tobacco & the devil

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The Devil and Tobacco

A K U T A G A WA R Y U N O S U K ~

translated from he Japanese by Edwin McClellan

TOBACCO IS A PLANT that once was not to befound in Japan. Written records unfortu-nately do not agree as to when it was broughtin: some say during the Keich6 era, andothers, the Temmon era. There seems littledoubt, however, that by the tenth year ofKeicho, tobacco was known in variousplaces, and that in the Bunroku era, it be-

came universally popular.Moreover, historians seem not at all cer-tain of the identity of the person that intro-duced i t to us. According to some, it was aPortuguese, and according to others, itwas a Spaniard. But there is also a legendwhich tells us that i t was without doubt thedevil himself that gave us tobacco. We aretold in this legend that t he devil was broughthere by a Jesuit priest: this priest being

none other than St. Francis Xavier.As I say this, I realize that I may dis-please those of the Christian faith; I cannotbut confess, however, that the legend seemsto me to be telling the truth. After all, is itnot only natural that with the god of theWest, the devil of the West should havecome too? And that with the good thingsof the West, must also come the bad things?

I cannot prove, either to my own satisfac-tion or to yours, that the devil actually didbring tobacco with him. But it may interestyou to know that Anatole France, in one ofhis books, tells us that once the devil triedto tempt a priest with a sprig of mignonette :in the face of such evidence, who can knowwith certainty that those who say the same

devil brought tobacco into Japan a re li ars?And even if the story is indeed a lie, it per-haps contains greater truth than we may atfirst suspect.

Such are my thoughts, then, as I beginto tell you the legend of the devil andtobacco.

It was in the eighteenth year of Temmonthat the devil, disguised as one of thebrothers in the company of St. Francis,arrived in Japan after a long journey acrossthe sea. The disguise was made possible bythe fact that in some port-perhaps it wasMacao-one of the brothers had stayedashore too long, and the ship, with the restof the company aboard, had sailed awaywithout him. His absence was not noticed,

and the devil, who was hanging upside-down from the yard-arm by his tail, watch-ing all the while for such a chance to ap-pear, quickly changed his form to that ofthe missing brother, and became St. Francispersonal attendant. This was quite easyfor one so accomplished in the ar t of dis-guise as the devil, who could transformhimself into a magnificent gentleman wear-ing a red coat when visiting Dr. Faust.

Surprise awaited him when he first set footin Japan. Marco Polos writings had ledhim to believe that al l the streets of Japanwere paved with gold; but even after acareful search, he could not find one suchstreet. He was, however, pleased rather thandisappointed; for now he could hope to

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tempt the Japanese with gold, which hecould produce easily enough by rubbinghis thumb-nail against a cross. Also, i t

seemed that Marco Polo had told anotherlie, when he said that the Japanese knew away of regaining lifc afte r death throughsome magical use of pearls or some othergem. The devil saw they were a s othermortals, and was pleased. It would be easy,he thought, to spread an epidemic by spit-ting into their wells; and if they sufferedbadly enough, they surely would soon for-get their priests.

Such were his happy thoughts, then, ashe walked behind St. Francis through thestreets of Japan. There was one difficulty,however, and even the devil could do noth-ing about it. For it was only a short whilesince the arrival of the company in Japan,and St. Francis had not yet had the timeto spread the teachings of Christ or to makeany converts. And without converts, thedevil had no one t o tempt. He found him-

self becoming bored, and began to wonderwhat he could do to pass the time.

After giving the problem of his growingboredom much thought, he finally decidedto while away the hours in gardening.Luckily, he had brought with him manydifferent seeds, carefully hidden in hisears. He could easily hire a neighboringfield for that purpose; besides, St. Franciswholeheartedly approved of his attendants

plan. He was under the impression that hissubordinate had brought over the seedswith honorable intent, such as growingmedicinal herbs.

Having borrowed the necessary imple-ments, the devil began to cultivate withgreat energy a field by the roadside.

The time was early spring, when the airis heavy with dew, and as the devil worked,he could hear the sleepy bnnm. of a bell

carried gently over the floating mist fromsome distant temple. The sound was quiteunlike that of the Western church bells,to which he had become accustomed, andwhich had seemed to him so unpleasantlypiercing. But even in such a restful atmos-phere, he could not feel at peace.

Every time the distant bell sounded, thedevil would grimace, as though it gave himgreater displeasure than the bells of St.

