One day, a rabbit was going to a temple.
The rabbit had to take ａ scroll to a monk, but he lost it on the way.
He dropped it on an old turtles'shell while the old turtle was sleeping deeply.
The old turtle woke up and asked,
"What happend?"
He found the scroll and opened it.
It was a map.
There were a lot of red fire-ball symbols on the map.
He wondered what they meant.
He decided to go to each symbol and find out.
P4-5
CHAPTER 1- The sleepy mountain
The first symbol indicated a mountain.
The old turtle set off and after a while he found the mountain,
which had a strange shape.
He also found a notice-board near the mountain.
It read "This is the gate to the sleeping mountain that makes everyone,
even villains,sleepy "
He heard a beautiful sound which came out of nowhere.
It was like an animal's song or a language that he had never heard before.
It was really pleasant.
The turtle wondered who could be taking a nap today ?
P6-7
CHAPTER 2- A midnight meal
The next symbol was deep in mountains.
Night was falling while the turtle was climbing.
After a while, he found a house where a lamp was burning brightly.
He peeped into the house and saw an old woman serving dinner to two tourists.
She filled the glass with a lot of Sake.
After dinner, the tourists went to bed straight away
because of the Sake and their exaustingjourney .
They fell asleep easily.
The old woman made sure they were sleeping and said.
"Sake is soaking into bodies. It is time for my meal "
(The old woman wants to eat them. Sake makes bodies soft to eat.)
The turtle wondered what her true character was ?
explanation : The reflected picture is a cat monster. She is going to eat them.
P8-9
CHAPTER 3- The hereric (The depraved priest )
The next morning, the old turtle came back to the food of the mountain.
He walked beside the river and found named‘The Heretical temple’.
It was the next symbol.
The old turtle entered and saw a munk was reading The Buddhist scriptures
but his tune of it was strange and not rhythmical.
Na--Mu--(�ｼ�ｼ�ｼ�ｼ�ｼ�ｼ�ｼ�ｼ)
Na--Mu--(�ｼ�ｼ�ｼ�ｼ�ｼ�ｼ�ｼ�ｼ)
Na--Mu--(�ｼ�ｼ�ｼ�ｼ�ｼ�ｼ�ｼ�ｼ)
The turtle wondered what the munk was reading hard?
explanation : The reflected picture is a man and a woman are kissing.
The munk was reading a pornographical book.
Although it seems the munk is reading an old Buddest scriptures,in fact,
he was reading a pornographical book.
He hide the book on the back of the scroll.
He pretends to be an eager munk.
In Japan, it is called such munks ‘NAMAGUSABOUZU’-a depraved priest.
P10-11
CHAPTER 4- The real character
The next symbol indicated a mansion which was next to the temple.
The old turtle peeped inside through a hole in the door.
He saw a women who was making her face up elaborately.
She put vivid red rouge on her lips and she was intoxicated with her sexy face in the mirror.
It is said that a mirror reflects someone's true character.
The turtle wondered what character was reflected in the mirror ?
explanation : A female fax is symbolized as a woman who cheats on men.
It is based on the legend that foxes change into a sexy women to cheat people.
P12-15
CHAPTER 5-The capricious god
The old turtle was going to the west.
There was a TORII(a shinto shrine gate)
The words "wry god" are written on the right hand column
and "smiley god" was written on the left column.
"The capricious god" was written on the middle of the gate.
This is where the capricious god was enshrined.
The old turtle passed through the gate and walked to the mountain.
Just then,the god appeared.
The old turtle looked at the god for a while.
Quickly changing to a smile.
The god produced his wryness and his smile alternately.
The turtle wondered what effect a caprious god had on humans?
P16-17
CHAPTER 6-The mirror of the moon
The next symbol indicated a mountain of maples.
When the old turtle reached the mountain, night was falling a full moon appeard.
The moon was shining uncannily.
When the moon light shone on the red leaves and shadows,the red leavesof the maples
became vivid as if they were sucking blood,
and the shadows metamorphosized into queer shapes.
The moon light was amazing sharp.
It seemed to be foreboding what would happen tonight.
