The well-known Indian allegorical story of The Man in the Well (jīrṇakūpa), which is considered by M. Wintemitz as a typical Asketenpoesie, has attracted the attention of many Indologists in the past. E. Kuhn was the first to collect the relevant versions from Hindu, Jain and Buddhist literature and compared them systematically. He traced their route of transmission into Medieval European Literature. J. Ph. Vogel studied this story from the view point of the Art History of India. We also owe some bibliographical detail to E. Lamotte, who referred to this simile in his L'enseignement de Vimalakīrti. Japanese scholars also took note of this simile of Indian origin as found in Medieval Japanese Literature. The story was apparently brought from India through China by Buddhist monks. Curiously, this story was introduced to the Far East for the second time from the West in the 16th century. This time it was brought by Christian missionaries. Careful studies have been made by N. Muraoka, H. Matsubara and K. Kobori. This article, based upon these studies in the past, presents a Japanese translation of the Mahābhārata XI. 5-6, together with I. 41 (Jaratkāru story), I. 3 (Uttaṅka story) and V. 62 (Honey on a precipice), which are related to the story of The Man in the Well in some way or other. Several problems are discussed in the course of comparative studies of these versions.
