Pathway to Japanese Literature

Kame was the only son of a poor carpenter, but he constantly made measurement errors, leaving no prospects for his future.
His mind simply wasn't up to the task.
Yet he devoured food in staggering quantities.
Fearing for his eventual fate, his parents entrusted him to a mountain woodcutter seeking laborers.
When tested by the woodcutter, he showed unexpected skill with the saw.
Though incapable of delicate work, his dogged persistence and brute strength suited him for woodcutting.
However, being merely ten years old,

"If you go to the mountains," said the woodcutter testingly.
"There'll be no friends."
"You won't see a single human face."
"Badgers and snakes'll be your kin."
"You think you can stand that?"

"If you feed me till I'm full," came Kame's reply.
"I can live anywhere."

That was Kame's reply.
He passed the test and secluded himself in the mountains.

He would cut down trees from the mountains, lash them into rafts, and transport them to the castle town where his parents lived.
Though still a child and unable to handle a woodcutter’s full responsibilities, he soon became more than competent at building rafts.

However, upon delivering the raft to town, he would run back to the mountains without even seeing his parents' faces.
In the mountains, his favorite foods awaited him.
He could eat whatever he wanted, as much as he wanted.
Looking at people’s faces in town wouldn’t fill his stomach.

When living in the mountains, he could rarely eat rice.
However, the townspeople of the castle town were accustomed to not eating rice.
As the son of a poor carpenter, he was accustomed to not eating rice.
If he ate his fill, there was plenty.

When in the mountains, the things to eat were beyond counting.
Mushrooms, mountain yams, bracken, royal ferns, tree nuts, and so forth.
However, he preferred animal-based foods more.
Snakes were a particular favorite.
Cicadas, dragonflies, water beetles and such also served as impromptu snacks.
Red frogs were also delicious.
Badgers, rats, flying squirrels—delicacies unobtainable in town life.
The flavors varied, but particularly excellent were the mountain stream fish—he lifted rocks to grab crabs and small fry, dove into waterfall basins and deep pools to snatch silver fish from beneath the stones.

Then, over a decade passed.

Kame’s father, the carpenter, died, leaving a paralyzed mother behind.
The townspeople found caring for this bedridden woman too burdensome and went to fetch Kame from the mountains.

He refused to descend easily.
His obstinate belief that “towns have no real food” held firm.
Messengers who stayed overnight in his mountain hut ultimately succumbed to his wild hospitality and fled home defeated.

Thus Tamobei—the community’s pragmatic leader—personally undertook the persuasion campaign.

“Look here.
“Kame.”
“Would you eat something like this?”

Tamobei sat on a rock at the valley bottom, slowly unwrapped the bundle, took out a rice ball the size of a child’s head, and handed it over.
Kame’s eyes widened in shock as he shouted.

“This is a rice ball!”

“That’s right.”
“It’s a rice ball.”
“Want it? Eat.”
“There are plenty more.”

“Alright.
“There’s plenty then.”

“I’ll give you as much as you can eat.”

Kame sank his teeth into the rice ball.
Tamobei took out his own rice ball and ate it.
Kame peered into it while comparing it with his own,

“What’s this strange stuff in yours?
“What’s that?”
“You’re eating some strange stuff there.”

“Let me see.
“What’s in yours?”

“Mine has pickled plum.”

“I see.
“Mine’s miso-pickled.”
“If you prefer miso-pickled rice balls, I’ll give you those.”

Kame hurriedly finished eating the pickled plum rice ball, then ate the miso-pickled rice ball.
And from the depths of his heart, he let out a sigh.

“Miso-pickled rice balls are delicious, ah!”

Kame’s resolve to leave the mountains seems to have finally been made with this.
However, Kame presented one more condition.

“Will you give me a wife?”
“If you give me a wife, I think I could live in town for ya.”

Indeed, Kame must have reached twenty-five or twenty-six years of age.
Even a born fool would want a wife.
Tamobei was a man of refined sensibilities, so compared to Kame’s endless gluttony, he could feel genuine sympathy for her.

“You’ve noticed something good. A wife’s a fine thing. She’ll mend your clothes, and when you come home tired from woodcutting, she’ll have your meals ready and massage your weary shoulders. A wife won’t come to someone living in the mountains, so you’ve got no choice but to settle in town, see?”

