笑門亭福來是誰?
主持百物語之夜的說書人
笑門亭福來是 Manga Portal 漫畫「怪談傑作集 ―百物語之夜―」中,擔任全部故事敘述者的落語家(日本傳統說書人)。小泉八雲的原著裡沒有這個人,他是漫畫版的原創角色。
每一話開頭,他走上燈光昏暗的講台,點起蠟燭,說一聲「各位,今晚就來講一段百物語」,為接下來的怪談開場。故事結束後,他在餘韻中吹熄蠟燭,為這一晚的故事收尾。同一位說書人也出現在「落語傑作集」中。
「百物語」是江戶時代流行的一種遊戲:人們在夜裡聚在一起,一個接一個講怪談,每講完一個就熄掉一盞燈。福來的說書是一個引導,讓讀者透過漫畫感受百物語的氛圍。
登場章節7
第1話
When the Dead Call His Name, Don't AnswerHoichi the Earless
Kaidan, Tale One. Hoichi, a blind master of the biwa lute, is summoned night after night to perform for "a person of high rank." But the guests who weep at his tale are the dead of a clan that sank beneath the sea. On the night his whole body is covered in sacred writing, he must not answer, no matter who calls his name.
19頁第2話
Silent for Ten Years. Then He Told.Yuki-onna (The Snow Woman)
KAIDAN: Japanese Ghost Stories, Episode 2. On a night of howling snow, a young woodcutter is spared by a woman in white—on one condition: he must never tell anyone what he saw. Years later, blessed with a gentle wife and ten children, he finally breaks his silence... to the one person he should never have told.
19頁第3話
She Turned Around. She Had No Face.Mujina (The Faceless Ghost)
KAIDAN, Episode 3. Late at night on a dark slope, an old merchant can't bring himself to walk past a girl weeping at the edge of the moat. He flees from the faceless girl and finally reaches the glow of a noodle stall. But when he pours out the whole story to the stall keeper, whose back is turned to him...
19頁第4話
He Didn't Run. He Hid the Body.Rokuro-kubi
KAIDAN: Japanese Ghost Stories, Episode 4. Kwairyo, a wandering priest who used to be a fierce samurai, spends the night with a kind family deep in the mountains. At midnight he finds their sleeping bodies with no heads. He doesn't run. He quietly hides one of the bodies instead.
20頁第5話
He Drank the Face. Now It Comes CallingIn a Cup of Tea
KAIDAN, Episode 5. At a teahouse on New Year's, a stranger's face appears in Sekinai's cup of tea. The hot-tempered young samurai snaps, "Stay out of other people's tea!" and drinks the face down in one gulp. That night, oddly polite visitors begin to call, each promising to repay him. And this story has no ending.
19頁第6話
妻子說:「明天,我不能在了。」青柳
怪談傑作集·第6話。暴風雪的山中小屋裡,年輕武士友忠遇見了一位能以和歌回應和歌的姑娘青柳,他違反規矩娶她為妻。即使被大名府邸拆散,他也用一首詩把她換了回來。五年的幸福時光,卻在某天早上的一句「明天,我不能在了」畫下句點。
20頁第7話
十七年後,在旅店端茶來的姑娘阿貞的故事
怪談傑作集·第7話。十五歲就要離世的未婚妻許下約定:「我會再投胎一次,一定會回到你身邊。」十七年後,獨自踏上旅程的男人,在山中溫泉小鎮的旅店裡,遇見一個陌生姑娘為他端來一杯茶。
19頁