{
    "export_format": "krp_article",
    "export_version": 1,
    "exported_at": "2026-09-29T16:14:25+00:00",
    "magazine": {
        "id": 2,
        "title": "Kitan Club",
        "slug": null
    },
    "issue": {
        "id": 66,
        "title": "Kitan Club, March 1955 Special Expanded Issue",
        "slug": null,
        "issue_date": "1955-03-01T00:00:00.000000Z",
        "original_filename": "195503.pdf",
        "pdf_page_count": 309
    },
    "article": {
        "id": 218,
        "toc_entry_id": 5533,
        "sort_order": 33,
        "title": "An Old Tale of O-Tengumatsu: The Origin of the Tengu Nose",
        "author": "Midori Takehiko",
        "printed_page_label": "138–147",
        "pdf_page_start": 131,
        "pdf_page_end": 140,
        "original_language": "Japanese",
        "original_text": "「お天狗松、昔噺」\n天狗鼻由来記\n緑猛比古\n三条春彦・画\n\n「兄貴済まねえ、じゃあ遠慮なく頂戴するぜ。今更兄貴に、天狗鼻の由来を話したって始まらねえが、これも酒の肴だ。春の夜の慰さがてら、盃の間でくはつく話すとしようか——」\n\n「あの時もとく、あっしが悪いんだと云えばそれ迄だが……、この道でイカサマを使えば、指をつめるくらいの事は未だやさしい方だ。江戸下谷、車坂の賭場で、このイカサマが曝れた時は、もう駄目かと思ったよ。この辺り一帯は、髯の仁吉親分の縄張りだが、その時の鉄火場のなぶさみは、例の丁半ばくらじゃなくて、余り素人衆のやらねえ大目小目と云う、賽のうち四より六までを大目、一より三を小目と云う、三ツ賽を壺皿に入れて振るやつだった。江戸ッ子はこいつを大目と称んでいるが、上方辺りじゃこの大目小目のバクチを、小目の目を省いて、上の三字だけで呼ぶ変テコリンな呼び方をしているらしいが、こいつは女子衆が恥しがっていけねえ。\n\nあっしは手のこんだ、小目許りの出るカラクリ賽をうまくすりかえて、盆が廻ってくると、二度に一度は使っていたんだ。\n\n見破ったのは、仁吉親分の横に座っていたお吟姐さんだった。これが素を質せば凄い鉄火女で、女ばくら打ちでは姐さんの右に出る者がねえって程の腕だって話だ。何でも太腿の附根にかけて両股一面に、真赤なちらし紅葉が彫ってあるところから紅葉のお吟で通っている女だ。負けがこむと、白い脛からこのちらし紅葉をちらつかせて、紅葉の奥に眼を奪われる野郎共が、うろちょろする間に素早いところ勝を占めようって段取りで、仲間も相当悩まされていた。\n\nそうだ。縁あってか仁吉親分の妾に納まって、その頃は姐さんくと奉まつられて、鉄火場の寺銭を数えていたんだが、乾分共を顎で使って、荒くれ男にもまれているから、あっしなんぞ屁とも思ってやしねえ。\n\nあっしが、例のカラクリ賽を素早く嵌め込んで、今正に壺を掛声諸共あけ様とした時、するどい声で、「お待ち」と云う声がかかって、失敗った！と思って、咄嗟に壺中の賽をすり替え様として手を入れた時、姐さんの白い手が、壺ごとぐっとあっしの手を上から押えていたんだ。\n\n相当に年季の入った、あっしのいかさま賽も、お吟姐さんには飽気なく見破られちまったね。あとはおきまりでさあ——。\n\n何とかその場を繕って、盆はつづけられた様だが、あっしは有金ごっそり捲き上げられた挙句、その場から乾分共に引っ立てられて、ポンと裏の土蔵にほうり込まれた。逃げようったって、いまのいま、若い衆にぐるりと囲まれちゃ、暴れてみたって、どうなるものでもねえ。ええい儘よ——、とごろりと横になって、それからどれ程眠ったか……。\n\n不意に、横っ腹をいやと云う程蹴り上げられて、驚いて飛び起ると、五、六人許り乾分を従えた姐さんが、凄く悩ましい、そのくせ腹の底まで見透かす様な切長な眼付で、じーっとあっしをにらんでいた。\n\n「イカサマを使うと、どういう事になるか、勿論お知りの上だろうねえ——」\n\nあっしは一言もねえ。\n\n「お客ノ衆をだまくらかしたお仕置は、指をつめるくらいじゃ済まされないよ、それくらいは覚悟しているだろうねえ」\n\nと念を押しやがる。あっしも男だ。今更ジタバタした処で始まらねえ。煮るなり焼くなり好きな様にしてくれと、ふて腐れて大胡坐をかくなり、ぐいっと姐さんをにら返してやった。\n\n「フン、いい度胸だよ。見れば少しは苦味走ったいい男じゃないか。あたしや、お前の様ないい男を、責めてく、責め抜くのが大好きと云う因果な性分でねえ。仁吉親分も承知の上で、この役を買って出たのさ——」\n\n洗尻巻に三日月額、抜ける様に色の白いこんないい器量の女が、こんな恐ろしいことを平気で云やがるから、一層ぞーっとして来やがった。こいつは一体どんな目に逢うんだろうと、腹をくくっていたにも拘らず、あっしは胸がドキドキするのを抑えられなかった。\n\n姐さんは乾分共に命じて、あっしの両手首を太い縄の一方でかたく縛らせると、縄の端を土蔵の一抱えもありそうな垂木にかけて、ずるずると引張り上げ、見るく宙にぶら下げた。足の爪先が、床から一尺許りも浮いていたかねえ。\n\n「あたしが呼ぶ迄は、誰も這入ってくるんじゃないよ。いいかえ……」\n\n姐さんは乾分達を土蔵から退出すと、ガラリと重い扉を閉めて、ピチンと内側から錠を下し、扉の網目から内側が覗けない様、ガラクタの戸板を立てかけた上、あっしに近附いて来た。\n\n「さあ、そうく折檻にとりかえるとしようかねえ」\n\n［一部判読不確実］眼付で、あっしの顔を見てから、まるで折檻するのが愉しくて耐らぬかの様に、じわじわとあっしの帯を解き、袷を剥ぎ、腰帯の三尺をぐるぐると外し、最後には褌までも外しちまって、素ッ裸にしてしまいやがった。\n\n「おや、見かけによらず、ふっくらしたいい体をしてるじゃないか——。こいつは責め甲斐があると云うものだよ。もっとも責めたって殺しはしないから安心おし。だけど、チッとは風当りが強いかも知れないから、覚悟はしておくさ。責めるあたしを恨まずに、手前のイカサマ根性をたんと恨んどくがいいさ」\n\n姐さんは、あっしの体をしげしげと眺め、平手でピシャリピシャリと尻っぺたを五、六度ぶってから、［八ツ双ローソクと読めるが判読不確実］の灯を、半分程に減らした蝋燭にうつした。\n\n一瞬明るさをました土蔵中で、姐さんはギラギラ眼を輝かせ、そのローソクをあっしの吊り上げられた足の下に置いたものだ。\n\n炎の熱が、ジワジワとあっしの足許から這い上って来たから耐らねえ。宙ぶらりんの儘、両足を踊めたり、縮めたり、開いたりして、空中で奇妙な天狗踊りをおどった事だろう。それを姐さんは、さも面白そうに、立膝を崩して下から眺めているんだから叶わねえ。思わずあっしは悲鳴をあげたねえ。\n\n「ホホ、大分温ったかくなって来たようだね。未だ春先だから、ちょっと温まる様にとの、あたしの親切な親心なんだよ。余んまりジタバタするのなら、熱くないようにしてやってもいいよ」\n\n姐さんは袂から細引をとり出すと、あっしの足首を片方ずつ別々に縛って、土蔵の板壁に、股が裂ける程ぐっと引っぱって結いつけた。宙に両股が大きく開いた格好で、身動きも出来ず、焦熱からは助かったが、手足がひきつれて喰い込み、千切れる様に痛い。\n\n姐さんは弓折れを拾ってくると、そいつを片手に握った。\n\n「ちょいと若い哥兄さん、これで叩いて、いくつ位まで辛抱出来るかい？」\n\nときやがる。業腹だから、ええい気のすむだけなくれ。叩くだけ叩いて早く降ろ、と怒鳴ってやった。\n\n「ホウ、いくつでもいいのかい、いやに豪儀で威勢のいい哥兄さんだこと。じゃあ、お言葉通り気のすむまで叩かせて頂くことにするよ」\n\nピシリピシリとどれ程叩かれたか。あっしはもう体中の感覚がすっかり鈍ってきたから、いくら叩かれてもましてこたえねえ程に麻痺しきっていたんだ。何だかふわふわと、雲の中を夢中で泳いでいる様な気持だった。ピシリピシリと皮膚にはねかえる弓折の音だけが、うつろにどこか遠くで聞えている。痛いなんて神経は、もうとっくの昔にはし飛んで、うつらうつらと宙で迷っていたのだ。\n\n流石に姐さんも、打擲の手を止めてハアハアと肩で息をし乍ら、しばらく［判読不確実］見つめていた様子だった。が、それもポーッとした、微かな記憶にしか残ってはいねえ。\n\n姐さんは何と思ったか、ソット［判読不確実］とローソクを手に持って、あっしの身体に近づけた。熱さに蠕動する肉体に、ジリジリと毛の焦げるいやな臭いが鼻をついたのを、うっすら覚えているが、それから、どうされたどうなったのかあっしは知らねえ。\n\nザブリと手桶の水を顔に浴びて、あっしはハッと気がついた。いつの間にか体は降されて、土蔵の板間に長く伸びて転がされていた。\n\n股倉がピリピリと熱けつく様に痛みやがる。あっしが気を失ってからも、いろんな悪戯をしたらしい。腹、ヘソの廻りに妙な熱気が催して胸苦しく、体中がカーッと熱をもって腫れ上った様だ。気を失ってから未だいくらも刻が経っていなかったらしい。\n\n「フン、案外意気地なしだねえ。これは未だ未だ序の口だよ。今夜はこれで勘弁しておいてやるけど、明日のお仕置がたんまりと残っているんだから、ゆっくり体を休めとくがいいよ、おまんまだけはお情けで運んでおいたからね」\n\n姐さんは弱りきったあっしを、邪慳に後手に捩じ上げて、縛ると、腕の附根のもげる程に吊り上げ、長く余った縄を首に巻いて乳の上で一結びし、真直ぐに股に通して背に廻し、吊り上げた両手首につないで緊つく結んだ。手を下げると首が締まるし、上げりゃ股倉の焼け爛れが飛び上る程痛むし、身動き一つ出来っこねえ。前屈みになったあっしの体は、吐く息も苦しく、切なくあえいでいた。両脚も揃えて縛られ、その縄尻を大黒柱にまきつけて、解けぬ様上の環で結ぶと、姐さんは白い脛をチラリと覗かせて、ポンと軽く頭を蹴ると黙って出ていって仕舞った。\n\n素ッ裸であっしは、深々と更けて行く夜寒に慄えて、一寸先も見えぬ闇に氷の様な体をソーッと横たえていた。フッと沢庵の匂が微かにしたので首を振ると、顔すれすれの処に、皿にのせて大きな握飯と沢庵の切れっぱしがある事を知ったが、薩張り喰い気も起らず、第一この姿じゃ咽喉を通るもんじゃない。\n\n今迄こらえていたが、辛抱出来ず、その儘の姿でいばりを垂れた。あっしの体を生温かく伝い、それが見る見る冷えて、つめたい体半身を濡らした。\n\nそんな哀れな姿でも、今日一日の極度の疲労に耐えかねて眠むったのか、うなされた我が身の声に眼を開けると、高い明りとりの小窓から、朝の薄陽がさし込んでいた。骨の髄まで、もがれる様に痛み、こんな身動きすら出来ぬ姿で、よくもまあ眠れたもんだと、我乍らつくづく感心したよ。多少か縄目もゆるんではいるが、喰い込んだ縄のため、手足とも、まるで死人のようにつめたく白くなって、何の感覚もなかった。\n\n一人の乾分がねぼけ眼で、扉をあけて這入ってくると、又二ケの握り飯と沢庵を置き、戻りかけたが、何と思ったか、股ぐらを通した縄と首縄をとくと、後手を縛り直してくれた。あっしは死んだ様になって、薄目をあけてその様子を見ていたが、なすが儘に任せていた。奴さん、あっしのたれた尿を見て、鼻をつまんで出て行ってしまった。\n\n夜がくる迄誰一人覗かねえ。もう性根も身体もくたくたになってしまったね。姐さんに縛られたのよりは大分楽だが、後手に変りはねえ。まるで犬の様に口で握飯を噛み、味気ないシャリをほうばっていた。\n\nあっしは又垂れた。こいつ許りは我慢が出来ねえからな。我と我が身で気色悪く、腰の辺りを濡らし乍ら拭いも出来ねえ。悪臭はプーンと鼻をつくし、全く情なくなっちまって、いっそスッキリとあっさり殺された方が、反ってラクな様になって来やがる。\n\n［時刻を示す語が判読不確実］の刻だろうか、遠くで五ツを告げる鐘の音が聞えた頃、姐さんが静かにあっしの前に立っていた。姐さんは大仰に顔をしかめると、\n\n「厭だねえ、とんだ御馳走をなさったじゃないか。フン、そうか、あたしのやった握り飯は不服だから、その腹いせにやったと云うんだね」\n\n「チェッ、勝手にしやがれ。こいつが我慢出来るものならやって見ろい。いくら綺麗な姐さんだって、排すものは同じじゃねえか——」\n\nとあっしは咬呵をきった。\n\n「云ったわねえ、莫迦におしでないよ。その惜しい口を二度と云われぬ様にしてやるから——」\n\n眦をつり上げて姐さんは出て行くと、一人の三ン下を引き連れて戻って来た。二人して縛ったあっしを太黒柱まで引曳っていって、柱を背に、その上から尚も三重四重に柱ごと縛り上げて、一寸の身動きも出来ぬ様にしておいてから、\n\n「半次、こいつにこの御馳走をたべさせておやり」\n\n「へい、どうするんで……」\n\n「莫迦だねえ。そこに落ちている板升で、お客人の御馳走を掬って喰べさせておやりと云っているんだよ」\n\n半次の手が、あっしの口を開こうとするのに耐らず、呼ッと口を開いた瞬間、歯と歯の合間に、姐さんの握っていた鉄火箸が素早くかまされて、半次の野郎は、あっしの下顎に手をかけて、力任せに口を開けさせようとした。\n\n「口を動かすと面倒だから、中へ突っかい棒をしておやり」\n\n半次奴、こじあけた口の中へ、短い木片を差し込もうとしやがった。嫌ッ、死んだって離さねえぞと、ギリギリ力を入れたら、血が口中にたまり、奴のたまげた悲鳴もものかわと、遂に一心は恐ろしいもので、奴の指を噛み切ってしまった。悲鳴をきいてかけつけた乾分が四五人あっしを滅多打ちに、人相が変る程撲ぐった挙句、「こいつめこいつめ」と云い乍ら皆んなでよってたかって、例の御馳走を無理矢理口に押し込み、棒でグイグイ喉の奥へ通してしまった。\n\n「うゝ汚ねえ、ついでに掃除をさしてやろうじゃねえか——」\n\nその声であっしは皆に押えつけられ、後手に縛られた儘這いつくばって、板間にこびりついた御馳走や、［一部判読不確実］を綺麗になめられてしまった。\n\n始終姐さんは、体も動かさずじっとこの態を見ていたねえ。度胸のいい女だよ。\n\n「この糞ッ喰い奴、半次の事を考えりゃ、いくら責めても責めたりねえが……どうしましょう姐さん——」\n\n「いいから、後は私に任せて出て行き」\n\n姐さんの声で、乾分等は渋々、ぞろぞろと出て行った後、\n\n「フフ、［一語判読不確実］美味しかったろうねえ、どれ喉が乾いただろうからいいお茶など差し上げるとしようかねえ」\n\n姐さんは土蔵の二階物置にあがる梯子を、やっとこさ外すと、ドスンと床に横たえて、あっしを仰向けに梯子の上に寝かせ、雁字搦目に縛りつけると、梯子の両端に箱をかませて、床から四、五寸程高くした。あっしの［髪に関する語句の一部が判読不確実］を掴んでサンバラ髪にした姐さんは、それを束ねて梯子の横棒に巻きつけて結え、頭や顔がピタとも動けないのを確かめてから、\n\n「そうそうこれに見られないものを拝ませてやるからね、目を開いてたら罰が当ると云うものだよ」\n\n姐さんはそう云うと、あっしの両眼を指先でコツコツ叩いた。こんな事をされるのだろうと、あっしはもう生きた心地もなかったねえ。\n\n緋ちりめんの湯文字があっしの眼の前で、パッと二つに割れたかと思うと、かねて噂にだけは聞いていた、ちらし紅葉の眼も綾な刺青が、思わずあっしの眼を奪った。姐さんは大胆に、あっしの顔の上に馬乗りになると、さっと、勢よくはね上げたものだ。紅葉の散る岩窟の奥から、温かい泉がシューッと勢よく走り出す音がして、途端に、あっしの口から鼻孔から、苦味のある塩酸っぱいものが、避け様もなく一面に注がれ始めた。\n\nプーンと女くさい匂いがもろうとした脳裡に嗅ぎとられ、あっしは無心でされるが儘になっていた。\n\n「口、口を開けるんだよ」\n\n姐さんの上った声につられて、あっしは思わず口を開いていた。\n\n勢いよく流れ込む、いいお茶を、あっしは無我夢中で顔をしかめ、むせくらせ乍ら、ゴクゴクのど仏をならして、胃袋中へ送り込んでいた。\n\n「どう、さっぱりしただろう。じゃあ又明日のことにして、今夜はこれで引揚るとするよ」\n\n素早く身支度を整えた姐さんは、仇な眼付で、ふっと何故ともなく微笑をういて、あっしを梯子に縛りつけた儘、ようめく足どりで出て行ってしまった。あっしは［女性を評する語句の一部が判読不確実］女の、つくづく変った反面を見せつけられて、この異常な女に、これから先どの様な責めを受けるのかと、そぞろに空恐ろしく、ぐったりと死んだ様になって伸びていた。