Japanese Novel Classics - (Japanese Literature Collection Edition)

Author: Ye Weiqiu / Country: Mainland China
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2006-07-01
Features: A Man of Passion (Volume 7) by Ihara Saikaku
The appearance of Ihara Saikaku remains as it was in the past. No man does not yearn for the former O mistress of Island. A man who once shared a pillow with O mistress said, "She is naturally endowed with the beauty of a geisha, possessing a charming and lovable appearance: her large, sparkling eyes, her waistline exudes an inexplicable allure. Moreover, she has many other virtues. Even without saying it, people know that her hair is tied in a very beautiful style, her mannerisms are gentle and elegant, and she is clever and witty. Even today, in all aspects, the demeanor of this geisha can still serve as a model for contemporary courtesans."
One snowy morning, O suddenly held a tea party to open a jar filled with freshly brewed tea. The geishas of Ueno were also present, with Shi no Suke as the main guest. A tea room was set up on the second floor of the brothel of Hachi-Monjo Yoroiemon's Hachimonjo, enclosed by screens. Among the hanging scrolls on the wall, there was a framed sheet of white paper, suggesting some profound intention behind it. The small snacks served with the tea were placed in a hina-ningyō (doll festival) tray. The Tenmoku tea bowls or utensils for washing tea leaves bore the family crest of O's house. Even the new tea utensils, which were used only once and then discarded, varied in style depending on the location, adding a touch of interest.
After a while, someone from the kitchen said, "Kisarazu has just returned from Uji." People immediately began filtering the water. It was likely that someone had been specifically sent to fetch water from the upstream of the third pier of Uji Bridge, which was a great pleasure. Once all the guests had arrived, O began grinding ink and said, "We probably cannot just admire the beauty of this first snow." She then invited the guests to write haiku on the spot. Everyone took up their brushes and expressed their thoughts on the hanging scroll, which was nothing but a sheet of white paper. From the first line to the fifth, each line was a particularly beautiful and exquisite work.
After the tea and snacks, the guests temporarily left their seats. When the sound of the gong calling them back was heard, the shamisen played the "Lion Dance" melody, and everyone eagerly returned to the tea party. This time, only a bamboo tube was hung, but the most important floral arrangement was missing, which was quite puzzling. Speculating about its intention, since it was a gathering of beautiful geishas, perhaps she thought no flowers could surpass the beauty of the geishas themselves.
That day, O wore a red plum-colored inner garment, with an outer robe embroidered with a black-faced doll from the Noh theater, and a pale green silk kimono over it. The sleeves were adorned with two flower patterns, and the hem featured a long-tailed rooster spreading its feathers. Her hair was styled in a butterfly knot, tied with a long paper strip decorated with gold foil. Her charming demeanor almost made her seem like an immortal. The way she served tea was so refined that it was almost as if Sen no Rikyu had been reborn.
After the tea party, everyone was carefree, disregarding the order of toasts, and drank heartily, feeling a joy entirely different from what they had experienced before. Shi no Suke,, poured out all his gold and silver coins from a paper bag, holding them in his hands and saying, "Hey, geisha, I had tea, and this is for you!" In front of so many people, it was customary for a geisha not to accept money. Even the less experienced courtesans, though unrelated to the matter, felt a little embarrassed. O smiled calmly and said, "Then, I will take it as a joke." She took the coins with a plate beside her. "Now, accepting them in front of everyone is the same as secretly asking for them through letters." She then called over a maid and said, "This is something I must have, so please keep it safe."
Could there have been anyone as skillful in handling situations as O? Her every action at the tea party was full of joy, and both the courtesans and the guests felt a sense of regret that such a moving day would pass away as quickly as a dream. At this moment, the brothel of Marukaku repeatedly urged O, saying, "The guests from Owari have already arrived!" This guest, however, was a first-time patron and could not be accommodated. She said tearfully, "The sorrow of a courtesan lies in her lack of freedom. I will go for now, but I will return immediately after refusing him. If I temporarily neglect Shi no Suke, I ask all of you to help me." She stepped outside but turned back two or three times, instructing, "Please serve him with small cups of sake while I am away." She left the maid behind and went to Marukaku. Even at Marukaku, she did not go straight to her room but sat in the kitchen writing a long letter to Shi no Suke.
