Early Modern Japanese Literature: An Anthology, 1600–1900

by Shirane, Haruo, ed.

  That’s why Magoemon and I are here now. He was telling me a while ago that the Jihei of today was not the Jihei of yesterday—that you’d broken all connections with Sonezaki and completely reformed. But now I hear that you’ve had a relapse. What disease can this be?

  Your father was my brother. When the poor man was on his deathbed, he lifted his head from the pillow and begged me to look after you, as my son-in-law and nephew. I’ve never forgotten those last words, but your perversity has made a mockery of his request!

  CHANTER: She collapses in tears of resentment. Jihei claps his hands in sudden recognition.

  [JIHEI]: I have it! The Koharu everybody’s gossiping about is the same Koharu, but the great patron who’s to redeem her is a different man. The other day, as my brother can tell you, Tahei—they call him the Lone Wolf because he hasn’t any family or relations—started a fight and was beaten up. He gets all the money he needs from his home town, and he’s been trying for a long time to redeem Koharu. I’ve always prevented him, but I’m sure he’s decided that now is his chance. I have nothing to do with it.

  CHANTER: Osan brightens at his words.

  [OSAN]: No matter how forbearing I might be—even if I were an angel—you don’t suppose I’d encourage my husband to redeem a prostitute! In this instance at any rate there’s not a word of untruth in what my husband has said. I’ll be a witness to that, Mother.

  CHANTER: Husband’s and wife’s words tally perfectly.

  [AUNT]: Then it’s true?

  CHANTER: The aunt and nephew clap their hands with relief.

  [MAGOEMON]: Well, I’m happy it’s over, anyway. To make us feel doubly reassured, will you write an affidavit that will dispel any doubts your stubborn uncle may have?

  [JIHEI]: Certainly. I’ll write a thousand if you like.

  [MAGOEMON]: Splendid! I happen to have bought this on the way here.

  CHANTER: Magoemon takes from the fold of his kimono a sheet of oath-paper from Kumano, the sacred characters formed by flocks of crows.98 Instead of vows of eternal love, Jihei now signs under penalty of Heaven’s wrath an oath that he will sever all ties and affections with Koharu. “If I should lie, may Bonten and Taishaku above, and the Four Great Kings below, afflict me!”99 So the text runs and to it is appended the names of many Buddhas and gods. He signs his name, Kamiya Jihei, in bold characters, seals the oath with blood, and hands it over.

  [OSAN]: It’s a great relief to me too. Mother, I have you and Magoemon to thank. Jihei and I have had two children, but this is his firmest pledge of affection. I hope you share my joy.

  [AUNT]: Indeed we do. I’m sure that Jihei will settle down and his business will improve, now that he’s in this frame of mind. It’s been entirely for his sake and for love of the grandchildren that we’ve intervened. Come, Magoemon, let’s be on our way. I’m anxious to set my husband’s mind at ease.—It’s become chilly here. See that the children don’t catch cold.—This, too, we owe to the Buddha of the Ten Nights. I’ll say a prayer of thanks before I go. Hail, Amida Buddha!

  CHANTER: She leaves, her heart innocent as Buddha’s. Jihei is perfunctory even about seeing them to the door. Hardly have they crossed the threshold than he slumps down again at the kotatsu. He pulls the checked quilting over his head.

  [OSAN]: You still haven’t forgotten Sonezaki, have you?

  CHANTER: She goes up to him in disgust and tears away the quilting. He is weeping; a waterfall of tears streams along the pillow, deep enough to bear him afloat. She tugs him upright and props his body against the kotatsu frame. She stares into his face.

  [OSAN]: You’re acting outrageously, Jihei. You shouldn’t have signed that oath if you felt so reluctant to leave her. The year before last, on the middle day of the boar of the Tenth Month,100 we lit the first fire in the kotatsu and celebrated by sleeping here together, pillow to pillow. Ever since then—did some demon or snake creep into my bosom that night?—for two whole years I’ve been condemned to keep watch over an empty nest. I thought that tonight at least, thanks to Mother and Magoemon, we’d share sweet words in bed as husbands and wives do, but my pleasure didn’t last long. How cruel of you, how utterly heartless! Go ahead, cry your eyes out, if you’re so attached to her. Your tears will flow into Shijimi River, and Koharu, no doubt, will ladle them out and drink them! You’re ignoble, inhuman.

  CHANTER: She embraces his knees and throws herself over him, moaning in supplication. Jihei wipes his eyes.

