Three more tales from old Japan continue the shelf's second book — William Elliot Griffis's Japanese Fairy World. First, the Seven Patrons of Happiness: the jolly company every Japanese child knows — Fukuroku Jin of the towering forehead, patron of long life; fat Daikoku on his rice bags, whose mallet makes men rich by their labour; Ebisu with his great red tai; round Hotei, father of contentment; grave Toshitoku, who rewards diligent boys; Bishamon in golden armour; and Benten, queen of the sea — and how, once a year, they tie the red and white threads of fate and arrange the marriages of the year to come. Then Daikoku and the Oni: how the Buddhist idols, vexed that the people still loved the little god of wealth, sent Shino, chief of the oni, to destroy him — and how Daikoku's chief rat drove the assassin off with a sprig of holly, which is why holly stands at the door-posts on New Year's Eve. Last, Benkei and the Bell: the great bronze bell of Miidera, once bright as a mirror, whose face a Kyoto beauty dared to touch; how the mighty monk Benkei carried it off to Hiyeisan balanced against a paper lantern, and how, struck hard or gently, by whomsoever, it would answer with one plaint alone — I want to go back to Miidera.
Disclosure: this performance is narrated by AI-generated voices.
Chapters:
00:05 The Seven Patrons of Happiness
09:30 Daikoku and the Oni
13:20 Benkei and the Bell
From Japanese Fairy World by William Elliot Griffis (1880), public domain; told in fresh in-house renderings.
KacheliTV — world classics, read aloud.
