Kiku's Prayer Part 33

Nearly every day, entire families were summoned for questioning. They were most likely interrogated in groups because the officers were fully aware of the j.a.panese tendency to act as a family unit, with either the entire family apostatizing or all of them maintaining their faith.

In the early stages, no matter how much they were persuaded, everyone staunchly refused to change. At that point, the officers merely responded, "I see. Well, think it over carefully."

The officers knew from previous experience that some time would have to pa.s.s before they would hear screams come from the Kiris.h.i.tans. Over time, the daily ration of three-quarters of a cup of food would sap the Kiris.h.i.tans' physical strength and their wills, so the best plan was to wait patiently until their energy had drained away.

Winter came to an end and spring arrived.

Because it's surrounded by mountains, spring in Tsuwano is heralded by cotton-hued clouds that drift lightly over Mount Aono and Shiroyama. Unlike winter clouds, these are neither cold nor ashen in color.

Then a spring mist rises over the mountains, and the locals make preparations to gather bracken and wild plants. They begin commenting that the cherry blossoms at the horse-riding track of the Washihara Hachiman Shrine have changed color. These are the first intimations of spring in Tsuwano.

Toward the end of spring, with a call of "Greetings!" It Seizaemon, back after a long absence, showed his face at the cell holding Sen'emon, Kanzabur, Seikichi, and the others. Behind him stood the two policemen, Takahashi and Deguchi, now a.s.suming roles as his henchmen, their faces still looking respectively like a racc.o.o.n dog and a badger.

"You're a stubborn bunch! What's the point of making so much trouble for me and the Tsuwano domain? Don't you think it's about time you put an end to this nonsense and went back home to Urakami?" It grinned cynically as he looked around at the men. "I have to thank you for all the trouble you've caused me."

He flung down the oil paper-wrapped package he held in his hand. "Seikichi," he called. "This is a letter from your girl in Maruyama. Want to read it? If you do, all you have to say is that you'll give up your Kiris.h.i.tan beliefs." He spoke half in jest and kicked the package toward Seikichi. Wrapped in paper that Kiku had made herself were a letter, a summer robe, and some bleached cloth. But It did not give Seikichi the money that Kiku had earned.

That evening, It used the money that Kiku had sent for Seikichi to treat Takahashi and Deguchi at a grimy little restaurant from which they could hear the flow of the Nishiki River.

"Drink up! No need to be timid!"

"This is very unusual, having Mr. It buy for us!"

The three men, their faces vivid red, repeatedly went outside to urinate along the bank of the Nishiki River, then came back into the restaurant.

"Take a look at this! This coin here, this coin is no bogus battle coin!" He pulled a gold one-ryo coin from his pocket and held it out for the others to see. During the fighting preceding the Meiji Restoration, the armies of the Satsuma and Chsh domains were in need of war funds and had issued emergency coins that, though now worthless, remained in circulation; the public called them "bogus battle coins."

"It's an honest-to-goodness gold coin! This coin ... this coin was earned through the hard labors of ... the hard labors of Seikichi's woman ... to give to Seikichi." He stared unblinking at the coin. "You and I are having these drinks right now ... thanks to this money!" he muttered mostly to himself.

Takahashi laughed, "Mr. It, you're quite the man! After all, it's against the law to give money to a Kiris.h.i.tan."

"Yeah ... but don't forget that we're knocking drinks back ... on money that a woman made selling her body." Then It glared angrily at Takahashi and Deguchi. "That's the kind of black-hearted b.a.s.t.a.r.ds we are! We're men who drink our liquor by stomping on women's hearts."

"Mr. It, what're you saying? That we're no better than villains?"

"And are you suggesting I'm some kind of saint?!" Inflamed by drink, It continued, "I've stolen the money that Seikichi's woman earned for him. That's the kind of wretch I am."

"You're drunk. Let's get out of here."

"Lemme alone! I loathe the kind of man I am. But it's too late to change. I was born this way. You can't change a man's nature...."

Takahashi hastily tried to calm It down. "A man responsible for handling these Kiris.h.i.tans can only damage his position by blubbering like this. C'mon, let's go!"

But It remained with his head bowed and made no effort to stand. He could almost picture that room lit by the afternoon sun, and the face of Kiku as she lay beneath his body, staring at a point in s.p.a.ce, waiting for it all to be over.

"d.a.m.ned weepy woman!" He tried using disgust to sweep the image of Kiku's face from his memory. He had remembered the single thread of pale tears that had flowed slowly from her eyes.

A sharp pain raced through his heart.

"Another drink!" He drank more to mask the pain in his heart. Takahashi and Deguchi watched him with fear in their eyes.

One strange trait of this man named It was the fact that even though the previous night he had been wracked with guilt and emotional pain, the very next day he would harness that same measure of pain and use it to torment the prisoners.

The morning after It got drunk on the money Kiku had entrusted to him and then bought a prost.i.tute, he poked his head into the women's cell and, pointing to a young mother holding an infant on her lap, said, "You there! Come outside, will you?"

