--- title: Names of Incense Used., part 3 — In Ghostly Japan · full text with trees · page 2 description: Names of Incense Used., part 3, «In Ghostly Japan» by Lafcadio Hearn: the whole chapter, every sentence with its dependency tree and pragmatics. It begins: A Passional Karma --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg8128/5/page/2/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [In Ghostly Japan](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg8128/) / Names of Incense Used., part 3 # Names of Incense Used., part 3 · page 2 [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg8128/5/) **2** But all at once this stillness was broken by a sound of women’s \_geta\_\[4\] approaching—\_kara-kon, kara-kon;\_—and the sound drew nearer and nearer, quickly, till it reached the live-hedge surrounding the garden.[73](../../73/ "tree and pragmatics") Then Shinzaburö, feeling curious, stood on tiptoe, so as to look over the hedge; and he saw two women passing.[74](../../74/ "tree and pragmatics") One, who was carrying a beautiful lantern decorated with peony-flowers,\[5\] appeared to be a servant;—the other was a slender girl of about seventeen, wearing a long-sleeved robe embroidered with designs of autumn-blossoms.[75](../../75/ "tree and pragmatics") Almost at the same instant both women turned their faces toward Shinzaburō;—and to his utter astonishment, he recognized O-Tsuyu and her servant O-Yoné.[76](../../76/ "tree and pragmatics") \[4\] \_Komageta\_ in the original.[77](../../77/ "tree and pragmatics") The geta is a wooden sandal, or clog, of which there are many varieties,—some decidedly elegant.[78](../../78/ "tree and pragmatics") The \_komageta\_, or “pony-geta” is so-called because of the sonorous hoof-like echo which it makes on hard ground.[79](../../79/ "tree and pragmatics") \[5\] The sort of lantern here referred to is no longer made; and its shape can best be understood by a glance at the picture accompanying this story.[80](../../80/ "tree and pragmatics") It was totally unlike the modern domestic band-lantern, painted with the owner’s crest; but it was not altogether unlike some forms of lanterns still manufactured for the Festival of the Dead, and called \_Bon-dōrō\_.[81](../../81/ "tree and pragmatics") The flowers ornamenting it were not painted: they were artificial flowers of crêpe-silk, and were attached to the top of the lantern.[82](../../82/ "tree and pragmatics") They stopped immediately; and the girl cried out,—“Oh, how strange!…[83](../../83/ "tree and pragmatics") Hagiwara Sama!”[84](../../84/ "tree and pragmatics") Shinzaburō simultaneously called to the maid:—“O-Yoné\![85](../../85/ "tree and pragmatics") Ah, you are O-Yoné!—I remember you very well.”[86](../../86/ "tree and pragmatics") “Hagiwara Sama!” exclaimed O-Yoné in a tone of supreme amazement.[87](../../87/ "tree and pragmatics") “Never could I have believed it possible!…[88](../../88/ "tree and pragmatics") Sir, we were told that you had died.”[89](../../89/ "tree and pragmatics") “How extraordinary!” cried Shinzaburō.[90](../../90/ "tree and pragmatics") “Why, I was told that both of you were dead!”[91](../../91/ "tree and pragmatics") “Ah, what a hateful story!” returned O-Yoné.[92](../../92/ "tree and pragmatics") “Why repeat such unlucky words?…[93](../../93/ "tree and pragmatics") Who told you?”[94](../../94/ "tree and pragmatics") “Please to come in,” said Shinzaburō;—“here we can talk better.[95](../../95/ "tree and pragmatics") The garden-gate is open.”[96](../../96/ "tree and pragmatics") So they entered, and exchanged greeting; and when Shinzaburō had made them comfortable, he said:—[97](../../97/ "tree and pragmatics") “I trust that you will pardon my discourtesy in not having called upon you for so long a time.[98](../../98/ "tree and pragmatics") But Shijō, the doctor, about a month ago, told me that you had both died.”[99](../../99/ "tree and pragmatics") “So it was he who told you?” exclaimed O-Yoné.[100](../../100/ "tree and pragmatics") “It was very wicked of him to say such a thing.[101](../../101/ "tree and pragmatics") Well, it was also Shijō who told us that \_you\_ were dead.[102](../../102/ "tree and pragmatics") I think that he wanted to deceive you,—which was not a difficult thing to do, because you are so confiding and trustful.[103](../../103/ "tree and pragmatics") Possibly my mistress betrayed her liking for you in some words which found their way to her father’s ears; and, in that case, O-Kuni—the new wife—might have planned to make the doctor tell you that we were dead, so as to bring about a separation.[104](../../104/ "tree and pragmatics") Anyhow, when my mistress heard that you had died, she wanted to cut off her hair immediately, and to become a nun.[105](../../105/ "tree and pragmatics") But I was able to prevent her from cutting off her hair; and I persuaded her at last to become a nun only in her heart.[106](../../106/ "tree and pragmatics") Afterwards her father wished her to marry a certain young man; and she refused.[107](../../107/ "tree and pragmatics") Then there was a great deal of trouble,—chiefly caused by O-Kuni;—and we went away from the villa, and found a very small house in Yanaka-no-Sasaki.[108](../../108/ "tree and pragmatics") There we are now just barely able to live, by doing a little private work….[109](../../109/ "tree and pragmatics") My mistress has been constantly repeating the \_Nembutsu\_ for your sake.