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CHAPTER XXII.
A JOURNEY THROUGH A PRISON.
NEW YEAR'S ceremonies and rejoicings were
fully over before Mr. Rai, having awaited
various tedious delays, received the welcome commission
to visit Honda Jiro in prison, and to bear
to him the conditional order for r.elease. As political
matters quieted down after the American fleet
had left, there was no great opposition to the request
of the daimio of Echizen. The condition
imposed was that Honda Jiro, after release from
Yedo prison, should be kept in house confinement
in Yedo, and then reenter the service of his lord.
This punishment was a grade or two below that of
shutting up the gates of a householder and confining
him to his own house, which was considered a
dreadful disgrace. In a word, Honda Jiro was to
be let off easily.
Accordingly, armed with the written permission
of the mayor, or governor, of the city,
Mr. Rai
made his way into the oldest and most densely populated
part of Yedo, where Pack-horse Street and the
prison entrance were. Having never been before in
the neighborhood, he was as interested as a sight-seer
in studying the dimensions and appearance of the
great " man-house," or jail,
the various buildings and
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