Fifteen to sixteen

by Ryunosuke Akutagawa

About a week later, one day, I heard a strange story from the doctor, Chuck. It was a rumor that a ghost appeared at the house of Tokku. By that time, the female kappa had gone somewhere, and the house of our friend, the poet, had also turned into a photo studio. According to Chuck, when photos are taken in that studio, Tokku's figure is faintly reflected behind the guests without them realizing it. However, Chuck is a materialist and does not believe in an afterlife. When he told that story, he had a malicious smile on his face and said something sarcastic like, "It seems that spirits are also material entities." I don't necessarily believe in ghosts, but I felt a fondness for the poet Tokku, so I immediately rushed to the bookstore and bought newspapers and magazines that had articles and photos about Tokku's ghost.

Indeed, in the photos, there was a kappa that resembled Tokku, appearing faintly behind kappa of all ages and genders. However, what surprised me more than the photo of Tokku's ghost was the article about Tokku's ghost, particularly the report from the Spiritualism Society. I had translated that report quite literally, so here I will introduce the general content. However, the notes in parentheses are my own annotations.

---

Report on the Ghost of Poet Tokku (Published in Issue 8274 of the Spiritualism Society Magazine)

Our Spiritualism Society held an emergency investigation at the former residence of the poet Tokku, who recently committed suicide, which is now the studio of ×× photographer at 251□□ Street. The members present were as follows. (Names omitted)

Seventeen of us members gathered in a room of the studio with Mr. Peck, the president of the Spiritual Association, at 10:30 AM on September 17, accompanied by our most trusted medium, Mrs. Hop. As soon as Mrs. Hop entered the studio, she felt a spiritual atmosphere, experienced convulsions throughout her body, and vomited several times. According to her, this was due to the influence of the tobacco loved by the poet Tok-kun, as nicotine was also present in that spiritual atmosphere.

We members sat around a round table with Mrs. Hop and entered into silence. After two minutes and twenty-five seconds, she fell into a sudden state of somnambulism, as if the spirit of the poet Tok-kun had possessed her. We members, following the order of our ages, began a dialogue with the spirit of Tok-kun that had possessed Mrs. Hop.

Question: Why do you appear as a ghost?

Answer: To know the fame after death.

Question: Do you—or the spirits—still desire fame after death?

Answer: At least I cannot help but desire it. However, there are those like the Japanese poet I met who disdain fame after death.

Question: Do you know the name of that poet?

Answer: Unfortunately, I have forgotten. I only remember one of the seventeen-syllable poems he liked to create.

Question: What is that poem like?

Answer: "An old pond, a frog jumps in, the sound of water."

Question: Do you think that poem is a good work?

Answer: I do not necessarily think it is a bad work. However, if "frog" were changed to "kappa," it would be even more brilliant.

Question: What is the reason for that?

Answer: We kappa deeply seek kappa in any art.

At this time, Mr. Peck reminded us seventeen members that this was a temporary investigation of the Spiritual Science Association and not a critique session.

Question: What is the life of spirits like?

Answer: It is no different from your life.

Question: Then, do you regret your own suicide?

Answer: I do not necessarily regret it. If I grow tired of spiritual life, I would take up a pistol again and live independently.

Question: Is it easy to live independently?

In order to answer this question, Toku-kun further questioned. This is a very natural exchange for those who know Toku-kun.

Answer: Is it easy to commit suicide?

Question: Is your life eternal?

Answer: There are many theories regarding our lives that are not worthy of belief. We must not forget that there are religions among us such as Christianity, Buddhism, Islam, and Zoroastrianism.

Question: What do you personally believe?

Answer: I am always a skeptic.

Question: However, you at least do not doubt the existence of spirits, do you?

Answer: I cannot be as certain as you are.

Question: How extensive are your friendships?

Answer: My friendships span across time and space, numbering no less than three hundred. Among them, notable figures include Christ, Meinrendel, Weininger...

Question: Are your friends all suicides?

Answer: Not necessarily. Someone like Montaigne, who defends suicide, is one of my esteemed friends. However, I do not associate with pessimists who did not commit suicide, like Schopenhauer.

Question: Is Schopenhauer alive?

Answer: He is currently establishing a spiritual pessimism and discussing the feasibility of self-sufficiency. However, he seems to be very relieved knowing that cholera is also a bacterial disease.

