I’d like to relate a further story I
found amusing from the same era.
Tsunayoshi not only decreed that
dogs must not be harmed. When they died,
they had to be given funeral rites as if they were a human. This involved carrying them up a mountain and
laying them to rest there as a mark of respect.
A Westerner who was living on Dejima in
Nagasaki and who was occasionally allowed, or forced, to travel to Edo to
consult with the shogun kept a diary detailing many of the interesting
incidents he saw on the way there.
During the era of compassion for dogs, he noted an incident like this:
Two farmers were each carrying a dog up a
mountain. The heavy beasts were slung
across their shoulders, and the farmers’ backs were bent as they trudged
up the mountainside.
One farmer grumbled to the other,
“This is madness. Why do we have to
sling these dogs over our shoulders and climb up a mountain, just because the
shogun was born in the year of the dog?”
The other farmer shifted under the weight
of his own dead dog before sagely replying, “Well, it could be
worse. He could have been born in the
year of the horse.”
The Western observer did not record whether
the first farmer laughed or not.
to relate – to tell something in detail. We relate incidents, the details of something,
stories etc.
to decree – for someone in authority to
make a rule or law, telling people what they have to do
a rite – a ceremony or ritual
to sling/ to be slung – to put or carry
something so that it is hanging down. We
often say “sling A over B” or “sling A across B”
to trudge – to walk with a slow and heavy
step, as when you are very tired or carrying a heavy load
to grumble – to complain, especially in a
low tone
sagely – wisely; like a sage
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