  [JIHEI]: If tears of grief flowed from the eyes and tears of anger from the ears, I could show my heart without saying a word. But my tears all pour in the same way from my eyes, and there’s no difference in their color. It’s not surprising that you can’t tell what’s in my heart. I have not a shred of attachment left for that vampire in human skin, but I bear a grudge against Tahei. He has all the money he wants and no wife or children. He’s schemed again and again to redeem her, but Koharu refused to give in, at least until I broke with her. She told me time and again, “You have nothing to worry about. I’ll never let myself be redeemed by Tahei, not even if my ties with you are ended and I can no longer stay by your side. If my master is induced by Tahei’s money to deliver me to him, I’ll kill myself in a way that’ll do you credit!” But think—not ten days have passed since I broke with her, and she’s to be redeemed by Tahei! That rotten whore! That animal! No, I haven’t a trace of affection left for her, but I can just hear how Tahei will be boasting. He’ll spread the word around Osaka that my business has come to a standstill and I’m hard pressed for money. I’ll meet with contemptuous stares from the wholesalers. I’ll be dishonored. My heart is broken, and my body burns with shame. What a disgrace! How maddening! I’ve passed the stage of shedding hot tears, tears of blood, sticky tears—my tears now are of molten iron!

  CHANTER: He collapses, weeping. Osan turns pale with alarm.

  [OSAN]: If that’s the situation, poor Koharu will surely kill herself.

  [JIHEI]: You’re too well bred, despite your intelligence, to understand someone like her! What makes you suppose that faithless creature would kill herself? Far from it—she’s probably taking moxa treatments and medicine to prolong her life!

  [OSAN]: No, that’s not true. I was determined never to tell you so long as I lived, but I’m afraid of the crime I’d be committing if I concealed the facts and let her die with my knowledge. I will reveal my great secret. There is not a grain of deceit in Koharu. It was I who schemed to end the relations between you. I could see signs that you were drifting toward suicide. I felt so unhappy that I wrote a letter, begging her as one woman to another to break with you, even though I knew how painful it would be. I asked her to save your life. The letter must have moved her. She answered that she would give you up, even though you were more precious than life itself, because she could not shirk her duty to me. I’ve kept her letter with me ever since—it’s been like a protective charm. Would such a noble-hearted woman break her promise and brazenly marry Tahei? When a woman—I no less than another—has given herself completely to a man, she does not change. I’m sure she’ll kill herself. I’m sure of it. Ahhh—what a dreadful thing to have happened! Save her, please.

  CHANTER: Her voice rises in agitation. Her husband is thrown into a turmoil.

  [JIHEI]: There was a letter in an unknown woman’s hand among the written oaths she surrendered to my brother. It must have been from you. If that’s the case, Koharu will surely commit suicide.

  [OSAN]: Alas! I’d be failing in the obligations I owe her as another woman if I allowed her to die. Please go to her at once. Don’t let her kill herself.

  CHANTER: Clinging to her husband, she melts in tears.

  [JIHEI]: But what can I possibly do? It’d take half the amount of her ransom in earnest money merely to keep her out of Tahei’s clutches. I can’t save Koharu’s life without administering a dose of 750 monme in New Silver.101 How could I raise that much money in my present financial straits? Even if I crush my body to powder, where will t
he money come from?

  [OSAN]: Don’t exaggerate the difficulties. If that’s all you need, it’s simple enough.

  CHANTER: She goes to the wardrobe, and opening a small drawer takes out a bag fastened with cords of twisted silk. She unhesitatingly tears it open and throws down a packet which Jihei retrieves.

  [JIHEI]: What’s this? Money? Four hundred monme in New Silver? How in the world—

  CHANTER: He stares astonished at this money he never put there.

  [OSAN]: I’ll tell you later where this money came from. I’ve scraped it together to pay the bill for Iwakuni paper that falls due the day after tomorrow. We’ll have to ask Magoemon to help us keep the business from going bankrupt. But Koharu comes first. The packet contains 400 monme. That leaves 350 monme to raise.

  CHANTER: She unlocks a large drawer. From the wardrobe lightly fly kite-colored Hachijō silks; a Kyoto crepe kimono lined in pale brown, insubstantial as her husband’s life, which flickers today and may vanish tomorrow; a padded kimono of Osue’s, a flaming scarlet inside and out—Osan flushes with pain to part with it; Kantarō’s sleeveless, unlined jacket—if she pawns this, he’ll be cold this winter. Next comes a garment of striped Gunnai silk lined in pale blue and never worn, and then her best formal costume—heavy black silk dyed with her family crest, an ivy leaf in a ring. They say that those joined by marriage ties can even go naked at home, although outside the house clothes make the man: she snatches up even her husband’s finery, a silken cloak, making fifteen articles in all.

