The fate of the brave retainers became the burning question of the day. Opinion was divided among the scholars and government officials on the way they should be treated. Some were for pardoning them as vendetta was permitted by the state, while others advocated that as they had broken the law of the land from private motives, they should be condemned to death and that an order to commit suicide would show that their great loyalty was duly appreciated since they were not to be beheaded like common criminals. Finally, on the fourth of the second month of the following year (10th March, 1703), they committed _seppuku_ by order in the mansions of the respective _daimyo_ who had them in charge, and were buried at Sengakuji beside the tomb of their lord whom they had served so well. [1] A high officer versed in Court etiquette. The office was hereditary. ACT I. CHUSHINGURA 忠臣藏 ---------- ACT I. RECITATIVE. Though there may be delicate food, we cannot relish it unless we taste it, and so, when peace has been restored, the loyalty and valour of gallant warriors remain unrevealed, like the stars which are hidden from view by day, but appear at night scattered through the heavens. And here is an instance in point. Now peace reigns over the land. It is the latter part of the second month of the first year of the Era Ryaku-o.[1] The Lord Shogun Ashikaga Takauji[2] has overthrown Nitta Yoshisada[3] and has built a palace in Kyoto. His virtuous rule has spread in all directions and the whole nation bows before his might as [Illustration: Feudal Lord on dais surrounded by three kneeling people] the grass before the wind. In the glory of his power, he has raised a Shrine to Hachiman at Tsurugaoka, which being completed, his younger brother, Lord Ashikaga Sahyoe-no-Kami Tadayoshi, has arrived at Kamakura as his deputy to celebrate its opening. Kono Musashi-no-Kami Moronao, Governor of Kamakura, haughty and overweening, and the officers appointed to receive the noble guest, Wakasanosuke Yasuchika, the younger brother of Momonoi Harima-no-Kami, and Enya Hangwan Takasada, Lord of Hakushu, they all sit in state in the curtained front of the Shrine. YOSHITADA. How now, Moronao? In this box is laid the helmet bestowed by the Emperor Godaigo[4] upon Nitta Yoshisada, who was lately overthrown by my brother Takauji. Enemy as he was, still Yoshisada was a lineal descendant of the Seiwa Genji[5]; and the helmet, though it was thrown away, cannot be left unheeded. And my brother commands us to place it in the treasure-house of this Shrine. MORONAO. I am surprised at my lord’s words. If we must respect Nitta’s helmet because he was a descendant of the Emperor Seiwa, there are many _daimyo_ and _shomyo_[6] under my lord’s standard who are of the Seiwa Genji line. I think it not well to treasure the helmet.