Ancient Tales and Folk-Lore of Japan Part 5

Immediately behind the temple of Hachiman is a small hill called s.h.i.+rabata-yama, whence Yoritomo is said to have often admired the prospect. The base of the hill is enclosed and laid out as a garden.

19. Murakami Yos.h.i.+teru Does 'Harakiri' and Throws His Entrails at the Enemy.

XVI MURAKAMI YOs.h.i.+TERU'S FAITHFULNESS.

MURAKAMI YOs.h.i.+TERU--We shall call him Yos.h.i.+teru for short--was one of the faithful retainers of Prince Morinaga, third son of the Emperor G.o.daigo, who reigned from 1319 to 1339. When I say 'reigned,' I mean that G.o.daigo was Emperor; but there was a Regent at the time, Hojo Takatoki, who ruled with harshness and great selfishness.

With the exception of young Prince Morinaga, the Imperial family appeared to take things easily. They preferred quietude and comfort to turbulence and quarrelling. Prince Morinaga was different. Fiery-tempered and proud, he thought that Hojo Takatoki was usurping the Emperor's rights. The man, he said, was nothing more by birth than one of the Emperor's subjects, and had no business to be made Regent.

Naturally these opinions led to trouble, and it was not very long before Prince Morinaga was obliged to leave the capital suddenly, with his followers, of whom there were some hundreds, not enough to fight Hojo Takatoki at the time.

Prince Morinaga had made up his mind that it would be better to live independently in Yamato than to be under the sway of Hojo Takatoki, as were his father and his elder brothers. Having collected the most faithful of his followers--of whom the most notable was the hero of our story, Murakami Yos.h.i.+teru,--the Prince left the capital in disguise, and started for Yos.h.i.+no in Yamato. There, in the wild mountains, he intended to build a castle, in which to dwell for the rest of his days independent of the Regent, whom he held in much loathing.

Prince Morinaga carried with him an Imperial flag, which, he expected, would gain for him sympathy and help even in the wild Yamato Province. Though from Kioto the then capital to the borders of Yamato is, in a direct line, only about thirty miles, the whole country is mountainous and wild; roads are non-existent, mountain paths taking their place. Consequently, it was noon on the fifth day before the Prince found himself at a little border village called Imogase. Here he found his way blocked as it were by a guard-house, the soldiery of which had been chosen from among Imogase villagers, headed by one Shoji, a rough and disagreeable man.

When Prince Morinaga and his party of about eighty followers dressed as yamabus.h.i.+ (fighting monks) arrived, flying the standard, they were called to a halt by the village guard, and told that they could go no farther into Yamato without leaving one of themselves as hostage. The Prince was too haughty to speak to the villagers and explain, and, unfortunately, Murakami Yos.h.i.+teru, his most trusted leader, could not be found, for he had remained some miles behind to gather straw and make a new pair of waraji (straw shoes). Shoji, leader of the Imogase villagers, was firm in his demand that one of the party should be left behind until their return. For some twenty minutes matters stood thus. Neither side wanted to fight. At last Shoji said: 'Well, you may say that you are a prince! I am a simple villager, and I don't know. You may carry the Imperial flag; but when you are dressed like yamabus.h.i.+ it does not look exactly as if you were a prince. As I don't want trouble, and you want to pa.s.s without trouble, -my orders being that out of all parties of over ten armed people I am to hold one as a hostage,--the only suggestion that I can make is that I keep as hostage this Imperial flag.'

The prince, glad enough to save leaving one of his faithful followers, gave the standard to Shoji as hostage, and then he and his party were allowed to pa.s.s into Yamato. They proceeded on their way. Not half-an-hour after they had pa.s.sed, Murakami Yos.h.i.+teru arrived at the guard-house, having made himself a pair of straw shoes, to take the place of his old ones; and his surprise at seeing his master's flag in such low hands was equalled by his anger.

'What is the meaning of this?' he asked.

Shoji explained what had happened.

On hearing the story Murakami lost control of his temper. He flew into a violent pa.s.sion. He reviled Shoji and his men as a set of low blackguards who scarcely had a right to look at the Imperial standard of j.a.pan, much less to dare to touch it; and with that he began a general a.s.sault on the village guard, killing three or four and putting the rest to flight. Murakami then seized the standard, and ran on with it until, towards evening, he came up with the Prince and his party, who were overjoyed at what he had done and at the recovery of the flag.

