Ogin

Genna, perhaps, or Kan'ei—at any rate, it was long, long ago.

By that time, anyone who professed the holy faith of the Lord of Heaven was already being burned alive or crucified as soon as they were discovered. Yet perhaps because the persecution was so fierce, the "Lord who grants all things in accordance with His will" seems in those days to have bestowed even more manifest protection upon the believers of this land. In the villages around Nagasaki, angels and saints would sometimes appear together with the light of evening. It is said that even San Joan Baptista himself once showed his form in the mill hut of the believer Miguel Yahei in Urakami. At the same time, the Devil too, in order to obstruct the believers' devotions, would often appear in those same villages, sometimes in the shape of an unfamiliar black man, sometimes as an exotic imported flower, sometimes as a wicker litter. Even the rats that tormented Miguel Yahei in the earthen prison where night and day were indistinguishable were, it is said, transformations of the Devil. Yahei was burned alive in the autumn of Genna 8 together with eleven other believers. And this was in that Genna, or Kan'ei—at any rate, long, long ago.

In that same mountain hamlet of Urakami there lived a little girl named Ogin. Ogin's father and mother had wandered all the way from Osaka to Nagasaki. But before they could make anything of themselves, both died, leaving Ogin behind alone.

Naturally, being people from another province, they could not have known the holy faith of the Lord of Heaven. What they believed in was Buddhism. Zen, perhaps, or the Lotus, or else the Pure Land—whatever it was, it was the teaching of Shaka. According to a certain French Jesuit, Shaka, who by nature abounded in crafty intelligence, traveled through the various regions of China preaching the way of a Buddha called Amida. Later he came also to the land of Japan to teach that same way. According to the doctrine Shaka preached, the souls of us human beings, according to the lightness or gravity, shallowness or depth, of our sins, may become small birds, or oxen, or even trees. Moreover, it is said that when Shaka was born he killed his own mother. The absurdity of Shaka's teaching is obvious; so too is the greatness of Shaka's wickedness. (Jean Crasset.) But Ogin's mother, as I have already written in passing, could not possibly have known such truths. Even after drawing their last breath, her parents still believed in Shaka's teaching. Beneath the pines in the lonely grave field, not knowing that in the end they will fall into inferno, they dream their fleeting dream of paradise.

But happily Ogin was not stained by her parents' ignorance. For a farmer settled in Yamazato Village, the compassionate Joan Magoshichi, had long since poured upon the girl's brow the holy water of baptism and given her the name Maria. Ogin did not believe the tale that, when Shaka was born, he pointed to heaven and earth and roared like a lion, "Above heaven and below heaven, I alone am the honored one." Instead, she believed in the maiden Santa Maria, "deep in tenderness, deep in pity, surpassingly sweet," who conceived without the course of nature. She believed that Jesus, who "was nailed to the Cross, died, and was laid in a stone tomb," buried in the depths of the earth, rose again after three days. She believed that when the trumpet of Judgment sounded, "our Lord, with great glory and great majesty, shall descend, and restore the bodies of men turned to dust, joining them again to their souls, and the good shall receive the delights of heaven, while the evil, together with the tengu, shall fall into hell." Above all, she believed in the holy sacrament, by whose blessed virtue "though the appearance and form of bread and wine remain unchanged, their true substance is transformed into the flesh and blood of our Lord."

Ogin's heart, unlike her parents', was no desert scoured by hot winds. It was a fruitful wheat field, dotted with simple wild roses. After losing her parents, Ogin became the adopted daughter of Joan Magoshichi. Magoshichi's wife, Joanna Osumi, was likewise a woman of gentle heart. Together with this couple Ogin drove the cattle, harvested the wheat, and passed her days in happiness. Of course, even amid such a life, so long as they did not draw the attention of the villagers, they never neglected their fasting and prayers. Beneath the fig tree by the well, gazing up at a great crescent moon, Ogin would often pray with fervent concentration. The prayers of this long-haired little girl were simple enough.

