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X

THE REBIRTH OF KATSUGORÔ

I

THE following is not a story,—at least it is not one of my stories. It is only the translation of an old Japanese document—or rather series of documents—very much signed and sealed, and dating back to the early part of the present century. Various authors appear to have made use of these documents: especially the compiler of the curious collection of Buddhist stories entitled Bukkyô-hyakkwa-zenshô, to whom they furnished the material of the twenty-sixth narrative in that work. The present translation, however, was made from a manuscript copy discovered in a private library in Tôkyô). I am responsible for nothing beyond a few notes appended to the text.

Although the beginning will probably prove dry reading, I presume to advise the perusal

of the whole translation from first to last, because it suggests many things besides the possibility of remembering former births. It will be found to reflect something of the feudal Japan passed away, and something of the old-time faith,—not the higher Buddhism, but what is incomparably more difficult for any Occidental to obtain a glimpse of: the common ideas of the people concerning preëxistence and rebirth. And in view of this fact, the exactness of the official investigations, and the credibility of the evidence accepted, necessarily become questions of minor importance.

II

1.—COPY OF THE REPORT OF TAMON DEMPACHIRÔ.

The case of Katsugorô, nine years old, second son of Genzô, a farmer on my estate, dwelling in the Village called Nakano-mura in the District called Tamagôri in the Province of Musashi.

Some time during the autumn of last year, the above-mentioned Katsugorô, the son of Genzô, told to his elder sister the story of his

previous existence and of his rebirth. But as it seemed to be only the fancy of a child, she gave little heed to it. Afterwards, however, when Katsugorô had told her the same story over and over again, she began to think that it was a strange thing, and she told her parents about it.

During the twelfth mouth of the past year, Genzô himself questioned Katsugorô about the matter, whereupon Katsugorô declared,—-

That he had been in his former existence the son of a certain Kyûbei, a farmer of Hodokubo-mura, which is a village within the jurisdiction of the Lord Komiya, in the district called Tamagôri, in the province of Musashi;—

That he, Katsugorô, the son of Kyûbei, had died of smallpox at the age of six years,—and

That he had been reborn thereafter into the family of the Genzô before-mentioned.

Though this seemed unbelievable, the boy repeated all the circumstances of his story with so much exactness and apparent certainty, that the Headman and the elders of the village made a formal investigation of the

case. As the news of this event soon spread, it was heard by the family of a certain Hanshirô, living in the village called Hodokubo-mura; and Hanshirô then came to the house of the Genzô aforesaid, a farmer belonging to my estate, and found that everything was true which the boy had said about the personal appearance and the facial characteristics of his former parents, and about the aspect of the house which had been his home in his previous birth. Katsugorô was then taken to the house of Hanshirô in Hodokubo-mura; and the people there said that he looked very much like their Tôzô, who had died a number of years before, at the age of six. Since then the two families have been visiting each other at intervals. The people of other neighboring villages seem to have heard of the matter; and now persons come daily from various places to see Katsugorô.

A deposition regarding the above facts having been made before me by persons dwelling on my estate, I summoned the man Genzô to my house, and there examined him. His answers to my questions did not contradict the

statements before-mentioned made by other parties.

Occasionally in the world some rumor of such a matter as this spreads among the people. Indeed, it is hard to believe such things. But I beg to make report of the present case, hoping the same will reach your august ear,—so that I may not be charged with negligence.

[Signed] TAMON DEMPACHIRÔ.

The Fourth Month and the Sixth Year of Bunsei [1823].

2.—COPY OF LETTER WRITTEN BY KAZUNAWO TO TEIKIN, PRIEST OF SENGAKUJI.

I have been favored with the accompanying copy of the report of Tamon Dempachirô by Shiga Hyoëmon Sama, who brought it to me; and I take great pleasure in sending it to you. I think that it might be well for you to preserve it, together with the writing from Kwanzan Sama, which you kindly showed me the other clay.

[Signed] KAZUNAWO.

The twenty-first day of the Sixth Month. [No other date.]

