Around the time of the cat-and-mouse story, the Tokugawa clan was at the end of its reign (in the year 15, I believe), and the times were changing rapidly, with many disturbances continuing to occur.　In addition, the weather at that time was extremely unfavorable, with continuous bad harvests, heavy rainfall, and dreary weather every day.
The price of rice was as high as 2.8 to the yen (2.8 shaku per sen). It was natural that the world would be in an uproar if the price of rice, which had been as high as 4 to the yen, soared like this. However, just because rice became more expensive, it did not mean that everyday necessities also became more expensive. On the other hand, a single piece of Sawan (a type of pickled dumpling) is now as expensive as a piece of Tenpo at 72 cents.

In other words, the economic world was in a state of disorder, and at a time when the world was at a standstill, a “poor people’s commotion” suddenly broke out.　When a certain person passed by the neighborhood of a trifoliate temple in Nakanogo, he saw a large group of people with paper flags and weeds, shouting war cries, breaking down rice stores, and taking away the rice without permission. I told my neighbor about what I had witnessed yesterday, saying that it was a strange thing to see, and that the outrage had already spread throughout the entire city of Edo. The speed with which it spread was truly frightening. It was a kind of mob mentality, and the whole world was filled with this rumor, and the people’s hearts were panicked.　One person said, “There is a rumor that a certain large store’s front door is closed. I heard that the signboard of a certain big store was torn down and taken to Mt. Strange things happen. It is a strange thing. Everyone listening to the story had a strange look on their faces. They said that in the past, when there was a rice riot, the Oyakashu came out and did something like that.

He was thinking in his gut that it must have been the same thing this time, which made him even more anxious, and he was getting more and more excited about the situation.　While I was working in my master’s store, even as a child, I could not help but worry about my parents as I heard all this chatter. Even while I was working diligently, I would suddenly think of home, and I would stop my work and think of my parents. I wonder what my father would be doing right now. I wonder what my mother is doing. When I think back to ……, I feel that I can’t leave my master’s house alone.　When I was a child, my father sacrificed himself for the family because of his parent’s physical illness. I am much older than the age at which my father devoted himself to the family, and yet here I am, sitting comfortably at my master’s house, looking the other way at the family and my parents. This is not the time for this. I must help my father in his time of need, just as he did. –I must help my father in his time of need, just as he did.　I couldn’t help but think this way.　One day, at dusk, I left my master’s house and returned to my parent’s house in silence.　My father looked at me with a rare look.

My mother, however, still had something kind to say to me.　I turned to my father and said. I have heard so many rumors, and I am so worried about our house, that I decided to come back to …… to help you in any way I can by doing business with you starting tomorrow.　I have come back to .” This is what he said. I thought that this would relieve my father’s anxiety and soften his countenance, but I was mistaken. I was wrong. He shouted at me in a stern voice, “You idiot, have you already forgotten what I said?Once you have gone to your master’s house, no matter what happens, you must not step over the threshold of this house before your time is up. What did you hear in my heart when I told you that I would break my ankle if I came back on the way to the master’s house? When I was a child, I became a half-hearted person who could not learn a job due to the family’s circumstances. I would not send you on an apprenticeship if I were counting on your help, no matter how much noise you make in the world or how poor you are. What can you do if you live in your master’s house for a year and then leave him halfway through your apprenticeship without having completed your apprenticeship? Don’t be so cocky as to say, “I’ll go back and help my parents. I have acquaintances and contacts. I can’t show my face to the world if I leave an insolent person like you at home, who came back half-heartedly. I’ll cut off the relationship between father and son as of today, so do as you please. I’d like to break your ankle, as I said before, but I’ll give you a break just for this evening.

I’d like to break your legs, as I told you, but not tonight.　Thus was a truly frightening scene. I was afraid that if I hesitated, I might actually break my ankle, but my father’s stern rebuke made me realize how wrong I was, so I apologized to him on the spot and told him with tears in my eyes that I would never do anything unthinkable again, and that this time I would beg his forgiveness. I have never been so impolite since then,” he said, tears streaming down his face. That’s all I need to know. I have an elder son, Minosuke, and you are my second son, but to my mother you are her only child. Until you become a full-fledged human being, I will not ask you to borrow my arm, no matter what happens to you. Do not think about home, but work hard and serve your master. That is what you must do. If you understand, that’s all that matters.　My mother made tea and sweets for him, and that evening he went back to his master’s house to work even harder.　If my father had not given me such a lesson, if he had spoken to me in a lenient manner, or if he had tried to borrow even a small amount of my strength for his own reasons, I could almost have imagined what my future would have been like. If I had been a normal person, I would not have been so severely and harshly punished as my father was, but I do not know how happy I am to have been rebuked so harshly.

I am grateful that my father’s gift has enabled me to stand in the hereafter and to pass through my life as a human being, a person who will be a force to be reckoned with in the future.　My father, as I have often said before, was a man of pure temperament, honest and true, sympathetic to those in need, and generous with his own money. When he retired in later years, he received an allowance from me and went to visit the gods, etc., and he spent his allowance as beautifully as he could. …… Rather than spending it on himself, he would buy whatever he could find of Edo’s specialties and give them to his family as souvenirs. The old-fashioned temperament has not changed a bit, as everyone is happy to make tea together and eat it.