of a dragon. (Griffis).
79. BIMBOGAMI J| ;£ P The God of poverty, attended by the poverty
23
LEGEND IN JAPANESE ART.
insect (Death-watch : Anobium notatum) or BIMBO MUSHI, the ticking of which betrays the presence of the God. He is black and is the shadow of the white God of riches FUKU NO KAMI. Charms are of very little avail against his presence, but one consists in placing a copper rin in one of those bamboo tubes used as fire bellows (Hifikidake), and after reciting a magical sentence, throwing the lot out of doors. See the story of ENJOBO. (Hearn).
80. BINGA CHO H Hm J|, " Angels," (See GARIO).
81. BINGO NO SABURO ft $£ H MR. (See KOJIMA TAKANORI).
82. BINSON PH Jf|. The Chinese paragon of filial virtue MIN SUN who is also named in Japanese SHIKEN. He had a step-mother with two sons of her own, who treated him badly, left him half starving, and clothed in rags. Once when he drove his father's wagon, he was so weak that he could not keep the reins in his hands, and his father discovered the ill use he had to stand. He then proposed to divorce his wife, but MIN SUN intervened saying that it would be better for him to die of cold and hunger than to let his step-mother and two half-brothers be driven away. It is said that the wretched woman reformed her ways.
83. BINZURU H[ Hf JH (JIKAKU DAISHI). One of the sixteen Arhats (Pindola) who broke his vow of chastity by remarking on the beauty of a female, and is accordingly excluded from the circle, and his statues left outside the chancel. Buddha gave him the power of healing, and people go and rub the part of his statue corresponding to the part of their own body which is in need of cure. He is said to have been a retainer of the King Udayama, and is often confused with Ikkaku Sennin and with Kume no Sennin.
Binzuru's name is also given as Hatsuratasha in the Butsu dzo dzui and various legends relating to him make of this fallen Arhat the Wandering Jew of Buddhism. Indeed its story has been discussed under that title in Nature (1895), and later in Notes and Queries by Mr. Minakata Kumagusu (1899- 1900).
84. BISHAMON TEN ?4t ^ H ^C (TAMONKEN), the equivalent of KUVERA the Hindoo God of riches, is also the God of wealth in the Chinese Pantheon. He is one of the Shichi Fuku-jin, and also belongs to the Jiu-ni-O (Twelve Deva
24
UBUMR GOBI. IN CAT
(Cotlccttons of Sltitzo I'Ctito and the Author)
trMI ROZU IGA NO TSUBONB
LEGEND IN JAPANESE ART.
Kings), and is shown in full armour, with a fierce expression, carrying in his right hand a small pagoda shaped shrine, and in the left a lance. The latter attribute is responsible for his erroneous description amongst the Gods of war.
Identical with Vaisramana, the Maharajah of the west he is one of the Shi Tenno, and he saved the life of Shotoku Taishi, in the latter's holy war against the enemy of Buddhism Moriya. According to tradition, Shotoku Taishi had in his helmet figures of the four Maharajah's, and Bishamon appeared to him in battle as a venerable old man.
85. BLIND MEN, earn their living as Shampooers, money lenders and musicians. When addicted to the first occupation they are called Amma San, and they form an unending theme for funny carvings or other artistic presentment, either single with a huge sponge, or in pairs with all their working paraphernalia, their whistles and sticks, or at work on a patient, and often in humorous groups.
Blind men feeling an elephant is a common subject, and there is a story that once an Indian elephant having been brought to Japan, a party of blind people went to feel it, and could not agree in their opinions of the nature of the monster, finding it like a dagger, a snake, the trunk of a tree, as they touched the tusks, the trunk or the legs of the animal. And a moral is deduced therefrom, not to judge of anything on the impression caused by parts only, instead of the whole. The patron of the blind is KAGEKIYO, and their headman holds an official diploma and the title Kengyo.
86. BOEI ^ ^ (SENNIN), ascended to heaven in a cloud, in the fourth year of Shogen, in the reign of Sen of the Kan dynasty. His brothers KI-I and SHIKWA then resigned their respective governorships of Suikwa and Bui, and went to the eastern mounts where he instructed them, (sitting on a cloud).
87. BOKKO ?fC £ (SENNIN), controlled the inhabitants of fairyland and superintended the magic of the world. He is represented standing on a terrace from which on the day of Tei-U, he looked over Tenko.
88. BOKU-O ^ f| 3£ (See MUHWANG). Fifth sovereign of the fifth dynasty of CHOW in China, reigned from 1001 till 947 B.C., and his history is shrouded in legend. Two episodes are most often chronicled ; one his journey to
25
LEGEND IN JAPANESE ART.
visit Sei Wang Mu (Seiobo) in the Kwen-lun mountains when but seventeen years old, the other his expedition against the tribes of Southern China, in a war chariot driven by Tsao-Fu, and the eight horses of which carried him "wherever wheel-ruts ran or hoofs had trodden." These eight horses are also fairly often met with in Japanese art.
89. BOMO 7$ H! or MAO-MENG of Kanyo, one of the Sennins, shown standing on the head of a dragon, was a servant and pupil of Kikoku Sensei. He went to mount Ko, and was carried to heaven by a dragon on the day of Koshi, the gth month, the 3oth year of the beginning of the Shin dynasty.
go. BOKUSH1 |{| -f- of So, noticed in his sleep that a man from mount Sayu was reciting books, and heaping clothes upon him. Once he watched and when the stranger came he asked him whether he was the spirit of the mountain, and if so to teach him the secret of immortality. The stranger consented and gave him a sacred book.
He is depicted rising from his bed to greet the spirit.
91. BRIDGES— See :-
Banyu Gawa, Gensuke (Matsue Bridge),
Ichirai Hoshi, Kakudaitsu
Seta Bridge, and Tawara Toda, Rohan
Benkei (Gojo Bridge), Tanabata.
In Chinese romance, the LAN K'lAO jj^ ^ or INDIGO BRIDGE on CH'ANG NGAN is famous and emblematic of faithful love, because, once Wei Sheng Kao, having been given an appointment under the bridge by a woman, was overtaken by a sudden flood, but let himself be drowned clasping a pillar rather than abandon his tryst, and the Sennin P'ei Hang under the Tang dynasty, fell in love with a girl who lived near that bridge, and of whose name he had once dreamt. The Sennin had however, to spend a month in search of a jade mortar and pestle for the girl's mother, before the wedding could take place.
92. BUGAKU |8| =H| or SAREGAKU, a warrior dance, anterior to the No. Amongst other books see Bugaku-no-Zu (1840) by Takashima Chiharu.
93. BUJUTSU (CHO-) $1 ft (See Yojo).
26
BISIIAMON (<;.//..V.)
BUTTERFLY DANCE (ir.L.B.)
BISHAMO.N (ir.C.,/.)
BOMO (If.L.K.)
BUWO («'./..y;.)
BUSHISHI (//'./.. K.)
HORSES OF BOKUO (./.)
LEGEND IN JAPANESE ART.
94. BUNGORO ;>£ jS. 115 (DAIGOZAN-). The son of BUZAYEMON, born at Murakami in 1788, weighing then 3% kilogs, he grew to two feet high by the time he was nine months old, and as a monstrosity was daily paraded in the procession of wrestlers before the beginning of their matches (or Dohyo-iri). It is sometimes quoted as an illustration of a large but weak thing, like the big trunk of the Aralia Edulis aimed at in the Japanese proverb " Udo no Tai-boku." (Stenackers).
95. BUNKI MANDARA ^ H J| P£ JH- When CHUJO-HIME 41 $f #15 daughter of Toyonari Fujiwara became a nun, in 763, at the monastry of Tayema Dera she prayed ardently that the Boddhisatvas might appear to her in the flesh. At last they granted her prayer, and in a night one of them weaved before her, with lotus fibres, a picture of Paradise, fifteen feet square, in a room nine feet wide.
96. BUMBUKU CHAGAMA £ jg '£ |£. The Lucky Tea Kettle.
This is one of the Badger stories and relates to an old tea kettle, the property of a priest of the temple of Morinji in the town of Tatebayashi near Tokyo. One day as the priest was putting the kettle on the fire, he suddenly saw four legs appear at the bottom, the spout change into the neck and head of a badger, and a long bushy tail shoot out at the back. The kettle also became covered with hair, and assuming the shape of a badger, started running round the temple. After a difficult chase it was secured, and placed in a box, where it resumed its normal shape. The priest sold it for twenty vin to a tinker who, waking up in the night saw the kettle walking about the room. On the advice of a friend he started as a showman to exhibit this accomplished kettle, and after making a fortune, took it back to the temple, where it was laid amongst the treasures.
97. BUNSHO 3t Jit- The Chinese Sennin WEN-SIAO, generally shown writh his wife SHINRETSU (Ts'Ai LWAN), daughter of the paragon of filial virtue Wu Meng ; both of them riding tigers which carried them to heaven.
98. BUSHISHI j£ jj^ i- The Sennin Wu-Sm-TszE, generally shown ascending to heaven on an open scroll, as he was wont to ride on a magic blue scroll wherever he pleased.
27
LEGEND IN JAPANESE ART.
99. BUTTERFLY DANCE. A woman's dance performed with butterfly wings attaced to the shoulders. Its invention is often attributed with that of several other dances to the Chinese P'AN FEI, " in whose footsteps grew the lilies."
100. BUWO ^ 3E (Wu WANG). Founder of the SHU (Cnow) ^ dynasty, who in the semi-legendary period (1069 B.C.), led the revolt against SHO (SHANG). At the battle of Bokuya the opponent general Hoso, cut him down with a spear, but was put to flight by a golden dragon with eight claws. Hoso was captured by Sangisei and Nankinwatsu, but Buwo granted him his life on account of his bravery. When however he saw the troops of Sho defeated, Hoso beheaded himself.
101. CARP $$[ (Koi). Often represented leaping a waterfall, in allusion to a Chinese story of a sturgeon of the Hang- Ho, which having swam up the river, crossed the rapids of Lung Men (Dragon Gate), on the third day of the third month, and itself became a dragon.
The carp is an attribute of Kinko, Ebisu, Kensu.
102. CASH. Copper cash strung together are often seen as netsuke. When fifteen, they represent the customary offering to the Gods of fifteen new coins, made at the time of every new issue from the mint.
Sixteen are emblematic of the sixteenth day of the sixth month, when from from old times sixteen cakes were eaten as a charm against pestilence ; poor people who could not afford sixteen cakes, had sixteen cash worth, and in memory of the introduction of the Kago Tsuho (Chinese copper cash) in 1244 by Go Saga Tenno, the day is called Go Kajo.
