The Scent of Sake (28 page)

beauty and experience, a bit older than he but not so old that he’ll be put off. What do you think?”

O-Toki smiled. “Yes, it’s time. I know he’s nineteen. I thought of him on his birthday. A mother does, you know.” She raised her eyebrows but continued looking down.

“Do you have someone in mind?”

“I’ve been thinking about it, actually. Yes, I think O-Sada would be perfect. She’s a beauty and much in demand. She has a patron so she’s experienced. Her patron needn’t know. I’ll arrange it with O-Sada.”

“I’ll bring him a week from tonight. We’ll want to have a bath and a meal. He and I can bathe and eat together, but after that. . . .”

“I understand. O-Sada will be very sensitive.”

“Will she know you’re his mother?” Jihei asked. “You know, Yoshi still doesn’t know. He thinks my wife is his mother.”

“I’ll let her know everything she needs to know, you can be sure.” O-Toki did not elaborate.

“Let’s go, Yoshi. I had a ricksha called. He’s waiting out beyond the number three kura.”

Jihei glanced at his son and was pleased that he had taken special care with his appearance. They looked strikingly alike, Jihei had to concede, only that Yoshitaro was slighter of build. And with his bushy hair and slim figure he might almost be mistaken for an artist or actor, the type that would attract women. Yoshitaro seemed to have caught his father’s sense of adventure, Jihei thought as they rode to the Sawaraya. Yoshitaro turned to look at the hawkers, the lights, the scurrying geisha as the ricksha rocked along the bumpy roads.

At the entrance O-Toki and a younger geisha greeted them, a woman whose striking eyes gave her an air of intelligence it was difficult to conceal even with her geisha’s makeup and bright

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kimono. Yoshitaro followed his father and the geisha along the corridors, stumbling as he watched O-Sada and looking curiously at his surroundings.
Good that he especially noticed O-Sada,
Jihei thought.

Seated with his son in the back room always reserved for him, Jihei looked around the room and relished the thought that they were a family—he, O-Toki, and their son, the first time the three had been together since Yoshitaro’s infancy.

“So wonderful that you have brought your son this evening,” O-Toki said as she and O-Sada bowed deeply. O-Toki looked at Yoshitaro intently, then glanced down and bowed.

A maid brought in a tea tray, the evening’s preliminary. O-Sada poured two small cups and set them before Jihei and Yoshitaro.

“And you will want a bath before you dine. O-Sada will show you to the bath when you have changed.” She indicated the house yukata and the women left the room.

Yoshitaro glanced at Jihei, who nodded and rose. They changed into the blue-and-white printed yukata and slid open the shoji. O-Sada motioned for them to follow her. Jihei glanced at Yoshitaro and saw that he was watching O-Sada walk with her small swaying steps. In the bath anteroom O-Sada handed towels to Jihei and Yoshitaro and withdrew as they removed the cotton robes and entered the steaming bathroom. Jihei tried to reassure his son as they soaped and rinsed. “It’s the same as at home, Yoshi. We always bathe before dinner here too. Nothing unusual.”

They stepped into the vaporous steamy tub. Jihei slapped a hot towel on top of his head and sighed.

“Relax, Yoshi. We’re here to forget the pressures of work.”

The door slid open and O-Toki and O-Sada advanced through the mist and knelt behind Jihei and Yoshitaro.

1. ada smiled at Yoshitaro and asked in a soft voice, “May I massage your back?”
   

   Yoshitaro covered his groin with his hands.
   

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   Jihei smiled. “Don’t worry, Yoshi, she’s seen men before.”
   

2. oki glanced at Yoshitaro, then quickly focused on Jihei’s back.
   

For the next few moments the only sound was water splash-ing as the women ran their hands around Jihei’s and Yoshitaro’s backs. Jihei watched O-Sada’s hands move up and down Yoshitaro’s arms and around to his stomach. Jihei closed his eyes and exhaled loudly.

“A wonderful way to relax, isn’t it, Yoshi?” He opened one eye.

Yoshitaro nodded but didn’t speak. Jihei saw Yoshitaro’s eyes following O-Sada’s hands in their exploratory tour of his body.

After a few minutes O-Toki rose and said, “We’ll see to your dinner.” She motioned O-Sada to follow her.

After the women left, Yoshitaro said, “Do they always come into the bath and massage you?”

“Usually, yes,” Jihei answered. “It’s part of the whole evening.” “What else?” Yoshitaro asked.

“We’ll have dinner and a drink and then . . . we’ll see. . . .” Yoshitaro frowned slightly but said nothing more.

The meal was the Sawaraya’s best fare, Jihei could see as tray after tray of small, beautifully arranged dishes was set before them. Most striking was a miniature ship covered with enticing pieces of fresh sliced sashimi.

“Have a drink, Yoshi. It’s White Tiger,” Jihei said, laughing. O-Sada held out a flask.

“I think you’re old enough to have more than a taste.” Jihei winked at O-Toki.

Yoshitaro’s face reddened as he sipped his second cup. Jihei drank steadily as the meal progressed. Tastefully cut melon appeared as the final course.

O-Toki and O-Sada sat attentively as maids cleared away the trays.

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Jihei half lay on his side, elbow resting on the tatami.

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“Let’s stay the night, Yoshi. I’m too relaxed to move,” Jihei said.

“Will it be all right at home?” Yoshitaro asked with a slight frown.

