It had been ordered that the execution should take place in the garden
of the _yashiki_ (1). So the man was taken there, and made to kneel
down in a wide sanded space crossed by a line of _tobi-ishi_, or
stepping-stones, such as you may still see in Japanese
landscape-gardens. His arms were bound behind him. Retainers brought
water in buckets, and rice-bags filled with pebbles; and they packed
the rice-bags round the kneeling man,—so wedging him in that he could
not move. The master came, and observed the arrangements. He found them
satisfactory, and made no remarks.