[1] Kwaidan means "Wonder Tale." The word is of general meaning, requiring limitation for the specific case.

[2] The go-kenin, for the most part; although some hatamoto, whose incomes ran as low as 300 koku could be classed with them. In English—cf. T.H. Gubbins—Trans. Asiatic Soc. of Japan, xv.

[3] The hard palatable pickled yellow daikon (radish). Nukamisozuké is a way station in its production by pickling in salt and bran. Nukamisozuké is better described than smelt.

[4] Sanzu no Kawa—the river crossed by the dead; the Buddhist "Styx." Shide no Yama—the mountain to be crossed on the way to Hell, or to the judgment hall of its great king—Emma Dai-ō (Yama). All deserve, and get, some punishment in this nether world.

[5] Near Meguro: scores of quaint figures, seated in tiers and meditation.

[6] A famous Chinese book on military tactics. Prince Yoshitsuné, hero of the Gempei wars, served arduously for a glimpse of it. Cf.: Life of Benkei, vol. i, pp. 311 reg. Densuké refers to the three (san) stages of rice cooking.

[7] Geishū-Aki province. For six months the daimyō left Edo to govern their fief in person. Their wives and families remained in Edo. The penalties at the barriers (Hakoné, for instance) were severe if the wife tried to get away (escape) from Edo.

[8] The Japanese personal pronoun is used—in the first person only to obviate ambiguity in the sentence. Women use it more frequently than men. In the second person it is used to express emphasis, great familiarity, impertinence, or rebuke. The last two uses are frequent. Ordinarily the honorifics and the construction of the sentence take the place of these pronouns. Such at least seems to be the usage of the kōdan writers, and in the present book the example has been followed, as far as possible. In a few instances the use of a pronoun will relieve the strain of a lengthy sentence or involved circumlocution in the western tongue. At times the closer style can be abandoned—as in the direct narration of the Tale of the Baryufu Kwannon. So also with the translations of the gidayu and the kōdan attached. These are for recitation. In the original the pronoun is rarely written in. But the literal translation of the honorifics would appear stilted. To westerners these are appellations; to the native they are indications.

[9] The old Shimbashi station and its yards cover this site. "Tide limit"—a suggestive name.

[10] A sakuji bugyō was the official who had charge of the maintenance and construction of public works within the daimyō's fief.

[11] A deep cutting through the hill. They are common features in Nippon. Many valleys are only accessible by a climb, unless mitigated by a kiridōshi, or obviated by a tunnel. Kamakura, for instance, is accessible by land in no other way. Asahina kiridōshi: there are several others.

[12] The description is curious. Writing fifty years ago Ryuō tells us these men no longer practised. His book is not readily met with and the passage in the original is worth preserving—"Kono sunegiri yatsu to iu wa tadaima de wa arimasen ga; makurajima no tabi ni asaura wo haki, sankeigyō no kyahan de, nagai no wo ippon sashi. Eh! Tō de o isogi de nai. Okata wa watakushi no mosu koyaku no kōnō wo kiite o motome nasai. Nukeba tamachiru nagai no yaiba da nure kami de mo kayo ni kireru, tadaima yatsu ga wo kiri chi wo tomete goran ni ireru; to maru de kiru yō desu ga ha (yaiba) no aru tokoro wa madzu no kata bakari de, moto no kata wa yaiba ga hiite aru yue, sono ha hiku no tokoro wo ude he ataru to suji ga tsuku bakari de kire washimasen ga, tanka ga kireru kara, chiwa taki-tsu se no gotoku nagareru. Chi ni wa sakarawazu ikusa naka ko wo mochiireba, sokuza ni todomaru nani mae kara todotteru no desu ga, hagyū da kara maru de chi ga tomaru yō ni micru kara, kono ho he hitotsu gai, kono ho he futatsu gai, to uremasu."—"Yotsuya Kwaidan," pp. 31-32.

[13] One-fourth of a ryō = 15 silver mommé = 872 grains Troy. Money had much greater purchasing value at that time as compared with the present days; perhaps 20 times, but adulteration of the coinage caused great variations.