The old turtle was feeling apprehensive in this strange atomosphere.
The turtle wondered what the moons'mirror would reflect?
P18-21
CHAPTER 7- The odd fish
The old turtle went down themountain and reached the next symbol.
There was a notice board.It explained 6 kinds of the odd fish.
The turtle wondered what kinds of odd fish would be revealed?
1-Reigyo(=a ghost fish)
Reigyo likes to live in deep sea because they do not like sunshine.
Their bodies light up blue at midnight.
They usually hide themselves but they sometimes appear so they can say something.
explanation : Reigyo is Rei(ghost)+gyo(fish)
2-Ibodai(=a warty sea bream)
Ibodai rarely appears.It is said that you would get warts if you touched this fish.
The warts give people a lot of pain.
explanation : The reflected picture is a person who has a bad pain in his chin by warts.
3-Kikimimitachiuo(=an antenna fish)
Kikimimitachiuo likes gossips.They have great fins.
When their fin are moving quickly, they are straining their ears and extending rumors.
explanation :The reflected picture is a man whose ears are big enough to strain his ears.
Their ears are like great antennas to gather gossips.
4-Hanukenokuchi(=toothless fish)
Hanukenokuchi has the longest life of all fish.
They do not have any teeth except for their front two teeth.
So, they eat only soft things.
explanation :The reflected picture is an old woman whose teeth have fallen out.
5-Hoobalu(=A fish with a full mouth)
Hoobalu is the greediest fish in the whole world.
They always have their mouths full of something .
Their faces sometimes become red because they are too full.
explanation :The reflected picture is a man whose mouth is full.
His face has become red because of his mouth is too full.
6-Bushohigeuo(=lazy Samurai fish)
Bushohigeuo is lazy. They are called fish that have mustaches like Busyo(=Samurai)have.
explanation:The reflected picture is an unshaven Busho(Samurai).
(He is lazy because he is unshaven .)
Busho means ‘lazy’and‘Samurai’
P22-23
CHAPTER 8-The island lost in time
Crossing the sea,the next place the turtle visited was an island known as
"The island of the past".
It was said that the island had memories of its history.
In the middle of the island was a lake,and in the middle of the lake was a small island.
Legends said that if you went to that island you would be able to see the island's past.
The turtle wondered what was revealed?
P24-25
CHAPTER 9-The special physiognomy (fortune telling)
The old turtle came back from the island and walked to east.
There was a symbol of a magnifying glass on the map.
The sun was sinking,and it was starting to become dark,
that special time between day and night when the spirits could cross into our dimension.
Just then a near-sighted fortune -teller came along ,
looking for a client with his squinting eyes.
He found a samurai standing in the shadow of a tree.
The fortune teller asked the samurai if he could look at his face to tell his fortune,but…
The fortune teller came closer.
The samurai'face was scarier than any face he had seen before.
He was curious about the samurai's face.
He looked at his face with his magnifying glass.
The turtle wondered what features the samurai had?
explanation :The fortune teller were not aware that the samurai was a ghost
because he was near-sighted.
The reflected picture is of chinese charactors.
These words express the feelings of ghosts.
P26-27
CHAPTER 10-The fortuneteller's hut
The old tirtle found a hut where a lot of people had crowded around.
It was the next symbol.
Many pepple where being enticed into the hut quickly.
An announce advertised fortunetelling.
“Come now! Your attention.please! Please drop in here and look at this!”
“This is the much talked of fortuneteller,
because his crystal ball fortunes have come true many times”
The old turtle saw the people were captivated and they were watching the result breathlessly.
The turtle wondered which the crystal ball would predict good luck or bad luck?
explanation : The reflected picture is a Japanese traditional red demon.
It expresses that something ominous or forebording will happen.
P28-29
CHAPTER 11-The fashionable god
The next symbol was a small shrine beside the river.
There were a lot of people asking the god to fulfill their wishes eagerly.
The turtle asked them what this god was for.
They said that the god was really popular, because when they offered
‘dango’-rice dumplings-he granted their wishes.
Nobody knows who first spoke of it.
