Running all over the house and sprinkling beans while shouting, “Out with demons, in with good fortune!” was a lot of fun. So Setsubun was one of the annual rituals that Kazuo and Yasuo particularly liked.
But even on Setsubun, there was nothing harder than getting up in the cold of the winter morning.
After Mother yanked off their blankets and shouted, “All right, up and at ’em, you two!” Kazuo and Yasuo had to change clothes in their drafty room, which was only a little bit warmer than the outdoors.
In the living room, Father was already at the kotatsu, drinking tea while reading the newspaper.
Tea: Japanese are great tea drinkers, although coffee is now very popular, too. Many Japanese families keep large thermoses of hot tea on hand so they can drink it at any time during the day. Tea is very important in Japanese culture, particularly for its role in the tea ceremony, which is a ritualized way of preparing and sharing tea with guests. Types of tea include matcha, the tea-ceremony tea, very bitter but used to flavor ice cream and even chocolate bars; genmaicha, or brown rice tea; hojicha, green tea roasted over charcoal; and shincha, or “new tea,” made of freshly picked new leaves.
“Today’s Setsubun, isn’t it? I’ll be home by half past six, so be sure to get the demon mask ready by then.”
“Maybe this year I’ll be a demon, too,” Kazuo said, rubbing his hands together underneath the kotatsu. He enjoyed pelting his father with beans while shouting, “Out with demons!” But dressing up like a demon and yelling, “Ouch, ouch!” while running all over the place also seemed like fun.
“I’ll be the demon, too!” Yasuo said, copying Kazuo as usual.
“No way, you’re still a kid,” Kazuo said, rapping Yasuo on the head.
“Oww! Stop it, Niichan, you’re still a kid, too!”
“Both of you, stop. That’s no way to start the day.” Mother brought their breakfast on a tray.
Both boys slouched over the kotatsu.
Stupid Yasuo. If he’d just quit copying me I wouldn’t get in trouble with Okaasan first thing in the morning, Kazuo thought. He wanted to give Yasuo another knock on the head, but he knew Mother would get really upset if he did. He waited until she had put the miso soup bowls on the table. Then he stuck his tongue out at Yasuo.
Father left the house right after breakfast at half past seven, and Mother headed to work just before eight o’clock. Before she left, she laid out hand-knitted wool mufflers and mittens for Kazuo and Yasuo.
“We might get snow this afternoon, so be sure you put these on when you go to school so you don’t catch colds. And don’t forget to take your umbrellas with you, all right?”
“Snow!”
Kazuo and Yasuo were both thrilled at the thought of snow, even though they hated wearing the mufflers and mittens. That was because if they wore them, they would get teased about being mama’s boys when they got to school.
They headed to school, leaving behind both the umbrellas and the mufflers and mittens. The sky was covered with thick, gray clouds, and a cold wind stung their cheeks. The adults who were walking in the street were all clearly wearing an extra layer of clothing, looking like a parade of fat, round snowmen. Kazuo and Yasuo wore only their usual winter sweaters plus windbreakers. Their breath was so white that it looked like Godzilla’s radioactive breath. They laughed aloud, breathing radioactive breath on each other as they hurried down the road to school.
As they neared the front gate, still horsing around, they spotted Nobuo.
“Oo-i, Nobuo!”
Nobuo turned when he heard Kazuo’s voice. But instead of flaring his round nostrils in his usual easygoing grin, he waved with almost no expression. He had a dark brown muffler wrapped around his neck.
“Oi, what happened to you? You’ve even got a muffler on,” Kazuo said teasingly.
“What was I supposed to do? My mom wouldn’t stop harping about it.” Nobuo yanked off the muffler and wrapped it around his left hand.
“Our mom told us to wear mufflers and mittens, too, but we didn’t!” Yasuo bragged.
“My mom and dad are at home, running the shop all day long,” Nobuo reminded them. “So they can check what I’m wearing when I leave.”
Kazuo said good-bye to Yasuo and went to his classroom with Nobuo.
“Did you hear that it’s supposed to snow this afternoon?” he asked.
