Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things

Ghost Stories original: 怪談 (Kaidan)

himself in good luck. Remembering the retainer’s assurance about a “person of exceedingly high rank,” he thought that the lord who wished to hear the recitation could not be less than a daimyō a powerful feudal lord in pre-modern Japan of the highest class. Soon the samurai halted. Hōïchi became aware that they had arrived at a large gateway. He wondered at this, for he could not remember any large gate in that part of the town, except for the main gate of the Amidaji temple. “Open the gate!” original: “Kaimon!”: a respectful term used by samurai when calling to the guards on duty at a lord’s gate for admission the samurai called. There was a sound of unbarring, and the two passed through. They crossed a garden and stopped again before an entrance. The retainer cried in a loud voice, “Anyone within! I have brought Hōïchi.” Then came sounds of feet hurrying, screens sliding, rain-doors opening, and women’s voices in conversation. From the language of the women, Hōïchi knew them to be servants in some noble household, but he could not imagine to what place he had been led. Little time was allowed him for guessing. After he had been helped to climb several stone steps, upon the last of which he was told to leave his sandals, a woman’s hand guided him along seemingly endless stretches of polished...

¹ “Open the gate!” original: “Kaimon!”. A respectful term used by samurai when calling to the guards on duty at a lord’s gate to ask for entry.