Chapter 2
Into the Human World
Yubaba looked at the figure of the young man she just transformed. He was about four and one half shaku in height (one shaku is almost exactly one foot), with deep green almond eyes, and the general outward appearance and clothing of a servant in the Heian period--in other words, he would have fit right in with the other workers at her establishment. She though to herself, "The hair is OK, but that clothing must be changed--we're in the 1990s, not the 990s." She quickly changed his clothing to a public middle school uniform. It wasn't a moment too soon. Yubaba began to hear echoes of two humans approaching from their world. She instructed the potential recruit, [GET RID OF THEM. I'M NOT IN THE MOOD TO DEAL WITH OR TEST HUMANS TODAY.]
"How do I do that?"
[DON'T WORRY. THEY WILL ONLY BE ABLE TO SEE YOU. RIGHT NOW, YOU ARE A HUMAN. THEY CAN'T SEE OR HEAR SPIRITS] Yubaba looked at her watch then at a time sheet. [THEY ARE COMING FROM FUKUOKA. I'LL NEED TO GIVE YOU A KYUSHU ACCENT]
Just then, a middle-aged couple emerged from one of the tunnels. They appeared to be tourists who happened to wander by. Nigihayami Kohakunushi, in his newly-acquired Kyushu dialect stated, "I'm sorry, but you shouldn't be here. This is private property."
The husband was startled and a bit confused. "I'm sorry, but I can't understand you. Can you speak Japanese?" Yubaba recognized the slight nasal tone of the Tokyo dialect and realized she might have overdone the accent. Nigihayami Kohakunushi was able to compensate and speak conventional Japanese with a thick accent, "I'm sorry, but you shouldn't be here. This is private property."
"Excuse us; we didn't know." The couple, oblivious to how closely they came to peril, turned around and headed back for their world. Yubaba then turned to her young prospect. [YOU HAVE THREE HOURS BY OUR TIME TO COMPLETE YOUR TASK. YOU WILL NOT BE JUDGED BY QUANTITY BUT BY INTENT AND ACTION. BE SURE TO USE THE POCKET WATCH I GIVE YOU. TIME, AS WELL AS SPIRITS AND LIVING CREATURES, FLOWS BETWEEN OUR WORLDS.]
"If I leave now, will I end up in Fukuoka?"
[NO. YOU WILL GO OUT THE SAME WAY YOU WENT IN.] Yubaba was just about to dismiss him on his task when, [OH, YES: YOU WILL NEED A TOKYO DIALECT AND A NAME--HOW ABOUT, SAY, RYU KOHAKU?]
"Sounds good to me. I like the dragon reference. I don't know much about being human, though. I have seen them from my banks long ago and even managed to save a few of them from drowning in me, but I don't really know what they're like."
[I HAVE GIVEN YOU ENOUGH KNOWLEGE TO LAST A FEW HOURS OUT THERE. IT WILL COME TO YOU WITHOUT THINKING. NOW GO MAKE ME, AS YOU SAID, PROUD.] At that, Ryu started back down the tunnel to the spot from which he came. Yubaba was right: it was the same place. He recognized the path and the nearby warehouse.
He recognized that he was near his old home in the Tama hills above western Tokyo. For thousands of years, it was his job to transport water from a lake high in the hills to the river below. The Kohaku river was always a seasonal one; the master of the river was his busiest during the rainy season in late spring and early summer. A few years ago, his lake was drained and converted into a reservoir farm. The water no longer flowed in the Kohaku River. Instead, it went into pipes and provided drinking water to the hundreds of thousands of residents in the Tama area and kept the area golf courses green. The river finally died when its bed was filled in to make room for more condominiums and shops.
For some reason, Ryu's memory of being a river was starting to fade quite rapidly. He did remember his task quite clearly and glanced at the watch as Yubaba warned. She was right about the time flowing: at that point in time, the second hand was moving very slowly--and backwards! He didn't know what to make of the situation, except that he needed to be very diligent. The time on the watch may lurch forward without warning...
