The Story of a Celestial Mother, Kakka - 悠久城風の間　blog語り部のささやき

Let calm and peaceful days continue. I wonder if that is what you wish for because you feel uneasy and many of your days are filled with strife or misfortunes.

It would be troublesome if my peaceful days were suddenly taken away. Actually, that’s why I was blessed with Kotaro, my son. Here is the story of how I became a mother.

The people who read, “The Celestial Wife” from Niigata’s Folk Tales Vol. 2 shared their comments.

One of them stated, “In most legends of hagoromo (a celestial robe of feathers), a celestial being wearing hagoromo ascended to heaven and that’s it. But in this Niigata folk tale, the child and Jisama, the old husband, went up to where the celestial mother was living by climbing up a calabash vine. Isn’t it like the story of Jack and the Beanstalk?”

Another commented, “What did the celestial mother actually think about Jisama, her old husband, who climbed up to heaven?”

One more wondered, “A flood washed the three away, didn’t it? Where did they end up?”

Then, I interviewed the celestial mother. Here is the story of the celestial mother, Kakka.

I am called a celestial wife. However, I became a man’s wife against my will. I was tricked by Jisama, an old man.

I was living happily in the celestial realm of Tenjuku without any difficulties or worries. In Tenjuku, we never get old, we never get sick, and we never have any conflicts.

With so many boring days continually passing, we usually want to go out to visit faraway lands. That was why I went out to visit the land of Echigo with some other celestial maidens. If we put on a celestial robe of feathers, we are able to go wherever we wish.

Watching us bathing, Jisama, an old man, liked me the most and hid my celestial robe of feathers.

Since I was not able to return to Tenjuku, I was tricked into becoming his wife.

In the celestial realm of Tenjuku, no one gets old, but in the land of Echigo, people get old. That’s why I had to get back to Tenjuku as soon as possible. However, there was no way I could return home without my celestial robe of feathers.

After a little while, I gave birth to my son, Kotaro. One day, Kotaro told me where my robe was. Oh, my goodness, Jisama, my old husband, had kept my robe in the bamboo grove behind the house.

“Damn! You old stinker! You really tricked me. Well, I can finally return to the celestial realm of Tenjuku with my robe.”

Then, I heard Kotaro cry out, “Kakka, Kakka! Mom, Mom!”

That’s right! Kotaro, my son. I realized I would not be able to fly up to heaven with Kotaro on my back even if I got my robe back. I gave him some calabash seeds and told him what to do with the seeds.

I would go back to the celestial realm of Tenjuku first, wait for him there, and pull him up as he drew near by climbing a calabash vine.

I flew up to Tenjuku alone. After that, I could hardly wait for Kotaro to come up, hoping that he would arrive this day or the next. I waited for him every day.

One day, I finally heard him crying out, “Kakka, Kakka! Mom, Mom! I’m here.”

“Oh, my goodness! Kotaro, welcome, welcome. Good to see you. Grab onto this towel now.”

I hung a sturdy pale-yellow cotton towel from above and pulled Kotaro up. Kotaro easily rose up and jumped into my arms, “Kakka, Kakka. Mom, Mom.”

“There, there, Kotaro. It’s all right. We’re together again at last. It’s wonderful, wonderful!”

Now, I could live happily ever after with Kotaro. We would never get old, never get sick, or never have to worry about anything. These thoughts filled my heart with joy.

Then, I heard another voice. “Hey, Kotaro, Kotaro. It’s me. Jii, your dad is here.”

Wow, what? It was Jisama’s voice. I was surprised. I hadn’t expected him to climb up the calabash vine.

“Oh, Dad! Welcome, welcome. Here, grab onto this.” Kotaro, in his innocent joy, swung the pale-yellow cotton towel down to Jisama.

I panicked, but it was too late.

Jisama, the old man smoothly climbed up. He was really happy, full of smiles. “Oh, my! This celestial realm is truly a wonderful place. Why don’t the three of us just live here together?”

I never expected the old man to climb up here. Tenjuku is a place where only good people are allowed to live. Anyone who lies or tricks people is not allowed to come here.