Pauls, and would set himself to workharder than before. For he found that whatwith the soothing sound o f the bell andthe warm sunshine, he was lapsing into astate of pleasant lethargy. He did not mindbeing too lazy to do good, but he saw thatif he was not careful, he would lose all de-sire to do evil, and so fail in his mission,which was to lead the Japanese into tempta-tion. Therefore the devil, who hated manual

labor, worked with the hoe in his uncal-loused hands, so that he might rid himselfof his desire to sleep.

Finally, after many days on the field, hewas able to draw the seeds out of his ears,and to plant them.

Some months passed, and the seedssprouted, and the stems grew; and by theend of the summer, large, deep green leaves

covered the entire field. But there was noone who could te ll the name of the plant.And even when St. Francis asked him whatthe plant was that grew in the field, thedevil said nothing. He merely smiled, in aknowing and somewhat oily manner.

Then, there began to appear pale blueflowers that were shaped like a funnel; andperhaps because they were the result ofhis own labor, he appeared to be very

pleased with them. Every day, after hisdays work was done, he would go to thefield, and tend the flowers.

One day, during St. Francis absence-he had gone away for a few days on a mis-sion-a certain cattle-trader happened topass by the field, leading a cow. And hesaw, over the fence, a foreigner dressed inthe black clothes of a religious order, stand-ing among his flowers, and busily picking

bugs off the leaves. The cattle-trader wasmuch taken with the flowers, the like ofwhich he had never seen before; so hestopped, and taking off his hat, politelyaddressed himself to the foreigner.

Pardon me, sir priest, but what is thename of the flower?

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The brother turned. He seemed to thetrader to be a pleasant-looking foreigner,with a small nose and small eyes.

Oh, you mean this.Yes, sir.The brother leaned over the fence,.and

shook his head. Then, in halting Japanese,he said:

I am sorry, but I cannot tell anyonethe name of this flower.

I see. Perhaps it was master Francisthat forbade you to tell?

No, that is not so.

Well, in that case, wont you be goodenough to tell me? As you see, I have beenreceiving instruction from master Francis,an d am now of your faith, So saying, thetrader pointed proudly at his chest. A brasscrucifix hung f rom his neck, shining bright-ly i n the sun. Scowling slightly-it mayperhaps have been the glare-the brotherlowered his eyes for a moment; then hebegan to speak a little more familiarly, in

a tone half serious and half playful.I am afraid not. You see, it is against

the law of my country to tell anyone. B utwhy dont you try and make a guess? YouJapanese are a very intelligent people, andIm sure that your guess will be right. Andif it is, 111 give the produce of this entirefield to you.

I t is likely that the cattle-trader thoughtthe brother was pulling his leg. With an

exaggerated ai r of concentration, he cockedhis head to one side. There was a smile onhis sunburnt face.

I wonder what it is, he said. I dontthink I can give you the answer rightaway.

Oh no. Theres no hurry. Ill give youthree days to think of an answer. I wontmind if you go and ask someone else. Andif you guess right, Ill give you all this,

and some foreign wine besides, or if youwish, a nice religious picture.

Th e cattle-trader seemed a little surprisedat the brothers earnestness.

But what if I guess wrong?The brother laughed. And his laugh was

so sharp and crow-like, that it gave thecattle-trader a momentary shock.

If your guess is wrong, you can give me

something. Why dont we make it a bet?Dont forget, if you are right, youll geteverything thats in this field.

Well, all right. Ill give you anythingyou ask for.

Anything? Even that cow?Oh yes. If you want it, Ill give it to

you right now.Laughing, the cattle-trader stroked the

cows head. He seemed to persist in think-ing that it was all a joke on the part ofthe good-natured brother.

But i f I win, you must give me allthose plants.

All right, its a promise then.Certainly, its a promise. And Ill

swear by the name of our holy master,Jesus Christ.

When he heard this, the brother seemedvery pleased. His little eyes were shiningas he grunted contentedly. Then, restinghis left hand on his hip, he began to caressa nearby flower with his other hand.

If you guess wrong, I shall have yourbody and soul. And so saying, he drewhimself up, and took off his broad-brimmedhat with a majestic sweep. Growing out ofhis thick curly hair were two horns, likethose of a mountain-goat. The cattle-traderturned pale, and dropped his hat on theground. At the same time, perhaps becausethe sun had gone down, the flowers andleaves in the field lost their brightness.Even the cow, as though afraid of some-thing, hung its head, and began to low.

A promise is a promise, even whenits made to me. And dont forget, youswore by the name of someone I myselfcannot mention. We shall meet again whenthree days have passed. Well, fare thee well,my dear sir.

And so saying, he bowed in mock polite-ness.

< C

The cattle-trader was of course extremelysorry that he had so unwittingly thrownhimself into the devils hands. Now, it

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tobacco & the devil

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