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THE LIFE OF A RON1N. 195
"Did any one flinch?"
" None that I saw ;
but in previous years, when
some of the same Kirishitan sect from Corea fled
our country, a number of the people refused to tread
on the plate and were imprisoned. I have heard
also that lately some of the villagers near the city
avoid going under the Shinto temple gates, which is
not a good sign."
Emerging from the cave, the two travelers returned
to their inn, paid their bills, and set out over
the Hakon mountains for Kamakura. Here they
spent a day visiting the renowned shrines and temples,
especially that of Hachiman, the tombs of Yoritomo
and other heroes, and in looking at the historical
relics preserved in the museum. Among these
were a He'ik^ red banner made of bamboo thread, a
war-coat of Yoritomo, a drum belonging to Nitta,
besides masks, carvings, and weapons. They also
studied carefully the strategic position of the place
which for nearly four hundred years had been a great
city, and the chief seat of military power in Japan.
Honda's eyes danced with delight and his heart was
full as he traced the path of his hero Nitta's valor,
and walked over the ground on which he had once
stood, when in the year 1333 A.D., as a loyal soldier
of the Mikado, fighting- to restore the Mikado to
supreme rights and power, he had stormed Kamakura
and captured
it from the Hojo usurpers. On
the night before the attack, when the fortified hills
and cliffs at the point of laud called Inamura Saki
and the fleets of war-junks on the water seemed to
to