Flying Rice stock house – part.1

First things first. This is not an ‘A●azonStore service’ planned for the future.

Why do I say that?　Because when I was thinking of a title for this article, the first thing that came to mind was「Flying Warehouse」.　I did a search to see if it was an appropriate title and found that A●azonStore is planning a service with the same name!?

When will A●azon’s giant blimps and drones cover the skies?　I can’t even take a careless nap in the garden…(^_^;)

Reconsider the title and change it to「Flying Stockhouse」to avoid misunderstandings. I thought, there is also a company called ‘StockHouse’… Oh dear…　As a result, we decided on「Flying Rice stock house」.　It’s not easy to think of an appropriate title.

 

 

Now, a ‘rice stock house’ is, as the name suggests, a warehouse where milled rice is stored.

As mentioned in previous articles, rice is the staple food of the Japanese people and very important. It is grown for a year, harvested, milled and stored in warehouses.　Today, due to large-scale distribution, these warehouses are huge, but in the past, Japanese rice warehouses were the size of a house.

They were also called ‘土蔵=Dozoh’ because they were built with mud walls for fire protection.

The ‘Rice stock house’ flies in the sky, albeit a small one. That’s what we’re talking about today…

 

『飛倉（Tobi-Kura）』

A story from long ago… 　Mount Shigi rises on the border between Yamato Province (present-day Nara Prefecture) and Kawachi Province (present-day eastern Osaka Prefecture).

At some point it became rumoured to be a mountain where wise men lived, giving rise to the names ‘信じる・faith’ and ‘貴い・noble’ mountain, Mount Shigi（信貴山）.

There was a humble hermitage halfway up Mount Shigi, where a monk lived alone.　From time to time, he would go down to the village at the foot of the mountain to preach the Buddha’s precious teachings and give advice on living, and he was well-liked and respected by everyone.

 

One year there was a drought and the rice harvest was very low. Nevertheless, the villagers took a selection of offerings to the monks from the little food they had.

In front of the hermitage, the monk thanked the villagers profusely. However, he said, 「Villagers are also suffering because of the drought.　I am a trainee monk and I cannot take such precious food.
Please take that food home and share it with everyone.」

When the envoy villagers heard this, they were troubled. However, they respected the monk’s feelings and decided to take the offerings home.

Then remembered a message and passed it on to the monk.

 

「A millionaire living on a hill outside the village said. He wanted a monk to come and tell him the story of the grateful Buddha.
」
「He also said he would give a bale of rice if the monk would come.」

The monk remained silent and thoughtful for a while, but eventually said just one word.

「Okay, I understand. Then let’s do that…」

The monk then went back towards the hermitage.

 

Now, the millionaire…
This man is not a man of good character. He does not care that others are in trouble, and on the contrary, he collects tribute half deceitfully.

I didn’t call the monk to listen to the Buddha.
It is a lame plan to show off his greatness by summoning a monk who is respected by the villagers and giving him rice.　have a vain personality…

 

One day, a rice-cup flew through the air and came to the millionaire’s mansion.

What’s going on!?　Everyone was startled and in an uproar, the rice-cup flew up to the house and landed in front of the millionaire.

Inside the rice-cup is a piece of paper with the inscription “般若波羅蜜多 / Prajnaparamita”.　※ “Prajnaparamita” A passage in a Buddhist sutra. It refers to right perception, truth, etc.

When Millionaire saw this, he became furious.

「What the heck! I don’t need these scriptures!　That monk mock me with his strange arts!」

Millionaire, whose expectations were disappointed, grabbed a handful of rice and threw it into that rice-cup.

「That’s enough for you! Don’t come back!」He threw the bowl back high into the sky.　The bowl flew back towards the mountains…

Oh dear, I wonder what will happen next…