"Merciful Mother, we offer reverence to thee. We children of Eve, exiles, cry unto thee. Ah, turn thy tender eyes upon us in this valley of tears. Amen."

Then, one year, on the night of Natale—the Feast of the Nativity—the Devil came suddenly into Magoshichi's house together with several officials. In Magoshichi's house a great hearth fire was blazing with the wood for the Christmas vigil. On the soot-darkened wall, for this night alone, a cross had been enshrined. And in the cowshed behind the house, water had been poured into the feed trough for the bathing of the infant Jesus. Nodding to one another, the officials bound Magoshichi and his wife with ropes. Ogin too was tied up at the same time. But none of the three looked abashed in the least. If it was for the salvation of their souls, they were prepared for any torment. The Lord would surely grant them His protection. And to have been arrested on the night of Natale—was that not itself proof of heaven's favor? It was with this certainty, as though they had all agreed upon it beforehand, that they believed. After binding them, the officials led them away to the magistrate's residence. But even along the הדרך, blown by the wind of the dark night, they went on reciting the prayers of the Nativity.

"O young prince born in the land of Bethlehem, where art thou now? Be praised and adored."

When the Devil saw them captured, he clapped his hands and laughed with delight. But their brave bearing seems to have angered him not a little. Once he was alone, he spat in vexation; and in the same instant he turned into a great millstone. Then, rolling with a rumble, he vanished into the darkness.

Joan Magoshichi, Joanna Osumi, and Maria Ogin were thrown into an earthen prison and subjected to all manner of tortures to make them abandon the holy faith of the Lord of Heaven. But even under water torture and fire torture, their resolve did not waver. However much their flesh might blister and rot, there was only one more breath of endurance before they could enter the gate of paradise. No—when they remembered the great grace of the Lord of Heaven, even this dark earthen prison differed in nothing from the splendor of paradise itself. Moreover, holy angels and saints often came to console them in states that seemed half dream, half waking vision. It was Ogin, above all, who seems to have been favored with such happiness. Ogin once saw San Joan Baptista scoop up a great handful of locusts in his broad palms and tell her to eat them. She also saw the archangel Gabriel, with his white wings folded, offer her water in a beautiful golden cup.

The magistrate, being ignorant not only of the holy faith of the Lord of Heaven but even of the teachings of Shaka, could not understand at all why they persisted so obstinately. At times he even wondered whether all three might be mad. But once he saw they were not mad, he began to feel instead that they were like creatures outside the bounds of humanity—great serpents or unicorns or some such beasts unrelated to mankind. To leave such creatures alive would not only violate the laws of the day but endanger the safety of the whole country. So, after keeping them in the earthen prison for about a month, the magistrate finally decided to burn all three alive. (To tell the truth, this magistrate, like people in general, scarcely gave a thought to whether the safety of the country was really at stake. There was, first of all, the law, and secondly the morality of the people; and without troubling to think any further, he found himself in no particular inconvenience.)

The three believers—Joan Magoshichi first among them—showed no sign of fear even as they were led to the execution ground beyond the edge of the village. The execution ground was a stony open space adjoining the grave field. When they arrived there, their crimes were read aloud to them one by one, after which they were bound to thick square posts. Then they were set up in the middle of the ground, Joanna Osumi on the right, Joan Magoshichi in the center, and Maria Ogin on the left. Because of the continual tortures, Osumi looked as though she had suddenly grown old. Magoshichi, too, had almost no color left in the cheeks beneath his overgrown beard. Ogin—compared with the other two, she still seemed almost unchanged. Yet all three, standing upon the piled faggots, wore equally tranquil faces.

A great crowd of spectators had gathered around the execution ground long before. Beyond that ring of onlookers, in the sky behind them, five or six pines from the grave field spread their branches like a canopy.

When all preparations were complete, one of the officials advanced solemnly before the three and said that they were being granted a little time to think once more whether they would abandon the holy faith of the Lord of Heaven or not; if they would renounce it, their bonds would be removed at once. But they did not answer. All kept their eyes fixed on the distant sky, and even held faint smiles upon their lips.

