The Scent of Sake (30 page)

“He is twenty-two,” Rie replied, bowing.

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Mrs. Nakano bowed in return. “Then I know you want to consider his marriage.”

Rie pushed a lacquer plate with two delicate peach-shaped cakes closer to Mrs. Nakano and bowed even further. “We rely on you.” There was no need to be more specific with Mrs. Nakano.

She nodded and put her round white hands to her brocade obi as if to adjust it, though no adjustment was necessary. “Of course your house will want a bride from one of the best families in Kobe. You know the Sawada family, I’m sure. The eldest daughter is fortunately just now of marriage age, and so beautiful. She is nineteen.”

“Yes, I have seen her,” Rie replied. “But her house does not brew, do they? Aren’t they rice wholesalers?” She smiled and dipped her head slightly. It would not do to appear too forceful in rejecting a suggestion from Mrs. Nakano.

“Yes, that is true,” Mrs. Nakano replied. “But that would also be useful for your business, to have a marriage connection with a rice dealer, wouldn’t it?” Mrs. Nakano picked up her cup and sipped delicately.

“For the eldest son of the main house we really need a bride who knows brewing, who was raised in a brewing house, who can care for the live-in workers during brewing. That is the first requirement for our eldest son’s bride.” Rie gestured again toward the peach-shaped cakes on Mrs. Nakano’s plate.

“
Ah,
I see.” Mrs. Nakano paused to cut a minute sliver of cake with a small ivory pick. “Well, I wasn’t going to mention it, but you know the Tamiya family, the Nishinomiya brewer. Their daughter Tama is also of the right age. But I’m afraid she is not as beautiful as the Sawada daughter.” Mrs. Nakano bowed and looked at the untouched slice of cake.

Rie stiffened. “What about ability? Is she capable?”

“They say both she and her brother are very bright, very well

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raised. She is older than her brother, so I believe they wish to see her settled first. I feel confident that they would be happy to have a marriage alliance with your house.”

“You say her name is Tama? And her age?”

“She is just three years younger than Yoshitaro.”

“Tama. Let us hope she turns out to be a real jewel for our house,” she added under her breath. “It is possible, yes, that she may be a suitable bride for our house. Please begin the in-quiry. I’ll inform my husband and Yoshitaro. If your investigation proves positive, and the Tamiyas agree, we can have the o-miai soon. And if she appears suitable, I would like an autumn wedding. But I am being too hasty. We must wait for your report and see if the Tamiyas are willing.” She smiled politely.

Mrs. Nakano bowed. “Rest assured that I will do my best.” She paused to admire the arrangement in the tokonoma behind her. “And I am gratified to see your house doing so well since your own marriage, now so many years ago.”

Rie bowed. “Thanks to you,” she said, careful to hide her true feelings about Jihei behind a mask of politeness. She showed Mrs. Nakano to the door. “We are so grateful to you for your help over the years.”

After dinner that evening Rie sat with Jihei and Yoshitaro at a small table while the other children sat at a table nearby. Jihei was drinking and Yoshitaro also had a sake cup but drank sparingly, Rie was relieved to see. She cleared her throat and adjusted her comb.

“You know, Yoshi, as I mentioned earlier, we can’t postpone your marriage any longer. Mrs. Nakano came this afternoon with a very suitable suggestion. The Tamiya house, you know, the Nishinomiya brewers? Their daughter is the right age. She also mentioned the Sawada daughter, but you know they don’t brew.”

Yoshitaro brightened. “The Sawada daughter! A real beauty.

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And I’ve also seen the Tamiya daughter. Nothing to look at.” He wrinkled his nose. “I prefer the Sawada daughter.”

Rie took her fan from her obi and turned to face Yoshitaro. “As you know, Yoshi, where the house and succession are concerned, family and economic considerations are uppermost. The Sawada family are not brewers, the Tamiyas are. Your bride must come from a brewing house.” She looked at Jihei, who pulled at his eyebrows and looked at Rie, then back at Yoshitaro.

Jihei cleared his throat. “Yes, Yoshi. As I’ve told you, individual preferences are a private matter. They aren’t concerned with marriage. I believe the Tamiya daughter would be a good match for us. A good house.” He glanced at Rie again.

“What’s her name?” Yoshitaro asked, frowning.

Rie’s tone became more conciliatory. “It’s Tama, ‘jewel.’ She’s three years younger than you, just right. So we’ll ask Mrs. Nakano to go ahead with arrangements for the o-miai meeting. Then if they agree we can set the wedding date four months from now. That will give us time to make all the arrangements for a fall wedding. It will be quite a big affair.”

Yoshitaro sighed and rested his chin on a hand. “You understand, don’t you, Yoshi?” Rie asked.

“I guess so,” Yoshitaro mumbled, looking down, his lips pressed together.

“It’s best, Yoshi,” Jihei said, downing a cup of sake. “And it’s not as if you were going out as a mukoyoshi. You’ll be here in your own house.”

Yoshitaro looked at his father, a mukoyoshi.

