Tono Tales Part 12: A Story That Sounds Like a Lie

Kageyama: "Regarding this title, it's a story that sounds like a lie, but it's not a story that is a lie, is it?"
Horikiri: "There's no need to go out of your way to call it true. If you add 'true' to it, doesn't it feel suspicious instead?"
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"In a house by the river in Matsuzaki Village, there was a woman who gave birth to the children of a kappa for two generations in a row. The children born were chopped to pieces, put into a one-sho barrel, and buried in the ground. Their forms were extremely grotesque. The births were extremely difficult. The children had webbed hands. As the rumor that they were kappa grew strong, the members of the clan gathered to guard the house, but it was to no avail; even the mother of the son-in-law went and slept beside her, and in the middle of the night, she heard the girl laughing, and though she knew that 'it' had come, she could not move a muscle. It is said that the mother of this girl also once gave birth to a kappa's child. This house is a wealthy family of the status of [REDACTED]." (Tono Monogatari - Tale 55)
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Kageyama: "[REDACTED]? Somehow, using a redacted name makes it sound like a lie."
Horikiri: "It's the opposite, actually. For the people of Tono, redactions don't matter. It's because they know the truth."
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Kunio Yanagita finished preparations for the publication of Tono Monogatari and, in August of Meiji 42 (1909), decided he 'wanted to see it once' and spent some time in Tono. How did Tono appear to his eyes? As soon as he returned to Tokyo, he rewrote the manuscript that had already been completed. He changed the real name to the redacted [REDACTED]. It was not because he thought it was a lie. Rather, it was the opposite; he had gained conviction that it was the truth. Then why did he change it? It is said that he aimed for the effect of the redaction to make it more realistic and to strike terror into the hearts of the flatland people. The plan was a brilliant success. Throughout the entire volume, these are the only five characters he changed.
This kappa was what was called a 'medochi,' and its true form is a 'fuchizaru' (abyss monkey). Unlike the child kappa that were cast into the river for thinning out during the famine that I spoke of in the third tale, this is an adult kappa. Since it is confusing and must be distinguished, I will rename it 'fuchizaru' as a subspecies of kappa.
However, intellectuals deny this major incident, saying, 'That is not possible.' Even chimpanzees, which are closest to humans, do not have matching chromosomes, making crossbreeding difficult. Much less is it impossible for Japanese macaques. This should be read as a child fathered by an adulterer. The one who told the villagers was the son-in-law's father, but it was likely a story made up with great exaggeration, born of his own lack of judgment in jumping at a good marriage, his resentment toward the girl's family, and his frustration at his son's incompetence in having his wife stolen.
In Tono, haven't they always settled matters that would destroy human relationships if the unreasonable facts were laid bare by blaming them on fuchizaru or tengu? Just as mysterious disappearances were attributed to 'kamikakushi' (spirited away), the wisdom to live in peace was at work.
Tono Monogatari tells of facts that were right before their eyes. Moreover, Tono is an otherworldly realm ruled by gods. We must not forget that. The birth of the child, which had been awaited with bated breath, left the whole house in an uproar, and they could not believe their eyes at the strange child. However, the one most surprised was the mother who gave birth to it. After all, she had no memory of it. But there is no smoke without fire. That shouldn't be possible, right? She is the mother. The world must have looked down on the girl, but there is nothing more painful than denying something that is already understood.
In any case, there must be a cause, but there are never many things that lead to that result.
I believe it was the night crawling of a fuchizaru.
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Kageyama: "Night crawling? Night crawling is something that happens with mutual consent, right? If it's a partner you don't like, you wake up your parents. If it's a partner you like, you go through with it, and the parents pretend not to see."
Horikiri: "Not necessarily. Sometimes families don't get along, or there are family circumstances. But when there are hurdles like that, it gets even more exciting, doesn't it? For the young couple. And then, intensely..."
Kageyama: "'I have no memory of it.' A fuchizaru? A bizarre story defends the excuses of a young couple."
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The girl had a lover. He was three years older and the only son of a merchant across the river. Since she was an only daughter, she was to take a husband. The marriage could not take place, and eventually, the girl's father tore the two apart. It is the standard from the Kojiki and the age of the gods that the more a love affair is obstructed, the more it burns. The man, unable to give up, became a 'yobaitto' (night crawler) and continued their trysts.
