ACT II.

It is an evening in the month of growing plants.[1] They are sweeping the grounds in the mansion of Momonoi Wakasanosuke Yasuchika. The Councillor, Kakogawa Honzo Yukikuni, who, in the mature manhood of fifty years, guards the mansion as the aged pine overlooks the garden, comes along outside the reception-room in formal dress. The servants on the ground, unaware of his presence, talk on.

First Servant. Why, Bekunai, our lord has for the last few days been making great preparations. The guest from the Capital visited the Shrine of Hachiman at Tsurugaoka yesterday. That meant tremendous expenses. Ah, I wish I had that lot of money; for if I had it, I would change my name Bekusuke[2] and enjoy myself.

Second Servant. What, change your name and enjoy yourself? that is strange! And what would you change it to?

First Servant. Why, I would change it to Kakusuke and have a fling.

Second Servant. Oh, you fool! Don’t you know? Our Lord Wakasanosuke, I hear, came to grief yesterday at Tsurugaoka. I don’t know the particulars; but it was talked about in the servants’ room that Lord Moronao put him to great shame. I suppose he said something unreasonable and humiliated our lord.

Honzo. Hi, what are you chattering so noisily about? You are talking of our lord, and that, too, when my lady is ill. If there is anything likely to bring shame upon the house, I shall not let it pass unheeded. Calamities arise from below; and servants should be discreet of tongue. When you have done sweeping, go away all of you.

Recitative. He speaks to them gently. A maid-servant brings him tobacco, which he inhales and sends up rings and clouds of smoke. In the passage he hears the rustling of a dress and scents its perfume; and softly comes out Honzo’s darling only daughter, Mistress Konami, with her mother Tonase.

Honzo. What, you two here? It is most unmannerly of you to be amusing yourselves, instead of waiting upon my lady.

Konami. Nay, father. My lady is in especially good spirits to-day and is just now fast asleep. Is it not so, mother?

Tonase. Ah, Honzo, my lady was saying something a little while ago. There appears to be a rumour that, at the time Konami went yesterday to Tsurugaoka in my lady’s place, high words passed between our lord and Lord Moronao. Somehow or other, it came to my lady’s ears and made her very uneasy. She asked if my husband Honzo, who must know all the particulars, meant to conceal it from her; and so I asked Konami, but she knew no more about it than I. If it is likely to aggravate her illness and bring shame upon the house......

Honzo. Come, come, Tonami. Why did you not make up an answer? Our lord is naturally of a hasty temper; and as to high words, they are common enough among women and children. It is the duty of our swords to put an end to our lives if this little tongue of ours makes a slip of one or half a word. Are you not a samurai’s wife? Could you not recollect yourself in such a trivial matter? Be more careful. But, daughter, when you went to worship in my lady’s place, was there not such a rumour? Or was there? What, there was not? I thought so. Why, it is nothing to speak of. Very well, I will go at once and see my lady and set her mind at ease.

Recitative. And as he rises to go, the officer on duty enters.

Officer. Master Oboshi Yuranosuke’s son, Master Oboshi Rikiya, has come.

Honzo. Ha, I suppose he comes as a messenger from Lord Hangwan to make arrangements for the entertainment of the guests. Show him in. Receive the message, Tonase, and deliver it to our lord. The messenger is Rikiya, our daughter Konami’s betrothed husband. Entertain him. I will see my lady.

Recitative. With these words he goes in; and Tonami comes close to her daughter.

Tonase. Dear Konami, your father is always stiff-mannered; but I thought he would tell you to receive the message. Instead of that, he says I am to receive it; in that he is of quite a different mind from me. You would like, I am sure, to see Rikiya and speak to him. Go and meet him in my place. What do you say, eh?

Recitation. Her mother repeats her question; but her only answer is the maiden blush that suffuses her face, and her mother surmises its meaning.

Tonase. Oh, how it hurts! My daughter, please, rub down my back.

Recitation. Konami is bewildered and assists her.

