Rashomon by Akutagawa Ryunosuke (best book clubs .TXT) 📖

hair was burned, his skin was scorched. He could move neither his hands nor his feet, and now he had no strength left to speak. The old umbrellamaker and Simeon, whose hearts were torn by the girl’s confession, ministered to him as best they could on their knees at his side, and bathed his burns in tears. But Lorenzo’s breathing became shorter and fainter every minute, and the end was not far off. All that remained unchanged in him now was the color of his star-like eyes looking far up into the sky.

The Father Superior, who had been listening to the girl’s confession, with his gray hair waving in the night’s windstorm, and with his back turned toward the gate of Santa Lucia, declared to her solemnly, “Blessed are they that repent. How could the human hand ever punish those so blessed? From now on you must observe God’s commandments all the better and await the judgment day.” And then, “Lorenzo,” he said, “your aspiration to emulate our Lord Jesus Christ in your conduct is a virtue unrivaled among the Christians in this country. Especially as you are so young…” What could the matter be? The Father, who had gone thus far, suddenly closed his mouth, and watched Lorenzo as intently as if he had seen the light of heaven. How reverent he looked! The shaking of his hands was so extraordinary. The tears would not stop flowing from the Father’s shriveled cheeks. Suddenly the umbrellamaker and Simeon stared. The eyes of all followed theirs to two soft, pure breasts, which stood out among the rags on the chest of the angel, now lying silently at the gate of Santa Lucia, bathed in the light of the fire red as the blood of Jesus Christ at his crucifixion. Now on Lorenzo’s sorely burned face, its natural gentleness and beauty could no longer be concealed. It may have been only a moment Ñ it seemed like an eternity Ñ before the entire assembly realized that Lorenzo was not a boy but a girl. Yes, Lorenzo was a girl! Lorenzo was a girl! Behold! With the flames raging at their back, the brethren circled around Lorenzo, stood in awe and wonder with their eyes fastened on the martyr. Lorenzo, driven out of Santa Lucia on the false charge of adultery, was a fair girl of this country like the umbrellamaker’s daughter herself.

That moment is said to have inspired them with as much holy awe as if God’s voice had been heard from far beyond the starry vault of heaven. The Christians who had been standing before Santa Lucia, each and all hung their heads like the heads of wheat blown by the wind, and knelt around Lorenzo. All that was heard was the roar of the flames blazing up into the star-lit sky and the sobbing of people nearby. The sobbing may have come from the umbrellamaker’s daughter or from Simeon who had been as good a friend to him as if he were his real brother. Soon the silence was broken by the sad, solemn chanting of the scriptures by the reverend Father, his hand raised aloft. When his chanting ceased, “Lorenzo,” he called, and the fair-eyed girl quietly breathed her last, with a faint, peaceful smile on her lips, looking up into the glory of Heaven far beyond the dark night.

Nothing else is known of the life of this girl. Yet what does it matter? For the sublimity of life culminates in the most precious moment of inspiration. Man will make his life worth living, if he tosses a wave aloft high up into the starry sky, o’er life’s dark main of worldly cares, to mirror in its crystal foam the light of the moon yet to rise. Therefore, are not those who know the last of Lorenzo those who know the whole of her life?

POSTSCRIPT

I have in my collection a book entitled ‘Legenda Aurea’ which was published by the Nagasaki Church. It does not, however, contain only golden legends of Western Europe. It includes not only the words and deeds of European saints but also the religious devotions of Japanese Christians, presumably to serve evangelical purposes.

This book consists of two volumes, Parts I and II, printed on ‘mino’ paper (a kind of tough Japanese paper) in ‘hiragana’ (the cursive form of the Japanese syllabary) mixed with Chinese characters in cursive style. The lettering is so indistinct that it makes us wonder whether it was printed or not. On the title-page of Volume I, the Latin title is written crosswise, and under the title are written two vertical Chinese lines, “Printed at the beginning of March, the year of Grace 1596.” At either side of the date is a picture of an angel blowing a trumpet. It is technically very crude but has a charm of its own. The title-page of Volume II is identical with that of Volume I except the word, “Printed in the middle of March.”

Both volumes contain about sixty pages. Volume I carries its golden legends in eight chapters, and Volume II in ten chapters. Each volume opens with a preface by an unknown writer and a table of contents intermixed with Latin words.

To the Japanese scholar the writing of the preface leaves something to be desired. Here and there we find such intermixtures of literal translation of European writing which makes us wonder if it was not written by a Jesuit priest.

‘The Martyr’ , here introduced, was taken from Volume II of ‘the Legenda Aurea.’ This story is presumably a truthful record of a happening which took place in a Christian church at Nagasaki in those days. However, the actuality of the great fire as recorded in this story is impossible to ascertain even by referring to ‘the Nagasaki Minatogusa’ (Miscellanies of the Port of Nagasaki) and other books. Much less is it possible to ascertain the exact date of the occurrence.

For publication, I ventured to add some literary embellishment to ‘The Martyr.’ I hope that the simple and refined style of the original has not been impaired.

(August, 1919.)

KESA AND MORITO