Taiko. Part 43

"You've come looking for something in Mino, haven't you? If you're just on a journey you'd better go right on by. Or you'll lose your head."

"I don't intend to go any farther than this. My only plan was to come to this house."

"What did you come here for?"

"I came to seek admission."

"Seek admission? You want to become a disciple of my teacher, like me?"

Uh-huh. I guess I want to become a brother disciple with you. At any rate, we should get along well. Now go talk to the master. I'll look after stoking the oven. Don't worry, the rice won't burn."

"That's all right. I don't want to."

"Don't be bad-tempered. There, isn't that your master coughing inside?"

"My master coughs a lot at night. He's not strong."

"So you lied to me when you said he was out."

"It's all the same whether he's here or not. He won't meet with anyone who calls, no after who they are or what province they come from."

"Well, I'll wait for the right time."

"Yeah, come again."

"No. This hut is nice and warm. Just let me stay here for a while."

"You're joking! Go away!" The boy jumped up as if to attack the intruder, but when glared at Hideyoshi's smiling face in the flickering red light of the oven, he was unable stay angry no matter how hard he tried. As the child stared hard at this man's face, his initial feelings of hostility gradually lessened.

"Kok.u.ma! Kok.u.ma!" called a voice from the house. The boy reacted instantly. Leaving Hideyoshi where he was, he dashed from the hut into the house, and he didn't come back for quite some time. In the meantime, the smell of scorched food drifted out of the large cauldron that sat on top of the stove. Unable to think of it as just someone else's meal, Hideyoshi quickly picked up the ladle on top of the lid and stirred the contents of th cauldron-brown rice gruel mixed with dried chestnuts and dried vegetables. Others might have laughed at this pauper's food, but Hideyoshi had been born on a poor farm, and when he looked at a single grain of rice, he saw his mother's tears. To him, this was no trifling matter.

"That boy! This is going to burn. What a waster."

Taking a cloth, he grabbed the handles of the pot and lifted it up.

"Oh, thank you, mister."

"Ah, Kok.u.ma? It was just beginning to burn, so I took the cauldron off. It seems to have boiled just enough."

"You already know my name, huh?"

"That's what Master Hanbei called from inside just now. Did you talk to the master for me while you were there?"

"He called me for something else. As for interceding for you, if I talked to my teacher about some useless thing, he'd only get mad. So I didn't say anything."

"Well, well. You're strict about following your teacher's orders, aren't you? I'm really impressed."

"Huh! You're just talking for the sake of your own pride now."

"No, it's true. I'm impatient, but if I were your teacher, I'd praise you like this. That's no lie."

Just then, someone came out of the nearby kitchen, holding a paper lantern. A female voice called repeatedly for Kok.u.ma, and as Hideyoshi turned and looked, he could dimly see a sixteen- or seventeen-year-old girl wearing a kimono with a pattern of mountain cherry blossoms and mist, tied with a plum-colored sash. Her figure was illuminated in the sooty darkness by the light of the paper lantern she held in her hand.

"What is it, Oyu?" Kok.u.ma stepped toward her and listened to what she said. When she finished speaking with him, the cherry-blossomed sleeve glided down the dark entrance hall together with the lamp and disappeared behind the wall.

"Who was that?" Hideyoshi asked.

"My teacher's sister," Kok.u.ma said simply and in a gentle voice, as though he were speaking of the beauty of the flowers in his master's garden.

"Listen, I'm asking you. Just to make sure, won't you please go inside just once and ask him to see me? If he says no, I'll leave."

"You'll really leave?"

"I will."

"For sure, now." Kok.u.ma spoke emphatically, but finally he went inside. He returned right away and said abruptly, "He says no, and that he detests receiving guests... and I got scolded, sure enough. So please go away, mister. I'm going to serve my teacher his meal now."

"Well, I'll leave tonight. Then I'll call again sometime." Submitting meekly, Hideyoshi stood up and started to go.

Kok.u.ma said, "It won't do any good to come back!"

Hideyoshi retraced his steps in silence. Unmindful of the darkness, he descended to the foot of the mountain and slept.

When he got up the following day, he made some preparations and once again climbed the mountain. Then, just as he had done the day before, he visited the mountain residence of Hanbei at sundown. The day before, he had spent too much time with the boy, so today he tried going up to the door that appeared to be the main entrance. The person who responded and came out to his call was the same Kok.u.ma of the day before.

"What! Mister, you've come again?"

"I wondered if I could ask to meet him today. Do me the favor of asking your teacher again." Kok.u.ma went inside, and whether he really talked to Hanbei or not, he quickly returned and gave him the same blank refusal.

