no
Shiro-oshigumi. These organizations, something like the Otokodate of the
townsmen in the closeness of the relations of their members, had by no
means the same worthy object. They were often merely a way of ruffling
it through the town, particularly at the amusement quarter of Asakusa;
seeking quarrels with _ro[u]nin_, abusing women, and literally
gravelling the discomfited townsmen, not seldom left on the ground,
subsequently to be put into it. The Otokodate, or chivalrous band, were
indeed needed in this state of early Edo. They could hold their own,
inasmuch as the _samurai_ involved dared not bring a quarrel to light.
He had the advantage of his training; and by the rules of his caste did
not hesitate to have assassinated a plebeian he could not overcome, and
chose to regard as impertinent. Collisions with these, however, were
rare. _Ro[u]nin_ were the particular object of dislike of the Tokugawa
adherents. It was the great exception made, when Hida no Kami (Yagyu[u]
Matajuro[u]) admitted Kume no Heinai to his fencing room and
discipleship. The _ro[u]nin_, of course, deserved the proscription,
being often the devoted adherents of a lost cause--Hoo[u]jo[u] or
Toyotomi--and unwilling to transfer their fealty to a second lord. The
most noted and hated of the _ro[u]nin_, though free from any taint of
rebellion to the Tokugawa, was this Heinaibei; the vilest assassination,
that of his friend Bandzuin Cho[u]bei by Mizuno Juro[u]zaemon aided by
other members of the Shiratsukagumi.

Endo[u] Saburo[u]zaemon had related the mishap of his _chu[u]gen_, his
own experience in pursuing the offenders. The old fellows, heroes of the
Genwa and Kwanei periods, were gathered close to a _hibachi_. Despite
the season age sought pretence of warmth or closer company. Said the
veteran Matsudaira Montaro[u]--"O[u]kubo, what think you? Surely the ice
water of gathering years runs in our veins. Such happenings, so close to
the dwelling of the Ue Sama, never would have taken place in former
days. But we are old. The stiffened joints and the wrinkles would not
deceive such miscreants. 'Twould be a palpable fraud, our
presentation."--"True," growled Shichinosuke; "but ice water runs in
other veins than those who are old." Kondo[u] Noborinosuke, verging
toward his fifties, now chimed in--"Naruhodo! The talk of these young
chaps infects one with their own complaints. This one can but thump
himself on the chest and speculate as to whether he has