Tonase. Well, you see, my anxiety since the morning has brought on my old complaint. I do not think I can in this state meet the messenger. Oh, how it pains me! I am sorry to trouble you; but you will hear the message and entertain the messenger. There is no getting round our lord and ailments.

Recitative. She slowly gets up.

Tonase. Receive him well, daughter, but not too well, for fear you should forget the important message. I should like to see my future son-in-law; but.........

Recitative. But the lady, knowing her daughter’s feeling, goes within. Konami bows to her with gratitude.

Konami. How grateful I am, mother! How I have longed to see my betrothed!

Recitative. But when she sees him, what shall she say? And her maiden heart palpitates

with joy and expectation. Presently enters Oboshi Rikiya. Even in walking on the mat, he observes the etiquette. He is yet in his seventeenth year; his forelock stands erect; with his family crest of double-tomoe and his two swords, he looks fine and dignified. In his appearance he is worthy of his father Oboshi Yuranosuke. He sits down quietly.

Rikiya. I beg to deliver my message.

Recitative. He speaks with courtesy; and Konami suddenly lays her hands on the mat before her. They look at each other; each loves the other, but remains speechless. Their blushing faces are as one the plum-blossom and the other the cherry-flower. At last, Konami recollects herself.

Konami. Ah, you are welcome. I am ordered to hear your message; and will you give it to me direct from your lips to mine?

Recitative. And she approaches him, but he turns aside.

Rikiya. Nay, that would be discourteous. In delivering and receiving messages, etiquette is always of the first importance.

Recitative. He shuffles backward and lays his hands before him on the mat.

Rikiya. This is the message my master Enya Hangwan presents to Lord Wakasanosuke: “As we are to attend at the Palace of the Governor-General Lord Tadayoshi before daybreak to-morrow, it is believed that the guests also will arrive early. Lord Moronao has therefore ordered that Hangwan and Wakasanosuke should present themselves at the Palace without fail at the seventh hour[3]. And to provide against all chance of a mistake arising, my master Hangwan has sent me with the message. You will please, then, report to this effect to my Lord Wakasanosuke.”

Recitative. His words flow so smoothly that Konami gazes at his face in fascination and gives no answer.

Wakasanosuke. I have heard your message; and I am obliged to you.

Recitative. And with these words Wakasanosuke comes in.

Wakasanosuke. Since we parted yesterday, I have not been able to see Lord Hangwan. Yes, I will present myself punctually at the seventh hour. I thank Lord Hangwan for his message; and please present to him my compliments. I am also obliged to you.

Rikiya. Then I will take my leave, my lord. I am grateful to you, lady, for receiving my message.

Recitative. He stands up quietly, and without once looking back, adjusts his dress, and goes away. Immediately Honzo comes in from another room.

Honzo. Ha, are you here, my lord? I hear you must be present at the seventh hour to-morrow morning. It is close upon the ninth hour[4], and I beg you will take a rest.

Wakasanosuke. Yes, yes. But Honzo, I have something to say to you in private. Send away Konami.

Honzo. Ah, daughter, we will clap our hands when we want you. And so go in.

Recitative. He sends away his daughter. And wondering at his lord’s strange look, he comes close to him.

Honzo. I have been wanting to ask you, my lord, for some time; now I beg you to tell me all.

Recitative. As he comes still closer, his lord also shuffles towards him.

Wakasanosuke. Honzo, now let me hear your solemn oath that you will absolutely submit to what I am going to tell you.

Honzo. Your words are indeed solemn, my lord. Well, I will submit; but..........

Wakasanosuke. Do you say that you cannot swear the samurai’s oath?

Honzo. No, I do not say so; but I will first hear you.

Wakasanosuke. And after hearing me, you will remonstrate, I suppose?

Honzo. No, that.........

Wakasanosuke. You disobey me? What do you say?

Recitative. Honzo bends down his head and remains speechless for a while; but Illustration: Honzo kneeling holding outstretched sheathed sword with two hands presently he comes to a determination. He draws his dirk, and then partly unsheathing his sword with the other hand, he strikes it with the dirk.[5]

Honzo. You see now Honzo’s spirit. I will neither stop you nor divulge your secret. I beg you to say what you wish to tell me without hurry, so that I may understand it completely.