He chose this woman because something about her reminded him of Kiku. She was from Motohara, and her husband had been one of the men brought here along with Sen'emon and the others, but he had apostatized some time ago and was no longer around.

It made the woman sit on the bamboo-floored veranda and shouted at her, "So which do you choose: your husband or your Kiris.h.i.tan beliefs?" Part of his strategy hinged on his knowledge that a person's legs became agonizingly painful after sitting formally on this bamboo floor for a long while. "Will it be your husband? Or your Lord Jezusu? Of course, choosing Jezusu over your husband is the height of infidelity! Are you going to be faithless to your husband and still choose your Jezusu?"

His logic was preposterous, but at this moment It cared nothing for logic.

"Take off your clothes! Strip down!!"

When he saw the startled look on the young mother's face and the fact that he had rendered her speechless, It was gripped by an urge to inflict even greater pain on her, and he hollered, "Don't expect me to pamper you people. If I treat you kindly, you'll turn into a bunch of spoiled s.h.i.t-kickers. What makes you s.h.i.t-kickers think you can go against your superiors?!"

It's furious shouts were audible to all the prisoners incarcerated at the temple.

"Take off the underskirt too!" It callously ordered the woman, who squirmed and clutched her infant to her body.

"Are you embarra.s.sed? Lord Jezusu will hide your nakedness, so there's nothing to be embarra.s.sed about. I'll bet your husband would be delighted to see you in this disgusting posture!"

When the young mother began to weep loudly, the child she held also began to wail as though he had been set afire.

"So, will you forsake you faith ...? How about it? If you do, I won't make you take off your underskirt."

Like a cat tormenting a mouse, It sat with his chin in his hand, staring down at the sobbing woman.

"What's your choice?"

Still sobbing, she answered in a low voice. "I ... I will ... give up my faith."

"Splendid! You should have said that sooner."

That night, It drank himself into a stupor at the Daruma House and said agonizingly to the prost.i.tute beside him, "Would you be kind enough to spit in my face?"

"Why?!"

"Because I'm ... I'm the sort of man who ought to have his face spit into. Again today I did something terrible to a woman," he muttered, his face twisted in pain.

THE BLESSED AND THE UNBLESSED.

SUMMER APPROACHED.

There are those in this world who are blessed by fortune and those whose fortunes seem cursed. Some achieve acclaim, while others cannot find success in the world and merely squirm in the mud.

These two types were evident in the differences between It Seizaemon and Hond Shuntar. Shuntar attracted the notice of Count Iwakura and ascended to a post as an official in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, but It never became anything other than a low-level administrator at the Nishi Bureau who spent his days shuttling back and forth between Tsuwano and Nagasaki.

Would I be better off getting myself involved in this revolt?

Such thoughts crossed It's mind from time to time as he pillowed his face on a prost.i.tute's wispy chest.

The various branches of the military in Chsh domain had been ordered to demobilize because of economic exigencies, but some of the soldiers had risen up in revolt, which in turn ignited an insurrection among the samurai in northern Kyushu who had harbored pent-up resentment toward the new government. It was an explosion of malcontent among those who had fallen behind the times and had not attained success in the new society. The third year of the Meiji era, 1870, was a time of many tests for the new government as it tried to solidify a foundation for its rule.

"I wonder what that Hond fellow is doing up in Yokohama."

It could not stand the thought that Hond was now of such stature that he could amuse himself with first-cla.s.s geisha at first-cla.s.s houses while he was stuck here in the mountains enclosing Tsuwano, swatting away mosquitoes as he slept with this flat-chested wh.o.r.e.

"What was your name again?"

"Hideko."

"With shriveled b.r.e.a.s.t.s like these, there's nothing for a baby to latch onto," It belittled the prost.i.tute. He thought of Kiku's beautiful round b.r.e.a.s.t.s and strawberry nipples. "Ah, I want to get back to Nagasaki! They must already be celebrating the Kiyomizu Temple festival."

Nagasaki hosted a variety of festivals from season to season. The sixth month marked the advent of the Gion Festival1 and the start of the Thousand-Day Festival at the Kiyomizu Temple.2 Custom dictated that the streets along Shinshikkui-machi and Imashikkui-machi near the road to the shrine be purified by the hanging of sacred ropes and sakaki evergreens, and each house prepared to welcome guests with dishes of raw fish and vegetables seasoned in vinegar and mochi that had been frozen and dried.

As he recalled those celebrations, It Seizaemon missed them so desperately he was at the point of tears.

Around the time of the Gion Festival, in Nagasaki- At long last, Shuntar bought out Oy's contract with the Yamazaki Teahouse, and she boarded a ship bound for Yokohama.

It was swelteringly hot that day, but the madam, Kiku, and several other women from the teahouse set out to the dock to send off Oy, whose face shone with joy. Male attendants had already loaded her baggage onto a tiny skiff at the dock.

