138
THE TALE OF THE SOGA BROTHERS
(SOGA MONOGATARI)
Three Chapters Selected from Book Six
Translated by Hiroshi Kitagawa
Translator's Note
A summary of Book Four and Book Five of The Tale ofthe Soga
Brothers is given below in preparation for the reading of the present selec-tion (three chapters from Book Six). For the introductory chapters of the tale and its development to the end of Book Three, the reader should consult the Cultural Science Editions No. 33 (November, 1975) and No. 40 (March,
1979) of the ETikone Ronso. •
Ichiman and Hako6, about to be executed on Yui Beach, were pardoned thanks to the earnest intercession of Hatakeyama no Shigetada, and were
allowed to return to Soga.
The years passed, and Ichiman turned thirteen. A ceremony for his
coming of age was performed and he was given the adult name, Soga no
JUr6 Sukenari. Hako6, eleven at the time, was sent to Mount Hakone to
become a monk and pray for the better fortune of his father in the world beyond.
When Hako6 was thirteen years old, Yoritomo visited Hakone to offer
opportunity to see Suketsune, his father's enemy, in attendance upon
Yori-tomo. Though eager to attack Suketsune, he found himself powerless and
withdrew.
At the age of seventeen Hako6 was advised by the abbot of the Hakone Temple to take the tonsure. If he was ordained, Hako6 thought, he would
be unable to fulfill his fervent wish to avenge his father. And so, on the night before the ceremony of his entrance lnto priesthood was to be held, he slipped out of the temple and returned to Soga. In fear of his mother's anger at his action, he first visited the home of his brother's old wet nurse
and sent for Jijr6. Jitr6 came to see }{[ako6 and took him to H6j6. There
he asked Tokimasa, the head of the H6j6 clan, to perform a ceremony fot
Hako6's coming of age. Moved by Jttr6's earnest petition, Tokimasa
perforrned the ceremony and gave Hako6 the adult name, Soga no Gor6
Tokimune.
Upon their return to Soga, their mother was surprised to see Hako6 not tonsured but wearing the headgear of a warrior, and in her towering rage she declared that he would be her son no longer. Thus dismissed by
his mother, Hako6 was obliged to take shelter at Jitr6's quarters.
In the meantime Yoritomo mustered warriors from many provinces and set out with them for a hunting trip on the Asama Plain. J"r6 and Gor6 joined in a group of hunting porters and sought an opportunity to attack
their enemy, Suketsune. However, all they could do was to catch a glimpse
of him now and then. Thus the day passed with no chance to carry out
their plot. During the next few days the hunting party moved on to Mihara,
Nasu, and Asazuma. All this time the brothers secretly pursued Suketsune but in vain.
When Yoritomo returned to Kamakura, he did not allow his retainers
140
Fuji for another hunt. This the brothers believed to be their last opportunity to attack Suketsune and tried to obtain support from their cousin, Yoichi at Miura. Contrary to their expectations, Yoichi refused to assist them.
JUr6 wished to remain single lest marital bondage hinder him from
carrying out his task of avenging his father. However, unable to suppress
his carnal desire, he found himself drawn from time to time to a woman entertainer of seventeen named Tora and finally fell in love with her. A
daughter of the chief mistress of entertainers at Oiso, Tora was beautiful and sophisticated enough to understand elegance and poetry.
ee ÅÄe ee•
Acknowledgements: The translator ls grateful to Mr. Harold Emerson
Melville, English Language Instructor of Shiga University, for suggesting
'
alterations and corrections in the following three chapters from Book Six of The Tale of the Soga Brothers.
Chapter I
Dispute on the Sak6 Cup at Oiso
Jilr6 Sukenari, on his way home from Miura, pondered his uncertain
future. Once he set out for the plain at the base of Mount Fuji, he thought,
he would no longer be able to see Tora. Thus he madea detour from
1-
Shukugawara-Matsuida to Oiso to bid her farewell.Just then the lords of large and small domains, heading for the plain
ln response to Yoritomo's command, were passing by Oiso. Near Tora's
house Jttr6 saw these lords and slackened his horse, thinking to himself: "Tora is an entertainer. It is not strange if she should happen to play for
1 PTesent-day Matsuida-ch6, Usui-gun, Gumma Prefecture, and Shukugawara,
THE TALE OF THE SOGA BROTHERS 141
one of these lords." He stood outside her house and stralned his ears, trying
to hear what was going on within.
