Mimi Nashi Hoichi by Patrick Gannon

Mimi Nashi Hoichi

Patrick Gannon

Mimi Nashi Hoichi

hand cut paper + washi / wood

30.5 x 20.3 x 0.5 cm (12.01 x 7.99 x 0.2 in)

$1,200

Lafcadio Hearn collected many tales of the weird in books such as "Kwaidan". Mimi Nashi Hoichi is one such story. (You can find the full story online.) Below is a summary, but Hearn spins it so well that it deserves to be read in full.

Hoichi was a young, talented and poor biwa player. He was also blind. While staying with a local priest, Hoichi is summoned to play for a personage of great importance. He does, with great (and slightly odd) success, and is invited back to play again. It turns out that his audience are ghosts, and since he has already been tricked by them once, they have some power over him. Recognizing the danger, the priest instructs his acolytes to write the Hannya-shin-kyo (a Buddhist script) on Hoichi's body. They do so, and when the ghost comes to summon Hoichi that night, all he sees are Hoichi's ears. Which the ghost then takes, to prove to his master that he has done his duty. Unfortunately, the ears were still attached to Hoichi. The acolytes had forgotten to write anything on Hoichi's ears, rendering them visible to the ghost. Poor, blind Hoichi managed to keep quiet the whole time too. Good man.

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