Flower Spelling - Chapter 5
Chapter 5 – Feast
The Choshu Domain Kamiyashiki was a large samurai residence located outside the Sakuradamon Gate with a close view of Edo Castle, covering an area of 55km from east to west and 133km from north to south (approximately 22,500 square meters).
The front of the building was dominated by a massive turret gate, surrounded on all sides by white walls. At first glance, this wall appeared to be an ordinary white wall, but in fact, it was the wall of a row house where the clansmen of the Edo period resided.
Sogetsu was given one of the tenement houses, where she was to dwell.
Although she had possessed some common sense since her imminent arrival in Edo six months ago, she was still at a loss due to the sheer differences from her time at Tatsumi Residence.
On her way back from being summoned by Katsura, she found herself hopelessly lost in the vast residence, although it had been two days since she had arrived at the clan residence. Ito guided her on the way there but she didn’t want to bother him on the way back, so she insisted that she could go home alone, which backfired.
Everywhere she turned, the building looked the same, and she couldn’t even tell which way she was coming from anymore. Even if she wanted to ask someone, she couldn’t because no one would be passing by at this hour.
Just as she was getting a headache, a samurai eventually strolled by. He possessed a stern visage and a sturdy, broad body as if he had emerged out of a picture scroll from the Sengoku era. The samurai, perhaps suspicious of Sogetsu’s reflexive attempt to flee, approached her with a broad stride.
“What are you doing here? Beyond here is the meeting place where the executives conduct political affairs. I haven’t seen you around before, have you recently arrived in Edo?”
“Y-Yes. My name is Sogetsu, I have been in your care since yesterday.”
“I am Kijima Matabei. If you’re not used to here, I don’t blame you, but don’t wander around here. Very well then.”
She was so intimidated by the pressure to the point that all she could do was to say yes.
Kijima still glanced at Sogetsu with an impassive air, “However, what’s with your slender figure? You can’t survive in the coming days like this. You must eat better and be stronger, you know!”
“Y-Yes.”
“Don’t speak softly! Say it with more power!”
“Yes!”
Once she had replied with as much enthusiasm as she could muster, Kijima was finally satisfied, nodding encouragingly in that manner and departed leisurely.
S-Scary?
As Sogetsu patted her chest in relief, a suppressed laughter reached her ears.
“…Ah.”
Turning around, she saw Takasugi at the corner of the corridor, clutching his stomach and shaking.
“You’re here? Since when…” She was about to say it when she realized it. “By any chance, were you there all along? Then you should have helped me earlier on.”
“‘No, I didn’t have the chance to step out just now.”
It must have been on purpose.
She glared at him, but he was indifferent to it.
But more than that, turning his head with a lingering smile, he said, “The old man, Kijima mistook you for a man.”
“… Do you really think so? Well, I suppose it’s only natural in this outfit.” She looked down at herself, stating it.
Sogetsu currently had her hair undone and tied in a simple knot behind her ear, dressing in a man’s kimono and hakama. Without having a change of clothes, she borrowed one of Takasugi’s kimonos for the time being.
“What should I do? I was so startled earlier that I couldn’t think straight.”
“Isn’t it fine? Simply correct him when you run into him again. ?Ah, that’s right. I almost forgot the most crucial thing. This is precisely why I’ve been looking for you.”
“What is it?”
“Mr. Sufu has a message. We’re having a party this night, come and join us.”
“Eh! Are all of you really preparing it?” Sogetsu’s eyes flickered open in shock.
The story goes back to yesterday when Katsura brought her to greet his superior, a man called Sufu Masanosuke.
Sufu, while being only forty years old, was one of Choshu’s most successful politicians, and he was regarded to be a remarkable individual who had implemented a series of domain administration reforms with innovative ideas unfettered by old customs. However, he was quite a friendly person and astonished Sogetsu by saying, “Hello, you are the first red of the masked group”. At first, she was somewhat bewildered by his uncharacteristic behavior that did not seem to be a senior retainer, but gradually she opened up to him and, at his request, told him the story of the Tatsumi Residence’s riot.
