Japanese Legend Collection

(II) Human-Wolf Legend

(A) Yasaburo Baba

A long time ago, in Kukibuto, Zegon Village, at the foot of Mt. Hachikoku, Kashiwazaki, Echigo Province, there was a notorious old lady in the neighborhood called Yasaburo Baba. Since no one was willing to associate with her, an evil heart was finally born. She laid ambush on Mt. Urushi with wild dogs and monkeys, tormenting those who passed there and back, and finally devouring children and, later, even adults. At the end of November, Yasaburo was on his way home from Kashiwazaki on business when he came to Mt. Urushi when a fearful old woman chased him with wild dogs. When he climbed a big tree, she followed him and tried to drop him. Undaunted, he struck the woman in the forehead with the chopper he was holding, and she screamed and escaped. When he came home, his mother had injured her forehead and said she had hit her forehead against a post. His child was missing. When he asked her, she said she thought they were miso and licked them, so he thought, 'Now', and he prepared, and she, too, revealed her true identity and turned into an ogre, got out of the gable under the cover of a rainstorm, and fled toward Mt. Hachikoku. The old lady had lived in a mountain grotto ever since, and when she saw a red parasol and a red kimono, she thought, "What a wonderful funeral," so she took the coffin and ate the corpse to feed herself. The chief priest of Jokei Temple in Tobioka, Zegon village, has finally been asked to use a blue parasol and blue kimono so that his coffin will not be taken away.

notorious（形）悪名高い

ambush（名）待ち伏せ、張り込み

torment（動）ひどく苦しめる、悩ます

devour（動）貪り食う

chopper（名）鉈

lick（動）舐める

gable（名）破風

grotto（名）岩窟

corpse（名）死体

Even now, only this temple uses a blue parasol for funerals while other temples use a red one. It is said that the old lady later flew toward Yahiko, Nishi-Kambara County, where there is a temple dedicated to her.

Note: According to those in Yahiko, long ago there was a man named Myotaro in Nakajima village, Nishikambara district. When people were making a fuss over the disappearance of a child, his mother made an unconcerned face saying that a child would be born. Myotaro was a hunter. One time he was staying in a hut deep in the mountains when someone suddenly put out a large hand and tried to grab him. When Myotaro cut off the hand with his chopper, the monster screamed and escaped. When he returned with his hand, his mother yelled, saying she was seriously ill. Then she said she wanted to see his cut hand. When he showed it to her, she said it was my hand and suddenly shot out of the window and left. After that, at any rate, the neighbor's children went missing, so a hall was built to enshrine the old woman. That is the Myotaraten shrine behind the current Yahiko Shrine. (Toshinori Nakanishi)

fuss（名）大騒ぎ

(B) Koike Baba

Once upon a time, there was a man who served as a servant preparing zori sandals for a samurai family called Koike in Tamachi, Matsue City, Izumo Province. Around New Year's, he got a day off and went back to his parents' house in Koshibara. Thinking that tomorrow was the day when his master would go to the lord's castle and that he must return at all costs, he left early in the morning and reached Mt. Hinoki before dawn, where the trees grew thick, and it was dark in the daytime. The man was in a hurry because his work was so important, and he was immediately chased by many wolves. He quickly climbed a large roadside tree. The wolves shouldered and piled up, only to run short. Then the top wolf barked to call Koike Baba. At the sound of his voice, a big cat ran up the wolf's ladder. The man was waiting for the cat to come near him, and he drew his short sword and aimed at the cat between the eyebrows, slashing it. Just when he thought there was a definite response, he heard a sound like something metal had fallen, and all the wolves and cat that had been there had disappeared in the blink of an eye. As he waited quietly for dawn to break, the neighborhood soon became bustling, and people started coming and going. So he climbed down from the tree, relieved, and found the lid of a teakettle at his feet. When he looked at it closely, he saw that it belonged to his master's kitchen, which was familiar every day. The man thought it might be, and he hid the lid in his pocket and left.

definite（形）間違いないと思う、確信している

blink of an eye......一瞬

bustling（形）にぎわっている

teakettle（名）茶釜

lid（名）蓋

At his master's house, the whole house has been noisy since last night when his mother allegedly fell and injured her forehead on her way to the toilet. In the kitchen, there were people looking for the teakettle lid, saying they couldn't find it. The man told them what had happened that morning and took out the lid of the teakettle to show them. His master heard the story and went into the back room to observe his mother, and she groaned with her futon completely on. The master, more and more suspicious, dared to stab her through the top of the futon and pulled out her corpse inside, which turned out to be a big cat, as expected. (Hyozo Shimizu)

allegedly（副）したとされている、だということになっている

groan（動）うめく

dare（動）思い切ってする

Note: In Nishihara, Uenohara Village, Kita-Tsuru County, Kai Province, there is a famous place called Inuhashi (dog ladder). A long time ago, a hunter was chased by a wild dog in the mountains, and when he climbed a tree in the forest, they climbed up a ladder of their own like a staircase, so he jumped from one treetop to another and finally escaped. The place is now called Inuhashi, so it may have been where the hunter lived. (Choroku Nishizawa in Kai Province)