CHANTER: His appeal, spoken so earnestly, stirs her memories. Thinking it might be her father, she wants to fly to him, cling to him, gaze into his face. Her heart is torn in a thousand pieces, but as the wife of Kanki, lord of the castle, she holds back her tears before the soldiers.
[KINSHŌJO]: I remember it all, but without some proof how can I be certain? If you have proof that you are my father, I would like to hear it.
CHANTER: Immediately the soldiers start shouting one after the other: “Prove it!” “Show us proof!” “He’s just saying he’s her father. ““He’s a liar!” They all fix their gun sights on Ikkan. Watōnai runs up and stands in front of Ikkan, facing the soldiers.
[WATŌNAI]: If I hear so much as a pop from your silly guns, I’ll cut you all down!
[SOLDIER]: Don’t let that bastard escape!
CHANTER: They cock their muskets, covering them from all sides. “Proof!” “Proof!” they chant with growing menace, until they appear about to shoot. Ikkan raises his hands.
[IKKAN]: Wait!—You, my lady, have the proof yourself, I’m sure of it. The year before I fled from China, I had my portrait painted as a memento for you. I left it with your nursemaid. I’ve grown old, but my face must still bear some traces of the past. Compare it with the portrait—that should clear away any doubts!
[KINSHŌJO]: Your words are already proof.
CHANTER: She takes out the portrait that she has kept next to her heart over the years, and unfolds it on the railing. Then she takes out her mirror, holds it up so that she can see her father’s face reflected by the moonlight, and carefully compares the two images. In the portrait, she sees the burnished skin and glossy sidelocks of youth; in the mirror, a face now ravaged by age. His hair has turned white as snow, but the eyes and mouth remain unchanged, closely resembling her own. The mole on her forehead, inherited from her father, is undeniable proof.
[KINSHŌJO]: Are you really my father? How I’ve longed to see you—my dear father! I was told only that my mother had died and that my father was in Japan. I knew no one who might have news. I knew that Japan lay to the east, at the edge of the world, so each dawn I bowed to the rising sun, and at dusk I spread out a map of the world and said to myself: “Here is China, there is Japan, where my father is!” Japan seemed so near on the map, but you were three thousand leagues away or more. I gave up all hope of seeing you in this life and looked forward to the next, hoping I might meet you in the underworld. For twenty years I’ve filled my days and nights with sighs and tears. It was so hard for me to bear, but you have stayed alive! Now I can bow to my father. I’m so grateful!
CHANTER: Her voice dissolves in sobs of joy as she loses all restraint. Ikkan, choking with emotion, clings to the gate tower and looks up as she looks down, their hearts too full to speak, their tears unending. Even the valiant Watōnai and his mother are overcome, and the tears of the brutish soldiers dampen their musket fuses. After a while Ikkan speaks.
[IKKAN]: We have come here on a very important matter. I wish to make a request of Kanki in secret. But I need to discuss this with you first, so please have the soldiers open the castle gate.
[KINSHŌJO]: I should, of course, invite you to enter without your even asking, but the country is still at war, and by order of the Tartar king, foreigners, even close relatives, are strictly forbidden from entering. But this is a special case. Soldiers! What do you say?
Kinshōjo, in Kanki’s castle, holding up a portrait of Ikkan. (Photograph courtesy of Barbara Curtis Adachi Collection, C. V. Starr East Asian Library, Columbia University)
CHANTER: The thickheaded Chinese cry out: “No! Impossible! Never! Go back to Japan! Bin kan ta satsu bu on bu on!”49 The visitors are shocked, then dismayed as the soldiers again take aim with their muskets, but Watōnai’s mother steps forward.
[MOTHER]: You are quite right, of course, quite right. Since it is the king’s command, we are in no position to object. But you need not be concerned about an aged mother. I want only a few words with the lady. If you let me pass, it would truly be the greatest kindness I have ever known.
CHANTER: She presses her hands together in supplication, but they refuse to listen.
[SOLDIERS]: No! No! Nothing was said about allowing a woman to enter. If we let her in, she must be tied up with a rope. That way, even if the king hears of it, Lord Kanki will have an excuse and we would have done our duty. Quickly now—tie her up! If she doesn’t like it, send her back to Japan! Bin kan ta satsu Bu on bu on. . . .
