Tales of Old Japan Part 22

The eldest daughter of Sogoro, named Hatsu, nineteen years of age, was married to a man named Jiuyemon, in the village of Hakamura, in s.h.i.tachi, beyond the river, in the territory of Matsudaira Matsu no Kami (the Prince of Sendai). His second daughter, whose name was Saki, sixteen years of age, was married to one Tojiuro, chief of a village on the property of my lord Naito Geki. No punishment was decreed against these two women.

The six elders who had accompanied Sogoro were told that although by good rights they had merited death, yet by the special clemency of their lord their lives would be spared, but that they were condemned to banishment. Their wives and children would not be attainted, and their property would be spared. The six men were banished to Oshima, in the province of Idzu.

Sogoro heard his sentence with pure courage.

The six men were banished; but three of them lived to be pardoned on the occasion of the death of the Shogun, Prince Genyuin,[63] and returned to their country.

[Footnote 63: The name a.s.signed after death to Iyetsuna, the fourth of the dynasty of Tokugawa, who died on the 8th day of the 5th month of the year A.D. 1680.]

According to the above decision, the taxes were remitted; and men and women, young and old, rejoiced over the advantage that had been gained for them by Sogoro and by the six elders, and there was not one that did not mourn for their fate.

When the officers of the several villages left the Court-house, one Zembei, the chief of the village of Sakato, told the others that he had some important subjects to speak to them upon, and begged them to meet him in the temple called f.u.kushoin. Every man having consented, and the hundred and thirty-six men having a.s.sembled at the temple, Zembei addressed them as follows:--

"The success of our pet.i.tion, in obtaining the reduction of our taxes to the same amount as was levied by our former lord, is owing to Master Sogoro, who has thus thrown away his life for us. He and his wife and children are now to suffer as criminals for the sake of the one hundred and thirty-six villages. That such a thing should take place before our very eyes seems to me not to be borne. What say you, my masters?"

"Ay! ay! what you say is just from top to bottom," replied the others.

Then Hanzayemon, the elder of the village of Katsuta, stepped forward and said--

"As Master Zembei has just said, Sogoro is condemned to die for a matter in which all the village elders are concerned to a man. We cannot look on unconcerned. Full well I know that it is useless our pleading for Sogoro; but we may, at least, pet.i.tion that the lives of his wife and children may be spared."

The a.s.sembled elders having all applauded this speech, they determined to draw up a memorial; and they resolved, should their pet.i.tion not be accepted by the local authorities, to present it at their lord's palace in Yedo, and, should that fail, to appeal to the Government.

Accordingly, before noon on the following day, they all affixed their seals to the memorial, which four of them, including Zembei and Hanzayemon, composed, as follows:--

"With deep fear we humbly venture to present the following pet.i.tion, which the elders of the one hundred and thirty-six villages of this estate have sealed with their seals. In consequence of the humble pet.i.tion which we lately offered up, the taxes have graciously been reduced to the rates levied by the former lord of the estate, and new laws have been vouchsafed to us. With reverence and joy the peasants, great and small, have gratefully acknowledged these favours. With regard to Sogoro, the elder of the village of Iwahashi, who ventured to pet.i.tion his highness the Shogun in person, thus being guilty of a heinous crime, he has been sentenced to death in the castle-town. With fear and trembling we recognize the justice of his sentence. But in the matter of his wife and children, she is but a woman, and they are so young and innocent that they cannot distinguish the east from the west: we pray that in your great clemency you will remit their sin, and give them up to the representatives of the one hundred and thirty-six villages, for which we shall be ever grateful. We, the elders of the villages, know not to what extent we may be transgressing in presenting this memorial. We were all guilty of affixing our seals to the former pet.i.tion; but Sogoro, who was chief of a large district, producing a thousand kokus of revenue, and was therefore a man of experience, acted for the others; and we grieve that he alone should suffer for all. Yet in his case we reverently admit that there can be no reprieve. For his wife and children, however, we humbly implore your gracious mercy and consideration.

"Signed by the elders of the villages of the estate, the 2d year of Shoho, and the 2d month."

Having drawn up this memorial, the hundred and thirty-six elders, with Zembei at their head, proceeded to the Court-house to present the pet.i.tion, and found the various officers seated in solemn conclave.

Then the clerk took the pet.i.tion, and, having opened it, read it aloud; and the councillor, Ikeura Kazuye, said--

"The pet.i.tion which you have addressed to us is worthy of all praise.

But you must know that this is a matter which is no longer within our control. The affair has been reported to the Government; and although the priests of my lord's ancestral temple have interceded for Sogoro, my lord is so angry that he will not listen even to them, saying that, had he not been one of the Gorojiu, he would have been in danger of being ruined by this man: his high station alone saved him. My lord spoke so severely that the priests themselves dare not recur to the subject. You see, therefore, that it will be no use your attempting to take any steps in the matter, for most certainly your pet.i.tion will not be received. You had better, then, think no more about it." And with these words he gave back the memorial.