Kotaro, my cute little boy, is still just a child, so the lord will forgive him. The old man, on the other hand, hid my celestial robe of feathers. He tricked me into becoming his wife. There’s no way the lord will forgive him.

If the lord found out that the old man climbed up here, I would be blamed as well. I needed the old man to return to the ground before the lord learned about his arrival.

Yes, that’s right! I remembered that the old man didn’t like bugs. I took him to a flower garden.

“Now, Jisama, you are in a flower garden of the celestial realm of Tenjuku. Here is some of Tenjuku’s sake. Please, drink, drink.”

“A drinking party in a flower garden. What a nice place Tenjuku is!”

Butterflies and dragonflies flitted all around the old man. He was in such a great mood. I smeared some flower nectar on him.

“Jisama, Tenjuku is a peaceful place. You are not allowed to kill even a single bug”

“Oh, oh. The flowers are beautiful. The sake is delicious, too. Yes, this is good sake. Hic!”

The old man got drunk. Bees, mosquitoes, flies, and even horseflies gathered around the old man. He became disgusted and said, “There are too many bugs here!”

“Jisama, here in Tenjuku, you have to live peacefully even with bugs.”

“There are too many!”

No matter how he complained, the bees, mosquitoes, flies, and horseflies kept buzzing all around the old man. Attracted to his breath, more bees, mosquitoes, flies, and horseflies swarmed around him. The old man tried to shoo away the swarming bugs with his hand.

“If you’re going to do that, you’d better return to Echigo.”

An army of ants crawled up on him from the ground.

“Jisama, you are not allowed to kill bugs here in Tenjuku.”

Not responding to my words, he just stared up to the air and started to lift himself up a little. I thought he was going back to Echigo since he was put off by the huge swarm of bugs. But, that wasn’t to be. He suddenly clapped his hands in front of his face. He smashed a mosquito flying in front of him with his hands.

“Jisama, here in Tenjuku, you are not allowed to kill even a single bug!” I screamed in a panic, but it was too late.

The lord of Tenjuku was immediately informed of the fact that a bug had been killed. He became angry and let out a torrent of water, great waves flowing one after another.

The three of us, Jisama, Kotaro, and myself, were swept away from Tenjuku by the powerful flood.

Before I knew it, we were in front of the old man’s house in Echigo. I was not wearing my celestial robe of feathers. It had been taken by the flood. I even lost the calabash seeds in the flood. The terrible flood had taken everything I had from Tenjuku, swept it all from our sight. The flood left the three of us in front of the old man’s house just in our own skins, with no possessions.

I realized that I had returned to the same life that I had had before I found my celestial robe of feathers in the bamboo grove. Since I made the lord of Tenjuku angry, I would not be able to return there. I would get old while living with Kotaro in the old man’s house. I thought it might not be too bad.

Kotaro laughed and said, “Kakka. Mom. We returned to my old dad’s house.” The old man also laughed. I also laughed a little.

What worried me was what would happen to my life expectancy, because I came from the celestial realm of Tenjuku. The old man would die sooner or later. Kotaro would also get old and die.

I wondered if my life expectancy would be the same in Echigo. Would I continue to live maybe even for centuries after Kotaro, who called me “Kakka, Kakka, Mom, Mom,” died and left me all alone? I wondered if I would continue to live as an ugly old hag. Maybe I would get old and continue to live alone. Is this horror all that’s left for me? This is what worried me a little.

As for what happened to their family after that, the old man passed away soon after returning from Tenjuku. It is said that he died from the venom of the bugs of Tenjuku, that he caught a bad cold because he was completely drenched in the flood, or that he simply died of old age.

We heard that Kakasa and Kotaro lived happily together, farming the fields that the old man left them.

Nobody knows if Kakasa, the celestial mother, has continued to live on for thousands of years after Kotaro’s passing. Not enough time has passed.

The End

January 2021

In the Deep Drifts of Snow

Written by Yoko Tate

Translated and Recited by Masako Hayakawa

Illustrated by Makiko Lockhart

December 2022 recording

日本語版

朗読　楯よう子

「天人かかさかっか―の語り」