After making the promise, he came down from the mountains.
To prevent fools from making trouble, there was nothing better than getting them a wife—so Tamobei searched diligently and, by good fortune, found an unmarriageable housemaid whom no other man would take. When he asked, "You—become Kame's wife?" she answered with an eager yes.

Kame obtained a wife and was satisfied, working as a woodcutter and laborer to earn wages—but just as Kame had a massive appetite, so too did his wife, and so too did the paralyzed patient.
It's said paralyzed patients eat well, but this one wanted to eat without end.
Kame grew angry and,

“This woman is a fiend! Lying around every day yet eating this much—you must be a giant serpent in disguise! There’s no gluttony worse than that. Don’t give her anything else to eat!”

The paralyzed mother became enraged and,

“Calling your own mother a giant serpent monster like that—you’ll bring divine punishment upon yourself!”

“I’ve heard serpent monsters are sneaky bastards—you won’t trick me! But it’s a good thing that serpent monster’s paralyzed and can’t move, isn’t it! Otherwise, she would’ve gobbled me up while I was sleeping!”

After that, since they only gave her enough food to lick at, the patient soon died.

Even with one fewer mouth to feed, Kame's hunger remained unsated.
He was full of complaints about food, but since he couldn't stand up to his wife,

"You good-for-nothing!"
"If you want to eat your fill, go get more money!"

When yelled at like this, he couldn't exactly put on airs.

"Who's gonna give me more money?"

"You idiot!
If you worked harder, anyone'd give you more money!"

"Telling me to work more's impossible."

"What do you mean 'impossible'?"

“Mumble mumble.”

“What?”

“I can’t work ’cause I’m hungry.”

“You half-witted good-for-nothing!”

The wife, enraged, snatched up whatever stick was at hand and struck Kame on the crown of his head.
Gah!
Kame fell on his butt, but a single strike wouldn’t quell the wife’s anger.

“Help me!”

“Help me, you say?
You lying sack of shit!
If you’re so hungry, then go get enough money to stuff your gut and come back!
Because of you, even my gut’s empty now!
As if I’d ever save you!”

The wife raised the stick again and brought it down with greater ferocity than before.
This is too much! thought Kame as he fled outside.
The enraged wife, seeing Kame escape outside, only intensified her fury—cornering him to strike, then pressing forward to knock him down.
Cornered at the well’s edge, Kame grabbed its rim the moment he saw it and plunged inside with a splash.

"Thank heavens I found this well," Kame thought at the bottom of the shaft, water lapping at his waist. "Now I'm safe."

He'd always been numb to water's chill—those icy mountain streams that made others yank their feet out within seconds? Kame would plunge straight into the deepest pools to grab fish barehanded.

Hunger forged his craft. Through endless trial and error, he'd taught himself aquatic skills no formal instructor could match. Breath control came first—he'd been born with lungs twice as capacious as normal folk's. Stretch that capacity further still, and he could stay submerged long enough to corner even wary trout. Let his air run short though, and supper would dart through his fingers.

The breath drawn into the chest had its limits, but Kame drank his breath into his abdomen.
He firmly and densely packed it into his abdomen.
This breath was heavy.
After securely storing that away, he filled his chest to the brim and dove into the water.
The chest breath was light and quick to expire, but the abdominal breath lingered long and dense.
When he chased fish slowly with this breath, they sensed the composed manner of pursuit and resigned themselves to being caught.
Fish were highly sensitive creatures.
When they resigned themselves, their vigor waned listlessly, making them easily caught.

Next required was the sinking technique for lingering long in the deep depths of water.
The living human body inherently possesses buoyancy; therefore, to sink to the water’s bottom, one had to generate momentum through swift motion—continuously paddling and kicking through the water—or remaining submerged became impossible.
Without holding onto anything, they could neither stay stationary nor walk slowly along the water’s bottom.

There, Kame conducted his research.
Ordinary people resign themselves to humanity’s common-sense limitations and thus fail, but Kame—driven by single-minded necessity and despairing of nothing—discovered hidden truths.
This could be called an esoteric principle.

By expelling breath from the chest, Kame discovered that the human body naturally sinks to the water’s bottom.
Moreover, Kame quickly realized a clever trick.
When expelling breath from the chest and naturally sinking to the water’s bottom, the body first descends feet downward.
Human legs are not actually heavier than the head, but due to air in the chest, weight shifts toward the legs, causing them to sink first.
As air in the chest diminishes, the body gradually sinks horizontally.

