Early Modern Japanese Literature: An Anthology, 1600–1900
Page 93
HIRA: All right, now that’s more like it—that’s more like it! (He drinks it in one gulp.)
MAN-ABOUT-TOWN: Let’s be off, let’s be off! (With the Youth in tow, he descends to the entryway floor.)
PROPRIETRESS: Do stop in tomorrow morning.
MAN-ABOUT-TOWN: Yes, well, tomorrow, if it rains, we may just stay on there for a while—it’s been quite some time since I’ve done that. It’s all up to tonight’s girl!61 (So saying, he departs, ushering the Youth ahead of him. Hira, who has been looking on throughout this exchange, now turns to the proprietress.)
HIRA: Well—that was quite a hairstyle! Would that be what they call the Honda style?
PROPRIETRESS: Um-hmm, that’s right. He kept talking such tommyrot, I hardly knew how to respond.
HIRA: Well. . . . You know, tonight I thought I’d just try a little something new.
PROPRIETRESS: How so?
HIRA: Oh, a little number over in Shin-chō sort of caught my eye, and I thought it might be rather amusing to go over there tonight—give her a little something to worry about, don’t you know.62
PROPRIETRESS: Hey, now—stop talking like that! You know that would get us in all kinds of trouble! Why, even that time your friend took you to that place in Edo-chō a while back, you know we caught hell for it!63 Well, well—while we’ve been jawing about this, it seems the apprentice courtesan has arrived to escort you over.64
HIRA: I’m gonna hide, I’m gonna hide!
APPRENTICE COURTESAN: Say! Why were you trying to sneak out when you saw me coming?
HIRA: No, I wasn’t trying to sneak out; I was just on my way out to meet you, that’s all.
APPRENTICE COURTESAN: Whew! They do keep me running! (She perches herself precariously on the edge of the raised floor area.) Mama! My mistress says to tell you what a pleasure it was to come over and have that leisurely chat with you this afternoon65 and asks why, since Mr. Hira was here, you didn’t send him right over? (Having delivered her message, she continues.) Why didn’t you send a messenger?
PROPRIETRESS: Yes, well, I knew you were busy over there, so I thought, well, I’ll take my time about letting her know. Speaking of which, I have something to tell you. Mr. Hira here was just telling me that . . . (Shifting her gaze to Hira’s face, she acts as though she was going to continue. Hira, who by now is quite tipsy and feeling ebullient, sonorously intones the next line.)
HIRA: “Such a thing must never be said aboard a ship!”66
APPRENTICE COURTESAN: My goodness, what a huge voice!
HIRA: Is my voice huge? (Intones) When you have a thing so huge, to hire an apprentice courtesan is . . . ha, ha, ha, ha! Oops! That’s an improper ending, an improper ending! Instead of sitting here gossiping, let’s get going, shall we? Tonight is a “substitute” night,67 so I want to hurry up and go!
APPRENTICE COURTESAN: You’ve certainly cheered up, haven’t you?
HIRA: Ah, there’s a deep meaning to “substitution”!68 Hurry up, let’s go, let’s go!
PROPRIETRESS: Please have some soup before you leave. We’ve already set everything out on the table.
HIRA: No, I really don’t feel like eating at the moment. I want to hurry up and get going. (He puts on two mismatched sandals and hastily sets out, a large tissue case spilling out of his robe, the family crest on the back of his kimono now skewed around to one shoulder, and stuffing in the ends of his sash, which has been tucked in instead of properly knotted and is now coming unwound. The apprentice courtesan seizes his sleeve to restrain him.)
APPRENTICE COURTESAN: The moment you say you’re going to do something, you’re always in such a rush! Now, wait a moment!
PROPRIETRESS: Hurry up and light a lantern! I say—aren’t your sandals mismatched?
HIRA: Sandals be damned! I want to get going! (He rushes out pell-mell.)
APPRENTICE COURTESAN: Wait, please! Wait, please! (She leaves with him.)
MALE EMPLOYEE: There’s something wrong with this lantern. (He begins taking the lantern he has brought out back toward the rear of the teahouse.)
PROPRIETRESS (angrily): Just hurry up and get going!
The ensuing section contains a thumbnail sketch of the licensed quarter, a lyrical evocation of the overall sights and sounds of a brief evening stroll through Yoshiwara. This is followed by a description of a Yoshiwara party scene centering on an unnamed, rather inebriated customer—presumably Hira—being entertained by a group of apprentice courtesans, jesters, and so forth on the first floor of his usual brothel while he waits for his “regular” courtesan mistress to become free to receive him in her second-floor room.
IN THE WEE HOURS
Because two of the courtesan’s customers have overlapped, one is in a waiting room being kept company by a “substitute.”