“Don’t worry, Yoshi. Just relax,” Jihei said.

O-Toki took Yoshitaro’s arm. “Come. I’ll show you to your room,” she murmured.

“My room?” Yoshitaro asked. “Don’t I stay with my father?” “He’ll be nearby. It’s all right,” O-Toki said gently.

Yoshitaro looked back at Jihei’s prone form as he left the room with O-Toki.

Jihei closed his eyes. He heard the shoji slide open again some time later.

“O-Sada is with him in the next room,” O-Toki whispered. “I think she’ll stay with him most of the night.”

“It’s a big step for him,” Jihei mumbled. “I’m glad he’s here with me, and you.”

O-Toki yawned. “
Ah,
what happened about your plan to cut back on your wife’s production increase?” She glanced at Jihei.

“Oh, it worked better than I thought. Actually I thought only one kura would go sour, but all three did. The whole cellar was spoiled. Couldn’t be helped.” He closed his eyes and smiled at the thought of his successful revenge against Rie.

“Oh, I’m sorry.” O-Toki put an arm across Jihei’s chest.

He embraced O-Toki. “Sake brewing isn’t the only thing in life.”

Some time during the night Jihei was awakened by sounds coming from the next room. He listened closely, aware that Yoshitaro’s initiation had begun.

Before dawn Jihei rolled over and sat up. O-Toki was still asleep next to him. He put a hand on her arm. “O-Toki,” he said softly. “Wake Yoshi. We need to get back.”

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O-Toki sat up, pulled her kimono around her and put on her obi. She shuffled out the door. Jihei could hear her calling, “Excuse me,” and Yoshitaro’s muffled reply mingled with O-Sada’s voice.

Jihei dressed quickly and stepped into the corridor. Yoshitaro emerged, hair disheveled, his face a study in confusion.

“Let’s wash quickly and leave, Yoshi. We want to get back before breakfast.”

Jihei led the way through the corridor to the washbasins. They splashed cold water over their faces and wet down their hair.

“Why didn’t you tell me, Father?” Yoshitaro asked. “Some things a man learns best by experience, Yoshi.”

“I mean why didn’t you tell me that Mother is not my real mother, that O-Toki is my mother?” He looked at Jihei accusingly.

Jihei paused, his jaw clenched as he hazarded a fierce glance at O-Toki. He gave her one last look, then adjusted his collar and said, “We’ll talk about it on the way home, Yoshi,”

As they stood at the entrance waiting for the ricksha, O-Toki looked at Jihei, then put a hand on Yoshitaro’s arm and said softly, “Yes, Yoshi, I am your mother.”

Yoshitaro looked at her, and Jihei once again felt a stab of anger at O-Toki when he realized his son was about to cry.

“It’s all right, Yoshi,” O-Toki said.

O-Sada took out Yoshitaro’s sandals and bowed to him. “Please grace our humble house with your presence again,” she said without looking up.

“It’s like this, Yoshi,” Jihei said after they were seated in the swaying ricksha. “I’m also adopted, you know. Your mother’s— my wife’s—parents adopted me as her husband. So I was selected especially to continue the Omura House and brewing White Tiger. And she and I, her parents and I, adopted you so that you can continue after me. You are my real son.”

He was greeted by angry silence.

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“And my wife also regards you as her son and treats you as her son. She and I have raised you, so we really are your parents. We care for you and want you to continue the traditions of the house, as she has always told you. Please don’t regard her any differently. The experience you had last night is something completely separate. It has nothing to do with the house, or with marriage. It was about individual human emotions.”

“But O-Sada said that is where I was born,” Yoshitaro insisted. “Yes, it is true that you were born there. But you are a member

of the Omura House, and after I’m gone you will be the most important member of the house. Don’t forget that, Yoshi.”

Jihei sat back, exhausted from his predawn exertions. They were silent the rest of the way home. Jihei listened to the creaking of the racketing ricksha on the bumpy road.

He alighted at the rear entrance of White Tiger, between the number one and two kura and left Yoshitaro to fend for himself at the main entrance to the corridor between the storage area and the number one kura.

Just as Yoshitaro entered the corridor the door slid open from the storage room and Rie stood frowning at him.

Yoshitaro bowed, his face suddenly flushed. “
Uh . . .
good morning, Mother.”

“I see,” Rie said, her mouth an angry line. “So the Bunraku performance lasted all night. Well, I hope you enjoyed the performance.”

Yoshitaro bowed again, not looking up. “
Uh,
yes, Mother.” “And your father?”

“I believe he’s gone to the kura.”

“Most likely, yes,” Rie replied. The kura was Jihei’s usual escape. “Well, I know Kinnosuke has work for you this morning.”

Rie turned and reentered the storage room, sliding the shoji shut with a bang. She stood for a moment resting her trembling hands on the table where she had been working. She scowled,

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and her angry breath came in rapid gasps. This was the way it had always been with men. Now Jihei was training Yoshitaro to follow in his footsteps, spending on geishas time and valuable money earned by the efforts of herself and the kurabito. Jihei always said geisha entertainment was necessary for business negotiations, but business negotiations never produced babies. When her rage subsided she walked rapidly out through the corridor to the barrels in front of the number one kura. She lifted a small barrel of water from the well to place it beside a huge barrel, tied back her sleeves, knelt, and picked up a brush. She tied a scarf over her hair and attacked the barrel with savage energy.