Two days later the party reached Yos.h.i.+no, and in the vicinity of this place they built a fortress, where for some months they dwelt in peace. It was not long, however, before the Regent heard of the prince's whereabouts, and he soon sent a small army after him. For two days the fort was desperately attacked; on the third the outer gates were taken; two-thirds of the prince's men were dead'. Murakami, had been wounded three times, and his life could not last long. Faithful to the end, he rushed to his prince, saying, 'Master, I am wounded unto death. In less than half-an-hour our enemies will have conquered us, for we have but few men left. Your Highness is unwounded, and can in disguise escape when the end comes. Give me quick your armour, and let me pretend that I am your Highness. I will show our enemies how a prince can die.'

Changing clothes hastily, and donning the prince's armour, Murakami, bleeding badly from his wounds, and already more dead than alive with weakness from the loss of blood, regained the wall, and struggling up the last steps he reached a point where he could see and be seen by the whole of the enemy.

'I am Prince Morinaga!' shouted he. 'Fate is against me, though I am in the right. Sooner or later Heaven's punishment will come down on you. Until then my curses upon you, and take a lesson as to how a prince can die, emulating it, if you dare, when your time comes!'

With this Murakami Yos.h.i.+teru drew his short sword across his abdomen, and, seizing his quivering entrails, he flung them into the midst of his enemies, his dead body falling directly afterwards.

His head was taken to the Regent in Kioto as the head of Prince Morinaga, who escaped to plot in the future.

20. O Tokoyo Sees the Girl About to be Thrown Over Cliff.

XVII A STORY OF OKI ISLANDS.

THE Oki Islands, some forty-five miles from the mainland of Hoki Province, were for centuries the scene of strife, of sorrow, and of banishment; but to-day they are fairly prosperous and highly peaceful. Fish, octopus, and cuttlefish form the main exports. They are a weird, wild, and rocky group, difficult of access, and few indeed are the Europeans who have visited them. I know of only two--the late Lafcadio Hearn and Mr. Anderson (who was there to collect animals for the Duke of Bedford). I myself sent Oto, my j.a.panese hunter, who was glad to return.

In the Middle Ages--that is, from about the year 1000 A.D.--there was much fighting over the islands by various chieftains, and many persons were sent thither in banishment.

In the year 1239 Hojo Yos.h.i.+tos.h.i.+ defeated the Emperor Go Toba and banished him to Dogen Island.

Another Hojo chieftain banished another Emperor, Go Daigo, to Nis.h.i.+-no-s.h.i.+ma. Oribe s.h.i.+ma, the hero of our story, was probably banished by this same Hojo chieftain, whose name is given to me as Takatoki (Hojo), and the date of the story must be about 1320 A.D.

At the time when Hojo Takatoki reigned over the country with absolute power, there was a samurai whose name was Oribe s.h.i.+ma. By some misfortune Oribe (as we shall call him) had offended Hojo Takatoki, and had consequently found himself banished to one of the islands of the Oki group which was then known as Kamis.h.i.+ma (Holy Island). So the relater of the story tells me; but I doubt his geographical statement, and think the island must have been Nis.h.i.+-no-s.h.i.+ma (Island of the West, or West IslandA 1).

Oribe had a beautiful daughter, aged eighteen, of whom he was as fond as she was of him, and consequently the banishment and separation rendered both of them doubly miserable. Her name was Tokoyo, O Tokoyo San.

Tokoyo, left at her old home in s.h.i.+ma Province, Ise, wept from morn till eve, and sometimes from eve till morn. At last, unable to stand the separation any longer, she resolved to risk all and try to reach her father or die in the attempt; for she was brave, as are most girls of s.h.i.+ma Province, where the women have much to do with the sea. As a child she had loved to dive with the women whose daily duty is to collect awabi and pearl-oyster sh.e.l.ls, running with them the risk of life in spite of her higher birth and frailer body. She knew no fear.

