Illustration: Hangwan kneeling on raised platform with dirk. Man with sword standing behind him
Recitative.He takes the dirk with the point towards him, and driving it into his left side, drags it to the right. Lady Kaoyo cannot bear to look on, but turns away, prayers on her lips and tears in her eyes. The door of the passage is suddenly pushedopen, and in rushes Oboshi Yuranosuke. No sooner does he see his master’s plight than he flings himself down and bows to the floor. After him hurry in Senzaki, Yazama, and the other retainers of the house.
Hangwan.I have long been waiting for you, Yuranosuke.
Yuranosuke.To be able to look upon my lord while he is living, it is to me............
Hangwan.It is to me, too, a pleasure, a great pleasure. You have no doubt heard it all. I am truly mortified.
Yuranosuke.I have heard it all. Now that things have come to this pass, I know not what to say to my lord. I only beg that you will die bravely.
Hangwan.Oh, little need you to say so.
Recitative.With both hands he draws the dirk from side to side, and panting with pain, he takes a long breath.
Hangwan.This dirk I bequeath to you, Yuranosuke; and with it you will revenge my death.
Recitative.With the point of the dirk, he cuts his wind-pipe, and throwing down thebloody weapon, he falls forward; and his breath is gone. While his lady and the retainers present wait with closed eyes, bated breath, and clenched teeth, Yuranosuke shuffles close to his lord, and taking up the dirk, bows to it. He gazes at the bloodstained point, and clenching his fist, he weeps with despair. The last words of Hangwan have penetrated to his heart’s core. And at this moment he forms that resolution which will hand down Oboshi’s name for faith and loyalty to the remotest posterity. Yakushiji suddenly rises to his feet.
Yakushiji.Now that Hangwan is dead and gone, deliver this mansion at once.
Ishido.Nay, do not be peremptory, Yakushiji. Enya was the lord of a province and a castle. You gentlemen, when you have performed the funeral ceremony, you will quietly leave this mansion. I, who have come to carry out the sentence, will now go and report that I have seen your lord slay himself. I sympathise with you in your sorrow, Yuranosuke; and if you have anything to say to me, I will hear it, and do not scruple to tell me.
Recitative.He bows silently to the retainers present and calmly goes out.
Yakushiji.I, too, will rest in another room till this dead body is got rid of. Let my servants come. Now, throw out of the gate these retainers’ rubbish. And don’t let these newroninmake off with Hangwan’s personal property.
Recitative.He glares all around the chamber and enters another room. Lady Kaoyo bursts out crying.
Kaoyo.Ah me, is there anything more sorrowful than the samurai’s life? There was many a thing I longed to say to my lord at his last moment; but I bore my grief in silence because I feared the envoys would despise me as a faint-hearted woman. Alas, my poor, poor lord!
Recitative.She throws herself upon the body and let loose her sorrows, regardless of all around her.
Yuranosuke.Come, Rikiya. Escort at once our lord’s remains together with our lady, to the family temple of Komyoji. I will overtake you and perform the funeral ceremony.Hori, Yazama, Odera, Hazama, and others, guard them on the way.
Recitative.Immediately, the palanquin is brought in and set on a stand. The door is opened; and they all come forward and, with tears, place the remains within and silently lift up the palanquin. They comfort their lady who is lamenting piteously. The retainers escort the palanquin and hurry to the family temple. A few see it to the door and, returning, resume their seats. Out speaks Ono Kudayu.
Kudayu.Master Oboshi, you succeeded your father, Master Yawata Rokuro, as Chief Councillor. Though I am next to you in rank, I and all of us are from to-dayronin. We have no means of supporting wife and children. Let us, then, divide among ourselves the money which our lord kept for military use, and deliver this mansion at once, or we shall be wanting in respect to Yakushiji.
Yagoro.No; in my opinion, since it arouses our anger to see our enemy Kono Moronao still alive, we should prepare for the attack of our enemy and make our last stand in this mansion.
Sadakuro.Ah, wait. It is a bad idea, that of dying in fight. The best plan is, as my father Kudayu says, to hand over the mansion and divide the money.
Recitative.During this discussion, Yuranosuke has remained silent; but now he speaks out.