Tora was sitting for a chat with some girls. Sukenari heard her saying:
"Many lords are traveling. Who are they? Where do they come from?"
One of the glrls replied: "The vanguard is Hada no Mumanosuke and the
rearguard, Yokoyama no T6manoj6." Tora sighed and said: "Was it
Con-fucius who said, `When you feel well, be ail the more careful?' Ah, I wish
one of these gords would give me a saddled horse and armor!" The others wondered: "You want strange things! But for what?" Tora replied: "Not
for myseif. I wlsh I could glve them to Lord Sukenari. He needs them. . . ." The others did not understand what she meant, but seeing tears in her eyes, they pressed her no further.
Later, when Sukenari fulfilled his task of avenging. his father, these girls
remembered what Tora had said and knew what she had meant.
Sukenari thought to hirnself: "If she knows I have overheard her
conversation, she will probabiy think that I have been suspicious of her and
blame me. She will say thatIshouid not have come, hadIbeen so
suspi-cious of her." He pretended that he had overheard nothing. Tethering his
horse and taking off his deerskin riding breeches, he stood on the veranda,
raised the bamboo curtain with the tip of his whip, and went in. Tora
gladly weicomed him and talked more happily than usual.
At this point an unexpected incident occurred. Wada no Yoshimori,
riding at the head of a hundred eighty horsemen, approached 0iso. He
said: "I do not know much about Kyoto, butIdo know about the
coun-tryside. There are several renowned women entertainers along the
highway-Kamezuru at Kisegawa, Sh6sh6 at Tegoshi. and Tora at eiso. Let us stop
at Oiso, have a banquet, and have Tora serve us." Yoshimori sent a message
receive his party. Greatly pleased, the mistress, the mother of Tora, had her maids clean the banquet hall and some thirty girls as beautiful as Tora welcome Yoshimori's party of more than ei.crhty men.
The banquet began, but Tora did not appear. Wondering, Yoshimori
asked the mistress: "These are all beautiful girls, but we are here to see
Tora. Why does she not come out and entertain us? Have I offended her?"
The mistress replied: "I am sorry that she has not been feeling well lately."
With this she left the hall and, going to Tora's room, urged her to come out to the hall. She then returned to the banquet and said to Yoshimori that Tora would soon come to wait upon him.
Yoshimori was so eager to see Tora that he drank littie, but still she did not appear. Her mother should flrst have apologized to him, saying that
Tora was ill, and so could not entertain him. Yoshimori became angry and said that he would leave if Tora did not attend him, and that he would
come again when she was feeling better.
The mother went again to Tora's room and said: "Why do you not
come to the banquet? Can you not see that our profession is to entertain
men, even when they are unwelcome?" Thus she urged her to come out,
standing in wait for her at the door. Tora feared that Sukenari would feel
bitter if she obeyed her mother, and so she was reluctant to rise to her
feet and covered her head with her sleeves. Her mother could not understand
what her daughter had in mind and reproached her: "Do you not know
how will you feel when forsaken by your mother? If you continue to
disobey me, you shall no longer be my daughter in the name of the Buddha!" With this the mother returned to the banquet hall.
' Chapter ll
i Benzaiten
Of old, near the desert on the border of China and India lived a wealthy
woman named Fen-nu. She had all kinds of treasures in her storehouses.
But probably because of an evil deed in a former life, she was barren. She offered prayers to the gods but in vain. Thus it was that she was resigned
to despair when, suddenly, she became with child. Her heart filled with
anticipation, she gladly accepted all the sufferings expected of a pregnant
woman. Her time came, but she was not delivered of a child but of five hundred eggs. "What is this?" She cried, "It would be strange ifIbore
evenasingle egg. How much more so five hundred! As a woman
worthy of having a child, I offered very extravagant prayers to the gods, only
to offend them. I am sure these eggs wiil hatch out devils that will kiil many people, including their own mother. Buddhism teaches us birth in fou'r forms animals, birds, worms, and apparitions, and those coming out of eggs
are evil by nature. I must not keep these eggs here." So saying, she put
them in a box and set it adrift on a river.