Into the Human World
Yubaba looked at the figure of the young man she just transformed. He was about four and one half shaku in height (one shaku is almost exactly one foot), with deep green almond eyes, and the general outward appearance and clothing of a servant in the Heian period--in other words, he would have fit right in with the other workers at her establishment. She though to herself, "The hair is OK, but that clothing must be changed--we're in the 1990s, not the 990s." She quickly changed his clothing to a public middle school uniform. It wasn't a moment too soon. Yubaba began to hear echoes of two humans approaching from their world. She instructed the potential recruit, [GET RID OF THEM. I'M NOT IN THE MOOD TO DEAL WITH OR TEST HUMANS TODAY.]
"How do I do that?"
[DON'T WORRY. THEY WILL ONLY BE ABLE TO SEE YOU. RIGHT NOW, YOU ARE A HUMAN. THEY CAN'T SEE OR HEAR SPIRITS] Yubaba looked at her watch then at a time sheet. [THEY ARE COMING FROM FUKUOKA. I'LL NEED TO GIVE YOU A KYUSHU ACCENT]
Just then, a middle-aged couple emerged from one of the tunnels. They appeared to be tourists who happened to wander by. Nigihayami Kohakunushi, in his newly-acquired Kyushu dialect stated, "I'm sorry, but you shouldn't be here. This is private property."
The husband was startled and a bit confused. "I'm sorry, but I can't understand you. Can you speak Japanese?" Yubaba recognized the slight nasal tone of the Tokyo dialect and realized she might have overdone the accent. Nigihayami Kohakunushi was able to compensate and speak conventional Japanese with a thick accent, "I'm sorry, but you shouldn't be here. This is private property."
"Excuse us; we didn't know." The couple, oblivious to how closely they came to peril, turned around and headed back for their world. Yubaba then turned to her young prospect. [YOU HAVE THREE HOURS BY OUR TIME TO COMPLETE YOUR TASK. YOU WILL NOT BE JUDGED BY QUANTITY BUT BY INTENT AND ACTION. BE SURE TO USE THE POCKET WATCH I GIVE YOU. TIME, AS WELL AS SPIRITS AND LIVING CREATURES, FLOWS BETWEEN OUR WORLDS.]
"If I leave now, will I end up in Fukuoka?"
[NO. YOU WILL GO OUT THE SAME WAY YOU WENT IN.] Yubaba was just about to dismiss him on his task when, [OH, YES: YOU WILL NEED A TOKYO DIALECT AND A NAME--HOW ABOUT, SAY, RYU KOHAKU?]
"Sounds good to me. I like the dragon reference. I don't know much about being human, though. I have seen them from my banks long ago and even managed to save a few of them from drowning in me, but I don't really know what they're like."
[I HAVE GIVEN YOU ENOUGH KNOWLEGE TO LAST A FEW HOURS OUT THERE. IT WILL COME TO YOU WITHOUT THINKING. NOW GO MAKE ME, AS YOU SAID, PROUD.] At that, Ryu started back down the tunnel to the spot from which he came. Yubaba was right: it was the same place. He recognized the path and the nearby warehouse.
He recognized that he was near his old home in the Tama hills above western Tokyo. For thousands of years, it was his job to transport water from a lake high in the hills to the river below. The Kohaku river was always a seasonal one; the master of the river was his busiest during the rainy season in late spring and early summer. A few years ago, his lake was drained and converted into a reservoir farm. The water no longer flowed in the Kohaku River. Instead, it went into pipes and provided drinking water to the hundreds of thousands of residents in the Tama area and kept the area golf courses green. The river finally died when its bed was filled in to make room for more condominiums and shops.
For some reason, Ryu's memory of being a river was starting to fade quite rapidly. He did remember his task quite clearly and glanced at the watch as Yubaba warned. She was right about the time flowing: at that point in time, the second hand was moving very slowly--and backwards! He didn't know what to make of the situation, except that he needed to be very diligent. The time on the watch may lurch forward without warning...