Kokoro: Hints and Echoes of Japanese Inner Life Part 22

Therewith he summoned Ikenoshoji, and bade him make all needful preparation for a rapid journey. Goto Sayemon consented to serve as guide.

He accompanied them; and when they reached the district of Soba, and were approaching the house of the princess, the guide said to the prince:--

"That house before us, with the black gate, is the dwelling of the far-famed Yokoyama Choja; and that other house, to the northward of it, having a red gate, is the residence of the flower-fair Terute.

"Be prudent in all things, and you will succeed." And with these words, the guide disappeared.

Accompanied by his faithful retainer, the Hangwan approached the red gate.

Both attempted to enter, when the gate-keeper sought to prevent them; declaring they were much too bold to seek to enter the dwelling of Terute-Hime, only daughter of the renowned Yokoyama Choja,--the sacred child begotten through the favor of the deity of the Sun.

"You do but right to speak thus," the retainer made reply. "But you must learn that we are officers from the city in search of a fugitive.

"And it is just because all males are prohibited from entering this dwelling that a search therein must be made."

Then the guards, amazed, suffered them to pa.s.s, and saw the supposed officers of justice enter the court, and many of the ladies in waiting come forth to welcome them as guests.

And the Lady Terute, marvelously pleased by the coming of the writer of that love-letter, appeared before her wooer, robed in her robes of ceremony, with a veil abut her shoulders.

Kane-uji was also much delighted at being thus welcomed by the beautiful maiden. And the wedding ceremony was at once performed, to the great joy of both, and was followed by a great wine feast.

So great was the mirth, and so joyful were all, that the followers of the prince and the maids of the princess danced together, and together made music.

And Oguri-Hangwan himself produced his flute, made of the root of a bamboo, and began to play upon it sweetly.

Then the father of Terute, hearing all this joyous din in the house of his daughter, wondered greatly what the cause might be.

But when he had been told how the Hangwan had become the bridegroom of his daughter without his consent, the Choja grew wondrous angry, and in secret devised a scheme of revenge.

V. THE POISONING

The next day Yokoyama sent to Prince Kane-uji a message, inviting him to come to his house, there to perform the wine-drinking ceremony of greeting each other as father-in-law and son-in-law.

Then the Princess Terute sought to dissuade the Hangwan from going there, because she had dreamed in the night a dream of ill omen.

But the Hangwan, making light of her fears, went boldly to the dwelling of the Choja, followed by his young retainers.

Then Yokoyama Choja, rejoicing, caused many dishes to be prepared, containing all delicacies furnished by the mountains and the sea(1), and well entertained the Hangwan.

At last, when the wine-drinking began to flag, Yokoyama uttered the wish that his guest, the lord Kane-uji, would also furnish some entertainment(2).

"And what shall it be?" the Hangwan asked.

"Truly," replied the Choja, "I am desirous to see you show your great skill in riding."

"Then I shall ride," the prince made answer. And presently the horse called Onikage(3) was led out.

That horse was so fierce that he did not seem to be a real horse, but rather a demon or a dragon, so that few dared even to approach him.

But the Prince Hangwan Kane-uji at once loosened the chain by which the horse was fastened, and rode upon him with wondrous ease.

In spite of his fierceness, Onikage found himself obliged to do everything which his rider wished. All present, Yokoyama and the others, could not speak for astonishment.

But soon the Choja, taking and setting up a six-folding screen, asked to see the prince ride his steed upon the upper edge of the screen.

The lord Oguri, consenting, rode upon the top of the screen; and then he rode along the top of an upright shoji frame.

Then a chessboard being set out, he rode upon it, making the horse rightly set his hoof upon the squares of the chessboard as he rode.

And, lastly, he made the steed balance himself upon the frame of an andon(4).

Then Yokoyama was at a loss what to do, and he could only say, bowing low to the prince:

"Truly I am grateful for your entertainment; I am very much delighted."

And the lord Oguri, having attached Onikage to a cherry-tree in the garden, reentered the apartment.

But Saburo, the third son of the house, having persuaded his father to kill the Hangwan with poisoned wine, urged the prince to drink sake with which there had been mingled the venom of a blue centipede and of a blue lizard, and foul water that had long stood in the hollow joint of a bamboo.

And the Hangwan and his followers, not suspecting the wine had been poisoned, drank the whole.

Sad to say, the poison entered into their viscera and their intestines; and all their bones burst asunder by reason of the violence of that poison.

(1) Or, "with all strange flavors of mountain and sea."

(2) The word is really sakana, "fish." It has always been the rule to serve fish with sake; and gradually the word "fish" became used for any entertainment given during the wine-party by guests, such as songs, dances, etc.

(3) Literally, "Demon-deer-hair." The term "deer-hair" refers to color. A less exact translation of the original characters would be "the demon chestnut". Kage, "deer-color" also means "chestnut." A chestnut horse is Kage-no-uma.

(4) A large portable lantern, having a wooden frame and paper sides. There are andon of many forms, some remarkably beautiful.

Their lives pa.s.sed from them quickly as dew in the morning from the gra.s.s.

And Saburo and his father buried their corpses in the moor Uwanogahara.

VI. CAST ADRIFT

The cruel Yokoyama thought that it would not do to suffer his daughter to live, after he had thus killed her husband. Therefore he felt obliged to order his faithful servants, Onio and Oniji, (1) who were brothers, to take her far out into the sea of Sagami, and to drown her there.

And the two brothers, knowing their master was too stony-hearted to be persuaded otherwise, could do nothing but obey. So they went to the unhappy lady, and told her the purpose for which they had been sent.

Terute-Hime was so astonished by her father's cruel decision that at first she thought all this was a dream, from which she earnestly prayed to be awakened.

After a while she said: "Never in my whole life have I knowingly committed any crime.... But whatever happen to my own body, I am more anxious than I can say to learn what became of my husband after he visited my father's house."

"Our master," answered the two brothers, "becoming very angry at learning that you two had been wedded without his lawful permission, poisoned the young prince, according to a plan devised by your brother Saburo."