The short story is different versions of the same event expressed by different people.

The lumberjack said during interrogation that he found the corpse of a man in a grove under the mountain, where bamboo grows interspersed with young cryptomeria. The man was lying on his back, he was wearing a light blue suikan (short kimono), a wound gaped in his chest. There were no weapons nearby, only a rope and a crest.

A wandering monk said during interrogation that on the eve he had met a murdered man on the road from Yamashin to Sekiyama. With him was a woman sitting on a red horse. The man had a sword behind his belt and a bow with arrows behind his back. The woman was wearing a wide-brimmed hat, and her face was not visible.

The guard said during interrogation that he had caught the famous robber Tajoumaru. Tajoumaru had a sword behind his belt, as well as a bow and arrow. A reddish horse threw him off and plucked grass nearby.

The old woman said during interrogation that she recognized Kanazawa Takehiro in the murder of her twenty-six-year-old son. The day before, the daughter of the old woman, nineteen-year-old Masago, went with her husband to Bakayev. The old woman reconciled with the fate of her son-in-law, but anxiety for her daughter does not give her rest: the young woman disappeared, and she can not be found.

Tajomaru admitted during interrogation that it was he who killed the man. He met him and his wife on the eve of the afternoon. The breeze threw back the silk veil covering the woman’s face, and her face flashed for a moment in front of Tajoumar. It seemed to him so beautiful that he decided at all costs to take possession of the woman, even if for this he had to kill the man. When they want to take possession of a woman, a man is always killed. Tajomiaru kills with the sword, because he is a robber, while others kill with power, money, flattery. Blood does not spill, and the man remains safe and sound, but nevertheless, he is killed, and who knows whose guilt is harder - the one who kills with weapons, or the one who kills without weapons?

But killing a man was not the goal of Tajomaru. He decided to try to take possession of a woman without killing. To do this, he lured them into the thicket. This turned out to be not difficult: Tajomaru pinned to them as a fellow traveler and began to boast that he had unearthed a mound on the mountain, found there many mirrors and swords and buried it all in a grove under the mountain. Tajomaru said that he was ready to cheaply sell any thing, if there was anyone. The man was flattered by the treasures, and soon the travelers, following Tajomaru, went down the path to the mountain, Tajomaru said that things were buried most often, and the man went with him, and the woman remained waiting, sitting on a horse. Having led the man into the thicket, Tajoumaru attacked him and tied him to a tree trunk, and so that he could not scream, he filled his mouth with fallen bamboo leaves. Then Tajomaru returned to the woman and said that her companion was suddenly sick and she needed to go see what happened to him. The woman dutifully went after Tajomaru, but as soon as she saw her husband tied to a tree, she grabbed a dagger from her bosom and rushed at the robber. The woman was very brave, and Tajomaru barely managed to get the dagger out of her hands. Having disarmed the woman, Tajomaru was able to take possession of her without depriving a man of his life.

After that, he wanted to hide, but the woman grabbed his sleeve and shouted that being disgraced in front of two men was worse than death, so one of them must die. She promised that she would go with the one who would survive. The woman’s burning eyes captivated Tajomaru, and he wanted to marry her. He decided to kill the man. He untied him and invited him to fight with swords. A man with a distorted face rushed at Tajomaru. On the twenty-third wave, Tajoumaru's sword pierced the man’s chest. As soon as he fell, Tajoumaru turned to the woman, but she was nowhere to be found. When Tajoumaru got out on the path, he saw a woman's horse, peacefully plucking grass. Tajomaru does not ask for leniency, for he understands that he is worthy of the most brutal execution, moreover, he always knew that someday his head would stick out at the top of the pillar.

The woman said in a confession in the Kiyomizu temple that, having mastered her, the robber turned to her bound husband and laughed mockingly. She wanted to approach her husband, but the robber kicked her to the ground with a kick of her leg. At that moment, she saw that her husband was looking at her with cold contempt. From the horror of this look, the woman lost her senses. When she came to, the robber was gone. Her husband still looked at her with contempt and hidden hatred. Unable to bear such a shame, she decided to kill her husband and then commit suicide. The robber took the sword and bow and arrows, but the dagger lay at her feet. She picked it up and stuck it in her husband’s chest, after which she again lost consciousness. When she woke up, her husband was no longer breathing. She tried to commit suicide, but could not, and does not know what to do now.

The spirit of the prophetess who was killed by the mouth said that, having captured his wife, the robber sat down next to her and began to console her. The robber said that he decided on outrage because he fell in love with him. After what happened, she will no longer be able to live with her husband, as before, is it not better for her to marry a robber? The woman raised her face thoughtfully and told the robber that he could lead her wherever he wanted. Then she began to ask the robber to kill her husband: she cannot stay with the robber while her husband is alive. Without answering either “yes” or “no,” the robber kicked her into the pile of fallen leaves. He asked the woman’s husband what to do with her: kill or have mercy? While her husband hesitated, the woman rushed to run. The robber rushed after her, but she managed to escape. Then the robber took a sword, bow and arrows, untied a rope with which a man was tied to a tree, and left. The man lifted the dagger, dropped by his wife, and thrust it into his chest. As he was dying, he heard someone quietly sneak up on him. He wanted to see who it was, but all was surrounded by dusk. The man felt an invisible hand pull a dagger from his chest. At that moment, his mouth was filled with gushing blood, and he was forever immersed in the darkness of nothingness.