Shank's Mare

by Ikku Jippensha

  'Now's your time! Now's your time!' called a man at the entrance to the theatre. 'Come and hear the Shirokiya of Kawaraya Bridge, with Tokubei Kamiya and Han of the Temmaya, followed by the suicide of Benkei. All parts performed by different actors.'

  'Come and look,' cried a man with a telescope. 'You can see all the streets of Osaka, down to the very ants crawling in the roads. You can see all the people walking on Dōton Bridge and can count the number of priests among them. You can see both young and old and how many pockmarks they've got. You can see all the pretty girls and all the ugly ones too. You can see them buying and eating baked potatoes. You can see them relieving themselves by the rivers. You can see the beggars catching lice and count how many they've got. You can see 'em as wonderful as if you'd got 'em in your hand. You can see all the scenery. You can see Sumiyoshi harbour and the island of Awaji and Hyōgo Point, and Suma, and Akashi. You can see the sailors in the ships and count the bowls of rice they're eating. You can see what they're eating, too. More wonderful still, if you put it to your ear you can hear the actors in the theatres and tell what they're chanting. It's all the same whether you looks or listens. Smell it with your nose and you'll smell the eels they're frying in the next street. Only four coppers for a look through this wonderful glass. Here you are. Ten thousand miles at a glance. Here you are.'

  'Can you see famous places like Shinmachi quite near through the glass?' asked Yaji.

  'Yes, it's just over there,' said the man.

  'But you can't see it near,' said Yaji. 'You see it far.'

  'What do you mean?'

  'Well, there's only about an inch difference between Kōzu and Shinmachi.'

  'That's on the map,' said the man.

  'Of course,' said Yaji. 'Ha-ha-ha! Well, let's see the temple. Aha, it's a fine temple.'

  After worshipping there they descended the steps of the temple to Tanimichi-dōri and feeling rather hungry they went into a sake-shop which fortunately stood near by.

  'What have you got?' asked Yaji.

  'We have cockles and whale-flesh,' said the landlord,'and also rolled herrings.'

  'I don't know these Osaka dishes,' said Kita. 'Give us anything you've got good.'

  'Yes, yes, in a minute,' said the landlord.

  'We don't want it in a minute,' said Yaji. 'A bowl will do.'

  'Excuse my rudeness,' said Kita,'but could you tell me where your closet is? Oh, I see it.'

  He went off to the closet, and in the meanwhile the sake and the food were brought.

  'Have a cup,' said Yaji to Saheiji.

  'After you,' said Saheiji.

  Yaji gulped down a cupful and then called to Kita. 'Here, Kita,' he cried,'it's good sake. Come quickly, or I'll drink it all.'

  'Wait a minute. I'm coming,' said Kita from inside the closet. Kita made haste to join them, but when he opened the door of the closet he was surprised to find that the sake shop had disappeared. The reason was that this closet served two houses, the sake shop in front and the house behind, and had two doors, one at the front and another at the back. Kita, in his hurry, had come out of the other door of the closet and was thus bewildered to see an old man engaged in making some light basketware, who stared at him over his spectacles with a puzzled air.

  'Who are you?' asked the old man.

  'I've made a mistake,' said Kita. 'How do you get to the sake shop?'

  'Aha, I see what has happened,' said the old man. 'You were in the sake shop, I suppose. Turn to the left at the end of the verandah and you'll find it.'

  'But you can't get any further,' said Kita.

  'Open the door,' said the old man.

  'What, must I go into the closet again?' asked Kita. He tried the door, but a voice called to him inside.

  'There's somebody inside,' said Kita, and from inside came Yaji's voice.

  'Is that you, Kita?' he asked.

  'Oh, it's you, Yaji, is it?' said Kita. 'I came out of the wrong door. Clear out of there quick.' He tried to open the door, but Yaji had put the catch on.

  'Wait a bit,' said Yaji. 'It's bad to strain oneself, so you'll have to wait. It's a bore, isn't it? I'll give you a song and you might hum the accompaniment.'

  'Don't talk nonsense but get out of there quickly,' said Kita. He tried to push the door open but could not succeed. Then Yaji began to sing an ode from the Dōjōji:

  Love's lesson learnt, the faithful wife

  Gives all her heart unto her spouse.

  Her blackened teeth and well rouged lips

  Are records of her vows.