In other words, by adjusting the air in their chests, humans can sink to the bottom and stand upright.
If they can stand upright, they can also walk.

The esoteric principle of the sinking technique was first to expel the light breath from one's chest and sink into the water. Second came controlling this expelled breath to stand upright. Third involved quietly drifting through the water while savoring the dense breath packed deep within his abdomen, capturing fish that mistook the bottom for sanctuary. Fish considered the riverbed their secure domain—even when attacked, they faced methods aligned with their instincts and possessed corresponding escape arts. Against assaults violating their instinctual expectations, they maintained reckless flight responses. Kame's sinking technique exploited these piscine instincts to immobilize prey, constituting the most profound esoteric principle. He walked soundlessly across submerged terrain and communed with bottom-dwelling fish through spiritual essence. "Hey you—how 'bout coming over here?" he intoned. "Slip between my fingers." At these words, fish would inspect his digits before comprehending and nestling motionless between their gaps. By aligning finger crevices across both hands, he could return home clasping up to six fish.

Kame had mastered all these esoteric principles through self-study.
He could not swim on the water's surface.
This was because he saw no need to swim.
Fish do not swim.
Fish pass through water.
Because humans swim on the water’s surface, they cannot catch fish.

Although Kame never showed himself above the water's surface, he could cross a four-kilometer river without anyone ever spotting him. A single leaf in his pocket sufficed amply. He would pass through the water until his breath ran out, then quietly stand upright and surface near the edge, exposing only his nostrils. These he lightly covered with the leaf. Since Kame's upright body flowed along with the current, to people's eyes it appeared as nothing more than a single leaf drifting on the water. This was called Leaf Concealment. Having detested being observed by others while catching fish underwater, Kame had naturally mastered this method of hiding himself.

The fact that Kame had mastered these secret techniques remained unknown to the townspeople.

When Kame jumped into the well and no sound had been heard since, it was his wife who burst into tears and came running to Tamobei's place with disheveled hair,

“Master.”
“Since I did somethin’ too terrible, Kame jumped in the well ’n died.”
“If Kame’s dead, there ain’t no reason fer me t’keep breathin’, so I’ll go jump in after ’im too.”
“Mighty sorry fer stirrin’ up trouble, but I just come t’bid my quick farewells.”
“Do light at least one stick o’ incense fer me.”

Having left these words, she tried to dash away, so—

“Hey!
“Wait, wait.
“When you talk about wells—there’s only one communal well in the whole town, isn’t there?
“We can’t have him jumping in there!”

“Hey!”
“Everyone in town.”
“Come out.”
“This has turned into a damn mess!”

At that, the townspeople gathered around the well.

“Huh?
“What?
“If you’re hungry, go earn money yourself!
“Hey, you!
“It wasn’t you who was told that, was it?
“What do you mean, ‘Yes, that’s exactly it!’?
“You dimwit!
“You’re an outrageous bastard!
“What’s this ‘good-for-nothing’ nonsense?
“Grabbing your husband and then bashing his skull with a stick—no wonder Kame wanted to die!
“You’re a husband-killer!
“We’ll roast you over a fire, so you’d better believe it!”

The townspeople, worked up, kept berating her.
It was no wonder.

Because this reached the bottom of the well, Kame couldn't remain calm.
She was his precious wife.
He couldn't let her get roasted over a fire.

Unable to bear it any longer,

“Hey!”
“I’m alive!”

“Huh?”
“We can hear something!”
“Ah!”
“Kame’s alive!”

With a collective roar, everyone erupted in joy.
Tamobei peered into the well,

“Hey!
“Kame.”
“Stay strong!”
“The wound’s shallow!”
“I’ll lower a rope to save you now.”
“Can you grab the rope and climb up by yourself?”

“I’ll come up, but you won’t roast my wife, will you?”

“You’re spouting nonsense like that?”
“You softheaded bastard!”
“There, there.”
“Climb up alone and we won’t fire-roast your wife—I’ll stuff you full of good eats too.”
“Buck up and haul yourself out!”

“How gracious of you.”
“Then fork over five miso-pickled rice balls.”
“No balls, no climb—I’ll stay put forever!”

“Five? Take ten! However many you can wolf down!”
“Now quit dawdling and get out!”