At the mention of the operation to rescue the landlady, Sufu clapped his hands rejoicing, “So you and Takasugi rode into Tozenji? Great!”
“Mr. Sufu, it’s no laughing matter. It’s a good thing it all worked out, but one wrong move can lead to an international incident.” A reluctant Katsura chided him.
“Didn’t it turn out good? I like her guts, the way she came into the clan house by herself. Yeah, let’s have a party next time to welcome you. Your identity will be… Let’s see, we can simply say that you’re the daughter of a friend of Katsura’s acquaintances. For the time being, keep your true identity a secret from everyone except Katsura and me. Will that be fine?”
That’s how the interaction went.
“No need to be so formal, it’s just a show. Just take it easy and enjoy yourself. I’ll introduce you to my fellows at Shokasonjuku Academy.”
“Yes.”
Sogetsu hurriedly stopped Takasugi, who was ready to leave, saying that he would pick her up at the tenement at the appointed time.
“Excuse me! Which way is the tenement? Or rather, where even is here?”
Takasugi gazed back at her, a look of utter disbelief upon his countenance.
?
The banquet was being held in Yubikan, a two-story building in the clan’s residence, in which Katsura was the director and where the clan members studied.
There were about ten people there, including Sogetsu, Takasugi, Kusaka, Ito, Katsura, Sufu, and others, most of them were young people around the same age as Sogetsu.
In front of her was a set of dishes that seemed to be appetizing. Miso soup with tofu, grilled fish, boiled potatoes, and pickles. It was a pleasure to watch the steam still rising.
Sufu, seated on the upper seat, made a brief introduction of Sogetsu, “Well, there goes the formality of greetings. Eat, drink and be as wild as you like today!”
“That last one is superfluous!” Katsura quickly intervened.
As the excitement was in the air, a young man next to her called out to her. The man, who introduced himself as Ariyoshi Kumajiro, shrank his large, fleshy body into a tight huddle and approached her as if he were engaged in a private conversation.
“Hey, you’re the little girl Mr. Takasugi kidnapped from the brothel, aren’t you?”
“Eh!?”
The tea she had just swallowed went into the wrong place, causing her to cough heavily.
“W-What is that…? How did you come to that conclusion?”
After she finally calmed down and questioned him, he rolled his eyes and said, “Well, it’s a famous tale among us. Which that Mr. Takasugi came home in the middle of the night carrying a girl. It was a rumor that Mr. Takasugi was that person”
“Yeah, yeah,” said the two men sitting opposite him. “Escaping from those who are trying to tear the relationship between you two, taking your hand and escape!”
“The way she follows the man she loves, knowing that if she is caught she will be punished! Oh dear, it makes me cry.”
She was thoroughly amused by it. “I am sorry to disappoint you, but the circumstances of my arrival here are somewhat dramatic, and as Mr. Sufu introduced me, I am merely a housemate… Anyway, are you all from the same Shokasonjuku Academy as Mr. Takasugi and the others?”
“I am.”
And it was Ariyoshi who said that.
“We’re from Hagi, just like Mr. Katsura and Mr. Takasugi.”
These were the words of the two men opposite.
The square-faced one was called Yamato Kuninosuke, and the thin-faced one was Nagamine Kurata. Apparently, they were so close to each other that they referred to each other as “Kuni” and “Kura”, as they were only one year apart in age (26 and 25).
“And now, as a token of our friendship, a drink.” He poured a drink for each of them as a gesture of greeting.
“Well, it’s always good to have a young girl to drink to.”
“Mr. Shirai, you’re sounding a bit senile talking like that.”
The samurai known as Shirai was named Shirai Kosuke, a dark and lanky man in his mid-thirties, in contrast to his name. He was a man of low rank, but highly educated, and was said to have been a close friend of Yoshida Shoin.
In comparison to Shirai, who was laughing with gusto, Narazaki Yahachiro was drinking silently by himself.
“Narazaki and I went to the same private school in Edo! Right, Narazaki?”
