--- title: Names of Incense Used., part 5 — In Ghostly Japan · full text with trees · page 2 description: Names of Incense Used., part 5, «In Ghostly Japan» by Lafcadio Hearn: the whole chapter, every sentence with its dependency tree and pragmatics. It begins: But the girl answered, weeping:— --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg8128/7/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 5 # Names of Incense Used., part 5 · page 2 [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg8128/7/) **2** Shinzaburō was dead—hideously dead;—and his face was the face of a man who had died in the uttermost agony of fear;—and lying beside him in the bed were the bones of a woman\![68](../../68/ "tree and pragmatics") And the bones of the arms, and the bones of the hands, clung fast about his neck.[69](../../69/ "tree and pragmatics") XI[70](../../70/ "tree and pragmatics") Hakuōdō Yusai, the fortune-teller, went to view the corpse at the prayer of the faithless Tomozō.[71](../../71/ "tree and pragmatics") The old man was terrified and astonished at the spectacle, but looked about him with a keen eye.[72](../../72/ "tree and pragmatics") He soon perceived that the \_o-fuda\_ had been taken from the little window at the back of the house; and on searching the body of Shinzaburō, he discovered that the golden \_mamori\_ had been taken from its wrapping, and a copper image of Fudō put in place of it.[73](../../73/ "tree and pragmatics") He suspected Tomozō of the theft; but the whole occurrence was so very extraordinary that he thought it prudent to consult with the priest Ryōseki before taking further action.[74](../../74/ "tree and pragmatics") Therefore, after having made a careful examination of the premises, he betook himself to the temple Shin-Banzui-In, as quickly as his aged limbs could bear him.[75](../../75/ "tree and pragmatics") Ryōseki, without waiting to hear the purpose of the old man’s visit, at once invited him into a private apartment.[76](../../76/ "tree and pragmatics") “You know that you are always welcome here,” said Ryōseki.[77](../../77/ "tree and pragmatics") “Please seat yourself at ease….[78](../../78/ "tree and pragmatics") Well, I am sorry to tell you that Hagiwara Sama is dead.”[79](../../79/ "tree and pragmatics") Yusai wonderingly exclaimed:—“Yes, he is dead;—but how did you learn of it?”[80](../../80/ "tree and pragmatics") The priest responded:—[81](../../81/ "tree and pragmatics") “Hagiwara Sama was suffering from the results of an evil karma; and his attendant was a bad man.[82](../../82/ "tree and pragmatics") What happened to Hagiwara Sama was unavoidable;—his destiny had been determined from a time long before his last birth.[83](../../83/ "tree and pragmatics") It will be better for you not to let your mind be troubled by this event.”[84](../../84/ "tree and pragmatics") Yusai said:—[85](../../85/ "tree and pragmatics") “I have heard that a priest of pure life may gain power to see into the future for a hundred years; but truly this is the first time in my existence that I have had proof of such power….[86](../../86/ "tree and pragmatics") Still, there is another matter about which I am very anxious….”[87](../../87/ "tree and pragmatics") “You mean,” interrupted Ryōseki, “the stealing of the holy \_mamori\_, the \_Kai-On-Nyōrai\_.[88](../../88/ "tree and pragmatics") But you must not give yourself any concern about that.[89](../../89/ "tree and pragmatics") The image has been buried in a field; and it will be found there and returned to me during the eighth month of the coming year.[90](../../90/ "tree and pragmatics") So please do not be anxious about it.”[91](../../91/ "tree and pragmatics") More and more amazed, the old \_ninsomi\_ ventured to observe:—[92](../../92/ "tree and pragmatics") “I have studied the \_In-Yō\_,\[17\] and the science of divination; and I make my living by telling peoples’ fortunes;—but I cannot possibly understand how you know these things.”[93](../../93/ "tree and pragmatics") \[17\] The Male and Female principles of the universe, the Active and Passive forces of Nature.[94](../../94/ "tree and pragmatics") Yusai refers here to the old Chinese nature-philosophy,—better known to Western readers by the name FENG-SHUI.[95](../../95/ "tree and pragmatics") Ryōseki answered gravely:—[96](../../96/ "tree and pragmatics") “Never mind how I happen to know them….[97](../../97/ "tree and pragmatics") I now want to speak to you about Hagiwara’s funeral.[98](../../98/ "tree and pragmatics") The House of Hagiwara has its own family-cemetery, of course; but to bury him there would not be proper.[99](../../99/ "tree and pragmatics") He must be buried beside O-Tsuyu, the Lady Iijima; for his karma-relation to her was a very deep one.[100](../../100/ "tree and pragmatics") And it is but right that you should erect a tomb for him at your own cost, because you have been indebted to him for many favors.”[101](../../101/ "tree and pragmatics") Thus it came to pass that Shinzaburō was buried beside O-Tsuyu, in the cemetery of Shin-Banzui-In, in Yanaka-no-Sasaki.