Island of the Corpse-Eating Butterfly, March 20th, Part 4

“Is this shrine priest going to tell me the same story as the head monk? What a waste of time.”

Yasu spoke to Katano in a hushed tone, but Katano looked as if his mind were elsewhere and did not respond to Yasu’s words.

After a while, the priest returned with a pot and a teapot. This time, he had also brought a basket of tea snacks.

Yasu was annoyed, wondering if he intended to talk for a long time, but he resigned himself to the fact that he would have to play along with the priest to get information about the Shijiki butterfly.

“Where was I... Ah, yes, the Wado famine. Other islands were suffering from famine too, but there is an anecdote that Shijiki Island survived by eating whale meat, and that’s how it came to be written as ‘Corpse-Eating Island’ (Shijiki-jima) and eventually became the Shijiki Island of today.”

As his tongue loosened, perhaps craving something sweet, the priest reached for the tea snacks he was supposed to have served to his guests, and with a smile, he stuffed a bun into his mouth in one bite.

Just as Yasu was thinking he would be forced to listen to the origins of Shijiki Island forever and was about to say he was leaving because it was a waste of time, the priest finally began to talk about the Shijiki butterfly.

“But you know, I feel the origin of Shijiki Island is deeply connected to the Shijiki butterfly. People say the islanders ate whale meat while the butterflies ate corpses, but I think the butterflies came first. The Shijiki butterfly eats the flesh of corpses, you see. The people who migrated to this island long ago must have found that quite eerie.”

So it really does eat the flesh, not just suck the putrid fluids from corpses? Katano had hinted at it, and Yasu felt a surge of interest, wondering if it were true. There are other butterflies that suck the putrid fluids of beasts. How could it eat the flesh of a water-logged corpse with that thin proboscis? Above all, what had he expected to find when he came to this dreary island? It was because he had heard that the Shijiki butterfly ate corpses, not just animal fluids. It was because he had assumed that Katano, who was so obedient to him, would never lie to him.

“You said it eats water-logged corpses, but how do you know that?”

“Well, it’s what one would naturally think. But you see, there are tiny holes in the water-logged corpses. Just as a butterfly sucks nectar from a flower, the Shijiki butterfly thrusts its proboscis into the corpse like a cicada and slurps up the flesh. I’ve heard that a water-logged corpse looks unbearable after a swarm of Shijiki butterflies has been at it, and I’ve actually seen it myself. My, it’s chilling to see those countless tiny holes.”

Thinking that it devoured flesh rather than just putrid fluids, Yasu suddenly found that talking to the priest was no longer painful. There was no other butterfly like it. It might truly be a new species.

“Where can I go to see that butterfly? Have you ever seen its larvae or eggs?”

At that, the priest lowered his eyebrows and answered regretfully.

“I don’t think anyone on the island knows that. When I was a child, I used to look for larvae and such with my friends, but we never found any, and the experts who came to the island to investigate eventually gave up and went home...”

Yasu dropped his shoulders in disappointment, but he couldn't give up and asked again.

“Does the Shijiki butterfly only eat water-logged corpses? Does it never eat beasts that die in the mountains?”

“In my experience, I often hear stories of them swarming around water-logged corpses that wash up near the Blue Cave, but I’ve never heard of them being seen on Mount Kamibe. More importantly, I have something interesting to show you. Would you like to see it?”

Suddenly, the priest stood up with a lighthearted tone to fetch a hanging scroll placed at the edge of the tatami room. It had already been there when Yasu arrived, so he must have intended to show him that scroll from the beginning. Since his voice was unusually lively, it was certainly the hanging scroll of the severed head that the head monk had mentioned.

The priest immediately hung the scroll on the lintel and unrolled it smoothly.

On one slightly wide scroll was a painting of a second-class severed head with disheveled hair and stubble. The head's wide-open eyes seemed to be glaring directly at Yasu. Its teeth were clenched, and its lips were twisted. Although no blood was painted, the severed head was so strangely realistic that even the way the flesh at the neck wound was peeled back looked vivid. It looked as if it had been decapitated while still alive.

