The Ten Foot Square Hut and Tales of the Heike Read online

  I inherited the estate of my great-grandmother on the father's side, and there I lived for a while. But then I left home and came down in the world and as there were very many reasons why I wished to live unnoticed, I could not remain where I was, so I built a cottage just suited to my wants. It was only a tenth of the size of my former home and contained only a living-room for myself, for I could not build a proper house. It had rough plastered walls and no gate, and the pillars were of bamboo, so it was really nothing more than a cart-shed. And as it was not far from the River-bed there was some peril from floods as well as anxiety about thieves.

  So I went on living in this unsympathetic world amid many difficulties for thirty years, and the various rebuffs that I met left me with a poor opinion of this fleeting life. So when I arrived at the age of fifty I abandoned the world and retired, and since I had no wife or child it was by no means difficult to leave it, neither had I any rank or revenue to be a tie to hold me. And so it is that I have come to spend I know not how many useless years hidden in the mists of Mount Ohara. I am now sixty years old, and this hut in which I shall spend the last remaining years of my dew-like existence is like the shelter that some hunter might build for a night's lodging in the hills, or like the cocoon some old silkworm might spin. If I compare it to the cottage of my middle years it is not a hundredth of the size. Thus as old age draws on my hut has grown smaller and smaller. It is a cottage of quite a peculiar kind, for it is only ten feet square and less than seven feet high, and as I did not decide to fix it in any definite place I did not choose the site by divination as usual. The walls are of rough plastered earth and the roof is of thatch. All the joints are hinged with metal so that if the situation no longer pleases me I can easily take it down and transport it elsewhere. And this can be done with very little labour, for the whole will only fill two cart-loads, and beyond the small wage of the carters nothing else is needed.

  Now hidden deep in the fastnesses of Mount Hino, I have put up eaves projecting on the south side to keep off the sun and a small bamboo veranda beneath them. On the west is the shelf for the offerings of water and flowers to Buddha, and in the middle, against the western wall is a picture of Amida Buddha so arranged that the setting sun shines from between his brows as though he were emitting his ray of light, while on the doors of his shrine are painted pictures of Fugen and Fudō.* Over the sliding doors on the north side is a little shelf on which stand three or four black leather cases containing some volumes of Japanese poems and music and a book of selections from the Buddhist Sutras. Beside these stand a harp and a lute of the kind called folding harp and jointed lute. On the eastern side is a bundle of fern fronds and a mat of straw on which I sleep at night. In the eastern wall there is a window before which stands my writing-table. A fire-box beside my pillow in which I can make a fire of broken brushwood completes the furniture. To the north of my little hut I have made a tiny garden surrounded by a thin low brushwood fence so that I can grow various kinds of medicinal herbs. Such is the style of my unsubstantial cottage.

  As to my surroundings, on the south there is a little basin that I have made of piled-up rocks to receive the water that runs down from a bamboo spout above it, and as the forest trees reach close up to the eaves it is easy enough to get fuel.

  The place is called Toyama. It is almost hidden in a tangled growth of evergreens. But though the valley is much overgrown it is open toward the west, so that I can contemplate the scenery and meditate on the enlightenment that comes from the Paradise in that quarter. In the spring I behold the clusters of wistaria shining like the purple clouds on which Amida Buddha comes to welcome his elect. In the summer I hear the cuckoo and his note reminds me that he will soon guide me over the Hills of Death of which they call him the Warden. In autumn I hear everywhere the shrilling of the Evening Cicada and inquire of him if he is bewailing the vanity of this fleeting life, empty as his own dried up husk, while in winter the snow as it piles up and melts seems like an allegory of our evil Karma.

  If I get tired of repeating the Invocation to Buddha or feel disinclined to read the Sutras, and go to sleep or sit idly, there is none to rebuke me, no companion to make me feel ashamed. I may not have made any special vow of silence, but as I am all alone I am little likely to offend with the tongue, and even without intending to keep the Buddhist Commandments, separated from society it is not easy to break them.

