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Page 26
XII. UMI-B[=O]ZU
Place a large cuttlefish on a table, body upwards and tentacles
downwards--and you will have before you the grotesque reality that
first suggested the fancy of the _Umi-B[=o]zu_, or Priest of the Sea.
For the great bald body in this position, with the staring eyes below,
bears a distorted resemblance to the shaven head of a priest; while
the crawling tentacles underneath (which are in some species united
by a dark web) suggests the wavering motion of the priest's upper
robe.... The Umi-B[=o]zu figures a good deal in the literature of
Japanese goblinry, and in the old-fashioned picture-books. He rises
from the deep in foul weather to seize his prey.
Ita hito�
Shita wa Jigoku ni,
Sumizom� no
B[=o]zu no umi ni
D�ru mo ayashina!
[_Since there is but the thickness of a single plank (between
the voyager and the sea), and underneath is Hell, 'tis indeed
a weird thing that a black-robed priest should rise from
the sea (or, "'tis surely a marvelous happening that,"
etc.!_[58])]
[Footnote 58: The puns are too much for me.... _Ayashii_ means
"suspicious," "marvelous," "supernatural," "weird," "doubtful."--In
the first two lines there is a reference to the Buddhist proverb:
_Funa-ita ichi-mai shita wa Jigoku_ ("under the thickness of a single
ship's-plank is Hell"). (See my _Gleanings in Buddha-Fields_, p. 206,
for another reference to this saying.)]
XIII. FUDA-H�GASHI[59]
Homes are protected from evil spirits by holy texts and charms. In any
Japanese village, or any city by-street, you can see these texts when
the sliding-doors are closed at night: they are not visible by day,
when the sliding-doors have been pushed back into the _tobukuro_.
Such texts are called _o-fuda_ (august scripts): they are written in
Chinese characters upon strips of white paper, which are attached
to the door with rice-paste; and there are many kinds of them. Some
are texts selected from sutras--such as the S�tra of Transcendent
Wisdom (Prag�a-P�ramit�-Hridaya-S�tra), or the S�tra of the Lotos of
the Good Law (Saddharma-Pundarik�-S�tra). Some are texts from the
dh�ran�s,--which are magical. Some are invocations only, indicating
the Buddhist sect of the household.... Besides these you may see
various smaller texts, or little prints, pasted above or beside
windows or apertures,--some being names of Shinto gods; others,
symbolical pictures only, or pictures of Buddhas and Bodhi-sattvas.
All are holy charms,--_o-fuda_: they protect the houses; and no goblin
or ghost can enter by night into a dwelling so protected, unless the
_o-fuda_ be removed.
[Footnote 59: _H�gashi_ is the causative form of the verb _h�gu_,
"to pull off," "peel off," "strip off," "split off." The term
_Fuda-h�gashi_ signifies "Make-peel-off-august-charm Ghost." In my
_Ghostly Japan_ the reader can find a good Japanese story about a
_Fuda-h�gashi_.]
Vengeful ghosts cannot themselves remove an _o-fuda_; but they will
endeavor by threats or promises or bribes to make some person remove
it for them. A ghost that wants to have the _o-fuda_ pulled off a door
is called a _Fuda-h�gashi_.
H�gasan to
Rokuji-no-fuda wo,
Yur�� mo
Nam'mai d[=a] to
Kazo�t� zo mini.
[_Even the ghost that would remove the charms written with six
characters actually tries to count them, repeating: "How many
sheets are there?" (or, repeating, "Hail to thee, O Buddha
Amit�bha!"[60])_]
[Footnote 60: The fourth line gives these two readings:--
_Nam'mai da?_--"How many sheets are there?"
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