for twenty-four hours a day, yet this is absolutely not a matter of tasteful living. Moreover, the tea utensils are something that should be in accord with one's social position.
In the poem, 'Under the deep snows in the last village/ Last night numerous branches of plum blossomed,' the opulence of the phrase 'numerous branches' was changed to 'a single branch.' It is said that this 'single branch' contains true tranquillity.
When intimate friends, allies, or people who are indebted to you have done some wrong, you should secretly reprimand them and intervene between them and society in a good manner. You should erase a person's bad reputation and praise him as a matchless ally and one man in a thousand. If you wilt thus reprimand a person in private and with good understanding, his blemish will heal and he will become good. If you praise a person, people's hearts will change and an ill reputation will go away of itself. It is important to have the single purpose of handling all things with compassion and doing things well.
A certain person said the following.
There are two kinds of dispositions, inward and outward, and a person who is lacking in one or the other is worthless. It is, for example, like the blade of a sword, which one should sharpen well and then put in its scabbard, periodically taking it out and knitting one's eyebrows as in an attack, wiping f the blade, and then placing it in its scabbard again. If a person has his sword out all the time, he is habitually swinging a naked blade; people will not approach him and he will have no allies.
If a sword is always sheathed, it will become rusty, the blade will dull, and people will think as much of its owner.
One cannot accomplish things simply with cleverness. One must take a broad view. It will not do to make rash judgments concerning good and evil. However, one should not be sluggish. It is said that one is not truly a samurai if he does not make his decisions quickly and break right through to completion.
Once, when a group of five or six pages were traveling to the capital together in the same boat, it happened that their boat struck a regular ship late at night. Five or six seamen from the ship leapt aboard and loudly demanded that the pages give up their boat's anchor, in accord with the seaman's code. Hearing this, the pages ran forward yelling, 'The seaman's code is something for people like you! Do you think that we samurai are going to let you take equipment from a boat carrying warriors? We will cut you down and throw you into the sea to the last man!' With that, all the seamen fled back to their own ship.
At such a time, one must act like a samurai. For trifling occasions it is better to accomplish things simply by yelling. By making something more significant than it really is and missing one's chance, an affair will not be brought to a close and will be no accomplishment at all.
A certain person who came up with a cash shortage when closing out an account book sent a letter to his section leader saying, 'It is regrettable to have to commit seppuku over a matter of money. As you are my section leader, please send some funds.' Since this was reasonable, the balance was provided and the matter was closed. It is said that even wrongdoings can be managed without detection.
By being impatient, matters are damaged and great works cannot be done. If one considers something not to be a matter of time, it will be done surprisingly quickly. Times change. Think about the world fifteen years from now. It should be rather different, but if one were to look into a book of prophecies, I imagine that it would not be that different. In the passing fifteen years, not one of the useful men of today will be left. And even if men who are young now come forth, probably less than half will make it. Worth gradually wanes. For example, if there were a shortage of gold, silver would become treasure, and if there were a shortage of silver, copper would be valued. With changing times and the waning of men's capacities, one would be of suitable worth even if he put forth only slight effort. Something like fifteen years is the space of a dream. If a man but takes care of his health, in the end he will have accomplished his purpose and will be a valuable person. Certainly in a period when masters are many, one must put forth considerable effort. But at the time when the world is sliding into a decline, to excel is easy.
To put forth great effort in correcting a person's bad habits is the way it should be done. One should be like the digger wasp. It is said that even with an adopted child, if you teach him continually so that he will resemble you, he surely will.
If your strength is only that which comes from vitality, your words and personal conduct will appear to be in accord with the Way, and you will be praised by others. But when you question yourself about this, there will be nothing to be said. The last line of the poem that goes, 'When your own heart asks,' is the secret principle of all the arts. It is said that it is a good censor.
When you are listening to the stories of accomplished men and the like, you should listen with deep sincerity, even if it's something about which you already know. If in listening to the same thing ten or twenty times it happens that you come to an unexpected understanding, that moment will be very special. Within the tedious talk of old folks are their meritorious deeds.
CHAPTER 3
Lord Naoshige once said, 'There is nothing felt quite so deeply as girl There are times when someone like a cousin dies and it is not a matter of shedding tears. But we may hear of someone who lived fifty or a hundred years ago, of whom we know nothing and who has no family ties with us whatsoever, and yet from a sense giri shed tears.'
When Lord Naoshige was passing by a place called Chiriku, someone said to him, ' 'In this place there lives a man who is over ninety years old. Since this man is so fortunate, why don't you stop and see him?' Naoshige heard this and said, 'How could anyone be more pitiful than this man? How many of his children and grandchildren do you suppose he has seen fall before his very eyes? Where is the good fortune in that?' It seems that he did not stop to see the man.
When Lord Naoshige was speaking to his grandson, Lord Motoshige, he said, 'No matter whether one be of high or low rank, a family line is something that will decline when its trine has come. If one tries to keep it from going to ruin at that time, it will have an unsightly finish. If one thinks that the time has come, it is best to let it go down with good grace. Doing so, he may even cause it to be maintained.' It is said that Motoshige's younger brother heard this from him.
CHAPTER 4
When Nabeshima Tadanao was fifteen years old, a manservant in the kitchen committed some rude act and a foot soldier was about to beat him, but in the end the servant cut the soldier down. The clan elders deemed the death sentence appropriate, saying that the man had in the first place erred in matters concerning the ranks of men, and that he had also shed the blood of his opponent. Tadanao heard this and said, 'Which is worse, to err in matters concerning the ranks of men or to stray from the Way of the Samurai?'' The elders were unable to answer. Then Tadanao said, 'I have read that when the crime itself is unclear, the punishment should be light. Put him in confinement for a while.'
Once, when Lord Katsushige was hunting at Shiroishi, he shot a large boar. Everyone came running up to see it and said, 'Well, well. You have brought down an uncommonly large one!' Suddenly the boar got up and dashed into their midst. All of them fled in confusion, but Nabeshima Matabet drew his sword and finished it off. At that point Lord Katsushige covered his face with his sleeve and said, 'It sure is dusty.' This was presumably because he did not want to see the spectacle of his flustered men.
When Lord Katsushige was young, he was instructed by his father, Lord Naoshige, 'For practice in cutting, execute some men who have been condemned to death.' Thus, in the place that is now within the western gate, ten men were lined up, and Katsushige continued to decapitate one after another until he had executed nine of them. When he came to the tenth, he saw that the man was young and healthy and said, 'I'm tired of cutting now. I'll spare this man's life.' And the man's life was saved.