Zembei and the elders, seeing, to their infinite sorrow, that their mission was fruitless, left the Court-house, and most sorrowfully took counsel together, grinding their teeth in their disappointment when they thought over what the councillor had said as to the futility of their attempt. Out of grief for this, Zembei, with Hanzayemon and Heijiuro, on the 11th day of the 2d month (the day on which Sogoro and his wife and children suffered), left Ewaradai, the place of execution, and went to the temple Zenkoji, in the province of Shinshiu, and from thence they ascended Mount Koya in Kishiu, and, on the 1st day of the 8th month, shaved their heads and became priests; Zembei changed his name to Kakushin, and Hanzayemon changed his to Zensho: as for Heijiuro, he fell sick at the end of the 7th month, and on the 11th day of the 8th month died, being forty-seven years old that year. These three men, who had loved Sogoro as the fishes love water, were true to him to the last. Heijiuro was buried on Mount Koya. Kakushin wandered through the country as a priest, praying for the entry of Sogoro and his children into the perfection of paradise; and, after visiting all the shrines and temples, came back at last to his own province of Shimosa, and took up his abode at the temple Riukakuji, in the village of Kano, and in the district of Imban, praying and making offerings on behalf of the souls of Sogoro, his wife and children. Hanzayemon, now known as the priest Zensho, remained at Shinagawa, a suburb of Yedo, and, by the charity of good people, collected enough money to erect six bronze Buddhas, which remain standing to this day. He fell sick and died, at the age of seventy, on the 10th day of the 2d month of the 13th year of the period styled Kambun. Zembei, who, as a priest, had changed his name to Kakushin, died, at the age of seventy-six, on the 17th day of the 10th month of the 2d year of the period styled Empo. Thus did those men, for the sake of Sogoro and his family, give themselves up to works of devotion; and the other villagers also brought food to soothe the spirits of the dead, and prayed for their entry into paradise; and as litanies were repeated without intermission, there can be no doubt that Sogoro attained salvation.

"In paradise, where the blessings of G.o.d are distributed without favour, the soul learns its faults by the measure of the rewards given. The l.u.s.ts of the flesh are abandoned; and the soul, purified, attains to the glory of Buddha."[64]

[Footnote 64: Buddhist text.]

On the 11th day of the 2d month of the 2d year of Shoho, Sogoro having been convicted of a heinous crime, a scaffold was erected at Ewaradai, and the councillor who resided at Yedo and the councillor who resided on the estate, with the other officers, proceeded to the place in all solemnity. Then the priests of Tokoji, in the village of Sakenaga, followed by coffin-bearers, took their places in front of the councillors, and said--

"We humbly beg leave to present a pet.i.tion."

"What have your reverences to say?"

"We are men who have forsaken the world and entered the priesthood,"

answered the monks, respectfully; "and we would fain, if it be possible, receive the bodies of those who are to die, that we may bury them decently. It will be a great joy to us if our humble pet.i.tion be graciously heard and granted."

"Your request shall be granted; but as the crime of Sogoro was great, his body must be exposed for three days and three nights, after which the corpse shall be given to you."

At the hour of the snake (10 A.M.), the hour appointed for the execution, the people from the neighbouring villages and the castle-town, old and young, men and women, flocked to see the sight: numbers there were, too, who came to bid a last farewell to Sogoro, his wife and children, and to put up a prayer for them. When the hour had arrived, the condemned were dragged forth bound, and made to sit upon coa.r.s.e mats. Sogoro and his wife closed their eyes, for the sight was more than they could bear; and the spectators, with heaving b.r.e.a.s.t.s and streaming eyes, cried "Cruel!" and "Pitiless!" and taking sweetmeats and cakes from the bosoms of their dresses threw them to the children. At noon precisely Sogoro and his wife were bound to the crosses, which were then set upright and fixed in the ground. When this had been done, their eldest son Gennosuke was led forward to the scaffold, in front of the two parents. Then Sogoro cried out--

"Oh! cruel, cruel! what crime has this poor child committed that he is treated thus? As for me, it matters not what becomes of me." And the tears trickled down his face.

The spectators prayed aloud, and shut their eyes; and the executioner himself, standing behind the boy, and saying that it was a pitiless thing that the child should suffer for the father's fault, prayed silently. Then Gennosuke, who had remained with his eyes closed, said to his parents--

"Oh! my father and mother, I am going before you to paradise, that happy country, to wait for you. My little brothers and I will be on the banks of the river Sandzu,[65] and stretch out our hands and help you across. Farewell, all you who have come to see us die; and now please cut off my head at once."