\n\n入り換り扉の重い音がして、半次がのっそりと這入って来やがった。\n\n「やいやい、よくもよくもおいらの指を噛切ったな、どうするか覚えていろ。姐さんさえ留めなけりゃ、［殺すことを意味する語句、判読不確実］にしてやるんだが」\n\n半次はあっしの髪を大掴みにすると、ゴツゴツと梯子の桟に何回もぶち当てた後、足許の方から梯子を立て掛けて、あっしは梯子に逆さにされたものだから、あっしはうーんと気が遠くなってしまった。\n\n再び息は絶え絶えだった。元の姿勢で寝かされていたが、半次奴が殴りつけたのか、鼻血が顔一面を染めている様で、グズグズと鼻の奥がむず痛かった。馬糞くさい尻切れ草履で、あっしの顔をふみにじりやがったが、あっしの顔ほどひどく歪んで汚れている事だろう。\n\nぼんやりと霞のかった頭に、チカチカと姐さんの仇っぽい艶な眼付が浮んでくるさえ、我乍ら情なく思うのに、あれ程責めさいなんだ姐さんの、白い脛、ちらし紅葉の内股を、うつつ幻に思い浮べるのが、不思議な気持だった。\n\n夜がくると姐さんが重い扉を開けて、独りで這入ってきた。\n\n「おやおや何だいその顔は、折角の色男が台無しじゃないか。火責め、水責めで大分こたえただろう。さあ今夜は、最後のとどめを刺すとしようかね。と云っても命までとは云やしない。このあたしを思い出す様に、チッといい置土産を残しておいてやろうと思ってね」\n\n縄をとかれても、すっかり抵抗する力を無くして、梯子からドサリと丸太の様に転がり落ちたあっしを、姐さんは大黒柱まで引曳って行き、又も身動き出来ぬ様縛りつけると、袂から針の束ねたものと、墨皿をとり出してから、そいつであっしの体をあちこちブツブツ突いて見た。\n\n「まだ大丈夫らしいよ、じゃあ、やるからね」\n\n姐さんはあっしの前に踞み込んで、臍の下一寸許りのところから針先を入れて、墨を含ませては、一気に何かを彫り始めた。プツプツとふき出る血を濡手拭で拭うと、姐さんは懸命に仕事を続けた。もはや痛い、苦しいてな言葉で云い尽せぬ地獄の責苦に、あっしはヒーヒーと泣き続けていた。\n\n「さあ、出来上ったよ、見たいだろう、ホレよく見るがいい……」\n\n姐さんは懐ろ鏡をとり出して、あっしの眼につく様に、今彫った個所を照らしてくれた。天狗の顔の輪廓と、眉、眼の荒彫りがそこに出来上っていたんだ。\n\n「鼻はお前のその立派なので、丁度よく似合う筈だよ。ホホ、我乍らよく出来たこと——」\n\nあっしは本当に泣いてしまったね。何と云うことだ、これじゃ可愛い女にも恥しくって覗かせも出来ゃしねえじゃねえか。\n\n「その鼻が、この天狗にふさわしい状態になった時か、［数語判読不確実］のだろうよ、刺青自慢に出してやりたいくらいだねえ。さあ、あたしのお仕置はこれでお仕舞。と云いたいが、半次の指切りの貸しが未だあったわね。半次の半間な野郎に代って、あたしがおとしまえをつけてあげるよ。いいかい——」\n\n姐さんは凄い笑いを浮べて、大黒柱の後側に廻ると、痺れきって何の感覚もないあっしの指先の、爪と肉との合間に、一本一本先程の刺青の針を抜いては差し込んでいった。ポッポッ血のしたたるのが分っていたが、あっしの指先は既に痺れ切っているのか、さしたる痛みも感じなかった。それより下腹の、一気に仕上げた天狗の上半面の荒彫りの跡が、気の狂いそうな激痛を呼び起していた。姐さんは縄をとくと、バッタリとその場に昏倒したあっしを尻目に、もはや痛い、苦しいといった言葉で云い尽せぬ地獄の責苦に、あっしはヒーヒーと泣き続けていた。\n\n乾分共がドヤドヤと入れ替りに入って来て、\n\n「おや、こいつ意気な文身をして貰ったぜ。女が見たらキャッと騒ぐぜ。ついでにこれからイカサマの出来ねえ様、こいつの腕に『この男いかさま師』と彫り込んでおこうじゃねえか——」\n\nわいわい騒ぐのを、うっすらと微かな意識の中で憶えていたが、乾分共はよってたかって、あっしの右腕にそんな彫り物をした後、爪と肉との間にさし込まれた針はその儘に、裸の上からボロの浴衣一枚かぶせられて、皆にかつがれて、上野山下辺りに捨てられたんだ。\n\nよくもまあこの三日間、生き長らえて来られたと、我乍り感心するよ。\n\nまるで片輪同然の姿だった。運よく情ある人に救われて、指先の傷も癒り、［数語判読不確実］。すっかり江戸の地にゃ気がさし、日本橋を七ツ立ちして、中仙道を西へ西へと突っ走ったが、行く先々の宿場でも、灯の入らねえ時は未だしも、日暮自身気がさして、一向に深間の女が出来っこねえ。天狗がにらんでいたんじゃ、弱い女なら気絶もしねえかね。それでも人の噂は莫迦にゃならねえ。宿場宿場の女のとりどりの噂が、あっしのこの天狗鼻を知っているのか、いつとはなしに宿場女郎や、あっし達仲間がお天狗松と呼ぶ様になった。偶には物好きな女もいて、一度でいいからその天狗鼻でこづかれて見たいなんて吐かしやがる。ええい糞、こうなったら一層逆に、天狗鼻の松、お天狗松で通してやれ、とその気になると気も楽で、別段自慢にもならねえが、隠しもしなくなったと云うわけさ、とんだ天狗鼻の由来さ。\n\nお吟姐さんは、風の便りじゃ、何でもいい情夫が出来て、手をたずさえて仁吉親分のところをすらかって、逃げ廻ってるって噂だ。親分カンカンになって、お吟をつ捕えたら、唯じゃおかないっていってるそうだが、あっしも又いつかあの女と逢う時があれば、このお礼だけはしたいと思ってるね。\n\nいいさまはくちを止めや、おまんまの喰い上げで相変らずだが、それよりか、皮肉な事に天狗鼻が、反ってあっしを一ぱしの色事師にきたへ上げた様で、こいつはイカサマのお陰じゃなかったかと思うほどだ。\n\nいつか田さんに逢った時、礼を云わねばならねえ。紅葉狩に天狗じゃお芝居にもなりかねえが、しっぽりと散らし紅葉にはさまれて、可愛がってもらいてえと、天狗鼻がしきりにねだるのさ。\n\n駿河辺りで、この天狗鼻が一騒動やらかした。こいつはイカサマじゃなかったが、そんな女出入は一悶着や、バッタリと上方でお吟姐さんに出くわしたその時の件りは、又この次に譲るとしましょうかい。どうも兄貴、とんだ散財をかけちまったねえ——。\n\n（第一話　終）",
        "translation_draft": "\"An Old Tale of O-Tengumatsu\"\nThe Origin of the Tengu Nose\nText by Midori Takehiko\nIllustrations by Sanjō Haruhiko\n\n\"Sorry, brother. Then I won't stand on ceremony. There's not much point telling you the origin of this tengu nose now, but it'll serve as something to go with the sake. Since it's a spring night, let me tell you the whole story over our cups.\"\n\n\"You could say it was my own fault, and that would be the end of it. In our line of work, if you're caught cheating, losing a finger is one of the gentler punishments. When my trick was exposed at a gambling den in Kurumazaka, Shitaya, Edo, I thought I was finished. The whole district belonged to Boss Nikichi, the bearded one. What we were playing that night wasn't the ordinary chō-han game. It was a game amateurs rarely played, called Ōme-Kome. With three dice in a cup, four through six counted as ōme, the big numbers, and one through three as kome, the small numbers. Edo men call it Ōme, but up around Kamigata they apparently drop the character for 'small' and call the game by just the first three syllables, which produces a ridiculous expression that makes the women blush.\n\nI'd substituted a cleverly rigged set of dice that came up small numbers almost every time, and whenever the bank came around to me I'd use them about every other throw.\n\nThe person who spotted me was Ogin, sitting beside Boss Nikichi. By nature she was a fearsome gambling woman. They said that among female gamblers nobody could touch her for skill. Across both thighs, all the way to the roots of her legs, she had brilliant red scattered maple leaves tattooed, which was why everyone called her Maple-Leaf Ogin. When she started losing, she'd let those maple leaves flash above her white calves. While the men stared into the maple grove and lost their wits, she'd seize the advantage. She'd caused no end of trouble for the other gamblers.\n\nSomehow or other she'd become Boss Nikichi's mistress. By then everyone treated her like the lady of the house. She counted the house's cut from the games and ordered the underlings around with a tilt of her chin. She'd spent so much time among rough men that a fellow like me didn't amount to a fart in her eyes.\n\nI slipped my trick dice into the cup and was just about to open it with the call when a sharp voice said, \"Wait.\" I knew I'd botched it. I thrust my hand into the cup, trying to switch the dice back, but Ogin's white hand came down over mine and pinned it there, cup and all.\n\nMy cheating dice had fooled people for years, but Ogin saw through them in an instant. After that, things followed the usual course.\n\nThey somehow patched up the game and kept it going, but first they stripped me of every coin I had, then the boys hauled me away and tossed me into the storehouse out back. There was no escaping. With the young men surrounding me, fighting would have accomplished nothing. So I thought, to hell with it, lay down, and I don't know how long I slept.\n\nSuddenly I was kicked so hard in the ribs I shot awake. Ogin was standing over me with five or six men behind her. She had those long, intensely sensual eyes that seemed to see clear through to the bottom of your belly, and she stared straight at me.\n\n\"You know what happens to a man who cheats, don't you?\"\n\nI had nothing to say.\n\n\"Cheating our guests isn't something you settle merely by cutting off a finger. You understand that much, don't you?\"\n\nShe kept pressing me. But I was a man. Squirming now wasn't going to help. Boil me, roast me, do what you like, I thought. I sat there with a defiant cross-legged posture and glared back at her.\n\n\"Hmph. You've got some nerve. And looking at you, you're a fairly handsome fellow. The trouble with me is that I dearly love tormenting a good-looking man like you, tormenting him until I've had my fill. Boss Nikichi knows that, and I volunteered to handle you myself.\"\n\nA woman so fair-skinned and handsome could say something that dreadful as though it were nothing. That chilled me even more. I'd told myself I was prepared for anything, yet my heart started pounding when I wondered what she intended to do.\n\nShe ordered the men to bind my wrists tightly with a thick rope. They threw the free end over a beam in the storehouse, one thick enough to put your arms around, and hauled me upward until I was hanging in midair. My toes must have been a foot or so above the floor.\n\n\"Nobody comes back in until I call. Understand?\"\n\nShe sent the men out, slammed the heavy door, locked it from the inside, and leaned some junk boards against the lattice so nobody could peer in. Then she walked toward me.\n\n\"Now then, let's get down to the punishment.