CHANTER: They glare down at the mother, and Watōnai’s eyes suddenly widen with rage.
[WATŌNAI]: You dirty Chinese! Didn’t you hear? She’s the wife of Tei Shiryū Ikkan and my mother. That makes her your lady’s mother as well. To lead her in on a rope like a dog or a cat—no Japanese would tolerate such an insult. So what if we can’t get into your damned castle—let’s go!
CHANTER: He starts to lead his mother away, but she shakes him off.
[MOTHER]: Listen—have you forgotten what I just said? A person making a big request of another will suffer every kind of humiliation and bitterness. Even if I am bound hand and foot by shackles, much less ropes, as long as our request is granted, it will be like exchanging roof tiles for gold. Japan may be a small country, but its men and women do not forget their duty. Ikkan—please tie me up.
CHANTER: Watōnai feels ashamed, but he has no choice. Taking the rope he keeps at his waist for emergencies, he binds her arms to her torso and ties her wrists together. Mother and son acknowledge each other with a smile—a reflection of the bravery instilled in the Japanese. Although in almost unbearable anguish, Kinshōjo struggles to keep her composure.
[KINSHŌJO]: The times govern all things, and the law of the land must be obeyed. You need not worry so long as your mother is in my care. I don’t know what she has to say, but I will listen to her request, convey her words to my husband Kanki, and beg him to grant her wishes. Now then, the waters of the moat surrounding this castle come through a conduit from a spring in the garden next to my dressing room and flow all the way to the Yellow River. If my husband grants your request, I will drop white makeup powder in the spring. So if you see the water in the moat turn white, it will be a sign of success, and you may enter the castle in high spirits. But if he does not grant your request, I will drop rouge powder into the water as a sign he has refused. Then you must come to the gate to take back your mother and be on your way. Success or failure will appear in the waters, pure white or deep red—keep your eyes on the moat! Farewell!
CHANTER: In the moonlight the doors of the gate swing open, and the mother is led through, across the threshold between life and death. This is not the Gateway to Enlightenment but the Gateway to the Darkness of Worldly Delusions. The doors close, and the heavy crossbar drops with a resounding boom. Kinshojo’s eyes cloud with tears, revealing the weakness of a Chinese woman. Neither Watōnai nor Ikkan sheds a tear—the way of the Japanese warrior. In the fashion of the Tartars, a cannon fires as the gates open and close. Crossbar and cannon boom together, the only sound heard as it fills the air and the distant reaches beyond.
Scene 2: Kinshojo’s rooms in the castle.
CHANTER:
Far-distant China, beyond the reach even of her dreams.
Having journeyed to a land she’d only heard about,
The mother finds the bonds of love between parent and child
As strong as the ropes that tightly bind her like a criminal.
Their meeting is as rare as plum blossoms in the snow,
but like two nightingales from different lands,
their songs harmonize and require no interpreter.
This woodblock illustration of The Battles of Coxinga is from a mid-eighteenth-century book entitled Zashiki ayatsuri otogi gunki. At the gate to Kanki’s residence, Kinshōjo, on top of the tower, unrolls the portrait of her father, Tei Shiryū (Ikkan), over the railing and extends her hand toward him. Ikkan (left) stands next to his wife, now bound by rope. Two of Kank
i’s retainers (center) are speaking in Chinese and gesturing toward the gate to let in Ikkan’s wife. Watōnai, with the shaved crown, stands vigilantly, grasping a long sword.
Kinshōjo brings the mother to her private rooms. With a deep sense of filial devotion, she comforts and honors her with heavenly splendor, providing her with layers of cushions and quilts, with fine wine and the best delicacies from the mountains and seas. But the ropes around the mother’s wrists and arms make her look like a criminal guilty of the Ten Evils and the Five Sins,50 a painful sight. Yet Kinshōjo attends to her in various ways with admirable concern, treating her as if she were her real mother. Her maidservants gather around.
[MAID 1]: Have you ever seen a Japanese woman before? Her eyes and nose are like ours, but the way she ties up her hair is odd!
[MAID 2]: And her clothing are sewn so differently! I suppose the young women dress the same way, too. A gust of wind would raise the edges of that divided skirt and expose her thighs!
[MAID 1]: That would be embarrassing!