"If that's the case, I'll inquire again when he's in a better mood," Hideyoshi said politely and left. Two days later he climbed the mountain again.

"Will he meet me today?" Kok.u.ma made a round trip inside the house in his usual fashion, and once again refused him plainly. "He says it's annoying that you come so often."

That day Hideyoshi returned in silence again. He visited the house this way any number of times. In the end, whenever Kok.u.ma saw his face, he did nothing but laugh.

"You've got a lot of patience, haven't you, mister? But coming here is useless, no matter how patient you are. These days, when I go in to tell my teacher you're here, he just laughs instead of getting mad."

Young boys will easily become friendly with people, and a familiarity had already started to develop between Kok.u.ma and Hideyoshi.

Hideyoshi climbed the mountain again on the following day. Waiting at the foot of the mountain, Saya had no idea of his master's frame of mind, and finally starting to get angry, he said, "Who does Takenaka Hanbei think he is? This time I'm going to go up there and call his rudeness into account."

The day of Hideyoshi's tenth visit was a day of violent wind and rain, and both Saya and the people who owned the farmhouse where they stayed did their best to stop Hideyoshi from going, but he stubbornly put on a straw raincoat and hat, and made the a.s.scent. Arriving at dusk, he stood at the entrance and called in as usual.

"Yes. Who is it, please?" That night, for the first time, the young woman, Oyu, who Kok.u.ma had said was Hanbei's sister stepped out.

"I know I'm bothering Master Hanbei by calling, and I regret that I'm doing so against his wishes, but I've come as my own master's envoy, and it will be difficult for me to return home until I have met him. It is part of a samurai's service to deliver his master's messages, so I'm resolved to call here until Master Hanbei agrees to see me, even if it takes two or three years. And if Master Hanbei refuses to meet me, I have decided to disembowel myself. Alas, I'm sure that Master Hanbei knows the hardships of the warrior cla.s.s better than any man. Please... if you could put in a good word for me."

Beneath the spray of the rain gushing violently from the leaking roof, Hideyoshi kneeled and made his pet.i.tion. It seemed that the impressionable young lady was moved by that alone.

"Please wait for a moment," she said gently, and disappeared into the house. When she appeared again, however, she told him, evidently with some pity, that Hanbei's answer had not changed. "I'm sorry that my elder brother is so stubborn, but would you kindly withdraw? He says that no matter how often you come here, he won't see you. He dislikes speaking with people and refuses to do so now."

"Is that so?" Hideyoshi looked down in apparent disappointment but did not persist. The rain from the eaves battered against his shoulders. "There's nothing else to be done. Well, I'll wait until he's in a good mood." Putting on his hat, he walked out, dejected, into the rain. Following the path through the pine forest as he always did, he had just come out on the other side of the mud wall when he heard Kok.u.ma chasing him from behind.

"Mister! He'll meet you! He said he'll meet you! He said to come back!"

"Huh? Master Hanbei said he would meet me?" Hideyoshi hastily returned with ok.u.ma. But only Oyu, Hanbei's sister, was waiting for them.

"My brother was so impressed with your sincerity that he said he would be at fault if he didn't meet you. But not tonight. He's in bed today because of the rain, but he asked you to come on another day, when he sends a message to you." It suddenly occurred to Hideyoshi that perhaps this woman had felt sorry for him and that, after he had left, she had appealed to her elder brother, Hanbei, on his behalf.

"Whenever you send word, I'll be ready."

"Where are you staying?"

"I'm staying at the foot of the mountain, at Moemon's house, a farmhouse near a large zelkova tree in the village of Nangu."

"Well, when the weather clears."

"I'll be waiting."

"It must be cold, and you're getting wet in the rain. At least dry your clothes by the fire in the cooking hut and have something to eat before you go."

"No, I'll save it for another day. I'll take my leave now." Striding through the rain, Hideyoshi went down the mountain.

The rain continued to fall the next day. The day after that, Mount Kurihara remained wrapped in white clouds, and no tidings came from a messenger. Finally the weather cleared, and the colors of the mountain were entirely renewed. The early autumn leaves of the sumac and lacquer trees had turned bright red.

That morning Kok.u.ma arrived at Moemon's gate leading a cow. "Hey, mister!" he said. "I've come to invite you up! My teacher told me to guide you to the house. And since you're a guest today, I've brought a mount for you." With that, he handed him an invitation from Hanbei. Hideyoshi opened it and read: Curiously, you have often come to visit this weakened man who has retired to the country. Although it is difficult for me to grant your request, please come for a bowl of plain tea.

