Flower Spelling - Chapter 19
Chapter 19 – Yokohama Foreign Country Story
A few days after Takasugi’s departure.
A fellow named Kato Oro, who was in Kasama, requested that Takasugi come and meet him. Through the efforts of Sufu and Katsura, Takasugi was spared from being charged with defecting from the Tokugawa Shogunate but remained confined to his Yubikan room for a while, as if in a daze. Eventually, he grew tired of this and drifted off to drink daily. He no longer supports the principle of “Bochokakkyo“, rather he continued to wander around with a group of militant expulsionists.
“Let’s go and see the ship.”
That was the moment that Takasugi approached Sogetsu.
According to the news, Shido and Nagamine Kurata, who had been in charge of purchasing steamships in Yokohama, had at last acquired a ship. They were now on board the ship with Yamato Kuninosuke and the rest.
“I am going!”
Sogetsu responded in a resounding answer and a few days later they headed for Yokohama in high spirits.
?
Yokohama was one of the few trading ports open to foreigners. An area of countryside a little off the main road had been reclaimed to form a Japanese quarter to the west and a foreign settlement to the east. Developed in a haste by the Shogunate in response to the Treaty of Amity and Commerce between Japan and the United States, the settlement consisted of Japanese-style houses surrounded by foreigners dressed in Western clothing, providing a rather bizarre sight. One cannot help but be drawn to the unique shops in the settlement, such as shoe shops, clothing shops, and confectionary shops.
Speaking of it, how is Mr. Jude?
About six months ago, upon the change of minister to Japan, he apparently returned from Yokohama to Tozenji in Edo, but less than a month later he was assaulted once more.
“Hey, what are you idling about? If you don’t keep up, you’ll get separated.”
“Oh, I’m sorry!”
Lost in thought, she stopped dead in her tracks. Takasugi was in front of her, and as she ran to catch up with him, she bowed her head??
Boom!!
A thunderous crash sounded, sufficient to knock apart the buildings. Behind her ears, she shuddered.
“W-What the hell was that!?”
“It’s the ship’s salute.” Takasugi remained unfazed. “It’s like a greeting between ships. In Shanghai, it was ringing all day long. Nothing unusual for a port town.”
Only Sogetsu was flustered, and nobody else on the street appeared to be paying any attention. Covering her ears, she made her way to the harbor, where the intense smell of the tide unveiled a brilliant azure sea. Seagulls soared overhead and hundreds of ships and boats were there.
While she was watching with her mouth hung open, a voice hailed them from the nearby pier.
Nagamine was there to pick them up.
The trio boarded a small boat and proceeded to the steamship, which was anchored offshore.
“Is that it?”
“Isn’t it a fine ship? It’s Jinjutsumaru, Choshu’s first steamship.”
Takasugi’s voice, as well as Nagamine’s response, had a trace of excitement in them. Sogetsu, too, looked up in astonishment at the massive ship.
??This is a steamship.
A black hull basking in the sunshine.
Sharply pointed bow.
A high mast stretching high in the sky.
Up close, it resembled a fortress.
From the deck, she could briefly distinguish Shido and Yamato waving at her. Cautiously, she approached and climbed up the swaying rope ladder with trepidation.
“Wah??!”
Higher up on the deck than she had assumed, the view was unprecedented, unobstructed, and open as far as the eye could penetrate.
“Don’t lean forward too far or you’ll fall.”
Nagamine, who followed Takasugi up the ladder, chuckled and stood next to Sogetsu.
“I understand how you feel, though… Have you ever been on a ship before, Sogetsu?”
“This is my first time on a massive ship like this. It’s amazing! You can see the whole city of Yokohama! Is it possible to operate this now?”
“Unfortunately, it’s forbidden to move the ship without permission. Before that, though, the reality is that nobody has the expertise required to operate a ship, so we have to rely on foreigners to help us. It’s a shame that the expulsion of the barbarians is such a big deal.”
