The Gods of Long Evening

          Koshin had a great round stomach and calves that resembled gourds. He went abroad in clothes usually favored by travelers or farmers; a simple robe of woven hemp, wine stained and dusted from walking. The hat he wore was an almost comically wide kasa, folded down to both sides. He carried a walking stick of curled ash and whistled loudly as he made his way west on the road from the village of Matsutake.

          Koshin had passed an old couple leading mules a while back, but other than that, the road belonged to him. In the distance he could see a small road shrine and sitting beside it, he spied a young woman of sixteen or so sets, her light brown hair in braids and she had eyes that were black, deep as wells. She was dressed in a dark green tunic with tiny yellow cross-hatches stitched into the trim, and as Koshin approached the girl, he noted that she seemed confused and a touch lost. When she caught sight of his approach, she rose timidly to her feet and hailed him.

          He nodded in way of return. 

          "Excuse me, sama(sir). I have a curiosity you may be able to help me with." she said to him as he stopped.

          "You may call me Koshi-san, young lady. Tell me then, what is the nature of your curiosity." 

          "I.. last night. I was walking this road and was hurt by four boys from Matsutake. They came out of these woods and beat me. They.." she doubled over in tears.

          Koshin knew what had happened, nothing on this road or any others passed without his knowledge.

          He placed an arm around her and she pushed him away. He nodded and his own eyes began to glisten with sympathy. 

          "I am here to help you, O' Hisako." he said quietly.

          "Yes, that is my name. I had forgotten." she sat down roughly into the road and wept into her sleeves. He made no move to disturb her and when next she looked up, her eyes were red and her face filthy. 

          "Tell me what happened as best as you can, O'Hisako." he said, sitting himself down beside her.

          The sun was dipping towards the top of the trees and he knew that very quickly, day would become night.

          She sat not saying anything, nor did he press her. Instead he drew little shapes into the red dust of the road and hummed softly to himself. And as the shadows of dusk claimed the land, she said in a low voice, "I am in love with a man from Matsutake. We are to be married."

          He looked up and said, "Ahhh. What is this young man's name?"

          "Aito. And he is my affection."

          "I see." he said.

          "I live in the village of Nijiretta Matsu, up ahead. Have you been there before?" she asked.

          "I have indeed," he said slowly. "Good sake´."

          "My mother may have served you, she is a spirit maid in our village. She is tall and pretty, her hair is my color, but shorter." she said, holding up a braid, "Her name is Sumire."

          "Hmmm. Perhaps she has. I am not very good with the names of townspeople."

          "You know my name." she thought a moment, "Why do you know my name?"

          "Well now, there are very few people who walk or ride these roads whom I do not know the names of." 

          "I see." she replied, though the look on her face suggested that she did not.

          "Tell of Aito. What did he do?" he asked, and resumed drawing designs in the dirt.

          "He loves fishing! He fishes with his father and uncles on the banks of the Midori River and will become tradesman in less than two seasons. He is a set older than me and we have known each other our whole lives." she smiled when she said it and Koshin smiled with her. 

           "He is the most beautiful boy I have ever known and he loves me." she added.

           His smile faltered somewhat and he looked away and westwards to the hills as the sky soaked up the light and color of the waxing sun.

           "O'Hisako, there is something I must tell you." 

           "I know." she replied simply, " I am dead."

           "Hai. And it happened a long time ago."

           "I understand, everything looks so different now. How long ago?" she asked.

           "Exactly one hundred sets to the day." he answered.

           She began to cry again.

           "He is dead also." she stated. Koshin nodded his head in agreement. Fireflies slid out of the grasses and into the air. Fireflies are friends to travelers. This means that they are loyal to this man with his strong legs and walking stick of twisted ash. He whistled, almost sighing; and a stream of them came to the shrine and stayed there, lighting their conversation.

           "Oh." she said as they settled into place, and then, "How did he die?"

           "He died an old man. Would you like to see him?" he asked. 

           This startled her. "Is this even possible?"

           "Hai, time is different on the outskirts of life. Afterwards, you will have a decision to make and it will not be easy. Seeing him will not be easy." 

           "Please, I must." she said, putting her hand on his wrist.

           "Very well."

           They rose and he looked about them. "I should warn you that this may be.. disorientating."

           Before she could respond, he inhaled deeply and began to whistle a low, deep note. He held it and let it build louder and louder. Abruptly he stopped and with it, everything around them stopped too. Only for a moment. He slammed his walking stick into the road and everything began racing backwards. Day and night blurred as one, creating a strange half-light as people riding or walking sped backwards on their travels, moving so quickly she could not say what or who moved on the road. She watched the seasons fly by in recession and saw the forest and the landscape shrink little by little.

           Then it all stopped suddenly and it was a bright autumn morning beside the shrine which looked newer. An old man sat cross-legged before it and late summer flowers covered the altar.

