Dead Sword, Living Rope

A samurai's soul. With only the paired long and short swords at his waist, with no time to take anything in his hands and barely time to shove his feet into his sandals, Isogai Ryujiro stepped out into the back garden.

武士の魂。大小の二刀だけは腰に差して、手には何一つ持つ間もなく、草履突掛けるもそこそこに、磯貝竜次郎いそがいりゅうじろうは裏庭へと立出たちいでた。

"Come what may, today I shall make up my mind and leave."

「如何いかような事が有ろうとも、今日こそは思い切って出立致そう」

He had left Edo on a warrior pilgrimage, but with a wish of a rather special kind. He should long since have achieved his aim and be back in Edo by now, looking on the joyful face of his honoured master and receiving without delay the secret transmission handed down from master to master alone. Instead he had been caught on an unforeseen snag and had spent more than three months living all but a prisoner.

武者修行としても一種特別の願望を以て江戸を出たので有った。疾とくに目的を達して今頃は江戸に帰り、喜ぶ恩師の顔を見て、一家相伝の極意秘伝を停滞とどこおりなく受けていなければ成らぬのが、意外な支障さわりに引掛ひきかかって、三月余りを殆ど囚虜とらわれの身に均ひとしく過ごしたのであった。

In the province of Hitachi, in Kochi district, near the Osugi Shrine in Anba village, there lived a fearsome demon. Ryujiro had been caught by it, no different from a water bird tangled in a mist net, and could do nothing about it. Against his will he had spent a whole summer in that demon's house, and this morning it was autumn.

常陸ひたちの国、河内郡こうちごおり、阿波あんば村の大杉おおすぎ明神の近くに、恐しい妖魔が住んでいるので有った。それに竜次郎は捕って、水鳥が霞網に搦からまったも同然、如何いかんとも仕難くなったのであった。一と夏を其妖魔の家に心成らずも日を過して、今朝の秋とは成ったので有った。

The Osugi Shrine is said to enshrine Hitachi-bo Kaison, in common speech the rough god of the tengu. Nearby there was a demon of great renown. She was the woman boss called Living-Rope O-Tetsu.

大杉明神は常陸坊海尊ひたちぼうかいそんを祀るともいう。俗に天狗てんぐの荒神様。其附近に名代の魔者がいた。生縄いきなわのお鉄てつという女侠客がそれなのだ。

Of course, being the country, there was something countrified about it all, but all the same her territory straddled Hitachi and Shimosa across the River Tone, and her kobun numbered a full thousand with nothing discounted. O-Tetsu's husband, Hiwatari Jinemon, was a police informer entrusted by the authorities with a red-tasselled jitte and capture-ropes, and he was double-dealing, wearing two pairs of straw sandals at once. He was a sworn brother to Iioka no Sukegoro.

素もとより田舎の事とて泥臭いのは勿論もちろんだが、兎とに角常陸から下総しもうさ、利根川とねがわを股に掛けての縄張りで、乾漢こぶんも掛価無しの千の数は揃うので有った。お鉄の亭主の火渡ひわたり甚右衛門じんえもんというのが、お上から朱房の十手に捕縄を預った御用聞きで、是れが二足の草鞋わらじを穿いていた。飯岡いいおかの助五郎すけごろうとは兄弟分で有った。

Though that Hiwatari Jinemon had died of sickness, his widow O-Tetsu was more than a match for a man, for all the world like a woman informer herself, so that people feared and dreaded her as if she still held the red-tasselled jitte.

その火渡り甚右衛門が病死しても、後家のお鉄が男まさりで、まるで女の御用聞きも同然だという処から、未だ朱房の十手を預っているかのように人は忌み恐れていた。

"Living-Rope O-Tetsu is the best in the land at taking men prisoner. Once she takes you, you are done for. Guilty or not does not come into it. By some torture strange to this world, she must have killed five or six by now. Arashi Hinamaru, the travelling player who came to the market at Anba, was killed. The young fellow selling Echigo chijimi was killed. Then the travelling painter from Kyoto and the journeyman carpenter from Odawara. The second son of the makomo magnate of Ukishima was caught too, but none of them lasted three months. Is that what they call the deep love of a wicked woman. She can hardly be a Kirishitan bateren priest, but they say one short glare from those eyes leaves the body numb and helpless."

「生縄のお鉄は男の捕物に掛けては天下一で、あれに捕ったら往生だ。罪の有る無しは話には成らぬ。世にも不思議な拷問で、もう五六人は殺されたろう。阿波の高市たかまちに来た旅役者の嵐雛丸あらしひなまるも殺された。越後えちごの縮売ちぢみうりの若い者も殺された。それから京きょうの旅画師に小田原おだわらの渡り大工。浮島うきしまの真菰大尽まこもだいじんの次男坊も引懸ったが、どれも三月とは持たなかった。あれが世にいう悪女の深情けか。まさか切支丹きりしたん破天連ばてれんでも有るまいが、あの眼で一寸睨まれたら、もう体が痺れて如何どうする事も出来ないのだそうな」

She can hardly be a Kirishitan bateren priest, but they say one short glare from those eyes leaves the body numb and helpless.: Kirishitan means the Christians of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, bateren comes from the Portuguese padre for priest. The rumour jokes that only foreign magic could explain her paralysing stare.

Talk like this was to be heard everywhere.

斯こうした噂うわさは至る処に立っていた。

Knowing none of this, Isogai Ryujiro set out on his warrior pilgrimage, boarded the night boat on the Tone, and found himself together with O-Tetsu, on her way back from Edo. She was already close to forty, an older woman well past the late cherry bloom. A stout body that must have weighed over twenty kan. Her colour dark, her hair showing a marked wavy quirk and thin at the temples, which she always wore twisted up carelessly with a comb. Low nose, large mouth, a chin that looked double, and yet about her eyes there was an overflowing charm. Everything she said and did was deft, brisk in every way and full of tact. In her youth, a woman of just this sort might rather have moved a man's heart.

とは知らぬ磯貝竜次郎、武者修行に出て利根の夜船に乗った時に、江戸帰りのお鉄と一緒で有った。年齢としは既に四十近く、姥桜も散り過ぎた大年増。重量は二十貫の上もあろう程の肥満した体。色は浅黒く、髪の毛には波を打ったような癖が目立って、若しかも生端はえぎわ薄く、それを無造作に何時いつも櫛巻きにしていた。鼻は低く、口は大きく、腮あごは二重に見えるので有ったが、如何にも其眼元に愛嬌が溢あふれていた。然そうして云う事為する事、如才無く、総てがきびきびとして気が利いていた。若い時には斯うした風のが、却かえって男の心を動かしたかも知れぬのだ。

A stout body that must have weighed over twenty kan.: A kan is an old weight of about 3.75 kilograms, so twenty kan is about 75 kilograms. Late cherry bloom is a set phrase for a woman past first youth.

"If you are going to worship at Osugi-sama, you must stop by at our house."

「大杉様へ御参詣なら、是非手前共へお立ち寄りを」

When they had come up on the night boat at Oshisuna-gashi and were crossing the reed plain toward Anba village, Ryujiro was suddenly seized with pain in the belly, and O-Tetsu picked him up on her back as lightly as if he had been a child, carried him home the not quite half a ri, and nursed him with a care no kin could have matched. That much was well enough, but then never to be allowed a single step outside was a nuisance beyond all bearing.

押砂河岸おしすながしで夜船を上って、阿波村に行く途中の蘆原あしはらで、急に竜次郎が腹痛を覚えた時に、お鉄は宛如まるで子供でも扱うようにして、軽々と背中に負い、半里足らずの道を担いで吾家に帰り、それから親身も及ばぬ介抱をして呉くれたまでは好かったが、其儘そのまま一歩も外に踏出させぬには、此上も無い迷惑なので有った。

Ryujiro's pain was soon cured, but the health he had happily got back began to fail again in two or three days, and with nothing in particular amiss he spent his days in a lingering sickness, like a man with the stuffing taken out of him. His topknot stubble had grown out. His colour turned pale. His own sunken eyes startled him. He had become the demon's prisoner in very truth.

竜次郎の腹痛は直ぐ治ったが、折角元の健康に復したのも、二日か三日で又衰え始めて、されば、何処が不良という事無しに、唯ぶらぶらの病に均しく、腑抜けのように日を暮らしていた。月代毛さかやきも延びた。顔色も蒼白く成った。眼の窪んだのが自分ながら驚かれるので有った。正しく妖魔の囚虜とりこと成ったので有った。

Today at last he had worked up his great resolve, and meaning to profit by O-Tetsu's absence, he planned to climb down the cliff from the back garden and make his way by the paddies toward Fukuda village.

今日こそはと大勇猛心を出して、お鉄の不在を幸いに、裏庭から崖を降りて稲田伝いに福田ふくだ村の方へ出ようと考えたので有った。

With every step the pangs of conscience pressed harder. That Isogai Ryujiro, though a second son, born to a house of five hundred koku hatamoto, a direct retainer of the shogun, whose rare mastery of the sword was called heaven-born and rang through all the Kobusho, should for the sake of one woman, older than himself, of low standing, and of no great beauty, have been rolled in the palm of her hand and handled for three months like a plaything.

良心の呵責かしゃくは一歩毎に強く加わるので有った。年上で、身分賤いやしく、格別美しくも無い一婦人の為に、次男ながらも旗本五百石の家に産まれた天下の直参筋、剣道には稀有けうの腕前、是天禀てんぴんなりとの評判を講武所こうぶしょ中に轟かした磯貝竜次郎が、まるで掌の内に円め込められて三月の間は玩具おもちゃの如く扱われて了しまったのだ。

At the Kobusho he had studied chiefly under the guidance of Imabori Settsu-no-kami, but besides that he had won the favour of Akioka Jinpusai, who lived retired at Azabu Furukawabata and had opened a new line from the Tenshin Dokumei school, and had received separate training as his one master with his one pupil, until he had advanced to the place of inheriting the secret of the Happo Makigumo swordsmanship.

講武所に学びては、主として今堀摂津守いまぼりせっつのかみの指南を受けていたが、其他に、麻布あざぶ古川端ふるかわばたに浪居して天心独名流てんしんどくめいりゅうから更に一派を開きたる秋岡陣風斎あきおかじんぷうさいに愛され、一師一弟の別格稽古を受け、八方巻雲はっぽうまきぐもの剣法の極意を相続する位地にまで進んだので有った。

"Before that transmission, you must without fail go out on a warrior pilgrimage and travel the provinces once. By that I do not mean for you to go breaking down the doors of ordinary training halls. First visit the three shrines of Katori, Kashima, and Ikisu, and then the Suwa shrine at Nagareyama, in Hitachi the Osugi shrine in Anba village and the Mizuchi shrine in Tatsuki village. Visit those gods, purify both body and mind together, wield and offer up the sacred sword in its full form, and come back having cast off all base intent. Visits to other gods may come afterward at your leisure."

