Musashi - Eiji Yoshikawa [558]
“Some.”
“What are they doing there?”
“Building cabins …”
“Have you seen them putting up fences, anything like that?”
“No.”
“Have they been cutting down plum trees?”
“Well, besides the cabins, they’ve been fixing bridges, so they’ve been cutting down all kinds of trees. For firewood too.”
“Are they stopping people on the road?”
“I don’t think so. I haven’t seen them do that.”
Sukekurō cocked his head. “I’ve heard those samurai are from Lord Tōdō’s fief, but I don’t know what they’re doing in Tsukigase. What do people in your village say?”
“They say they’re rōnin chased out of Nara and Uji. They didn’t have anyplace to live, so they came to the mountains.”
Despite what Inshun had said, Sukekurō thought this a not unreasonable explanation. Ōkubo Nagayasu, the magistrate of Nara, had not relaxed his efforts to keep his jurisdiction free of indigent rōnin.
“Where’s Otsū?” asked Ushinosuke. “I want to give her her present.” He always looked forward to seeing her, but not just because she gave him sweets and said nice things to him. There was something about her beauty that was mysterious, otherworldly. At times, he couldn’t decide whether she was human or a goddess.
“She’s in the castle, I imagine,” said Sukekurō. Then, looking toward the garden, he said, “Oh, you seem to be in luck. Isn’t that her over there?” “Otsū!” Ushinosuke called loudly.
She turned and smiled. Running breathlessly to her side, he held up his package.
“Look! I caught a nightingale. It’s for you.”
“A nightingale?” Frowning, she kept her hands close to her sides. Ushinosuke looked disappointed. “It has a beautiful voice,” he said. “Wouldn’t you like to hear it?”
“I would, but only if it’s free to fly wherever it wants to. Then it’ll sing pretty songs for us.”
“I guess you’re right,” he said with a little pout. “Do you want me to turn it loose?”
“I appreciate your wanting to give me a present, but yes, that’d make me happier than keeping it.”
Silently, Ushinosuke split open the straw package, and like an arrow the bird flew away over the castle wall.
“There, you see how glad it is to be free?” said Otsū.
“They call nightingales harbingers of spring, don’t they? Maybe somebody’ll bring you good news.”
“A messenger bringing news as welcome as the coming of spring? It’s true there’s something I’m longing to hear.”
As Otsū started walking toward the woods and bamboo grove in back of the castle, Ushinosuke fell in at her side.
“Where are you going?” he asked.
“I’ve been inside a lot lately. I thought I’d go up the hill and look at the plum blossoms for a change.”
“Plum blossoms? Those up there aren’t much to look at. You should go to Tsukigase.”
“That might be nice. Is it far?”
“A couple of miles or so. Why don’t you go? I brought firewood today, so I have the ox with me.”
Having scarcely been outside the castle all winter, Otsū made up her mind quickly. Without telling anyone where she was going, the two of them strolled down to the back gate, which was used by tradesmen and others having business at the castle. It was guarded by a samurai armed with a lance. He nodded and smiled at Otsū. Ushinosuke, too, was a familiar figure, and he let them out the gate without checking the boy’s written permission to be in the castle grounds.
People in the fields and on the road spoke a friendly greeting to Otsū, whether they knew her or not. When the dwellings became sparser, she looked back at the white castle nestled on the skirt of the mountain and said, “Can I get back home while it’s still light?”
“Sure, but I’ll come back with you anyway.”
“Araki Village is beyond Tsukigase, isn’t it?”
“It doesn’t matter.”
Chatting about various things, they passed a salt shop, where a man was bartering some boar meat for a sack of salt. He finished his transaction, came out and walked along the road behind them. With the snow melting, the road grew worse and worse. There were few travelers.
“Ushinosuke,” said Otsū, “you always come to Koyagyū, don’t