3.—COPY OF THE LETTER OF MATSUDAIRA KWANZAN [DAIMYÔ] TO THE PRIEST TEIKIN OF THE TEMPLE CALLED SENGAKUJI.

I herewith enclose and send you the account of the rebirth of Katsugorô. I have written it in the popular style, thinking that it might have a good effect in helping to silence those who do not believe in the doctrines of the Buddha. As a literary work it is, of course, a wretched thing. I send it to you supposing that it could only amuse you from that point of view. But as for the relation itself, it is without mistake; for I myself heard it from the grandmother of Katsugorô. When you have read it, please return it to me.

[Signed] KWANZAN.

Twentieth day. [No date.]

[COPY.]

RELATION OF THE REBIRTH OF KATSUGORÔ

4.—(Introductory Note by the Priest Teikin.)

This is the account of a true fact; for it has been written by Matsudaira Kwanzan Sama, who himself went [to Nakano-mura] on the twenty-second day of the third month of this year for the special purpose of inquiring about the matter.

After having obtained a glimpse of Katsugorô, he questioned the boy's grandmother as to every particular; and he wrote down her answers exactly as they were given.

Afterwards, the said Kwanzan Sama condescended to honor this temple with a visit on the fourteenth day of this fourth month, and with his own august lips told me about his visit to the family of the aforesaid Katsugorô. Furthermore, he vouchsafed me the favor of permitting me to read the before-mentioned writing, on the twentieth day of this same mouth. And, availing myself of the privilege, I immediately made a copy of the writing.

 

The twenty-first day of the Fourth Month of the Sixth Year of Bunsei [1823].

[COPY.]

5.—[NAMES OF THE MEMBERS OF THE TWO FAMILIES CONCERNED.]

[Family of Genzô.]

KATSUGORÔ.—Born the 10th day of the 10th month of the twelfth year of Bunkwa [1815]. Nine years old this sixth year of

Bunsei [1823].^[1] Second son of Genzô, a farmer living in Tanitsuiri in Nakano-mura, district of Tamagôri, province of Musashi.—Estate of Tamon Dempachirô, whose yashiki is in the street called Shichikenchô, Nedzu, Yedo.—Jurisdiction of Yusuki.

GENZÔ.—Father of Katsugorô. Family name, Koyada. Forty-nine years old this sixth year of Bunsei. Being poor, he occupies himself with the making of baskets, which he sells in Yedo. The name of the inn at which he lodges while in Yedo is Sagamiya, kept by one Kihei, in Bakuro-chô.

SEI.—Wife of Genzô and mother of Katsugorô. Thirty-nine years old this sixth year of Bunsei. Daughter of Murata Kichitarô, samurai,—once an archer in the service of the Lord of Owari. When Sei was twelve years old she was a maid-servant, it is said, in the house of Honda Dainoshin Dono. When she was thirteen years old, her father, Kichitarô

[1. The Western reader is requested to bear in mind that the year in which a Japanese child is born is counted always as one year in the reckoning of age.]

was dismissed forever for a certain cause from the service of the Lord of Owari, and he became a rônin.^[1] He died at the age of seventy-five, on the twenty-fifth day of the fourth month of the fourth year of Bunkwa [1807]. His grave is in the cemetery of the temple called Eirin-ji, of the Zen sect, in the village of Shimo-Yusuki.

TSUYA.—Grandmother of Katsugorô. Seventy-two years old this sixth year of Bunsei. When young she served as maid in the household of Matsudaira Oki-no-Kami Dono [Daimyô].

FUSA.—Elder sister of Katsugorô. Fifteen years old this year.

OTOJIRÔ.—Elder brother of Katsugorô. Fourteen years old this year.

TSUMÉ—Younger sister of Katsugorô. Four years old this year.

[1. Lit.: "A wave-man,"—a wandering samurai without a lord. The rônin were generally a desperate and very dangerous class; but there were some fine characters among them.]

[Family of Hanshirô.]