Having decided to join her father, O Tokoyo sold what property she could dispose of, and set out on her long journey to the far-off province of Hoki, which, after many weeks she reached, striking the sea at a place called Akasaki, whence on clear days the Islands of Oki can be dimly seen. Immediately she set to and tried to persuade the fishermen to take her to the Islands; but nearly all her money had gone, and, moreover, no one was allowed to land at the Oki Islands in those days--much less to visit those who had been banished thence. The fishermen laughed at Tokoyo, and told her that she had better go home. The brave girl was not to be put off. She bought what stock of provisions she could afford, at night went down to the beach, and, selecting the lightest boat she could find, pushed it with difficulty into the water, and sculled as hard as her tiny arms would allow her. Fortune sent a strong breeze, and the current also was in her favour. Next evening, more dead than alive, she found her efforts crowned with success. Her boat touched the sh.o.r.e of a rocky bay.

O Tokoyo sought a sheltered spot, and lay down to sleep for the night. In the morning she awoke much refreshed, ate the remainder of her provisions, and started to make inquiries as to her father's whereabouts. The first person she met was a fisherman. 'No,' he said: 'I have never heard of your father, and if you take my advice you will not ask for him if he has been banished, for it may lead you to trouble and him to death!'

Poor O Tokoyo wandered from one place to another, subsisting on charity, but never hearing a word of her father.

One evening she came to a little cape of rocks, whereon stood a shrine. After bowing before Buddha and imploring his help to find her dear father, O Tokoyo lay down, intending to pa.s.s the night there, for it was a peaceful and holy spot, well sheltered from the winds, which, even in summer, as it was now (the 13th of June), blow with some violence all around the Oki Islands.

Tokoyo had slept about an hour when she heard, in spite of the das.h.i.+ng of waves against the rocks, a curious sound, the clapping of hands and the bitter sobbing of a girl. As she looked up in the bright moonlight she saw a beautiful person of fifteen years, sobbing bitterly. Beside her stood a man who seemed to be the shrine-keeper or priest. He was clapping his hands and mumbling 'Namu Amida Butsu's.' Both were dressed in white. When the prayer was over, the priest led the girl to the edge of the rocks, and was about to push her over into the sea, when O Tokoyo came to the rescue, rus.h.i.+ng at and seizing the girl's arm just in time to save her. The old priest looked surprised at the intervention, but was in no way angered or put about, and explained as follows:-- 'It appears from your intervention that you are a stranger to this small island. Otherwise you would know that the unpleasant business upon which you find me is not at all to my liking or to the liking of any of us. Unfortunately, we are cursed with an evil G.o.d in this island, whom we call YofunA-Nus.h.i.+. He lives at the bottom of the sea, and demands, once a year, a girl just under fifteen years of age. This sacrificial offering has to be made on June 13, Day of the Dog, between eight and nine o'clock in the evening. If our villagers neglect this, YofunA-Nus.h.i.+ becomes angered, and causes great storms, which drown many of our fishermen. By sacrificing one young girl annually much is saved. For the last seven years it has been my sad duty to superintend the ceremony, and it is that which you have now interrupted.'

O Tokoyo listened to the end of the priest's explanation, and then said: 'Holy monk, if these things be as you say, it seems that there is sorrow everywhere. Let this young girl go, and say that she may stop her weeping, for I am more sorrowful than she, and will willingly take her place and offer myself to YofunA-Nus.h.i.+. I am the sorrowing daughter of Oribe s.h.i.+ma, a samurai of high rank, who has been exiled to this island. It is in search of my dear father that I have come here; but he is so closely guarded that I cannot get to him, or even find out exactly where he has been hidden. My heart is broken, and I have nothing more for which to wish to live, and am therefore glad to save this girl. Please take this letter, which is addressed to my father. That you should try and deliver it to him is all I ask.'

Saying which, Tokoyo took the white robe off the younger girl and put it on herself. She then knelt before the figure of Buddha, and prayed for strength and courage to slay the evil G.o.d, YofunA-Nus.h.i.+. Then she drew a small and beautiful dagger, which had belonged to one of her ancestors, and, placing it between her pearly teeth, she dived into the roaring sea and disappeared, the priest and the other girl looking after her with wonder and admiration, and the girl with thankfulness.

