The Curse of Koshiu: A Chronicle of Old Japan

by Lewis Wingfield

  CHAPTER III.

  MARRIED LIFE.

  The meek obedience of O'Tei to her father's wishes was but illrequited. The gulf between past and present was so wide that for awhile she was dazed and stunned. It seemed to her that she must havepassed in sleep through the gates of Death, and have been born againinto a new dark world--desolate and drear--which was all evil. Howcalm and happy by contrast appeared that other life, as she recalledto mind the company of prim priestesses slowly floating in the dance;the lazy, sweet-tempered bonzes tinkling on bells, droning amiablythrough noses--their weightiest duty, adoration of the sun withforeheads in the dust; their loving labour, the cleaning of templeprecincts; their pastime, the gentle craft of gardening. Now she foundherself surrounded by a roistering crew of fierce, rough, ignorantretainers--scowling, swearing, swaggering samurai--swash-bucklers whowere eternally cleaning and polishing their two swords and dirk, orpractising some horribly nimble feat of arms, or with set teeth insudden rage like red-eyed rats flying at one another's throats.

  Nuptial pomp and ceremony over, bride and groom retired to theircastle, where, with the laudable intent of making other magnatesjealous, a series of sham fights and sumptuous jousts wereinaugurated, whose unaccustomed din confused the brain of thechatelaine. For a space No-Kami appeared in his best light, for he wassubjugated by the beauty of his young wife, and unconsciously a littleafraid of her quiet high-bred demeanour. Bravely she strove tointerest herself in his pursuits; with unflagging patience watched theretainers wrestling or riding at the ring; compelled herself to bestowapplause on bouts at quarter-staff which wearied her. And yet,discipline herself as she would, the constant thud of stick on skull,or blade on helm--the guttural shrieks and execrations--chilled her tothe marrow. There could be no sympathy 'twixt the sensitive and poeticnature reared in the sacred groves, and these grim and savagewarriors. And, sharp to read faces, if ignorant of letters, they knewit as well as she, for her virtues were strange riddles beyond theircomprehension. What they could be sure of was that their lady wasregrettably white and slender,--too soft and delicate for a hard worldof struggle, where the weak were deservedly mangled. Sorrowfully theycompared her with the late chatelaine, unhappily deceased, the lionessTomoye, much (as is the usual practice) to the disadvantage of theliving one. There is nothing that such men hold in more witheringcontempt than weakness. The chivalry of mediaeval Europe was mostlytheory. Discontented, they did their liege lady a pathetic andgrudging service, ashamed of her as unsuited to her station.

  One day as she sat listless, wondering at the emptiness of life,No-Kami strode into her bower to claim admiration for a new andwondrous sword, fresh from Sanjo's anvil. In his nervous grasp itwhizzed through the air with diabolic whistling sound, as he showedexultantly how he meant to slash off the head with it of the Daimio ofBizen, and other abominable rivals.

  Now although O'Tei, in careless girlish fashion, had been rather fondof watching the armourers at work (the more perhaps because of thedisapproval of sniffing gorgons), she had never clearly associated theresults of their skill with their true purpose. She had always beenbidden to observe the spring of the glittering blade, the cloudedlines so deftly worked into the steel; the patterned _kogai_ orstilettoes fitted in the scabbard; the elaborately ornate _tsuba_ orhilt-guard; and saw as she admired details beautiful works of art fitto adorn a dwelling. But now when she beheld her husband making fiercepasses, with a blood-curdling expression of ferocity upon his face,she became aware, for the first time, of his animal greed for blood,and shuddered as she looked, turning a shade more pale. To this wildbeast she had been tied for life. What sort of existence could shehope for in the future? Would it be possible to go on to the endpretending to sympathise with that which in her heart she loathed?Power, unless kept in leash by thongs and bridles, degenerates into atyranny that, feeding on itself, grows every day more infamous. Shehad learnt by report that her lord was a tyrant, and disliked by many,though as yet she knew no details.

