Sowing Ghosts 2.4

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[Continuing chapter 2]

Hiroki found Katsumi in the street just outside her tea-shop. She did not see him approach, and it was clear to him he had startled her when he said to her:

  Past and
    gone now
  is the time I awaited,
  leaving me
    clinging-
  anxious for wind
    from the pines,
  like dewdrops
    at break of day.*

The anger in her eyes vanished when she turned and saw him. “My lord,” she breathed, smiling. “You have come back. And you recited a poem for me!”



“The poet’s name was Shōtetsu,” Hiroki said. “He died about seventy years ago, and is probably the last master of the waka form. He lived and died in this city, so it will be good for you to know of him.”

Her eyes blazed up with a hunger Hiroki had not seen in a very long time. “Does this mean you have changed your mind about teaching me?”

“It means I have decided I was too hasty in rejecting your request outright,” he replied. “I do not know if I have sufficient time to do a proper job, nor do I wish to do anything other than a proper job. But the best way to learn if I do have the time is to test you, and see how adept a learner you are.”

“I can show you any number of things I have already learned,” she murmured, lowering her eyelids and looking away from him. “Why don’t we step inside?”

“By all means let us do that,” he said, following her through the shop’s outer curtain. “But,” he added once they had reached her room, “before we go any further I have a request to make of you. I need your help with something.”

Some of the fire in her eyes banked. “It costs you the same for my time no matter what you do with me,” she said. “If you want me to mend your socks, who am I to argue?”

He wanted to laugh but dared not risk it. “Talk is all I want for now,” he said. “Information. For which I am always prepared to pay. No matter what you think I am, the truth is that I … learn things, on behalf of my lord. I want you to teach me about what is happening in this city. And in return, in addition to paying you for your time I will investigate my ability to teach you poetry.”

“You meant to say you would investigate my ability to learn it.”

“I thought my way of putting it was prettier. That’s one of the things poets do, you know: make truth prettier.”

“Oh, I like that,” she said. “As for what is happening here, that’s a very broad question, my lord. Can you narrow it down for me?”

“Certainly,” he said. “What do you know about a man named Yanagimoto?”

She laughed. “Thank you for asking me an easy question,” she said. Settling herself onto one end of her futon, she waved Hiroki down onto the other end, closed her eyes for a moment—I do that, I believe, when I’m thinking myself, Hiroki thought—and then said, “Yanagimoto Kataharu is some sort of minor lord, I think. From one of the provinces near here. He is a partisan of the shōgun who lives at Sakai.” She grinned at him. “You do know where Sakai is, don’t you?”

Hiroki refused to take the bait. “Let’s assume that I do. About Yanagimoto?”

“Well, he helped another powerful lord to clear the other shōgun and his people out of the city. This was a year or two ago.”

“That other lord was possibly named Miyoshi?”

“You are a quick learner,” she murmured, and this time Hiroki couldn’t help laughing. “Yes, that lord’s name is Miyoshi Motonaga. He is a very powerful man who leads a very powerful clan. They say he has pretty much ruined the Hosokawa clan—though I think the Hosokawa have done a good enough job of that themselves.” Hiroki, who know much more about the Hosokawa than he wanted anyone to suspect, agreed with her but stayed silent. “Well, it wasn’t very long after they had cleared out the other shōgun—who ran away to Omi province, I hear—than Lords Miyoshi and Yanagimoto started fighting each other. The Sakai shōgun wanted Yanagimoto to run Kyoto for him. Lord Miyoshi thought he ought to, or at least his family.”

She wrinkled her nose. “That smoke you’re always smelling? That’s what’s left of their last big fight, last month. The best thing I can think of to say about the two of them is that their partisans mostly fight in the rich section of town.” She pointed to the north. “Lately they’ve been leaving us alone. Probably don’t think we’re worthy of notice, and I’m happy with that.”

“I believe I saw an example of this late this afternoon,” he told her. “My problem is, I don’t know who represented which side.”

“Oh, I hope you didn’t join that fight, my lord,” she said. “You don’t want to make either one of those men angry with you, I think.”

Too late for that advice now, Hiroki thought. To Katsumi he said, “I think we’ve talked enough about politics for now.” Reaching for her, he added, “Let’s discuss poetry.”

*Translation by Steven D. Carter.

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