Now when Gompachi was dead, Chobei’s old affection for the young man returned, and, being a kind and pious man, he went and claimed his body and head, and buried him at Meguro, in the grounds of the Temple called Boronji.

When Komurasaki heard the people at Yoshiwara gossiping about her lover’s end, her grief knew no bounds, so she fled secretly from “The Three Sea-coasts,” and came to Meguro and threw herself upon the newly-made grave.  Long she prayed and bitterly she wept over the tomb of him whom, with all his faults, she had loved so well, and then, drawing a dagger from her girdle, she plunged it in her breast and died.  The priests of the temple, when they saw what had happened, wondered greatly and were astonished at the loving faithfulness of this beautiful girl, and taking compassion on her, they laid her side by side with Gompachi in one grave, and over the grave they placed a stone which remains to this day, bearing the inscription “The Tomb of the Shiyoku.”  And still the people of Yedo visit the place, and still they praise the beauty of Gompachi and the filial piety and fidelity of Komurasaki.

Let us linger for a moment longer in the old graveyard.  The word which I have translated a few lines above as “loving faithfulness” means literally “chastity.”  When Komurasaki sold herself to supply the wants of her ruined parents, she was not, according to her lights, forfeiting her claim to virtue.  On the contrary, she could perform no greater act of filial piety, and, so far from incurring reproach among her people, her self-sacrifice would be worthy of all praise in their eyes.  This idea has led to grave misunderstanding abroad, and indeed no phase of Japanese life has been so misrepresented as this.  I have heard it stated, and seen it printed, that it is no disgrace for a respectable Japanese to sell his daughter, that men of position and family often choose their wives from such places as “The Three Sea-coasts,” and that up to the time of her marriage the conduct of a young girl is a matter of no importance whatever.  Nothing could be more unjust or more untrue.  It is only the neediest people that sell their children to be waitresses, singers, or prostitutes.  It does occasionally happen that the daughter of a Samurai, or gentleman, is found in a house of ill-fame, but such a case could only occur at the death or utter ruin of the parents, and an official investigation of the matter has proved it to be so exceptional, that the presence of a young lady in such a place is an enormous attraction, her superior education and accomplishments shedding a lustre over the house.  As for gentlemen marrying women of bad character, are not such things known in Europe?  Do ladies of the demi-monde never make good marriages? Mesalliances are far rarer in Japan than with us.  Certainly among the lowest class of the population such, marriages may occasionally occur, for it often happens that a woman can lay by a tempting dowry out of her wretched earnings-, but amongst the gentry of the country they are unknown.