Wakasanosuke. I will tell you. The Governor-General, Lord Ashikaga Sahyoe-no-Kami Tadayoshi, has come to Kamakura to celebrate the completion of the Shrine at Tsurugaoka, and Enya Hangwan and I have been appointed to entertain him. The Shogun Takauji has also ordered that, making Kono Moronao our adviser, we should act under his instruction in all things, as he is a samurai of mature age and wide experience. Inflated with the high favour he enjoys, he has become now ten times more arrogant than before. And in the presence of the samurai from the Capital, he took advantage of my youth to abuse and revile me. Often I thought to cut him in two; but as often I bethought me of the Shogun’s order and restrained myself. But to-morrow I will bear it no longer; I will put him to shame in His Highness’s presence and then cut him down. Be sure not to stop me. Both my wife and you have oftentimes remonstrated with me for my hasty temper; and I know well my defect. But think of my spirit, often as I have been humiliated. I am not unmindful that my act will ruin my house and plunge my wife into deepest grief; but it is the duty of my sword which I cannot shirk without punishment from the God of War. Even if I cannot die fighting in battle, for the benefit I shall confer upon the country by slaying Moronao I will bear the shame upon my house. I tell you all this because I know the world will surely think of me as one who lost his life by his hasty temper, and as a reckless fellow readily wrought upon by passions.

Recitative. He weeps with deep despair, and he is rent to his heart’s core. Honzo claps his hands with admiration.

Honzo. Well done, well done. I thank you, my lord, for your words. You have borne with great patience. If I had been in your place, I should not have borne so long.

Wakasanosuke. What do you say, Honzo? That I have borne so long, that I have been patient? Are you jeering at me?

Honzo. I did not think to hear that from my lord. It is a saying among townspeople that if we keep to the shade in winter and to sunshine in summer, we shall not run the risk of a quarrel or a fight in the streets; but the samurai walks straight on, and though I may be wrong, I should say that if once we gave up the road to another, there would be no end to his arrogance. I will show you that I have no intention of remonstrating with you.

Recitative. He draws a dirk, and slipping a foot into a sandal, he swiftly cuts off at a stroke a branch of a pine in front of the verandah. Quickly he sheathes the blade.

Honzo. There, my lord. Cut him down as surely as I have cut this.

Wakasanosuke. Yes, I will; but we may be overheard.

Recitative. They look around.

Honzo. It is still the ninth hour. Take a full rest; and I will set the alarm-clock. Go at once, my lord.

Wakasanosuke. I am pleased with the way you have listened to me. I will now go to my wife and see her without letting her know it is my last farewell. Then I shall never see you again.

Honzo. Farewell, my lord.

Recitative. With these words Wakasanosuke goes within. All-powerful is the samurai’s spirit. Honzo looks at him as he goes in, and then runs to the servants’ entrance, and calls out.

Honzo. Let my servants bring here my horse this minute.

Recitative. Immediately the horse, bravely arrayed, is brought into the ground and Honzo leaps upon it from the verandah.

Honzo. To Moronao’s mansion. Let my servants follow me.

Recitative. As he rides out, Tonase and Konami rush in and catch hold of the bridle.

Tonase. Where are you going? Tell us. We have heard it all. You, Honzo, old as you are, did not remonstrate with our lord. We cannot understand it and will stop you.

Recitative. The mother and daughter hang on to the bridle and stop him.

Honzo. You are too meddlesome. It is because I hold precious our master’s life and house that I do this. Be sure you say nothing to him; for if he hears of it from you, my daughter I will disown and Tonase I will divorce. Now, servants, I will give you orders on the road. Get out of my way, both of you.

Tonase and Konami. No, no, we will not.

Honzo. How troublesome you are!

Recitative. He kicks them both with his stirrups, and fainting, they fall on their backs. He does not look at them; but telling his servants to follow, he urges his horse and gallops out of sight.