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

'Nene?' It was her husband's voice. Nene tried to answer, but couldn't. Her heart was pounding. Although she had never felt this way until the wedding ceremony, she had not been able to see Tokichiro since the night before.

'Come in,' Tokichiro said. Nene could still hear the voices of her parents. While she was standing there, wondering what to do, she suddenly spotted mosquito-repellent in­cense that had been left smoldering. Picking it up, she went in timidly.

'You're sleeping here? There must be a lot of mosquitoes.' He had gone to sleep on the floor. Tokichiro stared at his feet.

'Ah, mosquitoes…'

'You must be exhausted.'

'And you too,' he sympathized. 'The relatives resolutely refused, but I just couldn't make the old folks sleep in the servants' quarters while we slept in a room with a gold screen.'

'But to sleep in a place like this, without any bedding…' Nene started to get up, but he stopped her.

'It's all right. I've slept on the ground—even on bare planks. My body has been tempered by poverty.' He sat up. 'Nene, come a little closer.'

“Y-yes.”

'A new wife is like a new wooden rice container. If you don't use it for a long time, it smells bad and becomes unusable. When it gets old, the hoops are apt to come off. But it's good to remember that a husband is a husband, too, from time to time. We plan on living a long life together, and have promised to be faithful to each other until we become old and white-haired, but our life is not going to be an easy one. So, while we still have the kind of feelings we do now, I think we should make a pledge to each other. How do you feel about this?'

'Of course. I'll keep this pledge absolutely, no matter what it is,' Nene answered clearly.

Tokichiro was the picture of seriousness. He even looked a little grim. Nene, however, was happy at seeing this solemn expression for the first time.

'First, as a husband, I'm going to tell you what I want from you as a wife.'

'Please.'

My mother is a poor farm woman and refused to come to the wedding. But the per­son who was happiest at my taking a wife more than anyone, anyone in the world, was my mother.'

'I see.'

“One day my Mother will come to live with us in the same house, and it will be fine if helping your husband takes second place. More than anything, I would like for you to

be devoted to my mother and make her happy.'

'Yes.'

'My mother was born to a samurai family, but long before my birth, she has been poor. She raised several children in great poverty; just to bring up a single child in such circumstances was to struggle through incredible hardship. She had nothing to make her happy—not even a new cotton kimono for the winter and one for the summer. She's uneducated, she speaks in a country dialect, and she's completely ignorant of manners. As my wife, will you take care of a mother like that with real love? Can you respect and cherish her?'

'I can. Your mother's happiness is your happiness. I think that's natural.'

'But you also have two parents in good health. In the same way, they're very important to me. I'm not going to be any less filial to them than you are.'

'That makes me happy.'

'Then there's one more thing for me,' Tokichiro went on. 'Your father has raised you to be a virtuous woman, disciplining you with a lot of rules. But I'm not so hard to please. I'm just going to rely on you for one thing.'

'Which is?'

'I just want you to be happy in your husband's service, in his work, and in all the things he must commonly do. And that's all. It sounds easy, doesn't it? But it won't be easy at all. Look at the husbands and wives who have passed years together. There are wives who have no idea what their husbands do. Such husbands lose an important incentive, and even a man who works for the sake of the nation or province is small, pitiful, and weak when he is at home. If only his wife is happy and interested in her husband's work, he can go out on the battlefield in the morning with courage. To me, this is the best wy a wife can help her husband.'

'I understand.'

'All right. Now let's hear what hopes you have of me. Speak up and I'll promise.' Despite this request, Nene was unable to say a thing.

'Whatever a wife wishes of her husband. If you won't tell me your desires, shall I say them for you?' Nene smiled and nodded at Tokichiro's words. Then she quickly looked down.

'A husband's love?'

'No…'

'Then an unchanging love.'

'Yes.'

'To give birth to a healthy child?'

Nene trembled. If there had been a lamp to see it by, her face would have burned as red as the color of cinnabar.

On the morning following the three-day wedding party, Tokichiro and his wife put on formal kimonos for yet another ceremony, and visited the mansion of their go-between, Lord Nagoya. After that, they went around to two or three houses, feeling as though all the eyes of Kiyosu were on them that day. But Nene and her young husband had nothing but good intentions for the passersby who turned to look at them.

'Let's go visit Master Otowaka's house for a moment,' said Tokichiro.

'Hey, Monkey!' Otowaka yelled, and then corrected himself in a fluster, 'Tokichiro.'

'I've brought my wife to meet you.'

'What? Of course! The honored daughter of the archer, Master Asano! Tokichiro, you're a lucky fellow.'

It was only seven years ago that Tokichiro had come up to this veranda selling nee­dles, dressed in dirty, travel-stained clothes. He had felt as though he hadn't eaten in days. When they had given him some food, he had sat there eating greedily, with his chopsticks clacking.

'You're so lucky, it's scary,' Otowaka said. 'Well, the house is filthy, but come in.' Somewhat flustered, he yelled to his wife inside the house and then showed them in him­self. Just then, they heard a voice shouting in the street. It was a herald, dashing from house to house.

'Join your regiment! Join your regiment! By His Lordship's order!'

'An official order?' Otowaka said. 'The call to arms.'

'Master Otowaka,' Tokichiro said suddenly, 'I have to get to the assembly grounds as quickly as possible.'

Until this morning, there had been no indication that something like this might hap­pen, and even when Tokichiro had visited Nagoya's residence, appearances had been nothing but peaceful. Where in the world could they be going? Even Tokichiro's usual in­tuition had failed him this time. Whenever the word 'battle' was spoken, his intuition was usually right on target as to where they were headed. But the young bridegroom's mind had been far away from the current situation for some time. He ran into a number of men dashing from the samurai neighborhoods, shouldering their armor.

A group of horsemen raced from the castle. While he didn't know what was going on, Tokichiro had a premonition that the battlefield would be far away.

Nene hurried home ahead of her husband.

'Kinoshita! Kinoshita!' As he approached the archers' tenement houses, somebody yelled from behind him. Turning to look, he saw that it was Inuchiyo. He was on horse­back, in the same suit of armor he had worn at Okehazama, a banner decorated with a plum-blossom crest fluttering from a thin bamboo pole fastened to his back.

'I was just coming by to call for Master Mataemon. Get yourself ready and come immediately to the assembly grounds.'

'Are we marching out?' Tokichiro asked.