TAIKO: AN EPIC NOVEL OF WAR AND GLORY IN FEUDAL JAPAN

by Eiji Yoshikawa

  "I suppose, then, I should increase the delivery fee by five percent."

  Later in the day, he informed the farmers who had helped him that he had ordered the reforestation. How much they would be paid for planting a hundred seedlings was yet to be decided, but he told them the expenses would most likely be borne by the castle. With that, he said, "Well, let's go back now."

  Encouraged by Tokichiro's attitude, the suppliers were relieved. As they descended the mountain, they whispered among themselves, "What a shock! With this fellow around, you can't leave a moment unguarded."

  "He's smart."

  "It's not going to be easy income like before, but we won't lose out, either. We’ll make up for it, slowly but surely."

  Once back in the foothills, the suppliers were eager to be on their way, but Tokichiro wanted to repay them for the previous night's entertainment. "We've finished our business. Join me for the evening, relax and enjoy yourselves," he insisted.

  At a local inn, he treated them to a banquet, he himself getting pleasantly tipsy.

  * * *

  Tokichiro was happy. All alone, but happy.

  "Monkey!" Nobunaga said—he still sometimes called him that—"you've been economical in the kitchen ever since you were put in charge of it. But sticking a man there is a waste. I'm promoting you to the stables."

  Along with the new assignment came a stipend of thirty kan and a house in the quarter of the castle town set aside for samurai. This new favor brought a lingering grin to

  Tokichiro's face. Almost the first thing he did was visit his former workmate Ganmaku.

  "Are you free now?" he said.

  "Why?"

  "I want to go into town and treat you to some sake.

  "Well, I don't know."

  "What's the matter?"

  "You're a kitchen official now. I'm still nothing but a sandal bearer. You don't want to be seen out drinking with me."

  "Don't take such a warped view. If I thought that way, I would never have come to ask you. Being in charge of the kitchen was above my status, but the fact is, I've been ordered to the stables at a stipend of thirty kan."

  "Well!"

  "I came here because you're a true and loyal servant of His Lordship, even though you're only a sandal bearer. I want you to share this happiness with me."

  "This is a matter for congratulations, surely. But, Tokichiro, you're more honest than I am.

  "Huh?"

  "You're open with me, concealing nothing, while I've kept a good bit hidden from you. To tell the truth, I sometimes do special services, like that time you know about. For these I receive large bonuses directly from the hand of His Lordship. I send the money seretly to my house."

  "You have a house?"

  "If you go to Tsugemura in Omi, you'll see I have a family and about twenty servants."

  "Ah, you do?"

  "So it's not an honorable thing for me to be entertained by you. Anyway, if we both rise in the world, one with the other, we'll both treat and be treated."

  "I didn't know."

  "Our fates lie ahead of us—that's the way I look at it."

  "You're right, our fates are still ahead of us."

  "Let's commit ourselves to the future."

  Tokichiro felt even happier. The world was bright. Nothing before his eyes lay in darkness or shadows.

  Tokichiro took pleasure in realizing that his new position involved a mere thirty kan, but this modest amount bespoke recognition of his two years as an official. The annual fuel expenditure had been reduced by more than half, but it was more than the reward hat made him feel good. He had been praised: "You've done good work. A man like you in a place like that is a waste." To be spoken to like this by Nobunaga was a joy he would not forget. Nobunaga was a general, and he knew how to speak to his men. Filled with admiration for his master, Tokichiro's elation was almost more than he could bear. Others night have mistaken him for a halfwit as, alone and grinning, his face now and again showing his dimples, he left the castle and roamed around Kiyosu. He was in a good nood when he was walking around town.

  The day his duties changed, he was given five days' leave. He was going to have to

  arrange for household goods, a housekeeper, and maybe a servant, although he assumed the house he had received was on a back street, had a nondescript gate, a hedge rather than a wall and no more than five rooms. It was the first time he had been the master of a house. He changed direction to go take a look at it. The neighborhood was inhabited solely by men who worked in the stables. He found the group leader's house and went to pay his respects. He was out, so he spoke with the man's wife.

