Monogatari Series - Volume 30 - Chapter 1.19

019

Ah, that’s a World Heritage site for you.

Weekday or rainy day, the area around Nikko Toshogu Shrine swarmed with tourists, as if they were undeterred by the weather. In fact, with everyone holding up their umbrellas, the crowd looked even more dense than on a sunny day. There were many families with children around, a sight that, at the moment, felt sore to me.

Even after parking the minivan and getting out, Shinobu stayed behind—well, there might not be crucifixes here, but the shrine is still a sacred place. I guess an aberration would struggle to appear. Or maybe she was just sleepy.

“I’d like to see the ‘see no evil, speak no evil, hear no evil’ monkeys, as one who wished to a monkey paw. I heard that not only the famous Three Wise Monkeys but also the entire life cycle of a monkey is on display here, Araragi-senpai. And, Araragi-senpai.”

“The life cycle?”

“From a baby monkey born to a mother monkey, growing up healthy and strong despite its rebellious phase, and eventually becoming a mother monkey itself. You could say it’s a world view similar to that of Star Wars.”

“I haven’t seen that yet.”

So it’s about mothers and children here as well.

The impact of the Jizo stone statues was so powerful that I hadn’t mentioned it until now, but near the rest area of the Killing Stone, there were also stone statues called Kyouden Hell.

Not just Jizo. Jigoku Hell.

Though the statues were larger and more imposing than the others that were lined up, their inscription was just Hell.

Kyouden likely wouldn’t like to be preached by the likes of an uncultured man like myself, but according to the signboard I managed to read as I dashed through the rain, he kicked away a meal that his mother had prepared for him and suffered the karmic punishment of falling into a hell of boiling hot water so fierce that it incinerated his legs.

Don’t you think the punishment was too harsh?

Also, apparently he had visited the area for its healing waters, but once he arrived, the clear sky clouded over, and thunder shook heaven and earth.

No, I’d like to argue that his punishment might have been too severe, and yes, I too had my fair share of rebelliousness, but I never went so far as to stomp on the food prepared for me.

Being somewhat pampered to begin with, my rebellious phase was rather mild. If I had read that signboard earlier, I wouldn’t have spent the night at that rest stop. All things considered, parent-child relationships seems to be a deeply rooted theme since ancient times.

Not limited to mothers but also fathers.

“I wonder if there aren’t any crab sculptures?”

“Tochigi and Yamanashi Prefectures don’t have a sea, or nasuben would have had crab meat. So, shark dishes, which don’t spoil as quickly, had gained popularity at some point, if the newspaper article I read is accurate.”

“Hmm. You’d think if there were monkeys, there’d be crabs, too. The battle of Senjougahara could’ve been a battle between them, for all we know.”

As we carried on with such conversations, standing in line in the rain and making sure not to lose sight of each other, we arrived at the main hall of Toshogu Shrine. And there, we found, not the famed Three Wise Monkeys, but the sculpture of the Sleeping Cat by Hidari Jingorou.

…Why, though?

We had intended to pay our respects at the main hall about Tokugawa Ieyasu, but somehow had ended up in a different line. But since we planned to see everything in the end, I guess it didn’t matter which order we went in. It was just that it felt as though we had been led here.

“Wow. It’s a much cuter cat than I thought it’d be.”

“I’d say it’s more life-size than I thought it’d be. The sign saying it’s a cat brought to life by the artist really wasn’t lying. It’s so lifelike it seems like it could move any moment. Just seems like it, though.”28

Like I had told Oikura, on the reverse side of the sign hung at the gate, there was a painting of a sparrow—a cat with wings, not a tiger.

Beyond this point, and further on, there seems to be a stairway leading to Futarasan Shrine, famous for its deity of marriage—or for its Takamagahara29 connections. This shrine was also part of the same World Heritage site. However…

“Sorry, Hitagi, Kanbaru. Would you mind going ahead without me for a bit? I want to take a closer look at the cat.”

“Is this part of your job too? With the Hearsay Department?”

“Not exactly…”

I couldn’t constantly bring work on our honeymoon; such a husband might not be much to look forward to. 

“…But, it’s important.”

“All right, then. We’ll wait for you at the top. Let’s go, Kanbaru. To Takamagahara, not Valhalla.”

“Right, I shall accompany you. I was born to bask in this glory.”

Without hearing anything further, the two of them pass through the gate, showing how adept they are with me. But I should be aware that it’s my own bad habit that needs to be dealt with somehow.

I should have consulted them beforehand, not at the last minute.

Even if we made it to the Sleeping Cat ahead of schedule, the moment I tried to put my ludicrous idea into words, it became clear how utterly absurd it was.

In no way intending it to be a surprise, it was simply an inclusion—stepping aside so as not to disturb the waiting line at the tourist destination, and then, once again, facing the sleeping cat.

As I did so, I felt like a promising young lover of culture with something to say about traditional Japanese sculpture, but that wasn’t necessarily the case—this was a kind of ritual that Oshino placed great importance on.

Like a sleeping cat, I gently closed my eyes.

Only a thin veil of eyelids separating truth from illusion.

Then I listened closely, and I began to speak.

Addressing the inner Hanekawa Tsubasa within me.