  In the morning, as I look out at the boats on the Uji River by Ōkanoya I may steal a phrase from the monk Mansei and compare this fleeting life to the white foam in their wake, and association may lead me to try a few verses myself in his style. Or in the evening, as I listen to the rustling of the maples in the wind the opening lines of the "Lute Maiden" by the great Chinese poet Po-chu-i naturally occur to my mind, and my hand strays to the instrument and I play perhaps a piece or two in the style of Minamoto Tsunenobu. And if I am in the mood for music I may play the piece called "Autumn Wind" to the accompaniment of the creaking of the pine-trees outside, or that entitled "Flowing Waters" in harmony with the purling of the stream. I have little skill in verse or music, but then I only play and compose for my own amusement, and not for the ears of other people.

  At the foot of the hill there is a little cottage of brushwood where lives the keeper of these hills. And he has a boy who sometimes comes to bear me company, and when time is heavy on my hands we go for a walk. He is sixteen and I am sixty and though the difference in age is so great, we find plenty of amusement in each other's society.

  Sometimes we gather the Lalong grass or the rock-pear or help ourselves to wild potatoes or parsley, or we may go as far as the rice-fields at the foot of our hills and glean a few ears to make on offering to the deities. If the day is fine we may climb up some high peak and look out over the Capital in the distance and enjoy the views of Mt Kobata, Fushimi, Toba or Hatsukashi. Fine scenery has no landlord, so there is nothing to hinder our pleasure.

  When I feel in the mood for a longer walk we may go over the hills by Sumiyama past Kasatori and visit the temple of Kwannon of the Thousand Arms at Iwama. Or it may take our fancy to go and worship at the famous temple of Ishiyama by Lake Biwa. Or again, if we go by Awazu, we may stop to say a prayer for the soul of Semi Maru* at his shrine on Ausaka Hill, and from thence may cross the River Tagami and visit the grave of Saru Maru Taiyu.†

  Then on our way back, according to the season, there will be the cherry-blossoms to pluck and the maple or the bracken or some sort of berries to gather. And of these some we can offer to the Buddha and some we can eat ourselves.

  In the quiet evenings I look out of my window at the moon and think over the friends of other days, and the mournful cry of the monkey often makes me moisten my sleeve with tears. I might imagine the cloud of fire-flies to be the fishing-fires at Makinoshima, or the rain at dawn to be the patter of the leaves driven by the wind. When I hear the hollow cry of the pheasant that might be mistaken for a father or mother hallooing to their children, as Gyogi Bosatsu's verse has it, or see the mountain deer approach me without any fear, then I understand how remote I am from the world. And I stir up the embers of my smouldering fire, the best friend an old man can find by him when he wakes. The mountains themselves are not at all awesome, though indeed the hooting of the owls is sometimes melancholy enough, but of the beauties of the ever-changing scenery of the hills one never becomes weary. And to one who thinks deeply and has a good store of knowledge such pleasure is indeed inexhaustible.

  When I first came to live in this place I thought it would be but for a little space, but five years have already passed. This temporary hut of mine looks old and weatherbeaten and on the roof the rotting leaves lie deep, while the moss has grown thick on the plastered wall. By occasional tidings that reach me from the Capital, I learn that the number of distinguished people who have passed away is not small, and as to those of no consequence it must be very great indeed. And in the various fires I wonder how many houses have been burnt.

  But in this
little impermanent hut of mine all is calm and there is nothing to fear. It may be small, but there is room to sleep at night, and to sit down in the day-time, so that for one person there is no inconvenience. The hermit-crab chooses a small shell and that is because he well knows the needs of his own body. The fishing-eagle chooses a rough beach because he does not want man's competition. Just so am I. If one knows himself and knows what the world is he will merely wish for quiet and be pleased when he has nothing to grieve about, wanting nothing and caring for nobody.

  It is the way of people when they build houses not to build them for themselves, but for their wives and family and relations, and to entertain their friends, or it may be their patrons or teachers, or to accommodate their valuables or horses or oxen.