“Here I come!”

With that, Kame grabbed the rope and leapt up.
The group's worried expressions cleared,

"Well now, you really stayed alive for us!"
"They say a fool's body is indestructible—well, isn't that something!"
"Not a single scratch on him!"
"Nothing beats this!"
"A joyous occasion!"
"A joyous occasion!"

With that, everyone rejoiced and prepared five large miso-pickled rice balls filled with miso for him.

★

Kame's wife was severely reprimanded—a husband being the pillar of the household—and told she ought to live off her husband's support. "Good-for-nothing," they said—that meant her. With shouts of "This useless lump!", Tamobei and the townsmen finished berating her, bringing that night's incident to a close.

When they returned home and were alone together, she became terribly sweet—“I’m truly sorry,” “Are you hurt?” “You must’ve been freezing”—all delivered in this caring tone.
Kame was pleased, thinking it was a favorable outcome, but come the next day, she didn’t feed him to his fill.

“Wife.”
“I’m the pillar of this household, huh?”

Okaka is a dialect term meaning “wife.”
However, it is not used in proper masters’ households.
It is a term from the back tenements.
In contrast, people refer to a husband as “Ototo,” but when speaking with utter contempt, they say “Totta.”
However, when the character “ma” is added to “Totta,” making it “Tottzama,” it carries a respectful connotation.

Kame’s wife sulked,

“What’s that?”
“You rotten husband!”
“What ‘pillar of the household’?”
“A pillar of the household is supposed to support a large roof!”
“You—what are you even supporting?”
“You can’t even fill your one and only wife’s belly three-tenths full!”
“You pumpkin-headed husband!”

When he was scolded like this, he couldn’t do anything about it.
The townsfolk had to go meddling unnecessarily, puffing him up by saying a husband was the household pillar—all it did was get him yelled at by Okaka even more.
It did nothing to fill his stomach.
What was this “pillar of the household”?
Nothing but lies they were spewing.
In Kame’s domain, the act of telling lies was called “spewing lies.”
Liars were called lie-spewers here.

The townsfolk were all lie-spewers.
Because they had filled his head with all that nonsense, he'd gone and made Okaka angry again.
Even as he worked the saw, the hunger only soaked deeper—if anything, since that day, the hunger had seeped into his very being until he could bear it no longer.

Over the course of a few days, Kame finally could no longer endure it,

"That's it.
If I jump into the well, they'll give me five miso rice balls.
Those rice balls are delicious.
It's not my fault.
Those lie-spewers taught me unnecessary things like being the pillar of the household, so Okaka got angry and reduced my meal portions.
Alright.
I'll jump into the well and make them cough up five miso rice balls."

Since it was a communal well, the wellside bustled with activity in the evening.
Kame pushed through the laundry-doing wives and suddenly plunged into the well with a splash.

“Kame’s jumped in to kill himself!”

“Kame’s gone and died again!”

He couldn’t die that many times.
Even one of those noisy Okaka women would have been bad enough, but when they gathered in groups and all started shouting at once, it was unbearable.
The husbands covered their ears and came rushing out,

“What the hell?”
“What the—”

“What? That Kame bastard’s jumped in again?”
“Shit! This is bad!”
“Since I’m on monthly duty, I’ll get chewed out by the Magistrate along with that bald-headed village head.”
“That’s why I said bringing that bastard down from the mountains was a terrible idea!”

“It’s too late for such talk now—no use crying over spilled milk.”
“This well being unusable is the real crisis here.”
“Plenty of decent places to die elsewhere—what a wretched bastard.”

As they clamored, from the bottom of the well,

“Hey!”

“Huh?”

“Hey!”

“Huh.”
“Kame’s still alive, the bastard.”
“Hey!”
“You alive?”

“I’m alive!”

“Ugh.”
“What a lucky bastard, I tell ya.”
“He jumps into this deep well and survives twice now, the bastard.”
“A fool’s body is something else entirely.”
However, with this turn of events, they didn’t have to repair the well—and he survived.

“Hey! You hurt?”

“No injuries here!”

“Putting on airs now, are ya?”
“Why’d you jump in?”

“I’ll come up if you lower the rope.”

“You jump in to die then have the gall to order us about?”
“Think you can climb out alone?”

“If you give me five miso-pickled rice balls, I’ll come up.”
“Five?”

