Observations placeholder

5.—[NAMES OF THE MEMBERS OF THE TWO FAMILIES CONCERNED.]

[Family of Genzô.]

   KATSUGORÔ.—Born the 10th day of the 10th month of the twelfth year of Bunkwa [1815]. Nine years old this sixth year of Bunsei [1823]. Second son of Genzô, a farmer living in Tanitsuiri in Nakano-mura, district of Tamagôri, province of Musashi.—Estate of Tamon Dempachirô, whose yashiki is in the street called Shichikenchô, Nedzu, Yedo.—Jurisdiction of Yusuki.

   GENZÔ.—Father of Katsugorô. Family name, Koyada. Forty-nine years old this sixth year of Bunsei. Being poor, he occupies himself with the making of baskets, which he sells in Yedo. The name of the inn at which he lodges while in Yedo is Sagamiya, kept by one Kihei, in Bakuro-chô.

   SEI.—Wife of Genzô and mother of Katsugorô. Thirty-nine years old this sixth year of Bunsei. Daughter of Murata Kichitarô, samurai,—once an archer in the service of the Lord of Owari. When Sei was twelve years old she was a maid-servant, it is said, in the house of Honda Dainoshin Dono. When she was thirteen years old, her father, Kichitarô was dismissed forever for a certain cause from the service of the Lord of Owari, and he became a rônin.[1] He died at the age of seventy-five, on the twenty-fifth day of the fourth month of the fourth year of Bunkwa [1807]. His grave is in the cemetery of the temple called Eirin-ji, of the Zen sect, in the village of Shimo-Yusuki.

   TSUYA.—Grandmother of Katsugorô. Seventy-two years old this sixth year of Bunsei. When young she served as maid in the household of Matsudaira Oki-no-Kami Dono [Daimyô].

   FUSA.—Elder sister of Katsugorô. Fifteen years old this year.

   OTOJIRÔ.—Elder brother of Katsugorô. Fourteen years old this year.

   TSUMÉ—Younger sister of Katsugorô. Four years old this year.

[1. Lit.: "A wave-man,"—a wandering samurai without a lord. The rônin were generally a desperate and very dangerous class; but there were some fine characters among them.]

[1. The Western reader is requested to bear in mind that the year in which a Japanese child is born is counted always as one year in the reckoning of age.]

 [Family of Hanshirô.]

   TÔZÔ.—Died at the age of six in Hodokubo-mura, in the district called Tamagôri in the province of Musashi. Estate of Nakané Uyemon, whose yashiki is in the street Atarashi-bashi-dôri, Shitaya, Yedo. Jurisdiction of Komiya.—[Tôzô] was born in the second year of Bunkwa [1805], and died at about the fourth hour of the day [10 o'clock in the morning] on the fourth day of the second month of the seventh year of Bunkwa [1810]. The sickness of which he died was smallpox. Buried in the graveyard on the hill above the village before-mentioned,—Hodokubo-mura.—Parochial temple: Iwôji in Misawa-mura. Sect: Zen-shû. Last year the fifth year of Bunkwa [1822], the jiû-san kwaiki[1] was said for Tôzô.

   HANSHIRÔ.—Stepfather of Tôzô. Family name: Suzaki. Fifty years old this sixth year of Bunsei.

   SHIDZU.—Mother of Tôzô. Forty-nine years old this sixth year of Bunsei.

   KYÛBEI (afterwards TOGÔRÔ).—Real father of Tôzô. Original name, Kyûbei, afterwards changed to Togôrô. Died at the age of forty-eight, in the sixth year of Bunkwa [1809], when Tôzô was five years old. To replace him, Hanshirô became an iri-muko.[1]

   CHILDREN: TWO BOYS AND TWO GIRLS.—These are Hanshirô's children by the mother of Tôzô.

[1. The Buddhist services for the dead are celebrated at regular intervals, increasing successively in length, until the time of one hundred years after death. The jiû-san kwaiki is the service for the thirteenth year after death. By "thirteenth" in the context the reader must understand that the year in which the death took place is counted for one year.]

[1. The second husband, by adoption, of a daughter who lives with her own parents.]