TÔZÔ.—Died at the age of six in Hodokubo-mura, in the district called Tamagôri in the province of Musashi. Estate of Nakané Uyemon, whose yashiki is in the street Atarashi-bashi-dôri, Shitaya, Yedo. Jurisdiction of Komiya.—[Tôzô] was born in the second year of Bunkwa [1805], and died at about the fourth hour of the day [10 o'clock in the morning] on the fourth day of the second month of the seventh year of Bunkwa [1810]. The sickness of which he died was smallpox. Buried in the graveyard on the hill above the village before-mentioned,—Hodokubo-mura.—Parochial temple: Iwôji in Misawa-mura. Sect: Zen-shû. Last year the fifth year of Bunkwa [1822], the jiû-san kwaiki[1] was said for Tôzô.

HANSHIRÔ.—Stepfather of Tôzô. Family

[1. The Buddhist services for the dead are celebrated at regular intervals, increasing successively in length, until the time of one hundred years after death. The jiû-san kwaiki is the service for the thirteenth year after death. By "thirteenth" in the context the reader must understand that the year in which the death took place is counted for one year.]

name: Suzaki. Fifty years old this sixth year of Bunsei.

SHIDZU.—Mother of Tôzô. Forty-nine years old this sixth year of Bunsei.

KYÛBEI (afterwards TOGÔRÔ).—Real father of Tôzô. Original name, Kyûbei, afterwards changed to Togôrô. Died at the age of forty-eight, in the sixth year of Bunkwa [1809], when Tôzô was five years old. To replace him, Hanshirô became an iri-muko.^[1]

CHILDREN: TWO BOYS AND TWO GIRLS.—These are Hanshirô's children by the mother of Tôzô.

6.—[COPY OF THE ACCOUNT WRITTEN IN POPULAR STYLE BY MATSUDAIRA KWANZAN DONO, DAIMYÔ.]

Some time in the eleventh month of the past year, when Katsugorô was playing in the rice-field with his elder sister, Fusa, he asked her,—

[1. The second husband, by adoption, of a daughter who lives with her own parents.]

"Elder Sister, where did you come from before you were born into our household?

Fusa answered him:—

"How can I know what happened to me before I was born?"

Katsugorô looked surprised and exclaimed:

"Then you cannot remember anything that happened before you were born?"

"Do you remember?" asked Fusa.

"Indeed I do," replied Katsugorô. "I used to be the son of Kyûbei San of Hodokubo, and my name was then Tôzô—do you not know all that?"

"Ah!" said Fusa, "I shall tell father and mother about it."

But Katsugorô at once began to cry, and said:—

"Please do not tell!—it would not be good to tell father and mother."

Fusa made answer, after a little while:—

"Well, this time I shall not tell. But the next time that you do anything naughty, then I will tell."

After that day whenever a dispute arose between the two, the sister would threaten the brother, saying, "Very well, then—I shall

tell that thing to father and mother." At these words the boy would always yield to his sister. This happened many times; and the parents one day overheard Fusa making her threat. Thinking Katsugorô must have been doing something wrong, they desired to know what the matter was, and Fusa, being questioned, told them the truth. Then Genzô and his wife, and Tsuya, the grandmother of Katsugorô, thought it a very strange thing. They called Katsugorô, therefore; and tried, first by coaxing, and then by threatening, to make him tell what he had meant by those words.

After hesitation, Katsugorô said:—"I will tell you everything. I used to be the son of Kyûbei San of Hodokubo, and the name of my mother then was O-Shidzu San. When I was five years old, Kyûbei San died; and there came in his place a man called Hanshirô San, who loved me very much. But in the following year, when I was six years old, I died of smallpox. In the third year after that I entered mother's honorable womb, and was born again."

The parents and the grandmother of the boy wondered greatly at hearing this; and

they decided to make all possible inquiry as to the man called Hanshirô of Hodokubo. But as they all had to work very hard every day to earn a living, and so could spare but little time for any other matter, they could not at once carry out their intention.

