The Golden Country

by Shusaku Endo

  YUKI: My father?

  HIRATA (imitates her voice): My father? Yes, your father. Do you want to die in the pit, as your father did?

  Yuki lets out a startled cry and collapses. Hirata roughly slaps her hands. Ferreira turns about. Gennosuke tries to restrain Hirata's hand. One of the officials seizes Gennosuke.

  OFFICIAL: Gennosuke, stop it. If you don't stop, you're in danger.

  HIRATA: What are you doing? Have you gone mad? No, you haven't. You've long been an accomplice of these Christians.

  GENNOSUKE: Even if Yuki is a Christian, she is a helpless woman. You've been too cruel.

  HIRATA: Has your pity turned into love? Do you think I'm blind, Gennosuke? You seem to have had a secret tryst with this girl in prison last night.

  GENNOSUKE (in consternation): What are you saying? Of course I went to the prison last night. But it was only to make certain they were properly guarded.

  HIRATA (laughing): Oh, that's most commendable. But didn't you tell her that you'd like to become a Christian? I heard the whole conversation. Don't get angry. I suspect everyone.

  GENNOSUKE: What proof do you have?

  HIRATA: Proof? What about that thing hanging around your neck? Couldn't you call that proof?

  Hirata has the guard pull the crucifix from his neck.

  INOUE: Gennosuke, you must have picked this up somewhere. You could never have done this seriously. Why don't you explain?

  HIRATA: Even if he did pick it up somewhere, to walk about wearing objects that are under proscription is forbidden by the edict, even to a samurai. Why don't you answer?

  Gennosuke remains silent.

  HIRATA: Gennosuke, since things have come to this pass, we must consider the other officials and guards. We must ask you to show that you are not a Christian.

  GENNOSUKE: I am not a Christian.

  HIRATA: If that is so, then please step on the fumi-e. No, I have a better plan. If you are not the accomplice of this Christian girl, show it by stepping on her.

  GENNOSUKE: What are you saying?

  HIRATA: Then you won't do it?

  GENNOSUKE (turns to Inoue for help): Dono.

  Inoue averts his face and remains silent.

  GENNOSUKE: Dono.

  INOUE: I'd like to help you, Gennosuke. I'd like to help you, but the officials of the bureau have their own rule.

  Since you were caught wearing a proscribed crucifix around your neck, you must do as Hirata says and give proof to the other officials that you are not a Christian.

  GENNOSUKE: Dono, if you tell me to step on the fumi-e I will do it.

  Gennosuke makes as if to plant his foot on the fumi-e.

  YUKI (bending over the fumi-e): No, that's the one thing you must not do! Please stop! Please stop!

  HIRATA: The situation gets more and more troublesome.

  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

  * * *

  ACT THREE SCENE FOUR

  * * *

  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 n
ot 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.

  He brings out the painting that Hirata has just given him.

  FERREIRA: Is this the way Christ looked when you stepped on him?

  KASUKE (looking at it carefully, then shaking his head): No, this wasn't the face I stepped on.

  FERREIRA: This wasn't the face. Is that right? You're of the same opinion, then? The face of Christ that day was not a beautiful and noble face such as this.

  Ferreira brings out another picture of Christ's face. It is the emaciated, exhausted face of Christ on the cross.

  KASUKE: Yes, yes, it was this face. Who painted it?

  FERREIRA: I did.

  KASUKE: You?

  FERREIRA: To me Christ is no longer the Christ of the beautiful and noble face, but rather this Christ. Yuki that day told Gennosuke to go ahead and step on her face. Wasn't that touching? To save the man she loves, even a young girl will beg him to stamp on her. Those words were words of love. Even young lovers will sacrifice themselves for each other. Do you understand?

  KASUKE: Understand what?

  FERREIRA: I see that you don't. If Christ really loves us, Kasuke, then he knows our weakness. He knows how much pain you felt, he knows how we suffered in stamping on the fumi-e. And like Yuki that day his voice too
was full of pity and tearful compassion as he whispered to us.

  KASUKE: He whispered to us?

  FERREIRA: Yes, yes. The Christ in the fumi-e bade us in tears: "Stamp on me. Stamp on me. It is for this that I exist—to be stepped on by suffering mankind, to take upon myself the pain of men's legs as they step upon me. I am in pain. But so are you. If that is so, then it's all right for you to stamp on me." This is how he spoke—just exactly as Yuki spoke.

  KASUKE: It can't be. It can't be.

  FERREIRA: It is. It is. It was for this that Christ shouldered his cross.

  KASUKE: It can't be. It can't be.

  FERREIRA: A long time ago you came to me with a problem. It was about something Christ said at the Last Supper. That night as he was seated at dinner with his twelve apostles, he turned to Judas and said: "One of you is about to betray me. Be quick on your errand." Judas rose immediately and left the room. It was already dark. Why did Christ dismiss Judas so coldly, you wanted to know.

  KASUKE: Yes.

  FERREIRA: Now I understand. I once thought there was hatred and anger mixed with love in those words. But as I sat here by myself in front of this painting, I came to understand that his words contained sadness and love, that he whispered them with eyes moist with love and sadness at man's weakness. He told Judas exactly what he told me: stamp, stamp on my face. Betray me. It must have been painful for Judas to betray his master. That pain Christ was better aware of than anyone else. And so he told Judas to be quick on his errand. I will carry the cross in your place. That's what he must have said.

  KASUKE (frightened by Ferreira's expression, he moves backward): No, no, that's impossible.

  He leaves the room as if about to burst into tears.

  FERREIRA: That's how it was. Twenty-five years I've been in Japan. It's taken me twenty-five years to learn this. I was hung in the pit, I stepped on the fumi-e, and I apostatized. But, Lord, I have not abandoned your face. No, instead I have found a face different from the one I knew in the past.