As we said at the beginning of the story, Tokoyo had been brought up much among the divers of her own country in s.h.i.+ma; she was a perfect swimmer, and knew, moreover, something of fencing and jujitsu, as did many girls of her position in those days.

Tokoyo swam downwards through the clear water, which was illuminated by bright moonlight. Down, down she swam, pa.s.sing silvery fish, until she reached the bottom, and there she found herself opposite a submarine cave resplendent with the phosph.o.r.escent lights issuing from awabi sh.e.l.ls and the pearls that glittered through their openings. As Tokoyo looked she seemed to . see a man seated in the cave. Fearing nothing, willing to fight and die, she approached, holding her dagger ready to strike. Tokoyo took him for YofunA-Nus.h.i.+, the evil G.o.d of whom the priest had spoken. The G.o.d made no sign of life, however, and Tokoyo saw that it was no G.o.d, but only a wooden statue of Hojo Takatoki, the man who had exiled her father. At first she was angry and inclined to wreak her vengeance on the statue; but, after all, what would be the use of that? Better do good than evil. She would rescue the thing. Perhaps it had been made by some person who, like her father, had suffered at the hands of Hojo Takatoki. Was rescue possible? Indeed it was more: it was probable. So perceiving, Tokoyo undid one of her girdles and wound it about the statue, which she took out of the cave. True, it was waterlogged and heavy; but things are lighter in the water than they are out, and Tokoyo feared no trouble in bringing it to the surface--she was about to tie it on her back. However, the unexpected happened.

She beheld, coming slowly out of the depths of the cavern, a horrible thing, a luminous phosph.o.r.escent.

A .

21. O Tokoyo sees YofunA-Nus.h.i.+ Coming Towards Her.

A creature of the shape of a snake, but with legs and small scales on its back and sides. The thing was twenty-seven or eight shaku (about twenty-six feet) in length. The eyes were fiery.

Tokoyo gripped her dagger with renewed determination, feeling sure that this was the evil G.o.d, the YofunA-Nus.h.i.+ that required annually a girl to be cast to him. No doubt the YofunA-Nus.h.i.+ took her for the girl that was his due. Well, she would show him who she was, and kill him if she could, and so save the necessity of further annual contributions of a virgin from this poor island's few.

Slowly the monster came on, and Tokoyo braced herself for the combat. When the creature was within six feet of her, she moved sideways and struck out his right eye. This so disconcerted the evil G.o.d that he turned and tried to re-enter the cavern; but Tokoyo was too clever for him. Blinded by the loss of his right eye, as also by the blood which flooded into his left, the monster was slow in his movements, and thus the brave and agile Tokoyo was able to do with him much as she liked. She got to the left side of him, where she was able to stab him in the heart, and, knowing that he could not long survive the blow, she headed him off so as to prevent his gaining too far an entrance into the cave, where in the darkness she might find herself at a disadvantage. YofunA-Nus.h.i.+, however, was unable to see his way back to the depths of his cavern, and after two or three heavy gasps died, not far from the entrance.

Tokoyo was pleased at her success. She felt that she had slain the G.o.d that cost the life of a girl a-year to the people of the island to which she had come in search of her father. She perceived that she must take it and the wooden statue to the surface, which, after several attempts, she managed to do,--having been in the sea for nearly half-an-hour.

In the meantime the priest and the little girl had continued to gaze into the water where Tokoyo had disappeared, marvelling at her bravery, the priest praying for her soul, and the girl thanking the G.o.ds. Imagine their surprise when suddenly they noticed a struggling body rise to the surface in a somewhat awkward manner! They could not make it out at all, until at last the little girl cried, 'Why, holy father, it is the girl who took my place and dived into the sea! I recognise my white clothes. But she seems to have a man and a huge fish with her.'

The priest had by this time realised that it was Tokoyo who had come to the surface, and he rendered all the help he could. He dashed down the rocks, and pulled her half-insensible form ash.o.r.e. He cast his girdle round the monster, and put the carved image of Hojo Takatoki on a rock beyond reach of the waves.