「その伝授の前に、必ずそれは武者修行に出て、一度は廻国して来なければ相成らぬ。と云った処で、普通ただの道場破りをして来いと申すのでは無い。先ず香取かとり鹿島かしま及び息栖いきすの三社、それに流山ながれやま在の諏訪すわの宮、常陸は阿波村の大杉明神、立木村たつきむらの蛟𧍑みずち神社、それ等の神々に詣で、身も心も二つながら清めて、霊剣一通り振り納め、全く邪心を去って来れば好い。其他の神詣では追々の事として苦しゅう無い」

To receive the Happo Makigumo swordsmanship from Akioka Jinpusai as his one master with his one pupil, Ryujiro's journey through the provinces had begun. But he had come to a halt at the Osugi shrine. However one looked at it, it could only be called strange.

秋岡陣風斎から一師一弟、八方巻雲の剣法を授かる為に、竜次郎の廻国は始ったので有った。処が大杉明神で停滞したので有った。それは併し如何どう考えても不思議というより他は無かった。

Before landing at Oshisuna-gashi, he had bought a lunch sold early in the morning at Kioroshi-gashi. He could not think it was only the chopped dried squid in it disagreeing with him that had given him the stomach pain. Before that, when he had felt thirst in the closeness of the crowded boat, the cooled boiled water O-Tetsu gave him had something strange in its smell. To think evilly of it, he might have been made to drink some drug.

押砂河岸に上る前に、木下きおろし河岸で朝早く売りに来た弁当を買った。それの刻み鯣するめに中あたって腹痛を感じたとのみは思えなかった。其前に船中の人いきれに、喉の乾きを覚えた時、お鉄が呉れた湯冷しというに、何やら異臭が有った。邪推して見れば毒薬でも服のまされたか知れなかった。

Once taken into O-Tetsu's house, his blood thickened, his sinews slackened, his spirit failed, and he was left helpless in every way. He only grew witless.

それからお鉄の家に引取られてというものは、血が濁り、筋が緩み、気力が衰えて、如何どうにも斯うにも成らなかった。痴呆の如くに成るのみで有った。

O-Tetsu's house were hereditary police agents. Her grandfather had been especially famed. Hiwatari Jinemon was an adopted husband. For that reason O-Tetsu herself was the better versed in matters of arrest.

お鉄の家は代々の目明しで有った。祖父が別して名高かった。火渡り甚右衛門は養子なので有った。それで捕物に就いての知識は却かえってお鉄の方が委くわしかった。

"When it comes to laying a capture-rope, there is none in Hitachi, Shimosa, or Kazusa to match me."

「捕縄とりなわの掛け方なら、私に及ぶ者は常陸下総上総かずさにも有りますまい」

Her boast had more than enough strength behind it. Woman though she was, she was practiced in it all: kakenawa laying-rope, nagenawa throwing-rope, hikinawa hauling-rope, tsurinawa fishing-rope, nukenawa slipping-rope. In ways of laying a capture-rope she knew every hold: the ganjigarame cross-lattice bind, the kikko tortoise-shell tie, the matsuba pine-needle cinch, the rokuro-maki windlass coil, high hands, low hands, single-hand lift, reverse knot.

お鉄の自慢はそれだけの実力が有り余っていた。女ながらも掛縄、投縄、引縄、釣縄、抜縄、何でもそれは熟練していた。捕縄の掛け方に就いても、雁字搦がんじがらみ、亀甲繋きっこうつなぎ、松葉締め、轆轤巻ろくろまき、高手、小手、片手上げ、逆結び、有らゆる掛け方に通じていた。

In ways of laying a capture-rope she knew every hold: the ganjigarame cross-lattice bind, the kikko tortoise-shell tie, the matsuba pine-needle cinch, the rokuro-maki windlass coil, high hands, low hands, single-hand lift, reverse knot.: The list names hereditary arrest-rope arts and holds: laying, throwing, hauling, fishing and slipping ropes, then cross-lattice, tortoise-shell, pine-needle and other ties. The same names return later in the story, when the weeds bind Ryujiro like a ganjigarame.

Agemaki topknot, cross, diamond, crab, fish-scale, and each of those had its three ways, shin, gyo, and so, formal, running, and grass. The minute exposition of each school had come down in the house as written copies.

総角あげまき、十文字じゅうもんじ、菱ひし、蟹かに、鱗うろこ、それにも真行草しんぎょうそうの三通り宛ずつ有った。流儀々々の細説は、写本に成って家に伝わっていた。

Ryujiro took an interest in this capture-rope too, and to pass the boredom he read every copy that remained, and from there his wish to study only grew, and he learned the practice from O-Tetsu herself.

竜次郎は其捕縄に就いても興味を持ち、退屈凌ぎに写本は残らず読んで、それから益々研究心を起こして、実地をお鉄に就いて学んだので有った。

"This is handed down to a single heir alone, but since it is you I will hand it down to you. Only it is strictly forbidden, no matter what, that I teach it by day, so I will teach you at midnight."

「これでも一子相伝ですが、貴郎あなたにですから伝授しましょう。併し昼間はどんな事が有っても授けられぬと、ちゃんと禁じて有りますから、真夜中に教えて上げましょう」

To teach, O-Tetsu worked the capture-rope and bound Ryujiro. And she let Ryujiro bind her too.

教える為にはお鉄が捕縄を捌さばいて、竜次郎を縛りもした。又お鉄が竜次郎に縛られもした。

"The art of slipping rope is not for thieves alone. I think it is good for a samurai house to learn it too. When you are taken prisoner by the enemy, it will serve you."

「縄抜けの法は泥棒ばかりでは有りません。御武家でも覚えて置いて好いと思います。敵に俘虜とりこに成った時に、役に立ちますからね」

Even the tight binding of the main rope biting into fat O-Tetsu's rich flesh, while she writhed, throwing her shoulders back and setting waves running across her belly, became a fine slipping free into a free body. Ryujiro could not help marvelling from the bottom of his heart.

肥満したお鉄の豊かな肉に喰入る本縄の緊縛も、身を悶もだえさせて、肩に風を切り、下腹に波を打たせている間に、見事に抜けて自由の体に成るので有った。竜次郎は真底から驚嘆せずにはいられなかった。

While this went on, Ryujiro felt as if he were bound at all times by an invisible rope and tied fast, and could not set a foot outside. O-Tetsu was almost never away from him and would not even let him worship at the nearby Osugi Shrine. When she had no choice but to go out, she had her kobun watch him.

斯うしている間に竜次郎は、始終無形の縄に縛られて、緊きつく繋がれたような気持がして、一歩も外へ踏み出せぬので有った。又お鉄が殆ほとんど附切りで、近き大杉明神へも参詣させぬ。お鉄が無拠よんどころなく外出する時には、乾漢こぶんをして見張らせるので有った。

In return, she anticipated his every want and showed him every indulgence.

其代り痒かゆい処へ手の届かずという事なく、有らゆる優待はするので有った。

"The Living-Rope house's guard, Isogai Sensei, is a greater man than Hirate Miki at Sasagawa Shigezo's, whose name lives on in stories to this day."

「生縄一家の用心棒、磯貝先生は、話に今も遺のこっている笹川繁蔵ささがわしげぞうの処の平手酒造ひらてみきよりも豪えらい方だ」

Flatter him as they might, in truth it was no different from being locked in gaol.

持上げられるだけ持上げられても、其実入牢じゅろうさせられたも同様で有った。

"If I go on like this, I can never face Akioka Sensei."

「斯うしていては、秋岡先生に相済まぬ」

His soul had not rotted through entirely. Unable to bear the pricks of conscience, he seized the opening he had at last found and, from the back garden of O-Tetsu's house, clinging to the wild grass, climbed down the cliff to the path between the rice fields in the valley.

竜次郎は全部魂が腐敗し切ってもいなかった。良心の呵責に耐え切れず、漸く見出した隙間を見て、お鉄の家の裏庭から、崕がけを雑草に縋すがりながら、谷地の稲田の畦路あぜみちにと降りた。

Before he had time to think how glad he was, a snare fell from above with a snap. It caught him from under his left arm to over his right shoulder and, with a sharp tightening, he was fished straight up. His body hung in midair.

やれ嬉しやと思う間もなく、パッと上から罠わなが落ちた。左脇の下から右の肩上に掛ったと思うと、キュッと締められた。と早や一気に釣上げられた。身は宙にぶら下った。

"Sensei, why do such a thing? Whatever happens, I shall never let you escape."

「先生、何んだって這こんな真似をなさるの。どんな事が有っても逃がしませんよ」

Above him O-Tetsu's voice, pitched high with rage, rang and rang.

上には憤怒に上釣かみづったお鉄の声がガンガンと響いた。

O-Tetsu, returned by the narrowest chance, had stopped Ryujiro's flight with a ready thrown rope. She bound him up in a high-hands, low-hands tie and left him tumbled in the back loft, and beside him, gulping teacup sake out of spite, she began, as if full of vexation:

僅かの差で帰って来たお鉄が早速の投縄で、竜次郎の脱走を留とめたので有った。高手小手に縛り上げて、裏の中二階に転がし放しにして、其傍そばでお鉄はやけからの茶碗酒を呷あおりながら、さも口惜しそうに口を切った。

"Why, Sensei, did you try to run? In the little while I let my watch slip... And I had not gone out on other business either. From the pool at Sugatsu I went to fetch sesame eels to give you whole-boiled and put a little strength into you, and that from my own single heart, without leaving it to other hands. And to think of this."

「何んだって先生、逃げ掛ったのです。一寸私が油断してる間うちに……それも他の用で私は出たのでは有りませんよ。須賀津すがつの溜たまりから胡麻鰻ごまうなぎを取って来て、丸煮で先生に差上げて、少しでも根気を附けて上げましょうと、それは私の一心からで、人手にも掛けず選よりに行ったのですよ。それをまあ何事です」

O-Tetsu was even in tears.

