principal.  If the principal, on whom the revenge devolves, can take it, he has only to stand behind with his weapon in his hand, and support him.’”

I will add one anecdote to show the sanctity which is attached to the graves of the Forty-seven.  In the month of September 1868, a certain man came to pray before the grave of Oishi Chikara.  Having finished his prayers, he deliberately performed hara-kiri,[8] and, the belly wound not being mortal, dispatched himself by cutting his throat.  Upon his person were found papers setting forth that, being a Ronin and without means of earning a living, he had petitioned to be allowed to enter the clan of the Prince of Choshiu, which he looked upon as the noblest clan in the realm; his petition having been refused, nothing remained for him but to die, for to be a Ronin was hateful to him, and he would serve no other master than the Prince of Choshiu:  what more fitting place could he find in which to put an end to his life than the graveyard of these Braves?  This happened at about two hundred yards’ distance from my house, and when I saw the spot an hour or two later, the ground was all bespattered with blood, and disturbed by the death-struggles of the man.

[Footnote 8:  A purist in Japanese matters may object to the use of the words hara-kiri instead of the more elegant expression Seppuku.  I retain the more vulgar form as being better known, and therefore more convenient.]

THE LOVES OF GOMPACHI AND KOMURASAKI

Within two miles or so from Yedo, and yet well away from the toil and din of the great city, stands the village of Meguro.  Once past the outskirts of the town, the road leading thither is bounded on either side by woodlands rich in an endless variety of foliage, broken at intervals by the long, low line of villages and hamlets.  As we draw near to Meguro, the scenery, becoming more and more rustic, increases in beauty.  Deep shady lanes, bordered by hedgerows as luxurious as any in England, lead down to a valley of rice fields bright with the emerald green of the young crops.  To the right and to the left rise knolls of fantastic shape, crowned with a profusion of Cryptomerias, Scotch firs and other cone-bearing trees, and fringed with thickets of feathery bamboos, bending their stems gracefully to the light summer breeze.  Wherever there is a spot shadier and pleasanter to look upon than the rest, there may be seen the red portal of a shrine which the simple piety of the country folk has raised to Inari Sama, the patron god of farming, or to some other tutelary deity of the place.  At the eastern outlet of the valley a strip of blue sea bounds the horizon; westward are the distant mountains.  In the foreground, in front of a farmhouse, snug-looking, with its roof of velvety-brown thatch, a troop of sturdy urchins, suntanned and stark naked, are frisking in the wildest gambols, all heedless of the scolding