in that way. At last the people decided that the child must be a kappa who lived in the pond.
A man named Tachiki from Suwa said: "I will destroy the kappa." He asked his lord if he could borrow a good horse. Then he rode by this stone, and as he expected, the child asked him to play Pull-finger. He answered the child: "All right." And they locked fingers. No sooner had they locked fingers than he whipped the horse and rode as fast as he could. The child could not bear to be dragged by the horse. He said: "Please excuse me, I am really the kappa of Akanuma Pond. Please don't kill me. Then I will teach you the secret of bonesetting." And the man said: "Then teach me that secret."
The kappa taught him in detail. "Because you've taught me the secret of bonesetting, I will set you free. But if you continue to live in this place, you might have the desire to eat people again. So go somewhere else tonight," said the man. So the kappa went away to the pond of Wada-mura and he has been living there quietly.
And this Tachiki is said to be the founder of the family line of the famous surgeon Tachiki.
THE KAPPA BONESETTER
The kappa's occult bonesetting powers are further described here. Ikeda, p. 43, speaks of a certain salve as reputedly the kappa's secret. Such a tradition is related by Shiojiri, pp. 18-19, going back to the early eighteenth century, and told on an old family in Himeji. The kappa asked the samurai to give him back the right arm he had cut off, saying he could reset it with a special medicine. In return for the favor he gave the samurai the formula for the salve.
Text from Sempo Nakata, "Kappa's Medicine," in Tabi to Densetsu, I (February, 1028), pp. 5-6. From a larger selection entitled "The Story of Unsho-an Takatori, a Bonesetter at Hakata in Chikuzen," pp. 1-9.
IT WAS during the Genroku period [1688-1703] that a bonesetter named Takatori Unsho-an lived at Hakata in the province of Chikuzen. His wife was a daughter of Miyake Kakusuke, a masterless samurai in Higo. She was noted not only for her surpassing beauty but also for her accomplishments.
Late one night it happened that while she was in the toilet, she felt some strange hand touch her buttock. As she was a stout-hearted woman she did not become too upset but shouted: "Rascal!" Then she saw in the moonlight a strange, shaggy little man running away toward the river side. Nothing else happened that night. The next night the wife went to the toilet with her precious short sword. While she was in the toilet the strange creature appeared and repeated his action of the night before. The wife cried out: "Rascal!" and she cut off its hand with one stroke of the sword. The strange creature ran away shrieking with pain. The next morning the wife told her husband all about what had happened and showed him the creature's hand she had cut off. It was webbed and looked something like a snapping-turtle's foot.
After examining it carefully, Unsho-an said to his wife: "Fine, fine! It's a wonderful thing. This is a kappas hand. A kappa must have fallen for you. Anyway you did very well. A kappa's hand is a rare thing."
"How disagreeable to think of being loved by a kappa! Don't say such a thing," said the wife, giving a scowl at die husband. But soon she softened her countenance and asked: "Is it really a kappa's hand?"
That night a voice was heard by the head of Unsho-an's bed. It said: "Give me back my hand." Unsho-an was not a mere doctor, but a samurai who attended the feudal lord. He took up his bow from the tohonoma and plucked the string. Then the voice stopped. The next night and the next, the same voice was heard. By the third night Unsho-an was tired of hearing it, so he spoke to it saying: "What can you want with your hand which was cut off a few days ago?"
"Your question is reasonable in the human world, but it is different with us. We kappa can join a hand to the arm however cold it may become, and when we join it, it will perform just as well as it ever did. So please give it back to me, I pray you," said the kappa, showing himself before Unsho-an and bowing down his head. On hearing this, Unsho-an thought to himself: "He speaks pleasingly. I will see how he sets bones." So then he said to the kappa: "In truth, I determined to kill such a rascal as you on the spot with my sword the moment I saw you. But now I will return your hand to you, provided you show me how you set broken bones."
"That is an easy thing," said the kappa, and on receiving his dead-cold hand, joined it skillfully to his arm before Unsho-an's eyes. The samurai watched the kappa's action with keen interest, murmuring: "That's good, that's good." Then the kappa thanked him and disappeared.
The next day there were two big fish on the fence of Unsho-an's garden. He knew that the kappa had brought them out of gratitude, and he enjoyed eating them with his wife. From that time on he practised the method of bonesetting which he had learned from the kappa, and gradually he became a famous bonesetter. His family prospered for a long time and this method of bonesetting was transmitted from generation to generation.
A GRATEFUL KAPPA
Chihei Nakamura, who wrote the present story, is a well-known Japanese author. I met him in his native town of Miyazaki in southern Kyushu, where he showed me his considerable collection of kappa figurines. This account shows signs of literary style, for instance in the use of dialogue, although it is clearly in a genuine tradition.
Text from Hyuga Minwa Shu, pp. 68-71.
IN THE NORTHERN DISTRICT of Miyazaki Prefecture, they sometimes call the kappa "hyosuho." There are not a few stories concerning the hyosubo. The following is one of these stories which has been handed down in this district.
Once upon a time, at Nakayama Shrine in the present Kadokawamachi (in Higashi Usuki-gun), there lived a Shinto priest called Kimmaru. Although a priest, he was very good at fencing and was renowned for his bravery throughout the neighborhood.
One fine day, he was rambling in the village at random and he came to the foot of an earthen bridge. Suddenly he felt that something was there and stopped walking. A kappa peeped out from under the bridge.
"Is that you, Hyosubo? Don't be too mischievous." Throwing out these words at the kappa, the priest was about to pass by when the kappa's voice hastily beseeched him from behind.
"Mr. Priest, Mr. Priest, please listen to my story." The kappa's voice sounded very sorrowful. The priest turned round and even saw tears in the eyes of the kappa.
"Mr. Priest, I used to have many children—my treasures. But a tremendously big snake which dwells in this river appeared every night and swallowed my dear children one by one. I have now only one child left. I hear that you are very expert in fencing, so please do away with the snake by dint of your sword."
"I am sorry to hear that. I'll kill the snake for you."
Kimmaru thus promised the kappa, and he stood under the bridge that night carefully prepared for battle. When he had made ready to attack the snake, the creature appeared to swallow down the surviving child of the kappa. Kimmaru lost no time in slashing at the snake with his sword. He was so skillful and speedy that the enormous snake was cut into two and died instantly.
When Kimmaru put up his sword and stood upon the bridge, the kappa appeared before him.
"Thank you very much, Mr. Priest. From now on, we can sleep in peace. I'd like to repay your kindness. Don't you have any wish? If you have, please tell it to me."
Kimmaru was reminded of the pranks that kappa sometimes played upon the village children. "Then, will you promise me that you will never play tricks on my offspring, for instance, by pulling them into the water?"
"Certainly I will, Mr. Priest. I will never be mischievous