103. CASTLE (See AIR CASTLE).
104. CATS 3f§. Japanese cats are like Manx cats, with stumps instead of tails, and a long tailed one is accordingly credited with supernatual powers (See the story of O TOYO, the goblin Cat of Nabeshima). Cats of three colors are called Mike-Neko, and are considered lucky, especially by sailors, who believe them capable of keeping the 0 Bake (Honorable ghosts) away. If a cat is left
28
LEGEND IN JAPANESE ART.
with a dead body, the corpse will get up and dance. At the time of Buddha's death (Nehon no Shako) all the animals wept with the exception of the Cat.
One meets sometimes with representations of two cats, one male and one female (0-han Chio-e-mon-o-michiuki) representing the story of two lovers who eloped, and were transformed into cats. The Neko Bake was an old cannibal woman haunting the old houses of Okasaki on the Tokaido road.
Maneki Neko is the Beckoning, bewitching kitten.
A story of two cats is given in Mitford's tales. A man had a daughter who was continuously followed by an old torn cat, and thinking the torn might be somehow in love with his daughter and trying to cast a spell upon her, he decided to kill him. But at night, the cat came and told him that really it was an old rat living in the loft which was in love with the girl, and he dogged her footsteps to protect her. He further advised him to borrow a cat named Buchi belonging to some Ajikawa man, so that with its help they might kill the rat. The old man followed the cat's advice, and during the same night was awakened by a great noise, to find that the rat was nearly too strong for the two cats. He thereupon, cut its throat. The two cats however, soon died of their wounds, and were buried in the temple.
NABESHIMA NO NEKO f$ H © $f§. One of the Daimios of Hizen had a favourite named O TOYO, who one night was killed by a large cat, the brute burying her thereafter in the gardens, and assuming her shape, to harass the prince, whose life ebbed away day by day. His councilors decided that a guard of a hundred men should every night watch his sleep, but this proved ineffective, as they were driven to sleep irresistibly towards the ninth hour. It was then decided to get the priest Ruiten of Miyo-In to recite prayers, with a view to curing the prince. One night, this priest noticed a soldier praying to Buddha, and on enquiry, found that he was praying to the same end as himself, because being of too small a rank, he could not be allowed to watch in the Daimio's room. Ruiten arranged that this very loyal Ito Soda should watch that same night. At the usual time, all the retainers succombed to that strange slumber except Ito, who, as he felt sleep overcoming him, placed on the mats a square of oiled paper, and dug his ko-katana in his thigh, turning it in the wound
29
LEGEND IN JAPANESE ART.
as sleep grew upon him. O Toyo's double, came and expressed her surprise at this loyal spirit, but thanks to his watchfulness she was unable to harass the prince, either then or during the following nights. She then desisted from coming into the room again, and thereafter the men did not feel this over- powering sleep. Ito expressed his opinion that this was proof of the apparent O Toyo's witchcraft, and induced Isahaya Buzen, the Daimio's chief councillor, to set an armed watch around the castle whilst he went to attack the witch in her own room ; when after fighting him for some time with a halberd, she took the form of a huge cat with two tails, and escaped, to be later caught amongst the mountains.
105. CATFISH jH;. (See NAMAZU), EARTHQUAKE FISH, Jishin uwo.
106. CHA NO YU ^ 0) H|. Reduced to a bare definition, the Cha no yu, tea ceremony, consists in the meeting of several guests in a room of simple con- struction, to partake each of a sip of a cup of tea specially prepared by their host, in a solemn manner, according to certain intricate rules.
The tea plant was imported from China in the VHIth and IXth centuries by Dengyo Daishi and Kobodaishi, but its cultivation, though encouraged by Saga Tenno, did not flourish until the XHIth century, when Yeisai attempted to convert the Shogun Sanetomo to its use in place of the intoxicating liquors to which this ruler was addicted. Shortly after, a Buddhist monk brought from China a complete set of utensils then used in preparing the ordinary tea infusion, and these impliments became the property of the famous Ashikaga Takauji. By that time the plantations of tea trees made in Seburiyama by Yeisai (Senko) and his friend Myo-ye in Uji, had prospered, and when tea drinking became fashionable amongst the leading classes, Shuko, priest of Shomiyoji, was entrusted by Yoshimasa with the drafting of a code of rules to be observed in the preparation of tea. It was Shuko who introduced the method of grinding the tea to a powder, a practice which is followed to this day, and has received the name of Ma cha (powder tea).
Kitanuki Dochin and Takeno Showo followed Shuko as tea experts (Chajin), and their pupil SEN NO RIKIU became attached in that capacity to Oda Nobunaga, and later to Toyotomi Hideyoshi.
3°
LEGEND IN JAPANESE ART.
Rikiu codified the rules of the Cha no yu to a greater nicety of detail than his predecessors, and, perhaps owing to the depleted state of the country after long internal wars, perhaps also from purely sesthetic motives connected with the highly religious associations of the Cha no yu, he decreed that the utensils were to be without intrinsic value, and the Cha no yu rooms, then called Sukiya, small (four-and-a-half mats), simple and decorated in the plainest possible style.
The priests of the Zen-Shu sect had from the beginning been the apostles of the Cha no yu they became in time besides Chajin, art critics, to whom were submitted pictures, pottery, carvings, by those desirous to obtain expert opinion : to this state of afiairs the learned Keeper of the Musee d'Ennery, Mr. E. Deshayes attributes the taste of Japanese for plain pottery in a lecture delivered at the Musee Guimet, in January, 1898.
It is chronicled that the simplicity which had at first been a natural con- dition of the Cha no ym became later affected and that a sentimental value was attached to tea bowls, bamboo whisks, kettles, etc., altogether beyond sane limits. It is questionable however whether the craze reached its apex before the sale held in 1899 at Tokyo and quoted by Brinkley, when a bamboo flower vase reached over five hundred yen, and a Kakemono on which the two characters, Hei-Shin, had been written by a literati of the Tang dynasty, nearly touched sixteen hundred yen. . . . An example worthily followed by western amateurs in their quest for archaic Japanese works of art.
The rules of Cha no yu, however, altered in the course of time until there are at present several schools of Chajin, whose elaborate performances differ by details of more or less importance. Two kinds of tea are drunk : the Usu cha or weak tea, and the Koi cha or thick tea, said to resemble weak spinach.
The general programme of the ceremony is as follows : — (i) The host prepares the room ; (2) The guests, on arrival, assemble in a Pavilion in a garden ; (3) The guests are called by means of a wooden gong, they wash their hands, and enter the special room (Cha shitsu) through a very small and low opening ; (4) The guests congratulate the host, and partake of a light repast ; (5) The guests retire to the garden ; (6) They re-enter the room ; (7) The host brings forth from his kitchen (Mizu-ya) the various implements which are duly admired one by one in rotation and their artistic value commented upon ; (8) The host
31
LEGEND IN JAPANESE ART.
places in a tea bowl a spoonful of ground Uji tea, pours water over it, whisks the mixture to a frothy mass, and hands it to the chief guest who raises the bowl to the level of his forehead, lowers it, drinks, lowers it again, brings it to the level at which he received it from the host, wipes it, passes it to the next guest. The bowl makes a complete turn on itself during the several motions indicated above. When the host receives it back, he drains it, apologizes for the poorness of the brew, and after wiping the bowl passes it round again for examination, and his guests leave with due ceremony.
In summer a portable furnace is used to prepare the boiling water, in winter the fire-place in the floor of the room is made use of. The Tamagawa River famous for the passage of Narihira is associated with a Cha no yu garden called Tamagawa Cha Niwa in memory of a chajin Rosha who lived near that river.
A more detailed account of the Cha no yu can be found in the fifth volume of the Trans. Japan Society, by W. Harding Smith ; a historical sketch in the preface of Von Langegg Thee Geschichten, and a general article in " Things Japanese."
As the implements of the tea ceremony are of frequent occurence in art, our illustration has been prepared chiefly from the Nikon Fuzoku Shi, and the following list gives the names of the various utensils, for the convenience of collectors.
r. CHA IRE, Tea caddy.
2. CHA IRE FUKURO, Silk bag for same.
3. FUTA OKI, Stand for kettle cover.
4. CHA SEN, Tea whisk.
5. HABOKI, Feather brush for ashes.
6. KOGO, Incense box.
7. GOTOKU, Kettle holder.
8. HAI NO NABE, Ash box.
9. CHA WAN, Tea bowl. 10. IDO CHA WAN, id.
n. FUKUSA, Silk wrapper.
12. CHAKIN, Tea napkin.
13. CHASAZI or CHAHI, Spoon shaped tea measure.
32
CHA NO VU
i\
TEA GATHERER (./.) CHAJIN ASLEEP (-Y.)
CHAJIN (1I.S.T.) IMPLEMENTS (II.S.T.)
CHAJIN (/!/.£.) CHAJIN EXPERT (f.D.)
LEGEND IN JAPANESE ART.
14. HISHAKU, Water dipper.
15. HIBASHI, Fire tongues (used like chopsticks).
1 6. KWAN, Split rings to lift the kettle.
17. RAKU, Nane of ware (Cha wan).
1 8. KAMA, Kettle.
19. FURO, Stove used in summer.
20. Mizu ZASHI, Fresh water jar.
21. HAIJO, Tool used in arranging the ashes with a pattern on the surface.
22. CHIZUKEI, Bamboo flower stand.
22A. KAKE HANA IKE, Hanging flower basket.
23. JIZAI, "Pot hook" to hang kettle above fire.
24. KAMA SHIKI, Bamboo mat for kettle.
25. SETTO, Cover for stove.
26. KANKEI, Lamp stand.
27. Ro, Fire-place iron frame, for winter use.
28. SUMI TORI, Charcoal basket.
29. SUKIA ANDO, Paper lantern.
30. Mizu KOBOSHI, Slop basin.
31. CHA Usu, Tea mill.
A common enough type of netsuke represents the Tea gatherer, a bonny little woman in gay clothes, carrying a basket of green leaves in her hands, another common subject is a gibe at the Chajin, who is represented asleep on his tea mill.
It is reported of Itakura Shigemune that when he was called upon to try a case in which he thought the personal appearance of the parties might prejudice his mind, he sat behind a screen grinding tea whilst the litigants gave their evidence.
According to tradition, leyasu desired to be rid of Kato Kiyomasa and ordered one of his retainers to invite him to a Cha no yu, in which the tea was mixed with poison, the retainer duly died, but some say that Kato Kiyomasa escaped death.
It is told of Rikiu, that once his servant having swept the garden path quite clean prior to a Cha no yu, the Chajin went out, and silently shook a tree,
33
LEGEND IN JAPANESE ART.
the leaves of which scattering on the path reestablished its natural appearance. He was allowed to make a tea ceremony for himself before his execution.
107. CHAN CHU ityt $$i [M Ml» A Chinese legend. Chan chu is the sacred frog HiA-Mo symbol of the rainy moon, in earthly life she was CH'ANG-NGO, wife of the archer How-I. When the moon was a prisoner in the clouds, and the ten suns had nearly wrecked the world, How-I struck them with his arrows, and delivered the moon ; in gratitude, Seiobo, gave him a jade cup containing the dew of Immortality, but Ch'ang Ngo stole it and flew to the moon, where she was at once transformed into a frog.
