Halloween Countdown!
Today’s ghost story is a classic Japanese folk tale; this version is taken from Lafcadio Hearn’s Kwaidan. He titled it “A Dead Secret”:
A DEAD SECRET
A long time ago, in the province of Tamba (1), there lived a rich merchant
named Inamuraya Gensuke. He had a daughter called O-Sono. As she was very
clever and pretty, he thought it would be a pity to let her grow up with
only such teaching as the country-teachers could give her: so he sent her,
in care of some trusty attendants, to Kyoto, that she might be trained in
the polite accomplishments taught to the ladies of the capital. After she
had thus been educated, she was married to a friend of her father’s family
– a merchant named Nagaraya;– and she lived happily with him for nearly
four years. They had one child, — a But O-Sono fell ill and died, in the
fourth year after her marriage.On the night after the funeral of O-Sono, her little son said that his
mamma had come back, and was in the room upstairs. She had smiled at him,
but would not talk to him: so he became afraid, and ran away. Then some of
the family went upstairs to the room which had been O-Sono’s; and they were
startled to see, by the light of a small lamp which had been kindled before
a shrine in that room, the figure of the dead mother. She appeared as if
standing in front of a tansu, or chest of drawers, that still contained her
ornaments and her wearing-apparel. Her head and shoulders could be very
distinctly seen; but from the waist downwards the figure thinned into
invisibility;– it was like an imperfect reflection of her, and transparent
as a shadow on water.Then the folk were afraid, and left the room. Below they consulted
together; and the mother of O-Sono’s husband said: “A woman is fond of her
small things; and O-Sono was much attached to her belongings. Perhaps she
has come back to look at them. Many dead persons will do that, — unless
the things be given to the parish-temple. If we present O-Sono’s robes and
girdles to the temple, her spirit will probably find rest.”I was agreed that this should be done as soon as possible. So on the
following morning the drawers were emptied; and all of O-Sono’s ornaments
and dresses were taken to the temple. But she came back the next night, and
looked at the tansu as before. And she came back also on the night
following, and the night after that, and every night; — and the house
became a house of fear.The mother of O-Sono’s husband then went to the parish-temple, and told
the chief priest all that had happened, and asked for ghostly counsel. The
temple was a Zen temple; and the head-priest was a learned old man, known
as Daigen Osho. He said: “There must be something about which she is
anxious, in or near that tansu.” — “But we emptied all the drawers,”
replied the woman; — “there is nothing in the tansu.” — “Well,” said
Daigen Osho, “to-night I shall go to your house, and keep watch in that
room, and see what can be done. You must give orders that no person shall
enter the room while I am watching, unless I call.”After sundown, Daigen Osho went to the house, and found the room made
ready for him. He remained there alone, reading the sutras; and nothing
appeared until after the Hour of the Rat. [1] Then the figure of O-Sono
suddenly outlined itself in front of the tansu. Her face had a wistful
look; and she kept her eyes fixed upon the tansu.The priest uttered the holy formula prescribed in such cases, and then,
addressing the figure by the kaimyo [2] of O-Sono, said: — “I have come
here in order to help you. Perhaps in that tansu there is something about
which you have reason to feel anxious. Shall I try to find it for you?” The
shadow appeared to give assent by a slight motion of the head; and the
priest, rising, opened the top drawer. It was empty. Successively he opened
the second, the third, and the fourth drawer; — he searched carefully
behind them and beneath them;– he carefully examined the interior of the
chest. He found nothing. But the figure remained gazing as wistfully as
before. “What can she want?” thought the priest. Suddenly it occurred to
him that there might be something hidden under the paper with which the
drawers were lined. He removed the lining of the first drawer:– nothing!
He removed the lining of the second and third drawers:– still nothing. But
under the lining of the lowermost drawer he found — a letter. “Is this the
thing about which you have been troubled?” he asked. The shadow of the
woman turned toward him, — her faint gaze fixed upon the letter. “Shall I
burn it for you?” he asked. She bowed before him. “It shall be burned in
the temple this very morning,” he promised;– “and no one shall read it,
except myself.” The figure smiled and vanished.Dawn was breaking as the priest descended the stairs, to find the family
waiting anxiously below. “Do not be anxious,” he said to them: “She will
not appear again.” And she never did.The letter was burned. It was a love-letter written to O-Sono in the time
of her studies at Kyoto. But the priest alone knew what was in it; and the
secret died with him.
You can find more of his work (and many others’) at the most excellent Project Gutenberg website.
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