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 not 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
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 not 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
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