108. CHANG-K'IEN. ?Jt ^. Chang K'ien was a minister of the Chinese Emperor Wu-Ti of the Han dynasty about 130 B.C. He is celebrated for his numerous journeys and embassies, and especially for his travels in Western China up to the sources of the Yellow River, this journey being the subject of the following legend :
Chang K'ien travelled for seven days and nights up the Yellow River dis- covering vine trees, and meeting all the animals of Chinese Mythology: the huge tortoises, the tiger, seven feet long and a thousand years old, quite white and bearing on its forehead the character 3E (King), the blue storks sacred attendants of Seiobo, the Kwei or cassia tree of immortality, ten thousand feet high, the flaming fruits of which are more powerful than the peaches of Seiobo, conferring everlasting life to whoever eats them ; he saw the hare which lives in the moon, and the old man who binds lover's feet ; finally on the seventh night he noticed that there were no stars reflected in the waters. The following morning, near the sources he saw a woman dressed in silver cloth on which were embroidered figures of stars, and who was weaving the net of the Zodiac. He enquired what was her name and what was that place, but she only showed him her radiant shuttle, telling him to refer the matter to the astrologer on his return. This worthy, Gen Kum Pei ;|j ^P, told him that no doubt he had been as far as the star Chih Nil, the spinning maiden who, on the seventh night of the seventh month is allowed to cross over the milky way, to meet her lover, K'ien Niii, passing over a bridge of magpies, (some others say of red maple leaves), and that in fact referring to his observations, he had at that very same date noted a shooting star passing
34
LEGEND IN JAPANESE ART.
near Chih Nil. He had therefore travelled the whole length of the Yellow River as far as the milky way, which continues it into heaven, as decreed by Nil Kwa.
The Chinese and Japanese Repository says that he brought to China the Spinach, and that he went south of the Equator, never to return ; but his oar was carried back by a spirit, who dropped it from heaven, and stated that the remainder of his ship would soon follow. In allusion to his journeys, the inscription, "The sea is full of propitious stars," is still written over the doors of boat cabins.
109. CHANG LIANG (See CHORIO). no. CHAO YUN (See CHOUN).
in. CHARMS (Mamori fuda) ^ %\j, are carried by people, in a small bag the shape of which is used as a model for netsuke, and which are called Mamori Bukuro, or Kinchaku.
The Exorcism of Devils (Oni Yarai) is described later on, the return of the Oni after being cast out is prevented by driving in the top joint of the door frame a wooden skewer, passing through a holly leaf, and into the split head of which is fixed the head of a dried fish (Iwashi).
Hinode (Sunrise), grass if allowed to grow on a roof, ensures the house against fire.
The Kusudama is a charm formed of oranges, white and red flowers, and chrysanthemum leaves, used on the boys' festival or Tango no Sekku : The various components of the charm are bound together by strings of five colors.
Amongst love charms, the ashes of the newt are specially valued, and the animal itself on being asked whether there was any other love philtre, made with his toe a ring, meaning : only this : Money !
The Ten Teri Bozu are rude figures of a man and some children cut out of paper, which are fastened to the doors of houses, or to a species of belladonna to obtain fine weather.
Clay statuettes of Hotei are bought by the people on the first horse day of the second month at the temple of Inari at Miyako ; if kept in good order, on a raised throne near the kitchen oven for seven years, this is considered a token of
35
LEGEND IN JAPANESE ART.
good luck, the images are then buried in the garden of the temple, and a new series started.
Ants being unwelcome visitors, the ant charm (Ari yoke) trades upon their thrifty instinct, and consists only of a strip of paper with the notice Ichi nin maye, jiu roku mon, (each passer by to pay sixteen mon}.
A Poem of Michizane was held in great esteem in Kiushu as a protection against the Kappa (q.v.).
Small Zori (straw sandals) are hung in front of doors to prevent children from catching infantile diseases.
Gohei and Shimenawa, identical with those used in Shinto temples, form part of the working paraphernalia of the Corean Sorceress. Sorcery is monopolised there by females.
Strips of paper or thin wooden laths with inscriptions, or impressions of sacred woodcuts, are used as general charms. They are obtained from temples, and are placed above the door, year after year.
Burglars and thieves are easily caught if one burns moxas on their foot- prints. Their visits are avoided by pasting in the house a print of the Dog of Mitsumine, or by placing a kitchen knife (hocho) under an inverted wash basin, . made of brass, and called Kanadarai, on the bottom of which is placed a Zori (straw sandal).
Unfortunately, there is a counter charm intended to bring sleep upon the inmates, and which consists in the would-be thief performing in the garden a simple but indescribable operation. The burning of moxas is said to make sore the feet of the author of the foot-prints and prevent him from fleeing afar. It is also recommended to apply moxas to the getas (clogs) of any guest who remains too long in the house, bores being apparently common the world over ; a broom is set upside down at the same time, and the unwelcome visitor will then leave.
DOG AND BABY. Figures of a dog and child, placed in a room in the raised Tokonoma, are believed to be a charm against most evils.
USHI TOKI MAIRI Q $f fa 9 , " Praying at the hour of the Ox " is a mode of incantation or envoutement to obtain from the Gods the speedy death of an enemy or a faithless lover. The woman bent upon this purpose, goes at two o'clock in the morning to the local shrine, armed with a hammer, some nails, and
36
CHINNAN CAT GHOST (M.E.) CARP (A )
CHINNAN (M.E.)
CHARM [MITSl'MINK] (ff.S.T.)
CHINNAN (.l/.r.) CHIYO'S BUCKET (G.H.ff.)
LEGEND IN JAPANESE ART.
sometimes a straw doll, representing the doomed person. She drives the nails in a tree and prays for the demise of her enemy, repeating the invocations several nights in succession. Usually the woman lets her hair down her back, carries on her head an iron tripod with three lighted candles, and wears very high clogs. See Bimbogami, Nanakusa.
112. CHENG (SHE WANG Ti) jgr rj£ Jl ^]. Said to be the son of the Chinese Minister Lu Pu WEI, and of the wife of the Emperor CHWAN SIANG WANG whom he succeeded in 247 B.C. He is responsible for the construction of the great wall, and the destruction in 213 B.C. of all the literary records, with the exception of a few on medicine, Feng Shuy, and of those which, according to legend, were taken to Japan by JOFUKU (Su She), though there appears to be a difference of six years between the two events. He was highly superstituous, and having been told that his empire would be overthrown by Hu, he spent most of his forces in keeping at bay the northern tribes of barbarians (Hu), little dreaming that the prophecy would be fulfilled by his own son, Hu Hai.
A favorite representation shows him under a pine tree, sometimes as a boy, (he mounted the throne when thirteen years old), in allusion to the legend that one day a storm breaking whilst he was walking he ran for shelter under a gnarled tree, which at once shot forth twigs and leaves to provide adequate shelter for the august head.
113. CHENG FEI. See CHOHI.
114. CHENG TU ^ {jlj, called the begging bowl priest, was a Chinese priest whose magic powers were doubted by a magistrate. In answer he boiled some water in his alms bowl, and from the seething water he caused flowers to spring.
115. CHESTNUTS. See Emblems. Story of the Monkey and the Crab. (Tooth- marked), See Go-Daigo.
116. CHIHAKU|H&. SeeYojo.
117. CHIHAYA=p J^. See OMORI HIKOHICHI.
118. CHINGI ffi, f!|, (leading an ox with his wife) of Gogun, learned
37
LEGEND IN JAPANESE ART.
Taoism in Shokuchu, and acquired great merit in curing the sick. His virtue was recognised, and Roshi called him to heaven. He ascended to the sky with his wife KEISHI JF -f in broad daylight, during a frost, after which the spectators below could not see him, or his wife, any more, but the bull which was hitched to their waggon remained in their field marking the place of their ascent.
119. CHINHAKU ^ |$, who was also called UN-SENSEI (Mr. Cloud), rode on a donkey, and travelled to Kwaen for pleasure.
120. CHINNAN ^ >fj|). The Chinese Sennin CH'EN NAN, also called SUIKYO and NANBOKU, shown evoking a Dragon from a gourd or bowl, or sailing on a large hat. Like many other Rishis, he is an old man of beggarly appearance and he was wont to travel several hundred Li daily with his hair flowing behind him.
Legend has it that he lived 1,350 years, mostly on dog's flesh, making baskets, and hiding in the dust, besides transmuting metals, and concocting magic pills. Once passing through a village in Sogo, he found the people praying for rain, whereupon he thrust his stick into a pool of dried mud in which he detected the presence of a dragon, and compelled the latter to open the cataracts of heaven upon the parched land. He is often called the Dragon Sennin, and his hat plays the role of a boat as well as his umbrella, because he once used it to cross a river as there was nobody to ferry him.
121. CHIUYU ffi ft, the Chinese CHUNG YEO or TSZE Lu, one of the filial paragons who used to carry ice blocks on his back for the sustenance of his parents in his young age. He lived from 543 to 480 B.C., and was one of the disciples of Confucius. According to legend, the Thunder God was his father, and he was a very martial character.
122. CHISHI (KEISHI), the family name of the Chinese priest deified as HOTEI (q.v.).
123. CHIOSU. During the war between the Minamoto and Taira, one of the retainers of the lord of Chiosu, having been sent on an expedition, encountered a party of the enemy and barely escaped with his life, his armour being cut to
38
LEGEND IN JAPANESE ART.
pieces. On his return he was presented by his lord with his own set of armour as a mark of appreciation. This story is sometimes found in prints.
124. CHIUAI ffl lik. Jfc JE- One of the Emperors, the pusillanimous husband of JINGO KOGO (q.v.). Kwannon sent him two dreams, ordering him to subdue Corea, but as he disdained them, sent him a fever, of which he died.
125. CHISHO-DAISHI |? gg ~X frfi. Posthumous name of ENSHIN [H ^r.
126. CHIYO ^p ftl (KAGA NO). Poetess who once found her water bucket floating in her well, and the well rope entwined by the tendrils of a convolvulus. Rather than disturb the dainty plant, Chiyo went out and begged water from her neighbours, saying :
Asagao ni,
Tsurube torarete, Morai midzu.
"My well bucket being taken from me by the convolvulus (Asagao) gift water ? "
In allusion to this story, flower arrangements of Asagao are usually made with a water bucket.
127. CHOCHU 5J^ tf. Sennin shown with a long hair brush ; he wore an iron cap from which he took his surname TETSUKAN-DOJIN.
