The Ginza Ghost Page 17

  But I guess this is what they call a sixth sense. For, no matter how terrible they may have seemed, my crazy delusions turned out to be right. It was a small incident that led us to find Masayoshi, in a state that was too horrible to look at.

  It happened on the afternoon of the fifth day after my son’s disappearance. Tonomura discovered that the wiring to the signal post opposite the lighthouse had been heavily damaged by the storm earlier, so he went out to the tool storage to get the instruments to make the repairs. But no matter where he looked, he could not find the tool set he needed, so he hurried to the garden of the living quarters, where I was sitting absentmindedly. The tool set contained all kinds of instruments and materials. Tools like a saw, a plane, a chisel and a hammer were of course part of the set, but also a sledgehammer, an axe, Western nails, a spanner and nuts and bolts. All of that had been thrown together in two long and sturdy canvas bags. But indeed, when I went to the storage to take a look myself, both of the bags were gone, even though nobody had used them lately. We searched high and low but did not find them. This was an odd incident. I had considered that Masayoshi might have taken them, but why would he have the need for so many tools? And furthermore, the two bags together would easily weigh over twenty kan together. I was more than a little baffled by this.

  Tonomura had been searching all the corners of the storage at the time, and he suddenly walked over to one corner. There was an old platform scale there, which we used to weigh the oil we have. Tonomura crouched down in front of the scales, cocked his head and while looking intently at it, moved his fingers over the platform. He immediately called me over.

  ‘I think Masayoshi has been here. There are traces in the dust here which indicate he placed two bags on the scales,’ he said with a pale face. And indeed, as Tonomura said, there were clear markings on the scales. I started to understand less and less of all of it. Tonomura then looked up at me, smiled and pointed at the weights hanging from the balance beam and the smaller scale on the balance beam. The weights hanging from the balance beam indicated forty kan, while the smaller scale was set at five-hundred monme.

  That meant that a total of forty kan and five-hundred monme had been placed on top of the platform scales. But those two tool bags together would only weigh over twenty kan, nowhere near forty kan. How strange! But as I looked at the strangely frozen face of Tonomura, a puzzling sign flashed through my mind.

  Forty kan and five-hundred monme! But that was the exact amount of the weight which made the lighthouse lamp revolve! Tonomura had of course also realised this. We almost tumbled over each other as we stormed inside the lighthouse. We opened the cover of the shaft at the bottom of the spiral staircase.

  How can I ever describe what we found inside? The worn-down rope holding the large weight had snapped, and the weight had come down with immense force, smashing the concrete floor at the bottom of the shaft and sinking deep into the ground. When had the weight fallen? Even the two of us could not move the weight one bit. Tonomura peered up inside the dark, narrow shaft, but suddenly turned around to me and grabbed me by the shoulders.

  ‘How many kan does Masayoshi weigh?’

  ‘About eighteen kan…,’ I answered trembling.

  ‘That’s it!’ cried Tonomura and he opened his eyes wide. ‘That night, this old rope broke, and the weight fell down here, which stopped the turning of the lamp in the lantern room. Shocked by this, Masayoshi ran down here and tried to make emergency repairs. But this weight had come falling down from high up and had dug itself deep in the floor, so he could not even move it. But even so, the lighthouse had stopped working. And there was a storm raging outside. He simply had to work out something fast. But there weren’t even any other people here he could send out to get help. Masayoshi however was resourceful, so he ran to the storage to find something that could serve as a temporary weight. His eyes fell on the two heavy tool bags. But unfortunately, those two bags were only a bit over twenty kan. There was nothing else he could do. So Masayoshi started looking for something—anything—eighteen kan heavy that could fit inside the shaft so it could serve as the remaining necessary weight….’

  As I listened to Tonomura’s explanation, I finally started to understand what had happened.

  Yes, everyone, what happened here was an absolute tragedy. My son Masayoshi did find something eighteen kan heavy. He found his own body.

