Takehiko By Maljo Analysis

This story is about a murdered samurai, named Takehiko. He was known to be a samurai in the town of Kokufo in the province of Wakasa. There are three different versions of who really killed that samurai and four inconsistent testimonies in front of a high police commissioner. The only certain that happened in the story is that Masago was raped by Tajomaru. Then afterwards, many discrepancies occurred next in the story that whoever killed the samurai; Tajomaru, Masago or himself. This story has many endings and possible conclusions. However, in analyzing the three confessions of the main characters and their reasons for admitting responsibility, I concluded that Masago was the real killer. There are some conflicting statements regarding their
He said that he was trying to communicate with her wife but her wife was just sitting dejectedly and listening to Tajomaru. This made him jealous as Masago told Tajomaru to take her away with him wherever he goes. Furthermore, also in his story, Masago wanted to kill him as they couldn’t get married if he was still alive. He begged Tajomaru to kill Takehiko that against to Tajomaru’s intention. Then, Tajomaru asked the Takehiko whether or not he should kill Masago. But while he was distracted, Masago escaped from that grove and he cut Takehiko’s bonds. So, as I can see, the wife has the full intention for Takehiko to be dead. However, he admitted that he killed himself and someone has removed the sword in his
In the testimony of an old woman, the mother of Masago and mother-in-law of Takehiko, she was trying to protect her daughter. She was covering her up by stating that Masago has never known any man except her husband. She wanted to defend her child, because she was supposed to say only about the murder. In her statement, Masago was still missing. In addition, as to the testimony of a Policeman, Tajomaru have done past crimes. So he didn’t hesitate to admit that he killed Takehiko, since he would gain nothing by arguing that he was innocent. Moreover, I think the invisible hands that removed the sword in the body of Takehiko were Masago’s. In her statement, she was about to kill herself with a small sword which I think the same sword she used to kill Takehiko. She also deceived her husband that she would also kill herself. The reason why Takehiko admitted that he committed suicide and Tajomaru also claimed that he killed Takehiko is that both men loved her and wanted to secure the fact that she killed Takehiko. On the other hand, the reason behind her motive to kill her husband was started when she saw the reaction in her husband’s face after she was raped with Tajomaru. She was blaming her husband for what happened to her. Since, Takehiko wasn’t able to defend her with Tajomaru. However, after that rape happened, she was desiring the other man and wanting to kill her husband.