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unsuspectingly picked up the tongs, his hands were immediately turned. As he did obeisance in his usual manner,
however, the shogun quickly pot up and took the tongs from him.
A certain person said, "When a castle is being surrendered, as long as there are one or two men within it who are
determined to hold on, the defending forces will not be of one accord, and in the end no one will hold the castle. "In
the taking of the castle, if when the man who is to receive it approaches and the one or two men who are determined
to hold on to it lightly fire on him from the shadows, the man will be alarmed and the battle will be on. In such a case,
even though it is unwillingly done, the castle will have to be stormed. This is called being forced to besiege a castle
by those besieged."
The Buddhist priest Ryozan wrote down some generalities concerning Takanobu's battles. A certain priest saw this
and criticized him, saying, "It is inappropriate for a priest to write about a military commander. No matter how
successful his writing style may be, since he is not acquainted with military things, he is liable to be mistaken in
understanding a famous general's mind. It is irreverent to pass on misconceptions concerning a famous general to later
generations."
A certain person said, "In the Saint's mausoleum there is a poem that goes :
If in one's heart
He follows the path of sincerity,
Though he does not pray
Will not the gods protect him?
What is this path of sincerity?"
A man answered him by saying, ''You seem to like poetry. I will answer you with a poem.
As everything in this world is but a shame,
Death is the only sincerity.
It is said that becoming as a dead man in one's daily living is the following of the path of sincerity."
If you cut a face lengthwise, urinate on it, and trample on it with straw sandals, it is said that the skin will come off.
This was heard by the priest Gyojaku when he was in Kyoto. It is information to be treasured.
One of Matsudaira Sagami no kami's retainers went to Kyoto on a matter of debt collection and took up lodgings by
renting living quarters in a townhouse. One day while standing out front watching the people go by, he heard a
passer-by say, "They say that Lord Matsudaira's men are involved in a fight right now." The retainer thought, "How
worrisome that some of my companions are involved in a fight. There are some men to relieve those at Edo staying
here. Perhaps these are the men involved." He asked the passer-by of the location, but when he arrived out of breath,
his companions had already been cut down and their adversaries were at the point of delivering the coup de grace. He
quickly let out a yell, cut the two men down, and returned to his lodgings.
This matter was made known to an official of the shogunate, and the man was called up before him and questioned.
"You gave assistance in your companions' fight and thus disregarded the government's ordinance. This is true beyond
a doubt, isn't it?"
The man replied, "I am from the country, and it is difficult for me to understand everything that Your Honor is saying.
Would you please repeat that?"
The official got angry and said, "Is there something wrong with your ears? Didn't you abet a fight, commit bloodshed,
disregard the government's ordinance, and break the law?"
The man then replied, "I have at length understood what you are saying. Although you say that I have broken the law
and disregarded the government's ordinance, I have by no means done so. The reason for this is that all living things
value their lives, and this goes without saying for human beings. I, especially, value my life. However, I thought that
to hear a rumor that one's friends are involved in a fight and to pretend not to hear this is not to preserve the Way of
the Samurai , so I ran to the place of action . To shamelessly return home after seeing my friends struck down would
surely have lengthened my life, but this too would be disregarding the Way. In observing the Way, one will throw
away his own precious life. Thus, in order to preserve the Way of the Samurai and not to disregard the Samurai
Ordinances, I quickly threw away my life at that place. I beg that you execute me immediately."
The official was very impressed and later dismissed the matter, communicating to Lord Matsudaira, "You have a very
able samurai in your service. Please treasure him."
This is among the sayings of the priest Banker. "Not to borrow the strength of another, nor to rely on one's own
strength ; to cut off past and future thoughts, and not to live within the everyday mind . . . then the Great Way is right
before one's eyes."
Lord Soma's family genealogy, called the Chiken marokashi, was the best in Japan. One year when his mansion
suddenly caught fire and was burning to the ground, Lord Soma said, "I feel no regret about the house and all its
furnishings, even if they burn to the very last piece, because they are things that can be replaced later on. I only regret
that I was unable to take out the genealogy, which is my family's most precious treasure."
There was one samurai among those attending him who said, "I will go in and take it out."
Lord Soma and the others all laughed and said, "The house is already engulfed in flames. How are you going to take it
out?"
Now this man had never been loquacious, nor had he been particularly useful, but being a man who did things from
beginning to end, he was engaged as an attendant. At this point he said, "I have never been of use to my master [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]