128. CHODORIO UJ| it gt The Sennin CHANG TAO LING. He was nine feet two inches high, with features correspondingly large. A fine beard, green triangular eyes, and arms so long that the tip of his fingers covered his knees when he stood upright, complete the picture given of him in Taoist books. He was born in A.D. 34 at a place named Tien muh San, and was the eighth descendant of Cho Shibo (Chorio, q.v.). The Ehon 0 Shuku Bai says that when only seven years old he had mastered the Do Toki Kio of Lao Tsze and that he soon became proficient in the magic arts. Ocho 3E H. became his pupil, and they went, in the first month of Juntei, to Mount Kakumei, where Chodorio, under the name Shinjin, received further instructions at the hands of various Sennins. Later they both repaired to Mount Seijo, where they met six large devils, the chief of which at once set to exterminate Ocho, who threatened him with his magic. The
39
LEGEND IN JAPANESE ART.
demon, Rokudaijin, thereupon called some of his followers, whom he transformed into eight large tigers. Shinjin created a magic Kamshishi, which put the tigers to flight, but other demons came in the form of eight large dragons. Shinjin then produced a Kinchiso (bird with golden wings) which sprang on the dragons and bit their eyes out. The chief dragon lay at Chodorio's feet, and he threw upon the monster a block of rock weighing ten thousand Kin, upon which he placed two long fibres ; mice came out of the ground and pulled on both ends of these fibres. The pressure thus produced upon the dragon caused it to crave Chodorio's forgiveness, which was granted. Shinjin received the title Sei itsu Shinjin, and Lao Ts/.e himself honoured him with a magic book. After spending some years on the Lung Hit mountains, Chodorio compounded an elixir, and at the ripe age of 123 became one of the Immortals. His son Chang Heng followed in his steps, and according to Mayers his descendants were invested with the hereditary title " Preceptor of Heaven," the spirit of Chodorio passing by transmigration from the dying representative to some young member of the family, in the same way as with the Dalai Lama.
Chodorio is depicted as a martial figure, sometimes standing on a cloud. Our illustration depicts the fight with Rokudaijin from a Tsuba, the treatment of which almost reproduces Tachibana Morikuni's composition in Ehon 0 Shukit Bai.
129. CHOGEN JH $fj or SHI'XJO. Old priest who reconstructed the Todaiji temple after its destruction by lire in 1180, the work lasting ten years, and temple being consecrated by the Emperor Go Toba in 1195. Following the example of one of the Emperors who had received voluntary contributions for the building of a temple, Shunjo went mounted on mule and armed with an imperial rescript, begging for alms v\ herewith to prosecute the work. He is represented on his mule and carrying the order in his hand.
130. CHOHI H. ff. See TENAGA, or Long arms.
131. CHOHI J| ffi. (CHANG FEI). A famous Chinese, who after being a butcher and a wine seller, became a sworn brother in arms of KWANYU and GENTOKU, with whom he led the wars of the Three Kingdoms in 184. One of his exploits is commonly represented and called the Story of the Undefended
4°
LEGEND IN JAPANESE ART.
City. Finding himself in the presence of a large body of Tsao-Tsao's troops, he sent his army away leaving only three or four men, one of whom sat above the main gate playing the harpischord, whilst another swept the road in front. His troops effected a flanking movement, and joining some of his allies he attacked Tsao-Tsao on the rear and defeated him. Chohi was murdered by Fan Kiang in 220. He is characterised by his stature, flowing hair, fan-like beard, and a straight double-edged spear. See Kwanyu, Gentoku (Riubi).
132. CHOJI H. lEf. Mythical beings in human shape and with long ears. These strange creatures are mentioned in the Xllth Century romance Huon de Bordeaux (Ed. Geo. Paris, p. 73) " dans la terre des Comains, ce sont des
gens qui ne connaissent pas le ble et couchent en plein air,
se couvrant de leurs oreilles."
133. CHOKIAKU j| P. See ASHINAGA (long legs).
134. CHOKITSU J|. "p^. Taoist worthy who was blind of both eyes, he declared himself 120 years old. He is shown groping with a cane. (See KIGA).
135. CHOKO (CHANG HIAO) <JH §£ and CHOREI $| jjj§ (CHANG Li) were two brothers who looked after their mother in her old age. Once the first one was bringing home a cabbage when he was set upon by robbers, and as he could not give them anything they decided to kill him, but agreed to stay the deed until he had delivered the cabbage to his mother. His young brother happened to be hard by and came to offer his own life in exchange for his brother's, and the robbers set them both free.
136. CHOKWARO 51 ^ or TSUGEN $& £. The Chinese Sennin CHANG KWOH ; one of the eight chief Rishis of the Taoists, said to have lived at the end of the seventh century. He died during the reign of Wu Hii but came to life again after a few days. Ming Hwang, in 723, sent three messengers to invite him to court, the first two fell with disease on their way, but the third brought with him the Sennin, who delighted the Emperor. He refused the hand of a princess and declined the honour of having his portrait placed in the Hall of Ancestors and finally refused the offer of a high priestly office at court, preferring his wandering life in the company of his magic mule.
41
LEGEND IN JAPANESE ART.
This wonderful animal could carry him for thousands of miles at a time, and required no fodder, the Sennin keeping it in a gourd when not otherwise in use, and simply spraying water from his mouth upon the dried up and shrivelled form to get it ready for a fresh trip. Chokwaro is always shown with his gourd, and the mule, or, as a pun, the Koma (horse) pawn of the game of chess. Often the mule is shown alone, in netsuke, escaping from the gourd, or wrapped in cobwebs inside the gourd. In the first case it is not as might be thought emblematic of Chokwaro, but of the proverb Hyotan kara Koma (Detta) meaning : horse out of a gourd (coming) is a very unexpected occurrence [compare Dragon] which may however have originated with the legend of Chokwaro.
137. CHOKIUKA $| Jl If (CHANG Kiu Ko). Toaist sage who lived in the Keireki period, under the So dynasty. It is said that he wore thin unlined clothes, even in the depth of winter. Once he was invited to court, and exhibited his magic powers to the Emperor En, by cutting pieces of his own clothes, which became transformed into butterflies, but resumed their original nature and position when he clapped his hands. This original version has been modified to the effect that he remonstrated with the Emperor, because the latter's clothes were too thin, and that his magic operation was performed upon the monarch's robes.
138. CHORIO §H j£, The Chinese CHANG LIANG, one of the Three Heroes of China, said to have been a governor of the province of Han, and despoiled by the Emperor of Tsing, whom he tried to defeat, failing, however, at the battle of Hsiai Hai, after which he led a wandering life until he joined Liu Pang, in 208 B.C. He is usually depicted under a bridge, picking up a shoe, and threatening a dragon with his drawn sword. According to a Taoist legend, he was one day crossing the bridge of the river I, when there passed mounted on a mule, an old and poor looking man whose sandal had dropped from his foot to the bank of the river. According to one version the old man commanded Chorio to pick up the shoe, which he did, moved to pity for the old man, though feeling very much the indignity.
A more often accepted story is that he picked up the shoe of his own free
42
CHORIO (.l/.G.)
CHODORIO'.S EXORCISM. (O.HJf.) THE EMPTY CITY. (K.S.)
CI10KIO AM) KOSEKIKO (,/.)
LEGEND IN JAPANESE ART.
will and gave it back to the passer-by. This individual was no other than HWANG SHI KUNG, the Yellow Stone Elder, KOSEKIKO (q.v.), and he asked Chang Liang to meet him five days later, at a certain place, as he intended to give him a slight reward. Chang Liang arrived after Kosekiko, and the elder postponed the gift, doing so again the second time, until at last on the third appointment he was satisfied that Chorio had respectfully preceded him by a sufficiently long interval. He then gave him a roll of manuscript, and told him that the man who read that book would become the preceptor of the King.
This book is said to have passed from China to Kiichi Hogen, and to have been studied by Yoshitsune, and later Kusunoki Masashige.
He also told him that thirteen years later Chorio would meet him at Kuh Cheng, in the form of a yellow stone, as in fact did happen. The shoe incident is often presented in art, one of its variants showing Chorio astride a Dragon in the river and handing the shoe to Kosekiko. Chang Liang was one of the first adherents of Liu Pang in his revolt against the Ts'in, which led to the foundation of the Han dynasty. He became one of its ministers, but retired from public life in order to pursue a magical career with CHIH SUNG TSZE. This supernatural being who had visited Seiobo was, however, unable to help Chorio in his search for the elixir of eternal life, and as the latter had nearly given up the use of ordinary food, his demise followed speedily in 198 B.C.
Chorio was taught the value of patience on another occasion by seeing an old woman grinding down a big iron rod to make a needle.
Chorio is said to have once called at the camp of Kanshin, describing himself as a country friend. On meeting the hero he told him that for many years his family had treasured three swords, but that he had decided to sell them to people worthy to possess them. The Emperor's sword (Tenshi ken) he had sold to Haiko (Gentoku), the Saisho no ken or Prime Minister's sword he had sold to Shoga, and he held before him the Genju no ken or General-in-Chief's sword. Kanshin examined the blade and asked him whether he was not Cho Shibo (as Chorio was then called), and upon his affirmative answer asked him how he could join the Prince of Han (Kan no Koso). Chorio then instructed him and departed (Shaho Bukuroi).
43
LEGEND IN JAPANESE ART.
139. CHOSANSHU $| H -jr, or KUMPO, had a body like a tortoise, big bones, round eyes, large ears, a beard like horse hair, and he was seven feet high. He plaited his hair in a cue, wore in all seasons a fur coat and a hat, and carried a short dagger in his hand.
140. CHOSHI (KiANG SHE). See KIOSHI, one of the twenty-four paragons of filial virtue.
141. CHOSHIKWA $| jg Tffl (CHIH Ho), lived in the reign of Shukuso of To, and could drink up to three to (nearly twelve gallons) of wine without losing his head or feeling tired. He could sleep in the snow, and the water could not wet him. His bosom friend was GWANSHINKEI, and once after banqueting together, Choshikwa spread the mat on a pond and sat on it drinking alone, a crane flying from the sky alighted upon his head. He is depicted accordingly.
142. CHOSHINJIN i|j| J|L X was a wizard of mount Seijo in the time of the Emperor Bun of Zui. He became governor of the Shokugun, a district in which a certain river was infested by a mischievous dragon, which sometimes stopped the flow of the water and killed people on the banks. He had the dragon challenged with trumpets and gongs and leapt into the river, soon coming back with the monster's head in his left hand and a dagger in the other.
143. CHOSOYU $1 flf" $$ (CHANG SANG-YU) was a Chinese painter of the sixth century. Once he painted a dragon, and as he put the last touch of his brush, a black cloud arose from his paper accompanied by thunder and lightning, and the dragon escaped from the room. Professor Giles gives a variant according to which the two dragons were painted, without eyes, on a wall of the Temple of Joy ^ ^ ^p at Nankin. Later a disciple of Chosoyu painted the eyes, the dragons flew away and the wall was shattered to pieces. The same story is told of various painters ; see Godoshi.