The words seemed a bit haughty. Hideyoshi could see that Hanbei was a rather unsociable man, even before he met him face to face. Hideyoshi sat astride the cow's back, saying to Kok.u.ma, "Well, since you brought me a ride, shall we go?" Kok.u.ma turned toward the mountain and began walking. The autumn sky around Mount Kurihara and Mount Nangu was clear. It was the first time since he had come to the foothills that Hideyoshi was able to look up and see the mountains so clearly.

When they finally approached the entrance to the mud wall, they could see a beautiful woman standing there with an expectant expression. It was Oyu, who had dressed and made herself up more carefully than usual.

"Ah, you shouldn't have taken the trouble," Hideyoshi said, hastily jumping down from the cow's back.

Having pa.s.sed inside, he was left alone in a room. The babbling of water cleansed his ears. The bamboo in the wind brushed against the window. This truly seemed to be a quiet retreat in the mountains. In an alcove with rough clay walls and pine pillars was hung a scroll on which a Zen priest had written the Chinese character for the word "dream."

How can he be here without being completely bored? Hideyoshi wondered, marveling at the thoughts of the man who lived in such a place. And he thought that he himself would be unable to stay for more than three days. He didn't know what to do with himself, even for the time he was there. Even though he was being soothed by the songs of the birds and the soughing of the pines, his mind had dashed off to Sunomata and then gone on to Mount Komaki, while his blood seethed in the winds and clouds of the times. Hideyoshi was definitely a stranger to this sort of peace.

"Well, I've made you wait." The voice of a young man came from behind him. It was Hanbei. Hideyoshi had known he was young, but hearing the man's voice, he was impressed with this fact all the more. His host sat down, leaving him the seat of honor.

Hideyoshi spoke hastily, beginning with a formal greeting. "I am a retainer of the Oda clan. My name is Kinos.h.i.ta Hideyoshi."

Hanbei gently stopped him. "Don't you think we can omit stiff formalities? That certainly wasn't my intention in inviting you here today."

Hideyoshi felt that he had already been put at a disadvantage by this reply. The opening gambit that he had always taken with others had already been taken by his host with him.

"I am Takenaka Hanbei, the master of this mountain cottage. I'm honored by your coming here today."

"No, I'm afraid I've rather obstinately presented myself at your gate and been quite troublesome."

Hanbei laughed. "To be honest, you've been a real annoyance. But now that I meet you, I must say it's quite a relief to have a guest from time to time. Please make yourself at home. By the way, my honored guest, what is it that you're looking for by climbing up to my mountain cottage? People say there's nothing in the mountains but the sounds of birds."

He had taken a seat lower than his guest's, but his eyes seemed to wear a smile, and seemed amused by this man who had shown up from nowhere. At this point, Hideyohi studied him frankly. Hanbei's frame truly did not seem very robust. His skin was :cid, his face pale. But he was a handsome man, and the red of his mouth was especially striking.

All in all, his demeanor must have been the result of good upbringing. He was serene and spoke quietly, and with a smile. But there was some doubt as to whether the surface of this human being really manifested the underlying truth, just as, for example, the mountain today seemed peaceful enough for happy wandering, but the other day a storm had d roared out of the valley, blowing enough to make the trees howl.

"Well, in fact..." For an instant Hideyoshi smiled, and he straightened his shoulders a little. "I have come to meet you at Lord n.o.bunaga's order. Won't you come down from this mountain? The world is not going to allow a man of your ability to live a leisurely life in the mountains from such an early age. Sooner or later you're bound to serve as a samurai. And if that's so, who are you going to serve, if not Lord Oda n.o.bunaga? So I've come to encourage you to serve the Oda clan. Don't you feel like standing among the clouds of war one more time?"

Hanbei only listened and grinned mysteriously. Even with his quick tongue, Hideyoshi found his zeal considerably diminished by this kind of opponent. The man was like a willow in the wind. You couldn't tell whether he was listening or not. Holding his tongue for a while, he waited meekly for Hanbei to respond, and to the very end he carried himself like a blank sheet of paper, facing this man without stratagem or affectation.

During this time, a light breeze was fluttering from a fan in Hanbei's hand. He had previously placed three chunks of charcoal into a small brazier, and putting down the tongs, he fanned the brazier just enough to ignite the fire without raising the ashes. The water in the kettle started to boil. In the meantime, he took up the napkin used for the ceremony and wiped the small tea bowls for both host and guest. It seemed as though he might be judging the temperature of the water by the sound of its boiling. The man was graceful and seemingly without a fault, but very deliberate.