HIRA: Damn! So I end up getting stuffed into a cramped little room like this yet again! I may as well go ahead and get some sleep. Damn! The drink’s wearing off, and I’m in the mood. (He half dons a sleeved quilt, lies down, and pretends to fall asleep. The apprentice courtesan plucks fitfully at the strings of a plain shamisen. Her customer pretends to awaken.)
HIRA: Unnh . . . Hey, hey—stop playing the shamisen and crawl in here and lie down, by all means.
APPRENTICE COURTESAN: No. Just let me be. You’ll get me bawled out again.
HIRA: The problem is you say it in such a loud voice. Just slip in here for a minute. (He takes her by the hand and pulls.)
APPRENTICE COURTESAN: Your pardon, if you pleeeease, sir!69 (She speaks now in serious tones, leaving Hira little choice but to release her. He sulks for a time, then suddenly rises, reties his sash, and stands in an earnest, upright posture, deliberating.)
HIRA: Listen, you put away my tissue case and outer coat somewhere; bring them to me now.
APPRENTICE COURTESAN: What is it you want to do?
HIRA: I’m going home.
APPRENTICE COURTESAN: You’ve never gone home before—why go home?
HIRA: Well, it’s already five o’clock in the morning, so . . .
APPRENTICE COURTESAN: No, it’s not that late yet. My mistress will be here any moment now. She told me not to allow you to budge from here, no matter what, so I mustn’t allow you to budge. Stay right where you are, sir.
HIRA: She’ll be here any moment?
APPRENTICE COURTESAN: She’ll be here any time now. Don’t be so impatient; just stay put for a bit. Stay right there. Lie down.
HIRA: Yeah, but . . . this is no fun at all. She’ll be here any moment? (He lies down again. In the room next door, the customer is a blind man70 from the provinces. His prostitute, an apprentice courtesan, is sleeping peacefully. He claps his hands together to summon her, but no one comes. He sighs and mutters to himself.)
BLIND MAN: This is no fun! (He begins fiddling with the tobacco tray.)71 It’s long since struck four A.M.; I keep trying to wake her, but whatever I do, I get nowhere. (Snapping the back of his fingernail against her wooden pillow, he calls out.)72 Hey, hey, wake up, wake up! Emergency, emergency! I’ve spilled an ember next to my pillow! Wake up, wake up!
APPRENTICE COURTESAN (groggily): Yeah, what is it?
BLIND MAN: Never mind, just wake up for a minute!
APPRENTICE COURTESAN (sitting up): You’ve got your nerve, harassing me like this.
BLIND MAN: How many times do you think I’ve tried to wake you tonight? It must be five o’clock!
APPRENTICE COURTESAN (pushing open the folding screen and pretending to peer about in all directions): It seems to be morning already.
BLIND MAN: No, no, it’s not morning yet. It’s only been an hour since it struck four.
APPRENTICE COURTESAN: That’s because you can’t see. The sun’s been up for some time already.
BLIND MAN: But the crows haven’t started cawing yet.
APPRENTICE COURTESAN (pretending to hit the blind man on the head, mutters under her breath): Ooh, I hate—!
BLIND MAN (catching what she said): What is it you hate?
<
br /> APPRENTICE COURTESAN: The client in the next room. He tries so hard to sound witty and sophisticated—I just can’t stand him!
MAN-ABOUT-TOWN (in the next room): Hey, girlie!73 Where has she gotten to? Hey, girlie! Hey, girlie!
APPRENTICE COURTESAN: What is it? And stop talking to me in that patronizing way!
MAN-ABOUT-TOWN: Listen, I want you to wake up that young man I was with earlier.
APPRENTICE COURTESAN: He’ll be here in a moment. (The Youth appears, looking sleepy.)
MAN-ABOUT-TOWN: What’s the matter, lover boy? You don’t look so sharp at all!
YOUTH (sheepishly): She wouldn’t let me get any sleep, so I’m kind of sleepy.
MAN-ABOUT-TOWN: You’re so lucky! Now, this girlie here hardly poked out her little mug the entire night.74 I’m never coming to Yoshiwara again—never again!
YOUTH: You want to come back day after tomorrow?
MAN-ABOUT-TOWN: What for?
YOUTH: I’ve made a date75 for the day after tomorrow.
MAN-ABOUT-TOWN: You’re joking! This is appalling—appalling! This house is a horrible house! (The Youth’s courtesan, a very attractive “bedroom courtesan,”76 sleepily comes out to stand beside the apprentice courtesan.)
BEDROOM COURTESAN AND APPRENTICE COURTESAN (glowering at the Man-About-Town): I hate him!
MAN-ABOUT-TOWN: Say, girlie, let me have a little chazuke!
APPRENTICE COURTESAN: What’s that? Let you tipple the chazuke?77
MAN-ABOUT-TOWN: Come on, now, don’t crack jokes like that—just hurry up and bring it, will you? What say, lover boy—don’t you want a little chazuke before we go?
