A Story of a Well!
Does it interest any reader at all?
Well, I don't know. Anything can happen
in
the world of internet. So something
strange
and fantastic might occur after you
read
this story.
It depends on your imagination. Please remember I am not responsible for it.
Noh "Izutsu"
Usually played in September |
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First of all, I must define what a well is.
Oh, you know? Then I will not
say that.
Next, I will tell what the well means for
Japanese life.
A well means of course WATER in everyday's
life. It is not as important these days as
in old days when we depended on wells for
water supply.
In the past, not only materialistic meanings
but also metaphysical meanings the well had.
Wells appear in Noh Plays, Kabuki, children's
stories, poems, etc. Ghosts often appeared
from old wells.
Do you want me to tell you about
the ghosts
from the well?
No. I am just going to tell you that we had
an old well and we buried it one of these
days.
A neighbor died some time ago. His land was
next to our property. We decided to buy the
land.
We destructed an old house that
had been
there for more than 80 years.
Then, we found an well under the old, ragged
house.
We thought and thought. But we
could not
use it any more. We decided to
bury it.
We asked Reverend Yashima, a
Shinto Priest,
to do a ritual of burying a well.
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Reverend Yashima, Shinto Priest of Karatsu
Tenmangu Shrine |
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Well and the Altarpiece |
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On the Altar, Sake, Rice, Holy tree twigs
with white paper of purification were laid.
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Reverend Yashima respectfully asked the God
in the well to come up and rest on the Holy
tree. His prayer sounds like a chant. His
words are beautiful. It is a divine poem,
asking the God to leave the well and go back
to the heaven where He originally belongs.
The language he spoke was old Japanese, which
is pretty hard for us to understand. The
part I understood was the words of gratitude
to the God for having lived in the well for
long and watched and supported the house
to prosper. Then he asked the God to keep
an eye on this household even after He left
here.
( In Shinto, Gods are not The Only One. There
lives a God in a tree, rock, water, mountain,
lake, fire, even in your stove.) |
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The constructor also prays. He asks the God
not to get angry and harm him when he buries
the well. |
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Reverend Yashima bows deeply to the well.
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Reverend pours Sake and Rice into the well.
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He also throws in the Holy tree to purify
the well. |
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After the ritual, the well was buried.
In case some spirits were late in ascending,
a long pipe was put into the well.
Some days later, rain fell.
I found that the earth sank down a little
in the shape of the well.
I believe all the spirits have now left the
well and gone back to the heaven. I do believe
that if you believe it or not. |
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Well, this is the end of the story of the
well. I hope the customs and habits, or religion?
will be long reserved. What Japanese people
lack most now is the Japanese mind, I am
afraid.
So, Sayonara for this month. See you later. |
Thank you very much for visiting this page.
I hope you will return next month.
Yours, Harumi Okochi
Proprietress of Ryokan Yoyokaku
 Mail to Harumi Okochi |
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