Musashi - Eiji Yoshikawa [469]
She looked so pious Jūrō nearly burst out laughing, but he managed to contain himself. Overcoming his urge to stuff it into his kimono like so much tissue paper, he lifted it respectfully to his forehead and placed it on his lap.
“Say, Granny, you sure you wouldn’t like to know what happened today? Maybe your faith in the Buddha gets results. I ran into somebody pretty special.”
“Who might that be?”
“Miyamoto Musashi. I saw him down at the Sumida River, getting off the ferry.”
“You saw Musashi? Why didn’t you say so!” She pushed the writing table away with a grunt. “Are you sure? Where is he now?”
“There, now, take it easy. Your old Jūrō doesn’t do things halfway. After I found out who he was, I followed him without him knowing it. He went to an inn in Bakurōchō.”
“He’s staying near here?”
“Well, it’s not all that close.”
“It may not seem that way to you, but it does to me. I’ve been all over the country looking for him.” Springing to her feet, she went to her clothes cabinet and took out the short sword that had been in her family for generations.
“Take me there,” she ordered.
“Now?”
“Of course now.”
“I thought you had a lot of patience, but … Why do you have to go now?” “I’m always ready to meet Musashi, even on a moment’s notice. If I get killed, you can send my body back to my family in Mimasaka.”
“Couldn’t you wait until the boss comes home? If we go off like this, all I’ll get for finding Musashi is a bawling out.”
“But there’s no telling when Musashi might go somewhere else.” “Don’t worry about that. I sent a man to keep an eye on the place.” “Can you guarantee Musashi won’t get away?”
“What? I do you a favor, and you want to tie me up with obligations! Oh, all right. I guarantee it. Absolutely. Look, Granny, now’s the time when you should be taking it easy, sitting down copying sutras or something like that.”
“Where is Yajibei?”
“He’s on a trip to Chichibu with his religious group. I don’t know exactly when he’ll be back.”
“I can’t afford to wait.”
“If that’s the way it is, why don’t we get Sasaki Kojirō to come over? You can talk to him about it.”
The next morning, after contacting his spy, Jūrō informed Osugi that Musashi had moved from the inn to the house of a sword polisher.
“See? I told you,” declared Osugi. “You can’t expect him to sit still in one place forever. The next thing you know, he’ll be gone again.” She was seated at her writing table but hadn’t written a word all morning.
“Musashi hasn’t got wings,” Jūrō assured her. “Just be calm. Koroku’s going to see Kojirō today.”
“Today? Didn’t you send somebody last night? Tell me where he lives. I’ll go myself.”
She started getting ready to go out, but Jūrō suddenly disappeared and she had to ask a couple of the other henchmen for directions. Having seldom left the house during her more than two years in Edo, she was quite unfamiliar with the city.
“Kojirō’s living with Iwama Kakubei,” she was told.
“Kakubei’s a vassal of the Hosokawas, but his own house is on the Takanawa highroad.”
“It’s about halfway up Isarago Hill. Anybody can tell you where that is.” “If you have any difficulty, ask for Tsukinomisaki. That’s another name for Isarago Hill.”
“The house is easy to recognize, because the gate is painted bright red. It’s the only place around there with a red gate.”
“All right, I understand,” said Osugi impatiently, resenting the implication that she was senile, or stupid. “It doesn’t sound difficult, so I’ll just be on my way. Take care of things while I’m out. Be careful about fire. We don’t want the place to burn down while Yajibei’s away.” Having put on her zōri, she checked to make sure her short sword was at her side, took a firm grip on her staff and marched off.
A few minutes later, Jūrō reappeared and asked where she was.
“She asked us how to get to Kakubei’s house and went out by herself.” “Oh, well, what can you do with a pigheaded old woman?” Then he shouted in the direction of the men’s quarters, “Koroku!”
The Acolyte abandoned his gambling and answered the summons posthaste. “You