\"\n\nWith an expression I cannot read with certainty in the scan, she looked at my face. It was as though the prospect of punishing me delighted her. Slowly she undid my sash, peeled away my lined robe, unwound the cloth around my waist, and finally removed even my loincloth, leaving me stark naked.\n\n\"Well now. You're plumper than you look. That's a body worth tormenting. Don't worry, I won't kill you. But you may find the weather a little rough, so brace yourself. Don't blame me for hurting you. Blame that cheating disposition of yours.\"\n\nShe examined my body carefully and slapped my backside five or six times. Then she transferred the flame to a candle whose exact printed description is unclear in the scan.\n\nHer eyes glittered in the briefly brightened storehouse as she placed the candle beneath my dangling feet.\n\nThe heat crept upward from my feet until I couldn't stand it. Still hanging in midair, I kicked, drew up my legs, spread them, and must have performed a strange tengu dance in the air. Ogin simply sat below with one knee raised, watching as though it were the finest entertainment in the world. I couldn't take it. I screamed.\n\n\"Ho-ho, warmed up nicely, have you? It's still early spring. Think of this as the kindness of a mother making sure you don't catch cold. If you're going to thrash around that much, I can arrange things so it isn't so hot.\"\n\nShe took thin cords from her sleeve, tied each ankle separately, then hauled my legs apart and fastened them to the storehouse wall until it felt as though my groin would split. I was spared the direct heat, but my legs were spread wide in the air and I could not move. The cords bit into my hands and feet until it felt as if they would tear away.\n\nOgin picked up what appears in the text to be a broken bow and gripped it in one hand.\n\n\"Young fellow, let's see how many blows from this you can endure.\"\n\nThat infuriated me. \"Give me as many as you like. Beat me until you've had your fill, then hurry up and let me down!\"\n\n\"Oh? As many as I like? What magnificent spirit. Very well, young master. I'll take you at your word and beat you until I'm satisfied.\"\n\nI don't know how many times that thing cracked against me. My whole body gradually went numb. Eventually I was so deadened that no matter how often she struck me it hardly registered. I felt as if I were drifting through clouds. Only the snapping sound of the bow against my flesh seemed to reach me from somewhere far away. The nerves that had known pain were already gone, and I floated half-conscious in the air.\n\nAt last even Ogin stopped, panting and breathing through her shoulders as she stared at me for a while. I remember that only dimly.\n\nThen, for reasons I couldn't understand, she took up the candle and brought it close to my body. I dimly remember my flesh writhing from the heat and the unpleasant smell of singed hair reaching my nose. After that, I don't know what she did or what happened.\n\nA bucketful of water struck my face and brought me around. At some point I'd been lowered and was lying stretched out on the storehouse floor.\n\nMy crotch burned and prickled fiercely. Apparently she'd amused herself with me even after I'd passed out. There was a strange heat around my belly and navel, my chest felt tight, and my whole body seemed swollen and feverish. Apparently I hadn't been unconscious very long.\n\n\"Hmph. You're more spineless than I expected. This was only the beginning. I'll let you off for tonight, but there's plenty of punishment waiting tomorrow. Rest while you can. Out of mercy I've even left you something to eat.\"\n\nShe cruelly twisted my weakened arms behind my back and bound me. Then she rigged the rope so that my arms, neck, torso, and groin worked against one another: lowering my hands tightened my neck, while raising them pulled at my burned crotch. I couldn't move an inch. My body bent forward, breathing itself hurt, my legs were bound together, and the rope was secured to the main pillar. Ogin flashed one white shin beneath her clothing, lightly kicked me in the head, and silently left.\n\nNaked, I shivered as the spring night deepened, lowering my ice-cold body into darkness where I couldn't see a foot ahead. A faint smell of pickled daikon made me turn my head. Right beside my face was a plate holding a large rice ball and a scrap of takuan. I had no appetite, and in that position I couldn't have swallowed properly anyway.\n\nEventually I couldn't hold my bladder any longer and pissed where I lay. The warmth ran over my body, then rapidly cooled, leaving half of me wet and cold.\n\nPitiful as I was, the exhaustion of the day must have overcome me. I woke to the sound of my own moaning in a nightmare. Pale morning sunlight was coming through the high window. Every bone in me felt as though it had been torn apart. I couldn't believe I'd managed to sleep at all. The ropes had loosened slightly, but where they had bitten into me my hands and feet were white and cold like a corpse, without sensation.\n\nOne sleepy-eyed underling came in, set down two more rice balls and some takuan, and started to leave. Then he seemed to reconsider. He removed the ropes running through my crotch and around my neck and rebound my hands behind me instead. I lay there like a dead man, watching through half-closed eyes and letting him do as he pleased. He saw the urine I'd left, pinched his nose, and walked out.\n\nNobody looked in again until night. My spirit and body were utterly spent. Being tied with my hands behind me was easier than Ogin's earlier arrangement, but I was still bound. I ate the tasteless rice like a dog, picking up the rice ball with my mouth.\n\nI pissed again. There was no helping that. I disgusted myself, soaking my waist and unable even to wipe myself. The stink filled my nose. I became so miserable that being killed cleanly and quickly seemed almost easier.\n\nAt about the hour indicated by the distant bell striking five, Ogin appeared silently before me. She made an exaggerated face of disgust.\n\n\"What a charming feast you've prepared. Ah, I see. You didn't like the rice balls I gave you, so you did this to spite me.\"\n\n\"Do whatever you damn well like. See if you could endure this yourself. No matter how pretty you are, what comes out of you is the same as anybody else's.\"\n\nThat was my defiant answer.\n\n\"So you said it. Don't make a fool of me. I'll see to it that pretty mouth of yours never says such a thing again.\"\n\nShe stormed out and returned with an underling named Hanji. Together they dragged me, still tied, to the great black pillar and wrapped me to it three and four times over until I couldn't move.\n\n\"Hanji, feed our guest his feast.\"\n\n\"How am I supposed to do that?\"\n\n\"You idiot. Use that scoop lying there. Scoop up our guest's feast and feed it to him. That's what I'm telling you.\"\n\nHanji tried to force my mouth open. The instant my jaws parted, Ogin jammed iron fire-tongs between my teeth. Hanji seized my lower jaw and tried to wrench my mouth open by force.\n\n\"If his mouth keeps moving, it'll be troublesome. Put a brace inside.