This chapter opens with a soliloquy by the "rogue samurai" masakazu. He tells his friend Chiyomatsu that he will be waiting for him at the gankeji temple. He asks him to think about what he has just said. He wonders how he could have done such a stupid thing. He also wonders where he has gone. He is amazed that he did not go with the others to see Kanichi. He then wonders who the one who showed kindness to him was. He says that he is the "most foolish idiot" of them all. He feels that he has finally become the "biggest fool of all"