Anthology of Japanese Literature (44 page)

       Scene I: The Ikutama Shrine

NARRATOR
: A graceful young man who had served his term
As an apprentice in the firm of Hirano,
His breast burning with passion concealed
Lest billowing scandal should spread,
Given sometimes to one cup of wine,
And known for his elegant locks,
Renowned as expert in matters of love,
But now like fragrant wood buried,
A mere clerk selling sauces and oil,
And making the round of his clients
Followed by a boy who bears a dripping cask,
Now comes he to Ikutama Shrine.
From inside a teahouse, a woman's voice
Cries, "Tokubei, Tokubei, is it not you?"
She claps her hands; he nods in recognition.

TOKUBEI
:
(to the boy)
: Ch
ō
z
ō
, I'll be following presently, but I want you now to call on the temples in Tera Street, make the round of the uptown mansions, and then go back to the shop. Tell them that I'll be back soon. Don't fail to call at the dyer's in Azuchi Street and collect the money he owes us. And stay away from D
ō
tombori.
¹

NARRATOR
: He watches as long as the boy remains in sight
Then lifts up the bamboo blinds.

TOKUBEI
: Ohatsu, did you call me? What's the matter?

NARRATOR
: He starts to remove his bamboo hat.

OHATSU
: Please don't take off your hat. I have a customer today from the country, who's making the round of the Thirty-three Temples of Kwannon. He's been telling everyone that he won't stop drinking before night. At the moment he's off at the theatre, but if he should return and find you here, he might cause trouble. Even the chair-bearers all recognize you, so please keep your face covered.

I've been so worried of late, not having had a single word from you. I couldn't very well go to your shop to ask what had happened to you, but I must have called a hundred times at the other teahouses. They didn't have any news of you either, but one of the musicians asked his friends about you, and they told him you had gone back to the country. I couldn't believe it was true. It has really been a terrible experience. Didn't you even wish to learn what had happened to me? Was that the way you wanted things to end between us? I've been sick with worry. If you think I'm making it up, just feel this swelling!

NARRATOR
: His hand she takes and clasps against her breast,
And weeps reproachful and entreating tears
Exactly like a proper wedded wife:
Man though he is, he also weeps aloud.

TOKUBEI
: All that you say is true, perfectly true, but what good would it have done to tell you and make you unhappy? The misery I've suffered since we met last is such that even if New Year and every other holiday in the calendar came all at once they couldn't cause more commotion. My mind has been in a turmoil; my finances are in complete chaos. That is why I went to Kyoto and couldn't get in touch with you. By some miracle my life has been prolonged, but in such a way that if they put it on the stage the audiences would weep.

NARRATOR
: His words run out, and he can only sigh.

OHATSU
: Are you joking? Why have you kept so trivial a thing from me? You must have had some more serious reason for hiding. Why don't you tell me?

NARRATOR
: She clings to his knees and bitter tears
Soak her dainty handkerchief.

TOKUBEI
: Stop your weeping. It wasn't that I was hiding anything. Even if I had told you, it wouldn't have served any useful purpose. At any rate, my worries have now largely been settled, and I can tell you about them.

My master has always treated me with particular kindness because I'm his nephew, and for my part I've served him with absolute honesty. There's never been a penny's discrepancy in the accounts. It's true that recently when I bought on credit a couple of yards of silk, I used his name, but that's the one and only time I've done so, and even if I have to return the money at once, I can sell the clothes back without a loss. My master, noticing how honest I am, proposed that I marry his wife's niece. He said he would give me a dowry of two
kamme
of silver, which would permit me to set up in business for myself. But how could I shift my affections to somebody else when I have you? While things were still undecided, my mother—she's really my stepmother—talked things over with my uncle without my knowing about it, and then went back to the country with the money in her clutches. Innocent fool that I am, I hadn't the slightest suspicion of this.

The trouble began last month when they tried to force me to marry. I got angry and said, "Master, I don't understand you. In spite of my unwillingness to get married, you've bribed my old mother into giving her consent. You've gone too far, Master. I can't understand the mistress's attitude either. Just imagine if I were to accept this young lady, whom I've always treated with the utmost deferenee, as my wife, with dowry and all—I should spend my whole life fawning on her. How could I possibly assert myself? It goes against me so much that even were my dead father to rise from his grave and command me to marry, I should still be unwilling."

The master was furious at my long argument and angrily said, "I know your real reasons. You're involved with Ohatsu, or whatever her name is, from the Temma Teahouse, and that's why you are so averse to marrying my wife's niece. Very well—after what's been said, I'm no longer willing to give you the girl, and since there's to be no marriage, return the money. Settle the account by the seventh of April at the latest. Now get out of here and never set foot in Osaka again."

I too felt my manhood rise. "Right you are!" I cried and left at once for my village. But when I got there I found that my so-called mother wouldn't release the money from her grasp, not even if this world turned into the next. I went to Kyoto to borrow from the wholesale sauce and oil merchants in the Fifth Ward, who are friends of mine and would normally be glad to lend me money, but as ill luck would have it, they didn't have any to spare. I went back again to the country, and finally, by getting the whole village to plead on my behalf, I managed to extract the money from my mother. Now I intend to pay back the dowry and settle things once and for all. But if I can't stay here in Osaka, how shall I be able to meet you?

