Bakemono Yashiki, page 89 by James S. de Benneville
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through the town, particularly at the amusement quarter of Asakusa; seeking quarrels with ro[u]nin, abusing women, and literally gravelling the discomfited townsmen, not seldom left on the ground, subsequently to be put into it. The Otokodaté, or chivalrous band, were indeed needed in this state of early Edo. They could hold their own, inasmuch as the samurai involved dared not bring a quarrel to light. He had the advantage of his training; and by the rules of his caste did not hesitate to have assassinated a plebeian he could not overcome, and chose to regard as impertinent. Collisions with these, however, were rare. Ro[u]nin were the particular object of dislike of the Tokugawa adherents. It was the great exception made, when Hida no Kami (Yagyu[u] Matajuro[u]) admitted Kumé no Heinai to his fencing room and discipleship. The ro[u]nin, of course, deserved the proscription, being often the devoted adherents of a lost cause--Hoo[u]jo[u] or Toyotomi--and unwilling to transfer their fealty to a second lord. The most noted and hated of the ro[u]nin, though free from any taint of rebellion to the Tokugawa, was this Heinaibei; the vilest assassination, that of his friend Bandzuin Cho[u]bei by Mizuno Juro[u]zaémon aided by other members of the Shiratsukagumi.
Endo[u] Saburo[u]zaémon had related the mishap of his chu[u]gen, his own experience in pursuing the offenders. The old fellows, heroes of the Genwa and Kwanei periods, were gathered close to a hibachi. Despite the season age sought pretence of warmth or closer company. Said the veteran Matsudaira Montaro[u]--"O[u]kubo, what think you? Surely the ice water of gathering years runs in our veins. Such happenings, so close to the dwelling of the Ue Sama, never would have taken place in former days. But we are old. The stiffened joints and the wrinkles would not deceive such miscreants. 'Twould be a palpable fraud, our presentation."--"True," growled Shichinosuké; "