[MAID 3]: But if I’m reborn a woman, I’d rather be a Japanese. They say Japan is called Yamato, which means “land of great gentleness.” For a woman, a country of great gentleness would be wonderful!
[MAID 1]: Yes, it must be a wonderful country!
CHANTER: They all narrow their eyes and nod in agreement. Kinshōjo approaches.
[KINSHŌJO]: What are you all chattering about so intently? This lady is not the mother who gave me life; yet for me, filial devotion and duty mean even more with her. But the law must be obeyed. It breaks my heart to see her bound like a common criminal, but what if the Tartar king heard about this and blamed my husband? I can’t untie her, and that’s my burden to bear.
Now then, I need your help. They say that Japanese food is different from our own; ask her what she would like and prepare something for her.
[MAIDSERVANT]: If I may speak, my lady, we have carefully prepared a meal that has everything—rice cooked with sweet longans, soup with duck and fried bean curd, pork in sweet sauce, steamed lamb, and beef-paste cakes. But when we served it, she said she couldn’t possibly eat such things. She said that couldn’t eat anyway with her arms and wrists tied up. So she asked us to make a simple musubi.51 I haven’t the faintest idea what sort of food a musubi might be, so we all gathered around to discuss it. One said that in Japan, a sumo wrestler is called a musubi. We asked around, but sumo must be out of season because we couldn’t find any that she might like.
CHANTER: Just then a horse-drawn carriage thunders to a halt outside the castle wall to shouts of “Lord Kanki has returned!” One large chest after another is carried into the courtyard, followed by Kanki himself, walking beneath a stately silk parasol—an imposing procession befitting his noble name. Kinshōjo goes out to greet him.
[KINSHŌJO]: You’ve returned sooner that I expected. How do matters rest with you, my lord?
[KANKI]: Well, the Tartar king is deeply gratified with my efforts and has promoted me to a rank far greater than I deserve. I’ve been appointed a general with one hundred thousand cavalry, granted the hat and robes of a prince, and directed to carry out important functions. There is no greater honor for our house.
Kanki, a Chinese prince and lord of the castle. (Photograph courtesy of Barbara Curtis Adachi Collection, C. V. Starr East Asian Library, Columbia University)
[KINSHŌJO]: What a marvelous achievement—Congratulations! Our family’s good fortune keeps growing. I have always told you how much I loved my father and longed to see him. He, the wife he married in Japan, and their son arrived at the gate today with a request, but I told them you were away. My father and his son, in deference to the strict laws of this country, have taken their leave, but I have kept the mother here. I feared the Tartar king might hear of this, so I had her bound with ropes. She is resting in one of my rooms. She may not be the mother who bore me, but imagine how she must feel being tied up like that—it’s heartbreaking!
[KANKI]: Tying her with ropes was prudent—if word should reach those higher up, I will have an excuse. Treat her with the greatest courtesy, but first I will meet with her. Show me the way.
CHANTER: The mother must have overheard, for she calls out from behind the double doors.
[MOTHER]: Kinshōjo—has Lord Kanki returned? He is too exalted a person; I will go to him.
CHANTER: She emerges through the doorway and struggles, moving slowly toward them like an ancient pine tree tightly entwined by a wisteria vine. The painful sight fills Kanki with pity.
[KANKI]: It is true enough: a mother will do anything for her child, even journey ten thousand leagues over mountains and rivers to find her. To be rewarded with binding ropes—that I cannot change; it is the times we live in. Wife—be careful that the ropes aren’t hurting her. We must see to every need of our precious guest. Whatever you may require, madam, I will provide it if I can. Do not hesitate to ask.
CHANTER: The mother’s face brightens at the warmth of his reception.
[MOTHER]: I feel I can trust you; I am most grateful. After listening to you, how can I stand on ceremony? I wish to speak to you privately about an important request. Come closer, come closer.
CHANTER: She lowers her voice.
