Tenchi mo kuzuru
Bakari nari,
Tenchi wa kuzure
Yama kawa wa
Saicuru tameshi no
Araba tote,
Ugokanu mono wa
Kimi ga mi yo.[4]
For a little while Asakichi sat listening, swaying his shoulders in time to the strong rhythm of the chant; then, as one suddenly waking, he laughed, and said:—
"Teacher, I must go! I do not know how to thank you enough, nor to tell you how happy this day has been for me. But first,"—taking from his breast a little envelope,—"please accept this. You asked me for a photograph long ago: I brought it for a souvenir."
He rose, and buckled on his sword. I pressed his hand at the entrance.
"And what may I send you from Korea, teacher?" he asked.
"Only a letter," I said,—"after the next great victory."
"Surely, if I can hold a pen," he responded.
Then straightening up till he looked like a statue of bronze, he gave me the formal military salute, and strode away in the dark.
I returned to the desolate guest-room and dreamed. I heard the thunder of the soldiers' song. I listened to the roar of the trains, bearing away so many young hearts, so much priceless loyalty, so much splendid faith and love and valor, to the fever of Chinese rice-fields, to gathering cyclones of death.
[1] A sengaji pilgrim is one who makes the pilgrimage to the thousand famous temples of the Nichiren sect; a journey requiring many years to perform.