  She had been taught vaguely by the learned bonzes that the humananimal is by nature a beast of prey, blood-raw till cooked byeducation. The man before her was as ignorant, and more lawless thanhis own retainers. Was it her task to show him the right path?--towean him to better things by gentle influence? A noble mission, forone who was strong of purpose, firm of will. The girl resolved thatshe would try, but felt, with a sinking of the heart, that the taskwas beyond her strength. No-Kami discerned upon her features a look ofpained bewilderment out of tune with the occasion, and bluntly growledhis discontent. He was surprised and angry. When a chatelaine iscalled on to sympathise and exult with her lord, why does she showdisgust? It came suddenly upon him that there was a barrier betweenthem which, though intangible, neither might ever pass. A prettyhelpmeet for a Hojo was this degenerate child of Nara's! Strollingthrough the well-appointed armoury, displeased and concerned, heselected the light silver-mounted lance which his grandam had used tosplendid purpose when, in the absence of her spouse, she defended thisvery castle. More doughty even than the much-regretted Tomoye had beenthis grandam, and no wonder, for, of noblest lineage, was she not thedirect descendant of that famous Empress Jingo, who, leaving hernew-born babe in the charge of her ministers, sallied forth armed_cap-a-pie_ to conquer Corea?

  "Did O'Tei know even how to hold a lance?" sneered No-Kami.

  Of course she did, she replied, with a forced smile. Was not everynoble damsel taught how to defend her home?

  At the outset she had made a mistake by showing her thoughts upon herfeatures, an error that might be yet retrieved. To smooth thedisappointed furrows from his wrinkled brow, she took the lance fromhim, and straightway went through the exercise. For a moment itpleased his vanity to watch the graceful movements of her tall litheform as, gathering in one hand the ample folds of her long robe, sheran forward, thrust, and recovered. And then, happening to glance atthe tell-tale countenance, he cursed and ground his teeth, for hermartial exercise was a sham.

  Her thoughts were far away. Like a patient automaton wound up with aspring, she half consciously did what was required, but clearly foundno pleasure in the act. With a great oath he roughly wrenched theweapon from her, and bade her go mind her distaff.

  She sighed, and, obeying with aggravating meekness, retired to herchamber; and from this moment there grew up between the weddedpair a thicket which waxed stronger each day and thicker. Theparasites--braggart samurai, turbulent officers and soldiers, andtruculent hangers-on--were quick to perceive a change with which theysympathised, and prompt to act upon it. Boisterous, rude, ill-manneredat the best, they saw that, like themselves, their lord was ashamedof his handsome and cold but fragile wife, and by insensiblegradations--he unwitting of it--their perfunctory respect dropped fromthem. No-Kami was heard one day, in unguarded whirl of wrath, due tobaulked hope and disappointment, to dub her "Puling baby-face," andloud was the laughter at the _sobriquet_, for one and all theyunconsciously chafed under a refinement of which they had noexperience, and came to hate her for her gentleness.

  And so it came about that, abandoning as hopeless at the initial stagethe mission for which (by the late statesman's cunning) she had beendestined, O'Tei withdrew from serious attempts at influencing thedespot, and made the first fatal downward step on her dark and stonyroad.

  Entrenching herself behind a screen of pride, she withdrew herselffrom contact with the samurai, by whom she was treated with a surlycarelessness that was insult but half concealed. When etiquetterequired it, she appeared in public beside No-Kami, whose attitude wassulky and displeased; at other times she abode in her own boweroverlooking the swift river, a retreat where she could not hear theyells and sword-thuds, embroidering among her maidens, or readingpoetry, or playing on the three-stringed samisen. Though secluded, itwas by her own choice, and she in no sense a prisoner. No-Kami, whenin amiable mood--which, as time went on, became a more and moreunusual circumstance--displayed for his wife an uncouth, sulky,snarling
respect, like that of a wolf under a whip; for instinctwhispered that he was totally unworthy,--that as she came to readhim better she would despise him more,--that already she saw withthose calm clear eyes his many faults and mental smallness, though toowell-mannered and too haughty to admit it. A rude and proud as well aslicentious and undisciplined man finds contempt from her who should behis congenial helpmeet a constantly galling spur.

