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Desine fata deum flecti sperare precando11/4/2022 ![]() I’ll be only too glad to tell you the story, if you care to hear it …”īefore this Maria-Kannon came into my possession, it belonged to the wealthy Inami family, who lived in a certain village in Niigata Prefecture. At any rate, there’s something sinister about this Maria-Kannon. Thus, for Tashiro to bring up something in this vein, it was hardly likely that this “strange history” would be some absurd tale of the unexpected.Īs I repeated my question, Tashiro struck a match and slowly brought the flame to his pipe. ![]() Tashiro, who had graduated from the university a year or two ahead of me, had the formidable reputation of a talented legal mind and, insofar as I knew, was well educated, modern-thinking, and placed very little faith in so-called supernatural phenomena. As I sat down, I asked with an involuntary note of suspicion in my voice: “Can it really be true?” In fact, they say that something of the kind happened to its former owner.”Īs he lowered himself into a chair with a pensive, melancholy look in his eyes, Tashiro bade me take a seat in the chair opposite him. Instead of warding off evil, she brings misfortune.” “Yes, it’s said that this Madonna bodes ill. He raised the statuette from the table, but immediately set it down again in its former place. His face wore an unexpectedly sober expression. Instinctively I shifted my gaze from the statuette to Tashiro. “Yes, you wouldn’t exactly call those features benevolent-looking, would you? In point of fact, this statuette comes with a rather strange history.” ![]() But don’t you think there’s something uncanny about the face?” “Well, what do you make of it?” Tashiro repeated, smiling proudly, as any collector would, and glancing now at me, now at Maria-Kannon standing on the table. No, I had the distinct impression that a cruel smile tinged with malice pervaded its every feature. As I gazed at it, however, a strange expression seemed to flit across its ivory countenance. I folded my arms and silently beheld the beautiful face of this “Madonna in Black”. Lastly, there was the face, so beautifully fashioned from ivory, with lips a fleck of coral-like vermilion. Moreover, the necklace of crosses hanging about the neck was inlayed with gold and mother-of-pearl-a work of the most exquisite craftsmanship. For one, the foot-tall statuette, with the exception of the face, had been carved entirely from ebony. But the statuette that Tashiro had shown me was unlike those seen in museums and any run-of-the-mill private collections. Maria-Kannon … Thus are called the figurines of the Virgin Mary, ordinarily made of white porcelain, to which Christians prayed so often during the years when the Catholic faith was forbidden in Japan. With these words Tashiro placed the statuette of Maria-Kannon on the table. (From a Japanese translation of the “Ave Maria”) ![]() From the depths of the vale of tears, from the depths of the vale of sorrow, we call to you with our prayer … O merciful, most holy Mother of God, most gentle Queen of Heaven, O Sancta Maria! ![]()
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