Free Silence by Shusaku Endo Page B

fact of the Christians placing their foot on the fumie but the expressions on their faces as they did so.
    ‘You think you can deceive us like that?’ said one of the officials, an old man. And now for the first time the three recognized him as the old samurai who’d ridden into Tomogi some days before. ‘Do you think we are fools? Do you think we didn’t notice how heavy and nervous your breathing became.   …?’
    ‘We are not excited,’ Mokichi exclaimed earnestly. ‘We are not Christians.’
    ‘Well, let us try one more way,’ came the answer.
    And with this the order was given that they should spit on the crucifix and declare that the Blessed Virgin was a whore. Only afterwards did I hear that this was a plan thought out by Inoue, the man whom Valignano had spoken of as being the most dangerous of all. This Inoue, who had at one time received baptism to get advancement in the world, knew well that these poor peasants honored the Virgin above all. Indeed, I myself since coming to Tomogi have been a little worried seeing that the peasants sometimes seem to honor Mary rather than Christ.
    ‘Come now. Won’t you spit on it? Won’t you repeat the words as you are told?’
    Ichizo grasped the fumie in both hands and, as the officials prodded him on from behind, he tried to spit on it; but somehow he was powerless. He could not do it. Kichijirō, too, hung back, making no movement.
    ‘What’s the matter with you?’
    At the fierce urging of the officials, a white tear overflowed from the eye of Mokichi and rolled down his cheek. Ichizo, too, shook his head as though caught in the throes of pain. Then both of them at last confessed openly that they were Christians. Only Kichijirō, overcome by the threats, gasped out the required blasphemy against the Virgin.
    ‘Now spit!’ came the order.
    At the command he let fall on the fumie the insulting spittle that could never be effaced.
    Following upon this investigation, Mokichi and Ichizo were imprisoned for ten days in the prison of Sakuradai. As for the apostate Kichijirō, he was set free and, with that, he disappeared from sight. Since that time he has not returned here. It would be impossible for him to come back.
    We have now entered the rainy season. Every day the fine drizzle falls unceasingly. Now for the first time I come to see what a gloomy pest this rain is—a pest that destroys everything both on the surface and at the root. This district is like a country of the dead. No one knew what fate would overtake our two Christians. Fear that they too would eventually be subjected to the same investigation gripped the people, and almost no one went into the fields to work. And beyond the dreary fields how black the sea was!
    20th. Once again the officials rode into the village, this time with a proclamation. Here, on the beach of Tomogi, Mokichi and Ichizo would be subjected to the water punishment.
    22nd. A procession, looking like a long line of peas, could be seen approaching from the distance along the rain-blanketed ashen road. Slowly the tiny figures grew in size. In the midst of the group, their arms bound fast and their heads hanging low, surrounded by guards rode Ichizo and Mokichi. The people of the village did not venture out from behind the barred doors of their houses. Behind the long procession were a number of stragglers who had joined from the neighbouring villages to view the spectacle. The whole scene could be observed from our hut.
    Arriving at the shore, the officials ordered a fire to be lighted so that Ichizo and Mokichi could warm their bodies drenched by the rain. And then (as I have been told) with an unwonted sense of pity, someone gave them a cup of sake to drink. When I heard this I could not help thinking of how one of the soldiers gave to the dying Christ some vinegar on a sponge.
    Two trees, made into the form of a cross, were set at the water’s edge. Ichizo and Mokichi were fastened to them. When it was night and the tide