YOUTH: Sure, that sounds fine.
BEDROOM COURTESAN: Are you going home already?
YOUTH: Yes.
BEDROOM COURTESAN: Stay just a little longer! It’s early yet.
MAN-ABOUT-TOWN: Say, why don’t you try to stop me from leaving?
BEDROOM COURTESAN: She’s the one who should stop you from leaving, so there’s no need for me to!
APPRENTICE COURTESAN: What? I can’t stand you! You think you’re the type I’d try to keep from leaving? Hurry up and get out of here! The night is over.
MAN-ABOUT-TOWN: Girlie here doesn’t seem to think I’m even human.
APPRENTICE COURTESAN: It’s this “girlie”-ing that I’ve been unable to abide the entire night!
MAN-ABOUT-TOWN:That may be, but did you give my message to the lady of the inner suite?78
APPRENTICE COURTESAN: Yes, and when I told her what you said, my mistress said she’d never heard of anyone by that name.
MAN-ABOUT-TOWN: Dear me, how cruel! Still, I’m sure the courtesan in the suite down the hall79 won’t have forgotten me!
APPRENTICE COURTESAN: Yes, I told her earlier that you’d said so, so when you went off to relieve your bladder, she took a look at you from behind and said she had no recollection of you whatsoever.
MAN-ABOUT-TOWN: Have I aged so very much, then? I’ve lost all interest—lost all interest in any of this. I’m just going to go on home, just go on home.
APPRENTICE COURTESAN: For pity’s sake, stay just a tiny bit longer! I’ll simply die if you go home! (With these words, she ushers him out into the hallway. The Youth and the bedroom courtesan remain behind, immersed in intimate conversation.)
MAN-ABOUT-TOWN:Lover boy, that’s bad form—bad form, I tell you!
APPRENTICE COURTESAN: Don’t you bother about other people—just get on down those stairs, just get on down those stairs!
AROUND DAYBREAK
HIRA (next door): Lord, what a racket! Sounds like the one who’s been shooting his mouth off all night has finally gone. And the noise of the wicket gate opening for the past hour or so has been driving me crazy.80
HIRA’S REGULAR COURTESAN MISTRESS81 (who has replaced the “substitute” apprentice courtesan): Don’t worry, when I move to the inner suite, all this racket will be no problem. The only real hardship is getting to that point.82
HIRA: Come, now, I’ve been telling you this all night—what are you so concerned about? I’ll put up the cost of your attendants’ debuts as apprentice courtesans, however much it comes to. So it’s merely a matter of funding this move to the inner suite. And even this I’ll take care of, if it should come to that.83
COURTESAN: That makes me so happy! (She begins to embrace and fondle him.) If I just had one more client like you, everything would be perfect!
HIRA: Oh, you’re a fickle one, you are! (He cuddles close, in an amorous mood.)
COURTESAN: The truth is, I’ve been having trouble sleeping, night or day. But last night, after the night’s client left and I came in here with you, my cares melted away and I slept like a baby. Still, last night when you got in such a bad mood, you were really scaring me. From now on, please don’t lose your temper like that.
HIRA: I won’t, I won’t. Forgive me—forgive me, please. Well, I must be getting along now, I must be getting along.
COURTESAN: Oh, stay just a little while longer!
HIRA: No, the day is dawning. Open the blinds a bit, will you? (The courtesan opens the lattice window. The sun has fully risen. Hira blanches.) Blessed Three Jewels!84 The crows must have been cawing for some time now, but somehow I was totally unaware of it. (He calls loudly.) Boy! Boy! Quickly, put out my sandals! The teahouse said they’d send someone to pick me up at four o’clock; but look how late it is already, and they still haven’t sent anyone!
BROTHEL’S MALE EMPLOYEE: He’s been here for some time, sir.
HIRA: Oh my, oh my, this is just . . . (As he is tying his sash, the crows all begin cawing again in unison.)
COURTESAN: Be sure and come this afternoon, now—I’ll be waiting for you.85
HIRA: Well, since I’ll be getting back so late, I can’t promise absolutely, but I’ll do my best to get here somehow.
COURTESAN: In that case, I won’t walk you back to Nakano-chō.86
HIRA: Don’t worry about that. Damn! It’s so late, it’s so late!
