What would you do if you were being chased by a wererat?
This week on Folktales with Mr. Hankey, I give you a story about the importance of keeping
promises, and not pissing off monster rats.
Hey if you’re a patron on Patreon, stick around until the end for a chance to win one
of these books.
Overlooking the Japanese capital of Kyoto lies a sacred mountain called Mount Hiei (比叡山).
This mountain is a diva.
It loves to be in the spotlight because it shows up in many stories and folktales, and
was thought to be home to countless Shinto gods and demons.
Our story starts long ago.
At the foot of Mount Hiei sits the Buddhist temple of Mii-dera (三井寺), and at the
top of Mount Hiei sits another Buddhist temple, Enryaku-ji (延暦寺).
These two temples were like brothers, brothers who fought over the same woman and now hate
each other’s faces.
Both temples followed the Tendai (天台) school of Buddhism, but were different branches
of it.
I made a video about the schools of Buddhism around this time, you can find it somewhere.
The two temples were rivals, fierce rivals.
Now when you think of monkish rivalry, you’re probably thinking of intellectual battles
fought with letters and debates and silence contests.
But oh no, this was a time when temples had their own armies of warrior monks who didn’t
hesitate to shove their sutras up your ass.
So it is within this time of rival monks, burnt buildings, and loose anal cavities that
our story is set.
Mii-dera had an abbot named Raigo (頼豪), a pious man and a powerful man because Mii-dera
was a powerful temple.
That’s why one day Emperor Shirakawa (白河) came to Raigo with a problem.
The emperor really wanted a son, an heir to rule after him, but so far the gods have rudely
refused.
He promised Raigo,
“If you can pray me a son, then you can have anything you desire.”
“I am the emperor, I can make any wish come true,”
said the emperor who couldn’t make a son come true.
Raigo thought about it and said, “Cool, daddy-o,” then got to work.
For days, he prayed and meditated and performed rituals and pretty soon, like magic, a son
was born to Emperor Shirakawa.
True to his word, the ecstatic emperor asked Raigo what he wanted.
Raigo didn’t ask for riches, or land, or women.
Showing his religious devotion, Raigo asked for an ordination building, a grand building
on temple grounds where he could ordain new Tendai monks.
The emperor happily agreed...
until the rival temple Enryaku-ji heard the news.
The monks at Enryaku-ji believed that only they should be able to ordain new monks.
It was unacceptable for the dirty Mii-dera monks to have that power.
They protested to the emperor.
You really didn’t want to mess with Enryaku-ji, so the emperor caved.
He told Raigo that he could have anything he wanted...
except for what he just said he wanted.
But monks were not known for going about things half-heartedly.
Raigo did his own protest.
He went on a hunger strike.
Now when Buddhist monks do something, they go all the way.
When I made a New Year’s resolution to start working out, I lifted weights for a day, thought
about it, then started taking my laptop outside to work out.
Loopholes bishes.
But that’s because I’m not a monk of Mii-dera.
Raigo went on a hunger strike for 100 days.
On the hundredth day, the emaciated monk cursed the emperor for breaking his promise then
fell over and died.
It was a tragic death, but if you watched the other folktales on this channel, you’d
know that death is not the end.
People started catching glimpses of a monster roaming the halls of Mii-dera, a monster in
the grotesque form of a giant rat.
A rumor arose claiming that Raigo performed a ritual before he died, one that brought
him back in the form of a wererat, with claws and teeth made of iron.
They called him Tesso (鉄鼠), the Iron Rat.
Servants in the emperor’s residence also began reporting sightings of a monster.
At night.
Often seen standing next to the bed of the emperor’s baby son.
People brushed off the rumors at first.
They were servants, you couldn’t believe them.
Poor people didn’t have eyes, silly.
But tragedy soon befell the emperor’s household when his son suddenly died.
People called it Tesso’s first revenge.
Fun fact about rats.
Back in those days, rats were actually a pretty big problem.
They spread disease, ate food, and even ate sacred scrolls and sacred texts.
I’m sure they also ate non-sacred texts too.
One day in Enryaku-ji, people started seeing rats appear.
The monks shooed them away, but more and more came until they overran the place.
Cheeses Christ, it was a mess.
They had rat raves and teenage rat girls in pasties who really should be at home studying.
They started eating sacred Buddhist texts and even ate a Buddhist statue.
The ratpocalypse was upon them, and everyone knew who their messiah was.
The rats would not stop the carnage.
People built a shrine to Tesso to try to appease his wrath.
Some shrines that exist today claim to be the very shrine built to appease Tesso.
Hiyoshi Taisha (日吉大社) in Otsu has a shrine called Shrine of the Rat which some
people claim was the Tesso appeasement shrine.
Within Mii-dera itself, there’s also a shrine called Shrine of the Rat.
This shrine actually faces north, right in the direction of Tesso’s enemy, Enryaku-ji.
Building the shrine worked.
Tesso recalled his rave rodents and retreated to wherever he came from.
So how true was Tesso’s story?
Well it probably stemmed from true events.
The characters did exist in history.
Shirakawa was an emperor in the Heian Period who had a son that died young.
Raigo was the abbot of Mii-dera and did pester the emperor for an ordination building.
He never got it, probably due to Enryaku-ji opposition.
And the Mii-dera vs Enryaku-ji rivalry did exist and they were fond of burning each other’s
buildings and scrolls.
But obviously, there were no wererats.
They prefer to be called People of Whiskers.
Okay so the Patreon contest to win one of these books is this.
It’s pretty easy.
In the comments to this video, the one that you’re watching now, name the animals that
accompanied Momotaro on his quest.
The first person to get it right will get their choice of one of these books.
You can only win if you’re a patron.
Good luck!
Want more Japanese folktales?
Check out this playlist.
We have a new Emperor this week, Nicholas Wood!
You are amazing.
And I like wood.
I also wanna thank the new patron this week, Andrew Fruci.
Thanks Andrew.
Alright much love guys, and spread the knowledge!