Japanese Folk Tale

126 The Yanagita Guide to the Japanese Folk Tale
his nose was burned. He fanned himself with the silver fan, but his
nose was held fast as it shrank and his body was drawn up. He is
dangling somewhere in the sky even now. He will probably stay there
until Raijin releases the tongs.
Yamanashi, Nishiyatsushiro-gun
Fukushima, Iwaki-gun: Iwaki 41, 130, "Making a nose high or low"
(Hana 0 takaku shitari hikuku shitari hanashi).
Saitama: Kawagoe 113, "Gengor6's trip to the sky" (Gengor6 no ten
nobori).
Yamanashi, Nishiyatsushiro-gun: Kai 30, "Gonemon's nose" (Gonemon no
hana). Example.
Tokushima: Awa Iyayama 115, "Nose, get high" (Binbana tak6 nare).
Kagoshima: Koshiki 181, "Making a nose high" (Hana 0 takaku shita
hanashi).
121. The Magic Ladle
There was once a man in a certain place who was such a liar that
he had no friends. He reformed and petitioned the kami. On the final
day of his petitions, he came down the hill in front of the shrine and
found a little red ladle that had been dropped below the torii. He
picked it up and went along with it. One side was painted red. When
he stroked his seat with it, out came a big noise. When he stroked
himself with the other side, which was painted black, the noise stopped.
He tried stroking the seat of the ch6ja's daughter, and big noises
came out and did not stop. Her father called in doctors and h6sha, but
she did not get better. He put up a big sign on which he wrote that he
would give the one who cured her anything he wanted. The liar
mingled with the crowd of doctors and h6sha at the ch6ja's house. He
stroked the girl's seat with the ladle and cured her. Then he became
the son-in-law there and was a great success. He declared that whatever
he had done was by the help of the ladle. He worshipped it as a
deity and called it Ohera Daimy6jin [The Great Manifestation in the
Ladle].
Iwate, Kamihei-gun
Aomori, Hachinohe: MK II 7 45, "The magic ladle" (Shirinaki no hera).
Two stories.
Iwate, Isawa-gun: Kogane 84, "The girl whose seat started to make
noises" (Musume no shiri no nakidashita hanashi); Techo 43, "The
magic ladle" (Shirinaki hera).
Kamihei-gun: Kamihei 51, "The Daimyojin Ladle" (Ohera Daimyojin).
Example.