"morning-dew"
tsuyu ("morning dew") was the only daughter of iijima. when her father married again she found she could not live happily with her stepmother, and a separate house was built for her, where she lived with her servant-maid yoné.
one day tsuyu received a visit from the family physician, yamamoto shijo accompanied by a handsome young samurai named hagiwara shinzaburo. these young people fell in love with each other, and at parting tsuyu whispered to shinzaburo: "remember! if you do not come to see me again i shall certainly die!"
shinzaburo had every intention of seeing the fair tsuyu as frequently as possible. etiquette, however, would not allow him to visit her alone, so that he was compelled to rely on the old doctor's promise to take him to the villa where his loved one lived. the old doctor, however, having seen more than the young people had supposed, purposely refrained from keeping his promise.
tsuyu, believing that the handsome young samurai had proved unfaithful, slowly pined away and died. her faithful servant yoné also died soon afterwards, being unable to live without her mistress, and they were buried side by side in the cemetery of shin-banzui-in.
shortly after this sad event had taken place the old[pg 229] doctor called upon shinzaburo and gave him full particulars of the death of tsuyu and her maid.
shinzaburo recognised tsuyu and her maid yoné
shinzaburo felt the blow keenly. night and day the girl was in his thoughts. he inscribed her name upon a mortuary tablet, placed offerings before it, and repeated many prayers.
the dead return
when the first day of the festival of the dead[2] arrived he set food on the shelf of souls and hung out lanterns to guide the spirits during their brief earthly sojourn. as the night was warm and the moon at her full, he sat in his verandah and waited. he felt that all these preparations would not be in vain, and in his heart he believed that the soul of tsuyu would come to him.
suddenly the stillness was broken by the sound of kara-kon, kara-kon, the soft patter of women's geta. there was something strange and haunting about the sound. shinzaburo rose and peeped over the hedge. he saw two women. one was carrying a long-shaped lantern with silk peonies stuck in at the upper end; the other wore a lovely robe covered with designs of autumnal blossom. in another moment he recognised the sweet figure of tsuyu and her maid yoné.
when yoné had explained that the wicked old doctor had told them that shinzaburo was dead, and the young samurai had likewise informed his visitors that he, too, had learnt from the same source that his loved one and her maid had departed this life, the two women entered the house, and remained there that night, returning home a little before sunrise. night after night they came in this mysterious manner, and always yoné carried the shining peony-lantern, always she and her mistress departed at the same hour.
[pg 230]
a spy
one night tomozo, one of shinzaburo's servants, who lived next door to his master, chanced to hear the sound of a woman's voice in his lord's apartment. he peeped through a crack in one of the sliding doors, and perceived by the night-lantern within the room that his master was talking with a strange woman under the mosquito-net. their conversation was so extraordinary that tomozo was determined to see the woman's face. when he succeeded in doing so his hair stood on end and he trembled violently, for he saw the face of a dead woman, a woman long dead. there was no flesh on her fingers, for what had once been fingers were now a bunch of jangling bones. only the upper part of her body had substance; below her waist there was but a dim, moving shadow. while tomozo gazed with horror upon such a revolting scene a second woman's figure sprang up from within the room. she made for the chink and for tomozo's eye behind it. with a shriek of terror the spying tomozo fled to the house of hakuodo yusai.
yusai's advice
now yusai was a man well versed in all manner of mysteries; but nevertheless tomozo's story made considerable impression upon him, and he listened to every detail with the utmost amazement. when the servant had finished his account of the affair yusai informed him that his master was a doomed man if the woman proved to be a ghost, that love between the living and the dead ended in the destruction of the living.
however, apart from critically examining this strange event, yusai took practical steps to rescue this young[pg 231] samurai from so horrible a fate. the next morning he discussed the matter with shinzaburo, and told him pretty clearly that he had been loving a ghost, and that the sooner he got rid of that ghost the better it would be for him. he ended his discourse by advising the youth to go to the district of shitaya, in yanaka-no-sasaki, the place where these women had said they lived.