お鉄は涙含なみだぐんでさえいるので有った。

Bound and left to lie as he was, Ryujiro was sickened by his own spiritlessness. He was sick of himself. This was all his punishment for betraying his master. For having fallen. Repenting in this way,

竜次郎は斯うして縛り放しにされている意気地無さ。我と吾身に愛想の尽きるので有った。之も皆師に叛そむいた罰だ。堕落した為だ。然そういう風に悔いながら、

"Anego, forgive me, do. Whatever comes, I must make one journey to Edo and back."

「姉御、どうか許して呉れ。如何どうしても一度江戸へ行って来ねば相成らぬで」

"Are you weary of this deep grass country? Or have you grown weary of me, that you tried to run away?"

「草深い田舎に飽いてで御座んすか。いや、私という者に愛想が尽きて、お逃げ出しで御座んすかよ」

"It is by no means that. I will go and see, and when my mind is at ease I will come straight back. The truth is, a dream every night troubles me and troubles me till I cannot bear it."

「決して左様な訳ではない。行って見て、安心したら直ぐ帰る。実は毎夜の夢見、どうも心配で心配で耐え難いで」

"A dream?"

「夢見？」

"They say a dream is the weariness of the five viscera. Say that and there is an end of it, but one same dream repeated again and again will not leave my mind. It is my honoured master Akioka Jinpusai, in a dying state and near death. Now my master has not one kinsman. There can be no one to nurse him. He lives alone, and with his temper, which is peculiar, for a disciple he holds none but this Ryujiro here. That special training of one master and one disciple, that he will grant me the secret of the Happo Makigumo, I told you of it the other day."

「夢は五臓のつかれとやら。そう云って了えばそれ迄だが、余りに一つ夢を何度も何度も繰返すので気に懸って相成らぬ。それは恩師秋岡陣風斎先生が瀕死の重態。されば先生には誰一人身寄りが無い。看病する者が居らぬ筈。孤独の御生活おくらし、殊に偏屈という御性癖で、弟子というても斯くいう竜次郎より他には持たれぬのだ。それが一師一弟の特別の稽古、その八方巻雲の秘伝をお授け下さるという事は、いつぞや姉御にも話して置いた」

"That I have heard for certain."

「それは確かに聴きました」

"Should I fail to be in time before my master passes away, the hard-won secret will perish and, to my grief, will not remain in this world. That I cannot bear to lose. And apart from that too, in these days when duty and feeling have grown so thin, if I let my honoured master die alone as if uncared for, Isogai Ryujiro could not hold up his face. When the bond of master and disciple has become as if it were a business bargain, and I am full of dissatisfaction at it, I would by all means go and nurse my master..."

「万一先生、御他界の間に合わぬ時は、折角の秘伝は消滅して、残念ながら此世には遺のこり申さぬ。それが如何いかにも惜しゅうて成らぬ。や、それは又それとしても、義理人情の薄う成り過ぎた此頃、恩師を唯一人のたれ死も同然にさせたと有っては、磯貝竜次郎の一分が立たぬ。師弟の間柄が宛如さながら商売取引のように成ったのを、悉く不満に存じ居る折柄、是非先生の御看病を……」

"Is your master truly ill?"

「先生は本統に御病気なのですかえ」

"I do not know. But night after night I see it in dreams. It weighs on me till I cannot bear it. Please, Anego, let me go to Edo once. I do not ask you to let me return to Edo for good. Only let me go. If my master is safe, I will come straight back here. If the dream is true and he is ill, I will nurse him, and after that I will surely return. I swear it solemnly."

「それは分らぬ。併し毎夜の如く続けて夢に見る。如何どうも気に成って耐え難い。どうか姉御、一度江戸へ遣やって貰いたい。いや江戸へ帰らして呉れとは云わぬ。行かして呉れ。先生御無事ならば、直様すぐさま此方こちらへ帰って来る。もし正夢で御病気ならば、御看病申上げて、其後は屹きっと帰る。金打きんちょう致して誓い申す」

His sincerity rose to Ryujiro's eyes and stood there as tears. Even Living-Rope O-Tetsu could not but be moved. The complete expression of a human being's sincerity does not always need many words.

真心は竜次郎の眼に涙と成って浮ぶので有った。これには生縄お鉄も感動せずにはいられなかった。人間の至誠が完全に表現されるのは、必ずしも多弁を要しないので有った。

"If that is all, you need not have kept it from me and run off by the back garden. I am not a mere common woman, you know. If the reason runs straight, I will send you off in good cheer." She was surprisingly quick to understand. And at once she untied Ryujiro's bonds and stroked the marks where the rope had bitten, to bring the blood back into them.

「そんな事なら何も私にだんまりで、裏から逃げ出さなくっても好いでは有りませんか。私だって普通ただの女では無いんですからね。筋路さえ通った事なら、機嫌克よく御見送りしますよ」と意外に理解が早いので有った。然うして急いで竜次郎の縛いましめを解いて、縄の喰入った痕を、血の通うように撫さすってやるのであった。

"I apologise to you many times over, but this morning my master weighed on my mind more than ever, and I felt as if I were racing the moments... I felt that by the difference of one step I might miss my master's last hour, and so without waiting for your return, Anego, I rushed out. Pray do not think ill of me..."

「それは幾重にも詫びるが、今朝は別して師匠の事が気に掛って何んだか一刻半刻を争うように思われたので……一足違いで師の臨終に逢えないような気がしたので、それで姉御の帰りをも待たず、飛出したような次第。どうか悪く思わないで……」

So saying, Ryujiro timidly stretched his arms and legs.

と竜次郎は手足を遠慮がちに伸ばすので有った。

"Oh, once the reason is clear, the rest is clean away. I think nothing of it. But, Sensei, you will truly come back to me, will you not?"

「何、私は、話さえ分れば後はさっぱりです。何んとも思いはしませんが、併し先生、本当に帰って来て下さいましょうね」

"I will surely return."

「必ず帰る」

"As I told you with all my heart the other night, when Fujita Sensei of Mito was still living I heard this from him: before long the world will turn clean upside down and change till you are startled. So samurai, and hatamoto men above all, must think hard about their course, and for the most part they should set aside swordsmanship and spearmanship and that sort of thing and do better to study gunnery. And for that, he said, it is best to go once to the land of the red-haired foreigners... To tell the truth, I am of a mind to have you cross over to America, or to Holland. Forgive me for speaking of money, but we have laid by since my grandfather's day, and two or three thousand in gold I can make ready at any time."

「此間の夜も。しみじみ云いました通り、私が以前に水戸みとの藤田ふじた先生の御存命中に承わった処では、今に世の中がどんでん返しをして、吃驚びっくりする程変ってくる。だから武家も、別して旗本衆などは、余程考えていなければ成らないので、大概なら剣道とか槍術とか、そんな方は見切りをつけて、砲術を学んだ方が為に成る。それには一度毛唐人の国へ行って来た方が好いとのお話……私は、実は貴郎に、米利堅メリケンへでも、和蘭陀オランダへでも渡航して頂きたい位に考えて居りますのです。失礼ながら金は祖父の代から溜め込んで有るんですからね。二千や三千の金なら、何時でも耳が揃えられるんです」

when Fujita Sensei of Mito was still living I heard this from him: before long the world will turn clean upside down and change till you are startled.: Fujita Sensei is the Mito school warning that the world will turn upside down and samurai must learn Western gunnery. Meriken and Oranda in the Japanese are the period names given here as America and Holland.

"As to going abroad, there is the national ban, and there is Yoshida Shoin's failure, but by and by going will become possible, and I would by all means cross to a foreign land once, broaden my seeing and hearing, and receive instruction in gunnery and the like. As I must borrow your strength for it, I will surely return here."

「外国渡航に就ては、国禁も有り、吉田松陰よしだしょういんの失敗もあり、併し追々は渡行出来ようで、是非一度は外国に渡り、見聞を弘くし、又砲術なども授って参りたいで、是非姉御の力を借らねば成らぬ故、必ず此方こちらへ戻って来る」

"And one thing more I will press upon you. Though you go back to Edo after so long, woman or no woman, whatever woman she may be — if you grow close with any, I shall not abide it."

「それに最も一つ私は念を押して置きますよ。久々で江戸へ帰ったとて、女という女は、どんな女とでも、仲好くすると承知しませんよ」

She stored a fierce jealousy through the whole of that corpulent body — that was Living-Rope O-Tetsu.

猛烈な嫉妬心を、其肥満の体躯からだ全部に貯えているのが生縄のお鉄で有った。

O-Tetsu saw to his travelling dress down to the last thing and sent him off in the best of humour.

旅装束何から何まで行き届かして、機嫌克よくお鉄は送り出して呉れた。

A plain iron-grey travelling half-cape, a hilt-bag of blue woollen cloth, wrist-covers and leggings of pale yellow Kai silk, a first-lined kimono in hailstone pattern worn short at the hem, no hakama, only an iron fan in his hand. So dressed, Ryujiro's fine manly figure shone all the more.

鉄無地の道行みちゆき半合羽はんがっぱ、青羅紗あおらしゃの柄袋つかぶくろ、浅黄あさぎ甲斐絹かいきの手甲脚半てっこうきゃはん、霰小紋あられこもんの初袷はつあわせを裾短かに着て、袴は穿かず、鉄扇を手に持つばかり。斯うすると竜次郎の男振りは、一入ひとしお目立って光るのであった。

"See you do not fall in with any woman on the way. Will you promise me that. My kobun are everywhere, you know. They will be watching you proper."

「途中でも女と道連れになんか成らないようにして下さいよ。よござんすか。私の乾漢こぶんは何処にでもいますからね。ちゃんと見ていますよ」

"Have no fear. Now I think only of my master's state, and next of yourself."

「大丈夫だ。今は唯師の身の上を思うばかり……それに次いでは御身の事を」

Ryujiro left her pleased with that, and pressed onward with all haste. Over the Fukuda upland and out to Ichizaki was but a breath.

竜次郎はそう喜ばせて置いて、いよいよ前途を急ぎ出した。福田の台地を越して市崎いちざきへ出たのは、ほんの一息で有った。

Though now a free man, he could not shake the feeling that something strong still tugged him back, as if his hair were being pulled from behind. By it he knew how matchlessly O-Tetsu's power had pressed upon him till now.

自由の身と成りながらも未だ強力な或物に後髪を引かれるように思われて成らなかった。お鉄の勢力の絶倫な為に、如何に今まで圧迫されていたか分るので有った。

By degrees the feeling grew upon him, as of a hooked fish out of the creel and swimming in the great river again. Now he was being drawn toward Edo.