\"\n\nHanji tried to push a short piece of wood into my pried-open mouth. No, I thought, even if it kills me I won't let go. I clamped down with all my strength. Blood filled my mouth. Ignoring his startled scream, I somehow found the strength to bite off one of his fingers. Four or five men came running at the sound and beat me until my face was hardly recognizable. Then, cursing me, they forced the filthy \"feast\" into my mouth and rammed it down my throat with a stick.\n\n\"Ugh, filthy bastard. While we're at it, let's make him clean up.\"\n\nThey held me down. Still bound behind the back, I was made to crawl and lick clean the filth stuck to the floorboards and another short passage that is unclear in the scan.\n\nThrough all of it Ogin stood without moving, calmly watching. She was a woman with remarkable nerve.\n\n\"This shit-eating bastard bit Hanji's finger off. We could torment him forever and it still wouldn't be enough. What shall we do with him, ma'am?\"\n\n\"Leave the rest to me. Get out.\"\n\nAt Ogin's command the men reluctantly filed away.\n\n\"Heh-heh. Tasty, wasn't it? Your throat must be dry. Let me give you some nice tea.\"\n\nShe removed the ladder leading to the second-floor storeroom, laid it flat with a thud, placed me on my back upon it, and bound me to it hand and foot. She propped boxes under both ends so that the ladder stood four or five inches above the floor. She loosened and gathered my hair, tied it around a rung so tightly that my head and face could not move, and then said:\n\n\"Now then, I'm going to show you something people aren't normally allowed to see. It would be sacrilege to keep your eyes open, you know.\"\n\nShe tapped both my eyes with her fingertips. I had no idea what was coming and scarcely felt alive.\n\nHer crimson chirimen undergarment opened before my eyes. Then I saw the dazzling scattered-maple tattoo I'd only heard rumors about. Ogin boldly straddled my face and raised herself over me. From the grotto among those scattered maple leaves came the sound of a warm spring bursting forth, and an instant later a bitter, salty-sour liquid poured over my mouth and nostrils with no possibility of escape.\n\nThe unmistakable smell of a woman filled my senses. I lay there helplessly and let it happen.\n\n\"Open your mouth. Open it.\"\n\nAt the force in Ogin's voice I opened my mouth without thinking.\n\nThe \"good tea\" poured in. I grimaced and choked, gulping helplessly, my Adam's apple bobbing as I swallowed it into my stomach.\n\n\"There. Feel refreshed? We'll leave the rest until tomorrow. That's enough for tonight.\"\n\nOgin quickly put herself back in order. With that alluring look in her eyes she smiled for no reason I could understand and left, her steps swaying, while I remained tied to the ladder. She had shown me another, deeply strange side of herself. I lay there like a dead man, terrified at what new torment this abnormal woman might devise next.\n\nThe heavy door sounded again and Hanji lumbered in.\n\n\"You bastard. You bit my finger off. Remember this. If the lady hadn't stopped me, I'd have killed you.\"\n\nHe grabbed a fistful of my hair and smashed my head against the ladder rungs again and again. Then he stood the ladder upright from the foot end, leaving me upside down. My consciousness faded.\n\nWhen I came to again I could barely breathe. I had been laid back in the original position. Hanji must have beaten me, because my face was covered in blood from my nose and the inside of my nose throbbed and ached. He must even have ground a manure-stinking, worn straw sandal into my face. I wondered how distorted and filthy I looked.\n\nYet through the haze in my head I kept seeing Ogin's seductive, mocking eyes. I hated myself for it, but after all the torment she had inflicted, visions of her white shins and the tattooed inner thighs with their scattered maples came back to me. It was a strange feeling.\n\nWhen night came Ogin opened the heavy door and entered alone.\n\n\"Goodness, what happened to that face? Such a handsome man, ruined. Fire torment and water torment took a lot out of you, didn't they? Tonight I'll give you the finishing touch. I don't mean kill you. I want to leave you a little souvenir so you'll always remember me.\"\n\nEven after the ropes came off I had no strength to resist. I dropped from the ladder like a log. Ogin dragged me back to the great black pillar and bound me so tightly I could not move. Then she took a bundle of needles and an ink dish from her sleeve and jabbed experimentally at different parts of my body.\n\n\"Looks like you're still sturdy enough. All right. Here we go.\"\n\nShe crouched in front of me and began inserting the needle about an inch below my navel, repeatedly charging it with ink and rapidly tattooing some design. Blood welled up in little beads and she wiped it away with a damp cloth while continuing her work. Pain and suffering were no longer words large enough for that hellish torment. I sobbed and cried continuously.\n\n\"There. Finished. You want to see it, don't you? Look closely.\"\n\nShe took out a hand mirror and angled it so I could see the place she had just tattooed. There was the outline of a tengu's face, its brows and eyes roughly tattooed across my lower abdomen.\n\n\"Your own magnificent nose will suit it perfectly. Ho-ho. I must say, I've done a fine job.\"\n\nI truly cried then. What had she done? I'd never be able to show myself to a woman again.\n\n\"When that nose of yours is in the proper condition for this tengu, it'll complete the effect. I'd almost like to enter it in a tattoo exhibition. Now, I'd like to say my punishment is finished, but we still have the matter of Hanji's finger. Since that fool Hanji is too clumsy to settle the account properly, I'll do it for him. Ready?\"\n\nWith a frightening smile, Ogin went around behind the pillar. My fingertips were already so numb I had almost no feeling. One after another she drove the tattoo needles into the spaces between my fingernails and the flesh. I could see the blood welling, yet whether from numbness or exhaustion I hardly felt the punctures. The roughly tattooed upper half of the tengu on my lower belly hurt far worse, sending waves of pain through me that nearly drove me insane.\n\nEventually the underlings came crowding back in.\n\n\"Look at this. He's got himself a stylish tattoo. The women will squeal when they see it. While we're at it, let's tattoo 'This Man Is a Cheat' on his arm so he won't be able to swindle anyone again.\"\n\nI dimly remember them laughing and shouting. They tattooed something like that on my right arm. Then, leaving the needles between nail and flesh, they threw one ragged yukata over my naked body, carried me away, and dumped me somewhere around Ueno Yamashita.\n\nEven now I'm amazed I survived those three days.\n\nI was practically a cripple. By luck, some kindly people took me in. My fingers eventually healed, though part of the sentence describing my recovery is difficult to read. I had had enough of Edo. I left Nihonbashi at the seventh hour and headed west along the Nakasendō.\n\nAt every post town, things were all right while it was still dark, but by evening I grew self-conscious and couldn't manage to form an intimate relationship with a woman. If a tengu stared at them from down there, a timid woman might faint. But rumors travel. Somehow the women of the post stations heard about my tengu nose, and before long both the inn women and my own companions had started calling me O-Tengumatsu, Tengu-Nose Matsu.