  If O'Tei, descending from that lofty pedestal, would only have abusedhim roundly,--have bandied sharp words,--have stooped to scold him, hewould have breathed more freely. The air would have been cleared ofits oppressiveness, for he would have known himself nearer to herlevel. How exasperating was it to the self-indulgent and unscrupuloustyrant to have this pale and silent and superior woman always at hiselbow dispassionately contemplating his peccadilloes with disapprovalpeeping from her eyes. The worst of it was that he knew her to beright in her estimate of him, and secretly admired his chill andindependent wife. Yet at the same time her presence was irksome, andgoaded her spouse to flashes of rage which drove him, as it were inprotest, to deeds of violence. It was the old story, which is evernew, of the 'little rift;' of two young lives starting side by sidefrom standpoints far as the poles, with mutual misunderstanding anddistrust, that increase like a rolling snowball till they grow intoactive detestation.

  The Hojo neglected and avoided his consort, but was not wilfullycruel. If he chanced to have it by him, he would, when asked, give hermoney for charities; for, like many another misunderstood lady, shesought a salve for lacerated feelings in good works. It would havebeen most impolitic to have been patently unkind to her, because itwas not well to make a foe of Nara by openly ill-using his heiress. Hewist not of the conduct of the samurai, who took their cue from him;but he certainly saw as little as he conveniently could of hisbeautiful better half, spending considerable time at Ki[^y]otoquarrelling with other daimios, browbeating his imperial lord.

  For her part, reared in retirement, and a stranger to town gaieties,she preferred the castle--when No-Kami was absent with his scowlingretinue. Then, her own mistress, she would order her kago,--a heavygorgeous litter, gold lacquered and emblazoned, adorned with richcurtains, and cushions, and tassels, borne on the shoulders of twelvestaggering men--and penetrating, when the fancy seized her, along thecentipede street of Tsu, make for a garden beyond, to which she hadtaken a liking. Reaching the favoured spot was the difficulty, for itwas necessary to pass along two miles and more of straggling streetand suburb, where poverty, if speechless, was rampant. To her paleface, though, it always showed its less hideous side, for the poor ofTsu (how many there were of them!) soon learned to adore theirchatelaine.

  She could not with her feeble force even attempt to stem the tide ofsuffering due to my lord's oppression; but the crushed creatures knewright well that behind the marble mask was a deep fund of pity--thattheir lady would sometimes go dinnerless herself for the sake ofstarving children. When she passed by, the toilworn women would lookup, and show their blackened teeth in a wan smile; and the brownnaked children, with their comical shaved pates and elf-locks--theirbat-ears, wide mouths and eyes _a fleur de tete_ like slits--wouldcome trooping and crowing about her. She was always interested in thedetails of their poor homes,--ready with soothing words, and suchmoney as she happened to possess; would converse with the old men asthey wove sandals, the two straw loops caught on their great toes;criticise the painting of the ph[oe]nixes on the umbrellas of oilpaper, an industry in vogue in these parts; exhort the languishing mento renewed courage and hope; and all the while her revolted soul diedwithin her at contemplation of the wretched huts of mud and bamboo,some of them mere mats stretched on sticks, and stiffened with wire,with rotten crumbling roofs of decayed rice thatch, and mud floorsthat were never dry. Her heart bled for the patient, suffering people,and she was glad to get away to her garden, where the sun shone forthwith halcyon brightness, and nature at least was happy. For Tsu, Iwould have you know, is not all ugliness. Passing out of the low-lyingoozy suburb, you reach a wooden bridge over one of the numberlessstreams that intersect the marsh, and a little further on come torising ground, well wooded with the luxuriant vegetation which inJapan is the lavish gift of the rain-god. At the top of the hill,under the lee of a group of ancient pines, much tossed andwind-beaten, is a summer-house. From the road it is not visible, sodeeply is it embowered in cherry and maple, each so glorious andlovely in its season, the which are closely tangled and entwined withsuch cataracts of purple wisteria as no western mind can realise. Thishill or hillock, and another one hard by, stand alone on a wide plain,and from them may be gained a singularly varied view of flat marsh,and sedge, and vivid green rice fields, and scattered villages, andfar-off hazy mountains. In front--and this was the view that broughtback peace into the empty breast of the young chatelaine, the groundshelved gradually, thick strewn with flowers, until--a semicircle ofyellow sand--it was washed by the softly-rippling waves of a blue bay,land-locked. Here nature, casting her golden glamour over all, maskedthe prevailing squalor. No typhoon ever vexed these enchanted waters,that washed to and fro in slow cadence the clumps of bamboo with whichtheir edge was feathered. The tiny toy villages on the opposite brinkwere mirrored in long shadow. The festooned sails of the littlefishing-boats, and trim white junks, were pictured in quivering doublefour times their height. The mountains beyond, of a deep reddishpurple, without detail in the haze, were topped with strangesilhouettes of single pines, clear against opal ether, or sharp cutagainst the blue with chasm and precipice. Many rocky islets weredotted here and there--volcanic, peaked, flat-topped--each with itslong reflection, fringed with feathery foliage, hanging apparently tonothing--around, a flight of boats, like sea-birds floating. Sittingfor hours gazing down on the fairy scene, her stalwart nakedkago-bearers asleep like statues of warm bronze away in the shade,O'Tei could forget her disillusions; but then with setting sun theshadow darkened, for the time was arrived when she must go home again,and with a return to the panoply of war, and swagger of the sentinels,peace and light faded out, and her heart was as sick as ever.Sometimes, more sad than usual, she would make to the sister hill apilgrimage.