  We of course hurried up to the lantern room at the top of the lighthouse and quickly headed for the winch of the revolving machinery to raise the weight that was hanging down from the central shaft. Tonomura turned the winch, while I stood on the staircase right below the lantern room, looking at the open top of the shaft which ended there. Anxiously, I watched the opening and finally it appeared. The horrible body of my son Masayoshi, who had died of starvation and had slimmed incredibly down in just five days. He was wrapped around in rope. The two bags appeared after my son, and had also been tied to the rope.

  I couldn’t believe it. My poor Masayoshi had tied himself to the rope and jumped down the shaft from this side opening, so his own body could serve as the weight. Thanks to him, the lighthouse could return to its task immediately, and as we ourselves had seen from the windows on the second floor of the customs office, the lighthouse performed its duty perfectly. But as time passed by, Masayoshi’s body was lowered further and further down the shaft. Inside this narrow, dark, and hot shaft, surrounded by concrete walls, Masayoshi must have cried out for help, not knowing when we’d return, and he was eventually dropped into a hell of fatigue and starvation. You can’t hear anyone yelling from inside that shaft. And by the time we returned, he must have been tired and his voice must have been worn down. Even if we’d heard his voice then, we’d just have thought it was like some ghost story. A voice from the walls. And on this island, you hear, there’s always the noise of the wind and the rumbling of the waves.

  …Everyone, you all realise what it is now, right? The lesson Masayoshi taught me using his own life?

  As long as my body will hold, as long as they will keep me here, I will honour this teaching of Masayoshi, and work humbly on this small island. But I do feel sad at times….

  First published in Teishin Kyōkai Zasshi, July Issue, Shōwa 11 (1936).

  THE DEMON IN THE MINE

  1

  　The Takiguchi Mine, owned by the Chūetsu Coal Mine Company —located amidst the desolate grey mountains on the edge of Cape Murou—had been in business for a very long time, but activity had significantly increased over the last few years. Long, dark tentacle-like tunnels had spread out underground to a depth of five-hundred shaku, and at one point had gone down to a point within half a mile of the sea bottom. Most of the company’s business depended on this mine, with its estimated coal reserves of six million tons. Men and machines were all pumped into that tense atmosphere, and the heavy work continued day and night without a break. But a mine so close to the bottom of the sea was always in danger and only one step away from becoming a living hell. The better business went, the bigger the underground caverns became, making the danger more and more likely. The people working in the mines were chipping away at a thin barrier which separated them from hell.

  It was still cold in early April when the strange incident happened: a violent incident, fitting for such a mad underground world. Above ground, snow had been reluctant to leave its place on the mountains, and a chilling sea wind from the north blew darkly throughout the whole day, but five-hundred shaku underground, the fierce heat of the earth was suffocating. It was a naked world down there, with scarcely a piece of clothing. Men carrying pickaxes on their shoulders and muddy up to their navels would pass by with a gleam in their eyes, while naked women with only a cloth around their waist would show themselves, twisting and turning their bodies while pushing coal trolleys.

  O-Shina and Minekichi were a married couple who had found each other in this fierce, dark world. Just as at all mining spots, the two of them formed a pair, with the man acting as th
e digger and the woman as the transporter. The two young people had their own mining spot. And in the dark, where the sub-foreman couldn’t see them, the two would always be in each other’s arms. But their world had no room for exceptions, and their happiness would not continue for long.

  It happened on a morning when the cold wind brought a mist from the underground currents, blowing all the way down into the mine shaft.

  After receiving her second slip, O-Shina took the dirty coal trolley which had been emptied and started on her way back through the mine to Minekichi’s mining spot. A coal mine is, in a way, similar to a dark underground city. There is an open brick-walled space, connected to the world above through two mine shafts. This main hall, where the never-ending groan of pumps and ventilation machinery, the sounds of the engineers’ T-squares and the laughter of the foreman could be heard, was the heart of the dark city. The wide, level tunnel starting from the main hall could be described as its main street. The side passages opening on both sides of the main street were, in turn, like side streets running from east to west. And the mining spots connected to each of these streets, like teeth on a comb, were the branch streets which run from north to south. O-Shina’s feet quickly brought her along the trail from the main street to the side passage, until she reached Minekichi’s own mining spot.

