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Page 21
VII. FUNA-Y[=U]R��
The spirits of the drowned are said to follow after ships, calling for
a bucket or a water-dipper (_hishaku_). To refuse the bucket or the
dipper is dangerous; but the bottom of the utensil should be knocked
out before the request is complied with, and the spectres must not
be allowed to see this operation performed. If an undamaged bucket
or dipper be thrown to the ghosts, it will be used to fill and to
sink the ship. These phantoms are commonly called _Funa-Y[=u]r��_
("Ship-Ghosts").
The spirits of those warriors of the H��k� clan who perished in the
great sea-fight at Dan-no-ura, in the year 1185, are famous among
Funa-Y[=u]r��. Ta�ra no Tomomori, one of the chiefs of the clan, is
celebrated in this weird r�le: old pictures represent him, followed by
the ghosts of his warriors, running over the waves to attack passing
ships. Once he menaced a vessel in which Benk��, the celebrated
retainer of Yoshitsun�, was voyaging; and Benk�� was able to save
the ship only by means of his Buddhist rosary, which frightened the
spectres away....
Tomomori is frequently pictured as walking upon the sea, carrying
a ship's anchor on his back. He and his fellow-ghosts are said to
have been in the habit of uprooting and making off with the anchors
of vessels imprudently moored in their particular domain,--the
neighborhood of Shimonos�ki.
Erimoto y�
Mizu kak�raruru
Kokochi seri,
"Hishaku kas�" ch[=o]
Fun� no kowan� ni.
[_As if the nape of our necks had been sprinkled with cold
water,--so we felt while listening_ _to the voice of the
ship-ghost, saying:--"Lend me a dipper!"_[39]]
[Footnote 39: _Hishaku_, a wooden dipper with a long handle, used to
transfer water from a bucket to smaller vessels.]
Y[=u]rei ni
Kasu-hishaku yori
Ichi-hayaku
Onor� ga koshi mo
Nuk�ru sench[=o].
[_The loins of the captain himself were knocked out very much
more quickly than the bottom of the dipper that was to be
given to the ghost._[40]]
[Footnote 40: The common expression _Koshi ga nuk�ru_ (to have one's
loins taken out) means to be unable to stand up by reason of fear.
The suggestion is that while the captain was trying to knock out the
bottom of a dipper, before giving it to the ghost, he fell senseless
from fright.]
Benk�� no
Zuzu no kuriki ni
Tomomori no
Sugata mo ukamu--
Fun� no y[=u]r��.
[_By the virtue of Benk��'s rosary, even_ _the ship-following
ghost--even the apparition of Tomomori--is saved._]
Y[=u]r�� wa
Ki naru Izumi no
Hito nagara,
A�-umibara ni
Nadot� itsuran?
[_Since any ghost must be an inhabitant of the Yellow Springs,
how should a ghost appear on the Blue Sea-Plain?_[41]]
[Footnote 41: The Underworld of the Dead--_Yomi_ or K[=o]sen--is
called "The Yellow Springs;" these names being written with two
Chinese characters respectively signifying "yellow" and "fountain." A
very ancient term for the ocean, frequently used in the old Shint[=o]
rituals, is "The Blue Sea-Plain."]
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