\n\nThere were even curious women who'd say, \"Just once, I'd like to be prodded by that tengu nose.\" Well, hell, if that was how things were going to be, I decided to turn it to my advantage. I'd be Matsu of the Tengu Nose, O-Tengumatsu. Once I took that attitude, things became easier. It isn't exactly something to boast about, but I stopped hiding it. And that's the extraordinary origin of my tengu nose.\n\nAs for Ogin, word on the wind says she found herself a good lover, took his hand, slipped away from Boss Nikichi, and has been hiding ever since. The boss is furious. They say that if he catches her he won't let her off easily. If I ever meet that woman again myself, I'd certainly like to repay her kindness.\n\nCheating still leaves a man with an empty rice bowl, but ironically this tengu nose seems to have trained me into something of a ladies' man. I almost feel I ought to thank that cheating episode for it.\n\nIf I ever meet the fellow involved again, I'll have to thank him. A tengu among the autumn maples is practically a theatrical scene, but my tengu nose keeps begging to be lovingly nestled among Ogin's scattered maple leaves.\n\nThis tengu nose caused another commotion around Suruga. That time it wasn't cheating. There was trouble over a woman. And then, in Kamigata, I unexpectedly ran into Ogin again. But I'll save what happened then for next time. Brother, I've certainly made you spend a lot on the drinks tonight.\"\n\n(End of Part One)",
        "translation_final": "\"An Old Tale of O-Tengumatsu\"\nThe Origin of the Tengu Nose\nText by Midori Takehiko\nIllustrations by Sanjō Haruhiko\n\n\"Sorry, brother. Then I won't stand on ceremony. There's not much point telling you the origin of this tengu nose now, but it'll serve as something to go with the sake. Since it's a spring night, let me tell you the whole story over our cups.\"\n\n\"You could say it was my own fault, and that would be the end of it. In our line of work, if you're caught cheating, losing a finger is one of the gentler punishments. When my trick was exposed at a gambling den in Kurumazaka, Shitaya, Edo, I thought I was finished. The whole district belonged to Boss Nikichi, the bearded one. What we were playing that night wasn't the ordinary chō-han game. It was a game amateurs rarely played, called Ōme-Kome. With three dice in a cup, four through six counted as ōme, the big numbers, and one through three as kome, the small numbers. Edo men call it Ōme, but up around Kamigata they apparently drop the character for 'small' and call the game by just the first three syllables, which produces a ridiculous expression that makes the women blush.\n\nI'd substituted a cleverly rigged set of dice that came up small numbers almost every time, and whenever the bank came around to me I'd use them about every other throw.\n\nThe person who spotted me was Ogin, sitting beside Boss Nikichi. By nature she was a fearsome gambling woman. They said that among female gamblers nobody could touch her for skill. Across both thighs, all the way to the roots of her legs, she had brilliant red scattered maple leaves tattooed, which was why everyone called her Maple-Leaf Ogin. When she started losing, she'd let those maple leaves flash above her white calves. While the men stared into the maple grove and lost their wits, she'd seize the advantage. She'd caused no end of trouble for the other gamblers.\n\nSomehow or other she'd become Boss Nikichi's mistress. By then everyone treated her like the lady of the house. She counted the house's cut from the games and ordered the underlings around with a tilt of her chin. She'd spent so much time among rough men that a fellow like me didn't amount to a fart in her eyes.\n\nI slipped my trick dice into the cup and was just about to open it with the call when a sharp voice said, \"Wait.\" I knew I'd botched it. I thrust my hand into the cup, trying to switch the dice back, but Ogin's white hand came down over mine and pinned it there, cup and all.\n\nMy cheating dice had fooled people for years, but Ogin saw through them in an instant. After that, things followed the usual course.\n\nThey somehow patched up the game and kept it going, but first they stripped me of every coin I had, then the boys hauled me away and tossed me into the storehouse out back. There was no escaping. With the young men surrounding me, fighting would have accomplished nothing. So I thought, to hell with it, lay down, and I don't know how long I slept.\n\nSuddenly I was kicked so hard in the ribs I shot awake. Ogin was standing over me with five or six men behind her. She had those long, intensely sensual eyes that seemed to see clear through to the bottom of your belly, and she stared straight at me.\n\n\"You know what happens to a man who cheats, don't you?\"\n\nI had nothing to say.\n\n\"Cheating our guests isn't something you settle merely by cutting off a finger. You understand that much, don't you?\"\n\nShe kept pressing me. But I was a man. Squirming now wasn't going to help. Boil me, roast me, do what you like, I thought. I sat there with a defiant cross-legged posture and glared back at her.\n\n\"Hmph. You've got some nerve. And looking at you, you're a fairly handsome fellow. The trouble with me is that I dearly love tormenting a good-looking man like you, tormenting him until I've had my fill. Boss Nikichi knows that, and I volunteered to handle you myself.\"\n\nA woman so fair-skinned and handsome could say something that dreadful as though it were nothing. That chilled me even more. I'd told myself I was prepared for anything, yet my heart started pounding when I wondered what she intended to do.\n\nShe ordered the men to bind my wrists tightly with a thick rope. They threw the free end over a beam in the storehouse, one thick enough to put your arms around, and hauled me upward until I was hanging in midair. My toes must have been a foot or so above the floor.\n\n\"Nobody comes back in until I call. Understand?\"\n\nShe sent the men out, slammed the heavy door, locked it from the inside, and leaned some junk boards against the lattice so nobody could peer in. Then she walked toward me.\n\n\"Now then, let's get down to the punishment.\"\n\nWith an expression I cannot read with certainty in the scan, she looked at my face. It was as though the prospect of punishing me delighted her. Slowly she undid my sash, peeled away my lined robe, unwound the cloth around my waist, and finally removed even my loincloth, leaving me stark naked.\n\n\"Well now. You're plumper than you look. That's a body worth tormenting. Don't worry, I won't kill you. But you may find the weather a little rough, so brace yourself. Don't blame me for hurting you. Blame that cheating disposition of yours.\"\n\nShe examined my body carefully and slapped my backside five or six times. Then she transferred the flame to a candle whose exact printed description is unclear in the scan.\n\nHer eyes glittered in the briefly brightened storehouse as she placed the candle beneath my dangling feet.\n\nThe heat crept upward from my feet until I couldn't stand it. Still hanging in midair, I kicked, drew up my legs, spread them, and must have performed a strange tengu dance in the air. Ogin simply sat below with one knee raised, watching as though it were the finest entertainment in the world. I couldn't take it. I screamed.