Yuranosuke.The proposal that Yagoro has made in this council agrees with my plan. We should really die and follow our lord; but I have decided that, instead of our slaying ourselves to no purpose, we should wait for the troops of Ashikaga and die in battle.
Kudayu.Eh, what do you say? I thought you would give us good counsel; but no, with aronin’s fatuous obstinacy, you would take up arms against Lord Ashikaga. That is recklessness. I cannot agree to it.
Sadakuro.Yes, you are right, father. I will not agree, either. We would be left out of this consultation. It is useless to remain here any longer. Let us go home.
Kudayu.Yes, we will do so. I take my leave; but pray, do not go yet, gentlemen.
Recitative.And father and son, they go home together.
Yagoro.Ha, the avaricious Ono and his son! What cowards, to be filled with fear when they hear that we are going to die fighting, and then to run away. Do not mind them, Master Oboshi, but let us prepare to meet the enemy.
Yuranosuke.No, no, Yagoro. What cause of anger have we against Lord Ashikaga that we should take up arms against him? It was only my plot to test the spirit of those two, father and son. Let us deliver the mansion to Yakushiji and go each his way. We will meet again at Yamashina, near the Capital, and there open our minds to one another and consult upon our future plans.
Recitative.No sooner has he spoken than Jirozaemon comes out of a room.
Yakushiji.What, still consulting? When you have got rid of the body, make over the house at once.
Goemon.Yes, we have kept you waiting. Examine well before you take over our lord’s
Ichikawa Danjuro as YuranosukeICHIKAWA DANJURO asYuranosuke
ICHIKAWA DANJURO asYuranosuke
furniture and his arms and equipages. Come, let us go, Master Yuranosuke.
Yuranosuke.Yes, we will go.
Recitative.They quietly rise; and as the thought comes to them that they are looking for the last time to-day at the mansion where their families for generations served day and night their lord’s house, they linger and gaze back, loth to leave it.
(Here the stage revolves)
Recitative.As they stand outside the gate, Rikiya, Yazama, Hori, Odera, and others, who escorted their lord, return running.
Rikiya and Others.Have you, then, given up the mansion? We will now wait for Tadayoshi’s troops and die fighting.
Yuranosuke.No, no. Now is not the time to die. See this, all of you.
Recitative.He draws and holds up his lord’s bequest.
Yuranosuke.This is the dirk, with its tip stained with our lord’s blood, on which his soul still rests thirsting for vengeance. And with this dirk we must cut off Moronao’s head and so accomplish our object.
Recitative.The retainers are stirred by his words. Within the mansion Yakushiji is having the gate-doors clamped.
Yakushiji.They are punished by Heaven for the attack on Lord Moronao. It serves them right.
Recitative.His servants clap their hands and laugh long and loud. The younger samurai run back to the gate, crying:—
Samurai.Do you hear that?
Yuranosuke.Have you no wish to avenge our late lord’s death?
Recitative.Hearing his words, they all go out together, looking back with anger at the mansion.
Illustration: Box with leaf limb
[1]An outer coat worn by men.
[2]Considered the most perfect mirror of loyalty in all Japanese history. He died fighting for the Emperor at Minatogawa in 1336.
[3]A garment worn over the shoulders and tucked under thehakama. (It is worn by the envoys in the double-page illustration of this Act)
RECITATIVE.
The hawk, even when it is on the verge of starvation, does not pick rice-ears contrary to its nature. For many days has Hayano Kanpei dwelt in his temporary home near Yamazaki; and for the fault committed in the flush of youth, he makes his living now by hunting deer and monkeys on these hills. He is caught with his gun in a summer shower, and takes shelter under a pine-tree until it ceases. Yonder comes a traveller with a little lantern stretched out with a bow, which he covers with the skirt of his rain-coat to keep the light burning. He hurries along the dark road in the heavy rain. Kanpei goes up to him.
Kanpei.If you please, will you kindly give me a light?
Recitative.The traveller stops short and stands on the defensive.
Traveller.Humph, I travel alone, fully knowing that this road is unsafe. I see you have a gun and I certainly cannot give you a light. Come another time.
Recitative.He watches him, ready to cut him down if he moves an inch.