Downstream lived an old man named Yu Po. He worshiped neither
gods nor Buddha, and lived by fishing along the river. One day, as he cast a line into the water, he saw a box drifting down the river. Picking it up,
he opened it to find eggs. Wondering, he took them home and showed
them to his wife. "Terrlble!" cried the wife. "We cannot tell what kind of demonic creatures will come out of these eggs. The owner must have had the same fear as mine! Return them to the river." Yu Po, however, replied: "Let us keep them and see how they will turn out. Perhaps they 1 The goddess of music, eloquence, virtue and wealth.
will be frightful creatures. Even so, we are already bent in years and are
not long for thls world." So saying, he wrapped the eggs in a cloth to
keep them warm.
Days passed, and they hatched out to be handsome boys. Yu Po said:
"How eager we were to have a baby of our own! Now five hundred boys
are ours all at once! We cannot abandon even one of these boys, but must
raise them all."
The old couple were poor; their life severe. How could they feed five hundred boys? It was, however, strange indeed that all the boys were able to grow. Poverty-stricken, they wandered in search of food and turned to violence to sustain their lives. Eager to g,.rasp anything within reach, they
made friends with those who had no faith in the Buddha.
One day the boys said: "We will starve to death unless we do something.
Upstream lives a wealthy woman named Fen-nu. Her storehouses are full
of treasures. Let us break in and steal as much as we can carry!" However,
one of the boys expressed some fear: "But we are powerless against the strong guards employed by the wealthy woman. We will fail to .aet
any-thing but suffer great injury instead." Another boy said: "Then let us ask
i
the asura to support us and take advantage of their demonic strength to
attack her mansion!" This was agreed to by all, and they obtained support from the asura clan.
The boys wore battle robes of ignorance, hand-guards of evil passion,
side-protectors of evil consegerences, shin-guards of gzeile, fur shoes of delusion,
body armor of stuPidity laced with metals of sacrilege, helmets studded with
silver of greed, cheek-protectors of evzl karma, and carried short swords of
1 According to Buddhist legend, the asura with demonic appearance have many
beautiful women but no food, and so they are constantly fighting with the
THE TALE OF THE SOGA BROTHERS 145
greed, great swords of self-indulgence, and great bows of sawagery stringed with disgrace. In their quivers of benighted passion were arrows of obsession.
They put saddles of nzovriad sufferings on their horses of misunderstanding. A great number of asura unfurled their flags as they surged forward against Fen-nu's mansion. Within, however, stillness reigned. Every corner of the
mansion was guarded so closely that the boys and the asura held back
momentarily.
Fen-nu was a pious woman, so wise and benevolent that Heaven sym-pathized with her. The moment the boys and the asura broke in shouting their battle-cry, the guardian gods of the Buddha's Law in helmets and
armor manifested themselves on all corners of the mansion to intercept the
invaders. The god of fire spewed flames against the enemy and the god of wind sent mighty gales against them. Faithful to his vow to supervise bows and arrows, the god of water came galloping with the flags of
won-drous wisdom streaming at the head of his force. That day he wore a battle robe of enlightenment, hand-guards of sublimity, knee-guards of uPPer
teach-ings, shin guards of lower teachtngs, leather shoes of Pleasure and long life, cheek-protectors of great comPassion, body armor of numerous means
laced with red and gold cords, a helmet studded with silver with a decoration of the moon of virtue and carried a great sword of Profound consideration and a short sword of solidarity, and a bow of fiery concentration stringed
with ptercing zuisdom. In his quiver of reincarnation were arrows of
un-fathomable knowledge. A great serpent, its head on his helmet, glared at the enemy. Its eyes flashed like Iightning; its mouth shot out a billow of flames.
