Japanese Folk Tale

136 The Yanagita Guide to the Japanese Folk Tale
pounded it, they sang, "We don't want to hear a cat's voice!" The old
man wanted the gold, so he imitated a cat. All the rats ran away, and
the place became pitch dark. The old man looked around and found
himself in his own garden patch with his head stuck into a rat hole.
Iwate, Shiwa-gun
Aomori: Tsugaru m 61, "The old man who went into a rat hole"
(Nezumi sa no ana haitta jisa no hanashi).
Hachinohe: MK I 8 32, "Rat Island" (Nezumi no shima).
Iwate, Shiwa-gun: Shiwa shu 107, "When the old man dug in his garden"
(Jiina no hatakeuchi). Example.
Kamihei-gun: Kikimimi 220, "The bean" No. 1 (Mameko banashi).
Yamagata, Higashitagawa-gun: MK I 9 43, "When the rats pounded
mochi" (Nezumi no mochi tsuki).
Kitamurayama-gun: MK II 6 42, "Rat Jodo" (Nezumi Jodo).
Akita, Hiraga-gun: MK II 5 27, "When the rats pounded mochi" (Nezumi
no mochi tsuki).
Kazuno-gun: Dai-ichi 42, "Rat kingdom" (Nezumi no kuni).
Fukushima, Iwaki-gun: Iwaki 44, 113, "The rats and the dango" (Nezumi
to dango).
Niigata: Minamikanbara 30, "Rat J6do" (Nezumi J6do).
Nagano, Chiisagata-gun: MK I 1 36, "Invited to the rat's house" (Nezumi
ni yobareta hanashi).
Shimominochi-gun: Shimominochi 197, "Rat J6do" (Nezumi J6do).
Matsumoto: Ky6do ken IV 8 54, "Children's stories from the
Matsumoto region" (Matsumoto chih6 no d6wa).
Hyogo, Mikata-gun: MK II 7 38, "Rat Jodo" (Nezumi Jodo).
Kinosaki-gun: MK II 8 35, "Rat Jodo" (Nezumi Jodo).
Hiroshima, Yamagata-gun: Aki 72, 73, "Rat kingdom" (Nezumi no kuni);
Geibi 59, "Rat Jodo" No. I (Nezumi no Jodo).
Shimane, Oki: MK I 8 32, "Rat Island" (Nezumi no shima).
Oita, Hayami-gun: MK I 12 40, "Rat J6do" (Nezumi no J6do).
Kumamoto, H6taku-Kun: MK I 9 36, "Rat J6do" (Nezumi no J6do).
Kagoshima, Amami Oshima: MK II 8 38, "Rat J6do" (Nezumi J6do).
Koshikijima: Koshiki 169, "Rat Jodo" (Nezumi no J6do).
134. Jizo Jodo
An old man who went into the mountains to cut wood started to
eat his lunch. He happened to drop his riceball and it rolled away and
dropped into a hole. The old man crawled in after it and found Jizo
eating it. The old man said, "That's the only riceball I have. Please
give it back to me." Jizo apologized and told the old man a demon
would come presently. He said, "Get under my seat and when I shake
it, imitate a rooster's crow." Soon the demon arrived and declared he
smelled a man. Jizo shook his hips three times. The old man imitated a
rooster three times, and the demon thought it was dawn and ran away,