釣られた魚の魚畚びくを出て、再び大河に泳ぐような気が、次第次第に加わって来た。今度は江戸の方へ引附けられて行くので有った。

"To my master, a moment the sooner."

「少しも早く師の許へ」

His master Jinpusai was in truth a man dogged by ill fortune. The more he thought of it the more pitiable it seemed. Set beside such fencing masters as Saito Yakuro, Chiba Shusaku and Momoi Shunzo, his skill was in nothing inferior. Yet while the others took disciples by the thousand and were patronised by the shogunate or the lords, Akioka Jinpusai lived on in poverty in a ronin's lodgings, with in truth but a single disciple, himself. There, however, lay his greatness. He may have hidden himself of purpose in such a fate, but in any case the debt must be repaid in full.

師の陣風斎という人は、実際轗軻かんか不遇の士。考えれば考える程気の毒で成らなかった。斎藤弥九郎さいとうやくろう、千葉周作ちばしゅうさく、桃井春蔵ももいしゅんぞう、それ等の剣道師範に比べて、敢て腕前は劣らぬのだ。けれど他が何千という弟子を取り、幕府或は諸侯から後援せられているに関らず、秋岡陣風斎は浪宅に貧窮の生活をつづけていて、弟子と云っては実に自分一人だ。其処が併し偉い点だ。わざと然そうした運命に身を潜めたのかも知れないのだが、何んにしても其恩には、充分報じなければ成らないのだ。

For suffering himself to be detained on the road by O-Tetsu and breaking off his discipline of the sacred sword before the gods, for that fault he would apologize to the utmost. He would consult him too about going abroad to study gunnery. But praying that his master did not lie gravely ill as his dreams had shown him, he hastened his steps at every turn.

途中でお鉄の為に抑留されて、神前霊剣の修業を中止していた罪。それは何処までも詫びて掛ろう。然うして砲術稽古の為外国行きの事をも相談しよう。だが、夢見の通り重態で有っては成らぬと、何につけても道を急ぐので有った。

His plan was to go from Fukawa to Fussa, and thence by way of Nakabyo to Abiko, so from Ichizaki he hurried on by cut-through paths between fields and paddies by way of Shiizukashita. When the woods of Tatsuki on Monmadai had come close into view, he became aware that a young girl was following behind him.

布川ふかわから布佐ふっさへ、それから中峠なかびょうから我孫子あびこへ出て行く竜次郎の見込みで有ったので、市崎から、椎塚下しいづかした、畑や田の間の抜路々々と急いだので有った。もう文間台もんまだいの立木の森が、近くに見える頃、気が着くと、自分の後から、一人の娘が附いて来るので有った。

She was by no means to be taken for a common farmer's daughter. Her hair was newly dressed in a bunkin high shimada, without a single hair astray.

それは決して普通ただの農家の娘とは見えなかった。髪は文金高島田に結って間もなく、一筋の乱ほつれ毛も無いので有った。

From white powder to lip rouge, her heavy make-up was complete in every point. Even without it she was beautiful enough to make one shiver, a beauty rare even in Edo.

お白粉から口紅、行き届いた厚化粧。それで無くても慄ふるいつく程の美しさ。江戸にも珍らしい別嬪べっぴんで有った。

And yet, what was to be made of her dress. Her dyed yukata scattered with butterflies was all stained with dirt. With its large white ground, though it was still early autumn, it looked chill and shabby. Her obi too was narrow and all creased, wretched beyond words. Against the dressing of her hair and the painting of her face, her attire was all too mean, and the two did not accord at all. She must have been a riddle to any eye.

それが又如何どうしたのか。垢染あかじみ過ぎた蝶散らしの染浴衣。白地の多いだけに秋も初めとは云いながら、冷や冷やと見すぼらしく。帯も細く皺だらけで、貧弱さと云ったら無いので有った。頭髪かみの結び方と顔の化粧振りとに対して、余りに扮装なりが粗末なので、全く調和が取れなかった。これでは誰の眼にも謎なぞで有ろう。

Stranger still, in this fine weather she carried a dark blue janome umbrella. And yet barefoot in straw sandals, she came stepping softly down the road.

未だ其上に可怪おかしいのは、此上天気に紺蛇の目の雨傘を持っていた。其癖素足に藁草履を穿いて、ピタピタと路を踏むので有った。

in this fine weather she carried a dark blue janome umbrella.: A janome umbrella is a stout oiled-paper umbrella with a bull's-eye pattern in dark blue. Carrying one in fine weather marks her out as a runaway who snatched what came to hand.

Could it be a fox of Onabakehara turned into a girl and following to bewitch him. To change shape even by day, it must be a fox of uncommon rank, he was half minded to jest to himself.

女化ケ原おなばけはらの狐が娘に化けて、たぶらかしに附いて来るのか。昼間化ける位だから、余程官禄かんろくの有る狐だろうとも、戯れに考えたい位で有った。

When he hurried she hurried, when he rested she rested. She followed him like a shadow. When he looked back, she only smiled back at him. Ryujiro began to feel an unease.

急げば急ぎ、休めば休んだ。まるで影のように附いて来るので有った。振向いた時にはにっこり向うから笑うのであった。竜次郎は気味を悪くも覚え出した。

"You are bound for Edo, samurai sir, are you not?"

「御武家様は、江戸へ入いらっしゃいますのでしょう」

Out among the narrow paths of the rice fields, near where the stream runs in, she at last called out to him from behind.

稲田の畦中、流れ灌頂かんじょうの有る辺で、後から到頭声を掛けた。

"Yes," was all Ryujiro answered, and said nothing more.

「左様」とのみ竜次郎は答えて、後を何んとも云わなかった。

"I too am bound for Edo," the girl said, unasked.

「私も江戸へ参ります」と問わず語りを娘がした。

"Is that so," Ryujiro answered, curt as before.

「左様か」とやはり竜次郎は素気そっけなく答えた。

"Will you lodge tonight at Fussa, or will you push on as far as Abiko?"

「今夜のお泊りは布佐で御座いますか。それとも我孫子までお伸のし成さいますか」

If he named a lodging she looked ready to ask to share it. Ryujiro could not help being on his guard. Even without his promise to O-Tetsu, he had no wish to grow close to this girl. Beautiful as she was, she was a woman of doubtful origin. There was no telling what trouble might come of it.

泊ると云ったら合宿を頼みたそうなのだ。竜次郎は警戒せずにはいられなかった。譬たといお鉄との約束が無いにしても、此娘と親しく成りたくは無いので有った。いくら美しくても素性の怪しい女。どんな間違いが生ぜぬとも限らぬと思って。

"No, I travel by night. It is to visit one gravely ill. I may take a fast palanquin, as need requires. In any case I go to Edo through the night," he answered. That, he thought, would silence her.

「いや、私は夜道をする。大病人を見舞の為だ。事に依ると早駕籠はやかごにするか。兎に角夜通しで江戸へ行く」と答えた。これなら閉口すると思ったのだ。

"Oh, is that so. I too have one gravely ill, and so I had thought to go through the night."

「あら左様ですか。私も大病人がありますので、夜通しで行こうと思って居りました」

"You mean to travel the night road, and you a woman?"

「女の身で夜道をする覚悟だと」

"Yes, there is no help for it... If Danna-sama travels by night, nothing could give me more courage. I will follow behind you, so as not to be a burden."

「ええ、仕方が有りませんから……旦那様が夜道を成さるのは私に取って何よりも心丈夫で御座います。お邪魔に成らないように、お後から附いて参ります」

"As you please."

「それはお前の随意だ」

She said she would only follow behind him, and there was no way to stop her. Troublesome as he found it, it could not be helped. And those words, to visit one gravely ill, struck a note somewhere in Ryujiro's heart.

後から附いて来るというのだから、どうもそれを止めようも無かった。迷惑には考えても仕方が無かった。それに大病人を見舞の為というのが、竜次郎の心の一部にぴんと響かずにはいなかった。

"Who is it that is ill?" he found himself asking, before he knew it.

「誰が病気なのだえ」とつい此方こちらからも問わずにはいられなかった。

"It is only that I kept dreaming that our grand-master lay gravely ill, night after night, until I could bear it no longer, and so I alone slipped out and came away like this."

「大師匠が大病……という夢ばかり見つづけましたので、耐たまらなく成って私だけ、斯うして飛出して来ましたんですよ」

"What! A dream that your grand-master is ill—"

「えっ、大師匠が病気の夢……」

Ryujiro could not help starting.

竜次郎はぎょっとせずにはいられなかった。

In an age of poor roads, fearing for the safety of those cut off from one presses deeper than it does now. In a world with no telegraph, no telephone, no post, the mind by itself runs to imagining. And with that, superstition cannot help but run high.

交通不便の時代には、隔絶している人の安否を気遣うのが、今よりも深甚に迫るので有った。電信電話郵便の無い世の中では、自然に想像を走らせる場合が多かった。連れて迷信を昂たかぶらせずにはいられなかった。

A diviner's words. A dream. A crow's cry. Even a broken sandal-thong is feared as an evil omen. And so to set out from afar to visit the sick, taking a bad dream as if it were fact, is by no means rash or heedless.

占者うらないの言葉とか。夢見とか。烏蹄きとか。下駄の鼻緒の切れた事にも、凶兆として心配するので有った。それ故、夢見の悪さにそれを事実でも有るかの如く、遠くから見舞に立つという事は、決して突飛でも軽忽けいこつでも無いので有った。

Ryujiro himself was bound for Edo on account of just such a dream, so he harboured no doubt of the girl. And at their being in the same plight, a sudden fellow feeling came over him.

竜次郎は自分が其夢見の為に江戸へ行くのだから、娘の事にも疑いは挟まなかった。然そうして同じ境遇という点に於て、急に同情の念を生じて来た。

"And that grand-master is—" Ryujiro asked, hastening onward all the while, of course.

「その大師匠というのは……」と竜次郎は問うた。勿論もちろん行手を急ぎながらで有った。

"I am a travelling acrobat, one of the Take-wari troupe, and I am called Kotora. The master I walk the circuits with is Take-wari Toramatsu, and his master again is Take-wari Toradayu, the grand-master of our art," the girl told her story for the first time.

「私は旅廻りの軽業師の、竹割り一座の者で御座いまして、小虎ことらと申しますが、一緒に巡業に歩いています師匠は竹割たけわり虎松とらまつ、その又師匠は竹割り虎太夫とらだゆうと申しまして、此道の大師匠で御座います」と娘は初めて身の上を打明けた。

"Ho, I had heard of the Take-wari troupe."

