At the post town of Kako in the province of Harima lived a Confucian scholar named Hasebe Samon. Content with honest poverty, he lived with his mother, with books for company.
One day, visiting a friend's house, Samon met a samurai who had fallen gravely ill on his journey and lay in bed. The people around him, afraid of catching the plague, would not go near him, but Samon said, "Life and death are fated. How could an illness pass to me?" He brewed medicine and made gruel himself and nursed him with all his heart.
The samurai was Akana Soemon of the province of Izumo. He had served Enya Kamon-no-suke, lord of Toda Castle in Izumo, but while he was away as an envoy to the Sasaki clan in Omi, Amago Tsunehisa seized the castle and killed his lord. Soemon had fallen ill on his way home.
Thanks to Samon's devoted care, Soemon soon recovered. As they talked of learning and of the art of war, their hearts grew close, and they swore to be brothers, Soemon the elder and Samon the younger.
When early summer came, Soemon said he would go and see how things stood in his homeland, and set out for Izumo. When Samon asked, "When will you come back?", Soemon promised, "On the Double Ninth festival, the ninth day of the ninth month, I will surely return."
On the ninth day of the ninth month, Samon swept the house clean from early morning, put chrysanthemums in a vase, prepared wine and food, and waited for Soemon's return. His old mother said, "Izumo is a distant land. If he doesn't come today, you mustn't resent him." But Samon said, "My brother is a man of his word. He will surely come," and kept standing at the gate.
The sun set, the night deepened, and just as the moon was about to sink behind the mountain ridge, he suddenly saw a man standing in the dim shadows. It was Soemon.