  'What a long time you are!' cried Kita. But Yaji went on singing:

  In the end it's all the same.

  You must put your trust in me.

  Was it false the oath you swore?

  This I ask of thee.

  In spite of all Kita's entreaties Yaji refused to move. At last he fell silent, however, and Kita, thinking he had gone, called to him. Thereupon Yaji took up his song again:

  No sign of jealousy disturbs our love.

  'What are you doing?' called Kita.

  'I've finished,' said Yaji. 'But let's sing the Yamazukushi before we go.'

  At this Kita lost his temper and pushed so hard at the door that the catch broke and he fell inside the closet. Yaji was just opening the other door to go out when Kita fell in, with the result that he was knocked down and both the doors broken.

  'Oh! Oh! Oh!' yelled Yaji.

  'What's the matter?' cried the landlord, running up. 'You've broken the closet door.'

  'It's all your fault,' said Kita. 'You shouldn't have two doors to your closet.'

  'Yes, but whoever heard of two persons going to the closet together?' said the landlord.

  'It's my fault,' said Yaji. 'You must excuse me.' Rubbing his knees he went back to the sake shop.

  'What's the matter?' asked Saheiji.

  'You said the sake was good here,' said Kita,'so let's have a drop quick.'

  'No, no,' said Yaji. 'Somehow I don't feel at home here. Let's go further on.'

  They paid the bill and went off, the landlord looking very black and refusing to return their salutations.

  From there they went by Tanimachi-dōri and Andoji-machi to Bamba-no-hara, and at last reached Temma Bridge. Here they found the river full of trading boats passing up and down, some being rowed with sweeps and others being punted up the river to the songs of the boatmen. Then there were also pleasure boats, from which came the music of the samisen and the drum. A crowd had collected on the bridge to watch them.

  'Ya, ya!' called a man on the bridge to one of the pleasure boats. 'How are you going to pay the bill-collector when he calls after wasting your money like that? Fool! Fool!'

  'What are you talking about?' replied a man in the boat. 'It's you that's the fool.'

  'Shut your jaw,' shouted the man on the bridge.' It's you that's the fool.'

  'Like your impudence,' said the man in the boat. 'Do you want to make out who's the biggest fool? We beat you easily.'

  'What, give in to you?' said the man on the bridge very angrily. 'We've got the biggest fool here.'

  'Yes, everybody knows you're the biggest fool in town,' said his companion, drawing him away. 'Don't mind what they say.'

  Then they went off with all the crowd running after them and calling 'Fool, fool, fool!'

  Amused at this quarrel, Yaji and Kita went on till they came to the Temma Shrine, where they found a multitude of pilgrims attracted by the divine favours of the god. There they found charming girls in red aprons waiting outside the cookshops and teahouses, and countless booths and archery grounds, with girls calling to the passers-by in shrill voices to soften their hearts. Elsewhere were to be seen monsters of the land or sea, dramatic performances, acrobats, circus-riding, —all within the precincts of the temple.

  Thus they went the round of the shrines, not refraining from casting sidelong glances at the white faces of the girls who performed the sacred dances. Passing the corner of the Koyamaya they came
to Tenjin-bashi-dōri. Here the thong of one of Yaji's sandals broke.

  'There!' said Yaji. 'These Kyōto things are no good. They told me it would never break. What a nuisance!'

  Just then a rag-and-bone man passed, calling 'Dei! Dei!'

  This is the cry of the rag-and-bone men in Ōsaka, but in Edo it is the cry of the sandal and clog menders, and Yaji did not know this.

  'Here,' he called. 'Just look at this sandal.'

  'Ay, ay,' said the man. 'But one sandal's no good. What's the good of one sandal? And the thong's broken too. Let's have the one you've got on.'

  'It's only just broken,' said Yaji. 'How much for the two?'

  The rag-and-bone man, who thought Yaji wanted him to buy them, turned them over and over.

  'These would be very cheap,' he said.

  'Yes, yes,' said Yaji. 'They must be cheap.'

  'Well then, forty-eight coppers for the two,' said the man. 'How's that?'

  'No, no,' said Yaji. 'That's too dear. Twenty-four coppers is enough.'

  'Eh, you're joking with me,' said the man.

  'No, no,' said Yaji. 'You must make it twenty-four coppers.'