  On the way, O-Shina passed by a foreman and an engineer, who appeared to be making inspections of the side passage, but saw no one else from the company before she made a sharp turn to enter her husband’s mining spot.

  Minekichi had been waiting for her in the dark mine tunnel, as always. O-Shina gave the coal trolley a push to get it out of the way, and threw her young body into the arms of the man standing in front of her. While being embraced, she looked in a dreamy state at the dim, swaying safety lamp hanging from the back of the trolley, which was proceeding on its way into the darkness.

  It was indeed like a dream. Although she would later be questioned about it several times, and she herself would go over it in her mind until what happened became as clear as day, it would nevertheless also be as fleeting as the memory of a dream.

  O-Shina’s swaying safety lamp had retreated far away, only faintly illuminating the sides of the trolley now, as if it was being considerate enough to give the embracing couple some privacy. But, just before the trolley reached the end of the mine, it appeared to hit a pickaxe or something similar lying on the rails, because it made a shrill sound and started to sway. The shock threw the lamp from its nail, and it fell on the track.

  The safety lamps distributed to the workers at the Takiguchi mine were Wolf safety lamps, just as at all other mines. To avoid the dangers of a naked flame in a mine, Wolf safety lamps could only be opened with a magnet held by a watchman at the guard post at the entrance to the mine shafts. But if workers weren’t careful with them and placed them on uneven surfaces or broke them, there was nothing safe about them.

  Sometimes when things go wrong, they go terribly wrong. O-Shina’s safety lamp had been hanging from the back of the trolley, and the trolley had been running faster and faster on the rails, so there was a kind of wind current near the end of the line. The highly inflammable coal dust, which until then had been settled on the floor, was swept up by that wind. It was really just an unfortunate accident, but all the conditions for a disaster came together in a single moment, and the safety lamp, which had been a symbol of the happiness of the young couple, caused an unexpected tragedy.

  The scene which unfolded before the girl’s eyes was like a hundred magnesium sticks being ignited at the same time. Faster than the sound was the violent wind pressure, which hit her ears, her face and her whole body. She staggered back and could faintly feel countless tiny pebbles hitting her in the face. At the same time, she saw how the flame jumped onto all four walls of the mining spot, and she desperately turned round to run back to the side passage. She turned her head as she thought of Minekichi and saw the man running behind her, with the blazing flame behind him. The flame became more intense, as it spread via the loose clumps of coal and extended itself quickly through the clouds of coal dust. While O-Shina was running for her life, she did feel somewhat relieved to hear the footsteps of the man behind her and see their two shadows cast vividly on the ground in front of her. Then the figure behind her suddenly fell down, as if it had tripped over the rails. In front of her, she saw the electric lights of the side passage.

  But the real tragedy happened when O-Shina stumbled beneath the electric lights. She had reached the side passage when she tripped over the complex rail network laid there and fell over. By the time she recovered, the foreman, who had come running there as soon as he heard the explosion, was busy closing the sturdy iron fire door at the entrance to the tunnel from which O-Shina had appeared. She felt relieved for a second because she had managed to avoid being caught inside, but when she looked around she realised the horrible truth. Her beloved husband Minekichi had not come out of the tunnel. O-Shina grabbed the foreman, who was jamming the door shut with a bar, by the arm. But a violent slap rendered her cheek numb and burning with pain.

  ‘You fool! The fire will spread!’ roared the foreman. The image of Minekichi locked in and suffering on the other side of the iron door increased O-Shina’s determination and she once again went for the foreman.

  But she was again thrown to the floor, this time by an engineer who had also come running. Another workman arrived as well and the foreman ran off to get some clay to fully seal the iron door. It is a long-standing tradition of mines, both past and present, that the lives of one or two individuals do not weigh against the risk of the fire spreading to the rest of the mine. Men and women started to gather in front of the mine on fire, bumping their naked bodies against each other. The engineer was the only person wearing corduroy pants. When they saw how the engineer and the workman were holding the upset O-Shina down, and when they noticed that Minekichi was nowhere to be seen, all those present realised what had happened and turned pale.

