Twice Told

Documents

Seiban kaidan jikki (1754): the plate mansion at Himeji

Language
Japanese
Read from
Himeji City Museum of Literature copy (Kanai collection, DIG-HCML-10544), vol. 1, frames 4 (left page) to 6 (first two columns of the right page)
Reading
transcribed from the page image
Translation
ours
Retrieved
24 September 2026

Seiban kaidan jikki (西播怪談実記, “True records of strange tales from western Harima”) was compiled by Haruna Tadanari of Sayo and printed in Hōreki 4 (1754). The first story of the first volume is “姫路皿屋敷の事”, the plate mansion at Himeji. Its narrator speaks of “the present Kan’en era” (1748 to 1751), so the story was written a few years before it was printed. We read it in the copy of the 1754 print at the Himeji City Museum of Literature (姫路文学館, Kanai collection), photographed by the National Institute of Japanese Literature (DOI 10.20730/300106878, Public Domain Mark), which dates this copy Hōreki 4.

姫路皿屋敷の事

姫路御郭の内に皿屋敷といふあり。其来由を尋れは、小寺領の節とかや。ある仕官の歴々に、家老衆請待にて、珍味の奔走を尽され、器物又大形ならす。中にも秘蔵たる信楽焼の皿十人前出さる。膳揚りて、仲間小物[?]請取洗ひ揚るを、腰本請取てそれ〳〵の箱に入けるか、彼皿を箱へ入るとて誤つて取落し、二つに割けるを、押合し箱の下へ入置けるか、酒たけなはに及んて後、客衆帰られけれは、亭主門送りして帰るや否や腰本をよひ、「信楽焼の皿箱持参すへし」と申せしは、実に秘蔵とそ聞へける。腰本はつと思ひ、ふるひ[?]〳〵持出れは、「我前へ持来りて数を改むへし」といふに、是非なく蓋を明けて「壱つ二つ」とかそへて九つ迄ハ出して猶豫しけるを、「今壱つハ」と問れ、「先ほと麁相にて」といひも終らぬに、抜討にそしられける。ほとなく夜な〳〵家鳴する事夥敷、幽霊出て「壱つ二つ」とかそへ出し、「三ツ四ツ五ツ六ツ七ツ八ツ九ツやれかなしや」と鳴叫ふ声ハ耳に止りて、恐しさいふ斗なし。かくて有験の高僧或は[?]知徳の貴僧を請して、追善祈禱様々手を尽すといへとも更に止されは、段々願ひを立新屋敷拝領ありて屋移有けれとも、幾ほとなく其家断滅せしとかや。されは討れし時、壱つ二つとかそへしも屠所の羊の歩行、心中をおもひやるも哀なり。終に臨終の一念にひかれて、永く修羅の奴となるそ不便なる。所は桐の馬場にて皿屋敷といひ傳へ、寛延の今に到りても其亡魂来る事止さるにや、住人なく明屋敷となれり。此条年数久しくいかゝなれとも、皿屋敷の事必定なれは、是を證として、余は郷談の趣きを書傳ふものなり。

Translation

The plate mansion at Himeji.

Within the castle precincts at Himeji there is a place called the plate mansion. Ask where the name comes from, and they say it goes back to the days when the Kodera held the domain. A man of high office invited the house elders and entertained them with every kind of rare dish, and the tableware was nothing ordinary. Among it were Shigaraki-ware plates, treasured by the house, set out for ten guests. When the trays were cleared, the servants took them away to wash, and a maid received the plates and put each in its box. As she was putting one of those plates in its box she dropped it, and it broke in two. She pressed the halves together and hid them under the box.

When the drinking had passed its height, the guests left. The master saw them out at the gate, and the moment he came back he called the maid: “Bring the box of Shigaraki plates.” That is how precious they were to him. The maid’s heart sank, and she brought it out trembling. “Bring it here in front of me and count them,” he said. There was nothing she could do. She opened the lid, counted “one, two”, brought out as far as nine, and hesitated. “And the last one?” he asked. She had not finished saying “Earlier, by carelessness…” when he drew his sword and cut her down.

Before long the house began to groan and creak night after night, and a ghost appeared. It would start counting, “one, two”, then “three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, oh, how sad”, and its crying stayed in the ears of those who heard it. It was frightening beyond words. Monks of proven power and learned priests were called in, and every memorial service and prayer was tried, but it did not stop. After repeated petitions the master was granted a new residence and moved house, but they say his family died out soon after.

When she was cut down, her counting “one, two” was like a sheep’s steps to the slaughterhouse; to imagine what she felt is pitiful. Drawn by that last thought at her death, she became forever a slave of the Asura realm, the world of endless strife. It is sad. The place is at Kiri no baba and has been called the plate mansion ever since. Even now, in the Kan’en years, her spirit seems not to have stopped coming: nobody lives there, and the house stands empty. All this was long ago and may be doubted, but the plate mansion itself is certain, and taking that as my proof I have written down the rest as local talk tells it.

Notes

Cited in