The Yotsuya Kwaidan | Page 3

wicked and brutal husband, on the stage and in the
gidayu recitation of Nippon. There was but little reason to revert to the
record. The shrine always prospered. It appears on the maps of the
district as late as Ansei fourth year (1857); and the writer has had
described to him by a friend a visit to this shrine some twenty years ago.
The lady in question referred to it rather vaguely as beyond
Samegafuchi: i.e., at Yotsuya Samoncho[u]. It was particularly
favoured by the hair dressers, and to the eyes of a young girl was a
gorgeous structure in its continually renewed decoration. Inquiry of late
in the district elicited the information that the shrine had been removed.
Many changes have been made on the southern side of Yotsuya by the
passage of the railway from Iidamachi to Shinjuku. The
Myo[u]gyo[u]ji, with other temples there located, has been swept away.
In fact the Meiji period handled all those institutions established by
deceased piety with great roughness. Teramachi--Temple Street--is
now but a name. The temples of eastern Yotsuya have nearly all
disappeared. Have public institutions occupied this "public land"? Of
course: the sites were sold for the secular purpose of profit, and poverty
spread wide and fast over them. Yotsuya got the shell of this oyster.
About the middle of Meiji therefore (say 1893) the shrine disappeared

from Yotsuya Samoncho[u]; to be re-erected in Echizenbori near the
Sumidagawa. Local inquiry could or would give but little information.
A fortunate encounter at the Denzu-In with an University student,
likewise bent on hunting out the old sites of Edo's history, set matters
right. Subsequent visits to the newer shrine were not uninteresting,
though the presence of the mirror of O'Iwa and of the bamboo tube
inclosing her Spirit (Mr. Momogawa) was strenuously denied by the
incumbent. In the presence of the very genuine worship at the lady's
shrine much stress need not be laid on the absence.
The present story practically is based on the "Yotsuya Kwaidan" of
Shunkintei Ryuo[u], a famous story-teller of the Yoshiwara, and an old
man when the "Restoration" of the Meiji period occurred. The sketch
given in the "O'Iwa Inari Yu[u]rei" of Momogawa Jakuen filled in gaps,
and gave much suggestion in moulding the story into a consistent
whole. Parts merely sketched by the older story-teller found
completeness. This collection of ghost stories--the "Kwaidan Hyaku
Monogatari" published by the Kokkwado[u]--is in the main written by
Mr. Momogawa, and can be recommended as one of the best of these
collections, covering in shorter form the more important stories of this
class of the native literature. The "Yotsuya Kwaidan" of Shinsai
To[u]yo[u], one of the older and livelier of the ko[u]dan lecturers,
gives the scene at the house of Cho[u]bei, and his quarrel with Toémon.
It is found in the "Kwaidan-Shu[u]" published by the Hakubun-kwan.
The gidayu (heroic recitation) and the drama handle all these stories for
their own peculiar purposes. The incidents of a tale are so distorted, for
stage use and dramatic effect, as to make these literary forms of small
avail. The letter of O'Hana, however, is practically that of the play of
Tsuruya Namboku (Katsu Byo[u]zo[u]). It has been thought well to
append to the story the gidayu of this writer, covering the scene in
Iémon's house. Also the strange experience of the famous actor
Kikugoro[u], third of that name, is put into English for the curious
reader. Kikugoro[u] was the pioneer in the representation of the
Namboku drama.
This life history of the O'Iwa Inari--the moving cause of the
establishment of her shrine--is no mere ghost story. It is a very curious

exposition of life in Edo among a class of officials entirely different
from the fighting samurai who haunted the fencing schools of Edo;
from the men higher up in social status, who risked heads, or rather
bellies, in the politics of the day and the struggle to obtain position,
which meant power, in the palace clique. These latter were men who
sought to have a share in the government of the Sho[u]gun's person,
and hence of the nation. They strove to seat themselves in the high
posts of the palace. Here was a rapidly revolving wheel to which a man
must cling, or be dashed to pieces. To prevent being shoved off into
destruction they used every means of slander and intrigue, and fought
against such, that the life of a rich and luxurious court afforded. The
result, too often, was the present of a dagger from the suzerain they
sought to please. Trapped into some breach of the harsh discipline, or
even of mere form of etiquette, the gift was "respectfully received"
with the mocking face of gratitude, even from the hand of the
successful rival in office. At his home the defeated