Hence a decoration of a dragon's head in the front of every helmet today. Sitting on a folding chair, the god of water said: "However violent the
asura may be, they cannot defeat the forces of the Buddha. Their
146
as this command rang out, a warrior within stepped forward and cried out
to the enemy: "Who are you? Where do you come from? Tell us what
enmity you bear against us!" The boys replied: "We have no parents, no
names. We do not know where we were born. Night and day we desire
only riches. Open the doors of your storehouses and surrender your treasures
to us! Once we have them, we will leave." The warrior exclaimed:
"Non-sense! It is incredible that you bear no names, no titles. Tell us why you are so violent and lawless!" The boys replied: "What is the use of knowing
what we are? We can tell you only this. We are five hunclred exiles who
d,rifted down the river. No one knows who we are. Give us your treasures,
and we will be on our way!"
When Fen-nu heard that they had drifted down the river, her heart
stirred with apprehension, and she stepped forward to the base of the tower and said: "Young fellows, come here! There is something I must ask you." One of the boys advanced to her, and she continued: "You say you drifted
down the river. Now tell me what form you wore at the time." Though
unwilling to answer her before he was given the treasures, the boy explained:
"We do not know who bore us, but we were all eggs when an old man
picked us up from the waters." At this reply a thrill ran through her veins and prompted her to ask: "What were the eggs in?" "A box, and on
i
top of it something was written." "What did it say?" "Fan-ch'eng!" "That is truly what I jotted down!" "And from the bottorn of the box came out a
letter that read, `When you grow up, visit me. Fen-nu.' Ihave kept it always on a chain around my neck." With this the boy produced it from
the folds of his robe and showed it to Fen-nu.
"You are all my sons!" Cried Fen-nu as she dashed into a crowd of
the boys. The boys threw away their helmets and weapons, and knelt
before her. Weeping for joy, she walked about to see each and every one
of her sons. All the others were moved to tears. Nothing is more profound
than the iove between parents and Åëhildren. The mother's speech was
powerful enough to pacify even the villains as violent as devils. Fen-nu
led them into her mansion and gave them a lavish reception.
It is said that later Fen-nu manifested herself to be the Great Benzaiten
and the five hundred boys, her attendants. Furthermore, one of the boys was elevated to assume the status of god holding the stamp and key for
the Fan-ch'eng box. Thus he is worshiped as the god who accepts the
wishes of all sentient beings and leads them to Paradlse.
Tora was once more visited by her mother, who said: "Even those
violent sons of Fen-nu obeyed their mother. How dare you disobey me?"
Still choked with tears, Tora replied: "Nothing is sadder than the fate of a woman entertainer! If I wish to be faithful to my husband, I must disobey
you. If I obey you, I must betray myself and curry favor with a man in power. There remains nothing for me but to writhe in sorrow, tearing my
hair. For what evii deed in a former life was I born a woman? Ican
12
understand why the Buddha teaches the five obstacles and the three duties
for a woman."
Jar6 interceded with her: "You must not take,it so seriousiy. I can
wait here till you finish services at the banquet. If you disobey your mother,
1 In Buddhism there are five obstacles for a woman. She cannot become: the
Lord of Heaven; an Indra (one of the two tutelary gods of Buddhism); Mara (a kind of devil, the lord of the highest of the six heavens in the world of desire); the Wheel-Turning King (so-called because he rules the world by turning the wheel of fate that heaven gave him at his enthronement) , the Buddha,
you will be punished by the gods or the Buddha." Tora, however, refused
even Jar6's advice and wept bitterly.
Unaware of these circumstances, Yoshimori grew sullen. The mother,
for her part, was weary of waiting. Asked why Tora was so late, the mother
replied that she was still with her guest, Jitr6, hard to part from him. Whereupon Yoshimori grew angry and said: "Jitr6 is not reasonable. He
need not come here, but must not keep her to himseif. She is an entertain-er, is she not? This is intolerable! If she cannot come by herself, Iwill
send someone for her. Where is Yoshihide? He shall go and fetch her
here!" All the banqueters tensed with apprehensien.
Since Jilr6 was near the banquet hall, he heard Yoshimori's speech and
said to himself: "I had not expected events to turn out like this. With
such an important task before me, I must stay alive at all costs. But there
are times when death is unavoidable. I only regret that Gor6 will blame me if I die a worthless death. May the gods and the Buddha allow me to
put an end to my life!" He straightened his lacquered hat, retied the strings
i
of his robe, and unsheathed a few sun his hereditary sword, the hilt of which was studded with go!d and silver, ready to fall upon anyone trying
to break in. "The extravagant Miura clansmen!" Jitr6 said ot himself, "If it is a quarre! you want, I am your man. First I will cut off Yoshihide's
legs. The rest of you are unworthy of my blows!"