「ほう、竹割り一座というのは聞いていた」

"Toradayu is stricken with palsy and has long lain abed in Hinomi Lane at Honjo Ishihara, but I am a foundling the grand-master picked up, and I have never known my true parents. To me the grand-master and his wife are the same as my own born parents. His wife died some years ago, so now the grand-master is all alone, but our present master Toramatsu, though his own son, is close-fisted and does nothing at all for the grand-master, and I pity him all the more for it. These bad dreams went on and on, and though I would go back to Edo to nurse him, Toramatsu is not a man to let me go for such a thing, so I slipped away in secret. From our engagement at Edozaki this way round may lose distance, but it suits me for hiding my tracks."

「虎太夫は中気で、本所ほんじょ石原いしはらの火ひの見横町みよこちょうに長らく寝ていますが、私は此大師匠に拾われました捨児で、真の親という者を知りませんのです。私には大師匠夫婦が生うみの親も同然。お神さんの方は先年死亡なくなりまして、今では大師匠一人なんですが、今の師匠の虎松は、実子で有りながら、どうも邪慳じゃけんで、ちっとも大師匠の面倒を見ませんので、私は猶更なおさら気の毒で成りません。夢見の悪さがつづくので、江戸へ見舞に帰るとしても、そんな事で私を手放すような虎松では御座いませんから、私は密そっと抜け出して来たので御座います。江戸崎えどざきの興行先からでは、此方へ廻っては道が損かも知れませんが、行方を晦ますのに都合が好いものですから」

With this tale of Kotora's, every doubt was resolved. The mismatch between her hair and her dress, too, was nodded at as a thing that might well be, for a runaway performer.

この小虎の物語で、すべての疑問が解けたので有った。頭髪かみと扮装なりとの不調和も、芸人の脱走としては、有り得る事と点頭うなずかれた。

"Ah, I too am anxious in the same way for my master in swordsmanship. In any case let us both hurry. An autumn day falls like a bucket into a well, as they say. It grows dark early, and at least the crossing from Fukawa to Fussa over the Hon-Tone must be got over while it is still light."

「や、拙者も同じく剣道の師匠の身の上を案じてだ。兎に角互いに急ごう。秋の日は釣瓶つるべ落しとやら。暮れるに早いで、責せめて布川から布佐への本利根の渡しだけは、明るい間に越して置きたい」

"Hereabouts is all water. Marsh or river or cut channel, whichever way you go there is nothing but wet ground, and before the Hon-Tone there is still the Shin-Tone ferry to cross."

「此辺は水場で、沼とか、川とか、堀割とか、どちらへ行っても水地ばかり、本利根へ掛る前に、未だ新利根の渡しも御座います」

"Oh, the Shin-Tone ferry is just ahead now."

「おう、新利根の渡しは、もう直きだなあ」

The Shin-Tone was cut in the Kanbun years from the Kokai River to Hirasu Marsh, a new channel fifty ken wide. It lay across the foot of the Tatsuki upland.

寛文かんぶん年間に、蚕飼川こかいがわから平須沼ひらすぬまへ掛けて、新たに五十間幅に掘割られた新利根川。それは立木たつきの台下だいしたに横わっているので有った。

a new channel fifty ken wide.: A ken is an old measure of length, about two yards. Fifty ken is about ninety metres, and the same measure is used throughout for the ferry cable and the throws.

Before long the two came out at the landing. It was a truly desolate place. Below the upland stood a poor farmhouse here and there, but along the Shin-Tone itself not a single house, only reeds and river willows growing thick, and those not yet withered, which made it oppressively gloomy.

程もなく二人は其渡頭わたしにと辿たどり着いた。此辺は誠に寂しい処で有った。台下にはちらりほらり、貧しそうな農家は有るが、新利根川端べりには一軒も無く、唯蘆荻あしや楊柳かわやなぎが繁るのみで、それも未まだ枯れもやらず、いやに鬱陶うっとうしく陰気なので有った。

There is no ferryman at this crossing, only a boat kept ready, what they call a hand-hauled ferry. On either bank three timbers are set up high in a tripod, with a twisted wisteria-vine cable stretched between them, and over the cable is slipped a small ring of wire, and to that ring a cord is tied and made fast to the bow of a field boat. To bow and stern of the field boat besides, long hemp ropes are tied, each long enough to reach to either bank. That is to say, a man riding in the boat hauls in the bow rope himself and so reaches the far bank. When the next man comes after and wants to call the empty boat back to this side, he hauls in the stern rope from the bank and the boat comes back, though there is no one in it, a most primitive contrivance.

此所ここの渡しというのは、別に渡し守がいるのではなく、船だけ備えて有るばかりで、世に云う手繰り渡しに成っているのだ。それは両岸に高く材木を三本組合せて立て、それに藤蔓ふじづるを綯なって引張って置き、それに小さな針鉄はりがねの輪を箝はめて、其輪に綱を結んで、田船の舳みよしに繋いで有るのだ。田船の舳と艫ともとには、又別に麻縄が長く結付けてあって、どちらも両方の岸にまで届く程の長さがある。つまり田船の中に乗った者が、自分で舳の縄を手繰れば、向岸へ着く。其後へ又来た者が、其空船を此方こちらへ呼戻す時には、岸から艫の縄を手繰ると、人は無くても船は房って来る、然ういう甚だ元始的の方法で有った。

"They say it makes a great difference to the distance whether you get across by this ferry or not," Ryujiro said.

「この渡しを越すと越さぬとでは、道程みちのりに大変な損得が有るそうな」と竜次郎は云った。

"As ill luck will have it the boat is lying at the far bank, but it will come back to this side if we only haul the rope," Kotora said, for she knew the place.

「生憎、船は向河岸に着いていますが、縄さえ手繰れば此方へ戻って来ましょう」と小虎も此所は心得ていた。

"The hemp ropes here, I hear, are presented by the house of Jinemon in Anba, where I was taken in, old capture-ropes given generation after generation. That house uses choice hemp from Hozoji in Mikawa, vinegar-boiled and laid threefold, and sure enough this is tougher stuff than the common kind."

「此所の麻縄は私が世話になっていた阿波の甚右衛門の家から、代々捕縄の古く成ったのを寄進するという。三河みかわの宝蔵寺ほうぞうじ産の麻の上物を酢煮すににして、三繰くりにしたのを彼あの家うちでは用いているのだが、成程これは普通のとは違って丈夫だ」

So saying, Ryujiro began to haul. Guilty though the men they bound may have been, that the capture-ropes which had bound men to rob them of their freedom should now serve as ferry ropes to help men on their way, there was something deeply pointed in it even as mere making use of waste.

然う云いながら竜次郎は手繰り始めた。罪有る者とは云え、兎に角人の自由を奪うべく縛り上げた捕縄を、人助けの渡しの綱に遣うというのは、廃物利用にも殊に意味深く覚えられるので有った。

"Here, let me haul."

「あれ、私が手繰りますわ」

Kotora offered to haul in his place.

小虎が代って手繰ろうとした。

"No, I will not have a woman spend her strength, and besides you must not wet your sleeves."

「いや、女に力を出させては気の毒、それに袖を濡らすと宜しく無い」

Ryujiro stopped her and kept hauling himself. Kotora lent a hand to it. The boat left the far bank and, empty as it was, came on seven or eight ken, sliding its ring along the creeper.

竜次郎はそれを遮切さえぎって、矢張自分で手繰るので有った。それを小虎も手伝った。船は向河岸を離れて、空の儘まま七八間、藤蔓の輪を滑らせながら動き出した。

At that moment there suddenly appeared among the reeds of the far bank the figure of a great hulking priest. Mouse-grey temple servant's coat with a narrow white cotton sash tied in front and tucked up behind for work, a twisted headband round a shaven head, vulgarity past all outlandishness. In one hand he carried a bucket dripping with water, in the other he planted a long handled eel rake for a staff. A fallen priest past all breaking and ruin. Yet his eyebrows were thick and heavy, his gaze was sharp, and on his forehead there was even a crescent shaped sword scar.

此時、突然、向河岸の蘆間に、大入道の姿が出現した。鼠地ねずみじの納所着なっしょぎに幅細の白くけ帯を前結びにして、それで尻からげという扮装なり。坊主頭に捻鉢巻ねじはちまきをしているさえ奇抜を通越した大俗だいぞくさ。それが片手に水の滴たる手桶を提げて、片手に鰻掻きの長柄を杖に突いていた。破戒無残なる堕落坊主。併し其眉毛は濃く太く、眼光は鋭く、額には三ヶ月形の刀痕とうこんさえ有った。

He looked for all the world like Lu Zhishen the Flower Monk of the Water Margin.

水滸伝すいこでんの花和尚かおしょう魯智深ろちしんも斯かくやと見えるのであった。

He looked for all the world like Lu Zhishen the Flower Monk of the Water Margin.: Lu Zhishen, the tattooed Flower Monk, is the strongman priest of the Chinese classic Water Margin. The comparison makes the eel-poaching monk at once laughable and dangerous.

"Damn you, a young buck and a young wench tangling together and fooling as you call the boat. Who the shit would let you have it."

「畜生、若い男と若い女とで、縺もつれれるように巫山戯ふざけながら、船を呼ぼうとしやあがるな。誰が狗鼠くそ、遣るもんか」

Though the far bank lay fifty ken away, his muttering rang out as plain as if close at hand, and in a moment he set down his bucket and with one hand gave a hard pull on the opposing bow rope.

五十間も隔たる向河岸ながら、手に取るように其独言つぶやきが響くと間もなく、手桶を置いて片手ながら、反対に舳みよしの縄をぐっと引いた。

Two against one were beaten in an instant, and the boat that had started out turned back.

二人掛りのが忽たちまち、片手に敗けて、出掛った船は、逆戻りをした。

"Ah, good priest, I beg you. We are racing a step to visit the sick. Whether we are in time for a deathbed or not is a grave matter for us both, so please let the boat come to this side," Ryujiro pleaded aloud.

「あっ、和尚さん、お頼みだ。病人見舞に一足を争う処。臨終に間に合うか合わぬか、二人に取っては大事の処故、船は此方こちらへ願いまする」と竜次郎は声高に嘆願した。

"No good. Damn it."