“Hah!”

Finally, the group realized.
So that bastard had gotten a taste for it last time and jumped into the well again demanding rice balls, had he?
A fool’s single-minded determination is a fearsome thing.
But what a detestable bastard.
They’d rather lock him in the well overnight to teach him a lesson, but Kame’s Okaka was such a lazy wretch she never properly washed his loincloth, so it was already discolored.
If they left it soaking overnight and it naturally turned white, then the townspeople would end up drinking the grime from Kame’s loincloth.
They couldn’t very well leave him soaking in the well either.

“I’ll grant whatever you wish.”
“I’ll feed you plenty of miso-pickled rice balls, so get up here quick!”

“I see.
“That’s mighty generous.”

Delighted, he came slithering up with ease.
The townspeople lying in wait grabbed him by the scruff, seized him tight, and suddenly started pounding away with their fists.

“You bastard, you’ve got some nerve!”
“You think anyone’s gonna stuff your face with miso-pickled rice balls?”
“Take this!”

Swarming around him, they jostled him about and beat him mercilessly.
Kame started in surprise, gulped down water bubbles, then spotting an opening, slipped clean through their hands and plunged back into the well with a splash.

Having seen through the townspeople’s scheme, Kame wouldn’t come up no matter how sweetly they coaxed him now.

“You liars!”
“No way!”

Kame sulked at the bottom of the well, absolutely furious.
There was no need to endure feeling cramped living in that house.
He hadn’t realized how quiet and undisturbed it was inside the well—how much better it was to live there.
Far from troubled, Kame had found his place and settled in comfortably.
The townspeople aboveground knew nothing of this, so now they couldn’t just grimace at having to drink the grime from his loincloth.
If Kame were to die in that well, the entire town would be crucified.
As they panicked over this disaster, wandering about restlessly, the night passed entirely.

By now, even when they called out, there was no response, so the group turned pale and lowered a candle tied to a string into the well’s depths, but Kame’s figure was nowhere to be seen.
This was bad!
They all began trembling uncontrollably.
Even if we in the Showa era spoke of air raids and atomic bombs, there was still hope for survival, but if Kame were dead, the entire group’s crucifixion would be certain.
Since there was no escape from death, as if by prior agreement their teeth chattered uncontrollably, their feet naturally beginning to stamp the well’s edge in a rapid, clattering chorus.
The man holding the candle string lost control of his hands, unable to raise or lower it, his trembling simply wouldn’t cease.
The candle swayed unsteadily, burning Kame’s nose that was sticking out above the water surface, so Kame leapt up in the water.

“Yow!”
“You murderers!”

“Gah!
“Kame’s ghost has appeared!”

“Wait.”
“Wait.”
“That’s not it!”
“I’ve never heard of a ghost shouting about murder.”
“Seems Kame’s still alive!”
“Hey!”
“Kame!”
“Are you alive?”
“Please, just answer me!”

“You liars!”
“I ain’t comin’ up from this well!”
“You won’t even let me drink the well water, so think whatever you want!”

“Whoa, he’s alive!”

There were fifteen, even twenty people who staggered and collapsed where they stood, suddenly relieved.

Tamobei also regained his composure,

“Kame.”
“I’m begging you.”
“I won’t lie anymore, so come up.”

“No way!”

“Then I’ll lower a basket of miso-pickled rice balls to the bottom of the well. Eat them, see we ain’t lyin’, then come up.”
“How about it?”
“Will you agree?”

Since Kame’s stomach was growling, he had been waiting; he had no complaints.

“Alright.”
“Then I’ll come up.”
“Five won’t do this time.”
“This being the second time, make it ten.”
“Just showing them ain’t enough.”
“After I eat them, then I’ll come up.”

They promptly prepared heaps of miso-pickled rice balls, placed them in a basket, tied a rope to it, and lowered it down.
Kame devoured every last one without leaving a crumb and finally achieved his wish, leaving him utterly satisfied.

“Alright,” he said. “I get it.” Just jumping in wasn’t enough—if he stayed in the well overnight, they wouldn’t give him rice balls. He nodded sharply to himself. “Now I’ve figured out you bastards’ game!”

Kame, feeling reassured, slid up smoothly.

“You bastard!”

They swarmed around him and grappled him down.
They beat him.

“Agh!”