Tora saw Jitr6's resolve to fight and thought to herself: "Even if I am tortured by the attendants of Emma, the lord of hell, I shall stand by my
husband. Profound is the love sworn by such a pair! I shall never leave
him." With this she was determined to fight, and gripping the hilt of her short sword in the end of her sleeve, sought an opportunity to attack the 1 six or seven cm (1 sun[=3.03 cm)
THE TALE OF THE SOGA BROTHERS 149
enemy.
Yoshimori roared again at his son, Yoshihide: "Go and fetch her! Bring her here by force, if necessary!" Unable to disobey his father's command, Yoshihide rose to his feet, but walking toward Tora's quarters, he thought to himself: "Jilr6 is the eldest son of Kawazu no Sukeyasu in the pure line of succession to the It6 family. Seif-assured as he is, he will not send Tora
to our banquet once things have gone wrong with him. He must have
decided to detain her. If he refuses to give in to my father's high-handed request, I will be disgraced. The Soga brothers have been bred in poverty, but they are proud of their status. If I go in recklessly only to meet an end, I will be put to shame."
Yoshihide stood at the door and respectfully said: "My father has heard
that Lord Jar6 Sukenari is here, and so he sent me, Yoshihide, to invite you to our banquet. Please do not hesitate, but come and see my father. I have another important request to make of you. My father thinks highly
of Lady Tora, and wishes to see her. I dissuaded him lest you be disturbed, but he stiil wishes to see her. So if you wottld come to our banquet with
Lady Tora, you will not only please my father but also enable me to save face. Please accept this request of mine. If you refuse, I will have to withdraw."
Appeased by Yoshihide's polite speech, Jar6 complied. He dressed
himself properly and followed Tora to the banquet hall. The banqueters were relieved and felt as if coming to life again. Yoshihide was to be
highly commended, for his efforts allowed the banquet to go on with Tora's
presence, and yet did not give offense to Jar6. Given a wise subject, a country prospers; given a wise son, a house prospers. The banquet had beena tinderbox. Had it not been for Yoshihide, afight might have broken out-JUr6 and many of Yoshimori's men might have lost their lives.
Smiling, Yoshimori said: "Welcome to our banquet, Lord Jitr6 Sukenari!
HadI known of your presence in this house, I should have invited you
earlier. Please be seated here." JUr6 respectfully replied: "I should have
come to offer greetings to you, Lord Yoshimori, but I am an uncouth
bumpkin, and soIhesitated." With this apology, Jitr6 sat on the left of
Yoshimori. Tora too sat next to JUr6, and sake cups were brought to
them.
Yoshimori stared at Tora and said: "She is much more beautiful than
I had expected. She is unsurpassed! And she was so sympathetic with Jitr6 that she hesitated to come here. A girl of sweet nature, that is what she is!" With this toast, Yoshimori drained his cup, refilled it with sak6, and
offered it to Jitr6. Jitr6 drank and passed the cup on to Yoshihide. As
the cup went round, the banquet became boisterous.
When the cup returned to Tora, Yoshiraori filled it and said: "Now
offer it to the one you most admire!" At this suggestion Tora felt embar-rassed and thought to herself: "If I offer this to Yoshimori, the host of the
banquet, I will be considered quite thoughtful for the occasion, but hurt
Jttr6's heart. Woman entertainer though I am, I should not come here,
had I truly wanted to be faithful to my lord. If I offer this to Yoshimori, Jifr6 will think that I curry favor with a man in power. But if I offer it to Jitr6, confusion will result. Had I known of this difficult situation, I
would not have come here. Whatapity thatI should twice be saddened.
Perhaps it is because I did something wrong in a former life. If anything unexpected happens, I will pretend to touch Yoshimori's short sword and, taking it, stab him to death." With this determination, she threw glances at Yoshimori and Sukenari.
