Story
Story 100
"What do you want to do?!"
The sumo master screamed in outrage during a morning training.
There came a complete silence in the sumo stable.
The big sumo wrestler put up with the master's yelling.
"What do you want to do?!"
The master questioned him closely again.
After a little while of silence, the big sumo wrestler managed to stammer.
"Pushing..."
His gigantic body seemed much smaller.
"Then why don't you do it?!"
The master shouted at the timid big sumo wrestler.
"Just do it!"
The big sumo wrestler went back to the training with a obsessed look.
Professional sumo wrestling is very popular as a national sport in Japan.
It is where winner takes it all.
Training is hard, rules are strict between seniors and inferiors, many young apprentices quit before making a debut.
Because the master expected a lot of him, he treated the big wrestler severely.
It depends on how much he is talented, making efforts, and lucky if he could overcome hardships and become a successful sumo wrestler in the near future.
The sound of physical contact was echoing in the stable in the morning sunlight.
(photo & story by Tengyo Kura, Tokyo)
Story 99
The village is located in the depth of mountains.
In the medieval period of Japan, this village produced high-quality gunpowder.
Legend has it that samurai loads in different regions wanted to know the secret of making good gunpowder, and sent their best ninjas to the village, but none of them had come back alive because the village was completely closed to outsiders and it was impossible to go undercover.
I arrived at the village in the morning mist and met one elder woman having a walk.
"Good morning," I smiled at her.
"Good morning," she smiled back at me.
"You seemed coming from very far," she said.
"Well, not so far, but I'm not from this place obviously," I smiled again.
"Welcome to my village, hope your journey was not difficult," she said.
"Thank you. I hope you had a nice walk," I replied.
"Walking in the morning is good for my health," she smiled.
"Do you walk every morning?" I asked.
"Yes, every morning. My legs are getting weaker these days, but I still walk every morning," she tapped her leg.
"Having strong legs is important, that's true," I said.
"When I was little, my friends and I played in a bamboo grove daily. When we found a tiny bamboo shoot we jumped over it. The tiny bamboo shoot became a bit taller next day, we again jumped over it. Then next day the bamboo shoot got taller than the day before, we again jumped over it. Bamboo shoots grow very fast, you know. We repeated it almost every day until the bamboo shoot became too tall to leap over. That's how we naturally strengthened our legs when we were little."
She said fondly of the past, and left into the morning mist with a gentle smile.
At a later date, I learned that ninjas back then trained their legs in the same way (with a different kind of plant which grows as fast as bamboo shoots).
I wondered if she was a descendant of one of the missing ninjas from the legend.
(photo & story by Tengyo Kura, Gokayama)
Story 98
"It's a nice shop," I said.
"Well, a plan small shop," he replied.
"No, you sell a lot of daily necessities," I said.
"Well, simple things," he replied.
"They are important for our daily life," I said.
"Well, more important things are up there," he pointed upward.
I looked up, there were plants on the eaves.
"Oh, the plants? Of course green is important for us, though," I said.
"Well, I mean kind heart like caring plants," he said.
"That's more important for our daily life," he smiled.
(photo & story by Tengyo Kura, Kathmandu)
Story 97
Once upon a time, there was a very rich man living in the village.
He never told other villages how he became so rich.
There was a rumor that the rich man woke up very early in the morning and held a mystical ceremony every day.
The rich man had a beautiful rooster at home, the rooster crowed at three o'clock sharp every morning.
He got up with the sound and began his secret ceremony.
Other villagers tried to take a sneak, but nobody was able to wake up before the rich man's ceremony because their roosters usually crowed around five o'clock.
One time the villagers held a drinking party to keep them awake until three o'clock.
The rich man found out the villagers' scheme in advance, he made a big treat of liquor for them as if he had not been aware of anything.
With a lot of liquor all the villagers got completely drunk and fell asleep before three o'clock.
Like this, the villagers were always outwitted and they had kept missing the secret ceremony of the rich man.
There was one smart child in the village.
He was good at tricking adults to steal food.
He was a leader of other village children.
One day the boy gathered other children and said.
"Listen everyone. The adults of this village are useless. We are going to find out the secret of the rich man instead of the adults. The rich man is able to get up at three every morning because his rooster crows at three. If we steal the rooster then he won't be able to wake up at three, and he cannot hold his secret ceremony to be rich. In exchange for giving the rooster back to him, we will ask him to teach us the secret ceremony, and we will be rich!"
The rich man kept his beautiful rooster inside his house and it was not easy to steal it.
The smart boy told other children to collect roosters as many as possible from the village.
Next day, 20 to 30 roosters were brought to the smart boy.
He told the others to put them into some big bags to carry.
"Okay, it's done. Let's go to the rich man's house with the roosters," the boy said.
The roosters packed in bags were confused and panicked.
Roosters are naturally aggressive, and they become even more aggressive when they see other roosters.
In each bag the roosters already started shouting and kicking around.
By the time the children arrived at the rich man's house madness of the roosters reached a boiling point.
"Get ready, release the roosters!" the smart boy told to the other children carrying the bags of the roosters.
