Donryusama and the Three Prayers

A long time ago, in a house near Ota, a baby girl was born. Unfortunately, just after this baby was born, her mother died. Eventually, the father remarried and it was left up to his new wife to raise the child.

Being deprived of her natural mother so soon after birth, the child was rather weak and sickly. The step mother did not like the child and did not want to care for her. “This kid is always sick!” she complained.

The father went to Donryusama in Ota to pray that his little girl would thrive. Donryusama is the name that many folks use to refer to Daikoin, the famous temple that was built by Ieyasu Tokugawa to honor his ancestors. Donryu was the name of the first head priest of the temple who was known for his kindness and concern for the welfare and education of the local children. Many people still go to the temple to pray for the health and well being of their children.

“Please make my little girl healthy.” the father prayed. While he was at the temple, he spoke to the head priest and told him of his daughter’s plight.

“Perhaps it would be best if you left your daughter in the care of the monks here at the temple. They will raise her until she reaches the age of seven, and then she can return home.” the priest offered. The father agreed that this would be best and left his daughter in the care of the monks of Donryusama.

Seven is a special age for little girls here in Japan. In the old days when there was no modern medicine, many children died young of disease or starvation. If a child lived to the age of seven she had survived most of the diseases that kill young children and had a good chance of reaching adulthood. That is why there is a special celebration held for daughters when they reach their seventh year.

So the little girl lived at the temple for a time. The monks took good care of her, and taught her many things. When she returned to her father’s house, she was like a different person; strong and healthy and happy.

The father was so pleased that he decided to go to the temple to offer his thanks. “Why don’t you leave the child with me while you make the trip” the step mother said in a kindly voice.

“All right, I will. I’m counting on you to take good care of her.” replied the father as he departed for the temple. When he arrived at Donryusama, he warmly thanked the priests for their kindness. Before he left to return home he received three prayer cards to take home with him and tucked them securely into the front of his kimono.

As he passed through the gate of the temple he noticed that the prayer cards had disappeared. He went back into the temple for more, but as he was leaving, the same thing happened. Once again he returned for more prayers. Thinking it strange when the same thing happened again as he tried to leave, he decided to talk to the head priest about it.

“This is very strange indeed.” the priest told him. “This must mean that something bad is happening at your home. I advise you to return home without delay.”

Upon hearing the priest’s words, the father was filled with dread. He took off for home, running for dear life. When he reached his house, he could find no sign of either his daughter or her step mother. His frantic search led him to the bath house where he found something strange.

The fire used to heat the bath water had been stoked and was burning hotly. The cover was on the bath tub as usual, but there was a large stone resting on the cover as if to weigh it down. His dread increased as he rolled the stone from the tub and lifted the cover. When he looked into the tub, he found himself looking into the face of his rather confuse and frightened, but otherwise healthy daughter.

Relieved, he pulled his daughter from the tub. After the shock and confusion of the moment had passed he started to think about how strange the situation was.

Placing his hand in the water, he felt the water was cool to the touch. With the fire blazing beneath the bathtub, his daughter should have been boiled alive. He examined the tub closely and saw that there were three pieces of paper floating in the water. The father fished them out of the water and found that they were the very same prayer cards that had disappeared from his kimono as he passed through the gate at Donryusama.

Apparently, his wife had decided to kill her step daughter, but the mysterious disappearance of the prayer cards had alerted him to the danger so that he could rush home in time to rescue his little girl. The three prayer cards that had disappeared from his kimono had materialized in the tub to protect his daughter from the scalding water and certain death.

“Thank you!” the father said as he bowed his head. “Thank you!”

*****

Here in Japan, when a young woman marries the oldest son of a family, she goes to live in the family home to help her husband take care of his parents as they grow older. She is known as a ‘Yome.’ Now, Japanese mothers take a lot of pride in their sons, especially the oldest son, and this can cause a lot of friction between a Yome and her mother-in-law, called a ‘Shutome’. Japan is full of stories about this complicated relationship. Here is one that I like to call…