The Ghost of Aki Province
The third storyteller was shaking as he came forward. This was his first Obon festival, and his entire village was hoping that he would return home with honor and triumph. He coughed and began.
"Down near the Inland Sea between Umedaichi and Kure, in the province of Aki, there was a small village called Yaiyama. In this village lived a painter named Tenko. Tenko had a beautiful sister named Rika. When she was barely sixteen, Rika was raped by the Lord of Aki and gave birth to a daughter named Kimi. She died shortly after.
"As is the custom, Tenko adopted the daughter of his sister, and raised her as his own child. However, Tenko was so caught up in his art and his teaching of art that he would often neglect young Kimi. In fact, Tenko spent more time with his young art pupil Sawara then he did with Kimi.
"As Kimi grew, she came to resent Tenko's love for Sawara. Yet, she could not resent Sawara himself. He was very kind to her, and made certain that she was well taken care of. Sawara fell in love with Kimi, and Kimi slowly came to share his love.
"When Sawara asked Tenko if he could marry Kimi, Tenko immediately disliked the idea. Yet, he could not say no to his favorite pupil, so he made a deal with Sawara.
"First, Sawara must finish his apprenticeship and go out into the world and make a name for himself as a painter. Only when this was complete could he marry Kimi. Tenko arranged for Sawara to study under his friend Myokei in Kyoto. In Kyoto, Sawara was closer to viable art markets and was more likely to find money for his work. Tenko secretly hoped that this separation would make Kimi and Sawara forget about one another.
"Two years passed, and Kimi heard nothing from her beloved Sawara. In the meantime, several admirers asked Tenko for Kimi's hand. He told them that Kimi was already engaged, but was always open to the best possible offer.
"One day, Tenko received a letter from Myokei in Kyoto. He said that Sawara was making great progress and would be done with his apprenticeship soon. Even better, Sawara was to marry his daughter, Kiku.
"This bit of news made Tenko smile. How perfect -with Sawara married, Kimi was free to marry whomever he chose. He had recently received a marriage proposal from a rich merchant, and such a deal would give him enough money to be comfortable for the rest of his days. He wrote Myokei back and said that he blessed the union of his pupil to Myokei's daughter.
"When Tenko told Kimi of her fiance's betrayal and announced her pending marriage to the merchant, she fell into a depression. Even though Tenko promised that Kimi would be happy in her marriage, she did not want it. On the day of her wedding to the merchant, Kimi plunged a knife into her throat. Tenko found her shortly after, dead.
"Sawara, meanwhile, received a commission that sent him to the Upper and Lower Kabakari Islands. While he was there, he had the strangest adventure.
"One night, while Sawara was out on the island's shore, working on a painting, a ghostly figure came to him. She floated above the beach, and wore the white kimono used for funerals. There was a huge gash in her throat, opening into darkness.
"Sawara jumped when he saw the figure.
"'Who...who are you?' he asked.
"'It is me, Kimi -your beloved to whom you are engaged. You have deceived me, Sawara, and you have been unfaithful. I will never let you have a happy marriage. I will haunt you every night so that you will never again lie with your wife. Every day you will be reminded of how you betrayed me.'
"With a grin, she disappeared. Kimi was true to her word. She appeared every night at the foot of Sawara's bed. The sight of her sent so much fear through him that he could not sleep.
"Soon after, Sawara painted a picture of Kimi's ghost and placed it on his wall. He began saying prayers to Kimi and to his ancestors for forgiveness. He later presented a copy of the painting to the Korinji temple, so the priests could tend to it and pray for Kimi's spirit.
"After a time, the ghost was seen no more."
Sadako: "That's my kind of girl. She came back from the grave to get revenge on a lover who betrayed her. She was relentless in her haunting, as I am, and as a good yurei should be. Sawara was so frightened by her that he took action. That is the only way to deal with a ghost: to appease them.
"We're coming to the end of our little trip into the past. Here's the last story of the festival..."
Author's Note: This story was probably one of the most difficult for me to adapt. There were a large number of characters and the reader needed to keep all of them straight. The biggest difference in my retelling was the ending. In the original story, Kimi runs away instead of killing herself when she finds that Sawara is going to marry another woman. Sawara later encounters Kimi, who kills herself when she finds that he has indeed married someone else. She haunts him afterward.
I also changed Tenko's character a great deal. In the original he was a much kinder father-figure for Kimi and supported the marriage between Sawara and Kimi. I thought that the story would make more sense and be more fun if Tenko was a point of conflict between Sawara and Kimi. The original story said that Sawara did not marry Myokei's daughter because he was still faithful to Kimi; there was just some miscommunication between the characters. He did later marry a girl named Kiku after Kimi disappeared because she was believed to be dead. I cut this out because I thought that the story would be tighter and more interesting without this piece of information.
"The Kakemono Ghost of Aki Province" By Richard Gordon Smith, from Ancient Tales Folk-lore of Japan (1918). Websource: Sacred Texts.