COURTESAN: You be sure and come, now. (The crows begin cawing again.) “All unfeeling, the dawn bell.”87
[Kibyōshi sharebon shū, NKBT 59: 272–293, translated by Herschel Miller]
SANTŌ KYŌDEN
Santō Kyōden (1761–1816) was one of the leading writers of his day. The eldest son of Iwase Densaemon, a pawnbroker in Fukagawa in Edo, he was the author of kibyōshi, gōkan, sharebon, yomihon, and kyōka, as well as being a ukiyo-e artist. When he was thirteen, his family moved to Ginza in Kyōbashi, from which he took his pen name (Kyō from Kyōbashi, and Santō, or “east of the hills,” from the location of Kyōbashi) and where he remained the rest of his life. At the age of fourteen or fifteen Kyōden became the student of the ukiyo-e master Kitao Shigemasa and took the painter name of Kitao Masanobu. In 1778, he began to draw illustrations for kibyōshi, and by 1782, he had made a name for himself as the author of Things for Sale You Know About (Gozonji no shōbaimono), joining the samurai authors Koikawa Harumachi and Hōseidō Kisanji as one of the foremost writers of kibyōshi in the Tenmei and Kansei eras (1781–1801). In 1791, Kyōden wrote a three-part sharebon, beginning with Behind the Brocade (Nishiki no ura), which resulted in his being handcuffed for fifty days for having violated the bakufu’s publication restrictions under the Kansei Reforms. After that, he abandoned the sharebon genre and turned to yomihon, with which he broke new ground. During the early nineteenth century, he was the only writer to rival Kyokutei Bakin in this genre. Kyōden’s best-known works include Grilled and Basted Edo-Born Playboy (Edo umare uwaki no kabayaki, 1785) and Shingaku: Quick-Staining Dye, Worker of Wonders (Shingaku haya-somegusa, 1790) in the kibyōshi genre; Forty-Eight Techniques for Success with Courtesans (Keiseikai shijū hatte, 1790) in the sharebon genre; and Chūshingura Water Margin (Chūshingura suikoden, 1801) in the yomihon genre. As a painter, he is known for such works as New Beauties Contest Self-Penned Mirror (Shinbijin awase jihitsu kagami, 1784), a multicolored picture book. Of Kyōden’s man
y students, Kyokutei Bakin was his best; Kyōden also had a significant impact on later writers such as Jippensha Ikku, Shikitei Sanba, and Tamenaga Shunsui.
FORTY-EIGHT TECHNIQUES FOR SUCCESS WITH COURTESANS (KEISEIKAI SHIJŪ HATTE, 1790)
By the An’ei-Tenmei era (1772–1789), sharebon and kibyōshi had become the central genres of Edo vernacular fiction. In 1790, at the end of this period, Santo Kyōden wrote Forty-Eight Techniques for Success with Courtesans, a sharebon divided into five sections, “The Tender-Loving Technique” (Shipporitoshita te), “The Cheap Technique” (Yasui te), “The Revealed-as-Fake Technique” (Minukareta te), “The Unsettled-Feeling Technique” (Sowasowa suru te), and “The True-Feeling Technique” (Shin no te), each of which describes a distinct type of courtesan and a specific type of customer relationship. Following the format of the sharebon, the text resembles a play script centered on dialogue, with only occasional prose descriptions. In its shift of focus away from the pursuit of tsū to the emotional consequences of male-female relationships in the licensed quarter, Forty-Eight Techniques had a profound influence on such later sharebon as Two Ways of Approaching a Courtesan (Keiseikai futasuji, 1797) and foreshadowed the nineteenth-century ninjōbon.
“The Tender-Loving Technique,” the first of the two sections translated here, is interesting in that both the customer and the high-ranking courtesan (chūsan) are new to the ways of the quarter and lack the pretensions of the experienced older courtesans and long-time customers. As in The Playboy Dialect, a contrast is established between a youth figure, who is clearly of considerable means, and an older, apparently more experienced male client, who is Santō Kyōden’s version of the half-baked sophisticate, the half-tsū. In contrast to The Playboy Dialect, in which we seem to be looking at the women from the outside, Santō Kyōden gives a more sympathetic and affectionate inside view of the courtesan, who comes across as a vivacious, charming, and warmhearted young lady. The comments of the intrusive narrator are likewise sympathetic to the courtesan, explaining her difficulties in dealing with the demands of the brothel’s hierarchy and describing the youth’s appeal from her point of view. This kind of perspective is developed more fully in “The True-Feeling Technique,” the second selection and the last section in Forty-Eight Techniques, which sensitively depicts a relationship between a high-ranking courtesan and a customer that has gone beyond the usual play, resulting in a genuine love affair. The pathos of this impossible relationship is viewed with a certain amount of sympathy by the narrator, who, at the end, ironically offers commonsense criticisms (no doubt in part to ward off the censors). Of particular interest here is the notion that true love seriously conflicts with the economic situation of both the man and the woman. If the man were rich, he would be able to buy out the woman’s contract, and the two could consummate their love. In fact, Kyōden himself married a lower-ranking licensed-quarter woman, and after her death he married yet another. The man in “The True-Feeling Technique,” however, is living off his parents’ income and so does not have this option.