The furious roosters were out of the bags at once and made a great disturbance in front of the entrance of the rich man.
The rich man put his head out of a window and saw many children were chasing around chickens.
"What a fuss..." the rich man murmured.
The smart boy asked the rich man's help.
"Please help us! Our chickens escaped from a market!"
"Olay, I'm coming," the rich man came out on the street to help the children.
He was in hurry so he left the window open.
The loud noise of the roosters' shouting and fighting lured the rich man's rooster to the outside from the open window.
The rich man was running around with the bunch of children and roosters, so he did not notice that the smart boy caught the beautiful rooster and put it into a bag quickly.
After catching all the roosters the children thanked to the rich man who was all of a sweat.
"Well well," wiping his sweat the rich man went back to his house.
The smart boy grinned and went joyfully with other children.
Next day the boy went back to the rich man's house with the beautiful rooster.
The displeased face of the rich man coming out from his house changed immediately when he noticed what the boy held in his arms.
"This unknown rooster was mixed with our roosters yesterday. I thought this must be yours," the smart boy said.
"Oh, thank god! I was so desperate when I realized that my rooster was gone yesterday!" he extended his arms to receive his rooster.
"Please wait," holding the rooster tightly the boy said.
"I would like to exchange with you," he continued.
"Exchange with me?" the rich man said in a questioning look.
"I know that you hold a secret ceremony every morning. I want to see it," the boy said.
"Who told you about that? It's only a rumor," the rich man said.
"I don't do such a thing, okay? Now please give my rooster back to me," he stretched his arms toward the rooster.
"Well, I think I was wrong. This rooster wasn't yours. I am going to sell this at a market now," the boy turned around and started away.
"Wait! Wait, please," the rich man said.
"If you are serious, I will accept your exchange offer," he continued.
"Stay over night at my home tonight. We will wake up tomorrow morning together, and you will see what I do then," the rich man opened the door of his house to the boy.
"Okay, deal," the boy smiled and entered the house with the rooster.
Next morning at three o'clock, the beautiful rooster crowed as usual, the rich man woke up.
"Wake up, it's time," he woke the boy up sleeping next to him.
Beside the sleepy-looking boy, the rich man began to prepare for his ceremony.
He made a fire in a room, and put a bunch of grass next to the fire on the floor.
Then he chanted a spell in front of the fire.
As the rich man chanted louder, the fire color got more golden.
The smart boy watched the mysterious scene without words.
When the fire became totally golden, the rich man put his hand in the fire.
He picked a pinch of the golden fire and sprinkled over himself.
At that moment, the boy saw something unreal.
The rich man was slowly turning into a golden hen in front of the boy.
The boy held his breath, he felt that his body was shaking.
The golden hen who was the rich man flapped its wings and invited the beautiful rooster.
They mated in the light of the golden fire.
Then the golden hen sat on the grass.
Soon the hen started laying an egg there.
The egg was purely gold.
Everything was unbelievable to the boy.
He held himself to calm down his tremble.
How long it had been, the boy woke up by the rich man's voice.
"Are you alright?" the rich man asked.
"Ah, I think so..." the boy looked around the room.
There was no fire, no grass, it seemed no difference from last night.
According to the sunlight, it should be around noon.
"You fainted suddenly. Did you remember what you saw this morning?" the rich man asked the boy.
"What I saw this morning?" the boy shook his head.
"Well, I saw a fire and grass. Then I saw a shiny chicken..." he tried to remember what happened in front of him this morning.
"Look," the rich man showed a golden egg on his palm to the confused boy.
"This is why I am rich," the man said.
Looking at the golden egg the boy began to remember what he saw clearly.
"So, you are the hen...?" he asked the man timidly.
"Well, yes," the man smiled and put the golden egg in a locker.
"I still cannot believe what I saw..." the boy rubbed his eyes.
"I understand. It must have been a bit scary to you," the rich man put his hand on the boy's shoulder.
"Listen, can you please keep it secret? If you promise to do that, I will give you one golden egg every full moon day. I can lay two eggs on a full moon day," the rich man looked into the boy's eyes and said.
"Really?" the boy opened his eyes wide.
"Yes," the rich man nodded with a smile.
"Okay, I promise," the boy replied with excitement.
Days passed, and the first full moon day came since the boy and the rich man made the promise.
The boy kept the promise of course.
He was so happy to be going to receive the golden egg and knocked the door of the rich man's house.
Nobody answered.
The boy knocked once more.
It was still quiet.
He slowly pushed the door, the door opened.
There was no one inside; no rooster, no locker, nothing.
He already left the house and moved to somewhere else.
"Ah, I was also outwitted like the useless adults by him!" the boy stamped his feet in disappointment.
(photo & story by Tengyo Kura, Bhaktapur)
Story 96
“Can you hear what this dog is thinking?”
An old man asked me pointing at a brown dog on the street.
I gazed at the dog for a while, but nothing came up with me.
“I know, I know. You see this dog as a dog, so you can’t hear anything,” the old man said.
Being told so, I tried to look at the brown dog as my grandfather.
After trying it was not my grandfather but still the brown dog sitting in front of me.
