WAKASANOSUKE. You disobey me? What do you say? RECITATIVE. Honzo bends down his head and remains speechless for a while; but presently he comes to a determination. He draws his dirk, and then partly unsheathing his sword with the other hand, he strikes it with the dirk.[5] [Illustration: Honzo kneeling holding outstretched sheathed sword with two hands] HONZO. You see now Honzo’s spirit. I will neither stop you nor divulge your secret. I beg you to say what you wish to tell me without hurry, so that I may understand it completely. WAKASANOSUKE. I will tell you. The Governor-General, Lord Ashikaga Sahyoe-no-Kami Tadayoshi, has come to Kamakura to celebrate the completion of the Shrine at Tsurugaoka, and Enya Hangwan and I have been appointed to entertain him. The Shogun Takauji has also ordered that, making Kono Moronao our adviser, we should act under his instruction in all things, as he is a samurai of mature age and wide experience. Inflated with the high favour he enjoys, he has become now ten times more arrogant than before. And in the presence of the samurai from the Capital, he took advantage of my youth to abuse and revile me. Often I thought to cut him in two; but as often I bethought me of the Shogun’s order and restrained myself. But to-morrow I will bear it no longer; I will put him to shame in His Highness’s presence and then cut him down. Be sure not to stop me. Both my wife and you have oftentimes remonstrated with me for my hasty temper; and I know well my defect. But think of my spirit, often as I have been humiliated. I am not unmindful that my act will ruin my house and plunge my wife into deepest grief; but it is the duty of my sword which I cannot shirk without punishment from the God of War. Even if I cannot die fighting in battle, for the benefit I shall confer upon the country by slaying Moronao I will bear the shame upon my house. I tell you all this because I know the world will surely think of me as one who lost his life by his hasty temper, and as a reckless fellow readily wrought upon by passions. RECITATIVE. He weeps with deep despair, and he is rent to his heart’s core. Honzo claps his hands with admiration. HONZO. Well done, well done. I thank you, my lord, for your words. You have borne with great patience. If I had been in your place, I should not have borne so long. WAKASANOSUKE. What do you say, Honzo? That I have borne so long, that I have been patient? Are you jeering at me? HONZO. I did not think to hear that from my lord. It is a saying among townspeople that if we keep to the shade in winter and to sunshine in summer, we shall not run the risk of a quarrel or a fight in the streets; but the samurai walks straight on, and though I may be wrong, I should say that if once we gave up the road to another, there would be no end to his arrogance. I will show you that I have no intention of remonstrating with you.