14. Foretelling a Sister’s Passing

The following happened shortly after Izo received the Sazuke of Speech in about 1875. After working all day on the construction of the South Gatehouse, he went to bed upon returning home to Ichinomoto. Izo suddenly sat up on his futon in the middle of the night and said, “Separation of husband and wife, separation of husband and wife.”

Sato and the children were shocked and feared that Izo had gone insane. Izo then jumped a distance of about two meters and said: “I live about five ri (20 km) to the east. It is much too sad for me to have to leave behind my five children,” and began weeping before soundly falling back to sleep.

Sato felt far too uneasy about this and shook Izo, who awoke to say, “How did I end up sleeping here?”

Izo apparently had no idea what had just happened. Sato told him the details and he wondered, “Could it be that my older sister Iye in Mukoji passed away?”

They received news of her passing the very next day.

(From Shinpan Izo Iburi den pp. 89–90)

• Next installment in this series: 15. “Give All Your Possessions to Others”

*Note: This post has been revised since its original publication.