Saturday Writing Essential: Hoichi the Earless

(Pronounced: HO-ee-chi)

Fallen samurai,

salt waves embrace the broken,

moon on haunted shore.

The biwa weeps on blind hands,

but no ears hear these chill winds.

A long time ago in the Straits of Shimnoseki between the islands of Honshu and Kyushu, a fierce sea battle was fought between two rival clans, The Heike and the Genji. There was horrible bloodshed at the battle of Dan-no-ura. In the end the Heike were utterly destroyed. Not a man, woman or child survived, not even the child lord of the clan. In following years the sea and shore where the battle once raged was found to be haunted. Among the numerous signs and ominous portents, crabs with the faces of warriors on their backs thrived, and at night one could see the ghostly campfires of long ago encampments up and down the beach. Ghosts of the vanquished clan would sometimes rise up to menace passing ships or pull swimmers down to the depths and their deaths. In order to appease the restless spirits of the fallen samurai, a temple was built nearby and headstones and monuments were set up to commemorate these warriors who had perished at sea. Rituals to honor the dead were frequently performed at the temple. This quieted the spirits but did not make them go away entirely.

A blind biwa player of some great poetic and musical skill lived near the shore and became good friends with the priest of the temple. The priest was quite fond of Hoichi’s skill and would often invite him to play for him at the temple. Hoichi was very poor so it was not long before the priest offered to let him live at the temple. That way the priest would always have music and the musician would always have food and shelter. It was said that Hoichi was so skilled that he could make goblins cry with his music and recitations

One night when the priest was away, Hoichi sat playing in the courtyard of the temple. As the hour passed midnight, he heard the heavy footsteps of a warrior approach through the garden. The man spoke in the formal voice of authority to Hoichi and requested that he accompany him to play for a great traveling lord and his court who came to survey the historical battleground. The Samurai told Hoichi that word of his skill had reached the lord and it was a great honor to be invited, thus he could not refuse.

The warrior lead Hoichi for what seemed like a long march to spacious hall. There he was seated in front of the host and his court and asked to play for them his rendition of the Battle of Dan-no-ura. Hoichi played the best that he had ever played, enticing excited voices of approval from his audience. When he was done He was told that the lord was so impressed that he had a further request for Hoichi to return for six nights and perform the entire history of the Heike clan. But before being escorted home, he was made to promise to not speak a word of his visit to anyone "because the lord wished to travel anonymously."

Upon returning to the temple in the early hours of the morning, Hoichi was observed by the servants of the temple who were alarmed that hoichi wandered off by himself at night. They sought out the priest to inform him of their fears for his safety. The priest, also alarmed, confronted Hoichi. But Hoichi, remembering his promise, refused to tell the priest a thing. Upset and a little confused, the priest told the temple servants to follow Hoichi if he left the following night.

Just after midnight the servants heard the gate open and saw Hoichi leaving the temple grounds. They rushed to follow, but lost him near the town.  For hours they made inquiries at any possible destination of Hoichi’s but no one had seen him in the town that night. A light rain hindered their search. Finally they gave up and decided to return home. Passing the graveyard of the Heike in the dark and the mist, the servants heard Hoichi’s biwa and the chant of his voice. Turning they saw Hoichi surrounded by throngs of spirits and shimmery fires in the graveyard. They shouted to Hoichi and tried to get his attention; but they could not. They screemed in his ear and broke his concentration, but he would not leave, declaring that it would be an insult. So they dragged him from that place and took him to the temple and to the priest. After he had been given dry cloths and something warm to eat, the priest forcefully demanded that Hoichi divulge his secret. He reluctantly told the priest the whole story. Alarmed, the priest declared that the musician was in great danger, but he assured Hoichi that he had a plan to fool the demons and to relieve him of this visitation.

The next evening The priest met Hoichi in the courtyard several hours before midnight. He carried a brush and ink in his hand. He then asked Hoichi to strip and he began writing the Holy Heart Sutra, Hannya-Shin-Kyo on his skin. The priest work diligently until there was writing on every square inch of Hoichi’s body except his ears. The priest told him that he must sit in unmoving silence until the warrior samurai that came every night to fetch him gave up and left, explaining that the sutra on his body would make him invisible.

Shortly after midnight, alone in the courtyard, Hoichi heard the gate of the temple garden open and the heavy footsteps of the warrior. He sat unmoving and heard the shuffle of feet around him while the samurai looked for him. The Samurai seeing the biwa remarked that the instrument was present, but not the musician. Then he spied the ears hanging in space and said to himself that Hoichi had undoubtedly met a terrible fate and that the only thing left was his ears. “ I will take these back to my lord as proof that Hoichi is gone” he said. So he ripped off Hoichi’s ears and retreated through the garden gate. Once he had gone Hoichi howled in pain and covered the sides of his head with his hands to stop the blood flow. The priest ran to his side apologizing and saying he had forgoten the cover the ears in the sutra’s protection.

Hoichi healed slowly. And though his ears did not grow back, his skill grew ever greater and his renown spread far and wide. Soon he was in great demand in the houses of the wealthy. Hoichi-the-Earless became one of the most sought after musicians in Japan.

I decided to lighten it up for Halloween: The poem at the top is mine. I get no credit for the story as it is a just my retelling of one of my favorite ghost stories, the ancient Japanese tale of Hoichi. If you want to see this story in its finest, look for a movie titled: Kwaidan - Do not get anything other than the original japanese with subtitles - it wouldn’t be the same.

Prompt: I don’t know, give me your best ghost stories. Original is great, but even if it is not original you can focus on the re-telling as an exercise in writing a good story, or add something of your own as I did with my poem. Just have fun.

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