The Policeman's Testimony

The man I arrested is a notorious brigand called Tajomaru. I caught him on the bridge at Awataguchi, groaning because he had fallen off his horse.

The time? It was in the early hours of last night. For the record, I'd like to say that I also tried to arrest him the other day, but he escaped. He was wearing a dark blue silk kimono and a large plain sword. And, as you see, he got a bow and arrows from somewhere.

You say that this bow and these arrows look like the ones owned by the dead man? Then Tajomaru must be the murderer. The bow wound with leather strips, the black lacquered quiver, the seventeen arrows with hawk feathers--these were all in his possession, I believe.

Yes, sir, the horse is, as you say, a sorrel with a fine mane. I found it a little beyond the stone bridge, grazing by the roadside with his long rein dangling. Surely there is some providence in Tajomaru's having been thrown by it.

Of all the robbers prowling around Kyoto, this Tajomaru has been most dangerous to the women in town. Last autumn a wife who came to the mountains behind the Pindola of the Toribe Temple was murdered, along with a girl. Everyone suspected that Tajomaru did it. If he murdered the man, there's no telling what he may have done with the man's wife. May it please your honor to look into this problem as well.