The afternoon chosen for the o-miai arrived. The two families met in a private room in one of Kobe’s best establishments. Carved cryptomeria cranes marched along the tops of gilt screens that enclosed the room. The famous two-hundred-year-old garden

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was revealed beyond the open shutters. Stone steps led along a pathway to a curved bridge over a koi pond and beyond, to banks of green shrubbery so that the eye never encountered a barrier.

Ranged on one side of the lacquer table were Mr. and Mrs. Tamiya and Tama, on the other side, Jihei, Rie, and Yoshitaro, with Mr. and Mrs. Nakano at one end of the table facing the garden. Although the two families were acquainted, the importance of the occasion lent it an ambience of formality and re-straint.

Yoshitaro sat stiffly, looking straight ahead and bowing as he replied briefly to Mr. and Mrs. Tamiya’s questions.

“And how many years have you been helping your father in the business?” Mr. Tamiya asked.

“Nearly sixteen years,” Yoshitaro replied.

“
Ah,
is that so? So long, and you are so young,” Mrs. Tamiya breathed.

Jihei smoothed his eyebrows. “He has been helping me since he was a small boy of five, even earlier,” he said. “He has a natural aptitude for it.”

Rie saw Yoshitaro steal a glance at Tama, who was modestly looking down at the table. She did not raise her eyes to look at Yoshitaro, Rie noticed. Remarkable self-control, such a valuable asset, and it reflected good breeding. She appeared healthy, if not robust.
Good working and child-bearing material,
Rie thought.

“And I understand that Tama knows the abacus and has helped

in the office,” Rie remarked, smiling and bowing.

Tama bowed but did not look up or speak.

“Yes, she is better at the abacus than I am.” Mrs. Tamiya put her hand over her mouth and giggled politely, bowing.

Rie’s gaze shifted to Tama’s mother, often a portent of a daughter’s older age. Mrs. Tamiya appeared in good health and had an appealing calmness of manner, verging on refinement.

The sipping of tea was an incidental but necessary part of the

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occasion, which ended with more formal bows and glances of mutual appreciation by Rie and Mrs. Tamiya.

Mrs. Nakano tactfully brought the meeting to an end. “We are both so happy that you were able to meet on this occasion.” She did not mention any commitment on either side.

Rie wanted to proceed as soon as possible. “It’s very apparent that Tama has had good training,” she said that evening as she sat with Jihei and Yoshitaro at dinner.

“A good brewing house,” Jihei said. “I see no objection.” Yoshitaro frowned. “Such a flat face and large mouth.”

Rie impatiently replaced her comb. “Let’s agree on the Tamiya daughter. We can’t decide on a superficial basis in a matter so vital to the house, Yoshi. Your father and I have explained all this to you. Please try to understand.”

“Your personal preferences are a private matter, Yoshi,” Jihei said. “Where human feelings are concerned you can do as I do.” Jihei spilled sake on the table as he reached to pour for his son.

Rie had the urge to slap her husband’s face.

“Even her name is propitious: Tama, ‘jewel.’” Rie said, attempting to recover her dignity. “I expect to hear from Mrs. Nakano in a few days.”

But she could see the glint of fire in Yoshi’s eyes and knew that the matter was far from settled in his mind.

Rie reeled from the news that had just now reached her ears, but which must have been buzzing through the geisha houses for these last two years. How could she have been so blind, she wondered as she went in search of Jihei?

“I must speak with you. Now!” Rie commanded when she caught him in the chilly corridor outside the inner office. “Come to the reception room.”

Rie turned abruptly and stalked to the door of the parlor. In a single movement she slid open the door and slipped off her slippers. She hurried into the room and pulled out a zabuton in front of the Butsudan for herself, then slapped a second cushion onto the tatami opposite her. Jihei stumbled into the room after her and slumped onto the zabuton. He glanced uneasily at Rie’s frowning face.

She took out her hairpin and began to twirl it rapidly in both hands on her lap.

“Now I know your true colors at last,” she snapped. She leaned

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forward. “I understand that it was you who ruined our sake. It has become the talk of the geisha houses, I hear.” Rie’s words split the air in staccato syllables. “What were you thinking, trying to ruin our house? It wasn’t enough that you were drinking yourself into idiocy.” She breathed rapidly and tried to loosen her obi.

Jihei gasped and reddened, swaying on his zabuton. “But . . .

I. . . .”

“You are no longer head of the house. You have brought us dishonor and disgrace, nearly caused our financial ruin. As of now Yoshitaro is head of the house. I do not wish to see you in the house again. Get out!” She spat out the icy words in controlled cadences, then turned to face the Butsudan.

Jihei gasped and blinked, staggered to his feet, and wove back and forth to the door. He slid the shoji open with a bang and stumbled along the corridor, bumping the walls on either side as he headed out the door next to the number one kura.

Rie leaned over and covered her face with her hands. Her breath came in racking sobs, and she reached into her obi for a handkerchief and wiped the tears from her face. She heard Jihei slam the outer door shut. She rose, straightened her obi, and went back into the corridor toward the stairway.

O-Natsu stood at the other end of the hallway wringing her hands. “Can I do anything?” she asked in a hushed voice.

“No, O-Natsu. I am going upstairs. I don’t wish to be disturbed. Oh, yes, please see to the children’s dinner.”