          Hisako knew the tired looking old man to be Aito as soon as she saw him. It had to do with his shape, or the air around him perhaps. She looked to Koshin and he bowed to her slightly. Koshin brought his walking stick down gently and the world around them began to move all at once.

           Aito was singing softly with his eyes closed. 

           "Aito!" Hisako exclaimed. He did not move. She called his name again, yet he remained still and softly singing. Koshin put a hand on her shoulder and said, "He lives - you do not. He cannot see or hear you."

           Koshin stood there as she moved to Aito, sitting beside him and putting her arms around him. He felt so solid while she herself felt wispy and light in comparison. She could smell him and it made her think of a dried riverbed. He was sick and she could see it ripple off of him in faint, dark waves. Though he did not respond, she held him tighter and found herself filled with more love than she had ever felt.

           Hisako sang with him, a song they would often sing together. For her it seemed like yesterday, she wondered if it were the same for him.

           She could feel the energy of him fade as he began to fall asleep, and she vowed to herself that she would stay right there to watch over him.

           His song had faded and still she held him.

           A young man with light hair and on horseback approached them, slowing as he came upon Aito, who remained slumped forward and dozing.

           The man had keen black eyes and the saddle he rode in was new. With good nature he called, "Forgive my interruption, sama! May I offer help in any way?"

           The man clearly did not see Koshin or Hisako, but his mare did, and nuzzled Koshin's outstretched hand.

           Aito woke for a moment and shook his head, waving in front of him as if an insect had landed on his face. The man on horseback laughed and pushed his mount forward, "Be well then." he said, and continued down the road. 

           Koshin raised his stick in blessing and the horse wickered in acknowledgement.

           The day wore on and no one else had came down the road to disrupt the them. Sunset came and went and still Hisako sat beside Aito, holding him and imagining how their lives would have been had she lived. What their children may have looked liked. What sort of an old woman she would have become. 

           Then night came and the crescent moon had revealed itself, a thin silvered fish in an ocean of stars. 

           Aito brought his hand up to rest his hand on hers.

           "I knew you would come for me." he said.

           Her face had been buried in his neck and when she raised up she was looking into Aito's eyes, not into the tired eyes of an old man, but into the ones she remembered so well. Playful and sharp. In her arms was the Aito she had left.

           Her face lit up. "You see me?"

           "Hai." he said calmly, "I always see you when I dream."

           "Aito.."

           He looked to his left and saw beside him, the body of an old man laying on his side in the dirt.

           "Oh." he said.

           Aito chuckled, and to Hisako, it was the best sound she had ever heard.

           Koshin cleared his throat and they both turned to look at him. "This is master Koshi-san. He has been helping me with my.."

           "Transition." Koshin finished for her, smiling. It was very dark now, but both Hisako and Aito could see everything as if it were illuminated. 

           Aito said, "Ahh, master Koshin, the lord of travelers and great kami of the roads." He bowed to one knee.

           Koshin helped him up and placed a hand on his arm. "Indeed. I am also a friend to you and O'Hisako. Come, let us walk for a while."

           The three of them began to walk the road towards Hisako's village and he told them, "Originally, I had come to find O'Hisako. On the day of her death, you Aito, built the shrine behind us. Everyday for one hundred sets someone had passed by it and honored it in some way, be it a quick prayer, a  flower, a crust of bread, some toy - always something. The shrine becomes a vessel and when that vessel fills up, the awareness who it honors is called back to make a choice."

           "What is the choice?" Hisako asked.

           "Hmm. You may stay as a spirit and this road from Nijiretta Matsu to Matsutake, will be yours to care take for good or ill, though I think you will be a compassionate spirit. Your awareness in terms of area, will stretch from Nijiretta Matsu to Matsutake, and nothing will happen on this road without  entering that awareness."

           Hisako thought a moment. "And I may move through time the way you did?"

           "Clever." Koshin went on, "From the day the shrine was erected just after your death, to the moment you decide to stop being the kami of this road. That will be the area of time which you will take care of as well. Again, everything that happens in that time will be a part of your awareness."

           "So I could not return to stop the boys who killed me or to punish them." she stated.

           "That is correct." Koshin said. " It begins the moment the shrine builder stands back and says that it is complete. As for the boys who did this to you, three of them were caught and drowned after trial, as is the custom of this prefecture. The fourth boy escaped into the forest."

           "He escaped, true; but a week later, some people found his body not far from here. They say that during a storm, he must have hid under a tree and fell asleep. A branch had broke off in the night and fell on him, killing him." Aito said.

           "It is as you say, Aito-san." Koshin replied slowly. He went on, "It is easier to travel to points in the past that you are familiar with. The future is a little more difficult because there are so many." he frowned. "I can tell by your look that this is somewhat overwhelming. With experience, the understanding of it all will become easier."

           "And I can only be seen by those who have died?" she asked him.

