Chapter I: Preface

This story is an original tale of Old Japan, written almost from a Japanese point of view. It might be translated into that language; and, rendered in book form or told on a street corner by one of the itinerant story-tellers, the reader or listener would think it to accord fully with the traditions of the period in which it is supposed to have been enacted. Whether such a treatment will meet with approval here, it remains for the public to say. I have adhered to it against the advice of several eminent literary friends, to bring the story more into accord with our canons of style and construction. From the standpoint of a Japanese, none of the incidents or situations are in the slightest degree strained or exaggerated, and none of the characters overdrawn. All the historical allusions are strictly true and authentic,—as far as present knowledge on the subject goes,—and have been carefully and painstakingly culled from native chronicles.

The five engravings on copper have been executed by a young Japanese, Mr. Nakamura Munehiro, of Tokio, one of the best engravers in Japan, who also made the original drawings for the same. The other pictures were drawn by Shirayama Dani, a young porcelain painter in the employ of Fujiyama, of this city. It shows the versatility of Japanese artists, that although the young man had never in his life done anything but porcelain painting, which is done in pure wash, he succeeded without instruction, in a very few days, in making pictures for reproduction. In spite of their sharp outline they are done not with pen and ink, but with a Japanese brush.

LOUIS WERTHEIMBER.

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

PAGE

ETCHINGS ON COPPER.

MURAMASA INVOKING THE BLESSING OF THE GODS ON A NEWLY
FORGED SWORD _Frontispiece_

MURAMASA AND HIS SON AT THE FORGE 48

O TETSU 74

SENNOSKE SHOWING HIS SWORD TO HIS FATHER 92

THE DUKE RECEIVING SENNOSKE 176

RELIEF ENGRAVINGS.

JAPANESE TITLE _Facing English title_

THE OLD JINRIKISHA MAN AND HIS WIFE 3

JAPANESE SWORD 6

FARM LABORER 8

WOMAN SOWING RICE 9

MYTHOLOGICAL GODS OF JAPAN 12

THE DUKE’S ATTACK ON THE AMBASSADOR 15

STREET BOARD FOR GOVERNMENT EDICTS 18

EMPEROR OF JAPAN 19

EMPRESS OF JAPAN 23

SWORD-DAGGERS 25

SINGING GIRLS 26

THE DUKE RECEIVING MUTTO 29

SWORD ORNAMENTS 33

WRITING TABLE 35

STREET SCENE IN KUWANA 38

JAPANESE FISHES (TWO) 42

JAPANESE LANDSCAPE 45

AN ETA 47

SWORD-GUARD 49

LANDING-PLACE AT KUWANA 51

A RONIN 54

DESERTED BUILDINGS 57

O TETSU AND THE TWO BELDAMES 61

SWORD-GUARD 64

INKIO (RETIREMENT FROM WORLDLY AFFAIRS) 66

MALE AND FEMALE NAKŌDŌ (MARRIAGE NEGOTIATORS) 68

SENNOSKE AND HIS FATHER 71

SOSANOÔ MIKOTO, THE PATRON GOD OF SWORDS AND INVENTOR OF POETRY 73

YORITOMO LIBERATING A THOUSAND CRANES IN HONOR OF HIS VICTORIES 77

MAN IN ARMOR 79

PEASANT 85

SENNOSKE RECEIVING THE SWORD FROM THE SMITH 87

RESENTING AN INSULT 91

SADDLE, STIRRUP, AND SADDLE-CLOTH 96

SENNOSKE IN BATTLE 99

SEEING A DISGUISED HŌJŌ SPY IN NITTA’S CAMP 102

NITTA PRAYING TO THE GODS BEFORE THROWING HIS SWORD INTO THE SEA 105

SCENE AT THE STORMING OF KAMAKURA 107

SENNOSKE ON HIS RETURN 109

PILGRIMS TO FUJIYAMA 111

ROADSIDE TEA-HOUSE 112

FUJIYAMA, WITH ANGEL HOVERING OVER IT 113

COURT LADY’S HEAD-DRESS AND STATE FAN 115

YAMAGAWA DISCOVERING HIS MISTAKE 119

ROADSIDE HOTEL 124

BUDDHIST TEMPLE (MONK AND ACOLYTE) 127

YAMAGAWA COMMITTING SEPPUKU (HARA-KIRI) 129

ARROWS AND MILITARY HEAD-DRESS 132

SENDING A PRESENT 134

A KARO (CHIEF COUNSELLOR) 135

AN EXECUTION 138

A LORD ENTERING HIS NORI-MONO 140

ŌTŌ NO MIYA, THE MIKADO’S SON, IN HIS MOUNTAIN RETREAT WHEN
FLEEING FROM THE HŌJŌ 143

A PRISON 145

POSTAL COURIERS 147

STATE SWORD AND HEAD-DRESS 151

A FENCING MATCH 156

SENNOSKE FACING HIS ENEMIES 159

A FUNERAL 163

HELMET 167

NEWS OF THE ARRIVAL OF THE COURIER AT THE COURT 169

SERVING REFRESHMENTS 171

JAPANESE ROOM 173

MARRIAGE SCENE 178

FEMALE MUSICIANS 180

TAIL-PIECE (MASKS) 181

ORNAMENT 182

GATHERING TEA-LEAVES 183

YAMATO-DAKE NO MIKOTO, SEMI-DIVINITY OF WAR 184

MARSHAL’S BATON, WAR-FAN, AND HEAD-DRESS 188

A MURAMASA BLADE.