Spiritual Diplomacy

Spiritual Diplomacy was one of the most popular stories collected in the Hyakumonogatari Kaidenkai, a comprehensive monogatari of popular Kwaidan.

Tale
Seppun Heian was once a yoriki who oversaw an execution of a bandit ronin, performed by his master, a chief magistrate. Years later, Heian became a magistrate in his own right. He was to oversee an execution, but this time it would be Heian who completed the deed. The man to be slain was once a servant of the same evil bandit lord. The mans anger was so great that Heian was convinced that with his dying breath the dead would return to the living, to accomplish the last intention of the spirit. The bandit vowed to haunt and kill the magistrate and his Lord, but Heian diverted his passion, and manipulated him to shift his desire to bite a stone, because Heian had assured the bandit it was the only way he would be afraid of his desire for vengeance. The bandit died with only one purpose in mind, to bite a stone, and no other vengeance was ever sought.