Musashi - Eiji Yoshikawa [308]
Takuan and Lord Karasumaru were old friends with many interests in common—poetry, Zen, drinking, even politics. Toward the end of the previous year, Takuan had received a letter inviting him to spend the New Year’s holidays in Kyoto. “You seem to be cooped up in a little temple in the country,” Mitsuhiro wrote. “Don’t you long for the capital, for some good Nada sake, for the company of beautiful women, for the sight of the little plovers by the Kamo River? If you like to sleep, I suppose it’s all right to practice your Zen in the country, but if you want something more lively, then come here and be among people. Should you feel any nostalgia for the capital, by all means pay us a visit.”
Shortly after his arrival, early in the new year, Takuan was quite surprised to see Jōtarō playing in the courtyard. He learned in detail from Mitsuhiro what the boy was doing there and then heard from Jōtarō that there had been no news of Otsū since Osugi got her clutches into the girl on New Year’s Day.
The morning after her return, Otsū had come down with a fever, and she was still in bed, with Jōtarō nursing her, sitting by her pillow all day, cooling her forehead with wet towels and measuring out her medicine at the proper times of the day.
As much as Takuan wanted to leave, he could hardly do so before his host did, and Mitsuhiro seemed to be more and more absorbed in the drinking contest.
Both combatants being veterans, the contest seemed destined to end in a draw, which it did. They went on drinking anyway, facing each other knee to knee and chatting animatedly. Takuan could not tell whether the subject was government by the military class, the inherent worth of the nobility, or the role of merchants in the development of foreign trade, but evidently it was something very serious. He lifted his head from Sumigiku’s knee and, eyes still closed, leaned against a post of the alcove, every once in a while grinning at a snatch of conversation.
Presently Mitsuhiro asked, in an injured tone, “Where’s Nobutada? Did he go home?”
“Never mind him. Where’s Yoshino?” Shōyū asked, suddenly looking quite sober.
Mitsuhiro told Rin’ya to go and bring Yoshino back.
As she passed the room where Shōyū and Kōetsu had started out the evening, Rin’ya looked in. Musashi was sitting there alone, his face next to the white light of the lamp.
“Why, I didn’t know you were back,” said Rin’ya.
“I haven’t been here long.”
“Did you come in by the back way?”
“Yes.”
“Where did you go?”
“Umm, outside the district.”
“I bet you had an engagement with a beautiful girl. Shame on you! Shame on you! I’m going to tell my mistress,” she said saucily.
Musashi laughed. “No one’s here,” he said. “What happened to them?” “They’re in another room, playing games with Lord Kangan and a priest.” “Kōetsu too?”
“No. I don’t know where he is.”
“Maybe he went home. If he did, I should go too.”
“You mustn’t say that. When you come to this house, you can’t leave without Yoshino Dayū’s consent. If you just sneak away, people will laugh at you. And I’ll be scolded.”
Not being attuned to the humor of the courtesans, he received this news
with serious countenance, thinking: “So that’s the way they do things here.” “You absolutely mustn’t go without taking your leave properly. Just wait
here until I come back.”
A few minutes later Takuan appeared. “And where did you come from?” he asked, with a tap on the rōnin’s shoulder.
“What?” gasped Musashi. Slipping off his cushion, he put both hands on the floor and bowed deeply. “What a long time since I saw you last!”
Lifting Musashi’s hands from the floor, Takuan said, “This place is for fun and relaxation. No need for formal greetings…. I was told Kōetsu was here too, but I don’t see him.”
“Where do you suppose he could have gone?”
“Let’s find him. I do have a number of things to talk to you about privately, but they can wait until a more suitable occasion.”
Takuan opened the door into the next room. There, with his feet in the covered kotatsu and a quilt