Nobuo’s eyes went wide with excitement. “Let’s meet at the empty lot to sled later. I’ll get a tangerine crate from the greengrocer across the street from us.” He spotted their other friends. “Oi, Minoru, Nishiyan, did you hear? It’s supposed to snow this afternoon.”
“Yeah, we heard,” Minoru said.
“Let’s make a snow house,” Nishino-kun said.
“That sounds fun.” Kazuo remembered Father talking about how people in his village used to have a good time in winter by building snow houses and making fires inside. Then they’d grill rice dumplings and drink sweet sake.
He glanced toward the window. The sky was thick with gray clouds, but it had not yet started snowing. Soon, the bell rang, and Mr. Honda came into the classroom. He had lit the stove, but the room wasn’t very warm yet. Still, no one complained about the cold. That was because they all knew that snow was coming.
For a long time, nothing happened. But just after eleven thirty, when the smell of lunch began to drift into the classroom, the first flake came fluttering down, drifting to the left and right. When it touched the dried dirt of the schoolyard, it quickly faded away.
“Hey, it’s snowing!” someone yelled.
The eyes of every student shifted to the world outside the window, and every mouth formed the same word: “Snow!”
Mr. Honda smiled.
“Okay, everybody, for three minutes, go to the windows and have a look at the snow. But when three minutes are up, we’re starting class again.”
At his words, the forty students all scrambled to the windows.
Kazuo saw that the snow was beginning to fall a bit harder. But not hard enough, he thought. Around him, a few of the others had noticed the same thing. “I hope this snow sticks,” a girl murmured. Everybody in the class nodded in agreement.
At two in the afternoon, school ended and the students stepped into the schoolyard to find that the snow was beginning to accumulate. But when Kazuo tried to scoop up some, it melted instantly.
After he made sure that Yasuo was headed home, he went to the empty lot as usual with Nobuo, Nishino-kun, and Minoru. None of them had an umbrella. There was still not enough snow to make snowmen or have a snowball fight, let alone sled on tangerine crates.
“If it keeps falling like this, it should be pretty deep in the morning,” Nishino-kun said.
“Yeah, you’re right.” Minoru nodded. “Let’s all come back at six thirty in the morning. We can play until school starts.”
“That’s a good idea.” Nobuo was the first to agree. “I’ll bring the tangerine crate then for sledding.”
Kazuo decided he would bring Yasuo along as a treat. Promising to meet the next morning, he and his three friends parted ways.
At home, Yasuo had taken out a thick piece of drawing paper and was making a red demon mask for their Setsubun celebration.
“How about we make two demon masks this year?” Kazuo said, putting down his bag and tucking into the kotatsu.
“Hmm, how about a blue demon?”
“That sounds good. Red and blue are a good combination.”
Using the rest of the drawing paper, Kazuo made a blue demon mask.
“Are you going to be a demon this year, Oniichan?” Yasuo asked.
“Do you want to be one, too?”
Yasuo pursed his lips and acted like he was thinking for a moment. Then he gave a small nod.
“You do nothing but copy me, you know that?” Kazuo laughed, poking Yasuo lightly in the head.
Once they had finished the demon masks, the two boys hunkered down at the kotatsu and read comics, checking the conditio
n of the snow every thirty minutes. By the time their mother got home and the Imamura Tofu man had come to sell tofu, there was finally enough to cover Kazuo’s canvas shoes. Kazuo and Yasuo put on rubber boots and hurried outside, building a small snowman in front of the house.
Father came home earlier than expected.
“I bet this snow will get pretty deep,” he said from the entryway as he brushed snow off his shoulders.
Yasuo hurried to meet him. “How do you know?”
“Because the air feels chilly and moist,” Father said, rubbing his hands together. He sat down at the kotatsu. “You know that rain turns to snow when the air is cold, right? And when the air is moist, we get moist, sticky snowflakes and very heavy snow. But enough about that. Today is Setsubun. Did you make the demon mask like I told you?”
“Look, Oniichan and I made two!” Yasuo showed Father the red and blue demon masks they had made on drawing paper.
“Wow, double demons this year!” Father laughed.
“Dinner’s ready, so help me bring it out,” Mother called to Kazuo and Yasuo from the kitchen.