Kanpei.Well, I do not wonder at your mistaking me for a robber; but I am a hunter of the neighbourhood. I am in a great trouble as I have got my tinder drenched in the heavy rain. Come, I will hand you my gun and get the light myself.
Recitative.Hearing his straightforward reply, the traveller looks fixedly at his face.
Traveller.Are you not Hayano Kanpei?
Kanpei.And you are Senzaki Yagoro?
Yagoro.I am glad to see you well.
Kanpei.And you, too, are in sound health.
Recitative.It is long since they last met. They cannot forget the fall of their master’s house, and as they think of it with resentment, they both clench their fists. Kanpei bows down his head and remainsspeechless for a while; and then he speaks out.
Kanpei.I am truly ashamed of myself, and cannot even show my face to an old fellow-retainer like you. Has my samurai’s fortune come to an end? It was my fated ill-luck that when I was in attendance upon my lord, the great calamity should have fallen upon his house. I was not present on the spot at the time, and I could not go back to the mansion; and I thought I could only wait till the fit occasion came to entreat his pardon. But, to my amazement, he was condemned to death. Great Heavens, I cried, this is all Moronao’s doing and I will at least follow my lord to the other world. And I put my hand on my sword; yet, thought I again, what worthy deed have I done that I could appear before my lord and escort him on the lonely road of death? I wore my heart out in pondering over what I should do in atonement. I have secretly heard it rumoured that Master Yuranosuke, his son, and Master Goemon, and others are plotting to avenge our lord’s death. Unhappy asI am, I was not driven out of service; and if I could, by some means, obtain an interview with Master Yuranosuke and be allowed to sign my name in the leaguers’ covenant, it would be an honour to me and my house for ever. Since it is my fortune to meet you, let me avail myself of this rare opportunity and beg you to make me worthy of a samurai. I appeal to our old friendship, to your knightly compassion.
Recitative.He lays both his hands before him on the ground, and filled with remorse for his former ill-deed, he weeps manly tears. Pitiful is his plight. Yagoro, though he thinks his old comrade’s repentance but natural, cannot here recklessly reveal the great plot.
Yagoro.Now, now, Kanpei, in your confession, you mix up with it something about a plot and a covenant. That is nonsense. There has never been such a rumour. I am taking an urgent message from Master Yuranosuke to Master Goemon. We intend to raise a monument in our late lord’s burial-place. But we, being butronin, are poor,and the monument is a thing which will be pointed out as Lord Enya Hangwan’s to the latest posterity. And so I am going on an errand to collect the money for the purpose and seeking out those who are still grateful for our late lord’s favours. And if you yet feel grateful.........do you understand?
Recitative.To make Oboshi’s plot covertly known while speaking of the monument, it is, indeed, an act of true comradeship.
Kanpei.I thank you, Master Yagoro. Yes, I heard long ago that you were collecting money, it was said, for the monument. I, too, have made every effort to offer some money, and hoped, on the strength of the contribution, to obtain pardon. But Master Yagoro, how ashamed I am! See my present condition; it is a punishment for my disloyalty to my lord, and I have none to turn to for help. But Karu’s father, Yoichibei, is a worthy man. He and his wife lament the unfaithfulness with which we, husband and wife, served Lord Hangwan, and are most anxious that I should find means to become a samurai again. I will seize this occasion totell them of my meeting you and, after giving an account of our talk, let them know how I may be restored to my former position. Then they will not, I am sure, hesitate to sell for their children’s sake the little land they possess. I beg, when I have brought the money, you will present it to Master Goemon.
Illustration: Yagoro takes leave of kneeling Kanpei
Yagoro.Yes, I will now go and tell Master Goemon what you have said to me and through him ask pardon of Master Yuranosuke. I will give you an answer without fail the day after to-morrow. This is the address at which Master Goemon has put up.
Recitative.As he gives him the address, Kanpei receives it with gratitude.
Kanpei.I am thankful for your manifold kindness. I will immediately find the money and wait upon you the day after to-morrow. If you wish to come to my house, you will turn to the left from the ferry at Yamazaki, and you will soon find Yoichibei’s house by inquiring in the neighbourhood. You had better go quickly before the night grows late. The road is still more unsafe further on, and so take great care of yourself.