144. CHOUN iH| @. The celebrated CHAD YUN, one of the adherents of Riubi (Liu Pei or Gentoku) whose son, A Tow, he rescued and carried away on his saddle at the battle of Ch'ang Fan Kiao, when Riubi was defeated by, and
44
CHOHI (ir.r.K.)
CHOKWARO (./.) CHOKVVARO (xf.)
C1IOK1UKA (T.I..]
CHOUN (J.) CHOKWARO (M.T.)
CHOSOYU (A.)
LEGEND IN JAPANESE ART.
had to fly from, the troops of his opponent Tsao Tsao (208 A.D.). Choun is represented as a handsome warrior of powerful stature, on horseback, and some- times jumping a river, with the boy hidden in the bosom of his cloak.
145. CHUGORO J& jfL IB- A lad living in the Koishikawa quarter of Yedo, met a beautiful girl, standing near the bridge Naka no Hashi and fell in love with her. After several meetings, she gave him an appointment to visit her home under the river. The boy thinking himself in the same vein of luck as Urashima Taro, accepted, and one night went to meet the girl. They descended to the brink of the river, when she changed into a gigantic frog, and killed the boy to suck his blood.
146. CHUJO HIME *$ ffi jg. See BUNKI MANDARA.
147. CHUNG KO LAO. Sennin holding a musical instrument made of bamboo and sometimes described as another presentment of Chokwaro (q.v.).
148. CHU-KO-LIANG. See KOMEI.
149. COCK ON DRUM. This is a very common subject in art treatment as an allusion to a Chinese story. In the legendary times, a large drum was kept on the main gate of the palace to assemble the troops. Under the rule of the famous Emperor Yao, peace being general, the drum fell into disuse, and became a roosting place for fowls, whilst the people themselves used to come and beat it to call the attention of the officials when they had to seek redress for some grievance. Kotoku Tenno, on the fifth day of the eighth month of 645, introduced this custom in Japan, and decreed that a KANKO (drum) should be provided, with also a box to receive the petitions of the people. The Shoguns of Kamakura followed his example. The drum is usually ornamented with the Mitsu-tomoye design of three comma shaped figures, the points of which are elongated to form a complete circle, and which is held to be symbolical of luck and good fortune. This design is also found on the drums of the Thunder God RAIJIN and sometimes on the hammer of DAIKOKU (q.v.), and the " two comma " with the Hakke (divination sign) are found on the national Corean flag.
COCK-CROW. Once the Chinese hero Prince Tan Chu, son of Yao, being a prisoner in the town of Kan Kok Kan, the doors of which were closed from
45
LEGEND IN JAPANESE ART.
sunset till the cock-crow, attempted to escape in the night with his retainer Keimei. They would never have succeeded in their design but for the skilful imitation of the cock-crow which Keimei gave as they neared the gate of the town. The guards suddenly woke and opened the door to the fugitives without any questions. The story is also given under the name of Moshogun, and is attributed to several warriors.
COCK FIGHTING was practised at the time of Yuriaku Tenno (465 A.D.) as appears from the Story of Sakytsuya in the Nihongi, and such rights are some- times represented ; in fact, the beautiful appearance of the animal, especially the Japanese bird with its long tail feathers is a common theme for artistic treatment. DAIKOKU'S son (Koto Shiro Nushi no Mikoto), however, appears not to be an admirer of chickens, and his hatred results in a scarcity of poultry at Mionoseki. See Ebisu. For some unexplained reason Cocks are nearly always associated with Dutchmen by Netsuke carvers.
150. CONFUCIUS JL & ^P- See KOSHI ; Three Sake tasters. He is sometimes depicted standing by a well with three buckets, one of which is emptying itself. This is an allusion to his visit to the tomb of the Emperor Hwang Kung ; he explained to his disciples that the three buckets were emblematic of moderation : filled up to the level of their trunnions, they retained the water, but if the water level was above the pivots they toppled over and emptied themselves.
CONFUCIUS, TEN DISCIPLES are worshipped, in a position immediately inferior to the four Assessors ; they are given in the work of Bumpo Sanjin, the Five hundred worthies }j£ ]Jb ^ jjff Bumpo Kangwa (1803), as
The most virtuous : — GWANEN, BINSHIKEN, SENPAKUGIU, and CHUKYU.
The best speakers : — SAIGA and SHIKO.
The administrators : — SENYU and KIRO.
Those with literary talents : — SHIYU and SHIKA.
151. CROW J^. A three-legged crow is a good omen, it is called YATA GARASU, and was one of the messengers of the Gods. Its origin is traceable to the Chinese myth of the three-legged crow which lives in the sun and is responsible for the sun spots, besides being endowed with numberless mythical
46
COCK ON DRUM (/'./..) DA1KO1UJ (C..H.L.)
DAIKOKU (.I/. 7'.) CONFUCIUS («..!/.) DAIKOKU AM) HAIKON
DAIKOKU MAHAKARA SAN MEN DAIKOKU (j/.(.V.)
LEGEND IN JAPANESE ART.
powers and significances. Crows are often depicted in silhouette partly covering the disc of the Sun.
The croaking of an ordinary crow is held to be unlucky, and this is quite in agreement with European tradition.
Two crows passing in the sky caused the Chinese Emperor Tsao-Tsao (Soso) to stand in his boat and compose a poem, and he is often thus depicted.
152. CUCKOO %$ £, also f± || and fc £ £ £" 1~, and the moon. The Cuckoo bird is called Hototoguisu, from its note, and it has been the subject of several poems and allusions, amongst others, the following story. A court noble hearing a Cuckoo whilst presenting Yorimasa with the sword, Shishi no 0 (King of wild boars), sent by Narihito Tenno, made the verse* :
" How does the Cuckoo rise above the clouds ? " The occult meaning of which is :
"Like the Cuckoo, so high to soar, how is it so?"
\
to which allusion to his own fame, Yorimasa replied by another verse"]", also capable of two interpretations :
"The waning moon does not set at command," and
" I only bent my Bow and the Arrow sped."
This last meaning being an allusion to Yorimasa's prowess in shooting the Nuye, cause of the Emperor Konoye's illness in 1153. (See Yorimasa.)
Another poem dating from the twelfth century, says : " When I gaze towards the place where the Cuckoo once sang, nothing remains but the moon in the early morn : "
Hototoguisu,
Nakitsuru kata wo, Nagamureba,
Tada ariake no, Tsuki zo nokoreru.
* Hototoguisu naoba kumoi ni agurukana. t Yumihari tsuki no, irunimakasete.
47
LEGEND IN JAPANESE ART.
153. CUTTLE FISH (TAKO). The Octopus is an article of diet of the poorer classes, and its strange appearance is often met with in art so treated as to make its features suggest some impish, almost human, face. It is sometimes shown as an incense burner, with the long arms and tentacles forming the base, or it is entwined around the legs of Ashinaga, walking about the mainland, eating sweet potatoes and frightening paysans, or retaliating upon the fisherman who cuts it into pieces ; or the dried-up head only is shown, as a representation of the piece of cuttle fish which used to be sent with presents. Its large head does duty for the elongated brain pan of Fukuro- kujiu. His many-sided talents are put to full use by his master, Riujin, the Dragon king of the waters, to whom he acts as Physician-in-waiting, and occasionally as " Maitre de Chapelle." We find O TAKO in attendance, extricating the hook of HOHODEMI (q.v.) from the throat of the Funa fish, or prescribing for his royal master (see Story of the Monkey and the Jelly fish). In another legend, he brings back to Japan the sacred image, now in the Taku Yakushi temple of Meguro, which Jikaku Daishi (q.v.) had been compelled to throw into the waves. Covering with its tentacles a bell, or an upturned vase, it suggests the story of Kiyohime. See also Go DAIGO.
154. DAIGO TENNO 1H Hjjj ;?C j|l. In 930 a thunderstorm broke over the palace of Seirioden, killing the Dainagon Fujiwara Kiotsura, Taira Mareyo and several others, Daigo Tenno took refuge in the Jonaiden palace. In the fire which succeeded the storm the sacred Mirror was found to have removed itself from the palace and deposited itself in a tree, where a court lady discovered it. See Michizane.
155. DAI JIN ^C ^ or TOCHIU %$ %&. One of the Fifteen sons of Benten, shown with sheaves of rice. It is indentified with MONJU BOSATSU, (q.v.) the attributes of which are however different.
156. DAIJINGU Jt 0$ H£ The Shinto Goddess Amaterasu O Mikami
(q.v.). •,,-••'
157. DAIKOKU ;fc H&, or DAIKOKU TEN. One of the SHICHI FUKU JIN, Seven household Gods, or Gods of Luck. His Shinto name is OHO KUNI NUSHI
48
•
HANGONKO
(Mall Gnrl'titt collection}
LEGEND IN JAPANESE ART.
No KAMI, or Deity master of the great land. He is particularly worshipped at Kitzuki, the streets of which he is said to honour by riding through, on the bronze horse, on Miniye, the festival of the Body escaping. He represents also the Buddhist God MAHAKARA, the black God (Daikokujin), so named because of the colour of its image after being rubbed with oil. According to legend, he was revealed to KOBODAISHI, who introduced the attributes with which he is repre- sented : his Hammer bears the sign of the Jewel (Tamo) of pyriform outline and with three rings across, embodying the spirit of the JIN (Yin) and Yo (Yang), or male and female principles, in token of the God being a creative divinity; this hammer is also shown with the Tomoye, figure of the two commas or the Mitsu tomoye of three commas (see Cock on Drum), and a stroke of this lucky attribute confers luck and wealth to its recipient. (Fairy tale of the Lucky Mallet.) The Rat is his second attribute : finally Daikoku is dressed in Chinese guise as a prosperous individual, with a peculiarly shaped cap or hat, and usually shown standing on bales of rice (some say one of rice the other of tea), and with a bag of precious things on his shoulder. A common variant shows him seated on his bales, or showing his treasures to a child, or holding the red sun against his breast with one hand, and grasping his mallet with the other. A common group is that of Daikoku and his son EBISU, either as serious minded individuals, as for instance in the figures in the somewhat rough style called " a coups de serpe " (Nata tsu kuri] sold in pairs at the Kammiyama temple in Ise, or irreverently as revellers, sometimes masquerading as drunken Dutchmen.
His familiar, the rat, has been held to have an emblematic and moral meaning in connection with the wealth hidden in Daikoku's bag, and which like all other riches requires constant care and watch to prevent it from dwindling away under the tooth of the parasite. This rat is often pictured, either in the bale with just its head protruding, or on it, or playing with the hammer ; sometimes a swarm of rats is shown, and the rodent plays the main role in the following story : The Buddhist idols wished to be rid of Daikoku, to whom the Japanese were still daily offering prayers and incense after their introduction. YEMMA O, the regent of Hades, agreed to send his most cunning Oni, SHIRO ,to get Daikoku out of the way. The Oni, guided by a sparrow, went to Daikoku's castle, which he found void of its owner. Finally he hit upon a large storehouse in which he saw the
49
LEGEND IN JAPANESE ART.