Dinner that night was croquettes, boiled tofu, and miso soup with onion.
Miso: A flavoring paste, usually made with soybeans and a fermenting agent. Miso soup usually contains miso, hot water, green onions, and bits of tofu. It often accompanies a traditional Japanese meal.
“Hey, these aren’t croquettes from Nobuo-chan’s place, are they?” Yasuo said.
Kazuo had chewed off a bite of his and agreed that it didn’t taste at all like the ones from Nobuo’s shop. The Takahashis’ croquettes had a lot of ground meat in them, and the potatoes and onions weren’t mashed up like these were.
“Nobuo-chan’s shop wasn’t open today. Anyway, I bought these at the butcher shop by the station,” Mother said. “Eat up, boys. And no complaints.”
Kazuo silently ate the croquette from the butcher by the station and drank the miso soup with onion that he did not particularly like, and brought a little bit of the boiled tofu to his mouth.
And then, just as he got ready to down the rest of the tofu, they heard a knock on the door.
“Good evening! Is Kazuo-kun here?”
“Nobuo?” Kazuo put his chopsticks down and went to the entryway.
Nobuo stood there, covered in snowflakes and heaving his shoulders as he breathed hard.
“What happened?” Kazuo said, startled.
“Nothing . . . I just . . . uh . . . something came up . . . and . . . ” Nobuo spoke in short bursts while trying to catch his breath.
“Oi, are you all right? Slow down a little.” Kazuo beckoned Nobuo into the entryway.
“Yeah, I’m fine.” Nobuo took two deep breaths. “Listen, you know how we all promised to meet at the lot tomorrow morning? It looks like I won’t be able to make it, and I felt bad since we promised, so I came to tell you that I’m sorry.” Perhaps because of the cold, Nobuo’s lips looked paler than usual. “And I was wondering if you could tell Nishiyan and Minoru for me.”
“What’s wrong, Nobuo-chan?” Mother came to the entryway. “It’s cold out. Why don’t you come inside instead of standing here?”
“It’s all right, thanks. I have to get home really soon.” Nobuo bowed his head to Kazuo’s mother, and she went back to the dinner table.
“Sorry about tomorrow,” Nobuo said again to Kazuo. “But I asked the greengrocer about the tangerine box. You should use it and go sledding.”
“We can always do that some other time. We’ll get more snow and then everybody can go sledding together.”
“Yeah, that’s true. Right.” Nobuo flared his nostrils and flashed his usual grin. “Also, I was wondering if you could tell Mr. Honda something for me tomorrow. I have to go to my dad’s home in the countryside, so I won’t be able to come to school for a while.”
Kazuo was surprised. “What happened, is there a funeral?”
“Uh, well . . .” Nobuo flushed. “Something like that.”
“So that’s why your shop was closed today,” Kazuo said, nodding. “My mom had to buy some croquettes from the butcher shop by the station. They’re no good at all. The croquettes from your place are definitely the best.”
“Really? The best, huh?” Nobuo smiled bashfully. “Well, then, I’ve got to go.”
“Bye,” Kazuo said.
Nobuo nodded and ran off into the snow. A second later, Kazuo saw him stop.
“I’m going to tell my dad what you said,” he called back to Kazuo. “That you think our croquettes are the best!” Nobuo stood under an old street lamp. The soft lamplight lit up the snow as it fell, making it glint like needles. Kazuo waved a hand at his friend. Nobuo waved back and then disappeared into the falling snow.
When Kazuo returned to the table, Mother, Father, and Yasuo had finished their dinner.
“What happened to Nobuo-chan?” Mother asked.
“He said he has to go to a relative’s funeral and won’t be able to come to school for a while. He wants me to tell Mr. Honda.” In a stroke of good fortune, all of the tofu had been eaten, so Kazuo could get away with eating just his croquette for dinner.
When he was finished, Father stood up. “Well, why don’t we scatter the beans for Setsubun, then?” Kazuo and Yasuo jumped right up.
“You two can be the demons first,” Father said, handing the masks to the boys.
