18
Eminent Authors of Japan
- man as you, for I am but a cowardly and spiritless samurai. What use would there be in such a fight? I should be beaten without a doubt. So do not let us fight.
- Gohei.—Is life so dear to you still, even at this juncture?
- Okuni.—Do you wish to evade fighting by a quibble?
- Tomo.—Yes, if it is possible. I want to escape death, even if it is for ever such a little time. Call me names. Laugh at me if you like; but I must speak as my heart directs me, madam. You will perhaps take what I am going to say as an idle compliment, but your late husband, and Gohei, also are happy, for they have the true samurai spirit, and are skilled swordsmen. I cannot but envy them …
- Okuni.—If you envy them, then why do you not try to become like them, and show that you are brave and courageous, and not a coward!
- Tomo.—I have always wished that I might become a man, but I was born with an effeminate spirit, and though I fought hard to conquer myself and become manly, I have somehow failed. As I was born a son of a samurai family, I wished that I might be a great and good samurai like your husband. I wanted to be skilled with the sword, for then. Madam Okuni, you would perhaps have admired me instead of despising me. If I had conquered myself, perhaps now you might have been my dear and good wife, and my life would now be a happy one. All my unhappiness and my miseries come from my weakness of character. I am indeed a
