Kusamakura (21 page)

Opposite me are two men. Both wear straw sandals, one has a red blanket over his shoulders, and the other is dressed in pale green workman’s trousers with patches at the knees, to which he presses his hands.

“No good, eh?”

“No good.”

“We oughta have two stomachs, eh, like a cow.”

“That’d be the answer. One goes wrong, you just cut it out.”

This country fellow is apparently suffering from stomach problems. The stench blowing from the Manchurian battle-fields has not reached these men’s nostrils; nor do they understand the evils of modern civilization. They know nothing of such matters as revolution; indeed, they haven’t so much as heard the word. They’re still at the stage where they can seriously entertain the possibility of having two stomachs. I take out my sketchbook and set about sketching the two figures.

A bell begins to clang. The ticket is already bought.

“Right, let’s go,” says Nami, rising to her feet.

The old man stands with a grunt of effort. Our party goes through the ticket gate and out onto the platform. The bell is ringing fiercely.

With a roar, the serpent of civilization comes slowly writhing along the glittering tracks, belching black smoke from its jaws.

“So the time has come to say farewell,” says the old man.

“Take good care of yourself,” Kyuichi responds with a bow.

“Make sure you come home dead,” Nami says once more.

“Is the luggage here?” asks her brother.

The serpent draws to a halt in front of us. The doors along its side open, and now people are streaming in and out. Kyuichi boards, leaving the old man, his son, Nami, and myself standing there outside.

With a single turn of those wheels, Kyuichi will be no longer of our world. He is off to a world far distant, where men labor amid the reek of gunpowder, and slither and fall on a red slick, while the sky thunders ceaselessly above. Kyuichi, already on his way there, stands wordlessly in the carriage gazing out at us. Here is the snapping point of our mutual fates—his that has drawn us down from the mountains, and ours that have been drawn along by him. The break is already happening, for all that the carriage doors and windows are still open, our faces are still visible to each other, and a mere six feet separate him who is leaving from us who remain behind.

The conductor comes running down the platform toward us, clapping the doors shut one by one, and as each closes, the distance between the travelers and those who stay behind increases. Finally Kyuichi’s door slams shut. There are now two worlds. The old man steps closer to the window, and the young man thrusts his head out.

“Careful, it’s moving!” comes a cry, and already the train is heartlessly chugging into motion. One after another the windows slide past us. Kyuichi’s face grows small.

Then as the last third-class carriage is passing me, another face appears at the window. Gazing disconsolately out is the bearded visage of the wild mountain monk, under his brown felt hat. His eyes and Nami’s suddenly find each other. The chugging train is picking up speed, and in another instant the wild face is gone. Standing there in a daze, Nami continues to stare after it, and astonishingly, her face is flooded with an emotion that I have never until this moment witnessed there—pitying love.

“That’s it! That’s it! That’s what I need for the picture!” I murmur, patting her on the shoulder. At last, with this moment, the canvas within my own heart has found its full and final form.

Notes

1
.
By my eastern hedge:
A verse from the poem “Drinking Wine,” by the Chinese poet Tao Yuanming (365-427), a work famous for extolling the natural world and the calm heart divorced from the troubles of human life.

2
.
Seated alone:
A verse from the poem “House in the Bamboo Village” by the Chinese poet Wang Wei (699-759).

3
. Hototogisu
or
Konjikiyasha:
Hototogisu,
written by Soseki’s contemporary Tokutomi Roka (1868-1927), depicts the tragedy of a tubercular woman separated from her beloved husband by her feudalistic family.
Konjikiyasha,
by another contemporary, Ozaki Koyo (1867-1903), also depicts the sorrows of love. Both novels were immensely popular.

4
.
no more do they . . . peace and tranquillity:
In Chinese legend a fisherman takes his boat upstream and wanders into a grove of flowering plums. There he discovers the tranquil realm of the Taoist sages, which has no contact with the mundane world.