Kame, startled, tried to leap into the well, but they had already laid their plans.
They divided into two groups; one swiftly sealed the well lid.

There was no helping it now. If he stayed in town, there was no telling what they might do to him. If there was no well, there was no other way but to flee into the river, so Kame slipped through the people’s grasp and ran for his life.

“Stop right there, you bastard!”
“This time we won’t show mercy!”

As long as they kept the well lid closed, they would be safe.
They had to grit their teeth and vent their pent-up anger; otherwise, the fire in their chests wouldn’t subside.
Together, they chased after Kame.

Kame was desperate—and fast.
These were legs that had chased badgers and rabbits with single-minded determination, making him swift even through town streets.
He exited the town, dashed across rice fields, reached the Agano River embankment—now safe—and plunged in with a splash.

“You bastard—you know your way around water!”
“This isn’t a suicide!”
“Don’t be fooled!”

Unlike wells, rivers had boats.
They couldn't show mercy anymore.
If they let that bastard escape here and withdrew now, it would only make him cockier; they absolutely had to grab hold of him and make him suffer excruciatingly.

The entire townspeople lined up over ten boats and set out.

The Agano River originates from Lake Inawashiro and flows into the Sea of Japan.
Rivers on the Pacific side boast of being insurmountable like the Ōi River, but except during floods, they have remarkably little water.
A mere stream trickles through a wide riverbed.
Most rivers are like that.

However, rivers flowing into the Sea of Japan generally maintained abundant water volumes even when ascending a considerable distance upstream from their estuaries.
The Agano River was no grand waterway by such standards, yet its currents perpetually ran full.

The stretch where Kame had plunged measured a full two hundred meters across, with no shallows permitting one to stand.
Two or three ri downstream lay Japan's sole habitat of tsutsugamushi mites - entering these waters meant risking one's life.
Whether people of that era actually contemplated such dangers remained unclear.

The townspeople lined up over a dozen boats and rowed out, but Kame was nowhere to be seen.

“That bastard. Did he really drown himself in desperation?”
“If that’s the case, it’s serious—no, no.”
“That bastard can stay in a well all night without batting an eye.”
“Even a fool’s wisdom isn’t foolish when it comes to the fool himself!”
“He might be pretending to flee offshore while actually hiding in the shallows and breathing through his nose!”

While they were searching in groups, they suddenly spotted Kame climbing onto the opposite bank to take a breather.

“You bastard!”

Watching them row close to the opposite shore, Kame plunged back in with a splash.
By the time they noticed, he had climbed onto the opposite bank and was resting.
The entire group was utterly exhausted just from rowing back and forth in their boats.

"You bastard!"
"How's he crossing without ever showin' himself? Keep your eyes glued to the water!"
"No way that fool won't stick his mug out for air!"

They stationed boats at key points and stared intently at the water’s surface.
Kame took potato leaves from the embankment field, stuffed them into his pocket, and submerged himself in the water.
Even if Kame had mastered the deepest secrets of water training, his facial features remained as they were from birth—this was no convenient arrangement where only eyes and nostrils would breach the surface like a hippopotamus while the rest stayed submerged and invisible.
No matter how skilled a master might be, either their forehead or chin would emerge along with their nose.
Because Kame had buckteeth, his buckteeth emerged along with his nose.
Since his buckteeth protruded above his nostrils, it was better to breathe through his mouth with soft sip-sip sounds.

There, Kame surfaced, deftly positioned a potato leaf horizontally, pressed his mouth against its underside, and sip-sip breathed in.

“Hey! Look, look! The potato leaf sank!”
“I knew something was fishy!”
“I’d been thinking it was strange how those potato leaves specifically kept drifting around here and there.”
“That bastard Kame must be surfacing to hide his face under them and breathe!”
“If you spot a potato leaf, stir beneath it with your oar!”

They finally saw through it.
But by the time they spotted a leaf and rowed over, he was already submerged.
When he appeared next time, it was in an unimaginably distant spot.
He waited until they deliberately rowed close to that spot, then sank with a soft plop and managed to escape far away.
No matter what they did, they couldn't catch him.

At that moment, several samurai stood on the embankment observing this entire spectacle - Chief Retainer Yanagita Genzaemon and his retinue. They were returning from a lengthy excursion.

“Now then! Is that creature you’re all chasing around over there a kappa?”

“No.
“It is that bastard Kame.”