Yagoro.No fear. Until the monument is raised, not a flea shall bite this body of mine. You, too, keep yourself in good health. I shall look forward to hearing of your contribution. Fare you well.
Recitative.They part, and each hurries on his way. The rain again comes down. Feeble footsteps are heard. Though he has not lost his way in the dark, he is a simple, honest old man who comes hanging on his staff, drawn hither by a blind love of his child. He hears a voice calling to him from behind.
A Voice.Hi, hi, old man. You are a good road-companion.
Recitative.The speaker is Ono Kudayu’s son, Sadakuro, who, having no place to go to, has turned a highwayman and nightly plies his trade on this road. He has a flat sword at his side.
Sadakuro.I have been calling you a long time; could you not hear me? It is bold of you at your age to travel alone on this unsafe road. I will bear you company.
Recitative.As he comes in front of him and looks at him with over-curious eyes, Yoichibei shrinks with fear; but he conceals it with an old man’s tact.
Yoichibei.Now this is a kindness I should not have expected of one so young. Being an old man, I do not care to travel alone; but wherever we go, there is nothing so precious as money. As I could not pay last year’s tax, I went to ask for help to my relations; but not a single cash could I get from them, and as I could not stay long where I could obtain no assistance, I am going home alone, heavy at heart.
Recitative.Before he has done speaking, the other cries out.
Sadakuro.Hold your tongue. I did not come to hear that you have not paid your tax. Look here, old man. Listen carefully to what I am going to say. It is this. I saw long ago that you have in your bosom a purse of striped cloth with forty or fiftyryoin it, if it is gold; and I have followed you. Lend it to me. See, I entreat you with clasped hands. I dare say, you got the money to rescue your child from some foolish trouble. Now that I have set my eyes upon it, why,Illustration: Saduko with umbrella standing over fallen Yoichibeithere is no getting away. So make up your mind to it. Please, lend it to me, do.
Recitative.He puts his hand into Yoichibei’s bosom and pulls out a purse of striped cloth.
Yoichibei.Oh, please, sir, that......
Sadakuro.What of that? When you have so much money.........
Recitative.As he snatches it, Yoichibei clings to his hand.
Yoichibei.No, no, sir. I took some small coin out of this pouch, it is true, to buy straw-sandals a while ago; but there is now in it only a few lumps of rice for luncheon and medicines my daughter gave me for bilious attacks. Please, let me go, sir.
Recitative.And he snatches back the pouch and tries to escape; but Sadakuro runs before him and intercepts him.
Sadakuro.What an obstinate fellow, to be sure! I speak you fair, because I do not wish to do anything cruel; and you take advantage of it. Come, fork out the money. If you hesitate, I will kill you at one blow.
Recitative.He draws his sword and raises it for a downward stroke; and before Yoichibei can cry out, he strikes at him as at a dry bamboo-pole. Did the sword deflect or the hands err? He misses his mark, and Yoichibei grasps the naked blade with both his hands.
Yoichibei.Do you, then, really mean to kill me?
Sadakuro.Of course I do. I kill you because I saw your money; and so give up the ghost without more complaint.
Recitative.He points the sword at his breast.
Yoichibei.Please, just wait, sir. There is no help for it. Yes, this is money. But I have an only daughter; and she has a husband who is more dear to her than life itself. That husband is in want of money. He is, for certain reasons, aroninat present. It was through her, says my daughter, that he became aronin, and she has asked me and my wife to help him to return to his former samurai’s position. But as we are poor, we could do nothing. At last, after long consultation with my wife, we hit upon a plan; we made our daughter agree to it and have kept it absolutely secret from our son-in-law. And this is the money we got after we three, father, mother, and daughter, had truly wept tears of blood. And if you take it away, what will become of my daughter?See, I clasp my hands to you; please, let me go. You, too, appear to have been a samurai; and the samurai should help each other. Without this money, my daughter and her husband cannot hold up their heads in the world. He is my only daughter’s husband; and you will guess how I pity and love him. Have compassion on me, sir, and let me go. You are still young and I suppose you are childless; but when the time comes and a child is born to you, you will know how natural are the words I have spoken to you. So, please, let me leave this place in safety. Only ari[1]from here is my home. You may kill me when I have handed the money to my son-in-law. Please, sir, I should like to die after I have seen my daughter’s face light up with joy. Please, please, sir. Oh, help, help!
