Читать книгу Flower Mat - Shugoro Yamamoto - Страница 9

SINCE the age of twelve or thirteen, Ichi had suffered from a recurrent eye infection with the coming of spring. She had forgotten about it lately, thanks to the change in her life created by her marriage to Shinzo Kugata. But shortly after the cherry trees at the castle had bloomed, her husband told her, "Your eyes are red." When she looked at herself in the mirror, she saw that the ailment had indeed begun again. chi had suffered from a recurrent eye infection with the coming of spring. She had forgotten about it lately, thanks to the change in her life created by her marriage to Shinzo Kugata. But shortly after the cherry trees at the castle had bloomed, her husband told her, "Your eyes are red." When she looked at herself in the mirror, she saw that the ailment had indeed begun again.

It could be said that she had weak eyes. If she devoted all her energy to sewing or read a book printed in small characters, her eyes would soon water or her eyelids begin to twitch. If she continued reading or sewing, it was not unusual for her vision to cloud, and she would be uncomfortable.

"You'd better not sew any longer," Iso, her mother-in-law, told her. "Your eyes are apt to be affected when you're expecting a baby, even if that's not the reason."

"I've had eye trouble since I was small. It will somehow heal by itself if I can get through this season," Ichi answered.

Her reserved answer was a result of the constraint she still felt toward her mother-in-law, for she had been married only seven months. And yet, already Ichi had won a kind of self-confidence. Since she had become a member of the Kugata family she was enjoying every day ; her life was full of a high-spirited, cheerful atmosphere, and she could feel that her body and mind were unfettered. She felt as if something that had not budded while she was still with her parents had suddenly begun to blossom.

This might have been because her family's discipline had been too strict and also because, being an only daughter and the last of five children, she had been pampered by her family. By nature she was not very strong; because of her family's overindulgence, she had never had any confidence in her health and had come to fret over even the most minor ailments.

But things were quite different in the Kugata household. Her husband, Shinzo, her mother-in-law, Iso, and her brothers-in-law, Tatsuya and Kyunosuke, were easygoing, simple people and were seldom fussy about things. They were also very liberal, unusual for a samurai family, and never assumed a haughty attitude. It was a foregone conclusion that you would be encumbered with constant cares for a time after you married, and not even Ichi could say that she had not experienced this. But it was only for a short time, and as soon as she had become familiar with the personality of this family, she felt a relieved, easy feeling. She stopped catching colds easily, and her arms and legs began to grow plump. Certainly she would be able to recover from her chronic eye infection.

"If you say so, all right. But please don't try too hard," her mother-in-law said, not forcing her to stop sewing.

That evening her brother-in-law Kyunosuke found out about her eyes and became excited.

"You're too easygoing, mother. In general, newly married wives who are expecting a baby no longer have to sew. You should do the same, sister," he said, turning to Ichi. "You'd better put away that fine work, and I seriously think you should go to a doctor soon."

"You're very knowledgeable about such matters," Iso said as she looked smilingly at her third son. "But what you're talking about has to do with the period after childbirth, doesn't it?"

"What? After childbirth?" He appeared embarrassed, and glanced quickly at his brothers.

Shinzo forced a smile and said, "Anyway, he always jumps to conclusions." Tatsuya, his face ever peaceful, nodded in agreement.

The personalities of these three brothers were clearly revealed in this trifling matter. Shinzo was uncommunicative, quiet in most respects, the kind of man who could take care of the smallest details in any situation. Tatsuya, the second brother, was round and plump of body and face, phlegmatic, and eternally smiling. He was fat and found it troublesome to move about, and his manner of talking was also slow. Moreover, what he said was often funny, and his family often burst out laughing at his remarks. Some time previously he had gone to see Sasamaki, his colleague in a group that practiced spear throwing. He was under the impression that his friend was only sick in bed, but actually Sasamaki had died. Upon returning home, Tatsuya told his family about his friend, saying, "They identified his sickness well enough, but when they treated him for it he became rather dead." This had made Shinzo and Iso laugh.

Kyunosuke was never silent on such occasions. Even then he had made fun of his brother's speech, saying that Tatsuya's talk was more amusing than the Zen dialogues.

"He died because they took good care of him. In short, he might have been saved if they hadn't taken care of him. To say that he became 'rather' dead is especially solemn," Kyunosuke had said.

Tatsuya had narrowed his eyes and smiled wordlessly. The next day Kyunosuke had looked at Tatsuya as he was leaving the house and said, "Aren't they holding the rather funeral at Sasamaki's today?" Since then the word "rather" had become a frequently used word in the family.

