もう一人の左甚五郎 ANOTHER GENIUS CARVER

　「幕末維新懐古談」が面白い。著者は西郷隆盛の銅像を造った仏師、彫刻家の高村光雲。本の一節に、光雲が少年の時にいたずらで彫った鼠の話がある。
　光雲は「師匠からあてがわれた仏様の方をやるのは無論であるが、それだけではたんのう出来ないような気持で」思いついたものを彫りたくなり、鼠を彫った。彫った檜の鼠に着色して、仏師の店頭の棚にのせて眺めていたら、急用を頼まれてそのまま店を出た。
　留守の間に老僧が店に来て師匠と話をしていたが、坊様は「さっきから、あの棚の上に鼠がいるので妙だなと思っていたのだが、あれは本当の鼠ではないのですね。彫りものなんですね」と言って、手のひらにのせて見ながら、「これは誠によくできている。本物と見間違えたのもむりはない。誰が彫ったのですか」と訊いた。師匠は「これは、あの幸吉のいたずらでしょう」と答えた。
　坊様は子年生まれでとても気に入り、譲ってもらいたいと申し出た。師匠は「お安いことです」と言って紙に包んで差し出すと、坊様はお礼に一分銀を師匠に渡した。
　師匠は、修行中の幸吉に金子を渡したものかと考えて、その金で蕎麦を買い、一家中で食べていた。そこへ幸吉が帰ってきて、何も知らぬまま幸吉が蕎麦を食べていたが、皆がくすくす笑って、鼠が蕎麦に化けたのだと打ち明けた。
　まるで左甚五郎の話ではないか。

ANOTHER JINGORO HIDARI

Bakumatsu Ishin Kaiko Dan written by a wooden Buddha carver, Koun Takamura is interesting. One of the chapters of the book tells an incident when he was an apprentice to a Buddhist sculptor

One day, because he was tired of carving a Buddha statue day after day under his master, he carved a mouse for pastime. After completion, he painted it and put it on a shelf in the master’s craft studio. While he was looking up at it, his teacher asked him to run an errand.

While he was away, a priest came to the studio and talked with his teacher. After a while, the priest stopped talking and said, “I thought there was a mouse on that shelf, but it is not a real mouse, but a carved one, isn’t it?” He went to the shelf, took the mouse from it, and looked at it carefully. “What a surprise! It looks like a real mouse. No wonder I mistook it for a real one. Who made this?”

“Kokichi must have carved it for fun,” my master said.

The priest liked the mouse very much and told him that he wanted it. My master said, “No problem,” and wrapped it in paper and handed it to him.

The priest gave him one bugin (about 3000 yen) for it.

My master thought it wrong to give the money to me because I was only an apprentice. So he ordered soba (buckwheat noodle) and his family were eating the noodle, when I came back from errand. I sat at table and was eating noodle too. Soon everyone at table began to laugh at me. MY master told me that my mouse had turned into the noodle.

This resembles a story about a genius woodcarver in Edo era, Hidari Jingoro, whose carved mouse is said to have moved around in a basin.