“You quit as soon as you could, saying you were bored, didn’t you?”
“Did that happen?”
Even when Takasugi, drunk from simply a few drinks, got involved, he dodged it easily, as if he was accustomed to it.
Fixing his gaze to Sogetsu, he said, “I know it’s hard to look after him, but he’s a good boy at heart. Don’t give up on him, please.”
“H-Hah?”
It’s hard to say whether he believed the rumor or not. He didn’t seem to be drunk, still, he might actually be.
In which she smiled vaguely and simply nodded.
“Sorry, sorry, I’m late!”
With a familiar muffled voice, a man stormed into the room.
“I’ve had a lot more work than I thought I would… hmm?”
“Ah.”
It was simultaneously that Sogetsu lifted her waist and the man stared at her.
The man’s eyes widened.
“Y-You are!?”
“Uh, uh, Mr. Kijima, this morning, thanks for?”
“You’re the Oyama! (??)”
“Ha?”
Oyama?
In the midst of the dumbfounded crowd, Takasugi was the only one who understood and blew it out.
“What’s the matter with you?”
Sufu alternately observed the faces of Kijima, Sogetsu, and Takasugi, and asked curiously.
“There’s nothing that could be done about it!” Kijima’s face reddened, his shoulders trembling. “H-He’s a man! It’s not right for a man to dress as a woman!”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa. What are you talking about, old man? Why are you drunk before you even have a drink? She is a legitimate girl.”
“A g-girl!? But this morning…”
“I’m sorry! I didn’t have a change of clothes at that time, so I was lent Mr. Takasugi’s kimono. I should have said so at the beginning… I really am sorry!”
“Oh, so that’s what it was.”
He appeared to have settled down for the moment, but the next second he exploded again.
“?So, Takasugi, is this the girl you kidnapped from the brothel!”
Sogetsu nearly collapsed against the table.
Just how far has this false rumor spread!
She managed to pacify the raging Kijima, who was as agitated as Nioh, and the situation was somehow settled once Katsura explained again.
“Um, Mr. Kijima, come in.”
“Uh-huh…”
When she offered him a glass of sake to freshen him up, he accepted it, still embarrassed by his earlier misunderstanding. Despite his tough appearance, he behaved like a small child, which naturally brought a smile to her face.
“What are you smiling at? Come on, pour me another glass.”
“Yes.”
Takasugi played the shamisen, Shirai sang, Ito and Ariyoshi danced, and before long it was a feast of ‘drink, eat and be merry.’
“I’m sorry it’s so noisy. That’s what we always do when we have a party here.” Kusaka gently sat down next to Sogetsu and remarked.
“No, I enjoy a lively atmosphere. Are you drinking, Mr. Kusaka? I’ll pour you one.”
“Thank you. I’m fine… More importantly, Sogetsu. Watch out for Sufu in these seats.”
“Mr. Sufu? What’s with it?”
“He’s a good boss, he’s good at his job, he understands his people, yet he has one flaw. He’s a… drunken frenzy.”
“Eh?”
She thought it was a joke, but Kusaka seemed to be serious.
“Whenever he gets drunk, he always causes some kind of problem, and every time he does, Mr. Katsura has a tough time dealing with it.”
“Ha.”
She cast a glance at Katsura. He certainly had the appearance of a hard-working man.
I am certain Mr. Takasugi and his friends are among the troublemakers.
Rather impolitely, she was ready to burst out laughing and hastily shielded her mouth with her hand.
“Hey, what’s up with you? Come and dance, come and dance.”
“Eh!? Wait, Mr. Takasugi, all of a sudden… Wah!?”
There was no time to miss for Tatsumi Residence. The feast lasted until deep into the night.
T/N:
Your – Is Japanese culture to include others who are part of it even if they do not know each other since they live in the same residence
Name – ??, Shirai, ? means white
Oyama – ?? which means prostitute or a male actor who plays the role of a female in Kabuki in Edo period. The modern word of Oyama is called Onnagata. While Sogetsu didn’t realize it and thought he said ?? (Oyama) which means mountain