Tale 87 — The master who visited the temple just before death
When the master of a wealthy house in Tono was near death from a long illness, he visited the family temple one day and talked with the priest of ordinary things before leaving. A young temple boy was sent to follow him, but his figure vanished from sight. When they checked the teacup he had used, the tea had spilled into the gap where the tatami mats joined. That night, the master died.
This is an English rendering of our short Japanese summary of the source tale — a summary translated from the Japanese, not a translation of the original text. The summary was drafted and translated with AI assistance, and names and numbers were checked against our records.