  The gateway or torii at the bottom (one heavy beam curled at thecorners, resting on two others) and the long straight flight of stonesteps leading to a building with huge top-heavy roof, nestling in agrove of cryptomerias, showed that this was a holy hill surmounted bya temple. A very important temple too, with an immense gilt Buddhalooming out of twilight on a bronze lotus, in an attitude of perpetualrepose; gardens; fish-ponds, crowded with lotus plants; and a long lowbuilding glinting through the trees, wherein dwelt an abbess and hernuns.

  What would happen to the Japanese if the lotus were banished fromtheir midst? In winter, a mere yellow whisp languishing in mud; inearly summer there rises a fairy thing from out the ooze--a concaveshield of vivid green, with a blue down as of a grape, and dewdropsglistening like diamonds. Then a round ball appears, which slowlyopens, trembling upon the water, and gradually reveals the loveliestflower that blows. To the Japanese child who strives to pluck itswhite or roseate blossom, it is a picture of unearthly loveliness; tothe adult it is the symbol of religious truth, the emblem of theeternal calm which is the highest ultimate reward. Taught fromearliest childhood to love its beauty, the mature Buddhist sees in itspetals creative power and world growth, and knows that when his mortalbody approaches the cremation house, his weary cycle done, a stonecarved to represent a lotus flower will support his bier and receivethe last ashes of his fleshly prison-house.

  During her three years of married life, O'Tei had made, under shadowof these groves, a firm and steady friend, without whose support shethought sometimes that she must lie down and die--the cold but kindlyAbbess Masago.

  As has been told, the second wife or concubine of the late Hojo, sosoon as her fickle lord grew weary of her, shaved off her hair anddonned the Buddhist habit. Monastic life in Japan is a strangeanomaly. Many an abbess or abbot, supposed to have retired from the
world, bestows from the seclusion of the grove mundane advice andcounsel. Some, indeed, gain weight and influence of an importantpolitical kind with the loss of their shaven hair; and so it was withMasago. As Abbess of Tsu, many of the weary or unstable of loftylineage came to crave counsel of her--lords and dames who would havescoffed at the concubine of Hojo. The religious establishments ofJapan become asylums for the afflicted or the persecuted. Inthem the defeated soldier or refugee from the vendetta findsinviolate sanctuary. Many a man hopelessly crossed in love, or agrief-stricken father, or fallen minister, has--mundane illusionsvanished--devoted himself to a priestly life. To the nunneries,widowhood furnishes the greater number of fervent nuns; but anecessity of evading an uncongenial match, or the brutal lusts of rudemen in unsettled times, gave many an inmate to the convents.

  Often enough, after communing with Masago under the solemncryptomerias, O'Tei had gone home comforted. There was somethingconsoling and supporting in the low-toned strong voice of the Abbess,in the touch of her firm white hand. Her face was more set and sternthan Sampei's, but his kindly eyes looked out from under the shavenbrows, and O'Tei could feel almost as if her dear adopted brother waswalking hand-in-hand with her as in the good old days. Ah, me, how faraway they seemed, those days of five years ago! The gleeful white fawnwas a hundred years older, at least, than then, stricken andgrievously wounded. Her breast was empty; nobody cared whether she wasalive or dead; she loved none, had none to love, and yet there was alonging within that was positive physical pain, to twine heraffectionate tendrils around something, and exhale to it the treasuresof her sweetness.