God seated. Daikoku called his chief rat and ordered him to find who was near. The rat saw the Oni, and running into the garden brought back a branch of holly
with which he drove the Oni away right to the door of Yemma O, beating him
*. the whole way. This is said to be the origin of the New Year's Eve charm (q.v.)
consisting in a holly leaf and a skewer, or simply a sprig of holly wedged in the lintel of the door of a house, to prevent the return of the Oni after the Oni Yarai proceedings. The bag of Daikoku, like that of Hotei, contains the Takaramono or precious things (q.v.), and sometimes Hotei is shown seated in the bag which Daikoku is pulling along.
The rat is also said to be Daikoku's emblem, because his festival is held on the day of the rat, the Katsushi of the Cycle, and on the Kinoye days one hundred black beans are offered to Daikoku.
ROKU DAIKOKU (The Six Daikoku) are given in the Banbutsu Hinakata as : Makura Daikoku, ordinary form with hammer on lotus leaf, Ojikara Daikoku, youthful, with sword in the right hand and vajra
in the left, Bika Daikoku as a priest, with shaven pate, hammer in the right
hand, vajra hilted sword in the left, Yasha Daikoku, youth, with the wheel of the law (Rimbo or Chakra)
in his right hand,
Shinda Daikoku, a boy seated, holding a crystal in his left hand, Mahakara Daikoku, seated female with a small bale of rice on her
head.
As a modification of the Hindoo God of War MAVISHI TEN, he is also shown with MARISHITEN and BISHAMONTEN, as the San Senjin, or Three Gods of War, in the form of a man with three heads and six arms riding on a boar. This form is also known as SANMEN DAIKOKU, or three-faced Daikoku, and is called San Tenjin Daikoku in the Shaho Bukuro.
158. DAI MOKUREN ^ g f£ jg. One of the disciples of Buddha who, seeing the soul of his mother in the Hell of Hungry Spirits (Gakido), sent her some choice food which became transformed into flames and blazing embers as she lifted it to her lips.
50
LEGEND IN JAPANESE ART.
He asked the Buddha for an explanation of this occurrence, and was told that in her previous life his mother had refused food to a wandering mendicant priest, and that the only way to obtain her release from perpetual hunger was to feed on the tenth day of the seventh month the souls of all the great priests of all countries. Notwithstanding the difficulty of this undertaking, Dai Mokuren succeeded, and in his joy at seeing his mother relieved, started to dance. This performance is said to be the origin of the Bon Odori dances during the Festival of the Dead (July 13-16).
159. DAI NICHI NYORAI ;fc B #11 3fc. One of the personages of the Triratna or Buddhist trinity, VAIROTCHANA TATHAGATA, the deity of wisdom and perfect purity- His name (Chinese TA SHI SHULAI) means Great Light ; he is the personification of the supreme intellect of the Buddha, and the spiritual father of FUGEN BOSATSU (q.v.). He is somewhat similar to Jizo in appearance and is generally shown seated, as KONGO-KAI DAI NICHI, with the left hand closed upon the index of the right hand, in the Dharma-Datsu Mudra, or gesture peculiar to the Dai Nichi of the Spiritual World. As Dai Nichi of the TAIZO KAI or Material World he is seated, in a meditating attitude, and wearing a tiara.
1 60. DAI ITOKU. MAHADEVA. See Mio O.
161. DAI TENGU ;fc ^ $J. See TENGU.
162. DAKIU K; PJ. The Game of Polo. See Games.
163. DANKA. Skeleton of a priest beating a wooden drum, in the form of a jingling bell (Mokugyo), or a fish head (Waniguchi).
164. DARUMA ^ Jff , BODHI DHARMA. Sage to whom the introduction of the Zen sect of Buddhism in China is attributed. He is said to have been the son of a Hindoo King, and to have left his teacher, Panyatara, and retired in 520 to Lo Yang where he remained seated, absorbed in meditation for nine years, during which, temptations were heaped upon* him by the evil spirits without any result ; and he is accordingly often shown surrounded with demons of both sexes, like Saint Anthony, or being bitten in the ear or other parts of his holy person by rats. At the end of that period his legs had "rotted away" under him. The humorous
5?
LEGEND IN JAPANESE ART.
treatment of his long retreat is an unending theme for artists ; netsuke carvers
represent him stretching himself, or stretching his arms above his head, or, and
\
more often, without legs, entirely enveloped in his garments, shaped like a bag, from which emerges his swarthy scowling face, shorn of eyelids, because, having once fallen asleep, on waking up he cut. them off as a penance. The eyelids, thrown on the ground, took the form of the Tea tree. A less common, though quite as irreverent a presentment, shows the Sage surrounded with cobwebs, and even a female Daruma may be met with, sarcastically directed at the weaker sex, no member of which could remain in meditation for nine years, or resist the temptation to talk. An owl is sometimes shown in the garb of Daruma.
As the 28th patriarch of Buddhism in succession to Kasyappa, he is pictorially treated as a swarthy Hindoo priest with a short spiky black beard. His journey to Japan is pictured in a similar way, the figure standing on the waves, supported by a millet stalk, or a bamboo or a reed. He died circa A.D. 529.
He is often found as a toy, sometimes with one eye open and one shut, and is the favourite snow-man of the Japanese boys. Humorous prints show the toy taking life on the eyes being marked out, in allusion to the popular belief that images of holy personages become alive, or at least effective, when their "eyes are opened" by the priests, who bless the figures, after which they can see, hear and revenge themselves when irreverently treated.
Daruma sometimes is shown with one bare foot and carrying a shoe in his hand. Legend has it that three years after his death and subsequent burial, he was seen travelling towards India, in the western mountains of China, with one shoe in his right hand. The Emperor caused Daruma's tomb to be opened and it was found empty, but for a cast off shoe which the saint had left behind him.
165. DEMONS. See ONI.
1 66. DENSHIN |B jg, DENKEI 0 J| and DENKO B J|f were the three Chinese brothers TIEN CHEN, KING, and KWANG. They inherited a rose tree at the death of their father, and as they could not agree as to ownership, they split the tree in three, when of course it died. After this event they remained together in complete union.
52
DARUMA ON REED (lI'.L.K.
ONNA DARUMA (if.L.K.) HAXGONKO DARUMA (A.)
DARUMA DRINKING (tl.T.) DARUMA TOY (j.) DARUMA STRETCHING (st.T.)
EBISU (K.S.) DARUMA'S RETURN TO INDIA (MG.)
LEGEND IN JAPANESE ART.
167. DOG HUNTING ^ }6 $j, by horsemen (!NU OMONO), with bows and arrows, was a pastime introduced by the Emperor Toba in the i2th century. It is represented as being followed to commemorate the delivery of the Emperor from Tamamo no Maye, because dogs chased her upon the moor of Nasu when she fled from Abe no Seimei's exorcism in the shape of a nine-tail fox. (Shaho Bukuro, Vol I.)
It forms a part of a No dance.
168. DOJOJI NO UTAI. See KIYOHIME.
169. DOJOJIN it ff JjitjJ. The all-hearing genius of Hell.
170. DOKEI jj|i H?. Name assumed in 1473 by Ashikaga Yoshimasa, when he entered the priesthood after his retirement.
171. DOLPHIN. Ornamentally treated, the Dolphin receives some of the characters of the Koi or sacred Carp. Golden dolphins (KiN NO SACHI HO Ko), eight feet seven inches in length, made of solid gold, and said to be worth nine thousand pounds each, were made by order of Kato Kiyomasa in 1610, and placed on the top of the roof of the donjon (Tenshu) of the Nagoya Castle, in Owari. One of them, which many years before had been the aim of a thief, was exhibited, in 1873, at the Vienna exhibition. The story says that Kakinoki Kinsuke, to win the love of some woman, attempted the theft by means of a big Kite, after which Kite-flying near the temple was forbidden.
172. DOMEJIN JH Wft j$. The all-seeing genius of Hell.
173. DOSOJIN if H 1$ (SAi NO KAMI), God of the Roads. See Koshin. Children's God, one in each village, whose feast is celebrated by the boys, with decorated bamboo, which were burnt, on the i4th of January, with all the writings made on the first and second day of the year ; and Mochi (rice cake) was cooked on that fire.
174. DOYO, usually called YUTEN SHONIN jjffi ^ _h A> was a priest of the temple of Fudo at Narita, who spent a hundred days in contemplative prayers and meditation in the middle of the sixteenth century. The God then appeared to him, and offered him as penance for his sins the choice between two swords, a
53
LEGEND IN JAPANESE ART.
blunt one or a sharp one, to be swallowed. Doyo selected the keen blade, and as Fudo drove it in his throat all his bad blood ran out, and after this operation he became deeply learned. His blood was used to dye some priestly robes, and he instituted a three weeks' fast to be practiced yearly as a commemoration of his vision.
175. DRAGON f|. Of all the array of supernatural creatures forming the mythical fauna of Japanese lore, none perhaps is more commonly represented in art work than the Dragon. Imported from China, its appearance does not greatly differ from that of the Chinese Dragon, except in the matter of claws, three of which only are vouchsafed to the ordinary Japanese Dragon and five to the Imperial or Chinese monster, also found in Japanese art. The ordinary Chinese Dragon has four claws only on each of its four limbs.
The Dragon is full of remarkable powers, and seeing its body in its entirety means instant death ; the monster never strikes without provocation, as for instance when its throat is touched. The Chinese Emperor Yao was said to be the son of a dragon, and several of the other Chinese rulers were metaphorically called "dragon faced." The Emperor of Japan was described in the same way, and as such hidden, by means of bamboo curtains, from the gaze of persons to whom he granted audiences, to save them from the terrible fate otherwise inevitable.
In Gould's book, Mythical Monsters, the dragon is dealt with at length, the translation from a Chinese Encyclopaedia of an article upon the dragon being given in extenso (page 243). An exhaustive description is also given by the Japanese novelist, BAKIN, in Hakkenden. [See Griffis Mikado s Empire, 1896, page 478 & seq.].
The Chinese call the Dragon Lung because it is deaf ; it is the largest of scaly animals, and it has nine characteristics. Its head is like a camel's, its horns like a deer's, its eyes like a hare's (? a devil's), its ears like a bull's, its neck like a iguana's, its scales like those of a carp, its paws like a tiger's, and its claws like an eagle's. It has nine times nine scales, it being the extreme or lucky number. On each side of its mouth are whiskers, under its chin a bright pearl, on the top of its head the POH SHAN or foot rule, without which it cannot ascend to Heaven. The scales of its throat are reversed. Its breath changes into clouds, from which
54
CHINESE DRAGON (/<"./..«.) AMAKUR1KARA (iy.L.K.)