Recitative.But his cries only resound with piteous echoes in the hills around.
Sadakuro.Oh, that is indeed sad. Cry on. Hear me, old dotard. If I rise in the world with that money of yours, the blessingof this act of charity will raise your son too. For charity never makes an evil return to the donor. Poor fellow!
Recitative.He thrusts his sword; and as Yoichibei writhes with pain, he kicks him round with his foot.
Sadakuro.Oh, how pitiful! Though, no doubt, it hurts you, do not bear me spite for it. I kill you because you have money; for if you had no money, what should I do to you? Your money is your enemy, old man. Oh, save us, Amida Buddha!* Oh, save us, Wondrous Doctrine of the Lotus Sutra![2]Go wherever you please.
Recitative.Without drawing out his sword, he turns it round and round. The grass is dyed crimson with blood; and the old man, in the excess of his pain, breathes his last. Sadakuro, now that he is dead, takes the pouch and in the darkness counts the money in it.
Sadakuro.Ha, fiftyryo. ’Tis long since we last met, gentlemen; and I thank you for your coming.
Recitative.He hangs the pouch around his neck, and pushes and kicks the body into the valley below. The mud on the corpse splashes upon himself; but all unwitting, he stands up, and sees behind him a wounded wild boar rush headlong towards him. In haste he steps aside. The wild boar runs straight on, snorting, kicking roots of trees and corners of rocks, and leaping through mud and shrubbery. And as Sadakuro comes forward and looks after it, a gun-report is heard, and two bullets pierce his spine and
Illustration: Kanpei leaning over supine Sadakuro]
penetrate to his ribs. Without a cry or groan, he falls on his back and dies; It doesone’s heart good to see him die. Thinking that he has killed the wild boar, Kanpei comes out with his gun in his hand and gropes here and there for the game. When he touches and raises the body, he finds that it is not the wild boar.
Kanpei.What, this is a man! Great Heavens, I have missed it!
Recitative.As it is pitch-dark, he cannot in his fear ask who his victim is. As he raises him in his arms to see if he still breathes, his hands touch the pouch; and grasping it, he perceives it holds forty or fiftyryo. He raises it again and again to his head to thank Heaven for what, doubtless, is its gift; and then he rushes away as if on wings, even more swiftly than the wild boar.
Illustration: drum]
[1]About two miles and a half.
[2]Buddhist prayers.
RECITATIVE.
“The country dance is over;Come out, old man, come with your dame,Come, old man, come with your dame.”
So sing the country folk as they pound their barley. Here stands the weather-beaten cottage of Yoichibei, a peasant in the noted village of Yamazaki; and here now passes Hayano Kanpei aronin’s life. His wife Okaru has risen and, while waiting for her husband who is not yet home this morning, brings out her toilet-case to smooth her dishevelled hair. With her thoughts bent upon her fate which she still keeps a secret, she combs her hair with a comb of boxwood and dresses it with neatness and elegance; her beauty is too fair for a country-place. Her aged mother, hanging to her staff, comes tottering home from the fields.
Mother.Oh, you have done up your hair, daughter! And it is well done. Everywherein the country they are now busy harvesting barley; and just now, near the bamboo jungle, I heard young men sing the barley-pounders’ song, “Come out, old man, come with your dame.” That made me very anxious as my old man is late coming home, and I went to the end of the village; but not a shadow of him could I espy.
Okaru.Yes, mother,Illustration: Two womenI wonder what makes him so late. I will just run and see.
Mother.No, it is not well for a young woman to walk alone. You, especially, never liked from your childhood to walk about in the country; and though we sent you for service to Lord Enya’s, you apparently could not live away from the lonely country and came back to us. While you are with Kanpei, you never show any sign of discontent.
Okaru.Oh, mother, that is but natural. When I live with one I love, I would put up willingly with poverty, to say nothing of country life. When the Feast of Lanterns comes, I mean to do as the song says, “Come out, old man, come with your dame,” and go with Kanpei to see the dance. You, too, did that sort of thing when you were young.
Recitative.It is a light-tongued hussy, and her spirits, too, appear restless.
Mother.Cheerfully as you may talk, in your heart........