  [OSAN]: The very least the pawnshop can offer is 350 monme in New Silver.

  CHANTER: Her face glows as though she already held the money she needs; she hides in the one bundle her husband’s shame and her own obligation and puts her love in besides.

  [OSAN]: It doesn’t matter if the children and I have nothing to wear. My husband’s reputation concerns me more. Ransom Koharu. Save her. Assert your honor before Tahei.

  CHANTER: But Jihei’s eyes remain downcast all the while, and he is silently weeping.

  [JIHEI]: Yes, I can pay the earnest money and keep her out of Tahei’s hands. But once I’ve redeemed her, I’ll have to either maintain her in a separate establishment or bring her here. Then what will become of you?

  CHANTER: Osan is at a loss to answer.

  [OSAN]: Yes, what shall I do? Shall I become your children’s nurse or the cook? Or perhaps the retired mistress of the house?

  CHANTER: She falls to the floor with a cry of woe.

  [JIHEI]: That would be too selfish. I’d be afraid to accept such generosity. Even if the punishment for my crimes against my parents, against Heaven, against the gods and the Buddhas fails to strike me, the punishment for my crimes against my wife alone will be sufficient to destroy all hope for the future life. Forgive me, I beg you.

  CHANTER: He joins his hands in tearful entreaty.

  [OSAN]: Why should you bow before me? I don’t deserve it. I’d be glad to rip the nails from my fingers and toes, to do anything that might serve my husband. I’ve been pawning my clothes for some time in order to scrape together the money for the paper wholesalers’ bills. My wardrobe is empty, but I don’t regret it in the least. But it’s too late now to talk of such things. Hurry, change your cloak and go to her with a smile.

  CHANTER: He puts on an underkimono of Gunnai silk, a robe of heavy black silk, and a striped cloak. His sash of figured damask holds a dirk of middle length worked in gold: Buddha surely knows that tonight it will be stained with Koharu’s blood.

  [JIHEI]: Sangorō! Come here!

  CHANTER: Jihei loads the bundle on the servant’s back, intending to take him along. Then he firmly thrusts the wallet next to his skin and starts toward the gate.

  [VOICE]: Is Jihei at home?

  CHANTER: A man enters, removing his fur cap. They see—good heavens!—that it is Gozaemon.

  [OSAN AND JIHEI]: Ahhh—how fortunate that you should come at this moment!

  CHANTER: Husband and wife are upset and confused. Gozaemon snatches away Sangorō’s bundle and sits heavily. His voice is sharp.

  [GOZAEMON]: Stay where you are, harlot!—My esteemed son-in-law, what a rare pleasure to see you dressed in your finest attire, with a dirk and a silken cloak! Ahhh—that’s how a gentleman of means spends his money! No one would take you for a paper dealer. Are you perchance on your way to the New Quarter? What commendable perseverance! You have no need for your wife, I take it.—Give her a divorce. I’ve come to take her home with me.

  CHANTER: He speaks needles and his voice is bitter. Jihei has not a word to reply.

  [OSAN]: How kind of you, Father, to walk here on such a cold day. Do have a cup of tea.

  CHANTER: Offering the teacup serves as an excuse for edging closer.

  [OSAN]: Mother and Magoemon came here a while ago, and they told my husband how much they disapproved of his visits to the New Quarter. Jihei was in tears and he wrote out an oath swearing he had reformed. He gave it to Mother. Haven’t you seen it yet?

  [GOZAEMON]: His written oath? Do you mean this?

  CHANTER: He takes the paper from his kimono.

  [GOZAEMON]: Libertines scatter vows and oaths wherever they go, as if they were monthly statements of accounts. I thought there was something peculiar about this oath, and now that I am here I can see I was right. Do you still swear to Bonten and Taishaku? Instead of such nonsense, write out a bill of divorcement!

  CHANTER: He rips the oath to shreds and throws down the pieces. Husband and wife exchange looks of alarm, stunned into silence. Jihei touches his hands to the floor and bows his head.