"I can't hear anything," I said and looked at where the old man was standing.
The old man was not there.
I turned around and looked for him, but he was completely gone.
I was confused.
Was the man really there?
Was I really talking to him?
When I turned my eyes upon, the brown dog was still there having a gentle smile.
I felt like I was actually hearing the voice of the dog.
"Hey, did you talk to me?"
I said to the dog.
It whined and went.
"It can't be..." looking at the dog's back getting away, I talked to myself.
(photo & story by Tengyo Kura, Bhaktapur)
Story 95
I saw one woman walking in an alley in the village.
She was one of the most graceful people I had ever met.
After walking around the village for couple of hours, I saw her again.
I could not stop myself talking to her.
"Excuse me, I would like to talk to you," I said.
"Yes," she gently smiled at me.
"I just would like to tell you that the way you are is so beautiful," I was shy but told her honestly.
"Thank you," she calmly said with a smile.
"Well, that's it. Thank you for your time," saying so I bowed a bit.
"Where are you from?" she asked.
"From very far," I answered.
"Have a good journey," she blessed me.
"We might meet again in the next life," she added.
"Yes, I really hope so," I put my palm on my heart.
(photo & story by Tengyo Kura, Bhaktapur)
Story 94
"I've been waiting for my friend too long!" she said.
"How long have you been waiting?" I asked.
"I don't know, just too long!" she replied.
"You know what, I'm always late," I said.
She looked at me.
"For me, it's very difficult to be on time," I continued.
"Why are you always late?" she asked me curiously.
"I don't know. I always do my best to be on time, but when I go there, I'm always late," I shrugged.
Seeing me like that she gave a little chuckle.
"Have you ever waited for your friend coming very late?" she asked.
"Of course. I have waited for more than three or four hours sometimes," I proudly answered.
"Four hours?" she repeated with her eyes wide open.
"Then your friend came after four hours?" she asked.
"No, I couldn't meet my friend," I said.
"Actually my friend had also waited for me for four hours at that time," I continued.
"What do you mean?" she asked with a confused look.
"Well, we were waiting for each other at the different places in the same building then," I put my palm on my face.
She laughed so hard.
"So what happened then? You and your friend left there without knowing that you two were in the same building?" she looked joyful.
"Yes, we both left the place without knowing that we were actually very close to each other," I replied.
"Wow. Did you complain about that to your friend later?" she asked.
"No, I didn't. My friend didn't either. We somehow knew that it was going to happen between us," I answered.
"Wow, waiting for four hours... I still cannot believe it," she seemed amazed.
Since she was fully amazed by my strange story, I couldn't help myself smiling.
She also smiled.
"I'm sorry that you have been waiting for your friend too long. I hope your friend will show up soon," I said good-bye to her.
"Thank you for your story. It made me feel better," she smiled and waved at me.
Remembering my friend who had waited for me for four hours and whom I had waited for four hours, too, I grinned to myself.
(photo & story by Tengyo Kura, Bhaktapur)
Story 93
"Do you want to join us?" the children asked.
"Why not?" I replied.
"But you must teach me how to play," I continued.
"Sure, it's easy," the children replied.
"But you must lose," they continued.
"Oh, is that the rule of this game?" I asked.
"No, you can win. But you must lose," they said again.
"Wait, I'm confused now. I can win but I must lose?" I asked again.
"Yes," they looked each other's face and laughed.
"Why must I lose?" I thought that it was their joke.
"Karma," they said and laughed again.
"Karma? You mean I did something wrong in my previous life and that's why I must lose this game now?" I felt that they were making fun of me.
"Haha. No, we are not talking about your past. A man at your age should not beat children like us. That's Karma," they joyfully said.
Now I understood that the children used the term "Karma" as education, or tradition, or something like we could not do against but respect.
"Okay, then let me lose!" I laughed and squatted next to them.
(photo & story by Tengyo Kura, Bhaktapur)
Story 92
"I saw a scary dream last night," the child said.
"A big tiger came to my house and tried to open the door."
"Wow, that's scary! Is the tiger hungry?" I asked.
"I don't know," the child replied.
"I was afraid, but I opened a window and said "Please leave! Don't eat my family!" to the big tiger."
"How brave you are! The tiger didn't attack you?" I asked.
"No. The tiger said "I am thirsty. Please give me water." So I gave a glass of water," the child answered.
"After drinking water, the tiger came to me and rubbed its cheek agains my cheek."
"If I were you, I would wet my pants," I seriously said.
"I was scared, but I knew the tiger was not going to eat me," the child said.
"The big tiger smelled like the filed after rain."
(photo & story by Tengyo Kura, Bhaktapur)
Story 91
"My cow is very stubborn," she laughed.
"It doesn't want to follow me. It takes hard work to take it to the filed every day!"
The cow was following her only for some steps, then stopped for a while.
"May I help you pull it together?" I asked.
"No no, don't worry! I do this every day," she laughed again.
"I wish I could understand what this cow is thinking," she shrugged joyfully.
"Maybe my husband thinks the same. "I wish I could understand what my wife is thinking?"" she laughed harder.
(photo & story by Tengyo Kura, Bhaktapur)