The Demon at Agi Bridge and Other Japanese Tales (Translations from the Asian Classics) by Philip K. Dick

Author:Philip K. Dick [Dick, Philip K.]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Literary Criticism/Asian/General
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Published: 2011-01-04T16:00:00+00:00

How Ki no Tōsuke of Mino Province Met Female Spirits and Died (27:21)

Long ago, there was a man named Fujiwara no Takanori, a former official of Nagato. When he was serving as temporary governor of Shimōsa Province, he was assigned by the kanpaku45 to oversee the affairs of the country estate of Namatsu in Mino Province. And attached to that estate was a man named Ki no Tōsuke.

Among the various people on the estate, Takanori took particular notice of this Ki no Tōsuke. Tōsuke was summoned to the capital for extended service in the Higashi no Sanjō Palace. His period of service in the capital having ended, he had been dismissed and was on his way home to Mino and was crossing the Seta Bridge.46

As he was doing so, he noted a woman standing and holding up the hem of her robe. Passing by on his horse, he thought this a little peculiar. “Where are you going, may I ask?” said the woman. “I’m going to Mino,” replied Tōsuke, dismounting from his horse. “I have a favor to ask,” she said. “I wonder if you would oblige me?” “I would be delighted,” he replied.

”Ah, how happy you make me!” she exclaimed. Then, pulling a small box from the breast of her robe and unwrapping the piece of silk around it, she said, “If you could take this to the village of Morokoshi in the district of Kataagata, the place by the bridge where they store the produce. At the west end of the bridge, there will be a woman waiting. Please give this to her.”

Tōsuke thought this rather strange, but he replied, “I will be happy to comply.” Noting the woman’s appearance, as though she were fearful that he would refuse, he found it difficult to deny her request. Accepting the box, he said, “This woman waiting by the bridge—who is she? Where does she live? If she’s not there, how will I find her? And who should I say sent the box?”

The woman replied, “Just go to the foot of the bridge. She will be waiting to receive it. There’s no mistake—she will be there. But for heaven’s sake, do not ever try to open the box!” As she said this, Tōsuke had the feeling that the others in his party did not see him standing there and talking to her; they only saw that he had gotten off his horse and was standing there, and they wondered what he was doing. After Tōsuke had accepted the box, the woman went on her way.

Tōsuke, having remounted his horse, journeyed on to Mino. But when he reached the approach to the bridge at Morokoshi, he forgot all about what he was supposed to do there and failed to deliver the box. Only when he reached home did he remember. “Well, I’ll have to look for the woman another time and hand it over then,” he thought to himself as he put it away in what he thought was a safe place.

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