  [JIHEI]: Your anger is justified. If I were still my former self, I would try to offer explanations, but today I appeal entirely to your generosity. Please let me stay with Osan. I promise that even if I become a beggar or an outcast and must sustain life with the scraps that fall from other people’s chopsticks, I will hold Osan in high honor and protect her from every harsh and bitter experience. I feel so deeply indebted to Osan that I cannot divorce her. You will understand that this is true as time passes and I show you how I apply myself to my work and restore my fortune. Until then please shut your eyes and allow us to remain together.

  CHANTER: Tears of blood stream from his eyes, and his face is pressed to the matting in contrition.

  [GOZAEMON]: The wife of an outcast! That’s all the worse. Write the bill of divorcement at once! I will verify and seal the furniture and clothes Osan brought in her dowry.

  CHANTER: He goes to the wardrobe. Osan is alarmed.

  [OSAN]: All my clothes are here. There’s no need to examine them.

  CHANTER: She runs up to stop him, but Gozaemon pushes her aside and jerks open a drawer.

  [GOZAEMON]: What does this mean?

  CHANTER: He opens another drawer: it too is empty. He pulls out every last drawer, but not so much as a foot of patchwork cloth is to be seen. He tears open the wicker hampers, long boxes, and clothes chests.

  [GOZAEMON]: Stripped bare, are they?

  CHANTER: His eyes set in fury. Jihei and Osan huddle under the striped kotatsu quilts, ready to sink into the fire with humiliation.

  [GOZAEMON]: This bundle looks suspicious.

  CHANTER: He unties the knots and dumps out the contents.

  [GOZAEMON]: As I thought! You were sending these to the pawnshop, I take it. Jihei—you’d strip the skin from your wife’s and your children’s bodies to squander the money on your whore! Dirty thief! You’re my wife’s nephew, but an utter stranger to me, and I’m under no obligation to suffer for your sake. I’ll explain to Magoemon what has happened and ask him to make good on whatever you’ve already stolen from Osan’s belongings. But first, the bill of divorcement!

  Gozaemon pulling away his daughter Osan while her child watches. (Photograph courtesy of Barbara Curtis Adachi Collection, C. V. Starr East Asian Library, Columbia University)

  CHANTER: Even if Jihei could escape through seven padlocked doors, eight layers of chains, and a hundred r
etention walls, he could not escape so stringent a demand.

  [JIHEI]: I won’t use a brush to write the bill of divorcement. Here’s what I’ll do instead! Good-bye, Osan.

  CHANTER: He lays his hand on his dirk, but Osan clings to him.

  [OSAN]: Father—Jihei admits that he’s done wrong, and he’s apologized in every way. You press your advantage too hard. Jihei may be a stranger, but his children are your grandchildren. Have you no affection for them? I will not accept a bill of divorcement.

  CHANTER: She embraces her husband and raises her voice in tears.

  [GOZAEMON]: Very well. I won’t insist on it. Come with me, woman.

  CHANTER: He pulls her to her feet.

  [OSAN]: No, I won’t go. What bitterness makes you expose to such shame a man and wife who still love each other? I will not suffer it.

  CHANTER: She pleads with him, weeping, but he pays her no heed.

  [GOZAEMON]: Is there some greater shame? I’ll shout it through the town!

  CHANTER: He pulls her up, but she shakes free. Caught by the wrist she totters forward when—alas!—her toes brush against her sleeping children. They open their eyes.

  [CHILDREN]: Mother dear, why is Grandfather, the bad man, taking you away? Whom will we sleep beside now?

  CHANTER: They call out after her.

  [OSAN]: My poor dears! You’ve never spent a night away from Mother’s side since you were born. Sleep tonight beside your father. (To Jihei) Please don’t forget to give the children their tonic before breakfast.—Oh, my heart is broken!

  CHANTER: These are her parting words. She leaves her children behind, abandoned as in the woods; the twin-trunked bamboo of conjugal love is sundered forever.

  Act 3

  Scene 1: In Sonezaki, in front of the Yamato Teahouse.

  CHANTER: This is Shijimi River, the haunt of love and affection. Its flowing water and the feet of passersby are stilled now at two in the morning, and the full moon shines clear in the sky. Here in the street a dim doorway lantern is marked “Yamatoya Denbei” in a single scrawl. The night watchman’s clappers take on a sleepy cadence as he totters by on uncertain legs. The very thickness of his voice crying, “Beware of fire! Beware of fire!” tells how far advanced the night is. A serving woman from the upper town comes along, followed by a palanquin. “It’s terribly late,” she remarks to the bearers as she clatters open the side door of the Yamato Teahouse and steps inside.