\n\n\"Ho-ho, warmed up nicely, have you? It's still early spring. Think of this as the kindness of a mother making sure you don't catch cold. If you're going to thrash around that much, I can arrange things so it isn't so hot.\"\n\nShe took thin cords from her sleeve, tied each ankle separately, then hauled my legs apart and fastened them to the storehouse wall until it felt as though my groin would split. I was spared the direct heat, but my legs were spread wide in the air and I could not move. The cords bit into my hands and feet until it felt as if they would tear away.\n\nOgin picked up what appears in the text to be a broken bow and gripped it in one hand.\n\n\"Young fellow, let's see how many blows from this you can endure.\"\n\nThat infuriated me. \"Give me as many as you like. Beat me until you've had your fill, then hurry up and let me down!\"\n\n\"Oh? As many as I like? What magnificent spirit. Very well, young master. I'll take you at your word and beat you until I'm satisfied.\"\n\nI don't know how many times that thing cracked against me. My whole body gradually went numb. Eventually I was so deadened that no matter how often she struck me it hardly registered. I felt as if I were drifting through clouds. Only the snapping sound of the bow against my flesh seemed to reach me from somewhere far away. The nerves that had known pain were already gone, and I floated half-conscious in the air.\n\nAt last even Ogin stopped, panting and breathing through her shoulders as she stared at me for a while. I remember that only dimly.\n\nThen, for reasons I couldn't understand, she took up the candle and brought it close to my body. I dimly remember my flesh writhing from the heat and the unpleasant smell of singed hair reaching my nose. After that, I don't know what she did or what happened.\n\nA bucketful of water struck my face and brought me around. At some point I'd been lowered and was lying stretched out on the storehouse floor.\n\nMy crotch burned and prickled fiercely. Apparently she'd amused herself with me even after I'd passed out. There was a strange heat around my belly and navel, my chest felt tight, and my whole body seemed swollen and feverish. Apparently I hadn't been unconscious very long.\n\n\"Hmph. You're more spineless than I expected. This was only the beginning. I'll let you off for tonight, but there's plenty of punishment waiting tomorrow. Rest while you can. Out of mercy I've even left you something to eat.\"\n\nShe cruelly twisted my weakened arms behind my back and bound me. Then she rigged the rope so that my arms, neck, torso, and groin worked against one another: lowering my hands tightened my neck, while raising them pulled at my burned crotch. I couldn't move an inch. My body bent forward, breathing itself hurt, my legs were bound together, and the rope was secured to the main pillar. Ogin flashed one white shin beneath her clothing, lightly kicked me in the head, and silently left.\n\nNaked, I shivered as the spring night deepened, lowering my ice-cold body into darkness where I couldn't see a foot ahead. A faint smell of pickled daikon made me turn my head. Right beside my face was a plate holding a large rice ball and a scrap of takuan. I had no appetite, and in that position I couldn't have swallowed properly anyway.\n\nEventually I couldn't hold my bladder any longer and pissed where I lay. The warmth ran over my body, then rapidly cooled, leaving half of me wet and cold.\n\nPitiful as I was, the exhaustion of the day must have overcome me. I woke to the sound of my own moaning in a nightmare. Pale morning sunlight was coming through the high window. Every bone in me felt as though it had been torn apart. I couldn't believe I'd managed to sleep at all. The ropes had loosened slightly, but where they had bitten into me my hands and feet were white and cold like a corpse, without sensation.\n\nOne sleepy-eyed underling came in, set down two more rice balls and some takuan, and started to leave. Then he seemed to reconsider. He removed the ropes running through my crotch and around my neck and rebound my hands behind me instead. I lay there like a dead man, watching through half-closed eyes and letting him do as he pleased. He saw the urine I'd left, pinched his nose, and walked out.\n\nNobody looked in again until night. My spirit and body were utterly spent. Being tied with my hands behind me was easier than Ogin's earlier arrangement, but I was still bound. I ate the tasteless rice like a dog, picking up the rice ball with my mouth.\n\nI pissed again. There was no helping that. I disgusted myself, soaking my waist and unable even to wipe myself. The stink filled my nose. I became so miserable that being killed cleanly and quickly seemed almost easier.\n\nAt about the hour indicated by the distant bell striking five, Ogin appeared silently before me. She made an exaggerated face of disgust.\n\n\"What a charming feast you've prepared. Ah, I see. You didn't like the rice balls I gave you, so you did this to spite me.\"\n\n\"Do whatever you damn well like. See if you could endure this yourself. No matter how pretty you are, what comes out of you is the same as anybody else's.\"\n\nThat was my defiant answer.\n\n\"So you said it. Don't make a fool of me. I'll see to it that pretty mouth of yours never says such a thing again.\"\n\nShe stormed out and returned with an underling named Hanji. Together they dragged me, still tied, to the great black pillar and wrapped me to it three and four times over until I couldn't move.\n\n\"Hanji, feed our guest his feast.\"\n\n\"How am I supposed to do that?\"\n\n\"You idiot. Use that scoop lying there. Scoop up our guest's feast and feed it to him. That's what I'm telling you.\"\n\nHanji tried to force my mouth open. The instant my jaws parted, Ogin jammed iron fire-tongs between my teeth. Hanji seized my lower jaw and tried to wrench my mouth open by force.\n\n\"If his mouth keeps moving, it'll be troublesome. Put a brace inside.\"\n\nHanji tried to push a short piece of wood into my pried-open mouth. No, I thought, even if it kills me I won't let go. I clamped down with all my strength. Blood filled my mouth. Ignoring his startled scream, I somehow found the strength to bite off one of his fingers. Four or five men came running at the sound and beat me until my face was hardly recognizable. Then, cursing me, they forced the filthy \"feast\" into my mouth and rammed it down my throat with a stick.\n\n\"Ugh, filthy bastard. While we're at it, let's make him clean up.\"\n\nThey held me down. Still bound behind the back, I was made to crawl and lick clean the filth stuck to the floorboards and another short passage that is unclear in the scan.\n\nThrough all of it Ogin stood without moving, calmly watching. She was a woman with remarkable nerve.\n\n\"This shit-eating bastard bit Hanji's finger off. We could torment him forever and it still wouldn't be enough. What shall we do with him, ma'am?\"\n\n\"Leave the rest to me. Get out.\"\n\nAt Ogin's command the men reluctantly filed away.\n\n\"Heh-heh. Tasty, wasn't it? Your throat must be dry. Let me give you some nice tea.