that it was quite dark there even in the daytime. The old man, after working a while, grew tired and sleepy, leaned against a tree on the bank, and took a nap. Then a big spider came out of the pool, wound its thread around the old man's foot, and then went back into the pool. Thus did the spider rise up again and again, repeating the same action. Then the old man woke up and noticed the spider.
"That is strange," he thought. Pretending to be asleep, he opened his eyes slightly and watched the spider. In the meantime, the spider repeatedly came out of the pool, wound the thread around the old man's foot, and returned to the pool. At last the threads made a rope. When the spider had gone back once again into the pool, the old man took the thread off his foot and quickly wound it around the root of a big tree nearby. Just at that moment the thread was pulled toward the pool with a loud shout: "Yo-o-i sho!" from the bottom of the pool. The old man was astonished to see the big tree trembling and shaking and at last being uprooted. It was pulled harder and harder until at last it toppled into the pool. The frightened old man said to himself: "Oh, I have escaped from a great danger!"
From that time on that pool has been called Kumo-buchi [Spider Pool].
THE BODYLESS HORSE
"Revenant as headless horse," Motif E423.1.3.3, is indicated here. This is another reminiscence from her childhood days told by Mrs. Hitoshi K. Saito to her granddaughter, my student Kayoko Saito, in Tokyo, May 8, 1957.
I N ORDER TO GO to Doi Village from the town where I lived [Aki-machi, Aki-gun, Kochi-ken], we had to pass across an open field. In the midst of the field was a spring which was dammed up for irrigation. When we would pass by the dam, we were told that since olden days something there came after people with the noise "Chan-chara, chan-chara." That's the bodyless horse with small tinklers around its neck, making the sound with those tinklers. If you hear the sound, don't walk straight ahead, but clear the way for the horse. Then you will hear the sound no more. If you do not leave the way open, the bodyless horse will lean over you.
One day, a man turned round when he heard that sound and saw a horse's head, just like one you might see in a toy store in those days, coming after him, shaking up and down as if it were walking, and making the sound with the tinklers around its neck.
I myself have never seen that horse. But when I was walking by there in my childhood I was very scared from anticipation that the bodyless horse might come after me, "Chan-chara, chan-chara." I was especially frightened in the evening when it was getting dark.
TALES OF ZASHIKI-BOKKO
The Minzokugaku Jiten describes the zashiki-warashi as a house spirit. Zashiki is a room with tatami mats used for a parlor; warashi is a term for "boy," and bokko is its dialect equivalent in northeastern Japan. Yanagita, Mountain Village Life, p. 58, no. 12, says that in the northeastern parts of Japan a spirit in the form of a boyish figure is believed to dwell with oldfamilies and to indulge in much harmless mischief, such as upsetting a bed with someone lying in it. The same work reports a tradition from Yamagata-mura, Iwate-ken, that the decline of a family inevitably follows when the zashiki-warashi leaves the house.
Texts from Miyazawa Kenji Meisaku Sen, 7th ed., pp. 43-48. Translated by Kayoko Saito, whose grandfather came from the northeast and knew of the zashikibokko; she said her grandfather knew there were many Saitos living in the Saraki of the last story. One sees here the deft handling of folk traditions by a professional writer.
Note: Hakama, a man's divided skirt for formal wear over kimono.
T HE FOLLOWING are tales about zashiki-bokko that are told in our district [northeastern Japan]:
1. One bright day everyone had gone to the mountain to work, leaving behind only two children, who were playing in the yard. As there was nobody in the big house, a deep silence
"That is strange," he thought. Pretending to be asleep, he opened his eyes slightly and watched the spider. In the meantime, the spider repeatedly came out of the pool, wound the thread around the old man's foot, and returned to the pool. At last the threads made a rope. When the spider had gone back once again into the pool, the old man took the thread off his foot and quickly wound it around the root of a big tree nearby. Just at that moment the thread was pulled toward the pool with a loud shout: "Yo-o-i sho!" from the bottom of the pool. The old man was astonished to see the big tree trembling and shaking and at last being uprooted. It was pulled harder and harder until at last it toppled into the pool. The frightened old man said to himself: "Oh, I have escaped from a great danger!"
From that time on that pool has been called Kumo-buchi [Spider Pool].
THE BODYLESS HORSE
"Revenant as headless horse," Motif E423.1.3.3, is indicated here. This is another reminiscence from her childhood days told by Mrs. Hitoshi K. Saito to her granddaughter, my student Kayoko Saito, in Tokyo, May 8, 1957.
I N ORDER TO GO to Doi Village from the town where I lived [Aki-machi, Aki-gun, Kochi-ken], we had to pass across an open field. In the midst of the field was a spring which was dammed up for irrigation. When we would pass by the dam, we were told that since olden days something there came after people with the noise "Chan-chara, chan-chara." That's the bodyless horse with small tinklers around its neck, making the sound with those tinklers. If you hear the sound, don't walk straight ahead, but clear the way for the horse. Then you will hear the sound no more. If you do not leave the way open, the bodyless horse will lean over you.
One day, a man turned round when he heard that sound and saw a horse's head, just like one you might see in a toy store in those days, coming after him, shaking up and down as if it were walking, and making the sound with the tinklers around its neck.
I myself have never seen that horse. But when I was walking by there in my childhood I was very scared from anticipation that the bodyless horse might come after me, "Chan-chara, chan-chara." I was especially frightened in the evening when it was getting dark.
TALES OF ZASHIKI-BOKKO
The Minzokugaku Jiten describes the zashiki-warashi as a house spirit. Zashiki is a room with tatami mats used for a parlor; warashi is a term for "boy," and bokko is its dialect equivalent in northeastern Japan. Yanagita, Mountain Village Life, p. 58, no. 12, says that in the northeastern parts of Japan a spirit in the form of a boyish figure is believed to dwell with oldfamilies and to indulge in much harmless mischief, such as upsetting a bed with someone lying in it. The same work reports a tradition from Yamagata-mura, Iwate-ken, that the decline of a family inevitably follows when the zashiki-warashi leaves the house.
Texts from Miyazawa Kenji Meisaku Sen, 7th ed., pp. 43-48. Translated by Kayoko Saito, whose grandfather came from the northeast and knew of the zashikibokko; she said her grandfather knew there were many Saitos living in the Saraki of the last story. One sees here the deft handling of folk traditions by a professional writer.
Note: Hakama, a man's divided skirt for formal wear over kimono.
T HE FOLLOWING are tales about zashiki-bokko that are told in our district [northeastern Japan]:
1. One bright day everyone had gone to the mountain to work, leaving behind only two children, who were playing in the yard. As there was nobody in the big house, a deep silence
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