The nightless city; or, The "history of the Yoshiwara Yūkwaku"

by J. E. De Becker

Some Queer Japanese Superstitions.

1. If the ears are ticklish it is a sign of a lucky event about to happen. In the morning the right ear and in the evening the left ear tickles.
2. Sneezing denotes:—
   
   1. Once,—Some person is secretly praising you;
   2. Twice,—Some person is backbiting you;
   3. Thrice,—Some person is in love with you;
   4. Four times,—You have caught a cold.
3. Cramp in the leg is cured by plucking out a straw from the matting of the room, slightly wetting it with saliva, and rubbing it on the forehead while repeating the formula—“Shibire Ky� ye noboré!� (Cramp, go up to the Capital!).
4. He who puts parings of human nails, or hair from a human head into the fire, will go mad.
5. To dislodge a bone which has stuck in the throat, stroke the throat thrice with any ivory instrument and repeat the formula—“U no nodo, u no nodo� (Cormorant’s throat, cormorant’s throat).
6. To cure a corn on the foot. Previous to mentioning anything about it to another person rub it thrice with the natural oil which exudes from the side of the nose.
7. How to tell the sex of a child yet unborn. After obtaining a charm (for ensuring safe delivery) from the temple of Kwannon (Goddess of Mercy) at Asakusa, if the paper within the packet is red the child will be a girl, and, if green, a boy. It is also said that if on the morning of the first day of the month of parturition a male visitor arrives the child will be a boy, but, if a female visitor, a girl.
8. When the combined ages of a married couple can be divided by three without leaving a remainder, a girl will be born, but if there is a remainder a boy will be born.
9. If the yet unborn child shall have been conceived in one year and its birth be due in the following year, the ages of the parents should be added together, one year added to the number resulting, and then the total should be divided by three.
10. If a pregnant woman asks her first-born child (whether boy or girl is a matter of indifference) “Mame ka adzuki ka?� (Ordinary bean or Adzuki bean?) and the child answers “Ordinary bean� a girl will be born, but if the answer is “Adzuki bean,� then a boy will be born.
11. If you wear a basket on your head by way of a hat you will become dwarfed in stature, and if you tread in horse-dung you will become tall.
12. Dust in the eyes may be removed by closing the eyes and licking the upper lip for a short time, or by spitting thrice and repeating the formula “Gomi, nara dero; suna nara tokero!� (If dirt go out; if sand melt!)
13. When you meet a person suffering from opthalmia, and he stares at you, if you do not stare back you will catch the disease.
14. When you meet a funeral procession you should conceal your thumbs or else your parents will die.
15. Should a woman wash her hair on the “day of the Horse� (Uma no hi) she will go mad.
16. A person who is not sensitive to tickling is the child of an illicit lover.
17. If one allows the nail of his little finger to grow, he will not be forgetful.
18. If one removes the skin excretions (aka) from his navel (heso) he will catch cold.
19. Method of curing toothache:—
20. Place a piece of white paper on the floor, put both your feet upon it close together, and draw the outline of the feet. You have now a shape on the paper approximating to a human face. In this draw eyes, nose, and then draw a representation of a set of teeth in the mouth. Then paint the representation of the aching tooth quite black, and the two next teeth slightly black, fold up the paper in eight folds, drive a nail through the same and then throwing the paper into a river let it drift away down stream.
21. To cure a corn on one’s foot. Draw upon it three times the character 鳩 (hato = pigeon) and then thoroughly smudge out the character. (Perhaps the idea is that the pigeon eats the corn!)
22. If one allows wax to collect in the glands of the ears his memory will be improved.
23. To cure ringworn (tamushi). Draw on the affected part the character 鴫 (shigi = snipe) or else � (minami = south) and then thoroughly smudge out the writing with black ink. (It is said that when the character 鴫 (shigi = snipe) is used the idea is that the snipe will eat up the tamushi—ringworm. This arises from a play upon the words used. Tamushi, if divided, becomes ta mushi, and phonetically may mean 田 (ta = a ricefield) + 虫 (mushi = an insect). It is well-known that snipe (shigi) devour the insects (mushi) in the rice-fields (ta) and thus the superstition.)
24. If you dream of eating anything you will catch cold the following day.
25. When a woman has trouble in suckling her child owing to the flow of milk being scanty, she should draw a picture of a namadzu (cat-fish) on a piece of paper, and stick this paper on a K�shin-d� (shrine of the K�shin). This is a sovereign remedy and will certainly ensure a full flow of the lacteal fluid.