RAIN DRAGON (G.H.lf.)
CARP DRAGON (.U.S.) SASHIOKO (DOI.PHIN) (H:L.B.)
SHIFUN (//'./-.«.)
DRAGON' AND TAMA (ll'.L.K.)
DRAGON AND WHEEL (ll'.L.n.)
HAYIFUKI KARA RIU (H.S.T.)
DRAGON AND TIGER (A.)
LEGEND IN JAPANESE ART.
come either fire or rain. The dragon is fond of the flesh of sparrows and swallows, it dreads the centipede and silk dyed of five colours. It is also afraid of iron. In front of its horns it carries a pearl of bluish colour, striated with more or less symbolical lines. It has the power of invisibility and of trans- formation at will, it is able to shrink or to increase in size without limits.
In both the Chinese and the Japanese mythology, the watery principle is associated with the dragon, and especially with the rain dragon Amario, or U-ko, or U-shi, also with the storm dragon. The ruler of the waters, Ryu o Kio, or Ryujin, or Ryujin Sama, lives beneath the seas, or at the bottom of lakes in the Ryugu-jo, the dragon palace. See Tawara Toda, Urashima Taro, and Air Castle, Monkey and Jelly-fish ; see the story of the happy hunter Hikohohodemi no Mikoto.
Riujin has a messenger in Ryuja sama or Hakuja, the small white serpent with the face of an ancient man ; and he carries the precious jewel (Tama, the Mani of the Buddhists) or the two jewels of the ebbing and of the ilowing tide, the " Tide ruling gems" which he presented to Jingo-Kogo, to Hikohohodemi (q.v.), etc. See RIUJIN, KAMATARI, etc.
The Dragon (TATSU) is one of the signs of the zodiac; the four seas, which, in the Chinese astronomy limit the habitable earth, are ruled over by four Dragon Kings.
The celestial dragon presides over the mansions of the Gods and keeps them from decay.
The spiritual dragon ministers to the rain.
The earth dragon marks out the courses of rivers.
The dragon of hidden treasures watches over the precious metals and stones buried in the earth.
There is a hornless dragon, the Chinese Kiu lung. The Chinese winged dragon Ying lung is the Hai Ryo, shown with feathered wings and tail and birds claws, besides the dragon's head, they are also called Tobi Tatsu and Shachi Hoko.
A white dragon which lived in a pond at Yamashiro in the province of Kyoto, and changed every fifty years into a golden bird, the 0 Goncho, with a voice like a wolf's howl, and whose apparition was followed by terrible famine
55
LEGEND IN JAPANESE ART.
and pestilence. Another white dragon was the transformation of Raitaro (see the story of Bimbo).
The yellow dragon is, however, the most honoured of the whole family. The Chinese attribute the origin of their system of writing to the yellow dragon, who presented to Fuh Hi a scroll inscribed with mystic characters as the sage was gazing upon the waters of the Yellow River.
BAKIN, in his description of the dragon family, enlarges considerably upon the four dragons of the Chinese, as described later by Mayers :
Sui Riu, a rain dragon which causes the rain to fall when in pain, the water presenting a reddish colour due to his blood.
HAN RYU is striped with nine different colours. It is forty feet long and sometimes has red stripes with dark blue bands.
KA RYU is a fiery dragon of scarlet hue, only seven feet long.
The dragon of good luck is FUKU RYU, that of whom the luck is bad or indifferent becomes HAKU FUKU RYU.
Ri RYU has a wonderful sight, hundreds of miles being as nothing to this creature.
Some dragons cannot reach heaven, the long-bodied HAN RYU in particular. Dragons can breed by intercourse with ordinary animals, with a mare, a Ryu-Me, with a cow, a Ki-Riu.
The Dragon Queen is occasionally shown, dressed in shells and corals, with other marine attributes.
As an emblem the dragon represents both the male and female principle, the continous changes and variations of life, as symbolised by its unlimited powers of adaption accommodating itself to all surroundings, therefore never finished, like the everlasting cycles of life.
In connection with a Tiger, generally crouching near a cave or some bamboos, the dragon in the sky represents the power of the elements over the strongest animals.* The association of the two creatures was meant in Chinese to represent the Emperor and his ministers.
The dragon is associated with numerous personages and stories. See Bashiko,
* Anderson calls it U-Chiu no Tora, and says that it is emblematic of the power of the faith (C.B.M.-p. 53).
56
LEGEND IN JAPANESE ART.
Chinnan, Shoriken, Handaka Sonja ; also Tokimasa's crest, Ojin and Take no Uchi, etc., mentioned under Emblems and Attributes.
For the eight-headed dragon, see Susano-o.
The rain dragon entwined around a sword is a frequent theme, the sword being as a rule the Vajra hafted ken of Kobodaishi.
Another sword, connected with a dragon legend, is the Kuzanagi, one of the three relics of the Japanese regalia, the fire quelling sword used by Yamato Take, and which Susano-o no Mikoto had drawn from the tail of the eight- headed dragon.
Two dragons "affrontes," with the Tama between them, form the handles of bells, whether large temple bells or small grelots ; it is also a very common mode of decoration of sword guards, called Namban Tsuba.
Dragon netsukes were the specialite of Tomomasa.
A dragon ascending Fuji in a cloud is symbolic of success in life.
BENTEN is often shown with a dragon, and her intercession in Enoshima against the troubles caused by such a creature, belongs to the story of Hojo Tokimasa (q.v.). In fact this Goddess is said to be " partly " a dragon.
KWANNON is also represented in company with a dragon upon whose scaly body she stands.
A dragon issuing from an ash-pan or Hayifuki (in the hibachf) frightening the man who uses this implement, represents the story of the boaster, and illustration of the saying :
Hayifuki kara Riu (or - - Ja detta) almost identical with Hyotan Kara Koma : "It is the unexpected that happens."
The Kumozui Taisei (Encyclopaedia for children) gives two more types of dragons, one with wings called Shi fun, and one with large scales, spiny fins, and the body of a fish, which is named Makatsugyo.
KAN NO Koso, SUSANO-O, etc., are shown killing dragons. Another dragon slayer was T'an T'ai Mieh Ming, disciple of Confucius, whom the God of the Yellow River caused to be attacked by two dragons, to rob him of a valuable gem, but T'an T'ai slew the dragons, and to show his contempt of wordly goods threw the treasure in the river. Twice it leapt back into his boat, but at last he broke it, and scattered the fragments.
57
LEGEND IN JAPANESE ART.
176. DREAMS ^. Dreams are often occasioned by demons, and in particular evil dreams, are the work of the Oni RINGETSU, but they form the food of the mythical animal Baku (q.v.). Lucky dreams may be induced by placing in the drawer of one's pillow a picture of the Takarabune (q.v.). The Clam's dream is another name of the Air Castle (q.v.).
Rosei's dream, illustrating the fallacy of worldly honours is frequently represented and sometimes attributed to Lii Yen. See Rosei, Soshu.
A classical dream is that of a Chinese Sage, CH'UN Yu FEN ^jjk -f ^, who thought that he had lived for several years in a palace, and on waking up after a while, under a tree in his garden, told the story to his friends. They said that as he fell asleep an ant came down from his beard, and went into a hole near by ; thinking there might be a connection between the Ant and his dream, they dug up the place, and found an Ant's colony built exactly as he had described the palace of his dream. Ch'un yu had dreamt that the King of that underground realm had married him to his daughter, and given him the governorship of his Southern provinces, hence the names Nan Ko Che Meng given by the Chinese to this fairy-tale, the author of which is said to have been Li Kung Tso. It is called in Japanese Nan Ko no Yume, and its curious resemblance to the dream of Rosei will be readily noticed.
Another dream, famous in Chinese lore and sometimes illustrated, is that of Tsai' Siang given as a moral example in the Kan-in-pien >(C Jl ^fi J$| JH. Tsai Siang loved to eat quails, and one night in a dream he saw a young man clad in yellow who, in eight verses, reproached him the hecatombs of living creatures necessary to satisfy his appetite. Tsai Siang went at once to his kitchen, where he liberated some scores of quails then awaiting the cook's attention. During the following night an equal number of adolescents dressed in grey came to thank him in another dream. The glutton mended his ways and later became a minister.*
Another dream forming the theme of prints or pictures is that of Raiko being presented with bow and arrows by a Goddess.
0 The dream of the quail-boys, or Hantan's dream is easily confused in pictures with the feather-clad dwarf god Sukuna Hiko no Mikoto A? ^ $3 ^ (q.v.), also called Sukuna Bikona.
58
o
j \y ^
LEGEND IN JAPANESE ART.
Dreams of Fuji Yama, of two falcons or three fruits of the egg plants are considered lucky omens, predicting long life to the dreamer. Ichi Fuji, ni taka, san nasubi is the Japanese proverb expressing this belief. See Sagami Takatoki, who dreamt that Tengus were hovering around him in his sleep.
177. EARTHQUAKE FISH Jjjj f| ^, or NAMAZU or JISHINUWO. This is the catfish to which earthquakes are due; the creature has a body like an eel, a large flattened head, and long feelers on both sides of its mouth, it lies with its tail under the provinces of Shimosa and Hidachi, and when angry, wriggles about, shaking the foundations of Japan. A large stone rests on its back, the Kaname Ishi, protruding in the garden of the temple of the God KASHIMA DAIMIOJIN (Takemika Tsuchi no Mikoto). This stone goes deep into the bowels of the earth, it is the rivet (Kaname) which binds the world together : when KASHIMA and KADORI MIOJIN came from Heaven to subdue the world, Kashima thrust his sword through the earth, the mighty blade shrank and became the Kaname Ishi which Kashima alone can move. Kadori Miojin is Futsu Nuchi no Mikoto, he has a gourd, and with that gourd and the help of Kadori, this God keeps the fish quiet. Mitsukuni, Daimio of Mito, grandson of Tokugawa leyasu, with a Saint Thomas bent of mind, had the earth dug around the Kaname Ishi,
• but his men could not get at the base of it. Kadori and his gourd, hugging the Namazu, is sometimes a subject for artistic treatment. His efforts are little thought of if one believes the proverbial sentence : A Gourd against a Namazu (meaning useless effort) alluding to the slipping of the gourd on the fish's skin. Earthquakes are also attributed to a beetle, named the JISHIN MUSHI or Earth- quake beetle, with a dragon's head, ten legs like spider's and a scaly body, which is supposed to live deep under the earth.
178. EBISU lj$. jfc ^jf, or YEBISU, one of the Shichi Fukujin. Sometimes also named HIRUKO. He is the third son of Izanagi and Izanami, Koto Shiro Nushi no Kami, though sometimes said to be the son of Daikoku.
