Last evening, I was given the opportunity to welcome in the new year with a thanksgiving mass at St. Teresa's with family members, while this morning I lounged around luxuriously in my jammies, with my mother for soothing companionship.
I also managed to watch the movie Love and Honor, Bushi no ichibun, by Yoji Yamada. It was a gorgeous tale of love conquering adversity - of Shinnojo Mimura, a samurai who was blinded in the line of duty and how he sought to avenge the dishonour of his wife, Kayo, who in seeking to address the calamity of her husband's misfortune had fallen prey to an unscrupulous samurai, Toya Shimada.
In purportedly offering aid to the young couple after the event that led to Shinnojo's blindness, Shimada has demanded recompense by taking advantage of Kayo, whose beauty he had lusted after for years.
Kayo had submitted unwillingly, caught in the situation, as she believed Shimada would redeem her now-useless husband's livelihood. Subsequently she was blackmailed by Shimada and acquiesced to his demands in misery, knowing full well that the husband she loved and would die for would eventually find out and kill her for her "infidelity".
Upon discovering the truth, Shinnojo divorces Kayo and drives her away, and sets about to relearn his fighting skills as a blind warrior, before challenging Shimada to a duel.
In his single-minded pursuit of Kayo's lost honour, Shinnojo cuts off Shimada's arm amd the defeated samurai eventually commits the final act of seppuku, taking to his grave the identity of his nemesis.
In the final scenes of the movie, Shinnojo debates whether it would have better if he had not discovered the truth for he acknowledges that he has acted wrongly against Kayo whom he loves and who never stopped being his loving and faithful wife.
Shinnojo's humility marks him as a man who loves much and despite his blindness, is able to see the unvarnished truth about himself and those around him.
The movie brought home to me that love and honour are inextricably linked and thus in seeking to bring God honour, I must not forget Christ's principle of love in all things for without love, honour is meaningless.
What also moved me was the portrayal of spousal love between Shinnojo and Kayo, how each were willing to sacrifice self for the benefit of the other, and how each lived out the role of husband and wife respectively, with great tenderness and nobility.
As I begin the new year with fresh resolve to live with integrity, I ask for the ability to realize my still nascent and amorphous desires in order to bear much fruit in 2009.
I also ask that I accomplish everything honourably, and with much love.
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