  Alack, what a cycle is this; what a hard and rugged stage in the longjourney! What are we to think, when injustice rules paramount?--whenwe see in this life how many are punished for their virtues, as aset-off to the peculiar manner in which others are rewarded for theirvices?

  On a certain morning, which must now occupy us, our stately lily waslying disconsolate. Acutely suffering, and much perturbed in mind,power of judging and weighing all agog, O'Tei crouched on the mat ofher favourite summer-house, watching the swaying waves, yet seeingnothing; on her finely-chiselled features a grey pallor.

  As a rule, the misery through which her bearers carried her was charyof complaint, for the poor folk had room in their sorrowing hearts forpity for their solitary lady; but on this morning she had come on sucha scene of anguish that she stopped her kago and alighted. Thehousewife was tearing her dishevelled hair, and wringing hands, andwrithing her tortured body, while a young family stood grouped aroundin varied attitudes of woe. What could this mean? The house was of thebetter kind; there was rice in the brazen pot; unless she wasmistaken, it was the dwelling of one of the elders.

  Yes. It was the dwelling of an elder--was--who never would dwell theremore--was dead now, probably. He had dared to go to Ki[^y]oto, andmake one of a set of insolent varlets who had presumed to waylay theirlord, despite of warnings, and, with brow in dust, present a writtenprayer. His lord had resented the impertinence, had incarcerated himand his audacious fellows, with a view to making an example of suchwretches by an end of exquisite torment. For him it was not so bad,for he would shuffle out of yet another life--one more of that drearyseries so many of which have yet to be endured before we reachNirvana. But what of his wife and family without the breadwinner? Likea faithful spouse, she had borne many children; how now was she tofill their mouths? Would the dear and noble lady vouchsafe to lend ahand, and implore her husband's clemency?

  O'Tei turned deathly pale, and, catching her breath painfully, leantagainst the screen. She would indeed have fallen, if one of thekago-bearers had not presumed to catch and hold her in his arms. Herlord! How long was it ago that she had disdainfully given up all hopeof influencing him? She was weak and wrong. It was a crime--she saw itnow--but too late--too late! That separating thicket had grown sodense, that there was no hewing a passage through it. If the harrowedwife of the victim was suffering, how much more the sensitive youngchatelaine, whose nerves were so highly strung! The man, if heperished, was a martyr in the cause of right. Each new delinquency ofthe Hojo was a fresh hammer-stroke on his wife's heart.

  Out of his sight, O'Tei strove to forget his wickedness, the fullmeasure of which she had learned to guess by this time. On herfrequent visits to the temple she prayed with sweat of agony for hisreformation, for the repentance of him who, alas! was bone of her bonefor life. She was his--part and parcel of himself--and yet she saw,with a sickening horror and sense of self-upbraiding, that he grewworse and worse--more cruel and more reckless,--while she, with foldedhands, looked on. In a vague, terror-stricken way she wondered whatgrisly phantom lurked behind the veil, what vengeance would fall fromheaven. And might not this moral descent be in some sort her owndoing, in that, while interference might have been of service, she hadbeen too hurt and proud to attempt to stay his course? If he had noconscience, she had enough for both. Oh, for a dose of Tomoye'sspirit,--of the unbending pluck of the militant grandam concerningwhom the samurai were always trolling ditties.

  But no!--the warriors were right--she unfitted for her station. Herburthen--the sooner the better--might crush and kill her. She quailedat the thought of ever seeing again the tyrant in whom there were nobowels of compassion, and who seemed to take delight in augmenting thecalamities of his fellows.

  Herself as grey as a corpse, she bent down and kissed the writhingwoman, and without a word (how could she console her?), with parchedlips and catching breath, swung away to her garden on the mountain.What was she to do? What could she do? If, by giving over her owntender body to the pincers of the torturers, she could assuage thegrowing trouble of the people, how gladly would she bare her breast.But no--she was condemned to sit and watch, with idle hands and dreadforebodings, a horror-stricken spectator of her husband's deepeningsin, and the lingering anguish of his victims.

