あま の はごろも　The Angel’s Robe

Once upon a time in a small village by the sea, a young man lived with his mother.

One day after fishing, he was walking through a pine grove and found a beautiful, almost-transparent robe hung over a pine branch.

“ What in the world is it ?
It’s certainly lovely.”

He said and put it in his bosom.


Just then, some one’s voice reached his ears from behind the grove of trees.

The man looked carefully toward the voice and saw several beautiful women were bathing.


“ How beautiful they are!
They must be from another world.”

He couldn’t take his eyes off them, as they finished bathing and walked to the pine branches where they had left their robes one by one.

Each woman put on her robe and flew up to the sky except for one woman who couldn’t find her robe.

“ I’m sure I hung my robe here.
Where has it gone? Without my robe I won’t be able to fly back to heaven. What can I do?”

She said in a panic.


The man walked up to her and in a cool voice said to her.

“ Hello, miss, what’s wrong?
You look cold with no clothes on.
Please, put this on”

He put his own kimono on her and asked.

“ Now tell what happened.
Where did you come from?”

But the woman said nothing.

“ If you have no place to stay, come to my house.”
said the man.



So he took the woman to his house and said to his mother.

“ Mom, this lady seems to have no
home.
We can let her stay here, can’t we?”

“ We certainly can.
My, isn’t she beautiful!”

His mother said and welcomed the woman into her home.

The man quickly hid the woman’s robe in the back of the closet.


Thereafter, the man and woman lived like husband and wife, and he enjoyed his new life with her.

He worked hard for his beautiful wife, and the wife helped him on the farm with house work.

Soon they had a cute baby boy, which made their life even happier.


Thereafter, the man and woman lived like husband and wife, and he enjoyed his new life with her.

He worked hard for his beautiful wife, and the wife helped him on the farm with house work.

Soon they had a cute baby boy, which made their life even happier.


When the man came back from fishing, his wife was standing in front of the house wearing her robe.

“You were hiding this robe from me.
Now that I’ve got it back,
I must go back to heaven.

I can not live with you and our boy
any more.”
She said sadly.

“ I’m so sorry, dear.

I was so afraid of losing you,
I just couldn’t tell you the truth.

Please,please stay with us.”


However, the wife said to him quietly,
“ I wish I could live here forever, too,
but I must go back now that I have
this robe back.”

And with that, she flew up into the sky.

The end



produced by
International Digital EHON Association
presented by
International Digital EHON Association written by
Satoru Mabuchi
illustrated by
Rika Kitai
translated by
Motoko Yamamoto