With a smile, Oy tried to buoy up Kiku. "Kiku, I know something good is going to happen to you soon, so just be patient, OK?"

Gazing out at the ocean lit by rays of the sun spilling between the clouds, Kiku nodded her head.

Something good is going to happen.

But she had no news of Seikichi. Had It actually given her letter and money to him?

There are those in this world who are blessed by fortune and those who are not. As she looked at Oy, Kiku felt just as It had toward Shuntar.

Oy stepped into the little skiff and waved her hand at those who had come to see her off. The skiff would transport her to the black steamship that waited in the offing. And the steamship would deliver her to her beloved, Hond Shuntar.

Oy's white face beamed with happiness. Shafts of sunlight seeping between the clouds warmed her back, and as she slowly pulled away from the wharf she smiled cheerfully, bowing her head toward these friends she would miss seeing.

"Well, she's gone," the madam sighed as the skiff receded into the distance. "She's going to be so happy. Lord Hond fell for her, and now she'll be marrying into wealth and status. One day she'll find herself the wife of an important government official."

The madam started out walking, and the others followed along behind her. But Kiku remained standing at the wharf, looking out toward the silvery ocean in the offing. Oy, setting off toward happiness. She was incredibly envious.

"Kiku!" Someone called her name. When she turned around, one of the male attendants who had delivered Oy's baggage to the boat was standing there. It was the yellow-toothed man she had met on the streets of Maruyama before she started working at the Yamazaki Teahouse. He was one of those men always skulking around the Maruyama district looking for odd jobs that would bring in a little spending money.

"Kiku, have you made up your mind that you want to become a geiko?" he asked with a smirk. "I'm sure you've figured out why the madam at the Yamazaki lent you two ryo in cash? She's setting you up so you'll be stuck there when you can't pay back the loan."

Kiku looked up at the man in surprise. Why would this little hoodlum know about that? It was true, though, that she had borrowed two ryo from the madam. Before It Seizaemon left for Tsuwano, he promised he would pa.s.s it along to Seikichi.

"Of course, if you want Seikichi's life to be made easier, he'll have to provide a little gift to the officials in Tsuwano. Probably take two or three gold coins." Seizaemon had stroked his chin as he mumbled the words. The madam lent her the two ryo out of sympathy.

"That two ryo comes with interest, you know," the hoodlum said softly. "Two becomes three ryo, and then the three s...o...b..a.l.l.s into four. You'll be way over your head by then. What are you going to do, Kiku?"

She had no response.

"Listen, I know a way for you to earn that two ryo."

Still nothing from Kiku.

"I'm telling you the truth. And in only two nights of work!"

"What ... would I have to do?"

"You just need to come to the Nakajuku brokerage house in Honkago-machi. Actually, there's this rich Chinese fellow ... One look at you and he'll be ready to explode! All you have to do is be his companion. He'll give you the two ryo."

Kiku angrily set out walking. Just what kind of person does he think I am?!

Once her anger had subsided, she was filled with a loneliness that almost led her to tears. Ever since It had taken everything from her, she knew exactly how she was viewed by the madam and the others.

Each time she had found herself in It's arms, she had plunged another level. She had been plummeting to the depths of the earth, from which she would never be able to crawl her way back to Seikichi's world. This was still the most painful of all for Kiku.

That field of flowers, blanketed with lotus flowers. Her youth, when skylarks had shrieked through the skies. Those mornings in early summer when she waited, her heart pounding, to hear Seikichi's voice from the distance as he advertised his wares. Where had it all gone?

She wanted to be by herself. Gradually she fell behind the group that was following the madam as they returned from the dock, then suddenly slipped away between two houses. Once everyone had disappeared in the direction of Maruyama, she began walking down the road along the waterfront.

She had no destination in mind. Because she had nowhere in particular to go, her feet began to lead her toward ura, a place that was crowded with memories for her.

The steamship was still just barely visible in the offing. Surely Oy had already reached and boarded that ship.

Kiku deliberately averted her eyes from the ship. It was too painful for her to look at a symbol of happiness that was forever beyond her grasp.

The ura Church was directly above. The church Seikichi had attended. The church where Pet.i.tjean and Laucaigne had treated her with such kindness. But she knew full well that she was no longer the sort of person who could look those missionaries in the eye.

She approached the church, careful that no one saw her. The tranquillity of afternoon reigned over the fields and farmhouses adjacent to the church.

She gently pushed the heavy door open and peeked inside. It was exceedingly quiet in there as well. Only that woman's statue stood forlornly next to the altar.

Kiku looked at the woman sorrowfully and muttered, "It's me. You remember me, don't you?"

Kiku resumed the kind of solitary monologue beside the statue that she had so often recited in the past.

"You must remember Seikichi, too. Right now Seikichi is suffering horribly every day, but you do nothing for him. But I'm no different. I can't do anything for him either. It's sad. So very sad! I can't do a thing for him...."

She paused and bit her lip. "All I could do for Seikichi was ... was make a little money to send him. But to get the money ... I had to disgrace my body."