“Ah ha.
“Is Kame hiding under potato leaves to breathe?”

“No. It is a human called Kame.”

“So he is truly human?”

“Ah.
"He’s been human since his parents’ generation."
"When on land, he’s a fool through and through—but once submerged underwater? That bastard turns kappa-like and slips through our fingers every time.”

The feudal lord of this domain was extraordinarily devoted to martial arts.
His pastime was searching throughout the land for masterless samurai skilled in martial arts and employing them.
But since it was a minor domain without distinction, the renowned masters of famous schools wouldn’t come.
Since there were no skilled practitioners who could become a source of pride, the feudal lord remained discontented and unable to enjoy himself.

Yanagita Genzaemon was overjoyed, thinking that since he had discovered this mysterious practitioner, presenting him to the feudal lord would restore his honor.

“Halt, men. Bring Kame here.”

“Yes, sir!”

A single authoritative command.
Since it was Chief Retainer-sama’s order, the boatmen came ashore and waited, but even if they could bring Kame back—after all this chasing without catching him—what an unreasonable demand to make.

“Ah! That’s it. Hey! Quickly go make some miso-pickled rice balls and bring them here!”

Thus, Kame followed the chief retainer and was brought before the feudal lord.

★

Although there were many martial artists among the retainers, the water training instructor was a single middle-aged master named Sengoku Juubei of the Kankai-ryu school.
That said, it was unusual for such a minor domain to employ a water training instructor.

The feudal lord heard the story from Genza and was greatly pleased.

“Summon Sengoku Juubei.”
“I shall take an excursion to the Agano River—make preparations.”

The feudal lord was an impetuous man.

The feudal lord promptly arrived at the riverbank with Genza, Juubei, Kame, and several others in tow.

The feudal lord ordered Juubei,

“Test Kame’s techniques.”

“*Hah!*”

Thereupon, Juubei called Kame,

“Demonstrating your technique before His Lordship is an honor for generations to come, so focus your mind and perform thoroughly. Swim to the opposite shore and return.”

“So I just go there and come back?”
“That is correct.”
“One breath won’t do.”

“Why can’t it be done?”

“Can you go there and come back in one breath?”

“I’m not ordering you to go and return in one breath.”
“You may take as many breaths as needed.”

“I can’t do it that many times.”
“It’s too much trouble every single time.”
“Once I reach the opposite shore, I take one breath.”

“Do as you please.”

“Here now.
“Are you telling me to take off my clothes?”

“That simply won’t do.”

“Why not?”

“Because it’s improper.”

“What’s improper?”

“I neglected to bring my fundoshi.”

“I’ll lend you a water loincloth, so get naked. Your hands won’t move properly with clothes on.”
“You don’t need hands.”

“I don’t need any special tricks.
I’ll use both hands and feet and do it proper.”

“That’s not how it works, I tell you. You don’t go naked when walking, do you?”

"Walking doesn't feel restricted with clothes on."

"See?"

“What’s that?”

“Because I walk.”
“If you flap your hands around, you’ll scare off all the fish.”

“Can you walk on water?”

“I walk underwater.”

Kame placed his hand on his navel.
He firmly pressed his abdomen.
Then thoroughly massaged it.
He regulated his breath.
He thoroughly adjusted his abdomen.
After thoroughly adjusting his abdomen, he finally drew in a long breath, stacking it up from the depths of his belly.
Without leaving gaps between breaths, he stacked each inhalation one after another, packing them down tightly with meticulous adjustment.
The abdomen completed its work and shifted to the stomach.
The stacking method there was particularly difficult.
If he lost focus even for a moment, the air turned light.
He had to press down fully with each breath, stacking them heavily and firmly.
The essence of the long-breath method lay in accumulating heavy air; unless one underwent prolonged training, one could not stack it as desired.

Having fully packed the heavy air into his abdomen, Kame now inhaled a breath of light air into his chest with a deep gulp.

And then he began walking into the water.
As he walked, he released the light air from his chest.
Just as the water reached his nose, he expelled all the light air.
Then there was no longer any possibility of floating.

His nose disappeared.
His eyes disappeared.
His forehead disappeared.
Finally, completely, he disappeared beneath the water.
Kame exhaled the heavy breath little by little, licked it with his tongue, swallowed it down to his lungs, licked it again, and expelled it outward.
And then he walked with absolute quietness.
This quietness too is a secret technique—there exists something called absolute speed—but discovering this requires a long period of trial.
Knowing through verbal teaching or learning is downright impossible.