“But I’m amazed. I thought the expulsionists hated anything foreign.”
“Although we aim to expel the barbarians, we are not so stupid as to dismiss everything that is foreign to us. Some of them don’t even want to use Western guns, but it’s a fact that foreign technology is superior to ours.”
“Besides,” said Nagamine, in a hushed voice, as if revealing his plan of mischief. “This is only between you and us, we’re planning a trip to the West.”
“What!?”
“The trip was designed as a naval training as well as an observation of the hostilities. It is imperative that Choshu should have a modern navy.”
“But is this good?”
Takasugi likewise leaned back against the ship’s edge.
“It’s not up to us to have a look around. I’m sure Captain Yamada will be annoyed.”
“No problem, no problem. Aside from us, there are only a handful of men on duty and a few mechanics left. Captain Yamada won’t be back until the evening on business, so as long as we don’t get spotted we’ll be fine.”
“On the other hand, it’s hell if they find us,” Yamato said hawkishly, while Shido butted in with a rather amused tone.
“Is this Captain Yamada such a strict person?”
“Oh, just the other day I was thrown into the sea for a water training session. Winter was drawing close and I thought my heart would freeze to death.”
“Although that was the punishment given to us for drinking all night.”
“…”
Sogetsu was so dumbfounded she couldn’t utter a word.
The trio indulged in a vigorous laugh and invited Sogetsu and Takasugi to show them around the ship.
This steamship, acquired from England, was slightly out of date, but still in good service.
Every inch of the ship was a complex tangle of ropes, stretching across its length and breadth. The two broad sailing poles were incredibly high, almost to the point of being frightening to behold, making it difficult to believe that anyone could climb to the top to work.
“What’s that big black tube in the middle?”
“That’s a chimney. At the bottom is a boiler room where the coal is stored, and the smoke is blown out of the chimney.”
Next to Nagamine explaining to Sogetsu, Takasugi observed closely the two cannons on both sides of the ship.
“Only four cannons. Hardly enough.”
“The ship was originally a merchant’s vessel. That will have to be arranged in due course. At present we are fortunate in possessing a steamship.”
Shido’s answer was not to Takasugi’s liking.
“A single ship is certainly insufficient. Therefore, it would have been better if I had purchased a ship in Nagasaki when I was going to buy one. The government people made so much noise and fuss about it that eventually it was abandoned.”
“Well, you can’t possibly settle for 20,000 ryo on the spot, can you? And what would you do if you discovered that the ship you were buying was a wreck?”
“That ship was perfectly serviceable!”
As the two men struggled to come to terms with the situation, Yamato intervened.
“The discussion can wait. Right now, we have to show you around. Next, we’ll take you inside the ship.”
Following Yamato’s broad back, Takasugi, Sogetsu, Shido, and Nagamine descended from the landing platform to the third deck, the lowest level of the ship. Within the narrow, dimly lit interior of the ship, storage facilities included a pantry, an armory, and the steam engine responsible for powering the steamship.
Ascending the stairs to the second deck, this was where the sailors’ quarters were located. Towards the bow lies the main sleeping quarters for the sailors. At the stern of the ship were the private quarters of the captains and officers.
“Shall we go and have a rest? In fact, this morning the captain asked me to buy some sweets for his guests. It’s some kind of Western pastry, like cookies. There are plenty of them, so you won’t be caught out if you taste a few.”
Nagamine took a square furoshiki wrapper from the cupboard and placed it on the desk. While the four of them watched in fascination, he slowly unwrapped it in a pompous manner.
“Go-kaicho!”
With a shout, the crowd was supposed???to erupt in cheers.
However.
All of them had vacant expressions on their faces staring into the box.
“What is it? What’s the matter, are you all too speechless to react?”
“In a way, I suppose so.”
“Look,” said Yamato, gesturing towards it.
“… Botamochi?”