Now Sei, the mother of Katsugorô, had nightly to suckle her little daughter Tsuna, who was four years old;^[1]—and Katsugorô therefore slept with his grandmother, Tsuya. Sometimes he used to talk to her in bed; and one night when he was in a very confiding mood, she persuaded him to tell her what happened at the time when he had died. Then he said:—"Until I was four years old I used to remember everything; but since then I have become more and more forgetful; and now I forget many, many things. But I still remember that I died of smallpox; I remember that I was put into a jar;^[2] I remember that

[1. Children in Japan, among the poorer classes, are not weaned until an age much later than what is considered the proper age for weaning children in Western countries. But "four years old" in this text may mean considerably less, than three by Western reckoning.

2. From very ancient time in Japan it has been the custom to bury the dead in large jars,—usually of red earthenware, —called Kamé. Such jars are still used, although a large proportion of the dead are buried in wooden coffins of a form unknown in the Occident.]

I was buried on a hill. There was a hole made in the ground; and the people let the jar drop into that hole. It fell pon!—I remember that sound well. Then somehow I returned to the house, and I stopped on my own pillow there.^[1] In a short time some old man,—looking like a grandfather—came and took me away. I do not know who or what he was. As I walked I went through empty air as if flying. I remember it was neither night nor day as we went: it was always like sunset-time. I did not feel either warm or cold or hungry. We went very far, I think; but still I could hear always, faintly, the voices of people talking at home; and the sound of the Nembutsu^[2] being said for me.

[1. The idea expressed is not that of lying down with the pillow under the head, but of hovering about the pillow, or resting upon it as an insect might do. The bodiless spirit is usually said to rest upon the roof of the home. The apparition of the aged man referred to in the next sentence seems a thought of Shintô rather than of Buddhism.

2. The repetition of the Buddhist invocation Namu Amida Butsu! is thus named. The nembutsu is repeated by many Buddhist sects besides the sect of Amida proper,—the Shinshû.]

I remember also that when the people at home set offerings of hot botamochi^[1] before the household shrine [butsudan], I inhaled the vapor of the offerings. . . . Grandmother, never forget to offer warm food to the honorable dead [Hotoké Sama], and do not forget to give to priests—I am sure it is very good to do these things.^[2] . . . After that, I only remember that the old man led me by some roundabout way to this place—I remember we passed the road beyond the village. Then we came here, and he pointed to this house, and said to me:—'Now you must be reborn,—for it is three years since you died. You are to be reborn in that house. The person who will become your grandmother is very kind; so it will be well for you to be conceived and born there.' After saying this, the old man went away. I remained a little time under the kaki-tree before the entrance of this house. Then I was going to enter

[1. Botamochi, a kind of sugared rice-cake.

2. Such advice is a commonplace in Japanese Buddhist literature. By Hotoké Sama here the boy means, not the Buddhas proper, but the spirits of the dead, hopefully termed Buddhas by those who loved them,—much as in the West we sometimes speak of our dead as angels."]

when I heard talking inside: some one said that because father was now earning so little, mother would have to go to service in Yedo. I thought, "I will not go into that house;" and I stopped three days in the garden. On the third day it was decided that, after all, mother would not have to go to Yedo. The same night I passed into the house through a knot-hole in the sliding-shutters;—and after that I stayed for three days beside the kamado.^[1] Then I entered mother's honorable womb.^[2] . . . I remember that I was born without any pain at all.—Grandmother, you may tell this to father and mother, but please never tell it to anybody else."

 

The grandmother told Genzô and his wife what Katsugorô had related to her; and after that the boy was not afraid to speak freely

[1. The cooking-place in a Japanese kitchen. Sometimes the word is translated "kitchen-range," but the kamado is something very different from a Western kitchen-range.

