[12] The sheath and hilt of whitewood indicates the ceremonial dagger used in committing hara-kiri.
[13] Yamato-damashii, the spirit of Yamato, an expression that contains in itself the idea of all that is heroic in Japanese history and character. Yamato was the province first conquered by Jimmu Tenno, and where he established his empire. The name is still used for that province, and poetically, to mean all Japan.
[14] Koto, the Japanese word used here, means, literally, “arms and legs.”
[15] Quoted from the Imperial Rescript to the Army and Navy upon which the moral education of the military and naval men of Japan is founded. For the full text, and the five articles, see Appendix B.
[16] Quoted from the Imperial Declaration of War against Russia. For full text see Appendix C.
[17] Oni, a goblin or devil.
[18] The farewell cup of water (mizu-sakazuki, “water-wine-cup”), to which reference is made frequently in Lieutenant Sakurai’s story, is a religious ceremony, probably of Shinto origin, of the nature of a sacrament. At the moment of death, the nearest relative present administers water to the dying person, an act of purification for the next life. Hence, on the departure of any member of the family on an errand to which he has vowed his life, the farewell cup that is given him is not the saké, typifying joy and good-fellowship, but water, the symbol of purification. In one of the Japanese classical dramas, Taikoki, the scenes of which are laid in the time of Hideyoshi, the Taiko (1582–98 d.d.), a young man is about to depart on a forlorn hope, with the certainty of ending his life in battle. He is betrothed, and before he leaves his home the wedding is celebrated; but the marriage cup which bride and bridegroom share is filled with water instead of saké, as a sign that the union is not for this life but for the next. The bridegroom leaves immediately after the ceremony and dies fighting; the young wife at once commits suicide and rejoins him in the new life to which they pledged themselves in the “death-cup” of their wedding-day.
[19] The mark over a grave, for a year after burial, is a wooden post, cut square, and bearing the name, and the posthumous Buddhistic name, of the deceased. At the end of the year, a stone is substituted for the post.
[20] A classical Chinese expression meaning war.
[21] Quoted from a war-song.