When in the twelfth century a Minamoto Shogun demanded of one of the daimyo the surrender of an enemy lord he was sheltering，the daimyo wrote back a letter which is still preserved。He was deeply resentful of the imputation upon his giri and he refused to offend against it even in the name of chu。“Public affairs，”he wrote，“（are a thing）over which I have little personal control but giri between men of honor is an eternal veri-ty”which transcended the Shogun's authority。He refused“to commit a faithless act a-gainst his honored friends。”This transcendent samurai virtue of old Japan suffuses great numbers of historical folktales which are known today all over Japan and are worked up into noh dramas，kabuki theater and kagura dances。
One of the best known of these is the tale of the huge invincible ronin（a lordless samurai who lives by his own wits），the hero Benkei of the twelfth century。Entirely without resources but of miraculous strength he terrorizes the monks when he takes shel-ter in the monasteries and cuts down every passing samurai in order to make a collection of their swords to pay for outfitting himself in feudal fashion。Finally he challenges what appears to him to be a mere youngster，a slight and foppish lord。But in him he meets his match and discovers that the youth is the scion of the Minamotos who is scheming to recover the Shogunate for his family。He is indeed that beloved Japanese hero，Yoshit-sune Minamoto。To him Benkei gives his passionate giri and undertakes a hundred ex-ploits in his cause。At last，however，they have to escape with their followers from an overwhelming enemy force。They disguise themselves as monkish pilgrims traveling over Japan to collect subscriptions for a temple and to escape detection Yoshitsune dresses as one of the troop while Benkei assumes its headship。They run into a guard the enemy has set along their path and Benkei fabricates for them a long list of temple“subscrib-ers”which he pretends to read from his scroll。The enemy almost lets them pass。At the last moment，however，their suspicions are aroused by the aristocratic grace of Yoshit-sune which he cannot conceal even in his disguise as an underling。They call back the troop。Benkei immediately takes a step which completely clears Yoshitsune from suspi-cion：he berates him on some trivial issue and strikes him across the face。The enemy is convinced；it is beyond possibility that if this pilgrim is Yoshitsune，one of his retainers should lift his hand against him。It would be an unimaginable breach of giri。Benkei's impious act saves the lives of the little band。As soon as they are in safe territory，Ben-kei throws himself at Yoshitsune's feet and asks him to slay him。His lord graciously of-fers pardon。
These old tales of times when giri was from the heart and had no taint of resentment are moden Japan's daydream of a golden age。In those days，the tales tell them，there was no“unwillingness”in giri。If there was conflict with chu，a man could honorably stick by giri。Giri then was a loved face-to-face relation dressed in all the feudal trim-mings。To“know giri”meant to be loyal for life to a lord who cared for his retainers in return。To“repay giri”meant to offer even one's life to the lord to whom one owed eve-rything。
This is，of course，a fantasy。Feudal history in Japan tells of plenty of retainers whose loyalty was bought by the daimyo on the opposite side of the battle。Still more im-portant，as we shall see in the next chapter，any slur the lord cast upon his retainer could properly and traditionally make the retainer leave his service and even enter into negotiations with the enemy。Japan celebrates the vengeance theme with as much delight as she celebrates loyalty to the death。And they were both giri；loyalty was giri to one's lord and vengeance for an insult was giri to one's name。In Japan they are two sides to the same shield。
Nevertheless the old tales of loyalty are pleasant daydreams to the Japanese today for now“repaying giri”is no longer loyalty to one's legitimate chieftain but is fulfilling all sorts of obligations to all sorts of people。Today's constantly used phrases are full of resentment and of emphasis on the pressure of public opinion which compels a person to do giri against his wishes。They say，“I am arranging this marriage merely for giri”；“merely because of giri I was forced to give him the job”；“I must see him merely for giri。”They constantly talk of being“tangled with giri，”a phrase the dictionary trans-lates as“I am obliged to it。”They say，“He forced me with giri，”“he cornered me with giri，”and these，like the other usages，mean that someone has argued the speaker into an act he did not want or intend by raising some issue of payment due upon an on。In peasant villages，in transactions in small shops，in high circles of the Zaibatsu and in the Cabinet of Japan，people are“forced with giri”and“cornered with giri。”A suitor may do this by taxing his prospective father-in-law with some old relationship or transac-tion between the two families or a man may use this same weapon to get a peasant's land。The man who is being“cornered”will himself feel he must comply；he says，“If I do not hold the shoulder of my on-man（man from whom I receivedon），my giri is in bad repute。”All these usages carry the implication of unwillingness and of compliance for“mere decency's sake，”as the Japanese dictionary phrases it。