\"\n\nShe removed the ladder leading to the second-floor storeroom, laid it flat with a thud, placed me on my back upon it, and bound me to it hand and foot. She propped boxes under both ends so that the ladder stood four or five inches above the floor. She loosened and gathered my hair, tied it around a rung so tightly that my head and face could not move, and then said:\n\n\"Now then, I'm going to show you something people aren't normally allowed to see. It would be sacrilege to keep your eyes open, you know.\"\n\nShe tapped both my eyes with her fingertips. I had no idea what was coming and scarcely felt alive.\n\nHer crimson chirimen undergarment opened before my eyes. Then I saw the dazzling scattered-maple tattoo I'd only heard rumors about. Ogin boldly straddled my face and raised herself over me. From the grotto among those scattered maple leaves came the sound of a warm spring bursting forth, and an instant later a bitter, salty-sour liquid poured over my mouth and nostrils with no possibility of escape.\n\nThe unmistakable smell of a woman filled my senses. I lay there helplessly and let it happen.\n\n\"Open your mouth. Open it.\"\n\nAt the force in Ogin's voice I opened my mouth without thinking.\n\nThe \"good tea\" poured in. I grimaced and choked, gulping helplessly, my Adam's apple bobbing as I swallowed it into my stomach.\n\n\"There. Feel refreshed? We'll leave the rest until tomorrow. That's enough for tonight.\"\n\nOgin quickly put herself back in order. With that alluring look in her eyes she smiled for no reason I could understand and left, her steps swaying, while I remained tied to the ladder. She had shown me another, deeply strange side of herself. I lay there like a dead man, terrified at what new torment this abnormal woman might devise next.\n\nThe heavy door sounded again and Hanji lumbered in.\n\n\"You bastard. You bit my finger off. Remember this. If the lady hadn't stopped me, I'd have killed you.\"\n\nHe grabbed a fistful of my hair and smashed my head against the ladder rungs again and again. Then he stood the ladder upright from the foot end, leaving me upside down. My consciousness faded.\n\nWhen I came to again I could barely breathe. I had been laid back in the original position. Hanji must have beaten me, because my face was covered in blood from my nose and the inside of my nose throbbed and ached. He must even have ground a manure-stinking, worn straw sandal into my face. I wondered how distorted and filthy I looked.\n\nYet through the haze in my head I kept seeing Ogin's seductive, mocking eyes. I hated myself for it, but after all the torment she had inflicted, visions of her white shins and the tattooed inner thighs with their scattered maples came back to me. It was a strange feeling.\n\nWhen night came Ogin opened the heavy door and entered alone.\n\n\"Goodness, what happened to that face? Such a handsome man, ruined. Fire torment and water torment took a lot out of you, didn't they? Tonight I'll give you the finishing touch. I don't mean kill you. I want to leave you a little souvenir so you'll always remember me.\"\n\nEven after the ropes came off I had no strength to resist. I dropped from the ladder like a log. Ogin dragged me back to the great black pillar and bound me so tightly I could not move. Then she took a bundle of needles and an ink dish from her sleeve and jabbed experimentally at different parts of my body.\n\n\"Looks like you're still sturdy enough. All right. Here we go.\"\n\nShe crouched in front of me and began inserting the needle about an inch below my navel, repeatedly charging it with ink and rapidly tattooing some design. Blood welled up in little beads and she wiped it away with a damp cloth while continuing her work. Pain and suffering were no longer words large enough for that hellish torment. I sobbed and cried continuously.\n\n\"There. Finished. You want to see it, don't you? Look closely.\"\n\nShe took out a hand mirror and angled it so I could see the place she had just tattooed. There was the outline of a tengu's face, its brows and eyes roughly tattooed across my lower abdomen.\n\n\"Your own magnificent nose will suit it perfectly. Ho-ho. I must say, I've done a fine job.\"\n\nI truly cried then. What had she done? I'd never be able to show myself to a woman again.\n\n\"When that nose of yours is in the proper condition for this tengu, it'll complete the effect. I'd almost like to enter it in a tattoo exhibition. Now, I'd like to say my punishment is finished, but we still have the matter of Hanji's finger. Since that fool Hanji is too clumsy to settle the account properly, I'll do it for him. Ready?\"\n\nWith a frightening smile, Ogin went around behind the pillar. My fingertips were already so numb I had almost no feeling. One after another she drove the tattoo needles into the spaces between my fingernails and the flesh. I could see the blood welling, yet whether from numbness or exhaustion I hardly felt the punctures. The roughly tattooed upper half of the tengu on my lower belly hurt far worse, sending waves of pain through me that nearly drove me insane.\n\nEventually the underlings came crowding back in.\n\n\"Look at this. He's got himself a stylish tattoo. The women will squeal when they see it. While we're at it, let's tattoo 'This Man Is a Cheat' on his arm so he won't be able to swindle anyone again.\"\n\nI dimly remember them laughing and shouting. They tattooed something like that on my right arm. Then, leaving the needles between nail and flesh, they threw one ragged yukata over my naked body, carried me away, and dumped me somewhere around Ueno Yamashita.\n\nEven now I'm amazed I survived those three days.\n\nI was practically a cripple. By luck, some kindly people took me in. My fingers eventually healed, though part of the sentence describing my recovery is difficult to read. I had had enough of Edo. I left Nihonbashi at the seventh hour and headed west along the Nakasendō.\n\nAt every post town, things were all right while it was still dark, but by evening I grew self-conscious and couldn't manage to form an intimate relationship with a woman. If a tengu stared at them from down there, a timid woman might faint. But rumors travel. Somehow the women of the post stations heard about my tengu nose, and before long both the inn women and my own companions had started calling me O-Tengumatsu, Tengu-Nose Matsu.\n\nThere were even curious women who'd say, \"Just once, I'd like to be prodded by that tengu nose.\" Well, hell, if that was how things were going to be, I decided to turn it to my advantage. I'd be Matsu of the Tengu Nose, O-Tengumatsu. Once I took that attitude, things became easier. It isn't exactly something to boast about, but I stopped hiding it. And that's the extraordinary origin of my tengu nose.\n\nAs for Ogin, word on the wind says she found herself a good lover, took his hand, slipped away from Boss Nikichi, and has been hiding ever since. The boss is furious. They say that if he catches her he won't let her off easily. If I ever meet that woman again myself, I'd certainly like to repay her kindness.\n\nCheating still leaves a man with an empty rice bowl, but ironically this tengu nose seems to have trained me into something of a ladies' man. I almost feel I ought to thank that cheating episode for it.\n\nIf I ever meet the fellow involved again, I'll have to thank him. A tengu among the autumn maples is practically a theatrical scene, but my tengu nose keeps begging to be lovingly nestled among Ogin's scattered maple leaves.\n\nThis tengu nose caused another commotion around Suruga. That time it wasn't cheating. There was trouble over a woman. And then, in Kamigata, I unexpectedly ran into Ogin again. But I'll save what happened then for next time. Brother, I've certainly made you spend a lot on the drinks tonight.\"\n\n(End of Part One)",