[14] The Machibugyō was judge and prosecutor (procurator or district attorney); the two offices being held by the same man. A court trial included both functions. Tengu, used below, is the long-nosed wood bogey. There is a note in Benkei, i, 260.

[15] The tawara equals two-fifths of a koku. At present-day figures the stipend of Tamiya can be put at about 2000 yen; that of Itō Kwaiba, mentioned later, at 13,000 yen. The great daimyō with incomes running into the hundreds of thousands of koku were princes administering part of the public domain, with armies and an elaborate civil service to support. Even a hatamoto (minor daimyō, immediate vassals of the shōgun) of 10,000 koku, such as Yagyū Tajima no Kami had a large train at his Edo yashiki and at his fief. The Daté House of Sendai, or the Maeda of Kaga, Etchū, and Echizen, are examples of the greater Tōzama, or lords independent in the administration of their fiefs. Labour, it is to be added, was cheap compared to food values. Taxes were heavy—ranging from 30 to 70 per cent. The middleman took his high fee. Yet sumptuary laws were necessary to prevent extravagance among the farming class. Some of them were rich men, especially in the better administered Tokugawa fiefs. The public works required of the daimyō—especially the Tōzama—prevented a dangerous accumulation of resources, and sometimes almost ruined his subjects. Accurate measurements of income are not available. The koku of daimyō income has been placed as high as ten bushels. The present-day koku equals 5.13 bushels. The price of rice ranges between 15-20 yen per koku.

[16] The title for all men of learning and professional attainments. The great medical doctor is "Sensei," the doctor of literature is "Sensei"—and the charlatan who peddles charms by the highway is "Sensei"—teacher.

[17] A technical social expression—"I trouble you" or "with highest respect and consideration." Satuma = Satsuma-Jōfu, the grass cloth of fine quality woven and dyed in Loo-choo; narrow swords; all this (Momogawa) is an example of the earnest study the kōdan lecturers make of their subject. These delightful little expositions of dress and manner are frequent.

[18] Rusu or rusuban = caretaker in the owner's absence. As often as not the wife is so regarded by the Japanese husband.

[19] Reiganji, the great temple giving the name to the Reigan district of Fukagawa, is one of the many temples there found. The Jōshinji is close by.

[20] A complicated checkers-chess like game.

[21] There are nine of these stages of skill.

[22] 5.13 bushel. Income of the samurai classes were so measured.

[23] Kyara = nut gall, in Momogawa's kōdan. From the marriage to the expulsion of O'Iwa his treatment of the story is mainly followed. Ryuō slurs the marriage, but describes the persecution with great effect. The lines of treatment only diverge subsequently. Ryuō is to be preferred.

[24] The monetary bu was one-fourth the ryō; the shū was one-fourth the value of the bu. A hundred mon = one sen. To-day there are blind shampooers (and for massage) at 500 mon = 5 sen.

[25] Of the Nichiren sect. The characters of the "Yotsuya Kwaidan" move within the circle of this Presbyterian cult: i.e., Presbyterian in its stiff attitude of hostility and superiority to all other sects. There is another Myōgyōji, neighbour to the Ten-ō shrine.

[26] High sounding titles given to the great hetairae. The difference from the Greek world lay in their not being independent. They were confined to the houses of their owners. But these noted women were ransomed at times—even by great nobles. Thus Daté Tsunamune the 3rd daimyō of Sendai bought the famous Oiran Takao, weighing in the scales the woman against gold. In a fit of passion he killed her soon after, and had her body cast into the Edogawa.

[27] "Hagurete mo mata afu michi ya hana no yama."

[28] The aodaishō is something of the nature of a black snake. Says Brinkley's Dict. "elaphis virgatus."

[29] The term "Inkyō," already several times used, applies to a man who has retired from active life, leaving the management of the affairs of the House to the duly appointed heir and successor. A specified portion of the income is usually assigned for his maintenance, and forms a first lien, so to speak, on such return. The modernized law of Nippon does not permit assumption of this state before the age of fifty years, unless there be incapacitation such as necessitates retirement. In ancient days (pre-Meiji) there was no such limitation. Men often retired very early in life—from caprice, family intrigue, or for the freer management of their affairs. In the latter case they had more power and less responsibility; the latter falling on the heir and successor, perhaps still a mere child. Go is merely honorific.