There had perhaps never been a few minutes in which not only the officials but even the spectators became so utterly hushed. Countless eyes, without so much as a blink, were fixed upon the faces of the three. But it was not because they had all caught their breath out of pity. The spectators were mostly waiting, thinking, Now? Now? for the fire to be set. And the officials, thoroughly bored by the delay in the execution, did not even have the courage to speak.

Then suddenly the ears of everyone present caught a distinct and unexpected voice.

"I have decided to abandon the holy faith."

It was Ogin who had spoken. At once the crowd broke into an uproar. But after that first wave of commotion, it instantly fell silent again. For Magoshichi had turned sorrowfully toward Ogin and spoken in a weak voice.

"Ogin! Have you been deceived by the Devil? Endure just a little longer and you will behold the face of our Lord."

Before he had even finished, Osumi too called out with desperate earnestness toward Ogin.

"Ogin! Ogin! The Devil has taken hold of you. Pray, child. Pray!"

But Ogin did not answer. She only kept her eyes upon the pines of the grave field beyond the crowd, those pines spreading their branches like a canopy. Meanwhile one of the officials had already given the order to untie Ogin.

The moment he saw that, Joan Magoshichi closed his eyes as though in resignation.

"Lord who grants all things according to His will, I entrust myself to Thy design."

Freed at last from her bonds, Ogin stood dazed for a while. But when she looked at Magoshichi and Osumi, she suddenly knelt before them and, without saying anything, began to weep. Magoshichi kept his eyes closed. Osumi, too, with her face turned away, would not look at Ogin.

"Father, Mother, please forgive me."

At last Ogin opened her mouth.

"I have abandoned the holy faith. The reason is this: I happened to notice the tops of those pines over there, like a canopy. Beneath the pines in that grave field lie my own father and mother. They knew nothing of the holy faith of the Lord of Heaven, and surely by now they have fallen into inferno. If I alone were now to enter the gate of paradise, I could never answer for it. I too must go down to the depths of hell and follow after my parents. So please, Father and Mother, do you go to the side of Jesus and Maria. But once I have abandoned the holy faith, I myself cannot go on living..."

After saying this in broken phrases, Ogin sank into sobbing. Then Joanna Osumi too began to let tears fall softly onto the firewood beneath her feet. To be on the point of entering paradise and yet abandon oneself to useless grief was, of course, no conduct for a believer. Turning toward his wife with bitterness, Joan Magoshichi rebuked her in a shrill voice.

"Have you too been possessed by the Devil? If you want to abandon the holy faith, then abandon it by yourself if you please. I'll burn to death alone if I must."

"No, I will go with you. But that is—not because—"

After swallowing her tears, Osumi flung out the words almost in a cry.

"But that is not because I wish to go to paradise. It is only because I wish to go with you—with you."

For a long time Magoshichi said nothing. But his face turned pale, then flushed with blood again. At the same time beads of sweat began to gather all over it. In the eyes of his heart he was now looking at his own soul. He was watching angels and devils struggling over it. Had Ogin, crouched weeping at his feet, not raised her face at that moment—no, now she did raise it. And in those eyes, overflowing with tears, there shone a strange light as she gazed steadily at him. What flashed in the depths of those eyes was not only the heart of an innocent little girl. It was the heart of all humanity, of all the children of Eve in exile.

"Father! Let us go to inferno. Mother, and I, and the father and mother over there—let us all be carried away by the Devil."

At last Magoshichi fell.

Among the many tales of the sufferings of the Kirishitan in our country, this story was handed down to later generations as the most shameful instance of stumbling. It is said that when all three declared they would renounce the faith, even the old and young men and women among the spectators, who understood nothing of the Lord of Heaven, hated them to a person. This may perhaps have been resentment at being cheated, after all that expectation, of the spectacle of the burning itself. Furthermore, according to what has been handed down, the Devil, in his boundless rejoicing, flew over the execution ground at midnight transformed into a great book. The author is extremely doubtful whether this success of the Devil was really so complete as to justify such unrestrained delight.

(August, Taisho 11 [1922])