  But I have built mine for my own needs and not for other people. And for the good reason that I have neither companion nor dependant, so that if I built it larger who would there be to occupy it? And as to friends they respect wealth and prefer those who are hospitable to them, but think little of those who are kindly and honest. The best friends one can have are flowiers and moon, strings and pipe. And servants respect those who reward them, and value people for what they get. If you are merely kind and considerate and do not trouble them they will not appreciate it. So the best servant you can have is your own body, and if there is anything to be done, do it yourself. It may be a little troublesome perhaps, but it is much easier than depending on others and looking to them to do it.

  If you have to go anywhere go on your own feet. It may be trying, but not so much so as the bother of horses and carriages. Every one with a body has two servants, his hands and feet, and they will serve his will exactly. And since the mind knows the fatigue of the body it works it when it is vigorous and allows it to rest when it is tired. The mind uses the body, but not to excess, and when the body tires it is not vexed. And to go on foot and do one's own work is the best road to strength and health. For to cause trouble and worry to our fellows is to lay up evil Karma. And why should you use the labour of others?

  Clothes and food are just the same. Garments woven from wistaria-vines, and bed-clothes of hemp, covering the body with what comes nearest to hand, and sustaining one's life with the berries and fruits that grow on the hills and plains, that is best. If you do not go into society you need not be ashamed of your appearance, and if your food is scanty it will have the better relish. I do not say these things from envy of rich people, but only from comparison of my early days with the life I live now.

  Since I forsook the world and broke off all its ties, I have felt neither fear nor resentment. I commit my life to fate without special wish to live or desire to die. Like a drifting cloud I rely on none and have no attachments. My only luxury is a sound sleep and all I look forward to is the beauty of the changing seasons.

  Now the Three Phenomenal Worlds, the World of Desire, the World of Form, and the World of No-form, are entirely of the mind. If the mind is not at rest, horses and oxen and the Seven Precious Things and Palaces and Pavilions are of no use. With this lonely cottage of mine, this hut of one room, I am quite content. If I go out to the Capital I may feel shame at looking like a mendicant priest, but when I come back home here I feel compassion for those who are still bound by the attraction of earthly things. If any doubt me let them consider the fish. They do not get tired of the water; but if you are not a fish you cannot understand their feelings.* Birds too love the woods, but unless you are yourself a bird you cannot know how they feel. It is just so with the life of a hermit: How can you understand unless you experience it?

  Now the moon of my life has reached its last phase and my remaining years draw near to their close. When I soon approach the Three Ways of the Hereafter what shall I have to regret? The Law of Buddha teaches that we should shun all clinging to the world of phenomena, so that the affection I have for this thatched hut is in some sort a sin, and my attachment to this solitary life may be a hindrance to enlightenment. Thus I have been babbling, it may be, of useless pleasures, and spending my precious hours in vain.

  In the still hours of the dawn I think of these things, and to myself I put these questions: "Thus to forsake the world and dwell in the woods, has it been to discipline my mind and practise the Law of Buddha or not? Have I put on the form of a recluse while yet my heart has remained impure? Is my dwelling but a poor imitation of that of the Saint Vimalakirrti while my merit is not even equal to that of Suddhipanthaka the most stupid of the followers of Buddha? Is this poverty of mine but the retribution for the offences of a past existence, and do the desires of an impure heart still arise to hinder my enlightenment? And in my heart there is no answer. The most I can do is to murmur two or three times a perchance unavailing invocation to Buddha."

  The last day of the third month of the second year of the era Kenryaku. By me the Sramana Ren-in in my hut on Toyama Hill.

  Sad am I at heart

  When the moon's bright silver orb

  Sinks behind the hill.

  But how blest 4 will be to see

  Amida's perpetual light.

  Footnotes

  * 1755 A.D.

  * 1181 A.D.

  * 1132 A.D.

  † 1184 A.D.

  * 540 A.D.

