Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1891-10-09

ed. and he no longer feared for his safety
huranOsuke meantime natured his
plans and waited. 1t was a winter night,
With violent snowstorm blowing, when
the forty-seven assembled near Yeddo at
the large bridge Sanjo Bdchi, and in two
bands proceeded to the palace Of Kots *
enosuke. At midnight they broke the
gates, and, after bloody combat with the
gate-keepers, they penetrated into the in
terror of the palace. For long time they
looked in vain for their victim Eventual
ly they discovered behind a picture a big
hole in the wall which led into a dark cor
ridor. They caught Kotsukenosuke. He
was obstinately silent about hi identity,
but Kuranosuke had recognized him at
once by the scar on his forehead
The grand master of ceremonies was
several times requested to perform the
hara -kiri and to die the honorable and
voluntary death of a nobleman, but
he remained sitting and trembling. At
beheaded him with the srme sword
with which his fudal lord had found
death
The forty.seven conspirators had accom-.
pished their duty of revenge. They laid
Kotsukenosuke' head, after washing it in
a brook, on their lords grave and invited
the priests of the temple to pray for the
dead. Then their leader, Kuranosuke,
gave the priests all the money he had and
begged for an honorable burial for him
and his friends. The coDspirators were
condemned to the hara .kiri, but, in recog-
milton of their faithfulness, they we're
treated with the greatest honor, as if they
belonged to the highest nobility in the
land. They were divided into four bands
and placed under the surveillance of four
princes, in whose palace the hara- kiri took
place. Their bodies were buried beside
their master, and, their fame spreading
all over the country, thousands came to
pray at their graves
The Temple Seguki is near Yeddo and
in the center of a group of trees many
hundred years old, and its principal court
contains the Chapel of Divine Mercy.
Here statues to the R0nins and their feudal
lord were erected. A brook flows by the
chapel. Near it is the following inscrip-
ton; This is the place where the head
was washed Here nobody is allowed to
wash his hands or feet. >" Somewhat higher
up are forty-eight little graves covered
with evergreens.
In 1869 private secretary to the privy
council proposed the abolition Of the hara.
kiri. Twothirds of the deputies were
against the proposition, and in the
speeches held on that occasion they prais
ed the institution us indispensable to pre-
serve the honor of the aristoCracv, and as
a spur to morality and religion. The
man who advanced the proposition was,
as was expected, murdered not long after
ward.
OF course all japanese do not share the
opinion of those deputies. In the last
change Of government, when the shotgun,
completely defeated. had no other alterna-
ton than to fee to Yeddo, one OF his coun-
CiICr3 advised him to have recouI Sc to the
hara- kiri rs the last means of saving his
honor and that of his family. The shotgun
ridicued the advice and left the room in
rage. The faithful councillor retired to an.
other part of the palace and disemboweed
himself in proof of his earnestness. The
shotgun is still living and enjoys fat in
come.
So much about the essential Characters
tics of the hara kiri. The changes which
this old national custom has undergone
cause the particulars concerning it to be
contradictory. By the intro
duction of new code of laws the hara
kiri has been abolished, and only noble
men who still believe in the traditional
code of honor of their ancestors Hay select
it as a mode of death.