5
. Shichikiochi
or
Sumidagawa:
Shichikiochi
is an anonymous Noh play that dramatizes the story of a loyal retainer prepared to sacrifice his child to save his master. The Noh play
Sumidagawa,
by Zeami (c.1364-c.1443), portrays a woman crazed by grief at the abduction of her child; she travels to the distant river Sumida in search of him.

6
.
Basho . . . composed a haiku on it:
Basho (1644-94), the famous Edo-period haiku poet, wrote this haiku: “Plagued by fleas and lice—/and here is my horse peeing/right by the pillow.”

7
.
haori:
A
haori
is a short coat worn over Japanese dress.

1
.
a
Hosho
School production of the Noh play
Takasago: Hosho, one of the five schools of Noh performance, had its theater in the Kanda district of Tokyo.
Takasago,
by Zeami, is one of the most famous Noh plays. Its protagonists are an old couple who are the spirits of two pine trees.

2
.
bush warblers:
These birds have a sweet call that poetically evokes spring.

3
.
the mountain crone of Rosetsu’s painting:
A famous painting by the Edo-period painter Nagasawa Rosetsu (1754-99) depicts the mythic wild-haired old woman of the mountains (
yamamba
).

4
.
the war:
The Russo-Japanese War of 1904-5.

5
.
in Izen’s ears:
Hirose Izen (1652?-1711) was a disciple of the haiku poet Basho. He spent much time on journeys composing.

6
.
Suzuka’s far pass:
Suzuka Mountain is on the border between present-day Mie and Shiga prefectures. The Suzuka Pass was renowned as a difficult place on the old Tokaido road between Kyoto and Edo (Tokyo) and often appeared in travel poems.

7
.
it is not in fact my own poem:
Soseki’s friend the poet Masaoka Shiki (1867-1902) wrote a haiku that differs in only one word.

8
.
the
takashimada
style:
an elaborate high coiffure worn by a bride.

9
.
Ophelia in Millais’s painting:
The English painter John Everett Millais (1829-96), in his famous
Ophelia,
depicted her floating down a river among flowers. Although Soseki describes the hands as folded, they are not so in the painting.

10
.
As the autumn’s dew . . . this brief world:
A poem found in the ancient poetry collection Manyoshu (mid-eighth century) was said to be composed by a girl torn between two lovers. The legend told here is a local variation loosely based on this story.

11
.
the magic feather cloak . . . demand that I return it:
In the Noh play
Hagoromo
(
The Feather Cloak
), based on a folk legend, a fisherman finds an angel’s feather cloak cast aside on a beach while she bathes, but he returns it to her when she pleads that she cannot fly back to heaven without it.

1
. Boshu
province:
In the southern part of present-day Chiba prefecture.

2
.
“Bamboo shadows . . .”:
This quotation comes from a well-known collection of epigrammatic sayings,
Taigentan,
by sixteenth-century writer Hong Zieheng.

3
.
Kosen . . . Mokuan:
These seventeenth-century priests of the Obaku sect were renowned for their calligraphy.

4
. Jakuchu: Ito Jakuchu (1716-1800) was famous for his paintings of creatures and plants.

5
an Okyo gives us the beauty of a ghost:
Maruyama Okyo (1733-95) famously painted the ghost of a woman in diaphanous robes.

6
.
Salvator Rosa:
Rosa (1615-73) was an artist and poet who specialized in dramatic scenes.

7
.
too many season words:
A haiku must have one word associated with a season. “Blossom” and “hazy” are both season words for spring.

8
.
Inari’s fox god:
The Inari god is often represented by its guardian foxes. The fox is traditionally reputed to be a shape-changer, often taking the form of a woman.

9
.
The fierce sculptures . . . Hokusai:
Unkei (c.1148-1223) was a Buddhist sculptor. His sculptures of guardian gods at the Nara temples of Todaiji and Kofukuji are among his greatest works. Hokusai (1760-1849) was a famous artist of the ukiyo-e style. His cartoon sketches of everyday life are full of movement.

1
.
Hakuin’s sermons
. . . The Tales of Ise: Hakuin (1685-1768) is one of the most famous Japanese Zen masters.
The Tales of Ise
(c.877-c.940) is among the earliest classic works of Japanese literature.

