FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 1: _Bu._ This coin is generally called by foreigners "ichibu,"
which means "one bu." To talk of "_a hundred ichibus_" is as though a
Japanese were to say "_a hundred one shillings_." Four bus make a
_riyo_, or ounce; and any sum above three bus is spoken of as so many
riyos and bus--as 101 riyos and three bus equal 407 bus. The bu is worth
about 1_s._ 4_d._]

[Footnote 2: Inari Sama is the title under which was deified a certain
mythical personage, called Uga, to whom tradition attributes the honour
of having first discovered and cultivated the rice-plant. He is
represented carrying a few ears of rice, and is symbolized by a snake
guarding a bale of rice grain. The foxes wait upon him, and do his
bidding. Inasmuch as rice is the most important and necessary product of
Japan, the honours which Inari Sama receives are extraordinary. Almost
every house in the country contains somewhere about the grounds a pretty
little shrine in his honour; and on a certain day of the second month of
the year his feast is celebrated with much beating of drums and other
noises, in which the children take a special delight. "On this day,"
says the O-Satsuyo, a Japanese cyclopaedia, "at Yeddo, where there are
myriads upon myriads of shrines to Inari Sama, there are all sorts of
ceremonies. Long banners with inscriptions are erected, lamps and
lanterns are hung up, and the houses are decked with various dolls and
figures; the sound of flutes and drums is heard, and people dance and
make holiday according to their fancy. In short, it is the most bustling
festival of the Yeddo year."]

VII

THE BADGER'S MONEY

It is a common saying among men that to forget favours received is the
part of a bird or a beast: an ungrateful man will be ill spoken of by
all the world. And yet even birds and beasts will show gratitude; so
that a man who does not requite a favour is worse even than dumb brutes.
Is not this a disgrace?

Once upon a time, in a hut at a place called Namekata, in Hitachi, there
lived an old priest famous neither for learning nor wisdom, but bent
only on passing his days in prayer and meditation. He had not even a
child to wait upon him, but prepared his food with his own hands. Night
and morning he recited the prayer "Namu Amida Butsu,"[3] intent upon
that alone. Although the fame of his virtue did not reach far, yet his
neighbours respected and revered him, and often brought him food and
raiment;