Okaru.No, no. I am quite composed. I have been long prepared to go to service in Gion-machi for our lord’s sake; but for my aged father to take so much trouble.........
Mother.Do not say that. Low as his position is, your brother, too, was a servant of Lord Enya; and it is not like taking trouble on another person’s account.
Recitative.As mother and daughter talk, hurriedly comes along the road with a palanquin Ichimonjiya, of Gionmachi. Stopping the palanquin, he calls out from outside the door.
Ichimonjiya.Is Master Yoichibei at home?
Recitative.With these words, he enters at the door.
Mother.Why, you have kindly come all this way. Now, bring the tobacco-tray, daughter, and offer tea.
Recitative.As the mother and daughter welcome him, Ichimonjiya speaks.
Ichimonjiya.Well, I thank your old man for coming last night; I hope he came home safely.
Mother.What, have you not brought him with you? That is strange. Since he has not........
Ichimonjiya.What, has he not come home? Strange! Perhaps, as he was loitering before the shrine of Inari,[1]he was bewitched by a fox. Now, just as we had agreed when I came here the other day, we decided last night that your daughter should serve for full five years only and her wages were to be a hundredryo. Then the oldman said that as he had some money to deliver last night, he wanted to sign the bond of service and receive in advance the whole sum of a hundredryo. As he asked me with tears, I gave him half the sum when the bond was signed and promised to pay the remainder when the girl was delivered to me. And when I handed him the fiftyryo, he was overjoyed and raised the money to his head with rapture. It was about the fourth hour[2]when he went away rejoicing. I told him that he should not walk home alone with the money at night and tried to stop him; but he would not listen to me, and so he went home. It may be, on the road........
Okaru.No, no, nowhere would he stop on the way. Do you not think so, mother?
Mother.Yes, certainly. Especially, as he would not lose a moment if he could help it in hurrying home and making you and me glad by showing us the money. I cannot understand it.
Ichimonjiya.Well, whether you understandit or not, that is your business. I will hand you the balance and take the girl home.
Recitative.He takes the money from his bosom.
Ichimonjiya.Here is the remaining fiftyryo; and it makes up the hundred ryo. I hand it to you, and so take it.
Mother.But before your father comes home, I cannot let you go, can I, Karu?
Ichimonjiya.Why, dawdling like this, we shall never have done. See, here is Yoichibei’s seal; you have not a word to say now. This bond speaks for me. This girl’s service I have bought with money to-day; and a day’s delay means so much loss to me. I suppose I must use force.
Recitative.He seizes Okaru by the hand and drags her.
Mother.Please, wait.
Recitative.The mother clings to him; but he pushes her away. He forces Okaru into the palanquin. But just as it is lifted up, Kanpei returns, gun on his shoulder and with a straw rain-coat and hat on. He enters the house.
Kanpei.My wife in the palanquin, where are you going?
Mother.I am glad you have come home at this moment.
Recitative.He wonders at the mother’s joy.
Kanpei.There appears to be something at the bottom of this. Mother, wife, let me hear it.
Recitative.And he sits right in the middle of the room.
Ichimonjiya.Oh, are you the girl’s husband? Here is the bond with the old man’s seal, in which he says no one whatever, be he the girl’s husband, actual or affianced, shall offer any obstruction. And I don’t care who you are, and I am going to take away the girl at once.
Mother.Oh, you are no doubt puzzled, my son. We had heard from our daughter that you were in want of money; and much as we wished to get it for you, we had no prospect of procuring a singlesen. And so says my old man, “I do not suppose our son is thinking of getting the money byselling his wife; but it may be that he has such a wish and is deterred from carrying it out only by the presence of her parents. What if this old father sells her without his knowledge? It is a custom with the samurai, when other means are exhausted, to take her back by force. It is no shame to sell one’s wife, and if I find for him in this way the money he requires in his lord’s cause, I do not think he will be very angry with me.” So yesterday he went to Gion-machi to settle the matter, but he has not come home yet. While we, I and my daughter, were feeling anxious at his absence, comes this man and says that as he gave the old man half the sum last night, he will pay the remaining fiftyryonow and take away my daughter this moment. I tell him I must see the old man first, but he won’t listen to me, and insists upon taking her away. What shall we do, Kanpei?