It was known all over the world so quickly,
therefore the god was always offered a lot of dango.
The turtle wondered what sort of god he was?
explanation : The reflected picture on the cylinder is a ugly monster
who changed himself into the god .
He did it to play a trick and then he could not reveal his real appearance
and was confused because many people gave him a lot of dango.
P30-31
CHAPTER 12-The legend of the island
The next symbol was a very small shrine next to the fashionable god.
A map was enshrined in it.
One day, a bird came to this village holding something in its beak.
People fed it then it gave what it was holding in return.
That was this map.
On the map,which showed that was identical to nearby Ougi island,
was written ‘Treasure Island’.
Once people knew of the map,the village was thrown into confusion.
Many people competed to discover the treasure in Ougi Island.
Even though they dug all over the island, Nobody found it.
Since the confusion, people called Ougi Island ‘Treasure Island’.
however the map did not indicate the place where the treasure was hidden.
The turtle wondered what treasure was kept on the island?
explanation : A treasure box is hidden on the picture.
Nobody found the treasure because the island itself is the treasure.
P32-33
CHAPTER 13-The show house
The next symbol indicated a show house.
The old turtle walked up it.
After a while he reached a street crowded with people.
He looked around and found a show house.
A troupe was showing their performance.
There were some flags on which was written
‘The hallucinatory umbrella’in front of the show house.
The show started as soon as the old turtle entered.
“This is the hallucinatory umbrella.”
A man was skillfully spinning a large umbrella with his legs.
On the umbrella were writen black chinese characters.
As the turtle stared at the umbrella, he fell into a trance as all around him cheers echoed.
Happy memories of drinking parties drifted back to him.
The turtle wondered what this show was?
explanation : The reflected picture is a dinner party with Geisha. Some dancing men and
Geisha who are playing Shamisen.
Their shadows are reflected on the Shoji.(Japanese traditional door)
P34-35
CHAPTER 14-The legend of the pond
The next symbol was a pond which was a short way from a river.
The pond was so crystal-clear that the old turtle could see a lot of fish.
After a while, the old turtle found a discarded rod and line.He started to fish.
When he dropped the line into the pond,the surface of water became red so quickly and
then it begun to whirl and something black was floating and wiggling.
The turtle wondered what was being revealed?
explanation : A skull is reflected on the cylinder.
It is the sprit of this pond.
P36-37
CHAPTER 15-The mountain of fossils
The next symbol was ‘The Mountain of Fossils’
When the old turtle reached the place.
The big mouth of the cave opened.
He went deep inside.The spiral path led to the innermost part of the cave.
The walls and ceiling were wrinkled.
As if it were in the intestines of a creature.
As he went towards the innermost part of the cave.
He found a door.
As soon as he opened it,there were creatures and landscape he had never seen before.
The turtle wondered where he was?
explanation : *rotate 180° and stand the silver cylinder on the bay.
The mountains (p.36-the right page) were a fossilized element of an Amanite.
The landscape which the old turtle saw was a memory of prehistoric times.
It believes that Amanite habitated The Earth from the Devonian era before the Ice era.
P38-39
CHAPTER 16-The Future well
The last symbol was the well.
The words ‘The Future well’were written on the sign board.
Csutiously the old turtle entered the well and he was thrown into the darkness.
And then a big space city which he had never seen appeared in front of him.
The turtle wondered who made it?
explanation : *rotate 180° and stand the silver cylinder on the circular shape(high buildings).
a cross section of a human's head is reflected on the cylinder.
It represents the idea that humans will be able to make such a space city in future.
P40-41
The old turtle came back from the Future well.
That was the place the rabbit had dropped the scroll.
And then the rabbit came.He was looking for the scroll everywhere.
Finally he found it,but the turtle was using it as a pillow.
The rabbit waited for a while for the turtle to wake up.
The rabbit wondered when the turtle would wake up?
explanation : The reflected picture is the turtle's sleep talk.
The turtle tells what will happen next and is very excited
because he dose not want thejourney to end.
In Japan a turtle with a long tail represents a good long life.
Often old animals take a nap.
It seems as through they might have long dreams.