There was someone watching them intently from the darkness. It was Jiro, a fuchizaru lurking in the Hayase River. The abyss and the girl's house were a stone's throw away. After all, she was the village's greatest beauty. It is no wonder he harbored the ambition to make her his own.
One night, he peeked at their secret meeting. Jiro, a fuchizaru with good night vision, memorized the man's habits, gestures, and every movement. At that time, the inside of a house was unimaginably pitch black, and you couldn't see an inch ahead. The darkness is written with the characters for 'gate' and 'sound.' Only sound was something to rely on. It is said that the name 'monkey' comes from 'mimicking,' and they are good at imitating people. Having gained confidence, he disguised himself as that man on a new moon night. Mimicking the voice is difficult, but it was fortunate that the man was silent throughout.
From that day on, the man and the fuchizaru began to sneak in by 'tagitagibakko,' or in other words, taking turns. It is against the rules of night crawling for the relationship to continue after the husband was brought in, but if it was an unwanted marriage, I would like to forgive them.
And then, the night. That day was the turn of the fuchizaru mimicking the merchant's only son. This fuchizaru is an evolution of a monster called a 'sarunoketachi' and is called a messenger of the gods. If one is endowed with divine power, one would not be noticed for being small or hairy, and he became that man completely. It must have been a piece of cake to make the girl fall for him. This adult kappa, the fuchizaru, is lecherous anyway, playing tricks on women and peeking at the crotches of women who come to the river to do laundry.
Why is such a fellow a messenger of the gods?
Among the eight million gods, the main deity of Tono is the Mountain God, who governs fertility. When spring comes, he descends to the village and becomes the Water God and the Rice Field God. It is said that his descending figure matches the image of a fuchizaru coming down from the mountain along the river, following chestnut and willow trees. In Tono, when a person dies, their soul flies to the sacred mountain, Hayachine, to form a great collective of spirits. Ancestral spirits are purified by years of wind and snow to become a 'spirit ketachi.' This is the god of Tono.
I felt doubts about offerings to the gods. Why would a god, of all things, like the same things as us? I feel resentment that fish are limited to red snapper and that wishes involve offering coins, but the fuchizaru is a made-up story, and originally they were human. Therefore, the lechery of the fuchizaru is the desire of humans themselves.
However, there are things that cannot be explained unless it is a monkey's child.
One is the difficult birth. Compared to the human pregnancy period of ten months and ten days, a fuchizaru's child is shorter, at seven months and ten days. As long as it is borrowing a human womb, it cannot do as it pleases and grows.
Next is the paralysis that prevented the son-in-law's mother from moving even when she noticed the night crawling. This is the noteworthy spiritual power of the 'ketachi,' the same as when a hunter tries to shoot a 'ketachi' and his finger freezes, causing him to miss the target.
Also, the way the newborn child was killed is too cruel. It must be an expression of an extraordinary will to cut off the disgrace from the past.
In Kamigo Village, a child born from a strange affair was abandoned at a 'michichigai,' or in other words, a crossroads, but they reconsidered, thinking, 'If we make it a show, we can make money,' and when they turned back, it had already been carried away by someone. Who else but a fuchizaru could perform such a quick feat?
Furthermore, the reason Kizen spoke of Ichibei Shiraiwa by his real name, whom Yanagita redacted as [REDACTED], is that he was so famous in Tono that there was no one who didn't know him, and everyone would know even if his name was hidden.
At that time, when night crawling was popular, children whose fathers could not be identified or children of affairs were not rare at all. There are three other such stories, but all of them are events in houses built along the river.
For the above reasons, I assert that the child, who was entirely red and had a mouth split to the ears, was truly ugly, and even without showing the evidence of webbed hands, it was a child of a fuchizaru, an adulterer.
In Taisho 14 (1925), Kizen was urged to become the mayor of Tsuchibuchi Village and decided to bring electric lights to the village. A man who told of the darkness and carried the strange fate of erasing the darkness with electric lights.

The story of being pregnant with a fuchizaru's child was the last one in Showa 30 (1955). It coincides with the time when electric lights reached the depths of the village and night crawling disappeared. Even so, it is truly... a truly regrettable practice to have lost.