The Golden Country Read Online Free Page A
Author: Shusaku Endo
one's youth are hardly to be avoided. But when even someone like Tomonaga can go so far astray as to become a Christian, someone like me ...
TOMONAGA: Oh, is it possible that even someone like you could go astray?
HIRATA: Of course it's possible. I once went so far astray as to fall in love with a girl of the Maruyama pleasure quarters named Yuki. Oh, forgive me. I had forgotten that your own daughter is named Yuki. I always seem to say the wrong things. I've heard that your daughter is eighteen years old. The young men working here with us told me. The man who gets her will be very lucky.
TOMONAGA: She's still only a child.
INOUE: You too will have a blessed future for having such a daughter.
TOMONAGA: Thank you for saying so, but she's only an ignorant country girl.
INOUE: You must be tired after your journey from Hirado. Take a good rest.
Tomonaga Sakuemon bows and leaves the room.
HIRATA: You once told me, didn't you, that if you see a man with a totally unsuspicious face clapping his hands before the Buddha, he should be suspected of being a Christian. The same with a man pretending to be a fool. Or one who purposely makes fun of Christianity before others. All these, you said, are to be suspected of being Christians.
INOUE: I believe I did say that.
HIRATA: But what if such a man should seem most respected on the surface? Then what should one do about his suspicions?
INOUE: Conjecture is not proof. It's no laughing matter to arrest a samurai on mere conjecture. Don't let your zeal walk away with your head.
HIRATA: Excuse me. But I've got to catch Ferreira!
He claps his hands.
Tome comes onstage, accompanied by the guard.
HIRATA: Sir, please listen to what she has to say.
To Tome
HIRATA: Where do you work?
TOME: At a candle shop in Higashimiza-cho.
HIRATA: Someone has been buying a large quantity of candles at your shop each month this year, hasn't he?
TOME: Yes.
HIRATA: Please look at this receipt.
Hirata takes a paper out of Tome's hands and gives it to Inoue.
HIRATA: Do you see whose name is on it?
INOUE: Tomonaga Sakuemon.
HIRATA: Why should he be ordering so many candles each month?
INOUE: For the Christian Mass, do you suppose?
HIRATA: He would hardly have use for this many candles in his home.
INOUE: Yes, I see.
HIRATA: And if these are for Mass, then a priest must be at hand. Could it be Ferreira? But even if it is not Ferreira...
Silence. Through the gate the children's singing can be heard.
HIRATA: What shall we do?
INOUE: Throw suspicion on a man. Capture him, torture him, make him talk, spill his blood! ... Oh, I'm sick of all this.
He comes back to himself, remains silent, thinking, with eyes cast down.
HIRATA: Didn't you just ask Gennosuke if he weren't ready to find himself a wife?
INOUE: Yes. Tomonaga's daughter is not yet betrothed?
HIRATA: I don't believe so. Gennosuke seems to be in love with her from long ago.
After a pause, he continues, as if to himself
HIRATA: A Christian will marry no one but another Christian. Isn't that so?
INOUE: That's exactly what I was thinking.
Tomonaga has entered and is hidden in the shadow. Inoue, looking in his direction, laughs.
CURTAIN
----
ACT ONE SCENE TWO
----
A month later. The scene is Korimura, a village on the outskirts of Nagasaki. A large barn used by the Christians as a meeting place. In the center is a large door. There is the sound of tapping at the door, one long and two short.
KASUKE: Kyrie eleison.
VOICE OUTSIDE: Christe eleison.
KASUKE (opening the door): It's Hatsu, with Mokichi and Hisaichi. Are you sure you weren't followed?
HISAICHI: We were having dinner when Mokichi came to say that Lord Tomonaga wanted to see us. I left everything and came on the run across the fields.
KASUKE: Have you heard the news? They've caught Brother Caspar in Nagasaki. And in Isahaya the officials walked in on a catechist and six Christians as they were saying their prayers.
Thinking for a while
KASUKE: It'll be our turn
TOMONAGA: Oh, is it possible that even someone like you could go astray?
HIRATA: Of course it's possible. I once went so far astray as to fall in love with a girl of the Maruyama pleasure quarters named Yuki. Oh, forgive me. I had forgotten that your own daughter is named Yuki. I always seem to say the wrong things. I've heard that your daughter is eighteen years old. The young men working here with us told me. The man who gets her will be very lucky.
TOMONAGA: She's still only a child.
INOUE: You too will have a blessed future for having such a daughter.
TOMONAGA: Thank you for saying so, but she's only an ignorant country girl.
INOUE: You must be tired after your journey from Hirado. Take a good rest.
Tomonaga Sakuemon bows and leaves the room.
HIRATA: You once told me, didn't you, that if you see a man with a totally unsuspicious face clapping his hands before the Buddha, he should be suspected of being a Christian. The same with a man pretending to be a fool. Or one who purposely makes fun of Christianity before others. All these, you said, are to be suspected of being Christians.
INOUE: I believe I did say that.
HIRATA: But what if such a man should seem most respected on the surface? Then what should one do about his suspicions?
INOUE: Conjecture is not proof. It's no laughing matter to arrest a samurai on mere conjecture. Don't let your zeal walk away with your head.
HIRATA: Excuse me. But I've got to catch Ferreira!
He claps his hands.
Tome comes onstage, accompanied by the guard.
HIRATA: Sir, please listen to what she has to say.
To Tome
HIRATA: Where do you work?
TOME: At a candle shop in Higashimiza-cho.
HIRATA: Someone has been buying a large quantity of candles at your shop each month this year, hasn't he?
TOME: Yes.
HIRATA: Please look at this receipt.
Hirata takes a paper out of Tome's hands and gives it to Inoue.
HIRATA: Do you see whose name is on it?
INOUE: Tomonaga Sakuemon.
HIRATA: Why should he be ordering so many candles each month?
INOUE: For the Christian Mass, do you suppose?
HIRATA: He would hardly have use for this many candles in his home.
INOUE: Yes, I see.
HIRATA: And if these are for Mass, then a priest must be at hand. Could it be Ferreira? But even if it is not Ferreira...
Silence. Through the gate the children's singing can be heard.
HIRATA: What shall we do?
INOUE: Throw suspicion on a man. Capture him, torture him, make him talk, spill his blood! ... Oh, I'm sick of all this.
He comes back to himself, remains silent, thinking, with eyes cast down.
HIRATA: Didn't you just ask Gennosuke if he weren't ready to find himself a wife?
INOUE: Yes. Tomonaga's daughter is not yet betrothed?
HIRATA: I don't believe so. Gennosuke seems to be in love with her from long ago.
After a pause, he continues, as if to himself
HIRATA: A Christian will marry no one but another Christian. Isn't that so?
INOUE: That's exactly what I was thinking.
Tomonaga has entered and is hidden in the shadow. Inoue, looking in his direction, laughs.
CURTAIN
----
ACT ONE SCENE TWO
----
A month later. The scene is Korimura, a village on the outskirts of Nagasaki. A large barn used by the Christians as a meeting place. In the center is a large door. There is the sound of tapping at the door, one long and two short.
KASUKE: Kyrie eleison.
VOICE OUTSIDE: Christe eleison.
KASUKE (opening the door): It's Hatsu, with Mokichi and Hisaichi. Are you sure you weren't followed?
HISAICHI: We were having dinner when Mokichi came to say that Lord Tomonaga wanted to see us. I left everything and came on the run across the fields.
KASUKE: Have you heard the news? They've caught Brother Caspar in Nagasaki. And in Isahaya the officials walked in on a catechist and six Christians as they were saying their prayers.
Thinking for a while
KASUKE: It'll be our turn
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