Second movement: Fools trapped in the darkness

“Wait, you little kid!”
Suddenly, an angry voice echoed through the bustling afternoon in Higashi city. I, Kuya got to awake from meditation of the light and the darkness by the voice. That is the voice of Kenzo, the owner of Ichikura, a shop’s name who make business with dried fishes in Higashi city. The rough and brazen voice must belong to that person.
“I won’t let you get away with this, this day, you deadly child!”

The deadly child, well he may be…

I recalled the child suddenly. It is about the child who have become the topic in Higashi city from several days ago. A child thief who shows up at the market and steals the goods of Ichikura many times in secret. People in the city and the city officials who are the administrators of the city tried to capture the child many times up to now. However, everyone was in a bind, as the child hid its small body in the crowd, and was so quick that it was difficult to catch.

However.

What a terrible name people named to the child. In the first place, the stain of death is the stain caused by touching the dead bodies or incomplete bodies, isn’t it? People gave that child a name like that and despise him, though he hasn’t even died yet. Human beings sometimes do terrible things.

“What!? The deadly child was captured?”
“Let me see.”
I could see people gathering one after another around Ichikura of Kenzo when I was reminiscing. The deadly child was finally captured who bothered our hands a lot. People who knew it gathered one after another to take a glance at the child’s appearance.

“In short, it is because the aristocrats fear of the gods.”

It was a certain wise man who told me this. It was when I was beggaring in the city one day. That wise man who appeared in a wander, during the answers and questions sitting just in front of me, told me that the origin of “stain” was the fear of aristocrats against gods.
“Of course, there are some cases for the origin of stain such as fears and disgusts against the events. Recognition of death, childbirth, and burning and destruction as impure probably came from there. But…”
The wise man told me turning his sharp eyes on me.

“The best reason of stains being afraid of is because the aristocrats fear the anger of gods.”

The stain, this is also that the aristocrats who visited the emperor’s residence in the inner palace or participated in events to worship the gods hate and avoid most. One touch to the stain prohibits the aristocrats from visiting and they can’t participate in events of the Imperial Court and events to worship the gods until they return to pure body. It is because if the stain was brought to the emperor’s residence, the imperial palace, or the defilement occurs at shrines and other places that are domain of the gods, the emperor would become ill and disasters such as drought would be caused by the gods who were angered by this. Therefore, the aristocrats in particular must be extraordinary sensitive against stains.

I looked at people who were gathering to Ichikura of Kenzo in Higashi city to take a look “the deadly child” recalling the words of the wise man one by one.
“Hey, look at that, it’s a very dirty child.”
“I think its facial expression looked more dying than before.”
“Oh, it makes me feel uncomfortable.”

People are living in a city of chaos, haunted by the demon of affliction.

adsense2

The essence of perception such as “stains” is after all, just the feelings of annoyance and troublesomeness generated by us who live in the unstable society such as “disgusts against death” and “fears against gods” So, such thing has originally no entity and does not exist anywhere.

People persecute the weak one after another, being trapped by annoyance and troublesomeness called the fear against “the stains of death”. What can I say, it’s just another example of human stupidness.

“Don’t come to such a place!”
“Hey, someone, get rid of it fast.”
The words directed to the deadly child are all a barrage of bad words and not a single word of mercy. The Ichiya district, where goods are bought and sold, is also the precinct of the Ichihime Shrine, the guardian deity of the market. Therefore, it might be natural for people to be sensitive to stains. However, it’s also true that we feel like running away when we consider the standing point of the child. In the capital of Kyoto these days has a lot of fires, floods of Kamo River, earthquakes and epidemic and many people ended their lives throwing out on the streets. I hear some people whose owner fell due to political struggles and other factors became thefts in order to survive. That child might be among them. If so, it is not that he would like to steal. It might be that he is doing so compelling to survive.

Refusing to connect with others, they are breaking down the relationships between people cruelly. That is how people are now in this desolate world.

Oh dear, I have no choice.

I scooted up, grabbing a bowl to put things in beside me, put the small amount of food on the broken tray in front of me into the bowl, and broke into the crowd surrounding the child.
“Excuse me, what’s the fuss?”
“Hey, you are Nenbutu monk, Kuya, aren’t you?”
One man in the crowd said so ostentatiously with a contemptuous look at me, too. I have seen the man several times in the market. He is tall, has strong-muscled body, wears a hittatare and a nashiuchi raven hat, and is directing his face with a stubble of beard to me. (Although he has no sword, it is because it is prohibited in the city to enter with swords in order to maintain the safety inside the city.)
“I wonder if you’re trying to mourn the kid with Nenbutu.”
A gasp of laughter goes up all around.
“That’s okay. Hey, kid, go ahead and mourn the kid. I can’t stand the filth of it.”
Someone made a lot of noise.

Nenbutu, it is now used among people as a way to appease and mourn the spirits of the dead. For that reason, Nenbutu is hated and avoided among people as an association of the stains of death. However, it is wrong in a true meaning. Nenbutu of Namu Amida Butu is not only for the mourning of the spirits of the dead. Its essence is in saving the souls of people who live with suffering. Nunbutu is here to save people who are having terrible experiences daily. But it is not the time to explain that. I waded further through the crowd to the front and saw the child.

Continues to “The third movement, Kuya’s merciful lullaby – so let’s walk together- ”.

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Author

じゅうべい(Jubei)
Hello everyone. I am Jubei, an earthling whose energy does not stop today. What I like is playing (manga, movies, music (J-Rock, etc.) and visiting cafes). Thank you for your understanding.