        "translator_credit": "KRP",
        "article_summary": "This comic-erotic first-person tale explains how a gambler nicknamed O-Tengumatsu supposedly acquired his famous \"tengu nose.\" After being caught using loaded dice in an Edo gambling den, the narrator is handed over to Ogin, a formidable female gambler and mistress of the local boss. Ogin subjects him to an escalating sequence of rope restraint, suspension, heat, beating, humiliation, forced ingestion, urination, and finally punitive tattooing. She tattoos the upper portion of a tengu face across his lower abdomen so that his penis serves as the tengu's long nose, while the gang additionally marks him as a cheat. The narrator survives, flees Edo, and discovers that the grotesque punishment paradoxically gives him a sexual reputation among women, producing the nickname O-Tengumatsu. Historically, the story is notable for the way a mid-1950s Kitan Club fiction blends Edo-period underworld language and gambling lore with explicitly sadomasochistic spectacle, rope restraint, female sadism, tattoo imagery, bodily humiliation, and bawdy sexual humor. Ogin's scattered-maple thigh tattoo and the genital tengu tattoo make the story especially dependent on visual and bodily motifs rather than on bondage technique alone.",
        "research_notes": null,
        "translation_notes": "The visible byline on PDF page 131 credits 緑猛比古 for the text and 三条春彦・画 for the illustrations. I have therefore used \"Midori Takehiko\" as the author and \"Sanjō Haruhiko\" as the illustrator. This conflicts with the supplied metadata naming Sanjō Nahiko as author; the PDF itself appears to make Sanjō the illustrator, not the writer. The reading \"Midori Takehiko\" for 緑猛比古 is plausible but should be checked against Kitan Club contributor records.\n\nThe narrator speaks throughout in strongly colloquial Edo-style masculine speech, using forms such as あっし, ねえ, やがる, and 兄貴. The translation preserves this as rough, conversational first-person narration without attempting a specific English regional dialect.\n\n責め is translated as \"torment\" or \"punishment\" according to context. Here it refers explicitly to deliberate physical torment rather than blame or reproach.\n\n鉄火場 denotes a gambling den, with 鉄火女 suggesting a bold, hard-edged woman accustomed to such environments. 乾分 means a subordinate or gang underling. 三ン下 is a low-ranking underling. 寺銭 is the house's cut or commission from gambling.\n\nThe dice game 大目小目 is described within the story itself: values four through six are 大目 and one through three 小目. The narrator makes a bawdy joke about an alternative Kamigata abbreviation whose exact comic force depends on the Japanese wording.\n\nThe phrase ちらし紅葉 refers to Ogin's tattoo of scattered red maple leaves extending across her upper thighs and groin. The story repeatedly uses the maple imagery euphemistically when referring to her genital region.\n\nThe sequence involving the crimson 湯文字, her straddling the narrator's face, the \"warm spring,\" and the sarcastic \"good tea\" is an explicit urination humiliation scene. The translation states this clearly where the Japanese euphemism becomes unmistakable.\n\nThe climax is a visual pun on 天狗鼻, \"tengu nose.\" Ogin tattoos the eyes, brows, and outline of a tengu face immediately above the narrator's genitals so that his penis becomes the tengu's characteristically long nose when erect. This tattoo becomes the origin of his nickname お天狗松, rendered here as O-Tengumatsu or Tengu-Nose Matsu.\n\nSeveral isolated words and short phrases are difficult to read because of scan quality and older typography. These have been marked rather than silently reconstructed. The transcription otherwise follows the visible substantive article on PDF viewer pages 131-140 and excludes running heads, printed page numbers, and unrelated neighboring material.\n\nUncertain readings:\n- The author byline 緑猛比古 is read here as \"Midori Takehiko,\" but the pronunciation is not supplied in furigana and should be confirmed against contributor records.\n- The supplied metadata gives the author as \"Sanjō Nahiko,\" but the visible PDF byline instead reads 三条春彦・画, apparently \"Illustrations by Sanjō Haruhiko,\" while 緑猛比古 is credited as the writer.\n- A short descriptive phrase immediately before Ogin begins undressing the narrator on PDF page 133 is indistinct.\n- The exact compound describing the candle on PDF page 133 appears to include 八ツ双ローソク, but the first portion is not fully secure.\n- A short phrase describing Ogin's expression or movement after the beating on PDF page 134 is indistinct.\n- The time-of-day term before the distant bell striking five on PDF page 136 is not fully legible.\n- A short phrase in the forced-cleaning passage on PDF page 136 is indistinct.\n- One word in Ogin's sarcastic remark about the forced meal on PDF page 137 is unclear.\n- A phrase concerning the narrator's hair while he is secured to the ladder on PDF page 137 is not completely legible.\n- A short epithet describing Ogin's character on PDF page 137 is unclear.\n- The exact violent verb in Hanji's threat on PDF page 137 is difficult to distinguish, although the sense is that he would kill or brutally finish the narrator.\n- A few words in Ogin's remark about how the completed tengu tattoo would look when the narrator's penis is erect on PDF page 139 are unclear.\n- A short sentence describing the narrator's physical recovery after being abandoned near Ueno on PDF page 139 is partially illegible.\n- The phrase \"洗尻巻に三日月額\" on PDF page 132 is visually readable but culturally and lexically unusual; its exact nuance in describing Ogin's appearance warrants specialist review.\n- The object read as 弓折れ and used to beat the narrator on PDF page 134 appears to mean a broken piece of bow, but the specific object should be checked against the scan and period vocabulary.\n\nMissing or illegible text:\n- PDF page 133: a short descriptive phrase preceding the undressing scene is not reliably legible.\n- PDF page 134: one short phrase after the prolonged beating and another brief movement phrase involving the candle are not reliably legible.\n- PDF page 136: a short phrase in the forced-cleaning humiliation sequence is obscured or too indistinct for confident transcription.\n- PDF page 137: several isolated words concerning the narrator's hair, a description of Ogin, and Hanji's threat are not fully legible.\n- PDF page 139: a few words in Ogin's description of the finished genital-tengu tattoo and a short phrase concerning the narrator's later recovery are not fully legible.",
        "research_status": "published",
        "translation_status": "approved",
        "translation_updated_at": "2026-08-17T16:40:17+00:00",
        "translation_reviewed_at": "2026-08-17T16:40:17+00:00",
        "translation_reviewed_by": "Zetsu",
        "translation_approved_at": "2026-08-17T16:40:17+00:00",
        "translation_approved_by": "Zetsu",
        "created_at": "2026-08-17T17:27:08+00:00",
        "updated_at": "2026-09-04T05:52:24+00:00"
    }
}