Scribbles on a Second-Hand Book

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(Translated and arranged by Saya)

Created by Stable Diffusion again 😆

This happened to me while I was in a certain second-hand bookshop. 

I went there with a friend who wanted to sell his books. 

The shop was not a stylish second-hand bookshop like the ones in Jimbo Cho (Note: an area in Tokyo where you find many second-hand bookshops*1) , but just a chain shop that deals with a jumble of books ranging from photo books to manga books. 

My friend had brought a mountain of manga books with him, and we were told that it would take a while to assess the value of all of them. 

I had never been to a second-hand bookshop, and being inside one was a novel experience to me. I walked around inside the shop, looking everywhere with curiosity.

I was looking at the Occult / Supernatural section of the shop, wondering if there wasn't something of interest to me, when I found one book whose title wasn't visible due to it being placed on the shelf backwards. I picked it up.

The title went something like "Let's Enjoy Rakugo (Note: the traditional Japanese art of storytelling. Link)."

The words were printed large and it had many pictures in it, so it was likely to be written for children.

The list of stories included the famous stories such as "Jugemu"*2 and "Scared of Manju"*3 which I already knew, but the amusing illustrations that accompanied the text made me keep turning the pages. 

When I got to "Sobei in Hell," I noticed someone had scribbled "Scary" in the margin. 

Sobei in Hell is a story about a man called Sobei, who goes to hell alongside a dentist, a doctor, and a yamabushi (Note: mountain monk Wiki)*4 , and they each utilise the skills they learned while they were alive to dodge attacks from oni (such as by pulling teeth out of an oni when they were about to get devoured by it) and overcome other difficult situations.

"Sobei in Hell (Jigoku no Sobei)" (a children's book)

It's a comedy but I remember reading it as a child and feeling frightened by the depictions of hell fire and oni. 

When I saw that scribble, I couldn't help but smile, because I imagined that the previous owner of the book, who I assumed was a child, also felt the same way as I did. 

Illustration from "Sobei in Hell"

I turned the next page, and found another set of scribbles in the margin.

"I am in trouble. Please help."

The sentence was written in red ink, and the word "HELL" within the printed text was marked with a circle, using the same ink. 

Right below that, in slightly faded black ink, was the word "OK. " 

This was immediately followed by "Done."

After this, "Thank you," was scribbled in red ink.

What is this? I wondered as I turned a page again.

There, I again saw: "Please help."

And a circle within the printed text. 

Below it, "OK."

And "Done."  

"I am grateful. Thank you for your help," in red ink.

Such sentences appeared in the margin page after page.

The scribbles in red came in a variety of shades, sometimes light, sometimes dark, and the handwriting was different each time too, but the "OK" and "Done" appeared to have always been written by the same hand, angular in shape with faded black ink.

"Please I need your help"

"OK"

"Done"

"Thank you"

"I would be grateful for your help"

"OK"

"Done"

"Thank you so much"

After I saw some more of those exchanges, I found a piece of paper stuck between the pages towards the end of the story.

It was a photo of a boy in school uniform, and it looked yellowish and grainy, probably because it had been enlarged. The boy wore a stiff expression on his face.

It had a name under the picture, which I assumed belonged to the boy.

The scribble in the margin: 

"Please help me"

And a circle around the word "Hell" in the printed text.

No words were written underneath them yet. 

Just then, I received a message from my friend saying that he had finished selling his books and he had been fully paid.

I silently put the book back to its original place.

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Notes:

*1

Jimbo Cho: Spending a Day in Tokyo's Book District

Jimbo Cho: Tokyo's Used Bookstore District

*2 Jugemu

This video below shows a rendering of the story "Jugemu" performed in English by Katsura Sunshine. It takes only a few minutes to watch it and it's really amusing. I would highly recommend it!

*3 Scared of Manju (Manju Kowai)

A great performance by Matthew Barber

*4 Yamabushi

Yamabushi Mountain Monks (Hidden Japan)

Transformative Yamabushi Training (yamabushido.jp)

You can apply for Yamabushi Training here!

⭐Japanese Mountain Monks:

A man's moving journey to becoming a Yamabushi. Sometimes the English subtitles are hard to see, but still worth watching!

⭐Kiwi Yamabushi (YouTube Channel)

One Western person's experience of being a Yamabushi. He says it has transformed his life and a lot of people can benefit from the Yamabushi training.

⭐A Japanese Monk explains what it means to be a Yamabushi & its history and training etc.

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Other hilarious Rakugo videos by Katsura Sunshine:

47 words for "Thank you"

Funny feedback made by the audience on a survey

Lost in Translation "Statue of Liberty"

Hand Soap: How you can speak Japanese without studying it🤣

Handing Out Pocket Tissues

A moment of disbelief