Soon a.s.sistance came, and all were carefully removed to a safe place in the village. Tokoyo was the heroine of the hour. The priest reported the whole thing to Tameyos.h.i.+, the lord who ruled the island at the time, and he in his turn reported the matter to the Lord Hojo Takatoki, who ruled the whole Province of Hoki, which included the Islands of Oki.

Takatoki was suffering from some peculiar disease quite unknown to the medical experts of the day. The recovery of the wooden statue representing himself made it clear that he was labouring under the curse of some one to whom he had behaved unjustly--some one who had carved his figure, cursed it, and sunk it in the sea. Now that it had been brought to the surface, he felt that the curse was over, that he would get better; and he did. On hearing that the heroine of the story was the 'daughter of his old enemy Oribe s.h.i.+ma, who was confined in prison, he ordered his immediate release, and great were the rejoicings thereat.

The curse on the image of Hojo Takatoki had brought with it the evil G.o.d, YofunA-Nus.h.i.+, who demanded a virgin a-year as contribution. YofunA-Nus.h.i.+ had now been slain, and the islanders feared no further trouble from storms. Oribe s.h.i.+ma and his brave daughter O Tokoyo returned to their own country in s.h.i.+ma Province, where the people hailed them with delight; and their popularity soon re-established their impoverished estates, on which men were willing to work for nothing.

In the island of Kamijima (Holy Island) in the Oki Archipelago peace reigned. No more virgins were offered on June 13 to the evil G.o.d, YofunA-Nus.h.i.+, whose body was buried on the Cape at the shrine where our story begins. Another small shrine was built to commemorate the event. It was called the Tomb of the Sea Serpent.

The wooden statue of Hojo Takatoki, after much travelling, found a resting-place at Honsoji, in Kamakura.

Footnotes.

102:1 Since writing this, I have found that there is a very small island, called Kamis.h.i.+ma, between the two main islands of the Oki Archipelago, south-west of the eastern island.

22. Tarada Sees the Mysterious Figure of a Girl.

XVIII CAPE OF THE WOMAN'S SWORDA 1.

DOWN in the Province of Higo are a group of large islands, framing with the mainland veritable little inland seas, deep bays, and narrow channels. The whole of this is called Amakusa. There are a village called Amakusa mura, a sea known as Amakusa umi, an island known as Amakusa s.h.i.+ma, and the Cape known as Joken Zaki, which is the most prominent feature of them all, projecting into the Amakusa sea.

History relates that in the year 1577 the Daimio of the province issued an order that every one under him was to become a Christian or be banished.

During the next century this decree was reversed; only, it was ordered that the Christians should be executed. Tens of thousands of Christianised heads were collected and sent for burial to Nagasaki, s.h.i.+mabara and Amakusa.

This--repeated from Murray--has not much to do with my story. After all, it is possible that at the time the Amakusa people became Christian the sword in question, being in some temple, was with the G.o.ds cast into the sea, and recovered later by a coral or pearl diver in the Bunroku period, which lasted from 1592 to 1596. A history would naturally spring from a sword so recovered. But to the story.

The Cape of Joken Zaki (the Woman's Sword Cape) was not always so called. In former years, before the Bunroku period, it had been called Fudozaki (Fudo is the G.o.d of Fierceness, always represented as surrounded by fire and holding a sword) or Fudo's Cape. The reason of the change of names was this.

The inhabitants of Amakusa lived almost entirely on what they got out of the sea, so that when it came to pa.s.s that for two years of the Bunroku period no fish came into their seas or bay and they were sorely distressed, many actually starved, and their country was in a state of desolation. Their largest and longest nets were shot and hauled in vain. Not a single fish so large as a sardine could they catch. At last things got so bad that they could not even see fish schooling outside their bay. Peculiar rumbling sounds were occasionally heard coming from under the sea off Cape Fudo; but of these they thought little, being j.a.panese and used to earthquakes.

All the people knew was that the fish had completely gone--where they could not tell, or why, until one day an old and much-respected fisherman said: 'I fear, my friends, that the noise we so often hear off Cape Fudo has nothing to do with earthquakes, but that the G.o.d of the Sea has been displeased.'

One evening a few days after this a sailing junk, the Tsukus.h.i.+-maru, owned by one Tarada, who commanded her, anch.o.r.ed for the night to the lee of Fudozaki.

