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Since my other response did not sit right with me, I decided to do a little more digging and read the story again. I'll admit at my first crack at the story paying attention to details was something I did not do. However now that I have read the story multiple times after, I am proud to come to the conclusion that the killer or shall I say killers were the wife and the robber both. Why you may ask? Well lets eliminate the possibility of it being just the robber himself.Would a Samurai who knew his way around and was probably well off as is, fall for a simple trap used by the robber in his testimony. Another  interesting point to note from the robber’s testimony is when he states that he had set him loose to fight for the Samurai’s wife. It seems as close to impossible as you can get when you are told that a simple robber with no training was able to overpower a Samurai, and not just in a regular fight, but a sword fight at that! He would have finished the robber in a heartbeat. However let’s say that in the off chance he did manage to overpower the Samurai and kill him, don’t you think there would have been more than a single sword strike on the victim? Keep in mind that he is ultimately trained in that field, so don’t you think the fight would have been long with more wounds to show for it? In the end the only wound found was the one stab wound on the Samurai. Another thing to remember is that this man is known to cause trouble to other women, even killing a mother and daughter according to the policeman, so why wouldn’t he have just gone through the extra trouble to kill her rather than just let her escape?

Now to remove the idea that it was the wife all on her own. First off, the way she is describing the event, she states that she had attempted to run to his side when all of a sudden she was knocked down by the robber. But you have to ask yourself, why didn’t she fight for the man that she had seemingly loved so much? She had her small sword by her side, couldn’t have she at least tried to fight off the robber instead of just basically throwing herself at him? The last reason why I believe her story is false, is that although we never get to truly hear the condition of her body and if she really stabbed herself in the throat other than her own story. In the other accounts you hear that she had run away from the scene. Going back to the point I made earlier, she had stabbed herself in the throat, and that is somewhere you do not want to get stabbed. The human body has many essential things that if ruptured could kill you almost in an instant, even if the wound was shallow. So when she states that not only did she attempt suicide in this way, but failed even after she jumped from the mountain into the pond is preposterous.

Taking the Samurai’s telling of the story into account, it doesn’t even seem believable to me from the start. Even from the beginning there is a major part of the story missing, how did he get tied up in the first place? Not only that but after he was freed, deciding not to go after the man that raped his wife seems almost impossible, even though he had his wife’s small sword by his side. It just doesn’t seem plausible to me how he would rather kill himself than go after them when they weren’t that far away.

Now this is what I really think happened. The robber was more than likely well known in the area where the mother and daughter had lived. The mother stated in her testimony that she even knew who the robber was and hated him. Well I think that the robber happened to pass by there every so often and eventually took a liking to her, as did she to him. Then they co-conspired to have the wife lead him close to the grove when they were traveling and have the robber knock him unconscious. He would then drag him into the grove which would explain the trampled greenery around. Where they would then soon kill him and leave the rope nearby to make it seem like it was someone else who did it, although they did not want to leave a trace. That is exactly why the small sword( which was used to kill him), the Samurai’s sword, and his bow and arrows were gone. The wife then disposed of the actual murder weapon and was successful in doing so, however the difficulties with the horse led his results to be unsuccessful. The troubles he had riding the horse managed to make him drop three arrows, and on his way to dispose of the other weapons caused him to fall off the horse becoming immobilized till the Policeman had arrived. Which lines up exactly with the condition of the robber as stated in the testimony of the Policeman.

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I believe that Masago killed her husband. It was easy to eliminate Tajomaru because he left before seeing Takejiro die, he may have really hurt him but I do not think he killed him. He also never states that he stabbed him in the chest. I think that he confessed to cover for Takejiro's wife.  Tajomaru does state that he wanted to make her his wife, so I am thinking he confesses to protect her.  Takejiro could not have killed himself because he would have been too weak to pick him-self up and untie him self, look for the knife and then stab himself. I think that he is also trying to cover for his wife and him self. He claims he killed himself so Masago will not get into trouble for murder and he also keeps his honor by saying he killed him self. In Japan it would have brought shame to Takejiro to be killed or fooled by a robber, killing himself would be the only way for him to redeem his honor. Masago killed her husband because she was planning to kill her self after being violated by the robber. She cannot live with her self because of what happened, and she cannot live with her husband because he saw her shame. She planned to kill him and then her self so that way they both can still be seen as honorable people.

