Musashi - Eiji Yoshikawa [37]
“Don’t move!” commanded the captain. His bloated face turned purple as he moved to draw his sword. “Stand aside, Otsū! I’m going to cut this big-mouthed acolyte in two!”
Otsū fell at the captain’s feet and pleaded, “You have every reason to be angry, but please be patient. He’s not quite right in the head. He talks to everybody this way. He doesn’t mean anything by it, really!” Tears began gushing from her eyes.
“What are you saying, Otsū?” objected Takuan. “There’s nothing wrong with my mind, and I’m not joking. I’m only telling the truth, which no one seems to like to hear. He’s a dolt, so I called him a dolt. You want me to lie?”
“You’d better not say that again,” thundered the samurai.
“I’ll say it as often as I wish. By the way, I don’t suppose it makes any difference to you soldiers how much time you squander looking for Takezō, but it’s a terrible burden on the farmers. Do you realize what you’re doing to them? They won’t be able to eat soon if you keep this up. It probably hasn’t even occurred to you that they have to neglect their field work completely to go out on your disorganized wild-goose chases. And with no wages, I might add. It’s a disgrace!”
“Hold your tongue, traitor. That’s outright slander against the Tokugawa government!”
“It isn’t the Tokugawa government I’m criticizing; it’s bureaucratic officials like you who stand between the daimyō and the common people, and who might as well be stealing their pay for all they do to earn it. For one thing, exactly why are you lounging around here tonight? What gives you the right to relax in your nice, comfortable kimono all snug and warm, take leisurely baths and have your bedtime sake poured for you by a pretty young girl? You call that serving your lord?”
The captain was speechless.
“Is it not the duty of a samurai to serve his lord faithfully and tirelessly? Isn’t it your job to exercise benevolence toward the people who slave on the daimyō’s behalf? Look at yourself! You just close your eyes to the fact that you’re keeping the farmers from the work which gives them daily sustenance. You don’t even have any consideration for your own men. You’re supposed to be on an official mission, so what do you do? Every chance you get, you literally stuff yourself with other people’s hard-earned food and drink and use your position to get the most comfortable quarters available. I should say you are a classic example of corruption, cloaking yourself with the authority of your superior to do nothing more than dissipate the energies of the common people for your own selfish ends.”
The captain was by now too stunned to close his gaping mouth. Takuan pressed on.
“Now just try cutting off my head and sending it to Lord Ikeda Terumasa! That, I can tell you, would surprise him. He’d probably say, ‘Why, Takuan! Has only your head come to visit me today? Where in the world is the rest of you?’
“No doubt you’d be interested to learn that Lord Terumasa and I used to partake of the tea ceremony together at the Myōshinji. We’ve also had several long and pleasant chats at the Daitokuji in Kyoto.”
Scraggly Beard’s virulence drained from him in an instant. His drunkenness had worn off a bit too, though he still appeared incapable of judging for himself whether Takuan was telling the truth or not. He seemed paralyzed, not knowing how to react.
“First, you’d better sit down,” said the monk. “If you think I’m lying, I’ll be happy to go with you to the castle and appear before the lord himself. As a gift, I could take him some of the delicious buckwheat flour they make here. He’s particularly fond of it.
“However, there’s nothing more tedious, nothing I like less, than calling on a daimyō. Moreover, if the subject of your activities in Miyamoto should happen to come up while we were chatting over tea, I couldn’t very well lie. It would probably end up with your having to