The owner and owner's wife of Marukaku kindly persuaded her, "Even for a short time, please go to the parlor." But she paid no attention to their words. Soon, the retainers came over, meddling and saying, "The food is ready, please go to the second floor." "If you were true retainers, you would understand the dignity of courtesans from Island. Meeting such an impatient guest would be no fun." With that, she returned to Yoroiemon. No matter how many times Marukaku called, she refused to go. Shi no Suke, understanding her desire to meet, persuaded her, "Please go, no matter what!" "Today, I swear by all the gods and spirits in Japan: I will not go!" O said. Shi no Suke said, "Do not be too stubborn. He may not let it go. If he uses force to take you and cuts you in half, placing the head half here, what then?" O said, "I have made up my mind!" She then had Shi no Suke play the shamisen, and she leaned her head on his lap, singing a love song popular in the brothels: "Wistfully passing the time, Oh, oh, though living."
The spendthrift patron from Owari arrived and said, "I cannot silently endure this anymore!" With that, he drew his sword and swung it. But O, the geisha, paid no attention to it, continuing to sing her song without changing her tone. People stopped the furious patron and apologized to him, but he refused to accept it. The brothels and local officials in formal attire formally intervened to mediate. Just as the two sides were arguing and protesting, the owner of Marukaku said, "Today, we will not entertain the guest from Owari or Shi no Suke." With that, he grabbed O's hair and dragged her away.
Even so, Obridge still bid farewell to Shi no Suke, saying, "Goodbye, Shi no Suke!" She was indeed a strong woman, and the fact that Shi no Suke was once again captivated by such a woman was truly enviable.
The second retainers, compared to the former Kusatai, were even better than the fifth-generation Kusatai, bringing prosperity to her owner's Ueno family. Especially her interest in clothing was particularly refined. The author of "Kishigusa" said, "Good things are good for everyone." The autumn flowers were so vibrant that she asked Kano Shogon to paint the autumn landscape on a white silk robe and asked eight high-ranking officials to compose waka poems for it, writing them on the robe. Such works were rare even among the treasured scrolls of today. If carelessly worn, even the most beautiful courtesans would find it too much. However, many people came to see her outfit, and they proudly said, "Only in Kyoto, only Kusatai would dare to wear such clothing."
With the changes in society, the patrons also became more extravagant. Almost everyone knew the spendthrift patron who wore a deep red hidden stripe silk, an outer robe with yellow crepe fabric adorned with the crests of the intimate courtesans, a light gray belt imitating Chinese weaving, and an outer robe made of black rough fabric with a velvet lining. The large swords with decorations that the townspeople liked, slightly curved at the tip, hung at the waist, with indigo sharkskin scabbards and iron small antique guards on the blades. The handles were long, with two gold-mounted studs on each side, wrapped in pale purple silk thread from Kyoto's Shimoyashiki. Flat small medicine boxes and colorful leather pouches were adorned with agate pendants and wooden crafts. The fans were twelve-bone fans, with scenes of ukiyo-e artists' folk paintings on the fans. They carried the finest small rolls of toilet paper and wore unlined socks in the Unza style. Their feet were bare, wearing straw sandals woven from rice stalks.
In their twenties, the servants carried canes and hats. If accompanied by a famous retainer, even in the dark, one could tell they were going to a brothel. "That place is where men who wear only washed dayo crepe fabric and even lack a dayo crepe cloth for their loins go." If what Ihei from Tsuboya said was true, it would be best to save as much as possible to accumulate money. But Shi no Suke thought Ihei was already dead, and people always die, so if you have money, you should spend it.
One day, Shi no Suke booked the bathhouse and refused anyone else from entering. He gathered all the retainers and said he wanted to have a good time for the day. He had everyone wear bathrobes with his family crest of red fukujuso and let them have their hair down, without wearing loincloths. Nine people lined up and rushed to the second floor of Hachimonjo in the brothel street, making a great deal of noise. The people in the brothel street were puzzled and immediately fell silent. They thought it must be a gathering of Kyoto's oddballs, as nothing like this had ever happened before.