In the absence of unusual Western sweets, a familiar Japanese pastry filled with red bean paste was presented.
??
“Is this what you call a genuine botamochi?”
“Oh, Mr. Shido, you’re good.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me! I’ve got the wrong package somewhere.”
“Kura, do you have any clue?”
“Ah. The only other time I let go of the package was when I had lunch with Teijiro. Teijiro had a similar package, so it must have happened around that time.”
Teijiro is the name of Sato Teijiro, the manager of the Izukuraya shop, who was instrumental in Nagamine’s purchase of the steamship.
In any case, the sweets had to be replaced in the nick of time. Leaving Yamato in charge, the remaining four rushed to Izukuraya.
But despite their zeal, the package was no longer in Sato’s hands. As a parting gift for a foreign customer who was returning to his country, he gave it to him.
“I am terribly sorry to say that I have mistakenly placed the wrong package.” Sato bowed his head, his face pale.
“I was just as careless as you. So, do you know where the customer is currently? If I can find him in time, I’ll send him this.”
“He said he would be leaving in the afternoon. If you hurry…”
“Yosh, let’s go!”
Thus, the five of them including Sato rushed onto the pier together.
“Which ship?”
“That’s the ship!”
Sato pointed to a steamship with an outer ring on each side. Full sail, smoke billowing from its chimneys, it seemed on the verge of starting to sail.
“No! Get in!”
Takasugi hopped aboard a small boat tied to the pier, roughly slashed the rope, and without waiting for the others to get on board, paddled swiftly towards the steamship.
“Wait! That ship, don’t leave!”
“Please, Please wait!”
“A while longer!”
Sogetsu and Sato, barely on board together, desperately called out. Shortly afterward, Shido and Nagamine followed in another small boat. However, the boat was about to overturn under the waves from the steamship. A man who appeared to be a passenger peeked out from the deck, looked at them, yelled out something in astonishment, and retreated to the back.
F-Falling in??…!
Right when she thought it was over.
The enormous lump of iron slowly ceased vibrating and the rope ladder was lowered like a saving grace before the eyes of Sogetsu and her friends.
??
Initially, the captain was outraged by the situation, but upon gaining an understanding of what it ensued, he was deeply moved and called over a man who had been a guest at Izukuraya.
By the time they had completed the exchange, delivered the sweets to Jinjutsumaru, and gone back to Izukuraya with Yamato, the sun had fallen and everyone was depleted of energy.
“Ah, what an opportunity to taste the cookies, only to miss out.”
As he slumped down on the tatami floor, Nagamine expressed his regret, while Shido smirked and withdrew something from his pocket. Wrapped in a piece of folded paper was a cookie, which had been left on the shelf in the cabin.
“That’s! When did you do that!?”
“Before putting it back on the shelf, I sneaked a couple of it. You wouldn’t want to miss out on all this, would you?”
“As expected, Monta! You’re the best in the world at what you do.”
Takasugi rejoiced as he clapped his hands and they all immediately reached for the cookies.
“Tasty!”
Sogetsu was among the first to squeal in bliss. A rustic cookie, kneaded with crushed walnuts, slightly differing from the familiar taste, but still delicious.
“So these are cookies. Quite an unusual flavor, but pretty good.”
“Yes, the crunchy texture is interesting too.”
Even for the first-timers who had never tasted Western sweets before, they seemed to enjoy it.
Just then, Sato showed up with sake and dinner, and the tasting session gave way to a drinking session.
Drunkenly, noisily, ideologically, politically, and otherwise, the night in Yokohama drifted onwards.
Sogetsu fell asleep quietly, feeling a subtle shimmering wave in her body.
T/N:
Bochokakkyo -????, Bocho is the common name for the Choshu domain while Kakkyo means holding one’s own sphere of influence/authority or defending it, there’s no equivalent word in English so I used Romaji
Jinjutsumaru – ???, The name of the Choshu’s steamship
Please wait – This is written in English in the original text