Tosh's Journal - September 29 (Chivalry Code)

TOSH’S JOURNAL

September 29

As a writer, a publisher, a poet, and a lover, I very much follow the ancient code of honor, which is:


1 Believe the Church’s teachings and observe all the Church’s directions.

 2 Defend the Church.

 3 Respect and defend all weaknesses.

 4 Love your country.

 5 Show no mercy to the Infidel. Do not hesitate to make war with them.

 6 Perform all your feudal duties as long as they do not conflict with the laws of God.

 7 Never lie or go back on one’s word.

 8 Be generous to everyone.

 9 Always and everywhere be right and good against evil and injustice


In a complex and dark world, I find this code simplifies things that make me function better as a human being. For the past year, I have read nothing but books that deal with the chivalry code, for instance, “The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha.” A very long novel, but a work that I enjoyed much while in the bathtub. It was sometime during finishing the last page of the book and draining the tub’s water that I decided to take a trip, to express the code that I believe is essential for modern life.

I emptied my bank account and some others, to purchase a one-way ticket to Tokyo, to bring the code to the citizens of Edo. I intend to penetrate the Floating World by participating in various activities in the area, but alas, with a serious message. Every culture has two sides of the coin, and the opposite of that coin is Sorrowful World. With the lightness of my touch, I’ll bring enlightenment to the masses and therefore hope will once again regain its stature against the hopeless.

All I have is my faith in the code because there is no going back. I mustn’t look back, because the past is right behind, and my steely eyes must go forward, to the present and even beyond the entrance of the future. When I wrote my book “Drugstore Cowboy,” I was on the lam from the law. Once they caught up and sentenced me to prison, I arranged for a publisher to publish it, and even though I’m a forgotten man, the book lives on. Now that I’m released I feel I have a second chance to make things right. There is wrong, and I know that world quite well. Now that I have cut everything off, including friends that I never really had, I’m free to roam for chivalry. You may look like a windmill, but surely the devil lives inside.