A LORD ENTERING HIS NORI-MONO.
“‘I should have sent for you before this,’ said the host to his prisoner-guest, ‘but I wished to give you time to do justice to your grief for your late lord, although he but little deserved it. Probably Ando Goro’s only posthumous claim to the regard of mankind consists in the good sense which he displayed in selecting you for his karo; and all the good he ever achieved, as is well known, was of your doing. Had he followed your counsel he would still be the lord of his province, honored and respected. He chose instead to give way to the promptings of his own wicked passions; he rose in revolt against the lawful government of the country, and he has met the fate which is the just due of every rebel. All who surrounded him aided and abetted his evil designs with the exception of yourself, who were the only one, as I know full well, to try to dissuade him from his folly and crime. In common with every one else, I have always entertained feelings of high regard and admiration for your mental and physical accomplishments as well as for your moral character, as shown by your faithfulness and devotion. It was not my intention that you should stand before me as you do now; your unfortunate expression of to-day has forced me, however, to adopt these precautions; but these bonds shall fall at the first word which shows that you understand my feelings and accept my offer of friendship and friendly interest. You shall be appointed this very day temporarily to the government of your late lord’s territories, which is all that my authority empowers me to do at present; but I doubt not—nay, I am sure—that with the first signs of zeal and faithfulness the Hōjō government will confirm your appointment and make you the actual duke, with the title hereditary in your family.’
“This language astounded your father, although it failed to move him or to shake his resolution in the slightest degree. ‘I am utterly unable,’ he replied, ‘to understand the meaning of your magnificent offers, and I am too indifferent in regard to them to look into their motive. As far as my honor and faithfulness, which you rate so highly, are concerned, the one would be forever tarnished, and the other prove itself false and valueless, were I to accept your proposal. If I have acquired a good name and reputation, I owe it merely to the possession and practice of those qualities which should be the birth-right of every one of our class, and which have enabled me to serve my late master loyally, but, alas! as events have shown, only too inefficiently. My duty now is plain,—to avenge my lord, if possible, or else to die as becomes a faithful samurai.’
“‘I expected some such reply from you,’ rejoined the other, ‘although I hoped that the sincere desire for your welfare which I have so openly shown would cause you to put your refusal in a milder form. You have the consciousness of having done everything for Ando Goro which it was possible to do; but his headstrong nature would not brook control, or even advice, and his destruction lies at his own door. You can do nothing more for him, and your country has certainly some claim to your services. Men of your stamp are needed now, when strife and rebellion are everywhere raising their heads; and in place of a useless sacrifice to one whom you served faithfully as long as faithfulness would benefit him, it were a better, a higher, and a worthier ambition to try to insure internal peace, tranquillity, and prosperity to our glorious empire.’
ŌTŌ NO MIYA, THE MIKADO’S SON, IN HIS MOUNTAIN RETREAT WHEN FLEEING FROM THE HŌJŌ.
“‘Your code of samurai morality is different from what I have been taught, Taka Suke,’ said the ex-karo, slightly raising his voice, though its tones remained quiet and firm. ‘Chiugi [faithfulness to one’s lord and master] would be little worth the name if it were obligatory only while in the receipt of bounties and favors from one’s lord, and could be disregarded when not synonymous with self-interest. It is not the doings of men who act like this that are told to us in songs and romances, that form the heritage of our heroes, and that fire and inflame the minds of our youth. Is not kataki-uchi the first of all duties? And where does it find its highest justification but in faithfulness in avenging the death and appeasing the manes of our lord and master? The ruin of my late lord and of his house lies at your door. Why have you spared me when mercy was not shown to woman or child, to the helpless or to the innocent? I owe you no thanks for it. Were these arms free, I should strike you down now; and nothing can reconcile me to life but the hope, slight as it may be, of some day being able to accomplish my vengeance. This is my duty; and in devoting my life to it, my country can claim nothing more. When you speak of “rebellion and strife raising their heads,” you can mean only rebellion against the Hōjō usurpers; but were I not bound to the fulfilment of a higher obligation, such rebellion would find in me one of its most ardent partisans.’