  "Are you still single?" she asked.

  He admitted that he was.

  "Well, that's a little inconvenient for you," she said. "I have servants here and extra furniture. Why don't you take what you need?"

  She is kind, Tokichiro thought as he went out the gate, saying he would probably, one way or another, be relying on her fully. She herself came outside the gate and called to two of her servants.

  "This is Master Kinoshita Tokichiro, who's just been given duties in the stables. He'll soon be moving into that vacant house with the stand of paulownia. Show him around, and when you have a moment, clean the place up."

  Led by the servants, Tokichiro went off to see his official residence. It was bigger than he had imagined. Standing in front of the gate, he mumbled, "Well, this is a fine house."

  On making inquiries, he found the previous tenant had been a man by the name of Komori Shikibu. A while had passed, it seemed, and the house was rather in disrepair, but in his eyes it was nothing less than a mansion.

  "That stand of paulownia in back is auspicious, because the Kinoshita family crest has been a paulownia since the time of our ancestors," Hiyoshi said to the servant. He wasn't sure this was true, but it sounded right. He thought he had seen such a crest on his fa­ther's old armor chest or sword scabbard.

  In the mellow mood he was in now, he would warm up to those around him, and if there was nothing of overriding importance, no necessity to have cool nerves, he would give in to his elation and his tendency to be talkative. Still, after the words were out of his mouth, he admonished himself for not being more judicious, not because his words came from ill will or fear, but because he himself did not attach any importance to the matter. Beyond that, he assumed it would spawn criticism that Monkey was a braggart. He might admit to himself, It's true; I am a bit of a braggart. Nevertheless, small-hearted, fastidious people who, because of his loquaciousness, harbored misconceptions about him or were prejudiced against him, were never to be his allies during his illustrious career.

  Later he was seen in the bustling center of Kiyosu, where he bought furnishings. Then, at a secondhand clothing shop, he saw a coat, meant to be worn over armor, that bore a white paulownia crest. Tokichiro went straight in to ask the price. It was cheap. He quickly paid for it and just as quickly tried it on. It was a little large, but not unbecom­ingly so, so he kept it on as he continued on his way. The blue cotton was thin and rip­pled in the breeze as he walked and some rich-looking material, like gold brocade, was stitched only into the collar. He wondered who the wearer had been, the man who had the paulownia crest dyed in white on the back of the garment.

  How I'd like to show this to my mother! he thought joyfully.

  Right there, in the prosperous part of town, he was assailed by an almost unbearable

  emotion. It went back to the pottery shop in Shinkawa. He was forced to recall what a miserable figure he had made, barefoot, pushing the handcart piled high with pottery past the staring men, the beautiful inhabitants of the town. He stopped by a dry goods store where high-quality woven goods from Kyoto lined the shelves.

  "Please deliver this without fail," he admonished, putting down the money for his purchases.

  Outside again, he noted it was always like this: after half a day of leisure, his purse was empty.

  "Steamed Buns" proclaimed the magnificent
sign with mother-of-pearl letters that hung from the roof at a street corner. These buns were a specialty of Kiyosu, in whose crowded shops travelers mingled with the locals.

  "Welcome!" said a servant girl in a red apron. "Come in. Will you have some here, or buy some to take home?"

  Tokichiro sat down on a stool and said, "Both. First I'll have one to eat here. Then I'd like you to deliver a box—and make it a big one—to my house in Nakamura. Ask the packhorse driver when he'll be making a trip up that way. I'll leave a tip to cover that."

  A man with his back to Tokichiro was hard at work, but he seemed to be the owner of the shop. "Many thanks for your patronage, sir," he said.

  "You seem to be doing good business. I was just now asking to have some buns sent to my home."

  "Certainly, sir."

  "It doesn't matter when, but I'll entrust this to you. Would you please put this letter in the box with the buns?" He handed the shopkeeper a letter from his sleeve. On the en­velope was written, "To Mother, Tokichiro."

  The shopkeeper took it and asked if it really wasn't urgent.

  "No, as I said, it's not. Anytime is all right. Your buns have always been my mother's favorites."

