Nori's blog----Novels, Poems, Essays, from Japan

*

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　２５

The lord opened his eyes. He kept praying for the Jizou
with his opened eyes and clasped hands. Then, the lord
suddenly got alert to the existence of the culprit
buhind his back.

(To be continued)

*

*

　　　　　　　　　　 　　 　　２４

The lord took a look at his feet. Then he found a small
stone statue of Jizou(guardian of children in the world
of the dead and simultaneously a divinity worshipped by
many samurais in medeaval Japan in Buddhism) near his
feet.
The lord was moved by the loveliness of the stone
statue of Jizou. The lord closed his eyes and clasped
his hands for the stone Jizou. Then it blew again.
The wind that blew there brought the fallen flower
leafs of sakura somewhere away.

(To be continued)

*

*

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　２３

In the quietness in front of the dungeon, the lord had his
mind filled with sentiment of bliss. It was a sentiment
he never imagined nor expected to feel here when he arrived
here.

(To be continued)

*

*

　　　　　　　　　　 　　　　　　　　２２

The lord had an illusion as if time has stopped in front
of the dungeon.

(To be continued)

*

*

　　　　　　　　　　　　　 　　　　　　２１

It blew again. But the wind, which blew now, was a, quiet,
gentle, wind. The fallen sakura flower leafs on the ground
moved only a little in the wind this time.

(To be continued)

Written in Japanese and translated into
English by NISHIOKA Masanori
http://norinishioka.blog.co.uk/

http://nishiokamasanori.cocolog-nifty.com/blog/
(Original Japanese version is on this web-page.)

*

*

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　２０

It blew. The wind made the fallen flower leafs at the foot
of the lord dance on the ground.
The lord dropped his eyes on the flower leafs that
dance at his feet.
The lord noticed his foot was surrounded by such many
flower leafs of cherry blossoms. He was surprised
by the sight. But the wind stopped soon. The flower leafs
of sakura, that have danced at the foot of the lord just
now, has stopped their move. The ground in front of the
dungeon fell in deep silence. The lord could not recall
what he came here for.

(To be continued)

*

*

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　１９

The two met. But their eyes did not meet. What the lord,
who stood in front of the dungeon, watched was whole the
figure of the culprit. The lord wanted to certify the
man in the dungeon is the culprit he imprisoned, while
the lord thus avoided the eyes of the culprit. The lord
mistook the culprit sitting in the dungeon for the God
of Fire(Fudou-Myouou), at the first glance. But he was,
of course, not the God of Fire. It was without doubt
the sumurai he imprisoned in this dungeon 7 years ago.
The sumurai sitting in the dungeon has beard now, and
he was thinner than before. But he has not changed his
figure. The lord was surprised the samurai in the
dungeon has not changed his appearance greatly.
And the lord was puzzled to see the culprit in the
dungeon does not seem to be surprised by his sudden
visit and keeps sitting on his knees calmly in the
dungeon. The lord, however, could not allow himself
to express his puzzled feeling inside on his face,
for his pride as the lord.
The lord continued to stand in front of the dungeon,
without changing his expression on his face.
The lord continued to gaze the culprit, as if like
one who met a wild animal does not avoid his eyes from
the animal to confront it.

(To be continued)

*

*

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　１８

The lord watched the inside of the dungeon from his place.
He then tried to observe the facial expression of the culprit
after he certified the culprit is sitting on his knees in
the dungeon. However, as he was standing a little far from
the dungeon, he could not observe the expression of the
culprit sitting in the dungeon. Regardless of this distance
with the man in the dungeon, the lord felt their eyes meet.
And, due to this distance, the lord did not dare to advance
any more from his place. He stopped his walk there.
The lord, however, slowly advanced a few steps ahead,
when he got used to the atmosphere there and the eyes of
the culprit.
The monk, who continued to bow his head deeply in front of
the lord there, sensed the lord approaches to the dungeon
by the sounds of footsteps of the lord. The monk was, who
could not forecast what would happen now, prayed to Amida,
the Buddhism divinity, by chanting its name in his mind.

(To be continued)

Written in Jaoanese and translated into
English by NISHIOKA Masanori

http://nishiokamasanori.cocolog-nifty.com/blog/
(Original Japanese version is on this web-page)

*

*

　　　　　　　　　　　　　 　　　　１７

The lord was led to the end of the graveyard, where
he saw the low cliff and the dungeon made in the cliff.
The lord remembered it is the dungeon the culprit is
imprisoned.
Then the monk, who drew ahead of the lord, suddenly
stopped his walk to let the lord go ahead. The monk
kept silence and stood aside the lord's way to bow
him deeply.
The lord nodded to the monk. And he continued his walk
only a few steps to stop his walk. The lord gazed the
dungeon in the cliff carefully from his place.
The lord did not advance to the dungeon yet.
The lord had his feet buried in the flower leafs of
sakura(cherry blossoms).

(To be continued)

*

*

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　１６

The monk guided the lord to the dungeon.
The lord ordered his escort samurais to wait for him
in the temple's garden. Then he followed the monk
who guided him to the graveyard where the dungeon is
located. The monk could not guess what is on the
lord's mind. And the monk was worried what will
happen from now on. The monk, however, had no choice
but to guide the lord to the dungeon. The lord was
silent while he walked the path to the dungeon.
His silence made the monk more anxious. What on earth
made the lord say he wants to see the culprit now?
The monk suspected the answer is concealed in the
lord's silence.

When the monk and lord were approaching the dungeon,
the culprit noticed the sound of footsteps approaching
to him and sat on his knees in the dungeon.
The culprit wondered why the monk is coming to his
dungeon now in this hour. The culprit pricked his
ears and noticed the sound of footsteps is not only
of the monk. The culprit concentrated to listen the
sound of footsteps. And he wondered who the other is.

(To be continued)

*

*

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　１５

The monk was surprised to hear that the lord suddenly
visited his temple. The monk ordered all men in his
temple to see the lord while he felt anxiety in his
mind.
But the lord appeared in front of the monk, who
welcomed the lord by sitting on the ground and bowing
his face on the ground, in a cheerful manner.
The lord said “don't worry about me”
and even apologized the monk that he visited the temple
thus suddenly.
The lord, then, looked up an old cherry tree standing
aside the temple's big bell in the garden, and praised
the beauty of the cherry tree to the monk.
The monk, sitting on the ground on his knees and bowing
his face to the ground, listened the words of the lord
respectfully.
The monk thanked to the words of praise the lord spoke
about the cherry tree in his temple. The monk, however,
could not believe the lord came to his temple only to
see the cherry tree standing aside the bell.
As he wondered, the lord then stopped conversation.
And the lord said“Raise your face”to the monk,
who kept sitting on the ground and bowed to the
earth. The lord, then, said “By the way”to the
monk cheerfully. The monk, still sitting on his
knees on the ground, raised his face from the
ground and replied “Yes, sir.”Then the lord
watched the monk's face and asked the monk
“How is he doing?”. The lord was gazing the
monk's face from his front.

(To be continued)

Written in Japanese and translated into
English by NISHIOKA Masanori　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　

http://nishiokamasanori.cocolog-nifty.com/blog/
(Original Japanese version is on this web-page.)