|
Things Japanese by
Mock Joya (1st
Edition Nov 1958. 5th Dec
1964 revised edition) Introduction
Mock Joya, the author of "Things
Japanese", was a veteran journalist in Japan. Born in 1884, he was
graduated from the Tokyo School of Foreign Languages in 1904, and worked in
the journalistic field, having served as a reporter on the staff of The New
York World and also as editor of The Japan Times. His name is known to every
student of Japan. For over forty years he has written on "Things Japanese"
and at the time of his death in August 1963, was still contributing his
column of the same name to The Japan Times. Three
Monkeys, Chapter 14 Religious Rites, page 678 By
the village road and more often at the dividing line between two villages
there stands a koshin-zuka or a koshin
stone tablet. Koshin is one of the
most common deities worshiped by rural folks.
As it usually stands on a village road, it is regarded as the guardian
of the road or the protector of travelers.
But originally it was the guardian deity for all the local people. Though
koshin is so common, it is not clearly known what
it stands for. Nevertheless
the koshin-zuka with the engraving of three monkeys
has left a deep impression on the minds of all the people. These monkeys have even become world
famous. Said to have come from It
is generally said that it was the Buddhist priest Dengyo (767-822) who first
engraved the three wise monkeys on the koshin
tablet, as he place great value on the old teaching. If this be so, the three monkeys are later
addition to the original koshin tablet which was
already an object of public worship. The
koshin festival comes on the day of koshin or the Day of the Monkey. It seems that the unknown deity was named
after the date of the festival. One
tradition has it that, on the eve of koshin
(monkeys) day which comes every 60 days, an insect living in a human being
leaves the body while he is asleep and goes to heaven to report on his
conduct. So one should not sleep that
night. In the old days, the festival
was quite an important community function with all the village people
gathering around the koshin tablet on the Day of
the Monkey and having a merry time, drinking and eating from early evening to
dawn. Koshin day comes every 60 days,
but actually the festival was not held so often because of unfavorable weather
conditions. Later
however, the affair came to be held indoors at the houses of principal
residents. It was called koshin-machi or “waiting for koshin”. This is mentioned in Eigamonogatari,
a story of Court life from the 9th to the 11th century.
Koshin-machi is still kept up in many rural districts, but its
original meaning is almost lost, it being held recently only as a local
gathering for recreation and drinking. On
the other hand, the three monkeys, which were at first engraved on the koshin tablet to teach the people how to keep away from
evil, have become dear to all people of the country and even to many
foreigners. Besides their wise
teaching, they are loved because they look so comical and lovable.
|