「駄目だっ、畜生」

Though with one hand, he pulled with all his strength. The evil priest gave a hard pull. The two pulled too, desperately, with all their might. For a while it became a tug-of-war contest of strength. The empty boat hung hesitating midway, but the moment the priest braced himself and strained, the stern rope snapped with a twang and the party of two lost. The boat was drawn clean to the far bank by the priest's hand. There was now no way to draw the empty boat back to this side.

片手ながら力一杯。悪僧がぐっと引いた。二人も一生懸命力の限り引いた。少時しばらく綱引きの力競べになった。空船は途中で迷っていたが、坊主がうんと頑張る途端に、艫ともの縄がぷつりと切れて、二人掛りの方が敗けた。船は全く坊主の手で向河岸に引付けられた。もう空船を此方へ引寄せようは無く成ったのだ。

"Serves you right. Now go the long way round. There is no ferry near here. That has eased my spleen. I feel fine now. Well, well, I must scratch up a few more eels or I shall not get my drink money."

「醜態ざまあ見やあがれ。さあ大廻りしろ。此近くに渡しはねえのだ。俺はこれで溜飲が下ったぞ。これですっかり好い気持だ。どれどれ最も少し鰻を掻き上げねえと、酒代が出て来ねえや」

The evil priest picked up his bucket again and vanished abruptly into the reeds. What a merciless priest. He was a man who had left the world to save men, yet he plied his eel-rake and broke the precept against killing, which was lawless enough, and then he took away the boat of salvation that carries men to the other shore. Of what temple, what priest could he be. Hateful as the fellow was, Ryujiro ground his teeth with vexation. But with the channel of the Shin-Tone between them, there was nothing to be done.

悪僧は再び手桶を提げて、蘆の間に忽然こつぜんと姿を隠した。何んという無慈悲な坊主だろう。人を助ける出家の身が、鰻掻きをして殺生戒を破るさえ無茶苦茶なのに、彼岸に達する救世ぐせいの船。それを取上げて了しまったので有った。一体何寺の何んという坊主だろう。憎さも憎しと竜次郎は、歯軋はぎしりをして口惜しがった。併し新利根川の堀割を隔てているのて、如何どうする事も出来なかった。

"Nothing for it now but to go roundabout to where there is another ferry. Tch, damnable priest," Ryujiro fumed.

「此上は他の渡しのある処まで廻り路でも行くの他は無い。ちぇっ、憎っくき坊主奴め」と憤慨した。

"Danna-sama, do not worry. I will go and fetch the boat. Getting to the far bank is nothing to me," said Kotora, as if it were nothing.

「旦那様、御心配なさいますな。私が船を取って参ります。向河岸まで行くのは、何んの仔細は御座いません」と事も無気なげに小虎が云った。

"What! Go to the far bank to fetch the boat?"

「えっ、船を取りに向河岸へ行く」

"I am a woman acrobat, and luckily this creeper-rope is stretched from over there to over here, so if I go along it, it will be nothing at all."

「私は女軽業師、幸い斯うして、彼方あちらから此方こちらへ、藤蔓が引渡して御座いますから、それを伝って行けば何んでも無い事で御座います」

"I see."

「成程なあ」

It was a feat beyond an ordinary person, but for Kotora the woman acrobat it was nothing at all. When she slipped away from the troupe she had feared the changeable autumn sky and snatched up the nearest umbrella to hand, and without knowing it that had proved useful here. With no extra music struck up while the star makes ready, and no flourish at all, she merely tucked up the skirts of her yukata. Her faded red to-chirimen waistcloth stood out against the muddied water of the new cut and the mud below the low bank with an unexpected beauty.

普通の者には出来ぬ芸だが、女軽業師の小虎としては、何んの造作も無いので有った。一座を脱出する時に、変り易い秋の空を気遣って、手当り次第に雨傘を持出したのが、図らず此所で役に立った。太夫身支度の間今一囃子はやし、そんな景気を附けるでもなく、唯浴衣の裾を端折っただけで有った。赤の色褪めた唐縮緬とうちりめんの腰巻が、新堀割の濁った水の色や、小堤下の泥の色に反映して、意外に美しく引立って見えるので有った。

In a moment she had clambered to the top of the parent post of the hand-hauled boat.

忽ち手繰り船の親杭おやぐいの上に攀よじ登った。

"Be careful, it is dangerous," Ryujiro called up to her from below.

「気を着けないと危いよ」と、下から竜次郎は声を掛けた。

"I am quite all right," Kotora said, smartly opening her dark blue bull's-eye umbrella. What for an instant looked like blood spraying in all directions from the chirimen of her waistcloth was the red dragonflies that had been resting on the creeper-rope, startled into flight.

「大丈夫で御座いますよ」と小虎は云いつつ颯さと紺蛇の目の雨傘を開いた。それと同時に腰巻の唐縮緬から、血の飛沫しぶきが八方へ散ったと見たのは、今まで藤蔓に止まっていた赤蜻蛉あかとんぼが、驚いて逃げたので有った。

Shin-Tone in name, it was a fifty-ken cut. She crossed the creeper-rope of the hand-hauled ferry with a tightrope walker's step. It was truly splendid, no different from an ordinary person walking along a high road.

名は新利根でも、五十間の堀割。手繰り渡しの藤蔓を綱渡りの足取りで越すので有った。それは実に見事なもので、大道を普通なみの人が歩くのと異らなかった。

The low evening sun struck slantwise and lit half of Kotora bright red. It was mirrored too on the dull face of the sluggish water. A Kotora above, a Kotora below: one person seen as two. Even her stained yukata seemed in that light to give off a glow, and all the more her stage-style bunkin high shimada and her painted, beautiful face, and Ryujiro could not but gaze entranced. He no longer feared she might fall halfway, only that she might finish the crossing by herself and hurry on ahead alone. That alone weighed on him.

折柄の夕陽せきようは横斜よこはすに小虎の半身を赤々と照らした。それが流れの鈍い水の面おもにも写るので有った。上にも小虎、下にも小虎、一人が二人に割れて見えた。垢染みた浴衣の扮装いでたちも、斯うすると光輝を放って見えるので有った。況ましてや舞台好みの文金高島田、化粧をした顔の美艶びえん、竜次郎は恍惚こうこつたらざるを得なかった。もう途中で落ちはせぬかという懸念は無く成ったが、あの儘自分だけで渡り終って、先を急ぐとて独ひとりで行って了いはせぬか。それが気遣われるばかりで有った。

Presently she had worked her tightrope walk to the halfway point. However high the creeper is stretched from bank to bank, at its middle a slack forms of itself and hangs close to the face of the water. With the weight of a person's body added, it all but dipped and threatened to sink. Even that Kotora passed with skill. The hard place was all but passed, just when one thought she might pause to draw a breath.

やがて其半途まで綱渡りを進めた。両岸からは如何いかに高く藤蔓を張っても、其中心に当る点は、自然々々にたるみが出来て水面近く垂れているので有った。それに人の身の重量おもみが加わったので、危く水に漬りそうにまで成った。それすら小虎は巧みに越した。もう其難場は越したので、一息吐つくかと思う頃。

"Ah!"

「あっ」

Almost in the same instant as Kotora's sharp cry, the stoutly twisted creeper-rope snapped apart. With a fearful great splash of water Kotora fell into the Shin-Tone cut. Ryujiro's horror rose to its height.

小虎の鋭い叫びと殆ど同時に、巌畳がんじょうに綯なってある藤蔓縄が、ぷつりと断きれた。小虎は水音凄まじく新利根の堀割に落ちた。竜次郎の驚きは絶頂に達した。

"Fooling about, are you! I fixed it so you should not cross, and coming tightrope-walking to fetch the boat, damn you — serve you right!"

「巫山戯ふざけた真似をしやあがる。俺が渡さねえようにして置いたのに、船を取りに綱渡りで来やあがるなんて畜生、醜態ざまあ見やあがれ」

Between the riverside willows on the far bank, the same evil monk as before had reappeared at some unseen moment, an eel-splitting knife in his hand. The fierceness of the eyes with which he glared this way was beyond telling. It was this fellow beyond doubt who had cut the creeper.

向河岸の楊柳の間に、何時いつの間にやら以前もとの悪僧が再現して手に鰻裂うなぎさきの小庖丁を持っていた。此方こちらを睨んだ眼の凄さと云ったら無かった。此奴こいつが正しく藤蔓を断ったのだ。

"I can swim a little. I shall be quite all right."

「私、少しは泳げます。大丈夫で御座います」

So saying, Kotora cast away her umbrella and struck out in a breaststroke. Even in a stroke or two her mastery in the water could be seen, and Ryujiro, reassured, beckoned to her, "Come this way, at any rate..."

小虎は然う云いながら、傘を捨て、平泳ぎに掛った。一手二手ひとてふたてでも其水泳に熟達しているのが見えたので竜次郎は安心して、「兎に角此方へ……」と、麾さしまねいた。

Seeing the woman could swim, the evil monk on the far bank flared into a rage fit to send steam from his very crown,

女が泳げると見て向河岸の悪僧は、頭から湯気の立つ程赫怒かくどして、

"Hey, woman, do you know of the man-eating weeds of the New Cut? Once you fall in here that is the end of you. The weeds and the water-caltrops entangle your hands and feet and you can move no way at all. Heh, even carp, even crucian carp, when they grow big they get entangled in the weeds and perish here, this is a haunted place. If you were crossing alone I would do no such mischief to you, but it gripes me that you are with a young man. So then, wench, die and be done with it... or will you ask me to save you? Beg me and I will put the boat out for you..." There was no telling how hateful he looked as he said it.

「やい、女、新堀割の人喰い藻を知らねえか。此所へ落ちたらそれ限ぎりだ。藻や菱ひしが手足に搦からんで、どうにも斯うにも動きが取れなく成るんだぞ。へへ、鯉でさえ、鮒ふなでさえ、大きく成ると藻に搦まれて、往生するという魔所だ。おぬし一人で渡るのなら、何も這こんな悪戯いたずらはせんのだが、若い男と連れなのが癪なんだ。其所で女奴め、死んで了えっ……それとも俺に助けて呉れというか。頼めば船を出してやるが……」と其憎体にくていさと云ったら無いので有った。

"What, you shit of a monk? Die though I may, I would never be saved by the likes of you. Here, like this, I can swim, I tell you. What are man-eating weeds to me?"