  An elderly couple stepped forward. They were Minekichi’s parents, who worked in the mining spot next to their son’s. The father was pushed violently away by the engineer, and remained on the floor without uttering a word. The mother lost control of herself and started laughing madly. One miner stepped out to help the crushed O-Shina up from the rails she had been pinned against. It was her older brother Iwatarō. As she had lost both her parents, he was her only remaining family.

  Iwatarō helped his sister up, cast a hate-filled glance at the engineer and the workman, and disappeared into the crowd of the people who had started making more noise.

  The foreman returned with a bamboo screen which he had spread over with clay. He was followed by two miners carrying similar heavy bamboo screens. The workman picked up a trowel and started sealing up all the gaps around the iron door.

  The sub-foremen of other sections of the mine arrived, together with the mine supervisor, who had been notified of the emergency. The engineer and foreman gave orders to the workman sealing up the door and told the noisy crowd to disperse.

  ‘Return to your places! Go back to work!’

  Following orders, the people reluctantly pulled back, pushing their coal trolleys out again and picking up their pickaxes. Once the commotion had subsided, the men who remained in front of the iron door finally showed signs of relief.

  The damage had been confined to one mining tunnel. And because they had sealed it shut, the fire would eventually die out on its own through lack of oxygen. A mining tunnel is basically like a well opened into the coal bed, so with the iron door closed, not even an ant could make an escape.

  A few minutes later, at exactly ten-thirty in the morning, the sealing of the door was complete, so the fire had probably started at ten o’clock. The iron door, a sensitive conductor to heat, had been warming up silently, glowing in an alarming way, so it appeared that the fire must have spread through the entire tunnel of that mining spot. Where the clay had only been applied sparsely between the ga
ps, it had begun to dry out and change colour, and countless cracks had appeared, reminding people of geckos on the wall.

  The engineer, workman and foreman all grimaced at the sight. An office clerk arrived at the scene, together with the hired police constable, who had caught wind of the incident[xxii]. The supervisor spat on the ground angrily, and took the constable with him to the office back in the main hall. Minekichi’s father had remained seated on the floor all the time, but a sub-foreman helped him stand up and they too left the scene.

  The foreman gave orders to the workman and started cleaning the place up. There was nothing else to do until the fire died out.

  It was an engineer’s job to verify whether or not the fire had died out. Each mining tunnel was equipped with an iron pipe for ventilation, which in this case stuck out from the clay in the gaps above the door, and was connected to a larger iron pipe in the side passage. The engineer remained on the spot and cut the pipe where it joined the larger one in order to analyse the blazing smoke being pumped out from the pipe under high pressure.

  From time to time a row of transporters pushing coal trolleys would pass by on the rails. The air in the side passage trembled in silence, compared to the earlier commotion, except that the mad laughing of Minekichi’s mother could occasionally be heard.

  The usual silence had also returned to the main hall at the entrance to the mine. The Takiguchi Mine had to produce a hundred thousand tons of coal before the summer. A minor incident could not be allowed to delay the whole operation for even a minute. The coal trolleys and the cages, the pumps and the ventilation machinery, everything continued with business as usual under the watchful eyes of the sub-foremen. But inside the office, the supervisor was in a bad mood.

  He had immediately started calculating how many trolleys had stopped in the side passage and how many miners had laid down their pickaxes in the twenty minutes after the fire broke out. And then there was the question of how many tons of coal had been lost because of the fire, but that he could not calculate yet. He also had to pinpoint the cause of the fire and who was directly responsible for all the losses. The supervisor ordered another clerk to bring him the woman who had made it out alive. Then he turned to the hired police constable who had been standing next to him. The officer behaved as if he were an observer sent directly from the Bureau of Mines.