Though my bones be crushed to powder, though my flesh be torn away, and like an empty shell I sink in the slime of Shijimi River,
²
if I am parted from you, what shall I do?

NARRATOR
: Thus suffocated by his grief he weeps.
Ohatsu seeks to hold the tears that well,
Imparting to him all the strength she has.

OHATSU: HOW
you've suffered! And when I think that it's all been on account of me, I'm happy, sad, and most grateful all at once. But you must be more courageous. Even if your uncle has forbidden you to set foot in Osaka, you haven't committed robbery or arson—there must be some way for you to stay here, and I shall discover it. And if a time should come when we can no longer meet, did our promises of love hold only for this world? There have been those before us who have chosen death. At the Mountain of Death, by the River of Three Ways,
³
none will hinder and none will be hindered in love.

NARRATOR
: Amidst these words of strong encouragement
She falters, choked by tears, and then resumes

OHATSU
: The seventh is tomorrow. Return the money quickly, since you must hand it over in any case. In that way you may get into your uncle's good graces again.

TOKUBEI
: I agree with you, and I'm impatient to give it back. But on the twenty-eighth of last month Kuheiji the oil merchant, whom you know, implored me to lend him the money. He said he needed it just for one day, and promised to return it on the morning of the third. I decided to lend the money to him since I didn't need it until the seventh, and it was for a friend as close to me as a brother. He didn't get in touch with me on the third or the fourth, and yesterday he was out and I couldn't get to see him. I intended to call on him this morning, but I've spent the whole time making the rounds of my customers in order to wind up all my business by tomorrow. I'll go see him tonight and settle things. He's a decent fellow and he knows the predicament I'm in. I can't imagine that anything will go wrong. Don't worry, Ohatsu!

NARRATOR
: "Hatsuse is far away,
So is Naniwa-dera;
The sounds of the temple bells
At many famous places
Are voices of the Eternal Law.
If, on an evening in spring
One visits a mountain shrine
One sees . . ." but who comes now singing?
⁴

TOKUBEI
: Oh, Kuheiji! You certainly are a bold rascal! What business have you running off on pleasure excursions when you still haven't got in touch with me? Today we settle accounts.

NARRATOR
: He takes Kuheiji's arm and holds him back.
Kuheiji's face betrays his irritation.

KUHEIJI
: What are you talking about, Tokubei? These people with me are all residents of the ward, and we've just been to a meeting to raise funds for pilgrimages to lse. We had a bit to drink, but now we're on the way home. What do you mean by grabbing my arm? Don't be rowdy.

TOKUBEI
: I'm not being rowdy. All I want is for you to return the two
kamme
of silver you borrowed from me on the twenty-eighth of last month, which you were supposed to repay on the third.

NARRATOR
: Before he can even finish his words
Kuheiji bursts into a roar of laughter.

KUHEIJI
: Have you gone crazy, Tokubei? In all the years I've known you I can't remember having borrowed a penny from you. Don't accuse me of anything or you'll regret it.

NARRATOR
: He shakes himself loose, then he and his friends
Whip off their bamboo hats.
Tokubei changes color in amazement.

TOKUBEI
: None of that, Kuheiji! You came weeping to me, saying that if you couldn't borrow the money to tide you over the end of the month you would go bankrupt, and so, even though the money is indispensable to me in my present predicament, I lent it to you to prove my friendship. I thought that it was one of those occasions we always used to talk about. I told you that I wouldn't even need a receipt, but you insisted on putting your seal to one, just to keep things straight. Don't deny it, Kuheiji!

NARRATOR
: Tokubei with bloodshot eyes upbraids him.

KUHEIJI
: What's that? I'd like to see just which seal it is.

TOKUBEI
: Do you think I'm afraid to show you?

NARRATOR
: He draws it forth from his inside pocket.

TOKUBEI
: If these gendemen are from the ward, I am sure that they will recognize your seal. Will you still dispute it?

NARRATOR
: When he unfolds the paper and displays it
Kuheiji claps his hands in recollection.

KUHEIJI
: Yes,
it's my seal all right. Oh, Tokubei, I never thought that you would do such a thing, not even if you were starving and forced to eat dirt. Know then, that on the twenty-fifth of last month I lost a wallet containing my seal. I put up notices everywhere advertising for it, but without any success, so as of this month—as I've already informed these gentlemen—I changed my seal. Could I possibly have affixed my seal to a paper on the twenty-eighth when I lost it on the twenty-fifth? No—what happened was that you picked it up, wrote a promissory note, and then put my seal to it. And now you are trying to extort money from me. That makes you a worse criminal than a forger. You would do better, Tokubei, to commit out-and-out robbery. You deserve to have your head cut off, but for old times' sake, I'll forgive you. Now see if you can get any money out of this.