「何んだ狗鼠くそ坊主、死ねばとて貴様なんかに、助けて貰うものかよ。これ、此通り、泳げるわいな。人喰い藻が何んだえ」

Kotora cut even a showy crawl stroke to prove it. But it lasted only a moment. What the monk had said proved true, and at once the tip of a long slender weed entangled her foot. It was slimy and uncanny, as if it were the hand of a demon, so uncanny you might well have suspected blood ran and a pulse beat even in the water weeds. Once caught in it there was already nothing to be done. Before she knew it the weeds had entangled both her hands, left and right. Waist and arms too, and slantwise from under the arm up over the shoulder, they entangled her thick and fast, weeds of a fearsome and evil nature.

小虎は華手はでに抜手まで切って見せた。併しそれは僅かの間であった。坊主の云ったのは確実で、忽ち細長い藻の先が足に搦んだ。それはぬらぬらと気味悪く、妖魔の手でも有るかのように、水草すいそうにも血が通い、脈が打っているかと怪しまれる程。それに掛っては既もう如何どうにも成らなかった。いつしか左右の手にも藻は搦んだ。腰にも、腕にも、脇の下から斜はすに肩へ掛けても犇々ひしひしと搦んだ恐ろしい性しょうの悪い藻で有った。

Seeing this, Ryujiro could by no means leave her to die. But he could not help thinking of the man sent to fetch a mummy becoming a mummy himself. Even if he dived in from this side, by the time he reached the place where Kotora was drowning he was bound to be caught in the same man-eating weeds.

斯う見ては竜次郎、如何どうしても見殺しには出来なかった。併し木乃伊みいら取りが木乃伊に成るという事を考えずにはいられなかった。此方から飛込んでも、小虎の溺れている処まで行く身の、同じく人喰い藻に掛らずにはいない筈だ。

More than that, for the moment he was filled with hatred for the evil monk. Even as mischief there is a limit. Even as meddling it was carried too far. Mad or witless, whichever he was, if he himself dived in now there was no knowing what hindrance the man might do.

それよりも先ず悪僧が憎くて成らなかった。悪戯にも程がある。岡焼おかやきとしても念が入り過ぎた。狂か、痴か、いずれにしても今又自分が飛込んだら、どんな邪魔をするか知れないのだ。

In a flash Ryujiro made up his mind.

竜次郎は咄嗟に覚悟をした。

"Ei!" With a swift move he threw a shuriken with all his might. It was the kozuka drawn from his sword. That it flew fifty ken was splendid in itself, and it struck true, standing upright in the brow of the evil monk as if engraving a holy white curl there.

「えいっ」と早技。力一杯に手裏剣を打った。それは刀の小柄を抜いたのだ。五十間飛ばしたのは見事で有った。若しかも命中して、悪僧の眉間に白毫びゃくごうを刻する如く突立った。

standing upright in the brow of the evil monk as if engraving a holy white curl there.: A kozuka is the small utility knife kept in the sword scabbard; here it is thrown like a dart. The white curl is the byakugo, the pale curl on a Buddha's brow.

"Wah!" With a single cry he toppled backwards and vanished from this side. It was indescribably satisfying.

「わっ」と一声。後ざまに打倒れて、姿は此方から見えなく成った。何んとも云えぬ好い気味で有った。

Ryujiro quickly stripped off his clothes. He stopped short of his wrist-guards and leggings. He thrust his small knife behind him into his loincloth and dived into the Shin-Tone channel.

竜次郎は手早く衣類を脱いだ。手甲、脚半とまでは届かなかった。小刀を下帯に後差しにして、新利根の堀割へと飛込んだ。

Five or six ken were nothing, but as he pushed on to ten and fourteen or fifteen ken, the growth of weeds was thicker than he had thought. They tangled his hands, they tangled his feet, and he was startled by the dreadful power in them. There was nothing for it but to think that the weeds and water-caltrops had spirits in them and were spitefully taking revenge. If this was hard for him naked, he thought, how hard swimming must be for Kotora in her clothes.

五間六間は何んでもなかったが、十間十四五間と進むに連れて、思ったよりも藻の繁りは多かった。手に搦み、足に搦み、それは恐るべき魔力の有るのに驚かされた。藻にも菱にも霊が有って、執念深く仇あだをするものとしか取れなかった。裸体でさえ是これだから、衣類を着ている小虎は、嘸さぞ泳ぎ難いだろうと思い遣やった。

Quite literally floundering through the weeds, he pushed on another ken or two, but then he could get no further forward. He felt as if he had been caught in the ganjigarame cross-lattice bind of the main rope.

字の如く藻掻き藻掻き又一二間は進んだけれど、もう如何どうしても前に出られなくなった。恰あたかも本縄の雁字搦がんじがらみに掛ったように感じられた。

"Oh, that's it!"

「おう、然うだっ」

Ryujiro understood. Here he would at once apply the art of rope-escape and rope-cutting he had been taught by Living-Rope O-Tetsu. That, he thought, was the best plan.

竜次郎は心着いた。生縄のお鉄から教わった縄抜け縄切りの法を、此所ここに早速応用するのだ。それが一番の上策だと考えた。

He drew his small knife underwater. Swimming with one hand, he cut the water weeds clear with single-handed cuts. At once a way out opened.

小刀を水中で抜いた。泳ぎながら、片手切りに水草を切払った。忽ち活路は開けたのであった。

Struggling hard and fighting the man-eating weeds, he at last got to Kotora's side.

苦心を重ねて人喰い藻と闘いつつ、漸く小虎の傍そばまで行った。

"Oh, Danna-sama!"

「おう、旦那様っ」

By this time Kotora was utterly worn out. But she did not, like one who knows no swimming, make the dangerous mistake of suddenly clinging to her rescuer.

小虎此時は早や疲労し切っていた。けれども水練知らぬ者のように、突如いきなり救いの人へ抱きつくような危険はしなかった。

The weeds of every kind entangled about Kotora's whole body, and Ryujiro's hard labour to cut them away and free her from the water demon's captivity, were in truth no light business.

小虎の全身に搦んでいる種々くさぐさの藻の種類。それを切払って水妖すいようの囚われから救おうとする竜次郎の苦心。それは実際一通りでは無かった。

He had to swim with one hand. The small knife held in the other hand, being underwater, would not work as he wished. If his care slackened for a moment he might wound Kotora's body. To cut off even a single finger would be a grave matter.

自分も片手で泳がなければならぬ。片手に待つ小刀も水中の事とて、思う様には遣えぬのだ。注意を少しでも怠ると、小虎の身体に傷を付けるかも知れないのだ。指一本斬り落したからとて、それは大変なので有った。

"Do not panic. Bear it a little longer."

「焦慮あせってはならぬ。少しの間の辛抱だ」

Carrying on a feat more perilous than the diver who takes the jewel from before the nose of the sleeping dragon, Ryujiro at last cut the water weeds away and set Kotora free.

眠れる竜の鼻の先、珠を取った海士あまよりも、危い芸をつづけた竜次郎は、漸く水草を切払って、小虎を自由の身たらしめた。

"You have saved my life. I shall never forget this debt," Kotora said in thanks from the bottom of her heart.

「命の親。この御恩は忘れません」と小虎は真底から感謝した。

"Never mind that. Let us get ashore as quickly as we can." Ryujiro took the lead, cutting away the hindering water weeds again as he swam back to the bank they had come from. He had already cut a good way through before, so this time it was very much easier.

「それ処か。少しも早く上陸を」と竜次郎は先に立って、再び邪魔な水草を切払いながら、元の岸へ泳ぎ戻るので有った。前にも既に大分切ったので、今度は大変に楽で有った。

So the two returned to the same bank. Ryujiro had left his clothes and his long sword there. Kotora, for her part, had not only no cut path through the man-eating weeds if she went on ahead, but she felt it wrong toward her benefactor to go on alone.

二人は矢張り元の岸へ戻った。竜次郎は着衣類や大の腰の物を残したからだ。小虎は又先へ行くには、人喰い藻が切開いて無いのみならず、自分ばかり先へ行くのは、恩人に対して悪いからで有った。

Once on the bank, the two breathed again.

岸に上って二人はほっとした。

Ryujiro happened to look toward Kotora and was startled. From several places on her hands and legs dark blood was gushing out. He thought for a moment the point of his small knife had touched her and wounded her. But when he saw they were leeches sucking there, he was relieved.

竜次郎は不図ふと小虎の方を見て吃驚びっくりした。女の手足の数ヶ所から、黒血をだくだくと吹出しているのだ。扨さては小刀の切先が当って傷を付けたかと思ったのだ。併しそれは蛭ひるが吸いついているのと知れて、安心した。

"Come, we will cross no more at such a spiteful place. Even if we go round, let us go by another way," Ryujiro said.

「さあ、もう、斯こうした難癖の附いた処は渡るまい。廻り路はしても、他から」と竜次郎は云った。

"That will be best," Kotora said, wringing out her wet clothes as she spoke.

「それが宜しゅう御座います」と小虎は然う云いながら、濡れた衣物きものを絞るので有った。

"Oh!"

「おやっ」

Ryujiro could not keep from crying out. And no wonder. The half coat he had cast off was gone, and with it the lined robe, the under-robe, even the sash. And not only those. The long sword he had left behind was gone, and everything besides, from the things in his breast to his hand towel and nose papers.

竜次郎は叫びを立てずにはいられなかった。その訳で、脱ぎ捨てた半合羽から、袷、襦袢じゅばんから、帯まで無く成っていた。それのみならず残して置いた大刀や、懐中物から手拭鼻紙まで、紛失していた。

"Who has taken them!"

「何者が、持去ったかっ」

Isogai Ryujiro had been stripped naked. Only his little knife was left to him, and even the long sword, the soul of the samurai, had been carried off by someone.

磯貝竜次郎は裸にされて了ったのだ。小刀だけは残っても武士の魂たる大刀をまで、何者にか奪われたのだ。

"Oh, it is because you saved me, sir, that you have been brought to this trouble. I have no excuse," Kotora herself turned pale as she said it.

「まあ、私をお助け下さる為に、旦那様に此御難儀を掛けまして、申訳が御座りませぬ」と小虎まで蒼く成った。

"My mind was all on cutting weeds and I gave no thought to this side. When did it happen, and who did it?" Ryujiro raged, but there was nothing to be done.

「藻切りに心奪われて、此方こちらには気が着かなんだが、何時いつの間に、何者が」と竜次郎憤激しても、如何どうしようも無いので有った。

Even the bell of a distant temple had begun to sound. With every blink the country round grew darker. A cold wind pressed upon the skin of the two.