[MOTHER]: We did not come to China just because we longed to see our daughter. At the beginning of last winter, Princess Sendan, the younger sister of the Ming emperor, was blown ashore in a small boat at Matsura Beach in Hizen Province. She told us that China had been seized by the Tartars. Kinshōjo’s father, as you know, was once a minister at the Ming court. Our son, Watōnai, though only a lowly fisherman, has studied the military writings of China and Japan. Once my husband and son heard her story, they resolved to destroy the Tartar king, to restore China to the Ming, and to put the princess on the throne. We left the princess in Japan and came to China, but we were shocked to find that everyone, even the plants and trees, bows to the Tartars. No one wishes to side with the Ming. The only person whom we can trust to be Watōnai’s right arm is you, Lord Kanki. I beg you—please join us.
CHANTER: She struggles to bow at the waist, bringing her head to her knees. Her single-minded resolve is obvious to all, and Kanki is greatly surprised.
[KANKI]: I see . . . this Watōnai of Japan I’ve been hearing about must be Kinshōjo’s brother and Ikkan’s son! His bravery is no secret, even in China. I’m sure that he has a promising plan, one that we should follow. My forefathers were also ministers under the Ming. But after the death of the Ming emperor, I had nowhere to turn, so I’ve passed the months and days accepting favors from the Tartars. Now as fate would have it, your request coincides with my hopes. I would like to say I am your ally right now, but I need to give the matter some thought.
[MOTHER]: Coward! That’s not what you said before! Once such an important matter is broached, the whole world knows about it. If word of this leaked out while you were mulling this over and we were defeated, there would be no going back no matter how much you regretted it. We won’t bear a grudge. Yes or no, answer me—now!
[KANKI]: Well then, if you want an answer right away, that’s easy enough: I, Kanki, will be Watōnai’s ally.
CHANTER: In a flash, he grabs Kinshōjo by the front of her robe, pulls her toward him, draws his sword, and presses it to her throat. The old mother throws herself between them, kicking free Kanki’s grip. With her back she pushes Kinshōjo down and lies on top of her, facing Kanki.
Drawing a sword, Kanki pins down Kinshōjo, causing her oval Chinese fan to fall to the floor. Although bound, the mother tries to intervene, coming between them. The checkered floor tiles symbolize Chinese architecture. Watōnai stands anxiously outside the gate, waiting for the water to change color. Bamboo and plum, also signifying China, adorn the garden.
[MOTHER]: You fiend! What are you doing? Is stabbing your wife when asked a favor a Chinese custom? Are you angry you had to listen to an offensive request from your wife’s relative? Are you crazy? Are you so wicked that you’d kill you
r wife in front of her mother at their first meeting? If you don’t want to side with us, then don’t. (To Kinshōjo) My precious daughter, you have a mother now—don’t be afraid. Hold me tight!
CHANTER: She covers Kinshōjo with her body like a protective wall. Kinshōjo does not understand her husband’s intent but is grateful for her stepmother’s love. “Don’t hurt yourself!” she cries, her voice choking with tears. Kanki leaps back.
[KANKI]: Your suspicions are quite natural, but I am neither angry nor insane. Yesterday the Tartar king summoned me, saying, “Some no-account called Watōnai crossed over from Japan recently, intending to overthrow the king and restore the Ming. He is very resourceful, a born strategist, despite his humble origins. Who will lead a force against him?” He chose me from among all the nobles and gave me the rank of a general with command of ten thousand cavalry. Until this moment, I never dreamed that this Watōnai was my wife’s brother. I told the king: “Watōnai may be endowed with the nerves of that Kusunoki what’s-his-name, with the backbone of Asahina and Benkei’s muscles, but I have probed the guts of Zhuge Liang. I’ll borrow the bones of Fan Kuai and the marrow of Xiang Yu.52 I’ll hunt him down, defeat him in a single battle, and come back with his shaven head in my hands.”53 The Tartars know that I, Gojōgun Kanki, am not one to shrink in fear at tales of Japanese bravery. If I, having boasted in this way, become your ally without batting an eye, without once crossing swords, without firing even a single arrow, I am sure to be slandered: the Tartars will say that I lost my nerve and forgot that I was soldier because I was tied to a woman and influenced by her relatives. Then my sons and grandsons, and their sons after them, will be forever disgraced. I will stab my dear wife and sever all ties to her family so that I can join your side cleanly and with honor. Kinshōjo, your mother’s words were filled with love, and the tip of your husband’s sword is filled with his duty: give up your life for her love and for my duty!
Early Modern Japanese Literature: An Anthology, 1600–1900 Page 43