One thing that does have me confused is the rope. Tajomaru untied him and then they fought but both Takejiro and Masago say that they were the ones to undo the rope. Did Tajomaru tie him back up after the fight or did he not completely untie him?

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From my perspective I believe the robber is the killer. not only does he have the most detailed story but most of his details line up with the other testimonies. for example the he was tied up to the cedar and this was confessed by multiple different accounts. Also, the woodcutter confesses that he must have been in a battle for his life and that matches up the sword fight between Takehiko and Tajomaru. The robber goes into detail about how he lured in the couple to trust him in the beginning and had no intentions of killing Takehiko until he had the interest in Masago. The story lines up well with the robbers side of the story is in sense that he raped Masago in front of Takehiko and that after the fact he untied Takehiko from the cedar to fight for life or death. He. also confesses to taking Takehiko's sword and arrows which can also be accounted for by other testimonies.

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From what I read; it is kind of confusing. The robber’s confession does sound convincing because he uses details that no one else that was not there could have known but it also does not make sense. I would think there would be more wounds to the man who was murdered since they were battling not just one to the chest and the robbers intentions, we not to kill the man he just wanted the girl. So, I feel like maybe the man may have committed suicide after hearing his wife tell the robber she would go with him if he killed her husband first. She already had run off and the robber after her, and he was left alone. Maybe he felt like his wife was not going to go back for him, and he was going to die out there alone either way. But then after reading the wife’s confession, it does not add up to me. Because she says when she went back the robber was gone so why didn't she just save her husband. Why would she stab him?

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Tajomaru is obvious to blame because in what I read he was the criminal in the story. He does confess to the crime. There are moments where he is describing Takehito and they don’t necessarily reflect him. Some evidence such as the police man saying there is no room for a horse to be near a murder scene, when he didn’t have a horse as well as tajomaru luring them in to get swords and mirrors which was the main reason. The high police commissioner testified the weakness for women in case of robbery of Tajomaru which tends to be the only focus why tajomaru appeared in the story to be the killer.

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I found this short story to be an interesting one watching everything develop and listening to the different characters and what they had to say for themselves. Although one thing that I found was weird was the whole talking through a medium idea. Maybe it’s just because I’m not one for that but I did find it kind of odd, and if I was an investigative officer I would’ve omitted that from the case. Personally I also believe that weapon of choice for the murder was the small sword, keeping in mind everything else.

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Although Tajomaru is portrayed as the criminal in this short story, which allows it to be easier to point him as the murderer, after reading the three confessions, I came to a conclusion that Takejiro killed himself with his wife’s small sword. In all 3 confessions, Tajomaru, Takejiro and his wife all felt disappointment and shame in some way. In Tajomaru's confession, he stated there were over 23 strokes throughout the fight but only 1 stroke caused a wound to Takejiro's body. Truly I am convinced that Takejiro killed himself because he felt as if his own wife was ashamed of him for being so easily defeated. He could've probably also been hurt by how "beautiful" she looked when Tajomaru was speaking to her. She seemed easily infatuated by him.

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In what I read and understood. I want to say the wife killed the husband and it’s understandable why she did it . When she says “You saw my shame. I can’t leave you alive as you are”. Takejiro saw what the robber did to her and she was ashamed to live like that and Takejiro was already half way dead. So in other words she just finished the robbers job and took his life away for her own reason. I want to believe it was the wife because as her mother says “but the fate of my daughter worries me sick for heaven’s sake leave no stone unturned to find her.” But the wife also said she tries and tries to take her own life away. Her plan was to kill her husband and herself because she was ashamed of what had happened to her. I believe she did ended up killing her husband left the body there. She disappears from the scene to try and take her own life away multiple times but does not succeed. She just lives ashamed for what happened to her, and for killing her husband. She has no idea what to do with her own life .

