Once upon a time, there was a man from the province of Settsu (modern-day Osaka Prefecture) who came to the capital, Kyoto, to commit theft.
He arrived at Rashomon Gate, and since it was still before sunset, many people were heading toward Suzaku Avenue, the main street of the capital.
“I’ll wait until the streets are empty to do my work,” he thought, and decided to stay beneath the gate.
After a while, a large group of people approached from the Yamashiro region (on the outskirts of the capital).
“Getting seen would be troublesome,” thought the man, so he climbed up to the upper level of the gate.
On the upper level, there was a light burning.
Suspicious of this, the thief peered through the lattice and saw the body of a young woman lying there. By her pillow, an old woman with white hair was lighting a small flame and pulling out the dead woman’s hair.
The thief thought, “This might be a demon,” and became afraid. He also considered, “Could it be that the dead woman has come back to life?” Yet he resolved to test the situation.
He opened the door, drew his sword, and charged at the old woman, shouting, “You!”
The old woman joined her hands in supplication and begged for her life. The thief asked her, “What are you doing in a place like this, you old hag?”
The old woman replied:
“The person I served as a mistress has passed away. With no one to bury her, I brought her here. She had very long hair, so I thought I’d take it to make a wig. That’s why I was pulling it out. Please spare me.”
The thief took the dead woman’s clothes, the old woman’s clothes, and the hair she had pulled from the corpse, then disappeared into the night.
The upper level of Rashomon Gate was littered with skeletons. When there was no one to bury the dead, their bodies were left on the gate’s upper level.
This tale is said to be what the thief himself recounted to others.
[Translation]
Siro Inuzuka
This text was created by using ChatGPT-4o to translate a modern Japanese translation into English, and then making some modifications. There may be errors in the English expressions. Please correct any mistakes.
[Explanation]
Shinichi Kusano / Siro Inuzuka
Rashomon Gate stood at the southern end of Suzaku Avenue, marking the entrance to the capital. The corresponding northern gate was called Suzakumon Gate.
It seems that the gate had fallen into significant disrepair. In this tale, it is described as a place where unburied corpses were discarded. The area around Rashomon Gate was reportedly very desolate, with almost no visitors.

Vaisravana Statue, To-ji Temple. It is said to have originally been enshrined on the upper level of Rashomon Gate
This story served as the basis for Ryunosuke Akutagawa’s breakout work, Rashomon.
According to the author Kunio Ogawa, “Akutagawa depicted the old woman’s purpose for taking the hair as ‘to sell it’ in order to portray a chain of evil. However, in the original tale from Konjaku Monogatarishu, the old woman’s motives are not explained. She may have intended to use the hair as a memento, and Akutagawa surely must have been aware of this possibility.”
Akira Kurosawa’s film Rashomon is based on a different story from Konjaku Monogatarishu, In a Grove. The film’s introduction depicts Rashomon Gate.
The name “Rashomon” is said to be a corrupted form of the original name.
[Cooperation]
Shinichi Kusano
●Japanese

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