Who Is Kuratsumaro?
The old man who explained how to get the swallow's shell
Kuratsumaro is the old man who taught Isonokami no Marotari how to get the swallow's cowry shell.
To take the shell from a swallow's nest, the Middle Counselor had built scaffolding and set many retainers to watch the nests. Kuratsumaro pointed out that with so many people making noise, the swallows would be frightened and stay away. He then taught a method: put one person in a basket, hoist it up on a rope, and at the moment a swallow raises its tail and turns around and around to lay its egg, quickly reach in and take the shell.
The counselor was delighted with this clever plan, but in the end he climbed into the basket himself, fell, and was badly hurt. The scene can be read as showing that Kuratsumaro's plan itself was well thought out, and that it was the counselor's impatience that led to the tragic ending.