[30] "Awarase ya: Byōbu wa koi no taki sagari." The living carp strives to ascend the fall.

[31] The old hag who lurks in the River of Souls, waylaying little children, robbing them of their clothes, and compelling them to construct huge piles of stones. Her counterfeit presentment (by Unkei) can be well seen at the Ennōji of Kamakura.

[32] An ordinary disposition of these women; who often preferred their Edo lover to such lot.

[33] Ototoi oidé: It is the salutation of the good Buddhist to the captured insect, thrown without and requested to return "the day before yesterday" = the Greek Kalends. As used above it is a gross insult to the person addressed.

[34] Damask hill: the names taken by these great hetairai were most fanciful.

[35] Next to the Ten-ō Jinja; not that of Samégabashi. To-day retired, neat and clean; without the dirty publicity of larger temples. It is a bit of country in crowded Yotsuya.

[36] A young girl's method of fixing the hair; but Ryuō uses the term. Gohei are the paper strips used as offering. Usually attached to a short stick.

[37] At the Gyōranji of Matsuzakachō in the Mita district of Tōkyō.

[38] Sanzugawa: Yama mo nakereba, hashi mo nashi; shinde no tabiji hana wa nao nashi. Sanzugawa, the river crossed by the dead.

[39] A fourth form of torture was suspension—an exaggerated infliction of "the lobster." These official forms are described by J. Carey Hall in the transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan, vol. XLI., Part V. The native references are the "Tokugawa Seikei Shiryō," "Keizai Dai Hiroku," "Kōjiki Ruihi Horitsu-bu." Cf. article on Gōmon in the "Kokushi Dai Jiten." There were other forms. In the examination into the famous conspiracy of Yui Shōsetsu (1651 A.D.) no confession could be secured from Yoshida Hatsuémon. He was brought out, to find his thirteen-year-old son Hachitarō undergoing the torture of dropping water. At the last extremities the boy pleaded for mercy. His father drily told him to act the samurai, and not to imperil the lives of others. It was different with Matsubayashi Chuya (really the last heir of the famous Chōsokabé House of Tosa). At sight of his old, white haired, white faced, jail wearied mother threatened with the fire torture, he did for her what he would not do for himself. The old woman willingly would have undergone the torture. Chuya's confession cost the lives of seventy-five men.

[40] Hifumikwan (Tōkyō), Meiji 29th year 2nd month 15th day (28th March, 1896).

[41] Mairase Sōrō: "I take the liberty of...." Brinkley's Dict. A purely formal expression used in the letters of women writers.

[42] The three holy things—Buddha, his Law, the priesthood.

[43] Another reading of the characters for Kikugorō—to the initiated.

[44] "Top-bottom": the beautiful lozenge shaped X̅ dress of the samurai when on court service, or for other ceremony: full dress.

[45] "Small fish boiled in soy in order to preserve it (named after Tsukudajima-Tōkyō—famous for its preparation)."—Brinkley's Dict.

[46] Brown, with stripes—a favourite pattern with men and women.

[47] Feast of the Dead. This festival is held in July—in the country in August, the old calendar seventh month.

[48] Apparitional divine lord.

[49] The expression is technical—"hitoban de mo o cha wo hikeba." All night a mere tea-server.

[50]

[51]

[52]

[53]

[54]

[55]

[56] Cf.—"Araki Mataémon—Ueno Adauchi," by Masui Nanzan. There is little reason to believe that Jubei's madness was assumed, a rather extravagant explanation of the more than probable fact that his well-known travels were inspired by the Shōgun's government. Actual knowledge and inspection of the conditions and feelings in far-off Satsuma, made by an expert, was much desired. Okubo Hikozaémon also travelled as the Shōgun's private eye. Jubei undoubtedly found his reputation for one-time madness very useful, and played upon it.