26. If a woman washes her hair when she has the monthlies, she will die of a burning fever.
27. To cure the hiccoughs, fill a tea-cup with hot water or tea, and on the top of the cup place a pair of chopsticks cross-fashion. Then drink a mouthful from each of the four divisions thus formed, and after each mouthful be sure not to forget to mention the name of some bridge. You must however be careful that the word bridge (hashi) appearing in the name is not changed in the combination by reason of euphony. For instance Same-ga-hashi (Shark’s bridge) Naka-no-hashi (Middle bridge) O-hashi (Great bridge) Ichi-no-hashi (First bridge) will do, whereas Nippon-bashi (Japan bridge) Ky�-bashi (Capital bridge) will not do because the word hashi (bridge) undergoes a phonetic change in the combination.
28. To cure a wart. Wrap a spider’s web around it, or go to a grave-yard and apply water from the oldest grave-stone. Another method is to rub the wart gently with an adzuki bean and then bury the bean in the earth placing a heavy stone or tile upon it. If this bean does not germinate and sprout the wart will disappear. Still another method is to stand by a sansh� (Xanthoxylon piperitum) tree, and to gently stroke the tree, repeating the formula “ibo utsuré, ibo utsuré!� (Wart be transferred, wart be transferred!). This last method is eminently efficacious.
29. In order to hasten menstruation thread a needle with red thread and stick it into the wall of the W.C. In order to prolong the courses, step over three adzuki beans or over the bank-like paths dividing the fields. To swallow an adzuki bean is also efficacious.
30. If one places a mushroom on his navel, and keeps it there, he will not become sea-sick.
31. In case of many persons having had illicit intercourse with a woman, and it is not certain who is the father of the child, if the placenta be placed on a lacquered tray and examined it is said that the father’s crest (armorial bearings) will appear.
32. If one goes to sleep early on the night of the K�shin, a boil will form on his buttocks.
33. If you shake your legs you will become poor.
34. If you break wind your tongue will turn yellow for a little while.
35. If you cut your nails at night you will be bewitched by a fox.
36. A woman who has curly hair is lecherous.
37. Talk about your own death and you will live to a good old age.
38. If your front teeth are wide apart you will soon be separated from your parents.
39. If you tell falsehoods your tongue will be plucked out by Emma (the King of Hell).
40. If a person bleeds at the nose or eyes when climbing a high mountain he is a wicked man.
41. To cure ring-worm rub the effected part with ame (a kind of syrup made from malt), stick this ame on the branch of an e-no-ki (celtis sinensis) and go straight away without looking back.
42. To cure a stye (mono-morai). If it has grown on the lower eyelid, you must receive some nigiri-meshi (boiled rice rolled up into a ball-like shape) from a person in an inferior station in life and eat the same: the nigiri-meshi must be received from outside of the window, the giver being inside the room. If the stye be on the upper lid, the nigiri-meshi must be obtained from a person who is your social superior.
43. Or, stroke the affected spot with a miso (bean-sauce) strainer and reflect half the bottom of the strainer in a well: when a cure is effected reflect the whole strainer in the well.
44. Or, rub a comb until it becomes warm by reason of the friction, and then touch the stye with the same.
45. If you kindle a fire in front of the entrance of your house (Kado-guchi) on the occasion of the Sh�ry�-matsuri (the festival celebrated in commemoration of dead relatives on the 7th day of the 7th month—old calendar) and tread on the ashes, your legs will become strong. If your light your pipe by this fire you will not suffer from coughs.
46. He who shaves off the hair from his legs will not be able to run swiftly when he runs away.
47. If a small boil or pimple forms within your nostrils, a child will be born in the house of some relative.
48. If you glare fiercely at your parents, you will become squint-eyed (yabu-nirami to naru).
49. Strike a person on the chest and you will not survive three years.
50. If you have te-midzu (water for washing the hands) thrown over you, you will die within three years.
51. If you hang up over a midzu-game (water-jar) a straw snake (mugiwara no ja) such as is purchased by Fuji-m�de (pilgrims to Fujiyama) on the first day of the sixth month (old calendar), the inmates of your house will not suffer from fever. If you preserve the tongue of this straw snake it will be efficacious as a febrifuge if boiled in water and the resulting liquor swallowed by a feverish person.
52. If a child has been bruised, and is in pain, if he repeats the formula—“Chichin pui-pui, go y� no on takara� (This cannot be translated into English) the pain will disappear.
53. If a pregnant woman drinks saké (Japanese rice wine) and eats the flesh of a sparrow together, the child to which she gives birth will be lewd and immoral (impon).