[Footnote 65: The Buddhist Styx, which separates paradise from h.e.l.l, across which the dead are ferried by an old woman, for whom a small piece of money is buried with them.]

With this he stretched out his neck, murmuring a last prayer; and not only Sogoro and his wife, but even the executioner and the spectators could not repress their tears; but the headsman, unnerved as he was, and touched to the very heart, was forced, on account of his office, to cut off the child's head, and a piteous wail arose from the parents and the spectators.

Then the younger child Sohei said to the headsman, "Sir, I have a sore on my right shoulder: please, cut my head off from the left shoulder, lest you should hurt me. Alas! I know not how to die, nor what I should do."

When the headsman and the officers present heard the child's artless speech, they wept again for very pity; but there was no help for it, and the head fell off more swiftly than water is drunk up by sand.

Then little Kihachi, the third son, who, on account of his tender years, should have been spared, was butchered as he was in his simplicity eating the sweetmeats which had been thrown to him by the spectators.

When the execution of the children was over, the priests of Tokoji took their corpses, and, having placed them in their coffins, carried them away, amidst the lamentations of the bystanders, and buried them with great solemnity.

Then Shigayemon, one of the servants of Danzayemon, the chief of the Etas, who had been engaged for the purpose, was just about to thrust his spear, when O Man, Sogoro's wife, raising her voice, said--

"Remember, my husband, that from the first you had made up your mind to this fate. What though our bodies be disgracefully exposed on these crosses?--we have the promises of the G.o.ds before us; therefore, mourn not. Let us fix our minds upon death: we are drawing near to paradise, and shall soon be with the saints. Be calm, my husband. Let us cheerfully lay down our single lives for the good of many. Man lives but for one generation; his name, for many. A good name is more to be prized than life."

So she spoke; and Sogoro on the cross, laughing gaily, answered--

"Well said, wife! What though we are punished for the many? Our pet.i.tion was successful, and there is nothing left to wish for. Now I am happy, for I have attained my heart's desire. The changes and chances of life are manifold. But if I had five hundred lives, and could five hundred times a.s.sume this shape of mine, I would die five hundred times to avenge this iniquity. For myself I care not; but that my wife and children should be punished also is too much. Pitiless and cruel! Let my lord fence himself in with iron walls, yet shall my spirit burst through them and crush his bones, as a return for this deed."

And as he spoke, his eyes became vermilion red, and flashed like the sun or the moon, and he looked like the demon Razetsu.[66]

[Footnote 66: A Buddhist fiend.]

"Come," shouted he, "make haste and pierce me with the spear."

"Your wishes shall be obeyed," said the Eta, Shigayemon, and thrust in a spear at his right side until it came out at his left shoulder, and the blood streamed out like a fountain. Then he pierced the wife from the left side; and she, opening her eyes, said in a dying voice--

"Farewell, all you who are present. May harm keep far from you.

Farewell! farewell!" and as her voice waxed faint, the second spear was thrust in from her right side, and she breathed out her spirit.

Sogoro, the colour of his face not even changing, showed no sign of fear, but opening his eyes wide, said--

"Listen, my masters! all you who have come to see this sight.

Recollect that I shall pay my thanks to my lord Kotsuke no Suke for this day's work. You shall see it for yourselves, so that it shall be talked of for generations to come. As a sign, when I am dead, my head shall turn and face towards the castle. When you see this, doubt not that my words shall come true."

When he had spoken thus, the officer directing the execution gave a sign to the Eta, Shigayemon, and ordered him to finish the execution, so that Sogoro should speak no more. So Shigayemon pierced him twelve or thirteen times, until he died. And when he was dead, his head turned and faced the castle. When the two councillors beheld this miracle, they came down from their raised platform, and knelt down before Sogoro's dead body and said--

"Although you were but a peasant on this estate, you conceived a n.o.ble plan to succour the other farmers in their distress. You bruised your bones, and crushed your heart, for their sakes. Still, in that you appealed to the Shogun in person, you committed a grievous crime, and made light of your superiors; and for this it was impossible not to punish you. Still we admit that to include your wife and children in your crime, and kill them before your eyes, was a cruel deed. What is done, is done, and regret is of no avail. However, honours shall be paid to your spirit: you shall be canonized as the Saint Daimiyo, and you shall be placed among the tutelar deities of my lord's family."

With these words the two councillors made repeated reverences before the corpse; and in this they showed their faithfulness to their lord.

But he, when the matter was reported to him, only laughed scornfully at the idea that the hatred of a peasant could affect his feudal lord; and said that a va.s.sal who had dared to hatch a plot which, had it not been for his high office, would have been sufficient to ruin him, had only met with his deserts. As for causing him to be canonized, let him be as he was. Seeing their lord's anger, his councillors could only obey. But it was not long before he had cause to know that, though Sogoro was dead, his vengeance was yet alive.