遠寺の鐘さえ鳴り出した。一瞬ひとまたたき毎に四辺あたりは暗く成るのであった。冷たい風は二人の肌に迫るので有った。

"In any case, let us make for where there are houses, and dry your wet clothes, and put other hands to searching for my lost things. Someone may have seen the thief." So saying, Ryujiro went ahead through the reeds toward the foot of the Tatsuki terrace. Kotora followed behind him.

「兎に角、人家のある方へ廻って、其方そなたの濡れた着物も乾そう、拙者の紛失物も人手を加えて探して見よう。誰か盗人の姿を見た者が有るかも知れぬで」と竜次郎は先に、立木台下の方へと蘆原を進んだ。小虎も後から附いて来た。

Apart from the guards on his hands and legs, Ryujiro was naked, with only the little knife stuck in his loincloth, a disgrace beyond disgrace. Strange calamity though it was, what a plight. All of it was of his own making, the price of disobeying his sword master's command and letting himself be detained by a woman boss and falling, against his will, into idle ways. That it should come to this was his own doing, and remorse pressed thick upon him.

手甲脚半の他は裸の竜次郎、下帯に小刀をさした風は、醜態此上も有らぬ。奇禍とは云いながら、何んという有様。皆是これ剣道の師の命令に叛そむき、女侠客の為に抑留されて、心ならずも堕落していた身から出た錆さび。斯う成るのも自業自得と、悔悟の念が犇々と迫った。

They went first into the nearest farmhouse below the terrace, but the house held to the custom of this land, to have nothing to do with travellers once night has fallen, and would not let them in past the threshold. Though they pleaded their case, no one would listen.

台下の農家、取着きのに先ず入ったが、夜に入っては旅の人に取合わぬ此土地の淀おきてと云い張って、閾しきいから内へは入れなかった。事情を訴えても聴くので無かった。

At the next house they shut the door in great haste, and call and knock as they might, there was no answer. They tried three or four other houses, and were turned away at them all.

次の一軒、其所は大急ぎで戸を締めて、呼べど叩けど答えも無かった。其他三四軒を訪れたが、悉ことごとく断わられた。

At their wits' end, Ryujiro and Kotora went back to the ferry landing where they had started. Night had already fallen, and the evening moon was out.

途方に暮れて竜次郎と小虎とは、再び元の渡し口まで帰った。もう夜に入いって宵月が出て居った。

"All of this comes from my own carelessness. At this rate, even if I returned to Edo, even if my master is alive and well, I could not for shame show my face. I must change my plan. Come, Kotora, what say you. Go on ahead and give no thought to me."

「皆此身の不覚からだ。此分では江戸へ帰ったとて、よしや師が健在でも、面目無さに顔が合されぬ。思案を之れは仕替えねば相成らぬで、さあ如何どうか小虎。お前は拙者に構わず、先へ行きやれ」

"How could I do such a thing?" Kotora's voice was in earnest.

「そんな事が出来ますものか」

小虎の声は真剣で有った。

"Forgive me, but I have a little money kept inside my belly band. Once we reach the town of Fukawa there will surely be a secondhand clothes shop. With the night to cover us, come, let us push on."

「失礼ながら私は、腹巻の中に、少しは貯えが御座います。布川の町まで行けば、古着屋も御座りましょう。夜を幸い、さあ一息」

She took Ryujiro by the hand and made to walk along the edge of the channel.

竜次郎の手を引いて、堀割端を行こうとした。

"Wait a moment." It was a woman's voice from among the reeds. It was Living-Rope O-Tetsu.

「まあ、お待ちよ」

蘆の間に女の声がした。それは生縄のお鉄なので有った。

"It was I who took your clothes. Your swords and everything else, I have hidden them all away."

「着物を取上げたのは私です。腰の物から何から残らず私が隠したのよ」

O-Tetsu roughly tore Ryujiro and Kotora apart and stood between them, roaring at them.

お鉄は竜次郎と小虎とを手荒に引放して、其中間に立って怒吼どなり付けた。

Kotora started and began to tremble. Ryujiro, once he knew it was O-Tetsu, could not speak a word. He was like a gnat stared down by a toad.

小虎は吃驚びっくりして顫ふるえ出した。竜次郎はお鉄と知れては、口を利く事が出来なかった。蝦蟇ひきがえるに見込まれた蚊も同然で有った。

"I thought something of this sort would happen, so while you were getting yourself ready I sent my kobun running ahead along every road, to get our own people to spread a net in advance. And all the while I followed behind in disguise, and without ever knowing you were watched and followed, you fell in with this wench and walked the paths between the paddies as friendly as could be, all but tangled together. I was jealous enough even to envy the scarecrows that looked at you."

「這こんな事が有るだろうと思って、お前さんが身支度をしている間うちに乾漢こぶんを走らして道筋々々へ、先廻りして、身内の者に網を張らして置いたのよ。然うして後から私も化け込んで、見え隠れに附けているとも知らず、此女こいつとお前さんは道連れに成って仲好くして、縺れぬばかりに田圃路を歩きなすった。案山子かがしまで見て嫉妬やいていたじゃあないか」

By O-Tetsu's own telling, the man set to watch this ferry was an old kobun of hers, Ahodara Gonji. A gambler by trade, and a sham monk.

お鉄の語る処では、此所の渡場を見張っていたのは、古い乾漢の阿法陀羅権次あほだらごんじ。博徒が本職の偽坊主で有った。

It was clear now too that the reason every farmhouse below the Tatsuki bluff had shut its doors to the two of them was that O-Tetsu's word had gone round.

立木台下の農家が悉く二人に無情なのも、皆お鉄の声が掛ったからと分った。

"There, that is the reach I have. And yet you go trailing off on a lovers' road with a snivelling brat like this? A drenched wench and a naked man, there is nothing very stylish in that."

「さあ、私の威勢は這こんなものですよ。それだのにお前さんは、這んなめそっ子と道行をするんですか。濡れたん坊と裸では、余あんまり粋いきじゃあ有りませんぜ」

Against a heart burning with blind, sick jealousy, neither reason nor feeling could prevail.

盲目的、病的嫉妬に燃える一心には、理も情も通らぬので有った。

"No, we two are nothing of that sort, neither fond nor anything," Ryujiro set about excusing himself.

「いや、決して二人は、仲の好いの悪いのと、左様な間では御座らぬ」と竜次郎は弁解に掛った。

"Mistress, please do not think ill of us," Kotora too tried to make her peace.

「おかみさん、どうか悪く思わないで下さいまし」と小虎からも言解いいときに掛った。

"Eh? What is this tadpole saying? What right have you to speak straight to a great boss like myself, woman though I am? Hold your tongue and get back," O-Tetsu suddenly thrust Kotora away.

「えっ、お玉杓子たまじゃくしが何を云うんだい。私という女ながらも大親分に、じかに口が利けるもんか。黙って引込んでいやあがれ」と、お鉄は突如いきなり小虎を突飛ばした。

Kotora as she fell struck her side on an old stake and went sprawling. O-Tetsu vindictively kicked her as she lay and even spat on her. Ryujiro felt at last he could no longer bear this ignorant bullying of O-Tetsu's. With this woman, he thought, he could never make anything of his life. And yet now there was nothing to be done.

転んだ小虎は古杭で、横腹を打って、顛倒てんとうした。それをお鉄は執念深くも、足蹴あしげにして、痰唾たんつばまで吹掛けた。竜次郎はつくづく此お鉄の無智な圧迫に耐えられなく成った。この女と一緒にいては、迚とても一生成功は見られぬと考えた。けれども今更如何どうする事も出来なかった。

"Well, I give up going to Edo. We will go back to Anba from here. There I will clear myself. In any case, my clothes," he said.

「や、もう江戸行は止よす。是これから阿波へ帰る。其上で身の潔白を立てよう。兎に角、衣類を」と云った。

O-Tetsu's delight at this was beyond all measure.

お鉄が喜んだ事は一通りでなかった。

"Here they are, see. I have them all safe. Come, you will catch cold. Put them on quickly."

「これ此通り。ちゃんと私が持っている。さあ風邪を引くと悪い。早くお着きなさいよ」

She dressed him as a mother dresses a child fresh from the bath. That Ryujiro first drew the small knife from his loincloth and laid it by the roadside goes without saying.

子供の湯上りに母親が衣類を着せるようにして着せ掛った。竜次郎が小刀を、下帯から抜いて、路傍みちばたに置いたのは勿論で有った。

The fallen Kotora quietly took it. No sooner had she drawn it than she drove it suddenly into O-Tetsu's side. O-Tetsu's scream was a single cry.

それを倒れていた小虎が密そっと取った。抜くや、突然いきなり、お鉄の横腹へ突立てた。お鉄の悲鳴は唯一声であった。

"It is a woman's pride. I am Take-wari Kotora, after all. Come, Danna-sama, I shall go with you to Edo."

「女の意地ですわ。私だって竹割り小虎。さあ旦那様、江戸までお供致しましょう」

She wiped the bloodied blade on O-Tetsu's sleeve, put it back in its sheath, and handed it back to him.

血刀をお鉄の袖で拭いて、元の鞘に納めて返すので有った。

What could never have been settled in one way or two was simply cut through by Kotora. Ryujiro could only marvel at the strangeness of fate.

迚とても一通りや二通りで、解決の着くべき問題では無かったのを、小虎の為に簡単に捌さばかれたので有った。竜次郎は唯只運命の奇なるに驚くのみで有った。

*

＊　　　　　　＊　　　　　　＊

Mr ○○○○○, famed until mid-Meiji as the Metropolitan Police's foremost old detective in arrests, was none other than the later self of this Isogai Ryujiro. His former wife was none other than Kotora, though she is said to have died of illness early in Meiji. Whether Ryujiro ever received the secret transmission of Happo Makigumo from Jinpusai, on that point, regrettably, nothing has come down.

明治中期まで警視庁第一の捕物老刑事として名の高かった○○○○○氏こそは、この磯貝竜次郎の後身なので有った。其前の妻女は正しく小虎で有ったが、それは明治初年に病死したという。竜次郎が陣風斎から、八方巻雲の秘伝を授かったか如何どうかか。それに就ては遺憾ながら伝わらぬ。

Mr ○○○○○, famed until mid-Meiji as the Metropolitan Police's foremost old detective in arrests, was none other than the later self of this Isogai Ryujiro.: The circles print a name as blanks, a common redaction for a living or well-known figure. The coda leaps to mid-Meiji and leaves open whether Ryujiro ever received the secret transmission.

Dead Sword, Living Ropetranslated from the Japanese

一I

二II

三III

四IV

五V

六VI

七VII

八VIII

九IX