The Love of a Silver Fox: Folk Tales from Seki CIty Read online

PART ONE: FAILURE

  Once upon a time, there was a young man named Kokichi who lived alone on a mountain near a small village in Japan. Making bowls and dishes from wood was his job, but his dream was to carve wooden masks for the Noh plays the temples put on every year. Whenever he had a free moment, he tried carving those faces, but he knew none of them was ever good enough. Time and time again, he ended up using the smashed pieces for firewood.

  One day in the summer, having enough bowls to sell for a while, Kokichi tried again. But the story was the same. The mask just wasn’t good enough. Frustrated, he smashed it against his tools and went outside to cool off.

  "Why can't I do it?" Kokichi asked, pulling his hair in handfuls as he wandered around his garden. He was so upset he didn’t even notice the huge storm that was blowing in, with black clouds, thunder, lightning and sheets of rain. He could make the faces in his head, but whenever he tried to copy them in wood, they disappeared.

 

  Suddenly, a young girl came near Kohkichi. Soaked from the rain, she had a bundle of firewood on her back.

  "Will you help me?" she asked him. "I'm so cold."

  "Of course," he said. "Come into my house."

  Quickly, he made a fire from the scraps of his broken masks and helped the girl get dry. She was very beautiful, he thought. It was like there was a fire in his heart, too.

  "Wait here," he told her. "Dry your kimono beside the fire. I'll bring you some food."

  Kohkichi went outside to his garden and picked some radishes.

  "Who is she? Where is she from?" he asked himself. She was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. He took the radishes and some firewood for the fire and went back into the house. He was happy. The girl was still there. He thought maybe he was dreaming.

  "My name is Kohkichi," he told her.

  "I'm Sayo," she said. "I live at the foot of this mountain. You want to make masks, don't you?" she asked. She had seen his tools and broken masks while he was outside.

  "My father says they need new masks for the Noh play at Kasuga Shrine this New Year. They need two masks, the faces of a young boy and girl. Why don't you try?"

  "I’d like to,@ Kohkichi said. ABut my masks aren't good enough."

  "Saemon, my father, says he knows the winner will come from our village. He just doesn’t=t know it yet."

  "Saemon? Saemon is your father?" Kohkichi was surprised. Saemon was a very famous sword maker. If he thought he could do it, maybe he could. Suddenly, Kohkichi was excited. He had an idea. He would make a new mask. He would make a mask of Sayo's face.

  "Can you come here every day?" he asked her. "I want you to model for me."

  "Me?" Sayo said. She couldn't believe it. Kohkichi thought she was beautiful. Her face turned red and her heart was beating very fast.