  While he was talking, he took a mouthful, and the taste of the bun brought a flood of memories and, very quickly, tears to his eyes. These were the buns his mother loved so much. He recalled the days of his youth, when he had passed by this place, yearning to buy some for her, and craving one for himself so keenly that a hand seemed to be coming out of his throat. In those days he could only push his handcart on with abject patience.

  A samurai who had been looking in his direction finished off his plate of buns, stood up, and called, "Isn't it Master Kinoshita?" He had a young girl with him.

  Tokichiro bowed deeply and with great courtesy. It was the archer Asano Mataemon. He had been kind to Tokichiro from the time he had been a servant and he was inclined to be especially polite to him. As the shop was far away from the castle grounds, Matae­mon was relaxed and in high spirits.

  "You're alone, eh?" he asked.

  "Yes."

  "Won't you join us? I'm with my daughter."

  "Oh, your daughter?" Tokichiro looked toward where, a bench away, a girl of sixteen or seventeen rearranged herself to have her back to him, leaving exposed only the white nape of her neck, in the midst of this boisterous crowd. She was lovely. It wasn't that she

  only appeared this way to Tokichiro, who was equipped with a sharply appreciative eye for beauty. Anyone would say the same; she was beautiful, no two ways about it, a woman far above the ordinary.

  At Mataemon's beckoning, Tokichiro sat down before the possessor of those bright eyes.

  "Nene," said Mataemon. It was a pretty name, which suited her character well. Wise eyes shone serenely in the midst of her finely formed features. "This is Kinoshita Tokichiro. He's recently been promoted from kitchen staff to duties in the stables. You shoul meet him."

  "Yes, well…" Nene blushed. "I'm already acquainted with Master Kinoshita."

  "Eh? What do you mean, acquainted? When and where did you meet?"

  "Master Tokichiro's sent me letters and presents."

  Mataemon looked taken aback. "I'm shocked. Did you reply to his letters?"

  "I've sent nothing at all in reply."

  "That's all well and good, but not to show them to me, your father, is inexcusable!”

  "I told my mother each time, and she had the gifts returned, except those for special occasions."

  Mataemon looked at his daughter, then at Tokichiro. "As a father, I'm always worried, but I was really careless. I didn't know. I had heard that Monkey was a shrewd man, but never imagined he would be interested in my daughter!"

  Tokichiro scratched his head. He was very embarrassed, blushing a deep red. When Mataemon began to laugh, he was relieved, but still flushed. Even though he could not tell how Nene felt about him, he was in love with her.

  2 SECOND YEAR OF KOJI 1556

  Characters and Places

  Asano Mataemon, Oda retainer

  Nene, Mataemon's daughter

  Okoi, Mataemon's wife

  Maeda Inuchiyo, Oda Nobunaga's page

  Yamabuchi Ukon, Oda retainer

  Tokugawa Ieyasu, lord of Mikawa

  Sessai, Zen Monk and military

  adviser to the Imagawa clan

  Imagawa Yoshimoto, lord of Suruga

  Imagawa Ujizane, Yoshimoto's eldest son

  Yoshiteru, thirteenth Ashikaga shogun

  Lord Nagoya, Nobunaga's cousin

  Ikeda Shonyu, Oda retainer

  and friend of Tokichiro

  Takigawa Kazumasu, senior Oda retainer

  Sumpu, capital of Suruga

  Okazaki, capital of Mikawa

  Kyoto, imperial capital of Japan

  A Handsome Man

  "Okoi!" Mataemon called out as soon as he got home. His wife hurried out to greet him. "Prepare some sake. I've brought home a guest," he said abruptly.

  "Well, who is it?"

  "A friend of our daughter's."

  Tokichiro came in behind him.

  "Master Kinoshita?"

  "Okoi, you've kept me in the dark until today. This is inexcusable behavior for the wife of a samurai. It seems that Master Kinoshita and Nene have known each other for some time. You knew, so why didn't you tell me?"

  "I deserve to be scolded. I'm very sorry."

