Silence Once Begun by Jesse Ball Read Free Book Online Page B

against Oda Sotatsu is very evident. I ask you to understand that it is almost inconceivable that he should write in a markedly unbiased manner at this time, even if he felt differently. I do not believe that he did feel differently. I believe that he wrote as he felt. However, it is simply a fact that temperatures in the Sakai region were running very high. I like to think that if I had written a contemporaneous account, I might have kept myequanimity and been a bit more forgiving than he proved to be. It is likely that such a hope is just a pretension. One may often (after the fact) criticize the play-by-play in a boxing match, but the simple fact is, the commentator must continue speaking, whatever he sees, however much or how little, however bad his position relative to the fighters.
    I should note also that Ko is a pen name. It indicates a principle in Go, whereby a person must move a stone elsewhere on the board before playing back into a particular contested area. In this way, he sets himself up as a lover of complexities. You may decide for yourself if he deserves the name he has given himself.
    Incidentally, this account was used by newspapers not only in Osaka Prefecture but throughout Japan.

ODA TRIAL COVERAGE [Ko Eiji]
    Sketch of ODA SOTATSU.
    ODA SOTATSU
    Son of a fisherman, Oda Sotatsu. Twenty-nine years old. A product of the Osaka Prefecture school system. What was his work? A clerk in a thread concern. It has been several weeks since he was removed from the population, and why? He is accused of the abduction and perhaps murder of eleven of your fellow citizens. This young man, this quiet individual—it is rumored he has even confessed to the crimes. I give you now a pen sketch of Oda as he sits in the courtroom under the hard eyes of his three judges.
    Hair cut rather short—perhaps expressly for the trial. It was rumored it was long when he was brought in. He sits uneasily in his chair wearing a very cheap suit, a suit, as someone once said, made to be hanged in. He is small of stature, and his gaunt cheeks express at least some of the savageness that must lurk beneath his unthreatening exterior. Most of all, most chilling of all to the observer is the despicable coldness of the eyes. Nothing anyone says seems to move him. He is in a globe of cold that refuses all human contact. We shall see if he can maintain the same air when the judges pronounce their sentence at the trial’s conclusion.

ODA TRIAL COVERAGE [Ko Eiji]
    Sketch of JUDGES: Judge Iguchi; Judge Handa; Judge Shibo.
    JUDGE IGUCHI
    The first to enter. Strength of character is evident in the line of the jaw, the poise of the shoulders. One can see that the first thing Iguchi does is to fix Mr. Oda in his gaze and to hold him there, as though a hawk has beheld a mouse. His many years of distinguished trial service recommend him to us.
    JUDGE HANDA
    A relative newcomer, Judge Handa has seen his share of difficult and complicated cases, and has rendered many powerful and just decisions. Known for his conduct in the Misaki trial of 1975, he was feted in the newspapers at the time. Since then he has only continued his good work. If Mr. Oda believes that Judge Handa’s relative youth will be a factor in his favor, one would be startled by the optimism.
    JUDGE SHIBO
    It is not necessary to describe this man to the public of the Sakai region. His omnipresence in community affairs and his generosity make him a distinguished role model both for our youth and for those of us who still can change for the better. He is active as a professor in university as well as in his judicial vocation, and it is clear that the case benefits from his presence. A tall man, he is known for a habit of holding one elbow with the fingers of his opposite hand while considering a case (as shown in last year’s famous and excellent judicial illustration by the artist Haruna).
    I hardly think the public could be better served in this case.

ODA TRIAL COVERAGE [Ko Eiji]
    Sketch