Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 4.djvu/111

 recourse to violence, he invites the hostile parties to a wine feast and summons them to be reconciled, requiring both to drink sake from the same cup and then to clap their hands a certain number of times in unison with the whole party. These banquets are conducted with great solemnity. A majority, if not all, of the "parents" in the city attend, and should either of the dissentients refuse to obey, expulsion or even a worse fate awaits him. There is in the relations between the oyabun and the kobun of this class much that recalls feudal times. The kobun regards himself as the vassal of the oyabun, and will sacrifice his life to execute the latter's orders, whereas the oyabun, on his side, is under a moral pledge to extend his full protection to the kobun, minister to the latter's wants, and provide for his family should he be thrown into prison. There is a set ceremony of initiation into the ranks of the gorotsuki, and a somewhat similar ceremony serves to cement friendship between the various "parents," who regard it as a sacred duty to succour and protect one another's kobun. It will presently be seen, when there is occasion to speak of the otoko-date of later Tokugawa times, that the gorotsuki of the present era perpetuates his vices and parodies his virtues.

In the same context with the loafer, to whom he is closely related, must be mentioned the sōshi, or "stalwart of modern Japan." Much has been