Ancient Tales and Folk-Lore of Japan | Page 9

love of him that her heart suffers; it has suffered so
from the day when he saved her life from the snake-bite.'
Then O Matsu told particulars of the adventure at the picnic which had
not been told before,--for O Shingé had asked her servants to say as
little as possible, fearing they would not be allowed to go to the Valley
of the Violet Well again.
'What is the name of this doctor?' asked Asano Zembei, 'and who is
he?'
'Sir,' answered O Matsu, 'he is Doctor Yoshisawa, a very handsome
young man, of most courtly manners; but he is of low birth, being only
of the eta. 1 Please think, master, of my young mistress's burning
heart, full of love for the man who saved her life--and no wonder, for
he is very handsome and has the manners of a proud samurai. The only
cure for your daughter, sir, is to be allowed to marry her lover.'
O Shingé's mother felt very sad when she heard this. She knew well
(perhaps by experience) of the illnesses caused by love. She wept, and
said to Zembei:

'I am quite with you in sorrow, my lord, at the terrible trouble that has
come to us; but I cannot see my daughter die thus. Let us tell her we
will make inquiries about the man she loves, and see if we can make
him our son-in-law. In any case, it is the custom to make full inquiries,
which will extend over some days; and in this time our daughter may
recover somewhat and get strong enough to hear the news that we
cannot accept her lover as our son-in-law.'
Zembei agreed to this, and O Matsu promised to say nothing to her
mistress of the interview.
O Shingé San was told by her mother that her father, though he had
not consented to the engagement, had promised to make inquiries about
Yoshisawa.
O Shingé took food and regained much strength on this news; and
when she was strong enough, some ten days later, she was called into
her father's presence, accompanied by her mother.
'My sweet daughter,' said Zembei, 'I have made careful inquiries about
Dr. Yoshisawa, your lover. Deeply as it grieves me to say so, it is
impossible that I, your father, the head of our whole family, can
consent to your marriage with one of so low a family as Yoshisawa,
who, in spite of his own goodness, has sprung from the eta. I must hear
no more of it. Such a contract would be impossible for the Asano
family.'
No one ventured to say a word to this. In Japan the head of a family's
decision is final.
Poor O Shingé bowed to her father, and went to her own room,
where she wept bitterly; O Matsu, the faithful servant, doing her best to
console her.
Next morning, to the astonishment of the household, O Shingé San
could nowhere be found. Search was made everywhere; even Dr.
Yoshisawa joined in the search.

On the third day after the disappearance one of the searchers looked
down the Violet Well, and saw poor O Shines floating body.
Two days later she was buried, and on that day Yoshisawa threw
himself into the well.
The people say that even now, on wet, stormy nights, they see the ghost
of O Shingé San floating over the well, while some declare that they
hear the sound of a young man weeping in the Valley of Shimizutani.
Footnotes
19:1 Told to me by Shofukutei Fukuga.
19:2 Hollow.
24:1 The eta are the lowest people or caste in Japan--skinners and
killers of animals.
5. The Ghost of Yoichi Appears to the Three as They Talk
IV GHOST STORY OF THE FLUTE'S TOMBÂ 1
LONG ago, at a small and out-of-the-way village called Kumedamura,
about eight miles to the south-east of Sakai city, in Idsumo Province,
there was made a tomb, the Fuezuka or Flute's Tomb, and to this day
many people go thither to offer up prayer and to worship, bringing with
them flowers and incense-sticks, which are deposited as offerings to the
spirit of the man who was buried there. All the year round people flock
to it. There is no season at which they pray more particularly than at
another.
The Fuezuka tomb is situated on a large pond called Kumeda, some
five miles in circumference, and all the places around this pond are
known as of Kumeda Pond, from which the village of Kumeda took its
name.
Whose tomb can it be that attracts such sympathy The tomb itself is a
simple stone pillar, with nothing artistic to recommend it. Neither is the

surrounding scenery interesting; it is flat and ugly until the mountains
of Kiushu are reached. I must tell, as well as