the mystery is revealed
shinzaburo carried out yusai's advice, but nowhere in the quarter of yanaka-no-sasaki could he find the dwelling-place of tsuyu. on his return home he happened to pass through the temple shin-banzui-in. there he saw two tombs placed side by side, one of no distinction, and the other large and handsome, adorned with a peony-lantern swinging gently in the breeze. shinzaburo remembered that this lantern and the one carried by yoné were identical, and an acolyte informed him that the tombs were those of tsuyu and yoné. then it was that he realised the strange meaning of yoné's words: "we went away, and found a very small house in yanaka-no-sasaki. there we are now just barely able to live by doing a little private work." their house, then, was a grave. the ghost of yoné carried the peony-lantern, and the ghost of tsuyu wound her fleshless arms about the neck of the young samurai.
holy charms
shinzaburo, now fully aware of the horror of the situation, hastily retraced his steps and sought counsel from the wise, far-seeing yusai. this learned man confessed his inability to help him further in the matter, but advised him to go to the high-priest ryoseki, of[pg 232] shin-banzui-in, and gave him a letter explaining what had taken place.
ryoseki listened unmoved to shinzaburo's story, for he had heard so many bearing on the same theme, the evil power of karma. he gave the young man a small gold image of buddha, which he instructed him to wear next his skin, telling him that it would protect the living from the dead. he also gave him a holy sutra, called "treasure-raining sutra," which he was commended to recite in his house every night; and lastly he gave him a bundle of sacred texts. each holy strip he was to paste over an opening in his house.
by nightfall everything was in order in shinzaburo's house. all the apertures were covered with sacred texts, and the air resounded with the recitation of the "treasure-raining sutra," while the little gold buddha swayed upon the samurai's breast. but somehow or other peace did not come to shinzaburo that night. sleep refused to close his weary eyes, and just as a temple bell ceased booming he heard the old karan-koron, karan-koron—the patter of ghostly geta! then the sound ceased. fear and joy battled within shinzaburo's heart. he stopped reciting the holy sutra and looked forth into the night. once more he saw tsuyu and her maid with the peony-lantern. never before had tsuyu looked so beautiful or so alluring; but a nameless terror held him back. he heard with bitter anguish the women speaking together. he heard yoné tell her mistress that his love had changed because his doors had been made fast against them, followed by the plaintive weeping of tsuyu. at last the women wandered round to the back of the house. but back and front alike prevented their entry, so potent were the sacred words of the lord buddha.
[pg 233]
the betrayal
as all the efforts of yoné to enter shinzaburo's house were of no avail, she went night after night to tomozo and begged him to remove the sacred texts from his master's dwelling. over and over again, out of intense fear, tomozo promised to do so, but with the coming of daylight he grew brave and decided not to betray one to whom he owed so much. one night, however, yoné refused to be trifled with. she threatened tomozo with awful hatred if he did not take away one of the sacred texts, and in addition she pulled such a terrible face that tomozo nearly died of fright.
tomozo's wife miné happened to awake and hear the voice of a strange woman speaking to her husband. when the ghost-woman had vanished miné gave her lord cunning counsel to the effect that he should consent to carry out yoné's request provided that she would reward him with a hundred ryo.
two nights later, when this wicked servant had received his reward, he gave yoné the little gold image of buddha, took down from his master's house one of the sacred texts, and buried in a field the sutra which his master used to recite. this enabled yoné and her mistress to enter the house of shinzaburo once more, and with their entry began again this horrible love of the dead, presided over by the mysterious power of karma.
when tomozo came the next morning to call his master as usual, he obtained no response to his knocking. at last he entered the apartment, and there, under the mosquito-net, lay his master dead, and beside him were the white bones of a woman. the bones of "morning dew" were twined round the neck of one who had loved her too well, of one who had loved her with a fierce passion that at the last had been his undoing.
[1] this story, though inspired by a chinese tale, is japanese in local colour, and serves to illustrate, in an extremely weird way, the power of karma, or human desire, referred to in chapter x. we have closely followed lafcadio hearn's rendering, to be found in in ghostly japan.
[2] see chapter xvii.