  As Yaji kept on thrusting the sandals under his nose and insisting upon his having them, the rag-and-bone man, astonished and half amused at the seller (as he thought) wishing to beat down the price, at last pulled out the money.

  'All right,' he said,'I'll lower the price to twenty-four coppers.' He put the money in Yaji's hand, and flinging the sandals into his box, began to move off.

  'Here, wait a minute,' said Yaji. 'What do you want to give me the money for? What are you going to do with those sandals?'

  'Haven't I bought 'em?' said the man.

  'Nonsense,' said Yaji. 'I wanted you to mend the thong that's broken.'

  'What, did you think I was a clog-mender?' said the man. 'I'm a rag-and-bone man, I am. None of your dirty outcasts.'

  'Well, what do you want to go about shouting "Dei, Dei" for then?' asked Yaji.

  As Yaji was beginning to get angry, Saheiji, the guide, intervened.

  'I see, I see,' he said. 'It's our mistake. I thought there was something wrong. In Edo the clog-menders call out "Dei, dei" as they go along, but in these parts the rag-and-bone men use that cry. It's our mistake, but we didn't know, so you must excuse us.'

  'A nice thing, making a fool of a man like that,' said the man.

  'Well, it's a mistake,' said Kita. 'You must give back the sandals.'

  'Taking me for a clog-mender,' grumbled the man. 'Destroying my reputation like that!'

  Kita and Saheiji soothed the man and at last he gave back the sandals, whereupon Yaji hung them at his waist and put on a pair of straw sandals.

  They crossed Tenjin Bridge and went along Yokobori-dōri. Here they encountered a crowd of people. At first they thought it was a fight, as everybody was talking and shouting at once, and there was a great uproar. They made their way through the crowd and while they were doing so they noticed a little package lying at their feet. Yaji stooped down and picked it up, not thinking it was anything of value, and on opening it found it was a wooden ticket marked with the number eighty-eight. Although there are no such things nowadays, the temples at that time used to hold lotteries, and apparently one of the persons in the crowd they had just passed had dropped his lottery ticket.

  'That must be a lottery ticket you just picked up,' said Saheiji.

  'I suppose so,' said Yaji. 'It's number eighty-eight.'

  'It's the lottery at the Zama temple,' explained Saheiji,'and it's going to be drawn to-day. I expect it's already drawn.'

  'That would be it,' said Yaji. 'I expect it's a number that failed. It's no good.'

  He threw it away, but Kita, who was following close behind him, picked it up again and thrust it into his bosom. Soon they reached the Zama Temple.

  Now it happened that that day was the day for the drawing of the lottery and apparently it had just been drawn, for a great crowd had collected in front of the temple and it was impossible for them to push their way through.

  'What a pity I didn't buy eighty-eight,' they heard someone in the crowd say. 'If I'd bought that I should have won the first prize of a hundred pieces of gold.'

  This gave Yaji quite a shock.

  'Did you hear that?' he said. 'What a pity we threw away that ticket. What shall we do? Do you think we'd find it if we turned back?'

  'You don't suppose it would be there still, do you?' said Kita.

  'It's very unfortunate I threw it away,' answered Yaji, and he kept on looking back as he walked.

  As the lottery had been drawn the numbers of the winners were being written up one by one in front of the temple, and they saw that the number of the first prize was eighty-eight.

  'Oh, oh!' groaned Yaji. 'I'm going to turn priest. My luck's out entirely.'

  'Ha-ha-ha!' laughed Kita. 'Don't let your spirits go down. I'm going to get that hundred gold pieces, and I don't mind letting you have four or five out of them. Look at this.'

  He pulled out of his bosom the ticket that Yaji had thrown away and held it up before him.

  'What?' exclaimed Yaji. 'Did you pick it up? Well done, well done. Hand it over.'

  'Oh no,' said Kita. 'None of that. You threw it away and I picked it up, so it's mine now.'

  'No, no,' said Yaji. 'I saw it first and picked it up and so it's mine by right although you did pick it up again.'

  'Yes, but didn't you throw it away?' said Kita.

  'That doesn't matter,' said Yaji. 'You just pass it over.'

  He tried to snatch it away from Kita, but Kita held it fast. Then Saheiji intervened.

  'Be quiet,' he said. 'If you talk so loud the man who dropped it will hear you and he'll want it back. Let me settle the matter for you. As you've both picked it up, what you must do is to halve the prize, and while you're about it you might give me a share.'

