Oshidori
(from
Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things)
THERE was a falconer and hunter, named Sonjô, who lived in
the district called Tamura-no-Gô, of the province
of Mutsu. One day he went out hunting, and could not
find any game. But on his way home, at a place called
Akanuma, he perceived a pair of oshidori[
1 ] (mandarin-ducks), swimming
together in a river that he was about to cross. To kill
oshidori is not good; but Sonjô happened
to be very hungry, and he shot at the pair. His arrow
pierced the male: the female escaped into the rushes
of the further shore, and disappeared. Sonjô took
the dead bird home, and cooked it.
That
night he dreamed a dreary dream. It seemed to him that
a beautiful woman came into his room, and stood by his
pillow, and began to weep. So bitterly did she weep
that Sonjô felt as if his heart were being torn
out while he listened. And the woman cried to him: "Why,--oh!
why did you kill him?--of what wrong was he guilty?
. . . At Akanuma we were so happy together,--and you
killed him! . . . What harm did he ever do you? Do you
even know what you have done?--oh! do you know what
a cruel, what a wicked thing you have done? . . . Me
too you have killed,--for I will not live without my
husband! . . . Only to tell you this I came." .
. . Then again she wept aloud,--so bitterly that the
voice of her crying pierced into the marrow of the listener's
bones;--and she sobbed
Hi
kururéba
Sasoëshi mono wo--
Akanuma no
Makomo no kuré no
Hitori-né zo uki!
["At the coming
of twilight I invited him to return with me--! Now to
sleep alone in the shadow of the rushes of Akanuma--ah!
what misery unspeakable!"] [ 2
]
And
after having uttered these verses she exclaimed "Ah,
you do not know--you cannot know what you have done!
But to-morrow, when you go to Akanuma, you will see,--you
will see...." So saying, and weeping very piteously,
she went away.
When Sonjô awoke in the morning, this dream remained
so vivid in his mind that he was greatly troubled. He
remembered the words:--"But to-morrow, when you
go to Akanuma, you will see,--you will see." And
he resolved to go there at once, that he might learn
whether his dream was anything more than a dream.
So he went to Akanuma; and there, when he came to the
river-bank, he saw the female oshidori swimming
alone. In the same moment the bird perceived Sonjô;
but instead of trying to escape, she swam straight towards
him, looking at him the while in a strange fixed way.
Then, with her beak, she suddenly tore open her own
body, and died before the hunter's eyes....
Sonjô shaved his head, and became a priest.
F
o o t n o t e s
[ 1 ]
From ancient time, in the Far East, these birds have
been regarded as emblems of conjugal affection.
[ 2 ]
There is a pathetic double meaning in the third verse;
for the syllable composing the proper name Akanuma
("Red Marsh") may also be read as akanu-ma,
signifying "the time of our inseparable (or delightful)
relation." So the poem can also be thus rendered:--"When
the day began to fail, I had invited him to accompany
me...! Now, after the time of that happy relation, what
misery for the one who must slumber alone in the shadow
of the rushes!"--The makomo is a sort of
large rush, used for making baskets.
From Lefcadio Hearn's:Kwaidan: Stories
and Studies of Strange Things
Read it in Greek
Table of Contents
Kwaidan: The Story of Mimi-nashi-Hoichi -- Oshidori
-- The Story of O-Tei -- Ubazakura -- Diplomacy -- Of
a Mirror and a Bell -- Jikininki -- Mujina -- Rokuro-kubi
-- A Dead Secret -- Yuki-onna -- The Story of Aoyagi
-- Jiuroku-zakura -- The Dream of Akinosuke -- Riki-baka
-- Himawari -- Horai -- Insect-Studies: Butterflies;
Mosquitoes; Ants.
Lafcadio
Hearn
From Lefcadio Hearn's: Kwaidan: Stories
and Studies of Strange Things