After having stowed their sails and made everything snug, the crew pulled their beds up from below (for the weather was hot) and rolled them out on deck. Towards -the middle of the night the captain was awakened by a peculiar rumbling sound seeming to come from the bottom of the sea. Apparently it came from the direction in which their anchor lay; the rope which held it trembled visibly. Tarada said the sound reminded him of the roaring of the falling tide in the Naruto Channel between Awa and Awaji Island. Suddenly he saw towards the bows of the junk a beautiful maid clothed in the finest of white silks (he thought). She seemed, however, hardly real, being surrounded by a glittering haze.

Tarada was not a coward; nevertheless, he aroused his men, for he did not quite like this. As soon as he had shaken the men to their senses, he moved towards the figure, which, when but ten or twelve feet away, addressed him in the most melodious of voices, thus: 'Ah! could I but be back in the world! That is my only wish.'

Tarada, astonished and affrighted, fell on his knees, and was about to pray, when a sound of roaring waters was heard again, and the white-clad maiden disappeared into the sea.

Next morning Tarada went on sh.o.r.e to ask the people of Amakusa if they had ever heard of such a thing before, and to tell them of his experiences.

'No,' said the village elder. 'Two years ago we never heard the noises which we hear now off Fudo Cape almost daily, and we had much fish here before then; but we have even now never seen the figure of the girl whom (you say) you saw last night. Surely this must be the ghost of some poor girl that has been drowned, and the noise we hear must be made by the G.o.d of the Sea, who is in anger that her bones and body are not taken out of this bay, where the fish so much liked to come before her body fouled the bottom.'

A consultation was held by the fishermen. They concluded that the village elder was right--that some one must have been drowned in the bay, and that the body was polluting the bottom. It was her ghost that had appeared on Tarada's s.h.i.+p, and the noise was naturally caused by the angry G.o.d of the Sea, offended that his fish were prevented from entering the bay by its uncleanness.

What was to be done was quite clear. Some one must dive to the bottom in spite of the depth of water, and bring the body or bones to the surface. It was a dangerous job, and not a pleasant one either,--the bringing up of a corpse that had lain at the bottom for well over a year.

As no one volunteered for the dive, the villagers suggested a man who was a great swimmer--a man who had all his life been dumb and consequently was a person of no value, as no one would marry him and no one cared for him. His name was Sankichi or (as they called him) Os.h.i.+-no-Sankichi, Dumb Sankichi. He was twenty-six years of age; he had always been honest; he was very religious, attending at the temples and shrines constantly; but he kept to himself, as his infirmity did not appeal to the community. As soon as this poor fellow heard that in the opinion of most of them there was a dead body at the bottom of the bay which had to be brought to the surface, he came forward and made signs that he would do the work or die in the attempt. What was his poor life worth in comparison with the hundreds of fishermen who lived about the bay, their lives depending upon the presence of fish? The fishermen consulted among themselves, and agreed that they would let Os.h.i.+-no-Sankichi make the attempt on the morrow; and until that time he was the popular hero.

Next day, when the tide was low, all the villagers a.s.sembled on the beach to give Dumb Sankichi a parting cheer. He was rowed out to Tarada's junk, and, after bidding farewell to his few relations, dived into the sea off her bows.

Sankichi swam until he reached the bottom, pa.s.sing through hot and cold currents the whole way. Hastily he looked, and swam about; but no corpse or bones did he come across. At last he came to a projecting rock, and on the top of that he espied something like a sword wrapped in old brocade. On grasping it he felt that it really was a sword. On his untying the string and drawing the blade, it proved to be one of dazzling brightness, with not a speck of rust.

'It is said,' thought Sankichi, 'that j.a.pan is the country of the sword, in which its spirit dwells. It must be the G.o.ddess of the Sword that makes the roaring sound which frightens away the fishes--when she comes to the surface.'