Contrary to Yoshimori's expectation, Tora offered the cup to Sukenari,
smiled at Yoshimori. All the banqueters were aghast. Sukenari held the cup and said to Yoshimori: "I do not think it [right to take this, Lord Yoshimori. This should be offered to you." Yoshimori replied: "I could not be so uncouth as to snatch it away from the one she most admires,"
and urged Sukenari to drain the cup.
When Sukenari drank sak6 from the cup three times, Yoshimori showed
anger in his face and said aloud: "Nothing is more miserable than getting
on in years! Were Itwenty years younger, Iwould never be turned down
by Lady Tora, nor would I withdraw even if turned down once. Hail
Amida Buddha!" He looked so despondent that his retainers became tense
with apprehension, waiting for a sign from Yoshihide. Undaunted, Sukenari iaughed. In his secret soul he was ready to grapple with Yoshimori at any
moment.
Shortly before, Gor6 Tokimune had been at Soga. Sitting in front of t
the house shrine, he read the Lotus Sutra ancl prayed for the good fortune
of his father in the world beyond when he was struck by a premonltion.
"Something must have happened to my brother at Oiso," he said to himself. "The warriors of the eight eastern provlnces should be on their way there about now. Tora is a woman entertainer, and so it is possible that a quarrel
might break out between my brother and the warriors because of her."
With this he rushed into his room and donned his body armor. At his side
he carried his hereditary long sword. Having no time to saddle his horse,
1 Skt, Saddhamapundarika. This sutra teaches that all beings are able to attain perfect enlightenment, and that perfect enlightenment was achieved by the Buddha
many kalpas ago
A kalpa is the period required for one to remove all the poppy seeds in a ten-square-mi!e city, if one took away one seed every three years, or the period required for a celetial woman to wear away a ten-cubic-mile stone if she brushed against it with her garments once every three years.
1
he sprang onto it bareback and galloped a distance of more than twenty chO, riding through the rough countryside as though he were on a horse training ground.
When he arrived at Oiso, Tokimune saw near the gate of the mistress's
house more than a hundred saddled horses and heard armor and weapons
clattering in the courtyard. It seemed that an incident could break out at
any moment. Alighting from his horse, he passed by the gate and,
remem-bering the narrow path leading to Tora's room, crawled through the
barnboo fence and asked one of the rnaids where his brother was. From her he learned that Sukenari was on the verge of a fight with Yoshimori
in the banquet hall, and so he sprang over the hedge and stood at the paper
screen behind which Sukenari sat. To let him know of his presence,
Toki-mune struck the bottom of his brother's trousers with a tortoiseshell bar for headdress through the crevice of the paper screens, and whispered that he had come to aid him. Now Sukenari felt as if the gods were on his side.
Tokimune strained his ears and heard Yoshimori speak of Sukenari as an audacious man. And so Tokimune held his great sword before him and
thought to himselft "As soon as any violence erupts, I will break in, strike first at Yoshimori, and then Yoshihide. The rest are only worthless fellows."
2
Tokimune looked like Bishamon ready to fall upon demons. Yoshihide
noticed the shadow of a sword cast by the setting sun on the paper screen and believed the man behind the screen was Tokimune. "These brothers are always together," he thought to himself. "What if something violent should
happen here? Though they belong to a different family, they are related
by blood to us. We had better draw this banquet to a close and leave here 2 About 2.2 km (1 chj== 109 m)
1 Skt. Vaisravana. One of the four guardian gods of the Buddha's Law who stands guard to the north of the World of Desire.
before trouble starts."
Yoshihide unfolded a red fan with a painting of a moon and said: "Let us sing and relax!Iwill dance to your song." As he rose to his feet, the
others began to beat time and sang:
May your glorious reign Last for ages and ages
Till the tiny pebbles
Into mighty rocks shall Moss shall overgrow them all.
Dancing, Yoshihide reached for the screen and slid it open. As of
expected, Tokimune stood there as firm as a statue of Bishamon. Yoshihide
tost no time in expressing his welcome to Tokimune as in a comic play, "Oh, here is another guest. PIease come in." With this Yoshihide pulled
one of the panels of Tokimune's lower armor, but Tokimune would not stir.
