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 the bloody 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 new ronin make 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!