a€?Yes, his namea€™s Genbei.a€?
a€?He once led some bride over the pass on his horse?a€?
a€?When Shiodaa€™s daughter went down to the town as a bride, they put her on a white horse for the bridal procession, and she came along past here with Genbei on the lead rein. Good heavens, how time fliesa€”ita€™l be five years ago this year.a€?
One who laments her white hair only when she looks in a mirror must be accounted among the happy. This old woman, who first comprehends the swiftness of the turning wheel of Time as she counts off on bent fingers the passage of five years, must then surely be closer to the unworldly mountain immortals than to us humans.
a€?She would have made a beautiful sight. I wish Ia€™d come to see.a€?
The old woman gives a chuckle. a€?You can see her stil . If you cal in at the hot spring inn, shea€™l be sure to come out and greet you.a€?
a€?Aha, so shea€™s in the vil age now, is she? If only she were stil dressed in that wedding kimono with her hair up in the
a€?She may wel dress up for you if you ask.a€?
I very much doubt this, but the old woman does seem remarkably serious. This is just the sort of situation that a journey undertaken in the spirit of artistic a€?nonemotiona€? needs to encounter to make it worthwhile.
a€?Shea€™s very like the Nagara maiden, actual y,a€? remarks the old woman.
a€?Her face, you mean?a€?
a€?No, I mean the way things turned out for her.a€?
a€?Real y? Whoa€™s this Nagara maiden?a€?
a€?The story goes that there was once a beautiful daughter of the vil age rich man, who went by the name of a€?the Nagara maiden.a€™a€?
a€?Yes?a€?
a€?Wel , my dear, two men went and fel in love with her at the same time.a€?
a€?I see.a€?
a€?Her days and nights were spent tossing in an agony over whether she should give her heart to the Sasada man or whether it should be the Sasabe man, and she was sorely torn between them, til final y she composed a poem that went: As the autumna€™s dew
that lies a moment on the tips
of the seeding grass,
so do I know that I too must
fade and be gone from this brief world.10
And then she threw herself into a pool and drowned.a€?
Little could I have dreamed that I would find myself in such a poetic place, hearing from such a poetic figure this elegant, time-worn tale, told in such elegant language!
a€?You ought to take a look at the Nagara maidena€™s grave while youa€™re on your way through. If you go a little over half a mile east from here, youa€™l find the old stone grave marker.a€?
I immediately decide I wil do just that.
The old woman continues, a€?The Nakoi girl had the same il fortune of being loved by two men, you see. One was a man she met while she was off training in Kyoto. The other was the richest man in the local town.a€?
a€?Aha, and which did she give her heart to?a€?
a€?She was set on marrying the man in Kyoto, but her parents, no doubt for their own good reasons, made her accept the local man.a€?
a€?Wel , ita€™s a blessing she didna€™t have to end up throwing herself in a pool, isna€™t it.a€?
a€?Ah, but . . . this man wanted her on account of her beauty and talent. He may have been very good to her for al I know, but shea€™d been forced into the marriage and apparently she never got along with him. The family seemed very worried about how it was al going. And then along came this war, and the bank where her husband worked went bankrupt. After that she came back home to Nakoi. People say al sorts of things about hera€”that shea€™s heartless and unfeeling, and so on. She was always such a gentle, reserved girl, but these days shea€™s apparently turning a bit wild. Every time Genbei comes through here, he tel s me how worrying she is.a€?
It would ruin my planned picture to hear any more. I feel rather as if I have at last stumbled upon the magic feather cloak that wil turn me into a mountain immortal, only to have some heavenly being come along and demand that I return it.11 To find myself dragged back down into the vulgar world again, after having braved the perils of those Seven Bends to arrive at this place at last, would destroy the whole point of my aimless journey.
If you let yourself become involved with worldly gossip past a certain point, the stench of the human world seeps in through the pores of your skin, and its grime begins to weigh you down.
a€?This road goes straight through to Nakoi, doesna€™t it?a€? I inquire, rising to my feet and tossing a smal coin onto the table.
a€?If you take a shortcut by fol owing the path down to the right from the Nagara maidena€™s gravestone, ita€™s a quick half mile. The patha€™s rough, but ita€™s probably the better way for a young gentleman like yourself. . . . This is very generous payment, sir. . . . Take good care.a€?
CHAPTER 3