First, Mito's Maruyama Ichi no Suke hung a god-protecting banner on a palm broom, extending it from a small window. Then, Marukaku hung a picture of the god of wealth on the second floor. Seeing this, from the second floor of Kashiya, they immediately hung a small crucian carp, which had been hung during the New Year. Shinko no Suke drew a person with a bushy mustache on a pot. Next, from the neighboring brothel, they sent out the divine oracles of Amaterasu, the of Hachiman, and the of Asahi to be worshipped. The other side then extended an iron hammer as if it were divine retribution. In response, the retainer known as Parrot Kibei lit the lamp in the lantern stand for everyone to see. Then, from Marukaku, they hung a Buddha with a headscarf, and from Kashiya, they extended a hook for retrieving buckets. Therefore, Hachimonjo extended a cutting board, and Marukaku extended a bundle of burdock. One side let a cat wear a large knife and a small knife to show, while the other side showed a dry salmon with a toothpick in its mouth. The other side had just taken out a fire extinguisher tied with an amulet grass rope when the other house extended a ledger for buying soy sauce, hung on a bamboo tube for lighting. Maruyama Ichi no Suke put on a black lacquered hat and stuck his head out, and the other house threw out a small bundle with twelve coins. From the north, they extended a grinding stone wrapped in a cotton hat, and from the south side's sliding window, they extended a scroll that read, "We have the finest abortifacient medicine, and we also have midwives available for temporary employment." From the middle of the west side of the brothel street, Hachimonjo's second floor extended banners, funerary covers, and other funeral utensils, causing people to cry or laugh.
That day, all the geishas and patrons from the brothel street came out, completely focused on watching what happened on the second floors of the three brothels. It was a rare entertainment in the world. The onlookers, still not satisfied, shouted, "One more! One more!" After that, the retainers ran to the street and improvised witty remarks, and none of them were able to hold back their laughter. Other entertainments became boring, and no one was interested in them, only this noisy and endless activity continued.
"Is there no way to make this noise quiet?" Someone said this. Then, from the middle of the east side, facing the road, someone in the fence house said, "I will go and stop them right away for you!" This was a spendthrift patron. He opened his money bag and piled up enough gold coins to measure a step, saying, "Geishas, for your entertainment, I will have the boys scatter gold coins for you to admire!" He then ordered the young boys to scatter the coins. The coins fell to the ground like rain. But no one went to pick them up; everyone was still focused on watching the retainers' performance, truly embodying the arrogance of the Kyoto people. The spendthrift patron, seeing that the large amount of scattered coins was ignored, felt very disappointed. He was mocked and hid in his room. After that, the coins were collected by beggars and paper collectors and taken to Higashisannō Tendōmura.
Three greedy geishas "Hey! Hey! Come back!" Shi no Suke was called by the maid from the brothel of Takashimaya. Not knowing what was going on, he turned around. The maid said, "For you." Shi no Suke took the letter handed to him by the maid, without saying a word, and left in a hurry. There was something Shi no Suke always kept in mind: a long time ago, a man had fallen in love with the geisha Takigawa from the brothel of Takashimaya, and he had meditated on it, waiting for her reply. He thought, perhaps this was Takigawa's reply. Unable to wait to go home, Shi no Suke secretly came to the streetlight at the crossroads of Keishun Street to read the letter, but some parts were unreadable, so he read it over again. After reading it, he realized that it was not Takigawa's reply to that matter but a letter from another geisha, expressing her deep love for Shi no Suke with sweet words.
A little proud, Shi no Suke said to the man accompanying him, "Look, this letter, though I tried to persuade her, she still wrote this letter to me. It's from a geisha. There are many young men in the world, but she chose me, perhaps because of my thick beard. You had better imitate me, Shi no Suke!" Saying that, he proudly waved the letter. Then, the man accompanying him smiled and said, "This, I cannot understand."