The Golden Country (13 page)

YUKI: Gennosuke, if you step on
the fumi-e,
the bond that binds our two hearts together will snap forever. This may have been made by an unknown craftsman in Nagasaki, but to me it has been all my life the most precious of all things. All my life I have adored it. If you step on it, you will go completely out of my life. Instead, step on me.

HIRATA: Oh, this is very interesting. I like nothing better than to throw mud at what is beautiful and spit on what is noble. This kind of perversion the officials of the bureau must all have to some degree. Gennosuke, this lady is asking you to step on her face instead of on the
fumi-e.

YUKI: Hirata-dono, will you be satisfied if Gennosuke steps on me? Will that clear up your suspicions?

HIRATA: It most certainly will.

YUKI: Then, Gennosuke, please step on me. Everything that's happened has been my fault. Step on me.

She pauses as she waits for Gennosuke to step on her. But he cannot.

YUKI: Quickly, step on me. I don't want to see you suffer.

GENNOSUKE: I don't know anything about the teaching of Christ. But now I see this clearly. If Yuki is to be hung in the pit, I want to be hung there too. If she is to be burned, I want to die with her. I want to be with her always.

HIRATA: How touching!

Hirata hits Gennosuke.

FERREIRA: Stop! Stop!

He begins to crawl on the floor.

FERREIRA: Aaa.

He twists his body and seems about to burst into tears.

FERREIRA: You were not silent after all. I thought that you were always silent. But you weren't.

Ferreira stands, and, staggering, makes his way to the
fumi-e.

FERREIRA: Lord Inoue, watch carefully. Hirata, you too. I am going to step on Our Lord's face.

He does so.

The farmers, astonished, begin to talk among themselves.

HISAICHI: Father, what are you doing? Have you gone mad?

MOKICHI: And we were able to endure till now.

FERREIRA: Friends, I just stepped on the
fumi-e—not
as a priest, but as an individual. All of you too, go ahead and step on it. Even if you step on it, Christ won't be angry. That's what I finally came to understand. Finally. Finally.

HISAICHI: What are you saying, Father? Have you abandoned us?

MOKICHI: It was too much for him. He's lost his wits.

FERREIRA
(in a frenzy):
I have not lost my wits. I tell you in all seriousness. Christ won't be angry if you step on the fumi-e. He won't be angry. He won't.

HISAICHI: Father, you've become another Judas.

MOKICHI: Yes, yes, he's become a Judas.

HIRATA
(laughs)
See! Your foreign barbarian priest has stepped on the
fumi-e.
We are stronger than your God. That's what your Ferreira is teaching you.

INOUE: Stop it. Hirata, stop it.

Leaning against a pillar as if in pain

INOUE: I never wanted to see this. I wanted to believe that you at least would conquer over me. I wanted to see by your actions that through you at least the way of Christ would sink its roots in Japan.

FERREIRA: Go ahead and step on it. Christ won't be angry with you for stepping on it. God was not silent.

INOUE
(as if in pain):
Hirata, lead Ferreira out of here. Take all the others too, all of them.

They all leave. Inoue is alone.

INOUE: Why did you have to fall, Ferreira? It wasn't only you that I was torturing. I was torturing also myself, this self that apostatized twenty years ago—and also this mudswamp of a country.

CURTAIN

A year later. The home of Ferreira, who is now known as Sawano Chuan. The
shoji
(sliding doors) are closed. A children's song can be heard outside. Norosaku is alone on the stage. He is shaving a large piece of wood with a hatchet. His face wears a grim expression.

HATSU
(only her voice):
Stop that. You children are devils.

CHILDREN'S VOICES
(in sing-song chant):
Fallen Father Ferreira. Fallen Father Ferreira.

Hatsu comes onstage.

HATSU: How long are you going to keep working away at that wood? You've been at it since lunch.

Norosaku, without a word, continues to move his hands mechanically.

HATSU: That sound drives me crazy.

Hatsu leaves the room For a long time there is only Norosaku shaving his wood.
Then Hirata enters. Norosaku stares at him.

HIRATA: Get out of my way, idiot.

Norosaku, frowning, moves backward and leaves the stage.

HIRATA: Sawano, Sawano Chuan. Aren't you at home? Sawano.

The sliding doors open and Ferreira's face appears.

FERREIRA: I'm home.

HIRATA: What were you doing?

FERREIRA: Nothing in particular. Do you want to take me to the bureau again today? Are there more articles from the Dutch ships to be identified?

HIRATA: No, that's not why I've come. Do you know what day this is?

Ferreira is silent.

HIRATA: Do you pretend not to know? You know well enough. I have my perverse side, but these days you're even more warped than I.

FERREIRA: It's not perverseness. I've just lost interest in what goes on in the world.

HIRATA: As if you were dead, do you mean? I can't blame you, especially since you've shed your own name and have taken the name of an executed criminal, Sawano.

FERREIRA: I didn't take it. It was forced on me. But it no longer makes any difference.

HIRATA: Don't speak so melodramatically. You'll make me cry. But when it comes right down to it, you're a man of singular destiny. You came from far away Europe to Japan, worked here as a missionary for twenty-three years, apostatized, and are now working for us, your former enemies. I guess you've a right to be sad. Still, it's good to have remained alive.

FERREIRA: Do you think so?

