The Samurai of the Red Carnation by Denis Thériault

Author:Denis Thériault
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pushkin Press
Published: 2024-09-15T00:00:00+00:00

He thought of the lines from the Blades, rehearsed them in his mind, and released the arrow. The flask was shattered. Admiring cries rose all around. Matsuo saw a new respect among his onlookers.

‘I’m a better shot on horseback,’ he told them.

Gotomon burst out laughing.

‘I underestimated you, Poet. You could be very useful, after all. I need a good archer. What do you say to joining our band of brothers?’

Clearly, the bandit chief would brook no refusal.

Matsuo needed a new name, in the outlaw tradition. His bandit name protected his identity and signalled his renunciation of the rules and conventions that governed the society of so-called ‘decent, honest’ folk. The rite of initiation took place that very evening, in a drunken ceremony attended by all of the Lambs. As part of the ritual, Gotomon assigned a symbolic Mother-figure to Matsuo. The role was performed by a huge fellow plastered in make-up and dressed as a woman, between whose hairy legs Matsuo was made to climb, and pretend to be born. In the self-appointed role of the Father, Gotomon demanded the ‘newborn baby’ renounce the Imperial laws and swear to live only by the outlaws’ code, from now on. Then Matsuo was ordered to state his new name.

‘Akai Kānēshon!’ he cried. And the gang burst out laughing. Evidently, they thought Matsuo’s chosen moniker – a delicate flower, the red carnation – was hilarious. But each new initiate had the right to take whatever name they pleased, however ridiculous it might seem.

‘Akai Kānēshon it shall be!’ roared Gotomon, and he confirmed Matsuo’s initiation in the time-honoured way, by pouring a generous quantity of saké into the new Lamb’s mouth.

Akai Kānēshon’s initiation was the pretext for drunken revelries that continued late into the night. In the early hours of the morning, Matsuo – who had been careful to moderate his drinking – hoped to take advantage of the comatose state of much of the company, and escape. But as he crossed the camp, picking his way over the sprawled legs of the slumbering outlaws, he was caught unawares by Suzume. She had guessed he would try to leave, and her eyes blazed with fury. Matsuo feared she would raise the alarm, but she challenged him instead.

‘Why won’t you stay here?’

‘I cannot,’ Matsuo told her.

Suzume acknowledged that they were nothing but an absurd, motley band of ne’er-do-wells, coarse and violent, but she added in the same breath that her father had a good heart. Life with the Lambs was not as bad as all that. At least they lived free. Matsuo readily admitted that an outlaw existence had its charms, but he could not live as a bandit. He explained to Suzume that such a choice was morally impossible.

‘I cannot dishonour my father’s memory by becoming one of the outlaws he fought all his life.’

‘I understand.’ Suzume was bitterly disappointed. ‘You’re going back to Kyoto – is that it?’

‘I must.’

‘She’s a lucky woman, your Yoko,’ said Suzume sorrowfully. ‘I hope she deserves your love.’ Matsuo placed a kiss on her forehead, then hurried away.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.