食人気 - Jikininki
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This story was brought to the English speaking world thanks to a Mr. Lafcadio Hearn in 1904.
His book Kwaidan: Ghost Stories and Strange Tales of Old Japan has some twenty spooky stories from Japan's past in it. Here I am merely writing an abridged version of the story - his version is much better and I highly encourage anyone interested in Japanese mythology to purchase his book. Here is the link to it at amazon.com. This is a fantastic book - if for no other reason than the great footnotes, let alone the stories - and I highly recommend it to anyone interested in Japanese folktales. |
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A priest of the Zen sect of Buddhism named Musou Kokushi, was traveling about the province of Mino, when he lost his way in the mountains. He wandered looking for help and, eventually, he noticed a small anjitsu* on the top of a hill.
Once he arrived there, he found it to be in a rather dilapidated condition. He found it to be inhabited by an older priest. Musou asked for the chance to spend the night in the priest's anjitsu, but was directly and stubbornly refused by the elder priest. However, he was directed to a nearby hamlet where he could stay the night.
The hamlet consisted of less than a dozen farm-cottages. The farmers took him in kindly, and he was given a room to himself. He was tired and fell asleep. However, he did not get a full night's sleep. He was awoken by the sound of some rather loud weeping in the next room. The sliding doors to his room were open, and a young man carrying a lighted lantern saluted Musou.
The young man hadn't wanted to make Musou feel uncomfortable when he first arrived, but it would seem that his father had passed away, and that the others in the hamlet were there to pay respects to the dead.
“However, we are all going to the next village, three or so miles away. It is our custom and law that no one should remain in the hamlet the night after a death. We are to make our offerings, and then go away. Strange things always happen in the house where the dead have thus been laid.”
“We can find you lodging in the next village if you would be so kind as to come with us. Only a priest would dare stay in such a home!”
Musou replied that, indeed, he was a priest. “I'm sorry that I had not mentioned this earlier! I am also sorry that I did not know about the death, for I would have done my priestly duties. I will do them even now while you all leave. Have no fear for me, and I shall take care of the deceased.”
The young man was delighted, and the group of people left to the next village. The priest stayed behind and began to perform the necessary duties. Upon entering the room, he saw the usual offerings laid to the deceased, as well as a Buddhist lamp called a Tomyou. He performed the funeral ceremonies and then began to meditate.
He was meditating for some hours until, at some point, a strange shape entered the room silently. It was a vague, vast shape that left Musou speechless. The shape lifted up the body with its hands, and then swallow it whole. It then turned to the offerings and began eating them, too. It then left the room, just as mysteriously as it had entered.
When everyone returned the next day, no one seemed surprised by the absence of the body. They were, however, very happy to see that he was still alive and well. Musou told them all about what had happened.
They weren't shocked: what they were told matched the reports from many many years past.
“Doesn't the priest upon the hill sometimes perform the funeral ceremonies?”, Musou asked.
“What priest?”, replied the young man.
Musou explained how he had come across this hamlet. The villagers didn't know what he was talking about. Musou realized that if he had further pressed the subject, he might be thought of as crazy.
So, later that day, he departed and went to look for the small anjitsu that the priest had been occupying. He found it with no difficulty. This time, the priest invited him right in.
The priest had admitted that he felt quite ashamed by his behavior the night before. Musou insisted that the priest need not feel bad about refusing him shelter, for the people of the hamlet were quite generous.
“I don't feel ashamed for having refused you shelter, I feel ashamed that you saw my true form. It was I who devoured the corpse. Know that I am a jikininki** – an eater of human flesh. Have pity upon me!”
“A long time ago I was a priest in a desolate region, and there were no priests like me in a great distance. However, I was rather selfish and merely performed my priestly duties for the food, clothes, and money that this profession would grant me. Because of this selfishness, I was reborn, upon death, as a jikininki. Since then, I have had to eat the corpses of people who die in this district – every one of them I must devour the way that you saw last night.”, the priest explained. “Please, reverend! I beseech you! Perform a Segaki*** service for me! Help me by your prayers so that I may excape this horrible state of existence!”
After finishing his statement, the solitary priest vanished. As did the building. Musou found himself kneeling alone in the high grass, besides an ancient moss-grown go-rin-ishi**** tomb, which appeared to be the tomb of a priest.
The story does not say whether Musou granted the priest his wish.
Once he arrived there, he found it to be in a rather dilapidated condition. He found it to be inhabited by an older priest. Musou asked for the chance to spend the night in the priest's anjitsu, but was directly and stubbornly refused by the elder priest. However, he was directed to a nearby hamlet where he could stay the night.
