The Scent of Sake (51 page)

Ume had bowed and nodded.

“Now, that marriage does not seem possible,” Rie said, picking up her teacup.

Ume’s eyes had widened. “Oh?” she said quizzically.

“Yes, dear, we feel the Kuniyoshi son will be the best husband for you. You know, the family has approached us and waited for over a year. So now we have decided to set you up in a nearby branch house, with the Kuniyoshi son as your adopted husband.”

Ume had looked down abruptly. “A bunke, a branch house?” she asked in a small voice. “Not here in the main house?”

“No, dear. You will receive a generous sum to begin your own branch. We believe you will do well with the Kuniyoshi son. He is the best of the three, now four, that have approached us. And I believe you will prefer him to Hirokichi. He has become a most stubborn person. He would be difficult to live with.”

Ume had looked thoughtful, but said nothing other than good night to her grandmother when she left the room.

Rie had asked Eitaro not to reveal the decision to Hirokichi before the family council met. She did not want to give him another chance to protest. A decision announced at the family council would be final. Now, as she looked out at the familiar faces of the council she made her next proclamation.

“And second,” Yoshitaro continued, “Hirokichi will succeed

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me to the main house, but only on condition that he marry a bride of our choice.”

Rie glanced at Hirokichi and saw him frown darkly and look down.

“In the event that he refuses to marry the bride we select, he will be disinherited, removed from the koseki register.” Yoshitaro covered his mouth and glanced at Hirokichi.

Hirokichi pouted, grunting loudly, his frown deepening.

“We will begin negotiations now for Ume’s wedding. Following her wedding, discussions regarding selection of Hirokichi’s bride will commence.” By this time sweat was pouring down Yoshitaro’s face. He wiped his face with his handkerchief and began to cough.

Tama bowed. “Please have some tea and
casutera
cakes.” She passed two plates of the new Western-style cakes around the table.

The formal part of the meeting was concluded, and family members began to shift on their zabuton. Some began to sip their tea and make polite conversation.

Hirokichi rose abruptly and left the room. The shoji leading out the front entrance slammed shut, the bell clanging loudly.

Later the same afternoon, as soon as she could free herself from duties in the main house, Rie hurried to Fumi’s.

“Oh, Mother,” Fumi said as she greeted Rie at the entrance. “I’m not sure Hiro will agree. Eitaro is worried too.”

Eitaro joined Rie and Fumi in the parlor. “What Hiro said, Mother, is that if he can’t marry O-Fusa he will remain unmarried. He wants to succeed to the main house, but he will remain single.”

Rie frowned. Unheard of! What a stubborn young man. “We can’t have a bachelor as house head. Being head of such an important house, any house for that matter, is the work of two people, a couple, and an heir is essential as successor,” Rie said.

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Eitaro bowed. “Hiro says the house has always taken in the children of geishas, so there will be no problem of lack of heirs,” Eitaro said. He bowed and excused himself to return to the office.

“Hiro is too clever,” Rie said, her mind working. “And he goes too far.”

“Well, Mother, he believes he is meeting most of Yoshi’s conditions if he does not marry O-Fusa. And actually, our main purpose was to prevent that marriage,” Fumi said. “So however cunning it appears, don’t we have to agree to let him succeed?” she asked.

“He has agreed to only part of the conditions, Fumi,” Rie said. “Until he agrees to the rest he will not succeed. Yoshi will back me in this, I am certain.”

Mother and daughter sat in an uncomfortable silence.

Ume was married to the Kuniyoshi son as Rie wished, and Yoshitaro had not been able to prevent it. He was very angry about it, Rie knew. The couple was well endowed with facilities and capital to establish their branch house in Nada. Yoshitaro, though he had not seen O-Sada since his accident, managed to arrange for her to be among those who served at the reception, so that she could see her daughter married. Rie was too preoccupied with the guests to take more than a cursory notice of the exceptionally beautiful woman working among the servants at the reception.

Kinnosuke had made it clear he was disconsolate, shocked beyond belief that his protégée, Yoshitaro’s only child, should be denied succession, shunted off to a branch family. The assump-tions and hopes on which Kinnosuke had based his life work he saw dashed in a single stroke by “Rie and her spoiled daughter and even more spoiled grandson,” according to a conversation

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that Rie had the misfortune to overhear between him and Yoshitaro.

“I must retire now,” he announced to Rie and Yoshitaro. His head was bowed and his shoulders tensed.

