TAIKO: AN EPIC NOVEL OF WAR AND GLORY IN FEUDAL JAPAN

was grazing near the gate. Apparently a visitor had arrived during his absence.

'Who is it?' he asked as he dismounted.

'A messenger from Sumpu.'

Kahei acknowledged the information and went in. Sumpu was the capital of the Imagawa clan. Messengers were not especially rare, but Kahei was preoccupied with his meeting in Hikuma Castle, so he forgot all about Hiyoshi.

'Hey, you, where do you think you're going?' challenged the gatekeeper as Hiyoshi was about to follow the attendants through the gate. His hands and the straw-wrapped package he carried were spattered with mud. The splotches of mud drying on his face felt itchy. Had the gatekeeper thought that Hiyoshi was poking fun at him by twitching his nose on purpose? The gatekeeper reached out to grab Hiyoshi by the scruff of the neck.

Stepping back, Hiyoshi answered, 'I'm a needle seller.'

'Peddlers don't come through this gate without authorization. Off with you!'

'You better check with your master first.'

'And why should I do that?'

'I followed him here because he told me to. I came with the samurai who came in just now.'

'I can't imagine the master bringing the likes of you back. You look pretty shady to me.'

Just then, Nohachiro remembered Hiyoshi and came back to get him. 'It's all right, he told the gatekeeper.

'Well, if you say so.'

'Come along, Monkey.'

The gatekeeper and the other servants burst out laughing. 'What is he, anyway? With his white smock and muddy straw bundle, he looks just like the Buddha's monkey messenger!'

The boisterous voices rang in Hiyoshi's ears, but during the seventeen years of his life he had had ample opportunity to hear the taunts of others. Didn't they bother him? Had he got used to them? It seems that neither was the case. When he heard this kind of remark he blushed, just like anyone else. His ears, especially, turned bright red. This was proof that the taunts did not go unheard. But his behavior did not reflect his feeling.  He was as calm as if the insults had been spoken into the ears of a horse. In fact, he could be disarmingly charming at such times. His heart was like a flower held up by a bamboo support, quietly waiting for the storm to pass. He was not going to be upset by adversity, nor would he be servile.

'Monkey, there's an empty stable over there. You can wait there, where the sight of you won't offend anyone,' said Nohachiro, who then went about his business.

When evening came, the smell of cooking drifted from the kitchen window. The moon rose over the peach trees. The formal interview with the messenger from Sumpu being finished, more lamps were lit, and a banquet was prepared to send him on his way the following day. The sound of the hand drum and a flute drifted over from the mansion, where a Noh play was being performed.

The Imagawa of Suruga were a proud and illustrious family. Their tastes ran not only to poetry, dance, and music but to any luxury from the capital: inlaid swords for their samurai and stylish under-kimonos for their women. Kahei himself was a man of simple tastes. Nevertheless, his opulent residence presented a quite different appearance from the mansions of the samurai of Kiyosu.

That's pretty bad Noh, Hiyoshi thought, as he lay stretched out on the straw he had spread on the floor of the empty stall. He liked music. Not that he understood it, but he liked the cheery world of dreams it created. It allowed him to forget everything. But he was distracted by his empty stomach. Oh, if I could only borrow a pot and a fire, he groaned inwardly.

Taking his dirty straw bundle with him, he stuck his head through the door of the kitchen. 'Excuse me, but I wonder if you couldn't lend me a pot and a small cooking stove. I was thinking of eating my meal.'

The kitchen helpers stared blankly back at him. 'Where in the world did you come from?'

'His lordship brought me back with him today. I'd like to boil the pond snails I picked from the rice paddies.'

'Pond snails, eh?'

'I've been told they're good for the stomach, so I eat some every day. That's because I get stomach upset easily.'

'You eat them with bean paste. Do you have any?'

'Yes.'

'Rice?'

'I have rice, thank you.'

'Well, there's a pot and a fire in the stove in the servants' quarters. Do it over there.'

Just as he did every night in cheap lodging houses, Hiyoshi cooked up a small portion of rice, boiled his pond snails, and ate his evening meal. Then he went to sleep. The servants' quarters being an improvement over the stable, he stayed there until midnight, when the servants finished their chores and came back.

'You swine! Who told you you could sleep here?'

They kicked him, picked him up, and threw him out. He went back to the stable, only to find the messenger's horse fast asleep and seeming to say, 'You don't belong here, either.'

The hand drum had fallen silent, and the pale moon was waning. Hiyoshi, no longer sleepy, could not stand being idle. Work or fun, it didn't matter much to him, but if he wasn't involved in one or the other, he very quickly became bored.

Maybe the sun will come while I'm sweeping up, he thought as he started to sweep the stable, collecting the horse manure, fallen leaves, and straw into a pile, out of the master's sight.

'Who's out there?' Resting his broom, Hiyoshi looked around. 'Ah, it's the needle seller.'

Hiyoshi finally saw that the voice was coming from the lavatory at the corner of the main house's veranda. He could make out Kahei's face inside. 'Oh, it's you, my lord.'

Drinking sake with the messenger, who was a strong drinker, Kahei had drunk too much. Now, almost sober again, he asked in a tired voice, 'Is it close to dawn?' He disappeared from the window, opened the rain shutters of the veranda, and looked up at the waning moon.

'The cock hasn't crowed yet, so it'll be a little while until dawn.'

'Needle seller—no, we'll call you Monkey—why are you sweeping the garden in the middle of the night?'

'I had nothing to do.'

'It would probably be a good idea to get some sleep.'

'I already slept. When I've slept for a certain amount of time, for some reason I can’t lie still anymore.'

'Are there any sandals?'

Hiyoshi quickly found a pair of new straw sandals and arranged them so that Kahei could step into them easily.

'Here you are, my lord.'

'You just got here today, and you say you've already slept enough. How is it you know the lay of the land already?'

'Please excuse me, my lord.'

'What for?'

'I'm not a suspicious person at all. But in this kind of mansion, even when I’m asleep, by hearing various sounds, I can guess where things are located, the size of the grounds, the drainage system, and where the fires are.'

'Hm. I see.'

'I noticed where the straw sandals were earlier. It occurred to me that someone might come out and ask for sandals.'

'I'm sorry. I forgot all about you.'

Hiyoshi laughed but made no reply. Although he was no more than a boy, he did not seem to respect Kahei very much. Kahei then asked him about his background and whether he had hopes of serving someone. Hiyoshi assured him that he had. He had high hopes for the future and had been walking throughout the provinces from the time was fifteen.