  'Of course, I'm quite willing to do that,' said Kita. 'But we'd better enjoy the good things while we have them. We ought to get the money at once. Where do they pay?'

  'Over there,' said Saheiji,'where that man's sitting.'

  They went over to the lottery office, but there they saw a notice that owing to the confusion the winner in the lottery would not be paid till the next day. Thus seeing that there was nothing to be got that day, they continued their round of the shrines.

  'Suppose the chap that lost the ticket goes and gets the money,' said Kita.

  'Oh, don't worry about that,' said Saheiji. 'They won't pay the money till they get the ticket back, no matter how many witnesses he has.'

  'Hooray!' cried Yaji. 'I feel quite happy now.'

  'We'll get the hundred gold pieces to-morrow,' said Kita. 'It seems a long time to wait.'

  'What's a long time?' asked Yaji. 'Ain't we going to get it all right?'

  Thus rejoicing over their luck, they forthwith entered a teahouse and called for some sake in honour of the event.

  SECOND PART

  HUS Yajirobei and Kitahachi, having picked up the winning number in a lottery, by which they thought to get one hundred pieces of gold, and having thus suddenly become full of life and spirits, left the grounds of the Zama Temple and entered a teahouse, where they drank sake till they seemed to themselves to be floating along in a land of pleasant dreams. Then their guide Saheiji took them to the shrine of the Emperor Nintoku, which is called the Inari of Bakuro-chō.

  'Come in, come in,' cried the girls at the teahouse at the gate. 'Try our hot baked beancurd with bean sauce.'

  'What silly things they say,' said Kita. 'Who'd eat it if it was cold.'

  'Come in, come in,' cried the man at the door of the theatre. 'The Bell of Mugen from the Seisuiki is just going to begin.'

  'We don't want to hear any more about the Bell of Mugen,' said Yaji. 'We've got a hundred pieces of gold. Isn't it wonderful? I say, Kita, let's go to Shinmachi and buy a courtesan. What do you think, Saheiji?'

  'That's a good idea,' said Saheiji,'but I hope you
won't mind my telling you that it's no use your going like you are now. It would be all right for low-class courtesans, but not for those in the front. It would be better to wait till to-morrow evening and put on a better appearance.'

  'Yes, yes,' said Yaji. 'You're quite right. We must wait till we've got the hundred pieces of gold.' Then we can get the best.'

  'How proud he's grown!' said Kita.

  'Of course,' said Saheiji. 'I'll go with you whenever you like. By the way here is the Daimaru store. Isn't a fine place?'

  'Here you are! Here you are!' cried a man at the door. 'Walk in, walk in.'

  'I say, Kita,' said Yaji. 'Suppose we go in and order some clothes.'

  'Ha-ha-ha!' laughed Saheiji. 'What a hurry you're in. You'd better wait till to-morrow morning.'

  'Yes, yes,' said Kita. 'We mustn't be in too great a hurry. Let's go on.'

  'Well, we must leave it till to-morrow then,' said Yaji. 'But I say, Kita, what are you going to get?'

  'Clothes, do you mean?' said Kita. 'Well, I'm going to get three fashionable silk dresses and a fine-patterned, rustling silk cloak, so as to make myself look as rich as possible.'

  'You'll look like a shopman,' said Yaji. 'If you wear a dress like that people will call after you in the street, "How much did you make yesterday? You told 'em it was the best quality and it was only the common. You did make a lot of profit, didn't you?" That's the sort of thing they'd say. I shall have a black cloak of striped silk and wear a long sword like a judge. That would make everybody stare. An underdress edged with scarlet and above a Yūki silk kimono and a cloak to match. Wouldn't that be stylish? Hachijo silk is out of fashion and tozan silk makes you look like an old man. Nambujima silk also is so common that you'd be ashamed to undress in a public bathroom.'

  'That's so,' said Kita. 'When you come to think of it there's really nothing to wear.'

  'Nothing to wear, eh?' said a man walking behind him. 'With a great big crest on your back and a kimono made out of old flags, eh? Ha-ha-ha!'

  'Here, what are you talking about?' asked Kita.

  'It's none of your business,' said the man and walked off.

  'Impudent rascal!' said Kita. 'He doesn't know how we're going to dress to-morrow.'