So powerful were his limbs that Yoshihide could move a huge rock, and so he was convinced he could pull Tokimune into the banquet hall. Again he pulled with all his might, but Tokimune remained undisturbed laughing
mockingly at him. The panel wrenched off, and Yoshihide fell on his back.
Tokimune inherited great strength from his father, Sukeyasu, who was renowned for it in all the eight eastern provinces. It was Sukeyasu who
one-handed won the sum6 matches over Kagehisa. Remembering this event,
none of the banqueters dared compete with Tokimune for strength, but
tried to be friendly with him, saying, "Come here, please," or "Be seated here, please." Thinking it impolite to refuse, Tokimune finally stepped into
the hall. As he walked, the side panels of his armor swept the heads of those sitting in the hall.
He sat on the straw mat next to Yoshihide and sneered at all the
others. When offered the cup by Yoshihide, he expressed his gratitude and
drank from it three times to follow the form of the banquet. He then
returned the cup to Yoshihide and tried to pour sak6 in it when Yoshimori
said: "It is not proper that sak6 be poured by a guest. One of us should
do it." At this advice Taneuji rose to his feet and poured sak6 fer
Yoshi-hide three times. It was passed on to Tora and then to Yoshimori when Tokimune respectfully said: "I wishIcould stay, but since there is some
urgent business I must do at Soga,I would like to be excused." These
words prompted Sukenari and Tora to leave the banquet. Their departure
cast a damper on the banquet, and so Yoshimori brought it to a close and
set out for Kamakura. The brothers returned to Soga.
Chapter III
Tora's Sorrow at Parting froma jttr6
The eagle is safe when soaring high above, but can be kllled when
alightin.cr on the bank of a pond. The crocodile is safe in the depths of an abyss, but can be gaffed in the shallows. J"r6 Sukenari had been exposed
to unexpected danger in Tora's house. Thus he was obliged to reflect on himself bitterly.
On returning to Soga, Sukenari put Tora in hidin.cr at his home and said: "I am going to the foothills of Fuji. There it may happen that a
stray shaft kills me. Though I grew up in poverty, I wish to die, my body and soul properly prepared. It would be a shame if I were to die with my hair in disorder. Will you comb it for me?"
As she tidied his hair, Sukenari put his head on her Iap and fondly
Suke-nari replied: "I cannot help weeping these days, thin] ing of my sad fate in this floating world. How long will people tease us about our love affair?
WhenIconsider the evanescence of everything around me, tears come to
my eyes." "If you take things that way," Tora said, "you must not go
hunting this time. In any event you are not in the service of Lord
Yori-tome. Please stay here." Sukenari replied: "I do not mean that I am
reluctant to go hunting. You need not worry."
Sukenari then thought to himself: "Tora andIIove each other deeply.
Were I to set out without telling her of my true intentions, I would be to
blame. I wish I could tell her the truth. Butawoman is not trustworthy in keeping a secret. To prevent me from undertaking this do-or-die task,
she would probably teil my mother on me. Unable to dissuade me, my
mother wouid be sad. Thus offending her, I would have to bear the pan.as of conscience. Gor6 will surely blame me. I must by all means keep this
to rnyself." With this he pretended to be happy. But however hard he
tried to suppres.s his sadness, his face betrayed him. Wondering, Tora asked
him over and over again what weighed upon his mind. Sukenari meditated:
"If I ignore these earnest questions and die without even hinting to her of
my plans, she will blame me for many days to come. I would rather tell
her vaguely of what I am going to do so that she could be relieved." Finally Sukenari said: "It is difficult for me to answer your questions.
butIwili try to explain why I am sad. My grandfather was the enemy
of Lord Yoritomo, and so was executed. As his grandson, I cannot hope that Lord Yoritomo will employ me or offer stewardship to me. The land
owned by my ancestors belong to others now. It is difficult for me to own
evenahorse. Ihave not yet copied a sutra as an offering to my father. With no chance to rise in the world, I am shamefully helpless. As soon
of a reeluse. Thus, as a mendicant monk, I will go on pilgrimageb to
shrines and temples to pray for the better lot of my father in the world
beyond. By so doing, I will seek Buddhahood myself. This world is as
transient as a dream. Even Emperor Kazan abandoned this world when he was very young and secluded himself deep in the mountains. Worthless as
I am, I have no wish to live a long life. This hunt will be my last activity in this world, and so I cannot help sinking into sorrow."
