“Hold, hold! Gonshirō,” he cried. “You are always too impetuous. I do not blame you for this—it is the true samurai spirit—the same spirit that in spite of want, of hunger and rags, disdains to flatter for the sake of gain. My brave fellow, I honour you for this! It might have been that the hardships of the last three years had changed your character—that you might now have been willing to sell your honour for my favour and worldly prosperity—so I feigned drunkenness and a boastful spirit that once more I might challenge you to fight and thus test you to the full. You have stood the test nobly. You disdained to flatter even at such a cost. You are indeed the pattern of all that a samurai should be! In recognition of your signal service to me at the storming of the Castle of Ganshaku I appoint you Governor of the Castle of Tagé with a stipend of 10,000 koku. As a reward for throwing me to-day in the face of every temptation to do otherwise I give you a further stipend of 1,000 koku; and in acknowledgment of the defeat I sustained at your hands three years ago you shall have yet another 1,000. Here is your writ of appointment.”
At this unexpected magnanimity on the part of his lord even Gonshirō, hardened warrior though he was, could not restrain his tears.
In the years following, Gonshirō served his chief, Lord Gamō, faithfully and with devotion. When Ujisato was poisoned through the wiles of an adversary his loyal vassal killed himself in order to accompany his dearly loved master to Hades.
[5] A samurai who had renounced his clan and become a wanderer.
THE STORY OF KIMURA SHIGENARI
I.
IN the eighteenth year of Keichō (a.d. 1613) Toyotomi Hideyoshi had been dead fourteen years and his son, Hideyori, now two and twenty should have been ruling over Japan as Regent in his stead. But his adherents had sustained a crushing defeat at the hands of the troops of his rival, Tokugawa Iyeyasu, at the battle of Sekigahara, and the tide of fortune had turned from him. All the daimios had given in their allegiance to Iyeyasu, and he was appointed Shogun by the Emperor. A few years later he abdicated in favour of his son Hidetada, though in reality he still steered the ship of state. On the other hand Hideyori’s star had been fast declining. He was now merely the Lord of Settsu and Kawachi, comparatively, small provinces, with the honorary title of “Minister of the Right.” Nevertheless, in his stronghold, the “impregnable” Castle of Osaka, built by his father, Hideyoshi, at an enormous cost, there were still, it is said, some 100,000 men, among whom were many brave and loyal officers such as Katagiri Katsumoto, Sanada Yukimura, Suzukida Hayato and Kimura Shigenari, the last of whom is the hero of this story.
A few powerful daimios, remembering with gratitude the great favours they had received from Hideyoshi, in secret still adhered to the cause of his son and watched for an opportunity to strike for the restoration of the Toyotomis’ power and prestige. Iyeyasu, with his accustomed keen insight, perceived the situation and determined by one stroke to settle matters once for all. This was the state of affairs between the two great families, and it was felt that hostilities might break out again at any moment.
Shigenari now twenty years of age had served Hideyori as page and attendant since his childhood. His intelligence and loyalty, above all, his prowess in arms and knowledge of tactics had just led Hideyori’s Prime Councillor, Katagiri Katsumoto, to promote him over the heads of some older men to a high rank in the army, with the title of Nagato-no-Kami, or Lord of Nagato province, and an annual allowance of 7,000 koku of rice. Mano Yorikané, one of Hideyori’s veteran generals, admiring his courage and sterling character, gave tangible proof of his admiration by bestowing his beautiful and accomplished daughter, Aoyagi, on him for a wife.