Feeling that he had secured a rare treasure, Sankichi lost no time in returning to the surface. He was promptly hauled on board the Tsukus.h.i.+-maru amid the cheers of the villagers and his relations. So long had he been under water, and so benumbed was his body, he promptly fainted. Fires were lit, and his body was rubbed until he came to, and gave by signs an account of his dive. The head official of the neighbourhood, Naruse Tsus.h.i.+manokami, examined the sword; but, in spite of its beauty and excellence, no name could be found on the blade, and the official expressed it as his opinion that the sword was a holy treasure. He recommended the erection of a shrine dedicated to Fudo, wherein the sword should be kept in order to guard the village against further trouble. Money was collected. The shrine was built. Os.h.i.+-no-Sankichi was made the caretaker, and lived a long and happy life.

The fish returned to the bay, for the spirit of the sword was no longer dissatisfied by being at the bottom of the sea.

Footnotes.

110:1 The t.i.tle to this old and hitherto untold legend is not much less curious than the story itself, which was told to me by a man called f.u.kuga, who journeys much up and down the southern coast in search of pearls and coral.

23. YoG.o.dayu Saves the Bee's Life in Kizugawa Valley.

XIX HOW YOG.o.dAYU WON A BATTLE.

DURING the reign of the Emperor s.h.i.+rakawa, which was between the years 1073 and 1086 A.D., there lived a general whose name was YoG.o.dayu. He had built a fort for himself and his small army in the wilds of Yamato, not far from the Mountain of Kasagi, where, about the year 1380, the unfortunate Emperor Go-Daigo camped among the same rocky fastnesses and eventually perished. Even to-day, as one winds in and out of the narrow gorge where the railway pa.s.ses Kasagi, in the Kizugawa valley, one is struck by the extreme wildness of the scenery. Here it was that YoG.o.dayu built his fort. Some months later he was attacked by his wife's brother, whom he detested, and got badly beaten, so much so as to have only some twenty warriors left alive. With these he escaped to Kasagi Mountain, and hid himself for two days in a cave, in fear and trembling that he should be discovered. On the third day YoG.o.dayu, finding that he was not pursued, ventured forth to admire the scenery. While thus occupied he saw a bee in a large spider's-web struggling in vain to free itself. Struggle as it might, it only made things worse. YoG.o.dayu, feeling sympathy for the bee, relieved it from its captivity and let it fly, saying: 'Ah, little bee! fly back to liberty and to your hive. I wish I could do the same. It is a pleasure to relieve those in captivity, even though one is at the mercy of one's enemy, as I am.'

That night YoG.o.dayu dreamed that a man dressed in black and yellow saluted him, and said: 'Sir, I have come to tell you that it is my desire to help you and fulfil the resolve which I came to this morning.'

'And who, pray, may you be?' answered YoG.o.dayu in his dream.

'I am the bee whom you released from the spider's web, and deeply grateful; so much so that I have thought out a plan by which you can defeat your enemy and regain your lost fortune.'

'How is it possible for me to defeat my enemy with only a remnant of my force--some twenty warriors?' quoth YoG.o.dayu.

'It is very simple,' was the answer. 'Follow exactly the instructions I give you, and you shall see.'

'But I have no walls behind which the few friends I have can make a show of fighting. It is impossible for me to attack my enemy.'

The bee smiled and said: 'You shall not want walls. You shall be attacked, and, with the help of some ten millions of the bees of Yamato, you shall put your enemies to rout. Listen! When you have fixed upon the day and the place where you will fight your brother-in-law, build a wooden house, place in it as many hundred empty jars and receptacles as your men can find, so that we bees may come and hide in them. You must live in the house with your twenty and odd men, and manage to let your enemy know where you are, and that you are collecting a force to attack him. It will then not be long before he attacks you. When he does, we bees will come out in our millions and help you. You are sure of victory. Fear nothing; but do as I say.'

As YoG.o.dayu was about to speak the bee disappeared, and he awoke from his dream. Deeply impressed, he related it to his men. It was arranged that these should split themselves up into couples and return to their native province, collect what men they could, and be back at the cave some thirty days later. YoG.o.dayu went off alone. Thirty days later they all met again at the cave on Kasagi yama. Altogether they were now eighty men. Quietly they set to, and, following the bee's advice, built a wooden . house at the entrance of the valley, and put therein some two thousand jars. No sooner had this been done than the bees arrived in countless thousands, until there must have been well-nigh two millions. One of YoG.o.dayu's men was sent to propagate reports that he was strongly fortifying himself.