Kanpei.I am truly grateful for my father-in-law’s kindness. But I, too, have had a piece of good fortune; of that, however, I will speak later on. I do not think we shouldhand over my wife before her father comes home.Illustration: Man seated with a wrapped bundle
Ichimonjiya.And why?
Kanpei.Well, the bond gives you the parent’s authority. Though I do not doubt that you paid half the money last night.....
Ichimonjiya.Here, I am Ichimonjiya who am known all over Kyoto and Osaka and have in my employ girls enough to make an island of Amazons. Do you think I would say that I had paid the money when I hadn’t? There is still another thing that I can tell you for certain. When I saw your old man wrap the fiftyryoin his towel and put it in his bosom, I said to him it was risky, and gave him a pouch to put it in and hang round his neck. The pouch was made of a piece of cloth of the same pattern as this garment of mine; and no doubt, he will presently come home with it round his neck.
Kanpei.What do you say? A pouch of the same pattern as the dress you wear?
Ichimonjiya.Yes.
Kanpei.Of the same pattern?
Ichimonjiya.Is not that certain proof?
Recitative.Upon hearing this, Kanpei is amazed. After looking around him, he stealthily takes out the pouch from his sleeve; as he gazes at it, he sees it is of silk and cotton and does not differ a jot in pattern from the man’s dress. Great Heavens! Was it then his father that he killed with his gun last night? He feels a far greater pang than if his own heart had been pierced by a bullet. Ignorant of his feelings, his wife asks him.
Okaru.Come, my husband, do not look so restless; but decide for us whether I am to go or not.
Kanpei.Oh, yes. Since he speaks so convincingly, I fear you must go.
Okaru.What, without seeing father?
Kanpei.Yes. I saw your father for a moment this morning; I do not know when he will come home.
Okaru.Did you then see father? Why did you not say so before, instead of making mother and me anxious about him?
Recitative.Ichimonjiya takes advantage of the position.
Ichimonjiya.Doubt a man, they say, only after inquiring seven times. Since we know the old man’s whereabouts now, we all feel at ease. If you still resist, we must appeal to law. But it is now settled, I am glad to see. Mother and husband, when you come to worship at Rokujo, pay me a visit. Come, get into the palanquin.
Okaru.Yes, yes. I am going now, Kanpei. My two aged parents you will have to support, and father, especially, for he is always ailing, and you will please take great care of him.
Recitative.Unaware of her father’s death, she, poor girl, consigns him to her husband’s care. Had he not better, thinks Kanpei, tell the whole truth? No, he cannot do it before others, and he bears in silence the anguish of his heart.
Mother.Your husband would like tohave parting words with you, but I suppose he fears it might upset you.
Okaru.No, no, though I part from him, I feel no sorrow since I am selling myself for our lord. I go with a brave heart. But, mother, I am sorry I cannot see father before I go.
Mother.Oh, when he returns, I am sure he will go and see you. Use moxa so as not to fall ill, and come and show me your bright face sometimes. You will be uncomfortable without paper and a fan. Have you everything you want? Don’t stumble and hurt yourself.
Illustration: Crying woman carried in a palanquin
Recitative.She looks after her until she gets into the palanquin. They bid each other farewell. By what ill-fate is it that with such a fair daughter, this sorrow falls upon her? The mother weeps with clenched teeth; and the daughter clings to the side of the palanquin and chokes with tears in her desire not to let her crying be seen or heard. The palanquin is, alas, lifted up, and the bearers hurry away on the road. The mother stands gazing after her.
Mother.Ah, how sad I must have made my daughter with my foolish words! O my son, when even I, her mother, am resigned to her going, I hope you will not keep thinking of her and make yourself ill. How is it that father does not come home? You said you saw him, did you not?
Kanpei.Ah, yes.
Mother.And where did you see him? And where did he go when he left you?
Kanpei.Well, we parted at...... let me see...... was it at Toba or Fushimi? Or Yodo or Takeda?
Recitative.While he speaks at random,Meppo Yahachi, Tanegashima no Roku, and Tanuki no Kakubei, three hunters of the neighbourhood, come in without ceremony, bearing on a shutter Yoichibei’s body, covered over with a straw rain-coat.