Read Online The Ghost in the Tokaido Inn by Tom Hoobler - Free Book Online

in farm villages saved money for
years so that a few of them could go, and then held a drawing to
choose the lucky ones. They would return and describe to the other
villagers everything they had seen and done.
    “I know the story of this play,”
said Seikei.
    “Most people do,” said the judge.
“Yet that does not seem to lessen its popularity. Some versions of
the play take three days to perform. I hope we will not be here
that long. The floor is hard.”
    “Is it really a true story, as
people say?” Seikei asked.
    “Yes, and it happened not very long ago,” the judge replied.
“I once met a man who claimed to have known one of the ronin . But remember, we are here to look for a criminal
who may be one of the actors. Search their faces. Try to remember
if any looks like the ghost who visited your room, or even like the
young acrobat you saw earlier.”
    “What made you choose this
theater? There were acrobats performing at one of the
others.”
    “I have a feeling that this
particular story is admired by the thief. If you pay close
attention, you may discover something about his character—the
reason why he became a bent tree while others grew straight and
tall.”
    Before Seikei could ask anything
else, he heard the sound of two wooden blocks clapped together, the
signal for the play to begin. A man ran down the wooden runway that
led from the back of the theater. Suddenly he stopped and let out a
wild cry—so loud that the audience hushed at once.
    The actor turned and Seikei saw
his face, which was covered with white paint. But his lips were
bright red and his eyes outlined in black so that everyone could
see his expression. He twisted his face in fear as he called out:
“Oh, what terrible things have I seen!” He looked around as if he
were alone. “Who will listen? Who shall I turn to? Our lord, our
daimyo is dead! What shall I do?”
    Musicians hidden
behind a curtain began to play. Seikei recognized the plunking
strings of the samisen , accompanied by drums and wooden
clappers. Another actor appeared on stage and called, “What has
happened?” One by one, more joined him there, all wearing the two
swords that marked them as samurai.
    The first samurai, still out on
the runway among the spectators, began to tell his story, all the
while weeping, shouting, and tearing his hair. His master, the Lord
of Ako, had gone to the shogun’s court in Edo. As everybody knew,
the shogun commanded every daimyo in Japan to live in Edo one year
out of every two. That way, the shogun could keep his eye on
them.
    But this was the young Lord of
Ako’s first visit. Coming from a distant area, he did not know the
correct behavior of the court. He spoke plainly and simply, not
understanding when to bow and how to speak during the
ceremonies.
    One of the shogun’s officials,
Lord Kira, began to make fun of the Lord of Ako. Lord Kira called
him a country bumpkin, a stupid man. The Lord of Ako ignored these
insults as long as he could, but finally he heard Lord Kira
question his honor.
    No samurai could bear this.
Although no one was permitted to wear weapons at the shogun’s
court, the Lord of Ako carried a dagger in his robe. He drew it and
struck out at Lord Kira, wounding him.
    Such an act of
violence, inside the shogun’s castle, was strictly forbidden. When
the shogun learned of it, he commanded the Lord of Ako to
commit seppuku ,
to kill himself. There was no other way, no appeal. The shogun’s
command was law. And so the Lord of Ako died by his own sword. The
wooden clappers offstage sounded loudly at the story of his death.
The actors on stage froze in sorrow.
    “Now that our master is dead,”
cried the messenger, “what will become of us?” He had left Edo on
horseback, riding without rest for many days to inform the other
samurai of the fate of the Lord of Ako.
    One of the men on stage stepped
forward. Some of the people in the audience clapped, recognizing
the character he played—the samurai Oishi.