54. In order to determine the sex of a fœtus, look at the jijikké (soft hair growing on the nape of the neck) of the child born previously, and if it is bent to the left the child will be a boy whereas, if to the right, a girl.
55. If a pregnant woman happens to touch her own skin while beholding a conflagration, the child to which she gives birth will be found to have maculæ (aza) on the corresponding part of its body. If however she happens to be carrying a mirror in the bosom of her dress the child will escape being thus marked.
56. Should two pregnant woman live together in the same house, one of them will either die together with her child, or have a miscarriage.
57. If a child plays with fire he will urinate the bed.
58. If one spits into the W.C. he will go blind.
59. If you press down a person’s shoulder, your own stature will become short.
60. If you throw te-midzu (see No. 44) over a person you will have a child born without hands.
61. If the soles of your feet become ticklish you will become poor.
62. If you urinate on an earth-worm your penis will swell up and become inflamed, but if you subsequently wash any earthworm with water the swelling will subside and the inflammation disappear.
63. If you go to sleep with your hand on your breast you will be disturbed by dreams.
64. If when you have “the hiccoughs� you repeat thrice, without taking breath, the formula—“Ebisu sama no omori-mono nusunde Kuiyasen ka! (Haven’t you been stealing and eating the things offered up to Ebisu Sama?[33]) you will be cured.
65. When many circular and wave-like lines or wrinkles (udzu no makitaru shiwa-suji) appear on the finger-tips, one becomes skilful at doing everything.
66. If the great toe of a person’s foot is shorter than the next toe, then he will be more prosperous than his parents.
67. Persons whose eyebrows are close together are short-lived.
68. If you stick a piece of paper, on which is written “Chinsei Hachir� Tametomo K� on yado� (The sojourning place of Chinsei Hachir�, Lord Tametomo), on the door of the house, small-pox will not enter.
69. If you dress a small-pox patient in red garments the attack will be but slight. The imp of small-pox is pleased with the sight of red garments and deals gently with the wearers.
70. If you write “Hisamatsu rusu� (“Hisamatsu is not at home�) on a piece of paper, and stick it on the door of the house, you will not catch “o some kaze� (influenza). [The origin of this saying is that in the good old times there lived two lovers, the man being named Hisamatsu, and the woman O Some. Ergo, when Hisamatsu is not at home, O Some does not enter the house, whereas if he were in she would enter to meet him.]
71. If previous to going to bed you repeat the following three times, you will awake the next morning at any hour you choose:—
72. Hono-bono to
    Akashi no ura no
    Asa-gari ni
    Shima-kakure-yuku
    Fune wo shiso omou[34]
73. Gazing upon the beautiful scenery of the coast of Akashi, and faintly seeing the fishing boats going out to fish in the grey light of the dawn, I feel a sense of regret when the white sails of the tiny crafts disappear from sight behind the islands in the distance.
74. [This poem was composed by Hitomaro, one of the Sanjū-rok-ka-sen or thirty-six famous poets of Japan.]
75. When a white spot forms on the finger-nails, one’s stock of clothes will increase.
76. If you are guilty of unfilial conduct you will get a sasakure (hang-nail.)
77. If a stye has formed on your eyelid, go to the house of another person and ask for food. Eat the food given you and the stye will disappear.
78. If a child he conceived on the night of the K�shin, he will turn out a robber. [“K�shin is a deification of that day of the month which corresponds to the 57th term of the Chinese sexagesimal circle.� Murray’s Hand-Book for Japan.]
79. When you are suffering from kusa (a kind of cutaneous eruption), draw the character 馬 (uma = horse) upon the affected spot and it will then heal up.
80. If you desire not to beget any more children, when you name your last child you should introduce the character 留 (tomé = to stop; to stay) or 極 (kiwa = to come to an end; a limit). This method is most efficacious.
81. To protect a child from having convulsions. Hang up together to the ceiling (1) a toy basket, (2) a toy umbrella, (3) a papier maché dog (inu-hariko), all of which things must have been purchased in the naka-mise (the row of shops leading up to the gate of Kwannon Sama) at Asakusa.
82. To protect a child from whooping-cough (hyaku-nichi-zeki), Take a piece of white cotton (shiro-momen) one shaku (15 inches) square, and wrapping therein one g� (1.2706 gills) of salt, tie the whole up with red silk thread and then hang the package up to the ceiling of the doma (the small unfloored court at the entrance of Japanese houses.)
83. To protect a child from natsu-boshi (a kind of prickly heat). Place one of the first fruits of the egg-plant (hatsunari no nasu) in a tea-bag and suspend from the ceiling.