[110](../../110/ "tree and pragmatics") To-day, being the first day of the Bon, we went to visit the temples; and we were on our way home—thus late—when this strange meeting happened.”[111](../../111/ "tree and pragmatics") “Oh, how extraordinary!” cried Shinzaburō.[112](../../112/ "tree and pragmatics") “Can it be true?-or is it only a dream?[113](../../113/ "tree and pragmatics") Here I, too, have been constantly reciting the \_Nembutsu\_ before a tablet with her name upon it\![114](../../114/ "tree and pragmatics") Look!”[115](../../115/ "tree and pragmatics") And he showed them O-Tsuyu’s tablet in its place upon the Shelf of Souls.[116](../../116/ "tree and pragmatics") “We are more than grateful for your kind remembrance,” returned O-Yoné, smiling….[117](../../117/ "tree and pragmatics") “Now as for my mistress,”—she continued, turning towards O-Tsuyu, who had all the while remained demure and silent, half-hiding her face with her sleeve,—“as for my mistress, she actually says that she would not mind being disowned by her father for the time of seven existences,\[6\] or even being killed by him, for your sake\![118](../../118/ "tree and pragmatics") Come! will you not allow her to stay here to-night?”[119](../../119/ "tree and pragmatics") \[6\] “For the time of seven existences,”—that is to say, for the time of seven successive lives.[120](../../120/ "tree and pragmatics") In Japanese drama and romance it is not uncommon to represent a father as disowning his child “for the time of seven lives.”[121](../../121/ "tree and pragmatics") Such a disowning is called \_shichi-shō madé no mandō\_, a disinheritance for seven lives,—signifying that in six future lives after the present the erring son or daughter will continue to feel the parental displeasure.[122](../../122/ "tree and pragmatics") Shinzaburō turned pale for joy.[123](../../123/ "tree and pragmatics") He answered in a voice trembling with emotion:—[124](../../124/ "tree and pragmatics") “Please remain; but do not speak loud—because there is a troublesome fellow living close by,—a \_ninsomi\_\[7\] called Hakuōdō Yusai, who tells peoples fortunes by looking at their faces.[125](../../125/ "tree and pragmatics") He is inclined to be curious; and it is better that he should not know.”[126](../../126/ "tree and pragmatics") \[7\] The profession is not yet extinct.[127](../../127/ "tree and pragmatics") The \_ninsomi\_ uses a kind of magnifying glass (or magnifying-mirror sometimes), called \_tengankyō\_ or \_ninsomégané\_.[128](../../128/ "tree and pragmatics") The two women remained that night in the house of the young samurai, and returned to their own home a little before daybreak.[129](../../129/ "tree and pragmatics") And after that night they came every nighht for seven nights,—whether the weather were foul or fair,—always at the same hour.[130](../../130/ "tree and pragmatics") And Shinzaburō became more and more attached to the girl; and the twain were fettered, each to each, by that bond of illusion which is stronger than bands of iron.[131](../../131/ "tree and pragmatics") IV[132](../../132/ "tree and pragmatics") Now there was a man called Tomozō, who lived in a small cottage adjoining Shinzaburō’s residence, Tomozō and his wife O-Miné were both employed by Shinzaburō as servants.[133](../../133/ "tree and pragmatics") Both seemed to be devoted to their young master; and by his help they were able to live in comparative comfort.[134](../../134/ "tree and pragmatics") One night, at a very late hour, Tomozō heard the voice of a woman in his master’s apartment; and this made him uneasy.[135](../../135/ "tree and pragmatics") He feared that Shinzaburō, being very gentle and affectionate, might be made the dupe of some cunning wanton,—in which event the domestics would be the first to suffer.[136](../../136/ "tree and pragmatics") He therefore resolved to watch; and on the following night he stole on tiptoe to Shinzaburō’s dwelling, and looked through a chink in one of the sliding shutters.[137](../../137/ "tree and pragmatics") By the glow of a night-lantern within the sleeping-room, he was able to perceive that his master and a strange woman were talking together under the mosquito-net.[138](../../138/ "tree and pragmatics") At first he could not see the woman distinctly.[139](../../139/ "tree and pragmatics") Her back was turned to him;—he only observed that she was very slim, and that she appeared to be very young,—judging from the fashion of her dress and hair.[140](../../140/ "tree and pragmatics") \[8\] Putting his ear to the chink, he could hear the conversation plainly.[141](../../141/ "tree and pragmatics") The woman said:—[142](../../142/ "tree and pragmatics") “And if I should be disowned by my father, would you then let me come and live with you?”[143](../../143/ "tree and pragmatics") \[8\] The color and form of the dress, and the style of wearing the hair, are by Japanese custom regulated according to the age of the woman.[144](../../144/ "tree and pragmatics") [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg8128/5/) **2** - ← previous: [page 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg8128/5/) - next →: [Names of Incense Used., part 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg8128/6/) - ↑ back to [In Ghostly Japan](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg8128/)