Otogizoshi: The Fairy Tale Book of Dazai Osamu

“Mm. Maybe so, but the ground’s frozen right now. It’s not that easy to dig. I’ll get to it,” he promises vaguely, in hopes of ending the discussion so he can hear news of the air raid from a neighbor’s radio.

No sooner have the mother’s complaints subsided, however, than the five-year-old begins demanding they leave the trench. The only way to quiet this one is to open a picture book. Momotaro, Click-Clack Mountain, The Sparrow Who Lost Her Tongue, The Stolen Wen, Urashima-san... The father reads these old tales to the children.

Though he’s shabbily dressed and looks to be a complete fool, this father is a singular man in his own right. He has an unusual knack for making up stories.

Once upon a time, long, long ago...

Even as he reads the text in a strangely imbecilic voice, another, somewhat more elaborate tale is brewing inside him.

The Stolen Wen

Once upon a time, long, long ago,

there lived an old man

with a great big wen on his cheek.

This old man, this Ojii-san, or “Grandfather,” lived at the foot of Mount Tsurugi in Awa Province, on the island of Shikoku. At least, I believe that’s correct, but I have no reliable source material at hand to back me up. I seem to recall that this story of the stolen wen originated in A Collection of Tales from Uji, but it’s impossible to consult the old texts in a homemade bomb shelter. I face a similar problem with the tale following this one, “Urashima-san,” the facts behind which were first reported in the ancient Chronicles of Japan. A long poem about Urashima and his journey to the Dragon Palace is included in the Manyoshu; and there are what appear to be versions of his tale in the Chronicles of Tango Province and Lives of Japanese Immortals, not to mention, in more recent times, Ogai’s well known play. And didn’t Shoyo or someone devise a dance routine based on the story?

In any case, we all know that our beloved Urashima-san lives on in any number of entertainments, from noh and kabuki plays to geisha hand dances. I’ve never had anything resembling a library of my own, however, because I sell or give away books as soon as I’ve read them. When wanting to get my facts straight, therefore, I have to hit the streets, following my own uncertain memory in an attempt to track down a text I recall once having read, but I can’t even do that now, you see. I’m crouching in a hole in the ground, and the only piece of literature available to me is this picture book balanced on my knees. Consequently I am compelled to forego the careful perusal of original texts and to content myself with whatever might unwind in my own imagination. But perhaps that will only make for a more lively and entertaining story....

So goes the sour-grapes-like justification with which this odd person, the father, reassures himself as he resumes:

Once upon a time, long, long ago...

And as he reads the words aloud, wedged inside the shelter, he inwardly paints a new and altogether different tale.

This Ojii-san of ours loves sake. Most drinkers are lonely men, isolated in their own homes. To ask whether they drink because they’re isolated or isolated because the rest of the family disapprove of their drinking would be like clapping and trying to decide which hand made the sound—it can only lead to a lot of vain quibbling. In any case, although there’s nothing particularly problematic about his family situation, a cloud always hangs over Ojii-san at home. His wife, whom we’ll call Obaa-san, or “Grandmother,” is very much alive and well. She’s closing in on seventy, but her back is straight, her eyes clear. It’s said that she was once quite a beauty. A quiet and serious sort from girlhood on, she now goes about her housework each day with grim determination.

“Well, spring has sprung!” Ojii-san burbles. “The cherry trees are in bloom.”

“Is that so,” Obaa-san responds without interest. “Will you get out of the way, please? I’m trying to clean up here.”

Ojii-san slumps in his seat, deflated.

He also has a son who is nearly forty and so morally irrepro

achable as to be a rarity in this world. This son not only neither drinks nor smokes but makes a point of never laughing or getting angry or experiencing pleasure either. All he does each day is silently toil in the fields, and since the people in the village and surrounding areas have little choice but to respect him for that, he’s known far and wide as the Saint of Awa. He has never married or shaved his beard, and one is tempted to wonder if he isn’t made of wood, or stone.

In short, this family of Ojii-san’s is nothing if not respectable and upstanding. And yet the fact remains that he is depressed. He wants to be considerate of his family but feels he cannot help but drink. And if drinking at home only leaves him all the more dispirited, it’s not because either Obaa-san or the Saint of Awa has ever scolded him for it. They sit at the table with him each evening, eating their dinner in silence as he sips his sake.

Growing a bit tipsy, Ojii-san begins to desire conversation and to make inane comments. “By the way, spring is here at last, you know. The swallows are back.” An uncalled-for observation. “‘Spring evening: one moment, a thousand pieces of gold,’ what?” he mutters. Utterly insipid.

“Gochisosama de gozarimashita.” The Saint of Awa, having finished his dinner, stands up and bows deeply as he intones these words of gratitude for the meal.

“Ah,” Ojii-san says, and sadly drains his little sake cup. “Guess I’ll eat something myself.”

So it generally goes when he drinks at home.

One fine morning, Ojii-san went up

the mountain to gather wood.

On sunny days, he likes to wander the forested slopes of Mount Tsurugi with a gourd dangling from his waistband, collecting kindling at his leisure. When he grows a bit tired of picking up sticks, he sits with loosely crossed legs on a large boulder and clears his throat with a great display of self-importance.

“Ahem! What a view!” he says, and sips sake from his gourd. He looks happy. Away from home like this, he seems a different person. He might even be unrecognizable if not for the enormous wen on his cheek. Some twenty years ago, in the autumn of the year he passed the half-century mark, his right cheek had begun to feel warm and itchy, and then to swell little by little. As he patted and stroked it, the wen grew ever larger, and he would smile sadly and say, “Now I’ve got myself a fine grandchild.”

To which his son, the Saint of Awa, would reply with great joy-killing solemnity, “A man’s cheek cannot give birth to a child.”