  * The Bodhisattvas Samanta Bhadra and Akshobya.

  * Famous lute-player, 10th Century.

  † Poet of the same period.

  * Looks like an echo of the well-known passage in Chuang-tz.

  * 1212 A.D.

  THE HEIKE MONOGATARI

  The sound of the bell of Jetavana* echoes the impermanence of all things. The hue of the flowers of the teak-tree declares that they who flourish must be brought low. Yea, the proud ones are but for a moment, like an evening dream in springtime. The mighty are destroyed at the last, they are but as the dust before the wind.

  If thou ask concerning the rulers of other countries far off; Chao Kao of Ch'in, Wang Mang of Han, Chu I of Liang, Lu Shan of T'ang, all these, not following in the paths of the government of all the Kings and Emperors who went before them, sought pleasure only; not heeding remonstrance nor considering the disorders of their country, having no knowledge of the affliction of their people, they did not endure, but perished utterly. So also if thou inquire concerning our own country, Masakado in the period Shohei, Sumitomo in Tenkyo, Gishin in Kowa, Shinrai in Heiji, all were arrogant and bold of heart in divers manners, yet if we consider what is told of the former Prime Minister Prince Taira-no-Ason Kiyomori, the Lay-priest of Rokuhara, of a more recent time, neither in their words nor their intentions were they his equal.

  Now the reason for this great prosperity of the Heike was said to be the favour of Kumano Gongen. And this was the manner of it; when Kiyomori was yet only styled Aki-no-kami, he went to worship at Kumano by ship from Anonotsu in Ise, and a large "Suzuki" fish sprang up into his vessel, as it is related in former times that a white fish leaped into the ship of Wu Wang of Chow, and however it may have been he attributed it to the favour of the Gongen. As we have said, he was on religious pilgrimage, so that he was observing the ten prohibitions, abstaining from animal food and making purifications, yet departing from these, he cooked the fish himself and ate of it and gave also to his retainers who were with him. And afterwards nought but good fortune attended him and he at last became Prime Minister. His posterity too attained high office more quickly than a dragon ascends the clouds, greatly excelling in happiness the nine generations of their ancestors.

  BOY ATTENDANTS

  Now Prince Kiyomori, being overtaken by illness on the eleventh day of the eleventh month of the era Ninan, at the age of fifty-one, retired from the world and took monk's vows to save his life, assuming the religious name of Jōkai. As the result of this, his sickness departed and he was cured, fulfilling the decree of destiny. Yet after his retirement from the world he did not put an end to his luxurious living. People obeyed him as grass before the wind, and depended on him as the earth does on the rain that moistens it. If one s
peaks of the Princes of the house of Rokuhara, they were most noble and illustrious, and none might be considered equal to them. Moreover as for the brother of this Lay-priest's wife, Taira Dainagon Tokitada—all those who did not belong to his house were to be considered people of no position, so that every one was wishing to make alliance with him. From the manner of wearing the Eboshi* to the style of the crest on clothes, everything must be in the fashion of Rokuhara; so that every one from one end of the land to the other studied it.

  Now however wisely a king or ruler may govern, or in the case of the political actions of Regent or Prime Minister, it is a usual thing that certain worthless fellows will gather together to speak ill of him; but against this Lay-priest in his prosperity there was not even a casual breath of reviling. And for what reason? Even because, by the device of this Monk-regent, about three hundred youths of from fourteen to sixteen years old, with their hair cut short and wearing red robes, were everywhere patrolling the streets of the Capital. And if there was anyone who spoke evil against the Taira, and one of these chanced to hear it, straightway summoning to him his fellows, they would violently enter that man's house, seize his treasures and household goods and bring him bound to Rokuhara. So that none were found to open their mouth about the things they saw or knew. At the very name of the Kamuro of Rokuhara every one, both pedestrians and those who rode in carriages, made wide room and passed by on the other side. Even when entering or leaving the forbidden gate of the Palace, it was not necessary to declare their name, for the officials of the city looked with averted eyes where they were concerned.