Rie gasped and leaned toward the spare figure of the chief clerk she had handpicked and trained from childhood. “We know you are unhappy that Ume is no longer in the main house. But Kinno-san, there was no other way to stop Hirokichi from dishonoring the house. This was the only solution. It wasn’t what we wanted.” She paused and placed both hands on the table. “You know how we value your work. White Tiger would not have reached the number two position without you. Please reconsider, Kinno-san. Please. We cannot do without you.” She bowed low. She looked up and saw tears beginning in Yoshitaro’s eyes.

Yoshi coughed and sputtered as he tried to speak. “Kinnosuke, you have been my teacher since I was a child, as long as I can remember.” He stopped to cough again, and put his handkerchief in his lap. “As you know, my health has not been the best of late. I entreat you, stay on at least until the end of this brewing season. I cannot manage without you.” His words trailed off in a hoarse rasping sound.

Rie put her hand to her mouth and bowed, eyes lowered. She did not fail to note that Kinnosuke also bowed as low as possible.

Kinnosuke struggled, a catch in his throat. “
Ah,
Master,” he began, and stopped, overcome. “It pains me to see you in such a sad situation, with your ill health, and losing your heir.” He paused again and blinked to hold back tears. “I will do as you say. I will stay until the end of this brewing season. Then I must ask you to allow me to retire. I believe Buntaro is capable of taking over.”

“Buntaro is capable and well trained, thanks to you, Kinno—

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san,” Yoshitaro said. “But you can never be replaced at White Tiger.”

Rie could not speak. She wrung her hands, then bowed, rose quickly, and left Kinnosuke and Yoshitaro looking at each other. As she passed the wooden support she paused and slowly caressed it.

Kinnosuke remained until the end of the season as he had promised, Yoshitaro with him almost constantly. At the same time Buntaro gradually worked more closely with both men, who were grooming him to assume all of Kinnosuke’s many duties.

Yoshitaro insisted that Kinnosuke be given a special sayonara dinner. Rie had already planned to give him a handsome pension, and a dinner helped assuage some of her guilt over removing Ume and causing Kinno to retire. Even Yoshitaro was surprised at the size of the pension, an amount so large that when it became known among Nada brewers it caused a minor sensation. Rie wanted it known publicly that the gratitude of the Omura House for his long and loyal service was unbounded. She spared no expense for the dinner, a formal family affair.

Kinnosuke sat at Yoshitaro’s left at the occasion, which featured the finest Kobe sashimi and the new foreign import, beef, in a mixture called sukiyaki. Kinnosuke tasted it but turned instead to the sashimi. Beef, a strange unfamiliar flavor, was no doubt as unpalatable to him as it was to Rie.

Yoshitaro attempted a speech after the meal. He spoke from his zabuton, as it was impossible for him to rise or stand easily.

“It is with great regret that White Tiger and the House of Omura bid you farewell,” he began with a bow from the waist. “Your outstanding, long, and loyal service to our house is without precedent in all of Nada and has made White Tiger what it is today.” Choked with emotion, he bowed several times, tears streaming unchecked down his face.

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Watching Kinnosuke and Yoshitaro throughout his halting speech, Rie felt a tightening in her throat. What would the future bring to White Tiger without this extraordinary man? Would she live to regret what she had done the past few months?

Kinnosuke, never garrulous, managed only a few perfunctory words. He bowed and blinked repeatedly. “I owe everything to you, Master, and to Oku-san.” He bowed to Yoshitaro and Rie and stopped speaking.

The future of White Tiger was in one sense not greatly different from what it had been. Kinnosuke and Rie had imbued all the clerks in the office and men in the kura with a fierce pride in their sake and a canny business sense. Buntaro proved a talented successor to Kinnosuke, with the same sense of timing and eye to the future. In another sense Rie’s concern at Kinnosuke’s departure was well founded. She watched Yoshitaro closely and was saddened to see a gradual loss of nerve, a lassitude slowly begin to erode what energy he had regained following his accident. Kinnosuke had been largely responsible for Yoshitaro’s resump-tion of duties after the loss of his leg, Kinnosuke who had been intimately connected with Yoshitaro during his entire working life. The departure of Kinnosuke left Yoshitaro with an empti-ness, a dark void that could not be filled. It was obvious that his health was suffering, and as the months passed the physical de-cline became increasingly apparent. He rarely smiled.

Rie spoke to Tama one morning in the dining room after Yoshitaro had gone to the office.

“I am so worried about Yoshi, Tama. I’m afraid Kinnosuke’s retirement was a blow he may not recover from.” She sighed and looked at Tama.

“Yes, I know,” Tama said. “He seems worse than after the accident. It is his spirit as much as his body that I worry about.”

Rie looked at Tama and thought how rare it was to see her smile these days. “And if something should happen to him, with

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