           "That is a rule only if you are dead yourself. Once you are kami, you may do as you wish, however, you will find that your influence is stronger the closer you are to your shrine. I should also caution you to be careful with what you do and how often you do it. Many times people will stop using a road and create a new one if they are afraid of the spirit who roams it."

           Aito spoke. "What will become of me, my lord Koshin?" 

           Koshin looked at him, took off his kasa and ran a hand over his scalp, then replaced the hat. "Hmm." he said, "It is fortunate that you died on the road so that I may intervene."

           He looked at them both. "I am, of course, greatly moved for the love you have for each other. Aito, you did not marry after the death of O Hisako, and that faithfulness must be rewarded. You may stay together until the road vanishes or you both should wish to quit this place and find yourselves ready to move on."

          They both bowed deeply and rose smiling. The gray of dawn had begun to show in the east and he looked out towards it.

          "I will stop by now and again on my travels to look in on you both. If you should have some great need of me, simply place a hand on your shrine and whistle." he went on, "Now I must go, I have a great yearning to walk and this sort of work always leaves me thirsty."

          He nodded to them and took up his shrine which was the staff of curled ash, and began to whistle, walking off down the road at a leisurely pace. They reached for each others hands and watched him until he disappeared beyond a bend. They moved to embrace each other and as the sun rose, they both vanished.

          Not long after this, the young man on his mare from the day before, happened down the road, finding the village of Nijiretta Matsu to be less promising than he had hoped.

          He saw the body of old Aito laying very still in front of the shrine and sat in his saddle for a while, thinking. He patted his mare on the neck then slid down and crouched beside the body. The young man looked up to the shrine and read aloud "Hisako Hisamatsu." then he looked to the lifeless man in the road.

          "I see you were in love, old sama." he said. He thought to himself that it was an honor to return a dead man home, but letting one ride in your saddle seemed an invitation to all sorts of misfortune. He undid his saddle and set it upside down in the grass, deciding that he would carry it to town. After draping the body of Aito over his mare, the young man took up the reigns and led them towards the village of Matsutake.

                                                                 

          Iesada knew he deserved to die. It had been a week since he had watched his friends beat to death a girl on the road. He was the first to run off, leaving his friends to be found by the people of the village whom that girl belonged to. He didn't try to stop them for fear that they would beat him, but that did nothing to quell his shame. He was afraid to die and so decided to try living from the forest. He had found the carcass of a kurikyn, a sort of deer that ranged in this part of the forest. He could make fire with flint and steel to stay warm and cook what kurikyn he could carry, but he couldn't find water except sometimes in the hollows of logs, and this only barely quenched his need to drink.

          After a week of wandering, mostly lost, he came to a road cutting through the forest. Iesada waited until night, so as not to chance encounter some wayfarer who might have known about what had happened and had a description of him. As soon as it became good and dark, he followed it until he came to a shrine beside the road. It was newly made of river stones and red clay with a small peaked roof of woven pine boughs. 

          Such roadside shrines often had a half bucket of sorts attached to the side to collect rain water, with a small tin cup tethered by a chain, so that a passerby might have a drink while giving prayer to the stand.

          In the dark, he could see that there was indeed one and it had water in it. He smiled and licked at his dry and swollen lips, dipping the cup into the water. He held the cup up before him and said "I give thanks."

          Just as he brought the cup to his lips, it was furiously slapped out of his hand by something unseen.

          Iesada recoiled; and falling into the road, he looked about and realized where he was. When he got to his feet, he looked in fright at the shrine and saw Hisako standing next to it holding the cup, her face a mask of anger. 

          She seemed to grow.

          He fled from the road and into the edges of the forest. The trees were spaced out in such a manner that when he ran towards them, each one turned into a tree-sized Hisako, dressed in her dark green tunic with the yellow cross-stitches, her face and limbs white from death. Each version of her would bend down towards him pointing a long finger, silently screaming. Instead of words coming out of her mouth, great gusts of icy air would issue forth and throw him to the ground where he would jump up and run until another giant Hisako tree would blow him to the ground, pointing a long, pale finger at him.

          Finally he fell and could not move, terrified beyond reason. He lay on his back, pinned down from the freezing cold blasts of her breath, the tip of her long finger descending to touch his chest.

          He lay there paralyzed as her long, white finger punctured his linen vest and then his skin. She slowly pushed the sharp tip of her finger completely through his chest until it came out of his back, and pierced the forest floor beneath him. It is said that his scream was heard a league away.
          When Iesada was found, he was on his back with a pine branch sticking some twelve or thirteen feet out of him.

                                                 
                                                                   

       
          The road side shrine between Nijiretta Matsu and Matsutake has ever since been dedicated to Hisako and Aito. It has become a popular place for lovers to come and ask for blessings; and it is said that those who share a kiss in front of it and drink of the water, stay together always.


the gods of long evening © 2012 blue christian winterhawk