2
.
Young Yoshitsune . . . under the hazed moon:
According to legend, the folk hero Minamoto Yoshitsune (1159-89) as a youth disguised himself as a woman to make a surprise attack on the great warrior Benkei.

3
.
“vast empty mountains, no one to be seen”:
This is the first line of a poem in praise of the hermit’s life, by Wang Wei (699-759), titled “Deer Park.”

4
.
“Willow Branch” Kannon bodhisattva:
Kannon, bodhisattva of mercy, is sometimes depicted holding a willow branch, symbolizing her ability to bend and hear all prayers.

5
.
“the eye is the finest thing in the human form”:
A quotation from Confucius. The eye is considered good because it unfailingly reveals a person’s good or evil nature.

6
.
Sadder . . . from my sight:
This poem is contained in
The Shaving of Shagpat: An Arabian Entertainment,
a novel by the British novelist George Meredith (1828-1909). The two lines below continue this poem.

7
. Rikyu: Sen Rikyu (1522-91) first refined the rituals surrounding the drinking of whisked green tea, which subsequently developed into the modern tea ceremony.

8
.
as the famous haiku has it:
This passage contains quotations from two haiku. The first is by Kikaku (1661-1707): “The bush warbler/flings his body upside down/with his first song of spring.” The second is by Yosa Buson (1716-83): “The bush warbler / oh how he sings / small mouth open wide!”

1
.
Fukurokuju:
One of the seven “gods of fortune,” of Chinese origin. Fukurokuju is characterized by a very elongated head. Childless couples could pray to a chosen deity in hopes of receiving the gift of a child from him.

2
.
Anglo-Japanese Alliance:
In 1902 England and Japan drew up a military alliance. It was celebrated in Japan by the issue of sets of tiny crossed flags of the two nations.

1
.
Wen Tong’s bamboo . . . the human figures of Buson:
Wen Tong (1018-79) was a Chinese ink painter famed for his bamboo. Unkoku Togan (1547-1618) was a bold and expressive painter of screens. Taigado (Ike Taiga, 1723-76) painted in the style of the Southern School of Chinese painting known as Nanga. Yosa Buson (1716-83) was a haiku poet and painter in the Nanga style.

2
.
Sesshu:
Sesshu (1420-1506) was an ink painter of landscapes.

3
.
Lessing:
Gotthold Lessing (1729-81) was a German dramatist and essayist who wrote on the theory of aesthetics, most famously in
Laocoön.

1
.
the Nanso School:
Nanso was a style of traditional ink painting originating in China.

2
.
Mokubei:
Aoki Mokubei (1767-1833) was a well-known Kyoto ceramicist and ink painter.

3
.
Sanyo
: Rai Sanyo (1780-1832) was a Confucian scholar and aesthete, as was his father, Shunsui (1746-1816).

4
.
Tankei:
Tankei is an area of China that gave its name to the ink stones produced from its prized stone. The stone was characterized by round red spots known as shrike spots.

5
.
Kyohei
: Rai Kyohei (1756-1834) was a disciple of Shunsui.

6
.
Sorai:
Ogyu Sorai (1666-1728) was a Confucian scholar and poet.

7
.
Kotaku:
Hosoi Kotaku (1658-1735) was a Confucian scholar and calligrapher.

1
.
“The woman emanated . . . his veins”:
A free translation of a scene at the end of Chapter 8 of
Beauchamp’s Career
by the English novelist George Meredith (1828-1909).

1
.
the Iwasakis and Mitsuis of this world:
The Iwasaki family, founders of the Mitsubishi Company, and the Mitsui family, founders of the Mitsui Company, were the two great financial families of the Meiji period.

2
.
Timon of Athens:
This famously misanthropic Greek ruler (fifth century B.C.) was portrayed in Shakespeare’s 1623 play of that name.

1
.
Iwasa Matabei:
Matabei (1578-1650) was a Japanese painter with a quirky, freestyle form.

2
.
nembutsu:
A repeated chant invoking Amida Buddha. An early form of
nembutsu
worship included dance.