Before hearing this to the end, Tora threvv herself on his lap and remained silent. After a while she tearfully said: "How dare you keep everything to yourself? Since I am a woman entertainer, you may think
thatIhave nothing to share with you. Worthless thoughIam, Iam second
to none in loving you. Not for a moment have I forgotten about you
sinceIfirst met you. Ihave been plagued by the fear that your promise would someday turn out to be falsehood. Inasmuch as you have decided to
become a monk, I wiil take the tonsure myself, too. Even if Iam not
allowed to live in the same hut with you, I will find another one near yours
and take care of your everyday needs. When you offer incense to the
Buddha, I will pick flowers. When you gather brushwood, I will draw water
from the stream. If this is denied, I will drown myself. My mind and
heart are bent on the next world where, I hope, you and I will be reborn on the same lotus."
Tora's tears wet Sukenari's knees. Impressed by her wholehearted love, he could no longer conceal his true intentions from her. He felt that she
t
would never forgive him if he was not frank with her. Were he to tellher on a promise of secrecy, he believed, she would offer piayers to the Buddha for his better lot in the world beyond. He finally decided to disclose
his secret and said: "I have kept this to myself even from my mother, but you are so devoted to me that I will tell you the truth. Do not tell anyone.
THE TALE OF THE SOGA BROTHERS 157
Briefly, my stand is not for morality or Buddhahood. You do know where
my real intention lies. My purpose is to kill the enemy of my father. After it is done, I will not be able to come back. This is my last meeting with you.
"Three years have passed since we plighted our troth. Humble as I am, I regret that I cannot leave anything sweet for you to remember me, but Iam deeply grateful to you for all you have done for me. Asawoman entertainer, you should not have counted on a poor man like me. When I
think of how kind you have been to me these last three years, I am asharned
of having indulged in your favor and not repaid you at all." With this
Sukenari wept.
After a while, Tora replied: "What is this going to be? Though I am a woman, how can I let out such a great secret as this? Since you are
determined to fuifill your task without telling even your mother, how can I dissuade you? Even so, it is nice of you to be truly frank with me. I wiil
never forget rny tie with you for these three years. When I saw you in humble clothing I thought of my status as a woman entertainer and re-gretted that I could not help you. When I heard that you would abandon
this world I was indeed sad. How much more so when I hear you will
never return." With this Tora wailed.
Sukenari comfortd her and said: "Do not weep aloud iest you be heard by others. For me, too, the parting is a wrench. Here is a memento. Keep this and know that I am always with you!" So saying, he cut some tresses of his sidelocks and handed them over to her. She took them and, putt2ng them in her amulet bag, fell prostrate. Sukenari too laid himself beside
her and wept.
As dusk fell, they were obliged to realize that it would be their last
of dawn. The moon went down so fast and cocks crowed so loudly that
they could not tell slumber from dream. Whena bank of clouds in the
eastern sky began to gleam white, they regretted that they had not whispered soft nothings to each other to their hearts' content.
Tora was half-awake in a nightmare, so grief-stricken that Sukenari
had to arouse her to reality, saying: "I must be going now. I will see you
again in the world beyond." At this she awoke, but she was still too
saddened to utter a word in reply. Since he had to part from her, he
changed his tie-dyed robe for her white one lined with red and said: "Let the scent of these robes remain long so that our sorrow at parting will be
comforted. I will keep your image in this robe of yours." With this,
however, he laid himself again beside her.
Once again, Sukenari urged her to go, saying: "Sorrow at parting is endless. I will go with you some distance to see you off. The sun wiit
be high up in the sky soon."
At the gate his retainer, D6sabur6, was waiting for them. Sukenari
ordered him to put a shell-inlaid saddle on her dapple-grey horse and, turn-ing to her, said: "You need not return this saddle to me. This is the very saddle that I used each time I rode to Oiso during the last three years. I changed horses, but never changed the saddle. Since this is my last meeting with you, keep it to remember me. Horses are livin.cr things, but the saddle
