The word, Mujina, might remind you of a famous book, “Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things” written by Lafcadio Hearn in 1903. The story in the book is like this.

There used to be a hill road called Kinokuni Zaka in Edo. There was a rumor that Mujina, a kind of raccoon, lived on the hill and played a prank on passengers. To avoid the mischief, nobody walked the road at night.

One night, a merchant had to walk through the road on business. On his way, he found a girl crying with her back to him at the roadside.

He wondered why the girl was there and crying. Out of kindness, he talked to the girl repeatedly, “Why are you crying? It is not a right place and time for a young lady like you. Could you tell me what happened to you and let me help you.”

The girl continued crying for a while but when the merchant put his hand on her shoulder, she turned her face to him slowly and moved off her hand from her face.

The merchant had noticed that there was nothing on her face, no eyes and eyebrows, no nose, and no mouth. He shouted and threw his lantern and ran away.

He ran and ran in darkness and at last he found a tiny light on the top of the hill. It was a light from a portable stall selling “SOBA”, Japanese noodle.

The merchant tried to tell his experience to an owner of the stand, “I’ve seen, I’ve seen it!” The owner asked, “What have you seen?” The merchant answered, “A girl, a girl, she’s, she’s no face, like a boiled egg.” The owner grinned and wiped his face with his hand and said, “Was that face like this?”

Nothing but darkness except the merchant’s screaming.

There is a cave in Matto Cho in Ojiya and it is said that Mujina lives there. I have no idea the Mujina at the cave is such full of mischief but several stories have been handed down.

If you have a chance to visit Matto Cho, why don’t you find an interesting story about Mujina by yourself and you might meet several Mujinas at a country restaurant “INAKAPPE”?

２０１４．６．２２