This trick of tripping up people, together with a hasty temper and a stubborn nature, revealed Kyunosuke's personality. He was quite talkative, but his movements were also quick, and he was said to be the most resourceful of the three brothers. Unlike Tatsuya, who was twenty-four and just living at home, Kyunosuke, twenty-two, was working in the finance department, thanks to a patron in the person of one Chudayu Yoshihara, who was in charge of revenue. Kyunosuke had obtained his position two years ago, and even after Yoshihara had left for Edo as secretary to the lord of the House of Edo, Kyunosuke continued to be quite popular in the office.

It was to Kyunosuke that Ichi had first grown close after joining this family. He was four years older than she, but showed no sign of it. In any event he took good care of her, calling her "elder sister, elder sister."^* Since he had importuned her for pocket money no more than ten days after her arrival, it was perhaps quite natural that she was beginning to feel at home with him. After that he asked her for pocket money about once every ten days, and she always smilingly handed it over, since she had received quite a large sum from her mother.

"What are you going to use it for?" she would ask. "If you need more, I can give it to you in a lump sum".

"Well, this is enough for now. Pocket money has a certain fascination when I get it bit by bit."

This was the type of conversation they carried on. Actually, Kyunosuke was earning money at the office. Tatsuya, who was idly living at home, might have done well also. But Tatsuya was quite phlegmatic and did not have the wit or the inclination to find out what his younger brother was doing.

Ichi's eyes, which she had thought would heal easily, were not doing well at all. Since they began to water frequently after becoming red, she stopped doing fine work and resumed going to her eye doctor, Sekitai, for treatment. The treatment consisted merely of washing and checking her eyes, so after going to the doctor four or five times, she sent a servant for the medicine and administered the treatment herself, as she used to do while she was still living with her parents.

The dullness of her days, however, bothered her more than her eyes. When she was still single, she had paid little attention to her health and had read many books, often stealing away to her room. But now, as a bride, she could not shut herself up in her room all the time. Yet she was uncomfortable as she absent-mindedly watched her mother-in-law, who was doing sewing or similar work. In the morning she could finish her cleaning in about two hours. Since the family had servants, there was nothing for her to do before and after meals. Once in a while she would go to her mother-in-law's room and talk with her while making tea, but mostly she sat at the window of her room and spent the day looking out at the garden.

On one occasion, while she was having a difficult time enduring these boring hours, a messenger arrived from her family, the Okumuras, and informed her that they wished her to visit them, since her mother was ill in bed. Since Ichi had visited her only at New Year's and because she had plenty of free time, she decided to go, after asking Iso's permission. But while she was choosing a gift for her mother and wondering which kimono to wear, the hands of the clock crept around almost to noon.

"You'd better have lunch before you go, since you're already late," Iso told her. "If you go there now, I'm afraid you'll cause them trouble."

"I don't think so, but perhaps I will have lunch before I go."

Kyunosuke unexpectedly returned from the office while she was talking with Iso. As he passed along the corridor greeting them, he saw that his sister-in-law was wearing a formal kimono. He stopped and asked, "Oh, are you going out?"

Hearing that she was going to visit her mother, he bowed his head, as if there were something he could not quite understand. Then, as if thinking better of it and gazing into her eyes, he asked, "You are coming back today, aren't you?"

Naturally it was her intention to return that day, but since he sounded as if he wanted to make sure of this, Ichi felt that she was being accused ; she answered that she would return by evening.

"What's the matter?" Iso asked, looking at her third son. "It seems very early. Aren't you feeling well?"

"Well, we're having a meeting of my colleagues this afternoon. Since I'm in a hurry, won't you have the servants prepare lunch for me?"

With this Kyunosuke was about to leave, but he turned to Ichi once again and said, this time in a normal tone of voice, "Please give them my best regards. In particular, please tell Bennosuke that I'm longing to be able to see the Seishukufu."

"Se-i-shu-ku-fu... is that it?"

"Yes, that's right. It's a table of twenty-eight constellations which gives them names like the Eastern Seventh constellation with thirty-two stars or the Northern Seventh constellation with fifty-one stars. If you just tell him that, he'll understand."

Bennosuke was Ichi's brother, but she had never heard that he was studying such a thing. However, she merely thought that he was studying something new and strange. She left the house at the southeast gate.

The sunshine was dazzling, and the temperature was high. Even with her parasol, Ichi started perspiring after walking just a short distance. She noticed that the street was quite dusty because of the long drought. To get to the Okumura house she had to detour through the main gate of the castle and go almost halfway around it. It was not a long distance, but the light reflecting from the dry street hurt her eyes. After walking for a time, she would stop and wipe her eyes with a red silk cloth or close them and rest for a while. Thus the walk took longer than expected, and when she reached her parents' home she was so covered with perspiration that she had to change her undergarments.

Footnote

* "Elder sister" (onesan) is what one would call the wife of an elder sibling, even if one is older than the woman* "Elder sister" (onesan) is what one would call the wife of an elder sibling, even if one is older than the woman.