fact the Meiji period handled all those
institutions established by deceased piety with great roughness.
Teramachi--Temple Street--is now but a name. The temples of eastern
Yotsuya have nearly all disappeared. Have public institutions occupied
this "public land"? Of course: the sites were sold for the secular
purpose of profit, and poverty spread wide and fast over them. Yotsuya
got the shell of this oyster.

About the middle of Meiji therefore (say 1893) the shrine disappeared
from Yotsuya Samoncho[u]; to be re-erected in Echizenbori near the
Sumidagawa. Local inquiry could or would give but little information. A
fortunate encounter at the Denzu-In with an University student, likewise
bent on hunting out the old sites of Edo's history, set matters right.
Subsequent visits to the newer shrine were not uninteresting, though the
presence of the mirror of O'Iwa and of the bamboo tube inclosing her
Spirit (Mr. Momogawa) was strenuously denied by the incumbent. In the
presence of the very genuine worship at the lady's shrine much stress
need not be laid on the absence.

The present story practically is based on the "Yotsuya Kwaidan" of
Shunkintei Ryuo[u], a famous story-teller of the Yoshiwara, and an old
man when the "Restoration" of the Meiji period occurred. The sketch
given in the "O'Iwa Inari Yu[u]rei" of Momogawa Jakuen filled in gaps,
and gave much suggestion in moulding the story into a consistent whole.
Parts merely sketched by the older story-teller found completeness. This
collection of ghost stories--the "Kwaidan Hyaku Monogatari" published by
the Kokkwado[u]--is in the main written by Mr. Momogawa, and can be
recommended as one of the best of these collections, covering in shorter
form the more important stories of this class of the native literature.
The "Yotsuya Kwaidan" of Shinsai To[u]yo[u], one of the older and
livelier of the _ko[u]dan_ lecturers, gives the scene at the house of
Cho[u]bei, and his quarrel with Toemon. It is found in the
"Kwaidan-Shu[u]" published by the Hakubun-kwan. The _gidayu_ (heroic
recitation) and the drama handle all these stories for their own
peculiar purposes. The incidents of a tale are so distorted, for stage
use and dramatic effect, as to make these literary forms of small avail.
The letter of O'Hana, however, is practically that of the play of
Tsuruya Namboku (Katsu Byo[u]zo[u]). It has been thought well to append
to the story the _gidayu_ of this writer, covering the scene