On Being Penalized for Abusing an Official’s
Authority and Ruling Unrighteously
In the reign of Emperor Shirakabe, a man by the name of Hi no kimi of Matsura district, Hizen province in Tsukushi, died suddenly and reached the land of Yama. When the king checked, it turned out that his death was premature, and he was sent back home.

On his way back he saw a hell which looked like a boiling kettle in the ocean. In it something black like a stump that was sinking and rising as the water boiled called to him, saying, “Wait! I have something to tell you.” It sank as the water boiled, and then it came again to the surface, saying, “Wait! I have something to tell you.”

After this had happened three times, the object spoke a fourth time, saying “I am Mononobe no Komaro from Harihara district in Tōtōmi province. During my life I worked as an official for many years in charge of transporting hulled rice and took other people’s property unrighteously. Because of this sin, I have been suffering here. I pray that you will copy the Hoke-kyō for me so that I may be excused from my sin.”

When Hi no kimi came back from the Land of the Dead, he wrote a precise report of what he had seen and heard and sent it to the local government. Having received this report, the local government in turn forwarded it to the central government. As the central government did not take it seriously, the grand secretary did not bother to report it to the emperor, ignoring it for twenty years.

When Sugano no asomi Mamichi of the Junior Fourth Rank, Upper Grade, was appointed head secretary, he noticed the report, and presented it to Emperor Yamabe. Having heard this, the emperor inquired of Assistant Executive Sekyō, saying, “Are we, living beings in this world, released from suffering after twenty years in hell?” Sekyō answered, “Twenty years on earth is only the beginning of the suffering in hell, because one hundred years in this world corresponds to one day and night in hell. This is why he is not yet released.”

Upon hearing this, the emperor made a sign of repentance and sent his messenger to Tōtōmi province to investigate Komaro’s case. Having asked about Komaro’s deeds, he discovered that the report was true. The emperor grieved over this, believing it, and summoned four scripture copiers to copy the Hoke-kyō for Komaro on the seventh of the third month in the beginning of the fifteenth year of the Enryaku era. He organized a devotees’ association to support this work, inviting the prince regent, ministers, and officials in number equal to the 69,384 characters of the scripture. Also, the emperor held an elaborate service at a private temple in the capital of Nara, to recite that scripture with the Most Venerable Zenshu as lecturer and Assistant Executive Sekyō as reciter, giving merits to Komaro to save his spirit from suffering.

Ah! How deplorable he was who, without knowing the law of karmic causation, ruled unrighteously like a fox who borrows a tiger’s skin and its power and who was eventually punished for his inordinately mean heart! The law of causation never fails to work. (Page 271-273)