Ei Koishi was born in rural Japan when the Meiji emperor still ruled. She never learned to read or write, but that never mattered too much.
Ei Koishi was born in rural Japan when the Meiji emperor still ruled. She never learned to read or write, but that never mattered too much.
Instead, she developed a flawless memory.
Koishi was able to recite more than 100 folk tales and legends at will, often in greater detail than accounts written by scholars.
Koishi has passed on, a victim of the March 11 tsunami that devastated the Otsuchi town of Iwate Prefecture in northeastern Japan, but her tales live on.
Now, her sons and a researcher from Aichi Prefecture are trying to preserve this incredible woman's story.
Koishi's skill at storytelling made her a veritable depository of folk tales from Otsuchi where she lived until her death at age 99. She probably was unmatched in her ability to recite stories at great length.
Her illiteracy probably explains her incredible memory. She never even paused to verify a written account when she was storytelling.
Koishi lived in Otsuchi, a town on the edge of the city sprawl of Tono.
Tono forms the backdrop for the "Tono Monogatari" (Tales of Tono) published by Kunio Yanagita (1875-1962). Yanagita is considered the father of Japanese folklore studies.
Koishi was captured on a tape recording more than a decade ago reciting the legend behind the names of the Otsuchikawa and Kozuchikawa rivers in her hometown.
According to Koishi's fourth son, Koetsu, 66, his mother never went to school because her father died when she was very young.
At the drop of a hat, she could recite dozens of stories. Some are similar in content to those found in the Tono Monogatari, such as one about a young girl who falls in love with a horse, but often in more detail.
On March 11, when the tsunami hit Otsuchi, Koishi was at the home of her oldest son, Susumu, 79.
The house was swept away with Koishi in it. Susumu's wife and 58-year-old oldest son also remain missing.
Aug. 22 would have marked Koishi's 100th birthday.
Susumu decided to hold a funeral that day for the three missing family members as a symbolic gesture to put the disaster behind the family.
Akiko Hishikawa, a part-time lecturer at Aichi University who specializes in folklore studies, first met Koishi in 1998 when she visited Otsuchi in search of local folk tales. Hishikawa, now 44, was a college student at the time.
Remarking at how happy Koishi appeared when she recited the tales, Hishikawa put together a research report last year based on recordings of Koishi that were accumulated over a 13-year period. However, there were other papers that Hishikawa wanted to write about Koishi.
Koetsu served as an interpreter for Hishikawa when Koishi spoke in the local Otsuchi dialect.
The son said, "I escaped being killed by the tsunami because, remembering what my mother had told me, I fled before a tsunami double the size of the wave that receded would come back to hit the area."
Koetsu has asked Hishikawa to come to Otsuchi to carry out further research.
"We have not yet recorded all of the old tales about Otsuchi," he said. "There are still historical sites in the town that remain unchanged from the descriptions in my mother's recitations. I want her (Hishikawa) to research those aspects as well."
Hishikawa promised to do what she could when she paid her final respects to Koishi. For the immediate future, Hishikawa plans to write a paper that looks back on Koishi's life.