The hamlet consisted of less than a dozen farm-cottages. The farmers took him in kindly, and he was given a room to himself. He was tired and fell asleep. However, he did not get a full night's sleep. He was awoken by the sound of some rather loud weeping in the next room. The sliding doors to his room were open, and a young man carrying a lighted lantern saluted Musou.
The young man hadn't wanted to make Musou feel uncomfortable when he first arrived, but it would seem that his father had passed away, and that the others in the hamlet were there to pay respects to the dead.
“However, we are all going to the next village, three or so miles away. It is our custom and law that no one should remain in the hamlet the night after a death. We are to make our offerings, and then go away. Strange things always happen in the house where the dead have thus been laid.”
“We can find you lodging in the next village if you would be so kind as to come with us. Only a priest would dare stay in such a home!”
Musou replied that, indeed, he was a priest. “I'm sorry that I had not mentioned this earlier! I am also sorry that I did not know about the death, for I would have done my priestly duties. I will do them even now while you all leave. Have no fear for me, and I shall take care of the deceased.”
The young man was delighted, and the group of people left to the next village. The priest stayed behind and began to perform the necessary duties. Upon entering the room, he saw the usual offerings laid to the deceased, as well as a Buddhist lamp called a Tomyou. He performed the funeral ceremonies and then began to meditate.
He was meditating for some hours until, at some point, a strange shape entered the room silently. It was a vague, vast shape that left Musou speechless. The shape lifted up the body with its hands, and then swallow it whole. It then turned to the offerings and began eating them, too. It then left the room, just as mysteriously as it had entered.
When everyone returned the next day, no one seemed surprised by the absence of the body. They were, however, very happy to see that he was still alive and well. Musou told them all about what had happened.
They weren't shocked: what they were told matched the reports from many many years past.
“Doesn't the priest upon the hill sometimes perform the funeral ceremonies?”, Musou asked.
“What priest?”, replied the young man.
Musou explained how he had come across this hamlet. The villagers didn't know what he was talking about. Musou realized that if he had further pressed the subject, he might be thought of as crazy.
So, later that day, he departed and went to look for the small anjitsu that the priest had been occupying. He found it with no difficulty. This time, the priest invited him right in.
The priest had admitted that he felt quite ashamed by his behavior the night before. Musou insisted that the priest need not feel bad about refusing him shelter, for the people of the hamlet were quite generous.
“I don't feel ashamed for having refused you shelter, I feel ashamed that you saw my true form. It was I who devoured the corpse. Know that I am a jikininki** – an eater of human flesh. Have pity upon me!”
“A long time ago I was a priest in a desolate region, and there were no priests like me in a great distance. However, I was rather selfish and merely performed my priestly duties for the food, clothes, and money that this profession would grant me. Because of this selfishness, I was reborn, upon death, as a jikininki. Since then, I have had to eat the corpses of people who die in this district – every one of them I must devour the way that you saw last night.”, the priest explained. “Please, reverend! I beseech you! Perform a Segaki*** service for me! Help me by your prayers so that I may excape this horrible state of existence!”
After finishing his statement, the solitary priest vanished. As did the building. Musou found himself kneeling alone in the high grass, besides an ancient moss-grown go-rin-ishi**** tomb, which appeared to be the tomb of a priest.
The story does not say whether Musou granted the priest his wish.
*A small hermitage built for a solitary priest.
**Litearlly a “man-eating goblin”. The Japanese narrator gave the Sanscrit term, Rakshasa. However, there are many types of rakshasas in the world. The word jikininki signifies one of the baramon-rasetsu-gaki, forming the twenty-sixth class of pretas enumerated in the old Buddhist books.
*** A segaki is a special Buddhist service performed on behalf of beings supposed to have entered into the condition of gaki, also claled pretas in sanscrit, which means “hungry dead” in English. For a brief account of such a service, see Lafcadio Hearn's Japanese Miscellany.
**** The go-rin-ishi “the five circle/zone stone, is a funeral monument consisting of five parts superimposed, each of a different form. They symbolize earth, air, fire, water and ether.
**Litearlly a “man-eating goblin”. The Japanese narrator gave the Sanscrit term, Rakshasa. However, there are many types of rakshasas in the world. The word jikininki signifies one of the baramon-rasetsu-gaki, forming the twenty-sixth class of pretas enumerated in the old Buddhist books.
*** A segaki is a special Buddhist service performed on behalf of beings supposed to have entered into the condition of gaki, also claled pretas in sanscrit, which means “hungry dead” in English. For a brief account of such a service, see Lafcadio Hearn's Japanese Miscellany.
**** The go-rin-ishi “the five circle/zone stone, is a funeral monument consisting of five parts superimposed, each of a different form. They symbolize earth, air, fire, water and ether.
