Nihon Ryoiki (Miraculous Stories of Japan)
Overview
Its full title is Nihonkoku Genpo Zen'aku Ryoiki, "Miraculous Records of Good and Evil Rewarded in This Life in Japan." A collection of 116 Buddhist tales in three books, compiled by Kyokai, a monk of Yakushiji in Nara. Through stories of real people and places, it shows that good deeds bring good rewards and evil deeds bad ones, and that these appear in this life without waiting for the next (genpo). The tales run roughly in order of time, from the reign of Emperor Yuryaku to that of Emperor Saga in the compiler's own day, and are written in classical Chinese.
Background
In the Nara period, Buddhism enjoyed state protection, while many monks, like Gyoki, preached among ordinary people, and many became monks without official permission. Kyokai himself had a wife and children, and in Book 3 he writes of his own struggles to get by. Behind the tales we can see the idea of karmic reward spreading among common people, and the life and faith of country villages.
Highlights
- The man who caught the thunderSugaru, sent by the emperor to catch the thunder. A generous, good-humored opening tale from a time when gods and humans were still close.Read “On Catching the Thunder” →
- Where the word "kitsune" comes fromThe wife a man of Mino took was a fox. Even after she was found out, he called to her, "Come and sleep" (kitsu ne), and so the fox is called kitsune.Read “On Taking a Fox as a Wife and Fathering a Child” →
- The skull that kept chantingIn the mountains of Kumano, the tongue of a skull dead for years has not rotted and still chants the Lotus Sutra. A miracle typical of Buddhist tales.Read “On the Tongue of a Man Who Kept the Lotus Sutra, Which Did Not Decay in a Bleached Skull” →
- A kind-hearted demonA demon sent by King Enma, to repay a meal, finds someone to take a person's place. The humanity of this underworld official is comic.Read “On the Demon Sent by King Enma Who Accepted a Feast from the Person Summoned and Repaid the Favor” →