We members inquired one after another about the spiritual news of Napoleon, Confucius, Dostoevsky, Darwin, Cleopatra, Buddha, Demosthenes, Dante, Sen no Rikyū, and others. However, Toku-kun unfortunately did not answer in detail, but rather asked about various gossip concerning himself.

Question: What about my fame after death?

Answer: A certain critic said, "One of the minor poets."

Question: He must hold a grudge for you not sending him a poetry collection. Has your complete works been published?

Answer: Your complete works have been published, but it seems the sales are not very good.

Question: Your complete works will be bought by everyone three hundred years from now, that is, after the copyright has expired. What happened to the woman you were living with?

Answer: She became the wife of Bookstore Rack.

Question: She probably still doesn't know, unfortunately, that she is Rack's prosthetic eye. What happened to your child?

Answer: I have heard that they are in a national orphanage.

Mr. Tock fell silent for a while and then began to ask new questions.

Question: What happened to my house?

Answer: It became the studio of a certain photographer.

Question: What happened to my desk?

Answer: No one knows what happened to it.

I took out a bundle of letters that I had kept in my desk drawer. However, this is fortunately something that does not concern all of you busy people. Now, my heart is about to sink into the dim twilight. I must say goodbye to all of you. Goodbye, everyone. Goodbye, my dear ones.

Mrs. Hop spoke her final words and suddenly woke up again. The seventeen of us members thought we would swear to God that this dialogue was true. (Moreover, the compensation for Mrs. Hop was based on her daily wage when she was an actress.)

After reading such articles, I gradually became melancholic about being in this country. Therefore, I wanted to somehow return to the land of humans. However, no matter how much I searched, I could not find the hole I fell into. Eventually, I remembered the story of that bag, the fisherman’s kappa. It is said that on the outskirts of this country's town, there lives an old kappa who quietly reads books and plays the flute. I thought that perhaps if I asked that kappa, I might find out how to escape from this country, so I headed straight to the outskirts of the town.

However, when I arrived there, instead of an old kappa, there was a kappa, at most twelve or thirteen years old, leisurely playing a flute. Of course, I thought I had entered the wrong house, but just to be sure, I asked for its name, and it turned out to be the old kappa that the bag had told me about.

“But you seem like a child…”

“Don’t you know yet? Actually, I was born with white hair. As I aged, I became younger, and now I’ve turned into this child. However, if I count my years, even if I consider the time before I was born as sixty, I might be around one hundred and fifteen or sixteen.”

I looked around the room. Among the simple chairs and tables, I felt a kind of pure happiness floating in the air.

“You seem to live more happily than other kappas, don’t you?”

“That might be true. When I was young, I was old, and when I grew old, I became young. Therefore, I am not thirsty for desires like an old person, nor do I drown in pleasures like a young one. In any case, my life, even if not happy, has certainly been peaceful.”

“I see, then it must be peaceful.”

“No, that alone doesn’t make it peaceful. I was also healthy, and I had enough wealth to never worry about food in my lifetime. However, I believe the happiest thing was being old when I was born.”

I talked for a while with this kappa about the story of the suicide of Tokku and the story of Geeru, who sees a doctor every day. However, for some reason, the old kappa seemed uninterested in my stories.

“So, you don’t have a special attachment to living like other kappas?”

The old kappa quietly stared at my face and replied.

“Like other kappas, I was also asked by my father whether I would be born in this country before leaving my mother’s womb.”

"But I suddenly fell into this country. Please tell me how to get out of this country."

"There is only one way to get out."

"What is it?"

"It is the path you took to come here."

When I heard that answer, for some reason, I felt a chill run down my spine.

"Unfortunately, I can't find that path."

The old kappa stared at my face with watery eyes. Then, finally sitting up, he walked to the corner of the room and pulled on a rope that was hanging from the ceiling. Suddenly, a skylight that I hadn't noticed before opened up. Outside that round skylight, pine and cypress trees spread their branches, and beyond them, the vast sky was clear and blue. No, the peak of Yari-ga-take, resembling a large arrowhead, was also towering. I jumped up in joy like a child who had seen an airplane.

"Now, you can go out from there."

The old kappa said this while pointing at the rope. What I had thought was a rope until now was actually a rope ladder.

"Then, I will go out from there."

"However, I will tell you in advance, so you won't regret it after you leave."

"It's okay. I won't have any regrets."

As soon as I replied like this, I was already climbing up the rope ladder, looking far down at the old kappa's head.