  "That's all well and good, but what kind of father does Tokichiro think I am now?"

  "She got letters, but she never hid them from me."

  "I should hope not."

  "Besides, Nene's a bright girl. As her mother, I believe she's never done wrong. So I didn't think it was worth bothering you with each and every letter she received from the men in this town."

  "There you're overestimating our daughter. I really don't understand young people nowadays—young men or young women!" He turned to Tokichiro, who stood scratching his head in embarrassment, blocked from coming in, and he burst out laughing.

  Tokichiro was overjoyed to have been invited to his sweetheart's home by her father and his heart was racing.

  "Well, don't just stand there!" Mataemon led the way to the guest parlor, which though it was the best room in the house, was nonetheless rather small.

  The archers' tenement houses were no more comfortable than Tokichiro's own home.

  All the retainers of the Oda, regardless of rank, lived plainly. And in this house, too, the only thing that caught the eye was a suit of armor.

  "Where did Nene go?"

  "She's in her room." His wife offered Tokichiro some water.

  "Why doesn't she come out and greet our guest? When I'm here, she always runs away and hides."

  "She's probably changing and combing her hair."

  "That won't be necessary. Tell her to come and help with the sake. It'll be just fine to put some plain home cooking in front of Tokichiro."

  "Goodness! Don't say such things."

  Tokichiro stiffened in embarrassment. With the crusty retainers in the castle he was audacious and pushy, but here he was nothing more than a shy young man.

  Nene finally came out to greet him formally. She had put on some light makeup. "We haven't much but please make yourself at home." She then brought out a tray of food and a flask of sake.

  Tokichiro answered Mataemon's questions as though in a trance, all the while admiring Nene's figure and demeanor. She has a lovely profile, he thought. He was particularly taken by her unaffected grace, as plain as cotton cloth. She had none of the coquettishness of other women, who were either unpleasantly coy or put on airs. Some might have found her a little on the skinny side, but wrapped within her was the fragrance of wild-flowers on a moonlit night. Tokichiro's keen senses were overcome; he was in ecstasy.

  "How about another cup?" Mataemon offered.

  "Thanks."

  "You did say you liked sake"

  "I did."

  "Are you all right? You haven't drunk
too much, have you?"

  "I'll have it bit by bit, thank you." On the edge of his seat, with the lacquered sake flask in front of him, Tokichiro stared fixedly at Nene's face, so white in the flickering lamplight. When her eyes moved suddenly in his direction, he passed his hand over his face and said, confused, "Well, I've had quite a bit this evening." He blushed when he realized that he himself was far more aware of his behavior than Nene was.

  Once again he thought that, when the time came, even he would have to get married. And if he had to take a wife, she would have to be beautiful. He wondered whether Nene could stand poverty and hardship and bear him healthy children. In his present circumstances, he was bound to have money problems after setting up a home. And he knew that in the future he would not be satisfied with mere wealth, and that there would be a mountain of troubles waiting for him.

  Looking at a woman from the point of view of taking her as a wife, there were naturally considerations such as her virtue and appearance. But it was more important to find a woman who could love his mother, an almost illiterate farmer, and one who could also cheerfully encourage her husband's work from behind the scenes. Besides possessing these two qualities, she must be a woman with the kind of spirit that could endure their poverty. If Nene were such a woman… he thought again and again.

  Tokichiro's interest in Nene had not begun that evening. He had long before

  considered Mataemon's daughter to be the right woman for him. He had noticed her before knowing who she was, and he had secretly sent her letters and presents. But that night he was sure for the first time.

  "Nene, I have a private matter to discuss with Tokichiro, so would you leave us for a little while?" When Mataemon said this, Tokichiro imagined that he was already Mataemon's son-in-law, and he began to blush again.

  Nene left the room, and Mataemon sat a little straighten "Kinoshita, I want this to be a frank talk. I know you to be an honest man."

  "Please say anything you like." Tokichiro was pleased that Nene's father was treating him with such familiarity, even if this was not going to be the talk that he hoped for. He, too, sat straighter, ready to be of service, no matter what Mataemon asked him.