Ebisu's name as a luck bringer shares with Daikoku the honour of a place in a cradle rhyme celebrating the arrival of the Takarabune on New Year's Eve quoted by Anderson :
59
LEGEND IN JAPANESE ART.
Sendo, mando, o fune wa gichi gichi
Ebisu Sama, Daikoku Sama, Fuku no Kami yo
Gichi, gichi kogeba.
etc.
Most of which consists of onomatopoeia.
His particular temple is at Mionoseki, where figures made of pottery, and metal ornaments for pouches, bearing his traditional appearance, are regular articles of trade. Legend has it that he originated the clapping of hands, usual in Shinto temples to call attention of the Gods to the prayers.
Ebisu is deaf, so much so that he cannot hear the summons which in October calls all the other divinities to the temple of Izumo. This infirmity forms the pretext for a festival, the Ebisu Ko, falling on the twentieth of October. It is probable that originally Ebisu was an Aino divinity. His very name means " The laughing God," and his countenance is altogether that of an happy individual. Bearded, smiling, or laughing, on his head a cap with two points, or a bonnet, generally sitting on his crossed legs and holding a fishing rod and a big Tai fish, Ebisu cannot be mistaken. He is often shown with Daikoku (q.v.), in more or less humorous groups, and his own emblems are somewhat varied in their treatment : he may be cutting up his fish ; or hugging it ; or trying to cram the animal into a basket several sizes too small ; striking with his rod one of Daikoku's rats having a fight with the Tai ; or dancing with the fish strapped on his back, etc.
Ebisu is the God of honest dealing, he is also the patron of fishermen and the God of food; often coupled with Daikoku as the two Gods whose shrines are the most common in households. This God has a peculiar hatred of cocks, hens and chickens, responsible for the paucity of eggs at Mionoseki. Hearn (U. J. I. p. 231) gives a humorous description of the troubles which befall anyone carrying as much as the image of a chicken in defiance of the deity's wrath. It seems that the God used to spend some of his time fishing at Cape Miho at night, and it is even hinted that his occupations were not always of so simple a nature, so that he had made it the cock's duty to crow loudly at sunrise to warn him that it was time for him to return. Once, however, chanticleer
60
IKKIlt ANT) THK JOKO (Sheza Kato collection)
LEGEND IN JAPANESE ART.
failed in his duty, and Koto-Shiro, on the return journey, having lost his oars, had to paddle with his own august hands, which the fishes sorely bit. Hence his hatred of chickens, the effects of which the native simple folks dare not bring upon themselves.
179. EISHUKUKEI Hf ^ JJpp. (A man on precipice, bowing to Sennins playing Go above.) One day the Emperor Bu of Kwan wanted to know where Eishukukei lived, as it was known in his native district of Chuzan that he eat mother-of-pearl, and he passed for a wizard. So he sent to Hakuryo for the son of the sage, named TAKUSEI j|£ •{£, and ordered him to go to Mount Kwa to hunt up his father. The son, when he reached the mountain, saw his father, seated on a rock floored with jewels and shaded by a purple cloud, occupied at playing with several other sages a game of Go. He inquired who were the players, and his father told him : Kogaisensei, Kyoyu, Sofu, and Ojishin. He then reproved him for his interference, and telling him that there was a talisman hidden under the pillar of his house, sent him home. (Ehon Kojidan.}
1 80. EMMA O, EMMA TEN. See YEMMA, Regent of Hell.
181. ENCHIN H %, Buddhist priest (814-891), founder of the Jimon branch of the Tendai Sect. He received from Go Daigo the posthumous title of CHISHO DAISHI.
182. ENDO MORITO ^ ^ ^ ^, (MONGAKU SHONIN) ^C ^ _h A also called ENDO MUSHA MORITO ^ |ffc 3^ ^ ^ ^, from his military grade, Mushado Koro, was a captain living in Kyoto, who fell in love with KESA |S| He, wife of a Samurai, WATANABE WATARU fj|f $§£ ^, in 1143. As she resisted his entreaties, he vowed to kill her family, unless she allowed him to kill her husband and became his wife. She made an appointment to receive him in her house at night, when he would find her husband asleep in a room, alone, and could kill him. Endo came, and cut off the head of the sleeping individual he met in the appointed room, only to find that it was the lady herself, who, taking the opportunity of her husband being on a journey, had dressed herself in some of his clothes, and sacrificed her
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life to save her honour. Endo, finding his mistake, was overcome with grief, and, repenting his evil ways, shaved his head and became a monk, under the new name of MONGAKU. He retired to the district of Oki, and for twenty-one days remained naked, holding in his teeth the dorge-shaped handle of his bell, counting his beads, and praying under the waterfall of Machi (Kumano, Kii). Another version says that he began his penance on the 2oth day of the i2th month, and that three days after his body froze, but FUDO Mio-6 and his two attendants lifted him from under the icicles and brought him back to life. One of the Mountains of Oki bears the name of Mongakuzan, in his honour, and in commemoration of the holiness which he managed to attain. Mongaku doing penance is a pretty common subject.
He is said to have been sent to Izu in 1179, and to have incited YORITOMO to fight the TAIRA, and later to have been exiled to Okishima, where he died, because of a plot against the Emperor TAMEHITO (Tsuchi Mikado) in 1199, a behaviour hardly to be expected from a man who had acquired such a store of merit.
183. ENJOBO was a priest of Owari, whose claim to celebrity consists in his having got rid of BIMBOGAMI, the God of Poverty, by means of a charm, used whilst imitating with peach tree twigs the action of pushing someone out of doors, and forthwith shutting the doors of the temple. This operation took place on the last day of the year, but Enjobo's slumbers were troubled the same night by a dream, in which the skeleton of a priest came and reproached him for having thrown away his companion of so many years. (See Bimbogami.)
184. ENKO DAISHI M ;)fc ;fc ^ifi. Posthumous title bestowed upon the monk GENKU, also called HONEN SHONIN (1133-1212), who, after passing four years in the monastery of Hiyeizan, without finding the complete truth he was seeking, left it when eighteen years old to go to Kurodani, and, rejecting the practices of the Tendai sect, became the first exponent of the Jodo sect. He is said to have limited his prayers to the repetition sixty thousand times daily of the name of the Buddha Amithaba.
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185. ENOKI ;fif. The Enoki tree is the Celtus Sinensis or Celtus Wildenoiviana ; it is sacred to the God KOJIN, and it is considered a goblin tree, inhabited by malevolent onis. Its wood however, when made into chopsticks, is supposed to cure toothache. There is near Tokio a tree called Yenkiri Enoki (Union breaking tree), to which jealous lovers pray. According to legend, there was in Omi, an Enoki tree over one thousand years old, which grew amongst a forest of pines near the estate of a Daimio called SATSUMA BISHIZAEMON. The latter decided to have the tree felled, as it interfered with the landscape, seen from the castle, obstructing the view of a beautiful lake. The Daimio was beseeched not to carry out his idea, but without avail. During the night preceding the day fixed for the work, a dragon appeared to Satsuma's mother, predicting the end of her son's race if he did not desist ; Satsuma was deaf to all prayers, and the work was proceeded with. As the tree fell to the ground, a terrible noise like a loud moan was heard, and Satsuma's mother, his wife, his children, his retainers, and finally himself started to howl and run like mad animals. The Daimio hanged himself, and his mansion was deserted, until a princess of the Satsuma family, who had become a nun under the name of Jikin in the neighbouring Yamashiro temple of Kwannon, was prevailed upon to exorcise it. (See Shungyo in the Shobo-nen-jo-kio.}
1 86. EN-NO-SHOKAKU ^ /h £j. One of the earliest Buddhist Prophets of Japan living in the seventeenth century, and who ascended several of the highest mountains, Hakusan, Tate Yama, Daisen, etc., to consecrate them to Buddha. During his climbing expeditions, Enno Shokaku was accompanied by two demons, Goki and Zenki, whom he had made his servants. Both were endowed with great magical powers, and they built, under their master's direction, several bridges over mountain chasms and torrents. The popular name of Shokaku is Yenno Guioja. His supernatural powers were objected to, and he died in exile at Oshima. He is depicted in an okimono preserved at the Musee Guimet, amongst the patriarchs of the Shingon sect of Japanese Buddhism.
187. ENRYAKU-JI $E H ^f. The temple founded on the Hiyeizan by SAICHO (later dignified with the title DENGYO DAISHI) in 788, during the
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Enryaku Nengo (782-805). More than three thousand temples followed its erection; they were then called Hokurei, and became the headquarters of the Yamabushi, whose dissolute ways led them to terrorise the whole town of Kyoto, and to rebel, with ASAKURA ECHIZEN NO KAMI, against Nobunaga, who in 1573 captured all the temples and purified them by reducing the lot to ashes.
1 88. ENSHI $\\ ^. The Chinese paragon, YEN TSZE, depicted hidden in a deer's hide. His mother suffered from an eye disease for which the milk of deer was reputed the only remedy. He went to the mountains to get some, hiding in the hide of a stag, and laid in wait for a doe. All he got was a severe hiding from a party of disgusted hunters, who, however, pardoned him his disguise when they understood his story.
FANS.
189. The fan is characteristic of the Japanese ; in olden times, i.e., before 1868, it was the attribute of every individual — man, woman, coolie or prince — and likewise it was put to every possible use, doing duty either as an insignia of commandment or as a substitute for fire bellows.
Fans are of two sorts : the flat, or Chinese, fan, named Uchiwa, and the folding fan, Ogi, Hi-Ogi, or Awo-Gi. The Uchiwa was imported from Corea, and remained in general use up to the fifteenth century. It is the attribute of Fukurokujiu, Jurojin, Benten, Bishamon, Seiobo and the Queen of the Sea, etc.
The folding fan, however, displaced it amongst the male population, and even took the place of a short-tapered staff, called Shaku, which, ceremonial decreed, had to be held against the belt, at a certain angle, to give its holder a dignified appearance when appearing before the Imperial family.
The invention of the folding fan is attributed to the widow of Atsumori (q.v.), who is credited with having cured the abbot of Meido by her use of the folding fan. Another story attributes the invention to a fan maker of the Tenji period (668-672) living near Kyoto, at Tamba, and whose name has been forgotten. The poor man was married to a shrew, and one night a bat came into their room ; the woman started to revile her husband for not getting up to throw the vampire out ; the poor animal
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ENSI1I (//..V.7-.)
FOX GHOST (.;.)
FOX AND CHRYSANTHEMUM (7..V.C.)
K\l)0 MOKITO (ir.!..K.) FOXES WEDDING (/t.S.T.)
EARTHQUAKE FISH (t:./f.\.)
1-ROG, SNAKE, SLUG (II'.L.K.)
FOXES AND BI.1NDMEN (C.//..V.)
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came in contact with the lamp and scorched its wings, falling to the floor.