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Updated: May 9, 2025
On the appointed day all the village officers met at the place agreed upon, Sôgorô, the chief of the village of Iwahashi, alone being missing; and as on the following day Sôgorô had not yet arrived, they deputed one of their number, named Rokurobei, to inquire the reason.
It was determined, with one accord, that one hundred and forty-three village chiefs should go to Yedo; and the chief of the village of Iwahashi, one Sôgorô, a man forty-eight years of age, distinguished for his ability and judgment, ruling a district which produced a thousand kokus, stepped forward, and said "This is by no means an easy matter, my masters.
Accordingly, on the 19th, Rokurobei and one Jiuyémon started for the village of Iwahashi at noon, and arrived the same evening. Now the village chief Sôgorô, who had made up his mind that the presentation of this memorial was not a matter to be lightly treated, summoned his wife and children and his relations, and said to them
With regard to Sôgorô, the elder of the village of Iwahashi, who ventured to petition his highness the Shogun in person, thus being guilty of a heinous crime, he has been sentenced to death in the castle-town. With fear and trembling we recognize the justice of his sentence.
Your wife is sentenced to die in like manner; and your children will be decapitated. "This sentence is passed upon the following persons: "Sôgorô, chief of the village of Iwahashi, aged 48. "His wife, Man, aged 38. "His son, Gennosuké, aged 13. "His son, Sôhei, aged 10. "His son, Kihachi, aged 7."
"Although the property of Sôgorô, the elder of the village of Iwahashi, is confiscated, his household furniture shall be made over to his two married daughters; and the village officials will look to it that these few poor things be not stolen by lawless and unprincipled men. "His rice-fields and corn-fields, his mountain land and forest land, will be sold by auction.
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