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Passage 1 ・ 第一段
Passage 1 ・ 第一段
Classical Japanese Transcription
Classical Japanese Transcription
鬼あり。食水と名づく。長き髪乱れて、面に覆下り塞がりて、物見ること能はず。 飢渇の火、身の内を焼く。 耐え難さに、自ら河の辺に行きて、水を飲まむとすれば、水を守る鬼ども来りて、 追ひて打たむとすれば、逃げ走り惑ふ。又、自ら河を渡りたる人の足の滴りを舐りて、命を生く。昔、酒に水を入れて売り、 蚯蚓の沈みたるをも顧みずして、酒を売りし人これに墜つ。
English Translation
English Translation
There are demons. They are named 'jikisui'. Their long hair is tangled, concealing and obstructing their faces, and they lack the ability to see things as they truly are. The fire of hunger and thirst burns their insides. Unable to bear it, these demons go to the river's edge on their own accord to try and drink the water, but when the demons who protect the water come to chase them away and try to strike them, they flee in confusion. They also subsist by licking drops of water off the feet of people who cross the river. Those who fell here are people who, a long time ago, sold rice wine diluted with water and rice wine mixed with worms without any hesitation.
A jikisui licks droplets of water that have fallen from the feet of a human who has just crossed the river, but the human does not seem to notice it.
This passage introduces the jikisui and their suffering.
A jikisui (食水, lit. 'eat; food, drink') is a type of hungry ghost that is almost completely unable to eat or drink as punishment for having fooled people by selling them diluted rice wine or rice wine that had been mixed with worms and the like during their human lives. As a result, they were reincarnated into the hungry ghost realm, one of the six realms of existence.
The description matches the illustration to the left, depicting a jikisui with long, tangled hair obstructing its face, licking droplets of water that had fallen from the feet of a living human who had just crossed the river. The human does not seem to notice its presence despite its size and appearance.
The illustration also depicts a demon frightening off a jikisui that attempted to drink water from the river.
The water-protecting demon is portrayed as a typical Japanese demon or ogre with reddish skin wearing a loincloth and carrying a club-like weapon, such as a kanabō, a spiked metal club commonly used by samurai in feudal Japan.
A water-protecting demon frightens off a jikisui that attempted to drink water from the river, using a kanabō or other club-like weapon.
Passage 2 ・ 第二段
Passage 2 ・ 第二段
Classical Japanese Transcription
Classical Japanese Transcription
同じき鬼、また人の死にたる親の為に、水を汲みて施す滴りを、僅かに当たり付きて飲みて、命を保つなり。
English Translation
English Translation
I gather that these same demons preserve their lives by acquiring and drinking a few droplets from the water people draw and offer to their deceased parents.
Humans pour water onto a funerary marker as a group of jikisui lick the drops of water that trickled onto the ground.
The illustration in this passage shows a lively crowd on temple grounds, with some people buying and selling goods near the gate and others praying and offering water onto a funerary marker for the Ullambana service (盂蘭盆, urabon). The jikisui are able to lick the water that has been poured for the dead.
The Ullambana service is traditionally carried out on the 15ᵗʰ day of the seventh month of the lunar calendar to feed the hungry ghosts of one's ancestors who wander around during this period, reflecting the importance of filial piety in Buddhist teachings and in Indian and East Asian cultures.
It was derived from the Ullambana Sutra, which recounts the tale of Maudgalyāyana, influencing similar festivals throughout East Asia such as the Ghost Festival in China and Obon in Japan.
Sources
Sources
e-Museum. (n.d.). Gaki Zoshi (Stories of Hungry Ghosts). Available here. [Retrieved 1 June 2022].
Kyoto National Museum. (n.d.). Tales of Hungry Ghosts (Gaki Sōshi). Google Arts & Culture. Available at: https://artsandculture.google.com/story/ZQVByl-_mamPJQ?hl=en. [Retrieved 1 June 2022].
Kyoto National Museum. (2006). 餓鬼草紙. Available at: https://syuweb.kyohaku.go.jp/ibmuseum_public/index.php?app=shiryo&mode=detail&list_id=444614&data_id=688. [Retrieved 1 June 2022].
Seisenban Nihon Kokugo Daijiten 精選版 日本国語大辞典. (n.d.). 餓鬼. コトバンク. Available here. [Retrieved 1 June 2022].
Myoshinji. (2022). Urabon: Memorial Service for the Deceased. Available at: https://nstmyoshinji.org/ceremonies/urabon-ceremony/. [Retrieved 1 June 2022].
Shingon Buddhist International Institute. (n.d.). What is Obon? Available at: http://www.shingon.org/library/archive/Obon.html. [Retrieved 1 June 2022].
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