If he walked quickly, he ended up wasting his heavy breath and the fish fled as well.
In the beginning, beginners tended to walk on their tiptoes, but in such cases they were still far from mastering absolute speed.
When his heels began touching the riverbed, he started grasping the fish’s intentions but still couldn’t catch them.
When his heels always fit snugly against the riverbed and this became natural, he could catch fish.
However, without mastering absolute speed, one couldn’t reach the point where fish cowered and were unlikely to wedge themselves between human fingers.

No matter how one mastered the secret technique, crossing a river two hundred meters wide in a single breath remained nearly the limit.
Because Kame had mastered the secret technique, he knew his limits.
This was tricky.
Having perceived that a single misstep would lead to failure, he assumed a flawless stance, employed the secret technique to its fullest, and quietly completed his crossing to the opposite bank.
His head emerged.
His face emerged.
His shoulders emerged.

The feudal lord and all present erupted into raucous cheers and uproarious applause.
The one standing there in a daze was Sengoku Juubei.
As an expert, he couldn’t join in the innocent cheering.
But even more than that, his astonishment was overwhelming.

This was no human feat.

Kame, having climbed onto the opposite bank, once again rubbed his belly, first regulated his breathing, mentally prepared himself, and carefully employed the long-breath method—Juubei stared at this intently and was utterly overwhelmed.

Juubei had never before realized there existed such a method for layering breaths.
However, Juubei was a man who had devoted half his life to the water.
As he gazed intently at Kame’s long-breath method, it became undeniably clear that this was the work of secret techniques—a possibility sank in deeply that even among humans, there could exist a master capable of such feats.
As Kame’s eyes submerged again, then his forehead, then his entire head vanished beneath the surface, Juubei—sensing a divine aura in that absolute speed—involuntarily shuddered violently.

He edged forward before the feudal lord, prostrated himself, and let his tears stream down,

“My Lord,”
“This Juubei has been remiss.”
“Lord Kame is indeed the greatest master in all the land.”
“With such a master dwelling in our midst, I remained ignorant of my own inadequacy and have shamefully basked in your favor until this day.”
“This unworthy one humbly requests to enter Lord Kame’s tutelage from this day forth, that I may learn even a fragment of his divine technique.”

And as Kame emerged calmly from the water, Juubei rushed to the water’s edge like a madman and prostrated himself at Kame’s knees,

“Oh, my master!”

Having shouted this, he remained prostrated on the ground, not moving an inch for some time.

Thus, Kame came to be employed as a swimming instructor.
No one was more delighted than Juubei.
Because Kame found samurai etiquette constraining, he was not very pleased.
However, the reason he endured it was because he could eat his fill of meals.

Kame received the imposing name Goto Kikko Sai Gyokusoku.

The stipend of five koku and two rations was an exceedingly meager salary for a martial arts instructor, but since raising it would be foolish given his simple-mindedness, they couldn’t allow a trend where the domain’s commoners would come to look down on samurai.
Thereupon, Genza—

“Since all Kame needs is to stuff himself with miso-pickled rice balls, five koku and two rations are more than sufficient.”

And so it was decided.

Kame found his stipend sufficient.
Moreover, since merely going to the river for practice allowed him to escape the stifling palace duties, he gradually grew accustomed to samurai life.

Except during bitter cold, he would generally head to the river for training while shirking his palace service.
Thus there were none who willingly became his disciples.
Only Juubei grew ever more delighted, trailing after Kame even in winter's depths and never missing a practice session.

When Juubei received his first lesson from Kame, after thinking at length, the first instruction Kame imparted was as follows.

“Yeah. The first most important thing is to take a good crap in the morning.”

"Nenbo" means shit.
He meant that one should properly empty one's bowels every morning.
Juubei promptly recorded this first lesson in his notebook.

Divine Fish-Heart School Secret Techniques.
Master’s Oral Teachings.

Fundamental Principles.

Article One.
Void thy bowels well each morn.

It was properly written there in Volume 1, Page 1 of the oral tradition manual Juubei left behind.

The name "Divine Fish-Heart School" was decided because Kame showed no interest in such matters; Juubei consulted Genza and, having received the lord’s permission, established it.