When considering illness and folk beliefs, one particularly interesting example is the stye. Today, a stye is medically known as a hordeolum and is described as a condition caused by a bacterial infection of the eyelid’s sweat glands, sebaceous glands, or Meibomian glands. Symptoms include redness, swelling, and pain; treatment now typically involves antibiotic eye drops or oral medication, and in some cases, surgical incision. However, before modern medicine became widely established, people did not understand illness solely in terms of bacterial infection. Illness was often believed to be related to gods and buddhas, curses, impurity, or mysterious forces, and methods involving prayer, charms, and everyday objects or foods were passed down in various regions. Kunio Yanagita’s folklore studies focused precisely on these beliefs and practices that persisted in everyday life. By examining how people dealt with illness, we can gain insight into how they understood the world and how the sick were supported within their local communities. A stye is one of the most representative examples of this. The name “monomogari” itself has long been thought to be related to an old folk remedy—the belief that receiving an object would cure the condition. In other words, the name of the illness itself may contain traces of treatment methods once practiced. Furthermore, the names for this condition vary significantly by region. In addition to “monomorai,” various other names have been passed down, such as “mebachiko,” “meibo,” and “mebo.” In eastern Japan, the term “monomorai” is widely used, while in parts of western Japan, names like “mebachiko” are common. This regional variation in disease names is not merely a matter of linguistic difference. It also provides clues for understanding population movement, interregional exchange, and the spread of ancient terminology. Even by examining a single disease name, we can gain insight into how culture has spread across the Japanese archipelago and evolved from region to region. The folk remedies for treating styes were also diverse. Folklore records include examples such as using adzuki beans, peering into a well, or dropping adzuki beans into a well. Similar customs involving adzuki beans and wells persisted in geographically distant regions such as Hokkaido, Fukushima Prefecture, and Yamaguchi Prefecture. Adzuki beans have long been used as a special food in Japanese annual events and festivals. Because the color red was believed to have the power to ward off misfortune, they were sometimes used in offerings and magical rituals. Furthermore, wells were not merely places to draw water; they were also often associated with water deities and the spiritual forces of the land. Therefore, the act of dropping adzuki beans into a well may have embodied the idea of entrusting healing to the power of nature or the gods, rather than relying solely on human effort to cure illness. There were also customs that sought healing power in words themselves. For example, there are recorded instances of treating a stye by reciting specific words while applying rice straw or similar materials to the eye, and finally throwing them into a fire. Incantations and spells were also used for other ailments, such as stomachaches or foreign objects in the eye. Here, words were not merely a means of conveying information. It was believed that reciting the correct words in the correct order would generate the power to remove illness. The idea that power resides within words themselves is widely found in Japanese folk beliefs. In Kodaira City, Tokyo, a charm for treating styes was also passed down. In Kodaira of the past, roads were unpaved, and there were many areas where dust would swirl in the wind. Consequently, it is believed that dust entered people’s eyes more frequently than it does today, leading to more instances of people rubbing their eyes with their hands. Styes were a common ailment for people at that time. Consequently, treatments were passed down repeatedly within families and local communities. Folk remedies for illnesses did not simply arise from ancient beliefs; they were also closely tied to the local natural environment and living conditions. Furthermore, in various regions, there are traditions claiming that washing one’s eyes with spring water from a temple cures the condition, or that visiting a shrine alleviates the illness. Although these practices differ from modern medical treatments, they demonstrate that temples, shrines, wells, and springs were recognized in those regions as places possessing special powers. Studying folk remedies is not merely about researching the history of disease. It also contributes to regional historical research, revealing what the local people considered sacred, what they believed possessed healing power, and which places they regarded as special. It is important not to simply dismiss these customs as mere superstition. Before the modern era, it was not as easy for everyone to see a doctor as it is today. Hospitals were scarce, medicine was expensive, and transportation was inadequate in many areas. When people fell ill, they coped with their ailments by combining whatever resources were available to them—knowledge passed down through families, plants, food, wells, shrines and temples, prayers, and charms. There also existed a way of thinking that did not view illness as merely an internal physical abnormality. Illness was sometimes understood to arise as a result of some disruption in the relationship between humans and nature, humans and the divine, humans and their ancestors, or even among humans themselves. Therefore, treatment was not merely an act of healing the body. People would make wishes to the gods and Buddhas, family members would pray, they would seek wisdom from neighbors, and they would act in accordance with community customs. That entire process was, in itself, the way people confronted illness. Even by tracing the history of a minor ailment like a stye, one can see how dialects, religion, medicine, local communities, the natural environment, and family knowledge were intricately intertwined. Before modern medicine began explaining the causes of illness in terms of bacteria or bodily functions, people drew upon the entire world around them to understand and treat illness. Eventually, from the Meiji era onward, Western medicine spread as an institutionalized system, and treatment by hospitals and doctors became firmly established in society. Even so, folk remedies and incantations did not disappear immediately. Even into the Shōwa period, depending on the region or household, hospital treatment and traditional charms were sometimes practiced in parallel. New medicine did not erase old beliefs in an instant. While people embraced new knowledge, they continued to incorporate long-standing practices into their daily lives. Research on illness and folk beliefs is not merely about collecting strange treatments from the past. It is also research into how people, when faced with pain or anxiety, attributed meaning to those events and sought to overcome them. When someone’s eye swelled up, some would take red beans and head to a well. Others would clasp their hands in prayer to the gods and Buddhas. Some recited words passed down through the ages. And standing by their side were family members and neighbors praying for their recovery. Within these small prayers and charms for styes lie, quietly preserved, the anxieties and wisdom of people who lived in an era when medical care was insufficient—along with their earnest desire to ward off illness by any means necessary.
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