The Man-Eater Vase (by Nakano Tomoki)

The thing that Hyoutarou, the young owner of the antique shop Tenkodou, had dug up at the market was a celadon porcelain called the Man-Eater Vase. Not a particularly large vase, it was decorated with a lotus-flower pattern. It was Ru ware(*), so Northern Song… he reckoned it had seen roughly nine hundred years pass. Well, that was an era well-suited to counterfeits.

Setting aside for the moment the matter of authenticity, the interesting thing about this vase was the legends concerning it. As the Man-Eater Vase’s name indicated, it was said to swallow people whole. If you were to look inside it in the depths of the night, you would be pulled in. It was unknown whether this was the reason or not, but the vase’s mouth was covered in thick white mulberry paper, secured with a cord wound around it several times.

You could say that it was the sort of clichéd tale that might show up in Journey to the West(*), and leave it at that. But, since there are people in this world with a fondness for this sort of curiosity, the events of its sale make an interesting story.

Old man Kasamatsu from Setagaya was one such person. The matter was settled quickly in a phone call from him, at twice the cost price. But, the old man being as busy as he was, he couldn’t come for the vase right away, so they arranged for it to be held at the Tenkodou for three or four days.

With that settled, the only troubling thing remaining was the aforementioned Man-Eating legend. Even if you thought it wouldn’t resolve anything, it was human nature to think about peeking inside the vase just once and see what happened. On the first night Hyoutarou was able to fall asleep without incident, but on the second day he couldn’t get the matter of the vase out of his head.

He went to bed thinking that the best response to this would be to fall asleep early, but sleep didn’t come. Finally, after tossing and turning a long time, he heard the bells ringing two o’clock.

This was going to interfere with tomorrow’s business. There was nothing to do but to go look inside the Man-Eater Vase. After all, it was just a story told to frighten children. Just go confirm that nothing happens, and that’s the end of it.

That’s what you’d think, but in the end it took nearly another hour of warming his futon before he got up the determination. The truth is that Hyoutarou was of a deeply superstitious nature.

Well, it was after three when, little by little, he worked up his nerve. Slipping out of his futon, Hyoutarou went and sat cross-legged in front of the Man-Eating Vase. He himself could see that the hand he used to undo the cord was shaking. He was unable to work up even a forced smile; it was a pathetic scene.

At the end of a hard internal battle he had the seal off, but didn’t look in right away. No, he couldn’t. After firmly grasping a support beam so that he’d be alright even if it tried to pull him in, and after another struggle, he finally looked inside.

…

Nothing happened. Just as you’d expect.

With that, all the strength suddenly went out of his body. How ridiculous. With a sudden stubbornness, Hyoutarou seized the vase with both hands and this time took a good close look inside it.

It was then that he saw a bit of white paper stuck on the floor of the vase. It looked like there was something written on it.

What on earth?

Lighting up the inside of the vase with an electric lamp, he found that on the paper was written,

“No Vacancy.”

Well, it had been swallowing people down for nine hundred years, so it stands to reason. But nonetheless it really was a man-eating vase.

<+ + +>

呑人壺　－　中野智樹

　骨董店、天鼓堂の若き主人飄太郎が市で掘り出して来たのは「呑人壺」なる青磁の壺。蓮花の文様を施したさして大きくもないこの壺。汝窯というから、北宋……ざっと九百年近い時を経ているという勘定である。まあ、その辺りの話は相当に眉唾ではあるが。

　物の真贋はひとまず置くとして、面白いのは、この壺にまつわる言い伝えだ。

　呑人壺の名が示す通り、この壺、人を一呑みにすると言われている。深夜、この壺を覗き込むと壺の内に引き摺り込まれると言う。

　そのせいか、否かは知らないが、壺の口には奉書紙を被せ、紐でぐるぐる巻きに結わえてある。

　西遊記にでも出て来そうな陳腐な話だと言ってしまえばそれまでか。

　と、言う訳で、曰く付きの品ではあるが、世の中にはこうした物に目のない物好きがいるから、この商売も面白い。

　世田谷の笠松老人なんてのもそのひとり。電話を入れると仕入れ値の倍であっさり折り合いがついてしまった。ただ、老人もそれなりに忙しいと見えて、直ぐに壺を引き取れないと言う。三、四日、天鼓堂で預かると言うことで話はまとまった。

　さて、そうなると気になるのは例の人呑みの伝説である。何を下がらないとは思っても、一度壺の内を覗いて見たいと思うのが人情。最初の晩は何事もなく寝入ったが、二日目になると壺のことが頭から離れない。

　これは早く寝てしまうに限ると床に入ったが、まんじりともしない。結局、寝返り打って二時の鐘を聞いた。

　これでは明日の商売に差し支える。ここは一つ呑人壺を覗いて見るより手はあるまい。どうせ、子供騙しの戯言だ。何も起こらないのを確認すればそれで済む。と、思っては見たものの、決心がつくまでさらに小一時間も布団を温めている始末。飄太郎、実は意外と迷信深い質なのである。

　さて、漸く決心がついたのが三時過ぎ。もそもそと布団から抜け出した飄太郎は、呑人壺の前に胡座をかいた。

　紐を解く手が震えているのが自分でも分かる。作り笑顔もままならないのが何とも情けない話である。

　悪戦苦闘の末に封を解いたが、直ぐには覗かない。否、覗けない。引き摺り込まれても平気なように柱にしっかり摑まって、やっとの思いで覗き込んだ。

　「………」

　何も起こらない。当たり前である。

　そうなると急に総身から力が抜けてしまった。何だ馬鹿馬鹿しい。にわかに強気になった飄太郎は壺を両手で抱え込んで今度はしげしげと覗き込む。

　すると、壺の底に何やら白い紙が貼り付けてあるのが見える。それに何やら文字が記されている様子。

　何だろう？

　電灯で壺の中を照らして見ると、紙にはこう書かれてあった。

　「満員札留メ」

　九百年も人を呑んでりゃ、さもありなん。

　それにしても人を喰った壺である。