2. Here I think it better to omit a couple of sentences in the original rather too plain for Western taste, yet not without interest. The meaning of the omitted passages is only that even in the womb the child acted with consideration, and according to the rules of filial piety.]

with his parents on the subject of his former existence, and would often say to them: "I want to go to Hodokubo. Please let me make a visit to the tomb of Kyûbei San." Genzô thought that Katsugorô, being a strange child, would probably die before long, and that it might therefore be better to make inquiry at once as to whether there really was a man in Hodokubo called Hanshirô. But he did not wish to make the inquiry himself, because for a man to do so [under such circumstances?] would seem inconsiderate or forward. Therefore, instead of going himself to Hodokubo, he asked his mother Tsuya, on the twentieth day of the first mouth of this year, to take her grandson there.

Tsuya went with Katsugorô to Hodokubo; and when they entered the village she pointed to the nearer dwellings, and asked the boy, "Which house is it?—is it this house or that one?" "No," answered Katsugorô,—"it is further on—much further,"—and he hurried before her. Reaching a certain dwelling at last, he cried, "This is the house!"—and ran in, without waiting for his grandmother. Tsuya followed him in, and asked the people

there what was the name of the owner of the house. "Hanshirô," one of them answered. She asked the name of Hanshirô's wife. "Shidzu," was the reply. Then she asked whether there had ever been a son called Tôzô born in that house. "Yes," was the answer; "but that boy died thirteen years ago, when he was six years old."

Then for the first time Tsuya was convinced that Katsugorô had spoken the truth; and she could not help shedding tears. She related to the people of the house all that Katsugorô had told her about his remembrance of his former birth. Then Hanshirô and his wife wondered greatly. They caressed Katsugorô and wept; and they remarked that he was much handsomer now than he had been as Tôzô before dying at the age of six. In the mean time, Katsugorô was looking all about; and seeing the roof of a tobacco shop opposite to the house of Hanshirô, he pointed to it, and said:—"That used not to be there." And he also said,—"The tree yonder used not to be there." All this was true. So from the minds of Hanshirô and his wife every doubt departed [ga wo orishi].

On the same day Tsuya and Katsugorô returned to Tanitsuiri, Nakano-mura. Afterwards Genzô sent his son several times to Hanshirô's house, and allowed him to visit the tomb of Kyûbei his real father in his previous existence.

Sometimes Katsugorô says:—"I am a Nono-Sama:^[1] therefore please be kind to me." Sometimes he also says to his grandmother:—"I think I shall die when I am sixteen; but, as Ontaké Sama^[2] has taught us,

[1. Nono-San (or Sama) is the child-word for the Spirits of the dead, for the Buddhas, and for the Shintô Gods,—Kami. Nono-San wo ogamu,—"to pray to the Nono-San," is the child-phrase for praying to the gods. The spirits of the ancestors become Nono-San,—Kami,—according to Shintô thought.

2 The reference here to Ontaké Sama has a particular interest, but will need some considerable explanation.

Ontaké, or Mitaké, is the name of a celebrated holy peak in the province of Shinano—a great resort for pilgrims, During the Tokugawa Shôgunate, a priest called Isshin, of the Risshû Buddhists, made a pilgrimage to that mountain. Returning to his native place (Sakamoto-chô, Shitaya, Yedo), he began to preach certain new doctrines, and to make for himself a reputation as a miracle-worker, by virtue of powers said to have been gained during his pilgrimage to Ontaké. The Shôgunate considered him a dangerous person, and banished him to the island of Hachijô, where he remained for some years. Afterwards he was allowed to return to Yedo, and there to preach his new faith,—to which he gave the name of Azuma-Kyô. It was Buddhist teaching in a Shintô disguise,—the deities especially adored by its followers being Okuni-nushi and Sukuna-hikona as Buddhist avatars. In the prayer of the sect called Kaibyaku-Norito it is said:—"The divine nature is immovable (fudô); yet it moves. It is formless, yet manifests itself in forms. This is the Incomprehensible Divine Body. In Heaven and Earth it is called Kami; in all things it is called Spirit; in Man it is called Mind. . . . From this only reality came the heavens, the four oceans, the great whole of the three thousand universes;—from the One Mind emanate three thousands of great thousands of forms." . . .