HIRATA: It's very strange, isn't it? I was your enemy until just a year ago, and here I'm trying to console you. I'm something of a strange fellow too.... All right. If you really don't know, I'll tell you. Today, by official order, five of the farmers of Korimura and the daughter of Tomonaga will be executed. Gennosuke has been added to their number.

Ferreira listens silently, arms embracing his legs.

HIRATA: What's the matter? Aren't you surprised, even at this?

FERREIRA: I knew this day would come.

HIRATA: In just a few minutes the Christians, with Yuki and Gennosuke at the fore, will be led around Nagasaki on unsaddled horses. From Banzai-machi to Omura-machi, to Motokonya, passing through Goto-machi to Iwahara River.

FERREIRA: Yuki and Gennosuke? Also, Hisaichi and Mokichi. Will they be burned?

HIRATA: No. Stakes will be planted in the inlet of Iwahara River and they'll be bound to them. Toward evening the sea will swallow them up little by little. Until that time,
if any of them by even a single word or gesture indicates he will give up his religion, he'll be saved.

FERREIRA: This scheme smacks of Inoue.

HIRATA: Inoue wishes to postpone the execution to the last possible moment. He is overly solicitous. And it was he who bade me come to inform you of the executions.

FERREIRA: You call that solicitude?

HIRATA: Don't judge him so harshly. To think the worst of all men is my privilege. You must have more faith in people. For example, Inoue. Incidentally, he asked me to give you this.

Hirata unwraps the package and pulls out a painting of Christ.

HIRATA: Do you remember this? It's said to be a painting of Giovanni Niccolo, the Italian artist who came to Japan in the 1580's. Inoue told me to bring this to you.

FERREIRA: He asked you to bring this to me now! How cruel of him!

HIRATA: He asks that at least today you pray for Yuki and the other prisoners.

FERREIRA: Does he tell an apostatized priest to pray?

HIRATA: Don't take it so hard! The bureau has become very sophisticated in its operation. In this new atmosphere there's much that even I must still learn. The officials are now men of sensitivity. Sounds very nice, doesn't it? But I must be on my way. I must go round and make sure that everything is ready for the executions.

Hirata departs. The sound of children singing the same chant as above. Sound of falling stones. The children renew the shout:
"Fallen Father Ferreira. Fallen Father Ferreira."
Father Ferreira sits, arms embracing his knees, looking up at the sky. The lights dim, indicating passage of time. When they come up again, Ferreira is still in the same position. Kasuke, dressed as a beggar, speaks to him from the shadow.

KASUKE: Father, Father.

FERREIRA: Who is it?

KASUKE: It's me-Kasuke from Korimura.

Ferreira, surprised, closes the sliding doors.

KASUKE: Father, won't you let me in?

FERREIRA: I'm no longer "Father." The children are right: I am the fallen Father.

KASUKE: I know that. If you are the fallen Father, I am the fallen Christian.

FERREIRA: According to the Japanese proverb, those with the same disease console each other. But if you've come here to console me, there's no need for it. You mustn't be found here or you'll be under suspicion. Hurry and leave.

KASUKE: I have a favor to ask you. Won't you please open up?

FERREIRA: Why?

KASUKE: Even though you've apostatized, you still have the power to hear my confession. Please absolve me from my sins. If I stay this way, I'll go straight to hell.

FERREIRA: Go to hell? I wonder. Do you really think you and I will go to hell?

KASUKE: Ah, how I envy Hisaichi and Mokichi. Just about now they're being welcomed to heaven by Santa Maria.

FERREIRA
(opening the doors halfway):
Did you see them ? Were you on the spot?

KASUKE: Yes, I was in the crowd.

FERREIRA: Tell me about it.

KASUKE: Mokichi and Hisaichi were on the third and fourth horses. The first horse was Gennosuke's, the second, Yuki's. The officials held the horses' bridles and led them from the bureau to Banzai-machi, then made a circle around Motokonya and ended up at Iwahara River. The streets were jammed with people. Occasionally one would throw a stone. Since their hands were tied behind them, they had a hard time protecting their faces. Gennosuke and Yuki were both hit, and blood gushed from Yuki's cheek.

FERREIRA: Blood from Yuki's cheek!

KASUKE: She kept her eyes down. The horse staggered and the official had to take firmer hold of the bridle. They came to the inlet of Iwahara River. On the edge of the waves they sank seven stakes and tied the seven prisoners to them. Even here the people pressed forward, shouting and laughing. There were voices crying, "Apostatize! Apostatize!"

Ferreira sighs and covers his face.

KASUKE: Evening fell and the tide came in, Father. The stakes began to sink into the water. The feet of the martyrs were now under water. Gradually the water rose to their hips. Then Hisaichi let out a loud cry which drew everyone toward him.

FERREIRA: They all came toward him?

KASUKE: Yes. Then Hisaichi began to sing:

We're on our way, we're on our way,

We're on our way to the temple of Paradise.

The temple of Paradise is far away,

The temple of Paradise is far away.

But we're on our way, we're on our way,

We're on our way to the temple of Paradise.

Father, Father, what are we to do? Father, you're an apostate too, like me. Aren't you afraid?

FERREIRA
(as if speaking to himself):
Will we really go to hell?

KASUKE: What did you say, Father?

FERREIRA: You apostatized. You stepped on the
fumi-e.
But tell me, when you set your foot down on the face of Christ, didn't you feel a pain shoot up your leg? Didn't your leg hurt you?

KASUKE: It hurt me very much.

He begins to cry.

FERREIRA: The pain of stepping upon a face that should never be stepped on.