{"id":44210,"date":"2025-02-05T13:51:23","date_gmt":"2025-02-05T19:51:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wlbott.com\/?p=44210"},"modified":"2025-02-06T08:55:10","modified_gmt":"2025-02-06T14:55:10","slug":"mujina-like-unto-an-egg","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wlbott.com\/?p=44210","title":{"rendered":"Kwaidan: Part III \u2013\u00a0Mujina, Like Unto an Egg"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The following short story is from the 1905 edition of Kwaidan – Stories and Studies of Strange Things<\/em>, by Lafcadio Hearn. Illustrations by Elder G.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

MUJINA<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>
\n

On the Akasaka Road, in Tokyo, there is a slope called Kii-no-kuni-zaka,\u2014which means the Slope of the Province of Kii. I do not know why it is called the Slope of the Province of Kii. <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

On one side of this slope you see an ancient moat, deep and very wide, with high green banks rising up to some place of gardens;\u2014and on the other side of the road extend the long and lofty walls of an imperial palace. Before the era of street-lamps and jinrikishas, this neighborhood was very lonesome after dark; and belated pedestrians would go miles out of their way rather than mount the Kii-no-kuni-zaka, alone, after sunset.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

All because of a Mujina that used to walk there. [Mujina -A kind of badger. Certain animals were thought to be able to transform themselves and cause mischief for humans.<\/em>] The last man who saw the Mujina was an old merchant of the Kyobashi quarter, who died about thirty years ago. This is the story, as he told it:\u2014<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One night, at a late hour, he was hurrying up the Kii-no-kuni-zaka, when he perceived a woman crouching by the moat, all alone, and weeping bitterly. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Fearing that she intended to drown herself, he stopped to offer her any assistance or consolation in his power. She appeared to be a slight and graceful person, handsomely dressed; and her hair was arranged like that of a young girl of good family. \u201cO-jochu,\u201d [O-jochu (\u201chonorable damsel\u201d), a polite form of address used in speaking to a young lady whom one does not know<\/em>] he exclaimed, approaching her,\u2014\u201dO-jochu, do not cry like that!… <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>
\n

Tell me what the trouble is; and if there be any way to help you, I shall be glad to help you.\u201d (He really meant what he said; for he was a very kind man.) But she continued to weep,\u2014hiding her face from him with one of her long sleeves. <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cO-jochu,\u201d he said again, as gently as he could,\u2014\u201dplease, please listen to me!… This is no place for a young lady at night! Do not cry, I implore you!\u2014only tell me how I may be of some help to you!\u201d Slowly she rose up, but turned her back to him, and continued to moan and sob behind her sleeve. He laid his hand lightly upon her shoulder, and pleaded:\u2014\u201dO-jochu!\u2014O-jochu!\u2014O-jochu!… Listen to me, just for one little moment!… O-jochu!\u2014O-jochu!\u201d… Then that O-jochu turned around, and dropped her sleeve, and stroked her face with her hand;\u2014and the man saw that she had no eyes or nose or mouth,\u2014and he screamed and ran away. [an apparition with a smooth, totally featureless face, called a \u201cnopperabo,\u201d is a stock part of the Japanese pantheon of ghosts and demons<\/em>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Up Kii-no-kuni-zaka he ran and ran; and all was black and empty before him. On and on he ran, never daring to look back; and at last he saw a lantern, so far away that it looked like the gleam of a firefly; and he made for it. It proved to be only the lantern of an itinerant soba-seller, [soba is a preparation of buckwheat, somewhat resembling vermicelli<\/em>] who had set down his stand by the road-side; but any light and any human companionship was good after that experience; and he flung himself down at the feet of the soba-seller, crying out, \u201cAh!\u2014aa!!\u2014aa!!!\u201d…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cKore! kore!\u201d [an exclamation of annoyed alarm<\/em>] roughly exclaimed the soba-man. \u201cHere! what is the matter with you? Anybody hurt you?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNo\u2014nobody hurt me,\u201d panted the other,\u2014\u201donly… Ah!\u2014aa!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c\u2014Only scared you?\u201d queried the peddler, unsympathetically. \u201cRobbers?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNot robbers,\u2014not robbers,\u201d gasped the terrified man… \u201cI saw… I saw a woman\u2014by the moat;\u2014and she showed me… Ah! I cannot tell you what she showed me!\u201d…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe! [Well!<\/em>] Was it anything like THIS that she showed you?\u201d cried the soba-man, stroking his own face\u2014which therewith became like unto an Egg… And, simultaneously, the light went out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n

In Other Egg News….<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n
https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/cd64l45221wo<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The following short story is from the 1905 edition of Kwaidan – Stories and Studies of Strange Things, by Lafcadio Hearn. Illustrations by Elder G. MUJINA On the Akasaka Road, in Tokyo, there is a slope called Kii-no-kuni-zaka,\u2014which means the Slope of the Province of Kii. I do not know why it is called the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[38,123,49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-44210","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-club","category-gods-goddesses-and-mythical-heros","category-japan"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wlbott.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44210","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wlbott.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wlbott.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wlbott.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wlbott.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=44210"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.wlbott.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44210\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":44246,"href":"https:\/\/www.wlbott.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44210\/revisions\/44246"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wlbott.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=44210"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wlbott.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=44210"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wlbott.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=44210"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}