A long time ago, in the province of Tamba, there lived a rich merchant named Inamaria Gensuki. He had a daughter called Osono. As she was very clever and pretty, he thought it would be a pity to let her grow up with only such teaching as the country teachers could give her. So he sent her, in care of some trusty attendants, to Kyoto, that she might be trained in the polite accomplishments taught to the ladies of the capital.
After she had thus been educated, she was married to a friend of her father's family, a merchant named Nagaria, and she lived happily with him for nearly four years. They had one child, a boy. But Osono fell ill and died in the fourth year after her marriage. On the night after the funeral of Osono, her little son said that his mama had come back, and was in the room upstairs.
She had smiled at him, but would not talk to him, so he became afraid and ran away. Then some of the family went upstairs to the room which had been Osono's, and they were startled to see by the light of a small lamp which had been kindled before a shrine in that room, the figure of the dead mother. She appeared as if standing in front of a tonsu, or chest of drawers, that still contained her ornaments and her wearing apparel. Her head and shoulders could be very distinctly seen, but from the waist downwards, the figure thinned into invisibility.
It was like an imperfect reflection of her, and transparent, as a shadow on water. Then the folk were afraid and left the room. Below, they consulted together, and the mother of Osono's husband said, A woman is fond of her small things, and Osono was much attached to her belongings. Perhaps she has come back to look at them.
Many dead persons will do that, unless the things be given to the parish temple. If we present Osono's robes and girdles to the temple, her spirit will probably find rest. It was soon agreed that this should be done as soon as possible, so on the following morning, the drawers were emptied, and all of Osono's ornaments and dresses were taken to the temple. But she came back the next night, and looked at the tonsu as before, and she came back also on the night following, and the night after that, and every night, and the house became a house of fear.
The mother of Osono's husband then went to the parish temple, and told the chief priest, all that had happened, and asked for a ghostly council. The temple was a zen temple, and the head priest was a learned old man known as Dagenosio. He said, there must be something about which she is anxious, or in or near that tonsu. But we emptied all the drawers, replied the woman, there is nothing in that tonsu.
Well, said Dagenosio, tonight I shall go to your house, and keep watch in that room, and see what could be done. You must give orders that no person shall enter the room while I am watching, unless I call. Bet MGM is an official sports betting partner of the National Hockey League, and has everything for the action on the ice. Hockey fans in Canada can play live bets, create same game parlays, take player props on their favorite skaters, and bet on the 2026 Stanley Cup Champion, including if that team will be from Canada or the USA.
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Bet MGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with iGamingOntario. After sundown, Degan Osho went to the house and found the room made ready for him. He remained there alone, reading the sutras, and nothing appeared until the hour of the rat. Then the figure of Osono suddenly outlined itself in front of the tonsu.
Her face had a wistful look and she kept her eyes fixed upon the tonsu. The priest uttered the holy formula prescribed in such cases, and then, addressing the figure by the cameo of Osono, said, I have come here in order to help you. Perhaps in that tonsu there is something about which you have reason to feel anxious. Shall I try to find it for you?
The shadow appeared to give a scent by a slight motion of the head, and the priest, rising, opened the top drawer. It was empty. Successively, he opened the second, the third and the fourth drawer. He searched carefully behind them and beneath them.
He carefully examined the interior of the chest. He found nothing, but the figure remained gazing as wistfully as before. What can she want? Thought the priest.
Suddenly, it occurred to him that there might be something hidden under the paper with which the drawers were lined. He removed the lining of the first drawer, nothing. He removed the lining of the second and third drawers, still nothing. But under the lining of the lowermost drawer he found, a letter.
Is this the thing about which you have been troubled? He asked. The shadow of the woman turned toward him. Her faint gaze fixed upon the letter.
Shall I burn it for you? He asked. She bowed before him. It shall be burned in the temple this very morning, he promised, and no one shall read it, except myself.
The figure smiled and vanished. Dawn was breaking as the priest descended the stairs, to find the family waiting anxiously below. Do not be anxious, he said to them, she will not appear again, and she never did. The letter was burned.
It was a love letter written to Osono in the time of her studies at Kyoto. But the priest alone knew what was in it, and the secret died with him. This is a Japanese ghost story from a book called, Quite On, which loosely means ghost story, written by a man named La Fadio Hearn around the turn of the 20th century. It stood out to me as I was thumbing through some old stuff, because it hits all the right notes for a classic haunting.
You have a daughter of a man who really wants the best for his daughter, and so he sends her off. Now we don't know if that's really what she wanted or not, but that's what happened. She falls in love with someone in this new world and has a son. And she dies a few years later.
The ghost is stuck in a room, obviously emotional about something. That's a very common thread, even with ghost stories today. The ghosts remain behind because of some powerful emotional connection that can't be stopped even by death. Notice even her son is afraid of her at this point, unless she's not really doing anything.
So the power of the ghost just being there is overwhelming. This reminds me of a couple previous episodes I did, the one about Theoros' Bridge and another one about the Sally House haunting in Kansas. Where the apparitions stuck around because of an emotional connection to an event or something that happened in that area, and they can't move on. But even if they aren't necessarily doing something to somebody, which isn't always the case, sometimes they get violent, the presence of them is cold and ominous and foreboding.
So even though her son recognizes the ghost as his mom, he still can't even stand to be around it. And then lo and behold, what's the reason for the ghost sticking around this room? We learn that there's a letter hidden in one of the drawers, but we never find out what's in it, and the priest never tells anyone. I have a suspicion that what was probably in that letter was something for maybe a lover from her past, or a friend from her past.
And her move to Kyoto, although seemingly not a bad one, cut off that relationship and made it no longer possible. Maybe Osono died, feeling unfulfilled, or like she was forced into something that she didn't necessarily want to do. And her connections to that feeling, which was embodied by that letter, didn't let her move on. That's the story for this episode of Lauren Legends.
I hope you enjoyed it, and I hope it's simple enough for you to retell her in a campfire, where in a dark room, and maybe add a twist of your own. Until next time.