Hideyoshi could feel his feet beginning to fall asleep, but he was unable to find an opening for his next words. And before he noticed it, the things he had talked about in such detail had flown off in the direction of the wind in the pines. It seemed that nothing remained in Hanbei's ears.

"Well now, I wonder if you have anything to say concerning the things I spoke about just now. I'm sure that making some statement about how you will be repaid in terms of stipend and rank, and trying to entice you with money, is not the way to quicken your return from retirement, so I'm not going to mention such things at all. Now, it's true that Owari is a small province, but it's going to control the nation in the future because no one other than my lord has the capacity. So it's wasteful for you to live in seclusion in the mountains in the midst of this chaotic world. You should come down for the sake of the nation." His host suddenly turned to him as he spoke, and Hideyoshi unconsciously held his breath. But Hanbei quietly offered him a tea bowl.

"Have some tea," he said. Then, taking a small tea bowl for himself, Hanbei sipped the tea almost as though he were licking the bowl. He tasted the tea a number of times, as though there were absolutely nothing else in his heart.

"Honored guest..."

"Yes?"

"Do you like orchids? In the spring they are beautiful, but they're quite nice in the fall, too."

"Orchids! What do you mean, orchids?"

"The flowers. When you go about three or four leagues deeper into the mountain, on the precipices and cliffs there are orchids that hold the dew of ancient times. I had my servant, Kok.u.ma, pick one and then put it into a pot. Would you like to see it?"

"N-no." Hideyoshi stopped hesitantly. "I have no use for looking at orchids."

"Is that so?"

"I hope to one day, but the fact that my dreams run off to the battleground even when I'm at home shows that I'm still a hot-blooded youth. I'm nothing more than a humble servant of the Oda clan. I don't understand the feelings of such men of leisure."

"Well, that's not unreasonable. But don't you think it's a personal waste for a man like you to be so busily worn out by the search for fame and profit? There's a rather profound significance to a life lived in the mountains. Why don't you leave Sunomata and come build a hut on this mountain?"

Isn't honesty the same as foolishness? And in the end doesn't being without strategy mean being without wisdom? Perhaps sincerity alone is not sufficient to knock at the human heart. I don't understand, Hideyoshi thought as he silently went down the mountain. It had been in vain. His visit to Hanbei's house had been for nothing. Burning with indignation, he turned around and looked back. Now nothing remained but resentment. No regrets. He had been politely sent away after today's first encounter. Perhaps I'll never meet him again, Hideyoshi thought. No. The next time I'll examine his head after they place it in front of my camp stool on the battlefield. He promised this to himself as he chewed his lip. How many times had he walked this road and lowered his head, being perfectly courteous and hiding his shame? This road was now an irritation. He turned around once again.

"You worm!" he shouted impotently. Perhaps he was recalling Hanbei's pale face and worn body. In his anger, he quickened his pace. Then, taking a turn in the road that looked out over a cliff on one side, he suddenly seemed to remember something he had been suppressing ever since leaving Hanbei's house. Standing on the cliff, he relieved himself into the valley below. The arcing stream became a rusting mist halfway down. Hideyoshi became abstracted and took care of his business, but when he finished he exclaimed, "That's enough of grumbling!" With that, he quickened his pace even more, and dashed down to the foothills of the mountain.

When he got to Moemon's house he said, "Saya, this has unexpectedly turned out to be a long trip. Let's get up early tomorrow and go home." With his master wearing such an energetic look, Saya thought that the meeting with Takenaka Hanbei must have gone well, and he felt happy for his master. Hideyoshi and Saya pa.s.sed the evening with Moemon and his family, and then dropped off to sleep. Hideyoshi slept with an empty mind, Saya was so surprised at his master's snoring that he opened his eyes from time to time. But when he thought about it, he realized that the worry and physical fatigue of going up Mount Kurihara every day must have been considerable. With this knowledge, even Saya became teary-eyed.

Trying to triumph, even just a little, must be something, he told himself, but he had no idea that his master's efforts had ended in failure. Hideyoshi was already finishing his travel preparations before dawn. Stepping out into the dew, they left the village. No doubt many of the families there were still sound asleep.

"Wait, Saya."

Hideyoshi suddenly stopped and stood up straight, facing the rising sun. Mount Kurihara was still black above the sea of morning mist. Behind the mountain, the glowing clouds were moving with the colors of the brilliantly ascending sun.

"No, I was wrong," Hideyoshi muttered. "I came to get a person who is hard to get. So that he is hard to get is natural. Maybe my own sincerity is still insufficient. How can I accomplish great things with such smallness of mind?"