Page:Tales from old Japanese dramas (1915).djvu/317

 VI

now let us return to Komazawa Jirōzayémon. At his uncle's order, he hurried to Kamakura where he found to his consternation that the profligacy of his lord, Ōuchi Yoshi-oki, was even worse than it had been represented. Yoshi-oki, under the spell of a beautiful courtezan called Segawa, was abandoning himself day and night to vicious courses. This mode of life, if nothing occurred to check it, was certain to result in the ruin of his house and the forfeiture of his fief. Jirōzayémon had to tax all his brains before he hit upon a plan for intervention. By clever dealing with the harlot, who was, at heart, of an honest and unselfish nature, he won her over at last to his support. One day, in the midst of Yoshi-oki's merry-making, Jirōzayémon and the girl, making common cause, expostulated with him strongly, though in this the vassal risked his very life. But their words opened the eyes of the young nobleman to his folly, and he determined from that hour to turn over a new leaf. 245