84. If a woman sweeps and cleans out the W.C. her labour will be easy in child-birth.
85. When a person finds that his children die and that he cannot rear them, it is a good plan to abandon the next child born, watch until some person picks it up, and then reclaim it. This will ensure the child’s subsequent health and it will grow up safely. It is also a good plan to use the character � (suteru = to throw away) when composing the child’s name, or else to call him “Aguri.� If one constructs a t�ba out of the wood of a keyaki (Zelkowa acuminata) tree, using it upside down so that the grain points downwards, and erects it by the grave of the last child who died, children born subsequently will grow up safely. [As t�ba, or sot�ba, is a long, narrow, and thin wooden table on which is inscribed Sanskrit characters quoted from the Buddhist sacred books, this term is derived from the Sanskrit word “stupa� = “a mound.�]
86. If an infant not yet weaned has two lines on the back of the thigh between the buttocks and the knee, the next child born will be a girl. If only one line be visible the next child will be a boy.
87. An old saying runs—“Don’t cut your nails on the day of the Hare (U), Swine (I), Serpent (Mi), or Goat (Hitsuji), or the tears on your sleeves will never dry up,� (Japanese use their long flowing sleeves in wiping their tears away) and in consequence of this maxim, people do not like to cut their nails on those days: they also dislike to cut their nails at night (yo-dzume), or when about to go out (de-dzume).
88. If on the day of the Dog (inu no hi) a pregnant women makes an iwata-obi (the bandage worn by pregnant women after the 5th month until confinement), her delivery will be painless.
89. If you stumble and fall down in a graveyard you will die within three years, and if you are wounded the scar will not heal up.
90. If you fall down at San-nen-saka (three years hill) in San-nen-machi (three years town) in K�jimachi district, you will not live three years.
91. To cure toothache. Wrap a piece of paper round the top of one of the piles of the sluice near Same-ga-hashi in Yotsuya district, and then tie it on with midzu-hiki (a line paper cord used for tying up presents.)
92. If you wash your face with too hot water wrinkles will appear very soon. It you hang up a wet towel on a rack without smoothing it out, your face will soon become wrinkled.
93. If you pull out one of the soft hairs on the back of the neck (jijikké) this will stop bleeding of the nose.
94. If you do not put out fire with your foot you will never have a calamity or loss by fire.
95. If you bury pen and ink (fude-sumi) with the placenta (ena) the child will become a skilful penman, and if a fan be buried also, the child will rise in the world.
96. If you allow your nails to grow too long you will catch cold.
97. The child always dislikes (has an aversion towards) the particular insect that first passed over the place where the placenta (ena) was buried. (If the first insect to crawl across was a caterpillar, the child will always feel a creeping horror when he sees one in after years).
98. If you sit down on a seat which has just been vacated by a person, you will fall out and quarrel with him unless you tap the seat thrice before sitting down.
99. If a man and woman visit the shrine of Benten Sama (in Enoshima) together, their connection will be severed.
100. Fan the palms of your hands and your whole body will become cool.
101. If after giving birth to a child the stomach is aching obstinately, burn an old tea-bag and eat the ashes. This will cure the pain.
102. If you dream of being cut down (wounded) by a person, it is a sign that you are going to make money.
103. To prevent the spread of infection in case of fever, wrap up some horse-dung in a piece of paper and place the package under the mattress on which the patient is lying.
104. If the palms of the hands itch you will receive money; if the backs of the hands itch you will disburse money. When the sole of the foot itches, go straight home and scratch it and you will certainly escape the impending evil.
105. If you have contracted hayari-me (epidemic opthalmia), you can cure the disease by the following method. Get a tsukegi (old-fashioned sulphur match), write on it “Yamme �-yasu-uri� (Diseased eyes for sale cheap), and throw it away, together with 10 Mon sen (1 sen present coinage), at a place where cross-roads meet.
106. If you suffer from earache (kara-mimi) you can cure yourself by applying water to the ear from the oldest grave you can find.
107. To care ague (okori). Write down the patient’s name and age on a piece of paper and throw the same into the river from Jinnoi-bashi at Fuku-tomi-ch� in Asakusa district.

Hono-bono to Akashi no ura no Asa-gari ni Shima-kakure-yuku Fune wo shiso omou[34]

Gazing upon the beautiful scenery of the coast of Akashi, and faintly seeing the fishing boats going out to fish in the grey light of the dawn, I feel a sense of regret when the white sails of the tiny crafts disappear from sight behind the islands in the distance.