Lord Redesdale. - Tales of Old Japan

Title: Tales of Old Japan

Author: Algernon Bertram Freeman-Mitford

Release Date: July 24, 2004 [eBook #13015]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1

***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TALES OF OLD JAPAN***

THE RNINS INVITE KTSUK NO SUK TO PERFORM HARA-KIRI.

In the Introduction to the story of the Forty-seven Rnins, I have said almost as much as is needful by way of preface to my stories.

Those of my readers who are most capable of pointing out the many shortcomings and faults of my work, will also be the most indulgent towards me; for any one who has been in Japan, and studied Japanese, knows the great difficulties by which the learner is beset.

For the illustrations, at least, I feel that I need make no apology. Drawn, in the first instance, by one dak, an artist in my employ, they were cut on wood by a famous wood-engraver at Yedo, and are therefore genuine specimens of Japanese art. Messrs. Dalziel, on examining the wood blocks, pointed out to me, as an interesting fact, that the lines are cut with the grain of the wood, after the manner of Albert Drer and some of the old German masters,a process which has been abandoned by modern European wood-engravers.

It will be noticed that very little allusion is made in these Tales to the Emperor and his Court. Although I searched diligently, I was able to find no story in which they played a conspicuous part.

Another class to which no allusion is made is that of the Gshi. The Gshi are a kind of yeomen, or bonnet-lairds, as they would be called over the border, living on their own land, and owning no allegiance to any feudal lord. Their rank is inferior to that of the Samurai, or men of the military class, between whom and the peasantry they hold a middle place. Like the Samurai, they wear two swords, and are in many cases prosperous and wealthy men claiming a descent more ancient than that of many of the feudal Princes. A large number of them are enrolled among the Emperor's body-guard; and these have played a conspicuous part in the recent political changes in Japan, as the most conservative and anti-foreign element in the nation.

With these exceptions, I think that all classes are fairly represented in my stories.

The feudal system has passed away like a dissolving view before the eyes of those who have lived in Japan during the last few years. But when they arrived there it was in full force, and there is not an incident narrated in the following pages, however strange it may appear to Europeans, for the possibility and probability of which those most competent to judge will not vouch. Nor, as many a recent event can prove, have heroism, chivalry, and devotion gone out of the land altogether. We may deplore and inveigh against the Yamato Damashi, or Spirit of Old Japan, which still breathes in the soul of the Samurai, but we cannot withhold our admiration from the self-sacrifices which men will still make for the love of their country.

The first two of the Tales have already appeared in the Fortnightly Review, and two of the Sermons, with a portion of the Appendix on the subject of the Hara-Kiri, in the pages of the Cornhill Magazine. I have to thank the editors of those periodicals for permission to reprint them here.

LONDON, January 7, 1871.

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

THE FORTY-SEVEN RNINS

THE LOVES OF GOMPACHI AND KOMURASAKI

KAZUMA'S REVENGE

A STORY OF THE OTOKODAT OF YEDO

THE WONDERFUL ADVENTURES OF FUNAKOSHI JIUYMON

THE ETA MAIDEN AND THE HATAMOTO

FAIRY TALES

THE TONGUE-CUT SPARROW

THE ACCOMPLISHED AND LUCKY TEA-KETTLE

THE CRACKLING MOUNTAIN

THE STORY OF THE OLD MAN WHO MADE WITHERED TREES TO BLOSSOM

THE BATTLE OF THE APE AND THE CRAB

THE ADVENTURES OF LITTLE PEACHLING

THE FOXES' WEDDING

THE HISTORY OF SAKATA KINTOKI

THE ELVES AND THE ENVIOUS NEIGHBOUR

THE GHOST OF SAKURA

HOW TAJIMA SHUM WAS TORMENTED BY A DEVIL OF HIS OWN CREATION

CONCERNING CERTAIN SUPERSTITIONS

THE VAMPIRE CAT OF NABSHIMA

THE STORY OF THE FAITHFUL CAT

HOW A MAN WAS BEWITCHED AND HAD HIS HEAD SHAVED BY THE FOXES

THE GRATEFUL FOXES

THE BADGER'S MONEY

THE PRINCE AND THE BADGER

JAPANESE SERMONS

THE SERMONS OF KIU-, VOL. I. SERMON I.

THE SERMONS OF KIU-, VOL. I. SERMON II.

THE SERMONS OF KIU-, VOL. I. SERMON III.

APPENDICES:

AN ACCOUNT OF THE HARA-KIRI

THE MARRIAGE CEREMONY

ON THE BIRTH AND REARING OF CHILDREN

FUNERAL RITES

THE RNINS INVITE RTSUK NO SUK TO PERFORM HARA-KIRI

THE WELL IN WHICH THE HEAD WAS WASHED

THE SATSUMA MAN INSULTS OISHI KURANOSUK

THE TOMBS OF THE RNINS

THE TOMB OF THE SHIYOKU

GOMPACHI AWAKENED BY THE MAIDEN IN THE ROBBERS' DEN

FORGING THE SWORD

MATAGOR KILLS YUKIY

THE DEATH OF DANYMON

TRICKS OF SWORDSMANSHIP AT ASAKUSA

THE DEATH OF CHBEI OF BANDZUIN

FUNAKOSHI JIUYMON ON BOARD THE PIRATE SHIP

JIUYMON PUNISHES HIS WIFE AND THE WRESTLER

FUNAKOSHI JIUYMON AND THE GOBLINS

"GOKUMON"

CHAMPION WRESTLER

A WRESTLING MATCH

GENZABUR'S MEETING WITH THE ETA MAIDEN

THE TONGUE-CUT SPARROW

THE TONGUE-CUT SPARROW (2)

THE ACCOMPLISHED AND LUCKY TEA-KETTLE

THE ACCOMPLISHED AND LUCKY TEA-KETTLE (2)

THE HARE AND THE BADGER

THE HARE AND THE BADGER (2)

THE OLD MAN WHO CAUSED WITHERED TREES TO FLOWER

THE OLD MAN WHO CAUSED WITHERED TREES TO FLOWER (2)

THE APE AND THE CRAB

THE APE AND THE CRAB (2)

LITTLE PEACHLING

LITTLE PEACHLING (2)

THE FOXES' WEDDING

THE FOXES' WEDDING (2)

THE DEPUTATION OF PEASANTS AT THEIR LORD'S GATE

THE GHOST OF SAKURA

SGOR THRUSTING THE PETITION INTO THE SHOGUN'S LITTER

THE CAT OF NABSHIMA

THE FEAST OF INARI SAMA

A JAPANESE SERMON

The books which have been written of late years about Japan have either been compiled from official records, or have contained the sketchy impressions of passing travellers. Of the inner life of the Japanese the world at large knows but little: their religion, their superstitions, their ways of thought, the hidden springs by which they moveall these are as yet mysteries. Nor is this to be wondered at. The first Western men who came in contact with JapanI am speaking not of the old Dutch and Portuguese traders and priests, but of the diplomatists and merchants of eleven years agomet with a cold reception. Above all things, the native Government threw obstacles in the way of any inquiry into their language, literature, and history. The fact was that the Tycoon's Governmentwith whom alone, so long as the Mikado remained in seclusion in his sacred capital at Kito, any relations were maintainedknew that the Imperial purple with which they sought to invest their chief must quickly fade before the strong sunlight which would be brought upon it so soon as there should be European linguists capable of examining their books and records. No opportunity was lost of throwing dust in the eyes of the new-comers, whom, even in the most trifling details, it was the official policy to lead astray. Now, however, there is no cause for concealment; the