Who killed Takehiro in "In a Grove"?

"In a Grove" is perhaps the most famous of Akutagawa Ryunosuke's works. It is the basis for Kurosawa Akira's movie Rashomon and helped cement the widely used plot line of telling varying accounts of solving a crime, a plot that is seen on both television and in film. However, using this method of storytelling also means that it can be difficult to know which details are true.

It is obvious to blame Tajomaru for the murder of Takehiro, as he is the criminal in this story. He admits to the crime. However, there are several inconsistencies within his confession that do not seem to reflect Takehito truthfully as a person. As is sworn by Masago's mother, Takehito's mother-in-law, he was a person with a gentle nature, contrary to the greedy person Tajomaru describes. This is where the reader must begin to draft their own version of events, as it seems the testifying characters are lying.

Afterwards, Masago herself takes responsibility for the crime. Her description fits the wound; a single sword had killed him. She claims to have killed Takehiro as his final request.

Next, the reader has even more to think about as the account of Takehiro himself is recorded. Through a medium, he testifies and claims to have committed suicide.

With these three accounts, the question is not so much who the murderer is but rather why the murder was committed. Each person has their reasons for claiming responsibility, so it is the reader's job then to figure out who perhaps has the strongest reason for wanting Takehiro dead. The appeal of the story is that no one can definitively say what is reality.

For Tajomaru, he can build his reputation if he is charged with the murder. He will appear stronger, a worthy criminal to his underworld friends. For Masago, she will appear more sympathetic. After all, in that era of Japan, it was seen as righteous to kill oneself after such a disgrace. By killing her husband on his own orders and then attempting to take her own life, Masago is shown as an upstanding and moral woman of the time. When Takehiro claims to have committed suicide, it is to save face. It would have been too shameful for a samurai to have been tricked by a common criminal. Suicide is the only way he would have been able to redeem his honor after such a confrontation.

So really, it is up to the reader to decide who is telling the truth.

Is there a word/phrase for "unperformant"?

As a software engineer, I need to sometimes describe a piece of code as something that lacks performance or was not written with performance in mind. Example: This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. Based on my Google searches, this isn't a real word. What is the correct way to describe this? EDIT My usage of "performance" here is in regard to speed and efficiency. For example, the better the performance of code the faster the application runs. My question and example target the negative definition, which is in reference to preventing inefficient coding practices. Answer This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. In my opinion, reads more easily as: This coding style leads to unmaintainable and poorly performing code. The key to well-written documentation and reports lies in ease of understanding. Adding poorly understood words such as performant decreases that ease. In addressing the use of such a poorly ...

nouns - what do you call the person who passes the trophies to the prize giver/presenter?

The person who gives out the trophies to the winners are called award presenters. So what do u call the person who passes the trophies to the presenter? Thanks!

Is 'efficate' a word in English?

I routinely hear the word "efficate" being used. For example, "The most powerful way to efficate a change in the system is to participate." I do not find entries for this word in common English dictionaries, but I do not have an unabridged dictionary. I have checked the OED (I'm not sure if it is considered unabridged), and it has no entry for "efficate". It does have an entry for "efficiate", which is used in the same way. Wordnik has an entry for "efficate" with over 1800 hits, thus providing some evidence for the frequency of use. I personally like the word and find the meaning very clear and obvious when others use it. If it's not currently an "officially documented" word, perhaps its continued use will result in it being better documented.

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