  What was she to do? What could she do? If madness might be wooed, itwould bring oblivion and relief. Who would have thought that adelicate and tender girl, so little used to suffering, could bear suchpain and live? As she lay upon the mat, she revolved that unanswerablequestion which worries a good many of us. What could she have done ina previous phase of existence to make the present one so exceedinglypainful? To lie thus in dumb pain was intolerable: action of some kindwas imperative. She would go to the temple and pray, and ask theadvice of Masago.

  Turning towards the other hill, she was astonished to see on thetop of the long flight of steps a man--by his dress apparently anoble--who slowly descended, and mounting a horse, trotted in thedirection of the summer-house. Her heart gave a great bound, thenseemed to stand still. Could it be? Yes! it was Sampei--returned homeat last--and he was coming here!

  Yes, it was the victorious Sampei, who, having duly visited hismother, was coming to see his sister. For she was really his sisternow; and he had heard from the Abbess an account of the condition ofthings, which, though guarded, pleased him little. When far away, hehad received the news of the marriage, he had been amazed, andlaughed; annoyed somewhat, he scarcely knew why. To think that thedestined husband should be his own brother! And then he had felt gravedoubts as to the success of the union; and then, light and_debonnaire_, and occupied with much cheerful splitting of skulls, hehad put the subject from him. He was no marrying man--not he. Hissword was his true love; to others he had not the smallest intentionof being true. To cull the most fragrant flowers while the sun wasshining--as many and as various as possible--and get others when theywere faded, was his soldierly but scarcely moral code of ethics. Andyet, while gaily slaughtering the Coreans, he had time now and then tohope that all was right at home, and that his white fawn was happy;and it was gruesome now on his return to discover that she waswretched instead of happy,--his half-suspected previsions justified.

  He flung his bridle to his betto, and striding with the firm andspringy step of buoyant youth through the plantation of cherries andmaples, stood still to take in the scene. And a pretty picture it wasthat his vision light
ed on. An awning of fine blue linen, broideredwith deer, in memory of beloved Nara, cast a shadow upon the mats ofthe summer-house, which were further shaded by a natural cascade ofwisteria. Around the raised platform were tall camellias in full blow,scarlet and white; and within, the carved but unvarnished woodworkshowed its grain like the pattern on watered silk. A low gilt screen,painted with chrysanthemums, divided the floor in two, in the frontpart of which was a firebox in finest bronze, representing a dragoncoiled round a blossom of the lotus. A long flat _koto_, with thirteenstrings, encrusted with gold and ebony, stood close by; and on theyellow matting, half raised expectantly, reclined the young mistressof the hermitage. The eyes of Sampei moistened with unaccustomedtears, and a knot rose in his throat as he contemplated his old ally.She was matured--fairer than of yore, paler and thinner, and moredelicately beautiful; but there was that about her that seemed tooethereal, stamped with predestined misfortune. He seemed to be awareof a something, reflected in light from the glow of another world. Theroundness of youth was gone. The arch wayward tricks of irresponsiblemaidenhood had given place to a reserved and haughty dignity that wasunnaturally still. The eyes were unduly large, and, surrounded withbistre circles, glistened with feverish lustre. Sampei's affectionategaze could mark all this, though the winsome face was brightened nowwith the radiance of a glad surprise.

  Sampei, bluff and careless though he generally was, could not buttrace with sinking of the heart the line of precocious sorrow ploughedlarge and deep upon it. The coils of massive hair appeared heavier andmore sombre by contrast with the ivory whiteness of the skin, slightlyrelieved as they were by a bunch of fresh red blossoms, which theloving hand of a tirewoman had tucked under the comb.

  In accordance with the exigencies of her rank, she wore fourunder-robes of silk, the edges of which, in stripes of varied colour,showed at throat and open sleeves, while the ample folds of the heavyand voluminous outer robe, broidered in a design of fans, were heldtogether by a magnificent obi--pale brown, bedizened with blackbutterflies.

  Never had Sampei, whom a wide experience had made an expert in suchmatters, looked on a more complete embodiment of patrician womanhood.Strange! He, so well versed in female charms, so used to the spectacleof beauty in all ranks and phases, felt his heart throb in quiteunaccustomed fashion, and yearn unaccountably towards his sister.