Litchfield enquirer., 1877-08-16
THE FORTUNES OF NARA.
AN OLD JAPANESE ST KY --lN TWO CHAPTERS
CHAPTER I.


 AN OLD JAPANESE ST KY --N TWO CHAPTERS CHAPTER I. In the old days of feudal Japan. power was ever built on treacherous founda- tions. A man waking in the morning to find himself famous could not anticipate with any degree of certainty that his fame would endure till evening; families long accustomed to govern and dictate with al- most more than imperial power might at a moments notice be disgraced by the and, without prelude or warning. be re- dnced to the level of the very people hith- (erto treated by them as slaves Thus it was with the great house of Nara. Pos. sessing one of the vastest yashikis, or pal aces. in the capital, holding the unbound ed confidence of the Emperor, blessed with untold wealth, and worshiped by the amaases as one of the great feudai pill lars of the State. the family had for een- turies goyerned- -.ith -Pr;eoely ruic in the land. 6ndd. nly the political wind veer- ed. The chief of the family was accused and found gnilty of dangerous plotting. rightly or wrongly history does not state; the family was disgraced; its chief com nitted "seppuku, that is, disemboweled himself according to custom; the palace with its great gates and acres of park con- fiscated. and the place of the family blot ted out from the political history of the day. 4
 So Bisiamon, the young heir of Nara, found himself thrown on the world. He was. when the blow fell, ia the full vigor of youth-fearless, chivalrous, addicted, perhaps, to the over-bearing contempt for all those beneath him Tn the social scale, so characteristic of the Japanese noblesse of all times, but withal generous, open hearted, and accomplished. He was ac. complished; that is to say, he could read and write the Chinese characters; could ride his horse without ainching up the steps of the Atago- -yama; was good fen cor; could compose fair love doggerel ;and, above all, was skillful performer on the samisen or national guitar. But, in the rude race for life accom- plishments pass for very little; and, in his present forlorn condition, knowledge of carpentering would have stood him in better stead than all his acquaintance with the Chinese classics. and he would have exchanged all his skill in handling a hard-mouthed Ja. panese pony for the less chivaIrous ac- conplishment of using an adze.
 f It was hard for him to leave the com forts and luxuries of his courtly home. but it was a keener pang still to part with his. love. Kaimiri. Side by side with the fair-skinned beauties of Belgravian drawing room of these days, Kaimiri would appear ''chetive" and mean. Yet there were charms in her dark sparkling eyes. with their arched brows; in her small ruddy mouth. through which glis- tened the perfect rows of white teeth; in her rounded figure, and her delicate hands and feet, which ranked her high among the beauties of the day, and which had completely won the heart of the young Prince of Nara at r1ver party.
 She was sort of kinswoman of his, and the aristocratic world of Yedo had looked upon their union as an arranged affair. when the cloud burst over the fortunes of his house; and he was forced to depart without even the privilege of bidding her fafeweH. However. by faithful servant he sent her fletter-tied in 8 knot of cherry stems, emblems of undying fideli- ty-acquainting her with his fate. and praying her to think of him and hope for better times. Then with satchel of nec- essaries, and clad in plebeian garb, he set forth to combat the world.
 For some months he joined band of Ronins or Wanderings adventurers- fre- quently men of good family, or who had seen better days. dashing, careless fellows who owned but little law and not very much religion-but their interruptions modes, of dealing disgusted him, so he had recourse to his old mpllshment, and gained 8 precarious living by singing from door to door, old Japanese romances and songs of war to the chords of his guitar. By degrees his skill as minstrel began to be spread abroad among the pleasant little villages which form the suburbs of the capital; and within two years after the fall of his house he found himself a nec- essary part of every festival within i've mile radius from the Nihon Bashi, or Bridge of Japan. At times the old haugh- ty spirit would make the blood rush to his brow, and he would curse the fate which had brought him-scion of the great house of Nara-to be. a paid purveyor of amusement to half-educated boors and petty rural landowners; his hand would involantarily clutch the hilt of the Mur- amasa sword-a family heirloom-which be always carried half concealed beneath the folds of his garment; he would think T1sW and build up all sorts of castles in the air; and then his eye would rest on his humble wallet. on his coarse blue clothes, on his well-worn straw sandals-he would be reminded that. although there was the will to bring his dreams to pass, for the present there was wanting the way.
 . For three years he pursued his wander ings. Fortune had dealt lightly with him Ad ho k4 rivos: his living for the present was se. cure. but his future remained blank. and his mind would often wander back to the happy day when he met Kaimiri in gon- dola at the great festival of the blessing of the River Sumida; when beneath the moon they exchanged their first love VOWS and no cloud was yet perceptible on the horizon to dim their future happiness. Was she still thinking of him as he was of her. or with the fall of his prosperity had her heart ehangod2 -----------4
 Yet he had always trusted her, and it was 90 foreign to him to deem that she vas other than true, that he would shud- der at his own suspicious.
 It was early Summer, and there was g festival in honor of the rustic deity Inara Sama at the village of Yoii, about three 111AO0 AAOAAA suO OAtys A1tOn AOWs WAOA most remains of old romantic Japan have either been swept away or spoiled in the path of modern improvement, Yoji is a beautiful village. At the period of our tale, at the loveliest season of the year, and invested with all the attributes of a Japanese pleasure-making, it was espec- ially beautiful Groves of many tinted trees hide the village from the travellers view until he is within few yards of it: bat on festive occasions, inkllngs of great esgoings on may be gathered, not only from the crowds of people which animate the narrow. winding road leading to the village, but from the stalls which enter prising hneksters set up on either side of the way for full half-mile before reach ing it. On three sides of the village rise masses of deeply wooded hills.. jumbled together in the confusion peculiar so the hand of nature in Japan; panorama of the ely of Yedo, and the surrounding country, bounded in the distance by the Oyama range of mountains, with the mon- arch Fuii, forms the fourth side. The