Kazuo and Yasuo met each other’s eyes and grinned. At last, they could have the more grown-up job! They both put the masks on triumphantly. Yasuo instantly started stalking around the house with his fingers bent, like Godzilla, yelling, “Rarrrr, rarrr.”
“Oi, Yasuo,” said Father. “Today you’re not supposed to be Godzilla, you’re supposed to be a Setsubun demon!” Mother picked up a wooden measuring cup with beans in it. “All right, then, you two know what’s coming.”
“Here we go!” Beans in hand, Father took aim at Kazuo and Yasuo, and lightly tossed the beans, shouting, “Out with demons!” The beans hit Kazuo’s shoulder, and then scattered on the kitchen floor.
“Out with demons!” called Mother. Then she scattered some beans in the direction of the boys.
Kazuo and Yasuo dramatically yelled, “Ouch, ouch!” and ran from the kitchen to their own room, and then to the living room. They ran to all of the rooms in the house, getting pelted by the beans. Finally, they left the house through the entryway and went outside.
The snow was even deeper now, completely covering Kazuo’s ankles.
“Your father and I are next.” Mother took the red demon mask from Yasuo. After Kazuo handed his blue mask to Father, everyone went back in the house. This time, Kazuo and Yasuo yelled, “Out with demons!” while tossing beans at Father and Mother. Their parents cried, “Ouch, ouch!” and ran through the house while Kazuo and Yasuo howled with laughter and chased after them with the beans.
Then, after Father and Mother left through the entryway just as Kazuo and Yasuo had done, the boys followed them outside. Father and Mother removed the masks, and the entire family lined up in front of the house. Each of them took a handful of beans from the cup that Father was holding. Facing the entryway, they shouted, “In with good fortune!” and scattered the beans.
All around them, Kazuo could hear other voices yelling, “Out with demons! In with good fortune!” He wondered if Nobuo’s family had had time to scatter beans before leaving for the countryside.
Father looked up at the snow falling from the night sky. “Scattering the beans in the snow is nice, isn’t it?”
“Yes,” Kazuo agreed, sticking out his tongue to catch some of the flakes.
The next morning, Kazuo woke before his alarm clock rang. Sticking his head from inside his bedding, he felt the chilly air in the house. The room seemed to glow a bright white. “Yasuo, wake up!” He shook Yasuo, who was still fast asleep, buried in his bedding. “It’s six o’clock. We’re going to the lot.”
“I wonder if the snow got deep,” Yasuo said drowsily, poking his head out.
/> “I bet it did.” Being careful not to wake Father and Mother, who were sleeping in the living room, Kazuo quietly changed his clothes. It was so cold that he and Yasuo ordinarily wouldn’t get out of their bedding for anything, but today it was no trouble at all. Putting on a thick shirt and round-necked sweater, with his windbreaker over the top, Kazuo opened the papered sliding door of the bedroom and tiptoed around the edge of the living room. Yasuo was right behind him.
“Kazuo, is that you?” called Mother.
“Yes.”
“Where are you going so early?” She stuck her face out from under her blanket.
“To the lot.”
“You can’t move a muscle in the morning when I take your blanket off, but today you’re already up and dressed? It figures,” she said in a sleepy-sounding voice. “Today you will wear the mufflers and mittens that are on the kotatsu. And I put your rubber boots out, so put those on. And you absolutely must be back by seven fifteen to have some breakfast before school. Do you understand?”
She pointed at the kotatsu that had been moved to a corner of the room. On it were the mufflers and mittens that Kazuo and Yasuo had not taken to school the day before.
The two boys nodded obediently and then wrapped the mufflers around their necks and slipped the mittens on. Looking through the glass front door, Kazuo realized that the snow had grown much deeper. When he opened the door, the bright light practically blinded him.
“Oniichan, this is amazing, isn’t it?” Yasuo said.
Everything was covered with snow as far as they could see. The snow had stopped falling, but the street in front of the house was covered in a thick blanket of white. Kazuo stepped into the fresh snow. His boot sank until the snow was at his knee.
Yasuo followed Kazuo and took a step. “Wow, I can’t believe it!”
The boys walked along slowly, stepping in the spots where the snow was deepest.
Students playing in a schoolyard on a snowy day.
J-Boys Page 13