[102](../../102/ "tree and pragmatics") —\_Here ends the story of the Ghosts in the Romance of the Peony-Lantern.[103](../../103/ "tree and pragmatics") My friend asked me whether the story had interested me; and I answered by telling him that I wanted to go to the cemetery of Shin-Banzui-In,—so as to realize more definitely the local color of the author’s studies.[104](../../104/ "tree and pragmatics") “I shall go with you at once,” he said.[105](../../105/ "tree and pragmatics") “But what did you think of the personages?”[106](../../106/ "tree and pragmatics") “To Western thinking,” I made answer, “Shinzaburō is a despicable creature.[107](../../107/ "tree and pragmatics") I have been mentally comparing him with the true lovers of our old ballad-literature.[108](../../108/ "tree and pragmatics") They were only too glad to follow a dead sweetheart into the grave; and nevertheless, being Christians, they believed that they had only one human life to enjoy in this world.[109](../../109/ "tree and pragmatics") But Shinzaburō was a Buddhist,—with a million lives behind him and a million lives before him; and he was too selfish to give up even one miserable existence for the sake of the girl that came back to him from the dead.[110](../../110/ "tree and pragmatics") Then he was even more cowardly than selfish.[111](../../111/ "tree and pragmatics") Although a samurai by birth and training, he had to beg a priest to save him from ghosts.[112](../../112/ "tree and pragmatics") In every way he proved himself contemptible; and O-Tsuyu did quite right in choking him to death.”[113](../../113/ "tree and pragmatics") “From the Japanese point of view, likewise,” my friend responded, “Shinzaburō is rather contemptible.[114](../../114/ "tree and pragmatics") But the use of this weak character helped the author to develop incidents that could not otherwise, perhaps, have been so effectively managed.[115](../../115/ "tree and pragmatics") To my thinking, the only attractive character in the story is that of O-Yoné: type of the old-time loyal and loving servant,—intelligent, shrewd, full of resource,—faithful not only unto death, but beyond death….[116](../../116/ "tree and pragmatics") Well, let us go to Shin-Banzui-In.”[117](../../117/ "tree and pragmatics") We found the temple uninteresting, and the cemetery an abomination of desolation.[118](../../118/ "tree and pragmatics") Spaces once occupied by graves had been turned into potato-patches.[119](../../119/ "tree and pragmatics") Between were tombs leaning at all angles out of the perpendicular, tablets made illegible by scurf, empty pedestals, shattered water-tanks, and statues of Buddhas without heads or hands.[120](../../120/ "tree and pragmatics") Recent rains had soaked the black soil,—leaving here and there small pools of slime about which swarms of tiny frogs were hopping.[121](../../121/ "tree and pragmatics") Everything—excepting the potato-patches—seemed to have been neglected for years.[122](../../122/ "tree and pragmatics") In a shed just within the gate, we observed a woman cooking; and my companion presumed to ask her if she knew anything about the tombs described in the Romance of the Peony-Lantern.[123](../../123/ "tree and pragmatics") “Ah! the tombs of O-Tsuyu and O-Yoné?” she responded, smiling;—“you will find them near the end of the first row at the back of the temple—next to the statue of Jizo.”[124](../../124/ "tree and pragmatics") Surprises of this kind I had met with elsewhere in Japan.[125](../../125/ "tree and pragmatics") We picked our way between the rain-pools and between the green ridges of young potatoes,—whose roots were doubtless feeding on the sub-stance of many another O-Tsuyu and O-Yoné;—and we reached at last two lichen-eaten tombs of which the inscriptions seemed almost obliterated.[126](../../126/ "tree and pragmatics") Beside the larger tomb was a statue of Jizo, with a broken nose.[127](../../127/ "tree and pragmatics") “The characters are not easy to make out,” said my friend—“but wait!”….[128](../../128/ "tree and pragmatics") He drew from his sleeve a sheet of soft white paper, laid it over the inscription, and began to rub the paper with a lump of clay.[129](../../129/ "tree and pragmatics") As he did so, the characters appeared in white on the blackened surface.[130](../../130/ "tree and pragmatics") “\_Eleventh day, third month—Rat, Elder Brother, Fire—Sixth year of Horéki\_ \[A. D. 1756\].’…[131](../../131/ "tree and pragmatics") This would seem to be the grave of some innkeeper of Nedzu, named Kichibei.[132](../../132/ "tree and pragmatics") Let us see what is on the other monument.”[133](../../133/ "tree and pragmatics") With a fresh sheet of paper he presently brought out the text of a kaimyō, and read,—[134](../../134/ "tree and pragmatics") [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg8128/7/) **2** - ← previous: [page 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg8128/7/) - next →: [Names of Incense Used., part 6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg8128/8/) - ↑ back to [In Ghostly Japan](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg8128/)