In the village of Mama in Katsushika district, in the province of Shimousa, lived a man named Katsushiro. His family had been prosperous since his grandfather's day, but Katsushiro disliked farming and the household gradually grew poor. Hoping to restore the family fortunes, he decided to buy dyed cloth from Ashikaga and take it to the capital to sell.
Katsushiro's wife, Miyagi, was very beautiful and kind-hearted. She begged her husband to stay, but Katsushiro promised, "I'll surely be back by autumn," and set off for the capital.
That year, however, the Kyotoku war broke out in the Kanto, and the village of Mama too was caught up in the fighting. People abandoned their homes and fled, but Miyagi trusted her husband's promise, stayed alone in the house and kept waiting for him.
Meanwhile Katsushiro, having finished his business in the capital, was attacked by mountain bandits on the way home and robbed of everything. Hearing too that the Kanto was at war and the barriers were closed, he convinced himself, "My wife can't still be alive," took shelter at an acquaintance's house in Omi, and seven years went by.
In the summer of the seventh year, Katsushiro at last returned to his home village of Mama. The village was in ruins, the old houses gone without a trace. Yet his own house alone stood as before, with a lamp burning. When he knocked, Miyagi came out, worn and haggard. The two rejoiced at their reunion, and Miyagi told of her suffering in the seven years she had waited for him. That night they slept side by side.
At dawn, when Katsushiro woke, the roof had fallen in and the walls had crumbled; he was in a ruined house overgrown with asaji, low cogon grass. His wife was nowhere to be seen. Where the bedroom had been was a mound of earth, and on a scrap of wood a poem was written in his wife's hand:
"Saritomo to / omou kokoro ni / hakararete / yo ni mo kyo made / ikeru inochi ka" (Deceived by a heart that thought, "Still, someday he will come," how have I lived on in this world until today)
Katsushiro knew then that his wife was already dead. The wife of the night before had been a ghost, still waiting for her husband.