Tales of Old Japan - Maybe You Like It

standing to this day. He fell sick and died, at the age of seventy, on the
10th day of the 2d month of the 13th year of the period styled Kambun.
Zembei, who, as a priest, had changed his name to Kakushin, died, at the
age of seventy-six, on the 17th day of the 10th month of the 2d year of the
period styled Empô. Thus did those men, for the sake of Sôgorô and his
family, give themselves up to works of devotion; and the other villagers
also brought food to soothe the spirits of the dead, and prayed for their
entry into paradise; and as litanies were repeated without intermission,
there can be no doubt that Sôgorô attained salvation.
"In paradise, where the blessings of God are distributed without favour,
the soul learns its faults by the measure of the rewards given. The
lusts of the flesh are abandoned; and the soul, purified, attains to the
glory of Buddha." 77
On the 11th day of the 2d month of the 2d year of Shôhô, Sôgorô having
been convicted of a heinous crime, a scaffold was erected at Ewaradai,
and the councillor who resided at Yedo and the councillor who
resided on the estate, with the other officers, proceeded to the place in all
solemnity. Then the priests of Tôkôji, in the village of Sakénaga, followed
by coffin-bearers, took their places in front of the councillors, and said—
"We humbly beg leave to present a petition."
"What have your reverences to say?"
"We are men who have forsaken the world and entered the priesthood,"
answered the monks, respectfully; "and we would fain, if it be
possible, receive the bodies of those who are to die, that we may bury
them decently. It will be a great joy to us if our humble petition be graciously
heard and granted."
"Your request shall be granted; but as the crime of Sôgorô was great,
his body must be exposed for three days and three nights, after which
the corpse shall be given to you."
At the hour of the snake (10 A.M.), the hour appointed for the execution,
the people from the neighbouring villages and the castle-town, old
and young, men and women, flocked to see the sight: numbers there
were, too, who came to bid a last farewell to Sôgorô, his wife and children,
and to put up a prayer for them. When the hour had arrived, the
condemned were dragged forth bound, and made to sit upon coarse
mats. Sôgorô and his wife closed their eyes, for the sight was more than
they could bear; and the spectators, with heaving breasts and streaming
eyes, cried "Cruel!" and "Pitiless!" and taking sweetmeats and cakes from
the bosoms of their dresses threw them to the children. At noon precisely
77.Buddhist text.
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