In the eleventh year of Bunkwa (1814) a man called Shimoyama Osuké, originally an oil-merchant in Heiyemon-chô, Asakusa, Yedo, organized, on the basis of Isshin's teaching, a religious association named Tomoyé-Ko. It flourished until the overthrow of the Shôgunate, when a law was issued forbidding the teaching of mixed doctrines, and the blending of Shintô with Buddhist religion. Shimoyama Osuké then applied for permission to establish a new Shintô sect, under the name of Mitaké-Kyô,—popularly called Onfaké-Kyô; and the permission was given in the sixth year of Meiji [1873]. Osuké then remodeled the Buddhist sutra Fudô Kyô into a Shintô prayer-book, under the title, Shintô-Fudô-Norito. The sect still flourishes; and one of its chief temples is situated about a mile from my present residence in Tôkyô.

"Ontaké San" (or "Sama") is a popular name given to the deities adored by this sect. It really means the Deity dwelling on the peak Mitaké, or Ontaké. But the name is also sometimes applied to the high-priest of the sect, who is supposed to be oracularly inspired by the deity of Ontaké, and to make revelations of truth through the power of the divinity. In the mouth of the boy Katsugorô "Ontaké Sama" means the high-priest of that time [1828], almost certainly Osuké himself,—then chief of the Tomoyé-Kyô).]

dying is not a matter to be afraid of." When his parents ask him, "Would you not like to become a priest?" he answers, "I would rather not be a priest."

The village people do not call him Katsugorô any more; they have nicknamed him "Hodokubo-Kozô" (the Acolyte of Hodokubo).^[1] When any one visits the house to see him, he becomes shy at once, and runs to bide himself in the inner apartments. So it is not possible to have any direct conversation with him. I have written down this account exactly as his grandmother gave it to me.

I asked whether Genzô, his wife, or Tsuya, could any of them remember having done any

[1. Kozô is the name given to a Buddhist acolyte, or a youth studying for the priesthood. But it is also given to errand-boys and little boy-servants sometimes,—perhaps because in former days the heads of little boys were shaved. I think that the meaning in this text is "acolyte."]

virtuous deeds. Genzô and his wife said that they had never done anything especially virtuous; but that Tsuya, the grandmother, had always been in the habit of repeating the Nembutsu every morning and evening, and that she never failed to give two mon^[1] to any priest or pilgrim who came to the door. But excepting these small matters, she never had done anything which could be called a particularly virtuous act.

(—This is the End of the Relation of the Rebirth of Katsugorô.)

7.—(NOTE BY THE TRANSLATOR.)

The foregoing is taken from a manuscript entitled Chin Setsu Shû Ki; or, "Manuscript-Collection of Uncommon Stories,"—made between the fourth month of the sixth year of Bunsei and the tenth mouth of the sixth year of Tempô [1823-1835]. At the end of the manuscript is written,—"From the years of Bunsei to the years of Tempô.—Minamisempa, Owner: Kurumachô, Shiba,

[1. In that time the name of the smallest of coins = ¹/₁₀ of 1 cent. It was about the same as that now called rin, a copper with a square hole in the middle and bearing Chinese characters.]

Yedo." Under this, again, is the following note:—"Bought from Yamatoya Sakujirô Nishinokubo: twenty-first day [?], Second year of Meiji [1869]." From which it would appear that the manuscript had been written by Minamisempa, who collected stories told to him, or copied them from manuscripts obtained by him, during the thirteen years from 1823 to 1835, inclusive.

III

Perhaps somebody will now be unreasonable enough to ask whether I believe this story, as if my belief or disbelief had anything to do with the matter! The question of the possibility of remembering former births seems to me to depend upon the question what it is that remembers. If it is the Infinite All-Self in each one of us, then I can believe the whole of the Jatakas without any trouble. As to the False Self, the mere woof and warp of sensation and desire, then I can best express my idea by relating a dream which I once dreamed. Whether it was a dream of the night or a dream of the day need not concern any one, since it was only a dream.