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Samuel sosa: I personally believe the murder was tajomaru. I find it very suspicious that he possessed the weapons of the dead man, and the fact is he is a criminal already. The police man stated that there was no room for a horse to be in the area of the murder, and tajomaru was not on a horse at the time. So a lot of the evidence is pointing at tajomaru being the murderer

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During stressful situations, one's perception of the reality may be quite different from the reality they are faced with. This may lead to misremembering details of the witnesses, especially ones who claim to have passed out. I have seen enough ninja movies to know that samurais swing the swords as well as thrust! The claim that Tajomaru made could well be the exact truth and he may well be the killer. Masago also claims to have killed Takehiko with her small sword. This to me is more plausible and I will tell you why after a train of thoughts. There is evidence to support that there was a battle in the grass having been trampled during the struggle, so this truth I am willing to accept. Takehiko is in fact dead, so I will accept this as well. Tajomaru lived through whatever encounter and was victorious in whatever battle there was. The weapons he had on him while still being alive were evidence to support this. This leaves some guess work and implicates Masago in my opinion. Tajomaru and Takehiko fought it out, but Tajomaru bested Takehiko with the sword and did not kill him because he didn't need to. Takehiko was already dishonored to the point where knew his last task was to kill himself. This was not an easy task, considering Tajomaru already absconded with the swords and the bow and arrows, which left only one small  sword. Masago's sword, which she used to kill her husband.

I did say that it leaves some guess work. My second hypotheses, which I actually like better still implicates the wife. All that stuff referred to above with one caveat. There was no sword fight. Takehiko was tied to the tree as claimed by Tajomaru and never untied until after Masago killed him with her sword. Masago claims that she untied Takehiko after she killed him, but what to me the most is her claim that his mouth was stuffed full of leaves still. Tajomaru said he stuffed leaves in Takehiko's mouth to keep him quiet. No way an epic 23 stroke sword fight with a mouth full of leaves, and no way would Takehiko stuff his mouth with leaves after defeat. The leaves being in Takehiko's mouth is a detail that is so small that it is not easy to misremember, but was important enough for both to bring up in their confessions. The trampled grass was from the struggle of Masago being raped in front of her husband

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From what I read, from the testimony of the old women, her daughter Masago had married a man who was a gentle disposition, who wouldn't provoke the anger of others. However, the mother could not even remember her daughter husband name. I feel this murder was a set up between the old women, the daughter, and Tajomaru. With the husband out of the picture, the daughter will not get all her husband's possessions, she would be able to marry Tajomaru, and the mother was there to help cover up the murder with her testimony. Then with the testimony of the Medium she literally states where the husband said the wife wanted him to be killed. Then someone comes back for the small knife, which might have been the mother seeing if the deed was done. I'm a bit confused on how at first the wife was missing, then she was able to give a testimony. Does anybody feel the stories don't really add up? Does anybody else believe that they all could have been in on this together?

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After analyzing the 3 confessions I believe that Takejiro committed suicide via the small blade. This story seems more believable than you think. In Tajomaru's confession whenever they had fought. He stated that the duel for Masago was 23 strokes and only one wound was inflicted during the battle which was the final stroke. What I found suspicious about the confession was how that there should be more wounds around his body because of times they clashed with their swords. In Masago's confession it doesn't make much sense because it seems that whenever she passed out Tajomaru just up and left and took everything besides the small blade that she proceeded to end his life. In the third confession that the medium said it seems the most believable because it shows how it was explained that Takejiro killed himself because of the shame and dishonor that was brought upon himself and not being able to do anything. So I believe that this confession is the right one because in Tajomaru's confession there was a big fight but only one wound was inflicted and in Masago's confession it seems that she wasn't in a right state of mind because she was traumatized of what the robber did to her.