I heard that Sojun painted this.

The shrine priest's eyes lit up at Yasu's words.

Yes. His pen name is here. However, it seems Sojun did not consider this a painting, so he didn't stamp his seal, and he intentionally erased the era name as well. I don't know why this was painted, but I think it was painted to be shown to someone. There are several theories, but no one knows which one is correct.

Without waiting for Yasu's reply, the priest continued.

And you see, this hanging scroll of the severed head seems to have been painted while Sojun was staying at a temple on Okinoshima. It seems he came to this island because of a request for a Kusozu painting. You know, the Kusozu at Jogan-ji Temple. He probably painted it for that.

The priest boasted as if it were his own personal achievement.

But this painting was even introduced on television, and I appeared on it too when I was sixteen! They said the eyes of this severed head move. At the time, people said it was a mistake, like a fly or something landing on it, but no matter where you look at these eyes from, I feel like they meet your gaze.

Yasu recalled the story of the illegitimate child and the two retainers he had heard from the guide that morning.

I heard the legend of the illegitimate child, but is this the hanging scroll for that?

Even if it weren't, it is historically valuable, but unfortunately, the era name has been erased...

The priest lowered his eyebrows regretfully.

But if it were the illegitimate child and two retainers, wouldn't it be strange if there weren't three severed heads?

The legend states that three heads were cut off. If that were true, the legend would be inconsistent if there weren't three heads on the scroll.

The priest answered Yasu's words leisurely.

Perhaps the illegitimate child's head is painted on a different scroll, and for some reason, only the painting of the retainers' heads was not handed over to the Genji clan and was kept at this shrine.

Hearing this, Yasu concluded that the anecdote about the illegitimate child was not true. This was because if this scroll were genuine, it wouldn't be strange for a painting of the illegitimate child's head to remain. In reality, there was no such thing as an illegitimate child of the Heike, and it was a fabricated legend.

However, he thought that the story of the vengeful spirits of the illegitimate child and his retainers, led by the daughter who committed suicide afterward, wandering around Shishiki Island must surely refer to the Osaki-sama.

The Misaki of Ukushima is a sea spirit that sinks ships it encounters at sea. The spirit closest to the Osaki-sama is an entity known as the Shichinin Misaki or Shichinin Dogyo. In the case of the Osaki-sama, there are no seven ghosts, but it is similar to the aforementioned spirits in terms of classification.

The fact that you die if you are drawn into the sea when you encounter them is also the same as the Shichinin Misaki, which are considered encounter gods.

“Just how many vengeful spirits is the Osaki-sama leading around?”

It does not necessarily have to be seven. In fact, the Shichinin Misaki, which became vengeful spirits after eight warriors including Chosokabe Motochika committed ritual suicide, are for some reason considered to be seven, not eight. It is not a hard rule that there must be seven, as the name suggests.

“Well, let’s see. The daughter, the illegitimate child, and their two retainers. This is just folklore, but it is said that the head of the Wadatsu settlement and his son were the ones ordered by Yasu Shichiro of the Minamoto clan to behead the illegitimate child and the others. These two were cursed by the vengeful spirits and died at sea, joining the procession of the Osaki-sama. That is why there are six of them. It is said that they are lined up with the daughter at the front, followed by the illegitimate child, the two retainers, and then the father and son of the settlement head.”

Yasu was convinced that the Osaki-sama of Shishiki Island was a case of being one short, and he felt frustrated, thinking that if he had written this anecdote in his research paper, it would have been much more complete. He felt angry at Katano, who had contacted him after March began, wishing he could have heard this story a little sooner, before he submitted his paper.

“Even so, why only on the 22nd?”

“Well, that’s because the illegitimate child was beheaded on the 22nd, you see. And so, resentful that their own head was cut off, they became a vengeful spirit. In the same way, on the 22nd, they drag one of the islanders they encounter in the settlement into the sea to kill them and rip their head off. Well, nowadays, islanders don’t die at sea on the 22nd. They don’t even go out walking before that, anyway.”

“Then, no one is dying now, right?”

At that, the Shinto priest wore a complicated expression.

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