Japanese Folktale Review- Drinking Sake with a Ghost

Sunday, July 19, 2020

Japan

Drinking Sake with a Ghost
In this article I'll give my opinion on the Japanese Folktale called Drinking Sake with a Ghost.

If you want to read the original story, please check this:
  Drinking Sake with a Ghost >>

Summary of Drinking Sake with a Ghost

drink
This story starts off with a married couple who own an antique shop. They wanted to get away for a while. So, they asked their nephew Chubei to watch the store while they were away. One day, while Chubei was tending to the store, an old man came in. The older gentleman was rich!
The old man was interested in a scroll at the antique shop. On the scroll, there was a drawing of a woman's ghost. The old man wanted to buy the scroll, so he asked Chubei the price. Chubei knew that his aunt and uncle got the scroll for damn near free. Therefore, he thought it was fair to give it to the old man for about 600 dollars (20 mon).
The old man misheard Chubei, and instead of hearing 20 mon, he heard 20 ryo. 20 ryo is about 26,000 dollars! The old man was rich, so he thought that it was a great price! The old man told Chubei how cheap it was, but he told him that he didn't have that kind of money on him. The old man told Chubei that he would return in the morning. In the meantime, he asked Chubei to set aside the scroll for him. He gave Chubei a deposit before leaving. Boy, Chubei was so pleased. It was a lot of money for him, even the deposit.
That night, to celebrate, Chubei drank sake while watching the scroll. He appreciated the old scroll because it had sold for so much. He said "you are so beautiful". "Why don't you come out and fill up my cup with sake". Chubei kept drinking. However, he noticed something odd. He noticed that his cup never became empty.
Chubei turned his head and saw the ghost woman pouring his drink. He was so surprised! The ghost was so pleased to be called beautiful, that she came out to help Chubei. Chubei drank more sake poured by the ghost. Chubei offered the ghost some sake, and they drank together.
They both drank a lot until the morning. Chubei feel asleep, until he heard a knocking on the door. It was the old man. Chubei said "I had a strange dream". He walked with the scroll to the door. He and the old man opened the scroll together and... There was the picture of a ghost, hungover! The end.


My Thoughts

woman
Okay, out of ALL the folktales, THIS has to be my favorite. It's so funny and strange and odd. It's perfect! That's how I like my stories. Throw in some quirkiness and magic and I'm hooked. I feel that this would even be a fun movie to watch. Idk LOL.


Takeaway

smile
I think the takeaway on this story is, don't drink all night with the ghost in a scroll that will earn you thousands??? Hahaha, I'm not sure if there is a takeaway on this one. It's just a funny story. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it all the same.
Please try to read using Kanji, Hiragana, Romaji, and English! See you soon!