Tales of Old Japan - Maybe You Like It

"Ay! ay! what you say is just from top to bottom," replied the others.
Then Hanzayémon, the elder of the village of Katsuta, stepped forward
and said—
"As Master Zembei has just said, Sôgorô is condemned to die for a
matter in which all the village elders are concerned to a man. We cannot
look on unconcerned. Full well I know that it is useless our pleading for
Sôgorô; but we may, at least, petition that the lives of his wife and children
may be spared."
The assembled elders having all applauded this speech, they determined
to draw up a memorial; and they resolved, should their petition not
be accepted by the local authorities, to present it at their lord's palace in
Yedo, and, should that fail, to appeal to the Government. Accordingly,
before noon on the following day, they all affixed their seals to the memorial,
which four of them, including Zembei and Hanzayémon, composed,
as follows:—
"With deep fear we humbly venture to present the following petition,
which the elders of the one hundred and thirty-six villages of this estate
have sealed with their seals. In consequence of the humble petition
which we lately offered up, the taxes have graciously been reduced to
the rates levied by the former lord of the estate, and new laws have been
vouchsafed to us. With reverence and joy the peasants, great and small,
have gratefully acknowledged these favours. With regard to Sôgorô, the
elder of the village of Iwahashi, who ventured to petition his highness
the Shogun in person, thus being guilty of a heinous crime, he has been
sentenced to death in the castle-town. With fear and trembling we recognize
the justice of his sentence. But in the matter of his wife and children,
she is but a woman, and they are so young and innocent that they cannot
distinguish the east from the west: we pray that in your great clemency
you will remit their sin, and give them up to the representatives of the
one hundred and thirty-six villages, for which we shall be ever grateful.
We, the elders of the villages, know not to what extent we may be transgressing
in presenting this memorial. We were all guilty of affixing our
seals to the former petition; but Sôgorô, who was chief of a large district,
producing a thousand kokus of revenue, and was therefore a man of experience,
acted for the others; and we grieve that he alone should suffer
for all. Yet in his case we reverently admit that there can be no reprieve.
For his wife and children, however, we humbly implore your gracious
mercy and consideration.
"Signed by the elders of the villages of the estate, the 2d year of Shôhô,
and the 2d month."
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