The man that I arrested? He is a notorious brigand called Tajomaru.
When I arrested him, he had fallen off his horse. He was groaning on
the bridge at Awataguchi. The time? It was in the early hours of last
night. For the record, I might say that the other day I tried to arrest
him, but unfortunately he escaped. He was wearing a dark blue silk
kimono and a large plain sword. And, as you see, he got a bow and
arrows somewhere. You say that this bow and these arrows look like the
ones owned by the dead man? Then Tajomaru must be the murderer. The bow
wound with leather strips, the black lacquered quiver, the seventeen
arrows with hawk feathers — these were all in his possession I
believe. Yess sir, the horse is, as you say, a sorrel with a fine mane.
A little beyond the stone bridge I found the horse grazing by the
roadside, with his long rein dangling. Surely there is some providence
in his having been thrown by the horse.
Of all the robbers prowling around Kyoto, this Tajomaru has given the
most grief to the women in town. Last autumn a wife who came to the
mountain back of the Pindora of the Toribe Temple, presumably to pay a
visit, was murdered, along with a girl. It has been suspected that it
was his doing. If this criminal murdered the man, you cannot tell what
he may have done with the man's wife. May it please your honor to look
into this problem as well.
Yes, sir, that corpse is the man who married my daughter. He does not
come from Kyoto. He was a samurai in the town of Kokufu in the province
of Wakasa. His name was Kanazawa no Takehiko, and his age was
twenty-six. He was of a gentle disposition, so I am sure he did nothing
to provoke the anger of others.
My daughter? Her name is Masago, and her age is nineteen. She is a
spirited, fun-loving girl, but I am sure she has never known any man
except Takehiko. She has a small, oval, dark-complected face with a
mole at the corner of her left eye.
Yesterday Takehiko left for Wakasa with my daughter. What bad luck it
is that things should have come to such a sad end! What has become of
my daughter? I am resigned to giving up my sonin-law as lost, but the
fate of my daughter worries me sick. For heaven's sake leave no stone
unturned to find her. I hate that robber Tajomaru, or whatever his name
is. Not only my son-in-law, but my daughter...(Her later words were
drowned in tears.)
I killed him, but not her. Where's she gone? I can't tell. Oh, wait a
minute. No torture can make me confess what I don't know. Now things
have come to such a head, I won't keep anything from you.
Yesterday a little past noon I met that couple. Just then a puff of
wind blew, and raised her hanging scarf, so that I caught a glimpse of
her face. Instantly it was again covered from my view. That may have
been one reason; she looked like a Bodhisattva. At that moment I made
up my mind to capture her even if I had to kill her man.
Why? To me killing isn't a matter of such great consequence as you
might think. When a woman is captured, her man has to be killed anyway.
In killing, I use the sword I wear at my side. Am I the only one who
kills people? You, you don't use your swords. You kill people with your
power, with your money. Sometimes you kill them on the pretext of
working for their good. It's true they don't bleed. They are in the
best of health, but all the same you've killed them. It's hard to say
who is a greater sinner, you or me. (An ironical smile.)
Adventure
