In a grove

The story opens with the account of a woodcutter who has found a man's body in the woods. The woodcutter reports that man died of a single sword stroke to the chest, and that the trampled leaves around the body showed there had been a violent struggle, but otherwise lacked any significant evidence as to what actually happened. There were no weapons nearby, and no horses—only a single piece of rope, a comb and a lot of blood.

The next account is delivered by a traveling Buddhist priest. He says that he met the man, who was accompanied by a woman on horseback, on the road, around noon the day before the murder. The man was carrying a sword, a bow and a black quiver. All of these, along with the woman's horse, a tall, short-maned palomino, were missing when the woodcutter discovered the body.

The next person to testify is a hōmen (放免, a released prisoner working under contract to the police, similar to a bounty hunter). He has captured an infamous criminal named Tajōmaru. Tajōmaru was injured when thrown from a horse (a tall, short-maned palomino), and he was carrying a bow and a black quiver, which did not belong in his usual arsenal. This proves, he says, that Tajōmaru was the perpetrator. Tajōmaru was not carrying the dead man's sword, however.

The next testimony is from an old woman, who identifies herself as the mother of the missing girl. Her daughter is a beautiful, strong-willed 19-year-old named Masago, married to Kanazawa no Takehiro—a 26-year-old samurai from Wakasa. Her daughter, she says, has never been with a man other than Takehiro. She begs the police to find her daughter.

Next, Tajōmaru confesses. He says that he met them on the road in the forest, and upon first seeing Masago, decided that he was going to rape her. In order to rape Masago unhindered, he separated the couple, luring Takehiro into the woods with the promise of buried treasure. He then stuffed his mouth full of leaves, tied him to a tree and fetched Masago. When Masago saw her husband tied to the tree, she pulled a dagger from her bosom and tried to stab Tajōmaru, but he knocked the knife out of her hand, and he had his way with her. Originally, he had no intention of killing the man, he claims, but after the rape, she begged him to either kill her husband or kill himself—she could not live if two men knew her shame. She would leave with the last man standing. Tajōmaru did not wish to kill Takehiro in a cowardly manner, so he untied him and they had a swordfight. During the duel, Masago fled. Tajōmaru dispatched the man and took the man's sword, bow, and quiver, as well as the woman's horse. He says that he sold the sword before he was captured by the bounty hunter.

The second-to-last account is that of Masago. According to her, after the rape, Tajōmaru fled, and her husband, still tied to the tree, looked at her with great disdain. She was ashamed that she had been raped, and no longer wished to live, but she wanted him to die with her. He agreed, or so she believed—he couldn't actually say anything because his mouth was still stuffed full of leaves—and she plunged her dagger into his chest. She then cut the rope that bound Takehiro, and ran into the forest, whereupon she attempted to commit suicide numerous times, she said, but her spirit was too strong to die. At the end of her confession, she weeps.

The final account comes from Takehiro's ghost, as delivered through a spirit medium. The ghost says that after the rape, Tajōmaru persuaded Masago to leave her husband and become his own wife, which she agreed to do under one condition: He would have to kill Takehiro. Tajōmaru became enraged at the suggestion, kicked her to the ground, and asked Takehiro if he should kill the dishonorable woman. Hearing this, Masago fled into the forest. Tajōmaru then cut Takehiro's bonds and ran away. Takehiro grabbed Masago's fallen dagger and plunged it into his chest. Shortly before he died, he sensed someone creep up to him and steal the dagger from his chest. Throughout, it is obvious that he is furious at his wife.

Analysis[edit]

All analyses proceed from these premesis:

Takehiro is dead.
Tajōmaru raped Masago.
Tajōmaru stole Takehiro's bow and quiver, as well as the woman's horse.
In each of the accounts, Masago wishes Takehiro dead, although the details vary.
Masago and Tajōmaru did not leave together.
The differences between the characters' stories range from the trivial to the fundamental. What follows is a list of discrepancies between the characters' testimonies.

The comb mentioned by the woodcutter is not mentioned by any of the other characters.
The "violent struggle" that trampled the leaves, mentioned by the woodcutter, seems to occur only in Tajōmaru's version of the story—the swordfight.
The woodcutter also claims that the man was killed by a single sword slash across the chest, but in both Masago's and Takehiro's versions of the story, he was killed by a dagger thrust to the chest.
The woodcutter claims that Takehiro was wearing a Kyōto-style hat called a "sabi-eboshi", however Masago's mother says that he was not from Kyōto. We know that the author wanted to draw significance to this fact, because he specifically had the police investigator ask her if Takehiro was from Kyōto.
The traveling priest says that he "clearly remember[s] that there were more than 20 arrows" in the man's quiver. The bounty hunter says that there were only