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It seems easier to assume the murderer was Tajomaru, being that he is already a criminal in this story. I see it as this is his opportunity to keep his credibility by being charged with murder, and his way of showing he’s stronger and a worthy criminal. Though as a samurai, it is moral code to prepare to commit suicide in the name of honor or a loss in battle. When Takehiko hears his wife wants Tajomaru to finish him and marry her, he must feel weak, betrayed and dishonored. To me it makes the most sense why he would kill himself. I also believe he used the small knife that was present to kill himself the way he did in order to avoid stabbing his stomach and prolonging his pain and suffering.

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I have a question for the class: based on evidence from the text, what do you think is the murder weapon and why? Explain your answer and point to things in the story to support it.

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Judging from all 3 confessions, I came to the conclusion that the wife probably is the one who killed him. First thing that made me think of that is how in the first confession, Tajomaru says that the wife told them that whoever survived a clash of sword would become his wife, and on the confession from the medium, he says that the robber told her that since he took her purity, she should become his wife. So, in both cases it felt as if the robber fell in love with her because of what she told him that made him happy, or it could've been after she agreed to get married with him for taking her purity. So what I want to believe from the robber is that he knows that the wife killed her husband, especially because of how willingly he told the police to just give him the maximum penalty, as if to stop them from getting any details out of him, also because before that he said that no torture will get any details out that he doesn't know of, but it could be him lying to them so they don't even go as far as doing that. So, where I'm going with this, is that the robber worked with the wife and protected her from any trouble by just taking all the blame when in reality he didn't do any of it and came up with a story. Now from the perspective of the wife talking about the husband's death, both her and the medium said in a way that she was the one who killed him. First, from the wife, she straight up told the police that she killed him out of pity in a way because she didn't want to see him like that anymore or live with that thought in mind. Now from the medium it gets somewhat complicated, in all stories it said that she had ran away from the place when 1, the husband and robber supposedly fought, and 2, on the medium's story, the medium said she had ran away from the place. And towards the ending of the medium's story, he said that the husband killed himself with her blade, but towards the end of his confession he says that someone pulled the small sword out of his breast, and to top it of, it was in a soft manner, not in a disrespectful way like the robber would've done it. So, what I think happened is that in the medium's confession the wife actually killed him but obviously there was some confusion to it and probably made him think that the husband killed himself because then again, it is a medium, not a primary source of information, so already getting information through a spirit life communication is hard enough and to add to why it was the wife, why would she come back to the husband just to pull out her sword out of him? She obviously didn't care for him at that point, so she shouldn't have come back, so its obvious that the wife was the one that stabbed him from the beginning.

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Coming to some sort of conclusion for this murder mystery seemed to be nearly impossible due to the fact each confession that was given had different details that led me to believe that they were all real. I took into mind that the Medium who is portraying Takejiro’s side of the story could potentially be lying but the descriptions that were given in the dead mans confession seemed too believable. I don’t believe that Tajomaru killed Takejiro, only robbed him and left him at the grove with his wife but wanted to take credit for murdering him more than likely to keep up the reputation of being a criminal. This then leads to Takejiro’s wife to confess to killing her husband but after reading I believe that she is an unreliable source because of her behavior. She is sobbing uncontrollably and seems extremely distressed. I think that she was not in the correct state of mind and could have imagined or hallucinated her “killing” Takejiro as well as trying to end her own life. Going into Takejiro’s confession his wife had ran away which I believe to be the actual truth as well as Tajomaru stating that his “fate was next” which I presume to be his arrest. Thus, leaving us with Takejiro to be the man who killed himself with the small sword that was left there. I assume that the person who had come up to him as he was dying was his wife, which is when, in her confession, she states that she killed him but that was not the truth.