Pathway to Japanese Literature

Characters

Kuroda Kenichiro: 28 years old

His younger brother Shinjiro: 23 years old

Their younger sister Otane: 20 years old

Their mother Otaka: 51 years old

Their father Sotaro

Time

Around Meiji 40 (1907)

Place

A small city on the coast of Nankaido

Scene: A modest middle-class home. A six-tatami room with a chest of drawers at the front; atop it sat an alarm clock.
In front sat a long brazier, steam rising from the kettle.
A small table had been set out.
Kenichiro, appearing to have just returned from the government office and changed into a kimono, sat relaxed reading the newspaper.
Mother Otaka was sewing.
Nearing seven in the evening, the outdoors had darkened—the beginning of October.

Kenichiro: “Mother, where has Otane gone?”

Mother: "She went to deliver sewing work."

Kenichiro: "Is she still taking sewing orders? She doesn’t need to keep doing other households’ work."

Mother: "But when she marries, she’ll want even one extra fine kimono to take along."

Kenichiro flipped his newspaper over. "What became of that marriage proposal you mentioned before?"

Mother: "Otane must not quite fancy the suitor. Though they kept pleading for an answer over and over..."

Kenichiro: “Considering he’s a man with assets, that’s quite a good proposal, isn’t it.”

“But once you start spending ten or twenty thousand yen in assets, they won’t be of any use,” she replied. “When I first came to this house, we had twenty or thirty thousand yen in government bonds and land. But once your father started indulging himself and spending it all, he shook them off like leaves from a bamboo branch.”

Kenichiro: (Remained silent as if unpleasant memories had surfaced)...

Mother: “I’ve learned from my own hardships—I want to wed Otane to a decent man over some propertied one.”
“Even without assets, a husband with right intentions could spare her lifelong struggles.”

Kenichiro: “Better still if he’s both propertied and decent.”

Mother: “How could we expect such fortune?”
“However comely Otane may be, this house holds empty coffers.”
“These days even modest wedding preparations demand three hundred—no, five hundred yen outright.”

Kenichiro: “Since Otane went through such hardship as a child because of Father too, we must at least do all we can for her marriage preparations.”
“When our savings reach a thousand yen, we could give half toward that.”

Mother: "We needn't go so far. Three hundred yen would suffice."
"Once you take a bride after that, I'll finally breathe easy."
"They say I drew poor luck in husbands but good fortune in children."
"When Father left us... I truly wondered how we'd manage..."

Kenichiro: (shifting topics) "Shin's unusually late tonight."

Mother: “It’s night duty—he’ll be late. Shin said his salary would increase again starting this month.”

Kenichiro: “Is that so? He did well in middle school, so he must resent being just an elementary school teacher. But if he keeps studying on his own, there’s no limit to how far he might advance.”

Mother: “I’ve been lookin’ for your bride too, but there ain’t no good ones. The Sonoda girl would do nicely, but their family’s got higher standing—they might not agree to it, y’know.”

Kenichiro: “I’ve still got two or three years before that matters.”

“But if we’re to send Otane off elsewhere, they simply must take her.”
“That’ll settle things proper-like.”
“When Father abandoned us, I thought what would I do with three children to care for…”

Kenichiro: “There’s no use goin’ on about the past now.”

(The lattice door opened and Shinjiro returned.)
(A handsome-featured young man who was an elementary school teacher.)

Shinjiro: “I’m home.”

Mother: “Oh, welcome back.”

“You’re terribly late.”

Shinjiro: “There was so much research work today—I was completely overwhelmed.”
“Ah, my shoulders are stiff.”

Mother: “I’ve been waiting to have dinner since earlier.”

Kenichiro: “After dinner, we should go take a bath.”

Shinjiro (while changing into a kimono): “Mother, where’s Otane?”

Mother: “She took the sewing work.”

Shinjiro (having changed into a kimono and relaxing): “Brother!
“Today I heard a strange rumor, you see.
“Principal Sugita met someone in Furushinmachi who looked just like our father, or so he says.”

Mother and Brother hummed pensively.

Shinjiro: “When Mr. Sugita was passing through Furushinmachi where the inns line up, there was an elderly man around sixty walking ahead.”

“When he looked closely and thought he might have seen him before—then approached to view his profile—it resembled our father.”

“He said it must be Mr. Sotaro—since Mr. Sotaro should have a mole on his right cheek—and that if there was a mole he intended to call out to him—but when he tried to approach—the man slipped furtively into Suijin’s side street.”

“Mr. Sugita was Father’s childhood friend—they practiced spearmanship together—so he wouldn’t mistake him,” Mother said. “But it’s been twenty years now, you know.”

“Mr. Sugita said the same,” Shinjiro replied. “After all, they hadn’t met in twenty years—he couldn’t be certain—but having known Mr. Sotaro since childhood, he couldn’t call it a complete case of mistaken identity either.”

Kenichiro’s eyes glinted with unease. “So Mr. Sugita didn’t speak to him then.”

Shinjiro: “If there’d been a mole, he meant to introduce himself.”

Mother: “Well now, that must’ve been Mr. Sugita’s mistake.”
“Were he back in this town, he’d not fail to return to the house where he was born—you know how it is.”

“But Father likely can’t bring himself to cross our threshold.”
“I’ve thought him dead all along—it’s been twenty years since he ran away.”

Shinjiro: “There was someone who met him in Okayama some time ago, wasn’t there?”

Mother: “That was already a good ten years ago now. When Mr. Kubo Chūta went to Okayama, Father was putting on shows with lions and tigers—he called Mr. Chūta to a restaurant, treated him to a meal, and asked about how we were doing. At that time, he wore a gold pocket watch at his waist and dressed head to toe in silk—quite the dashing figure, they said. And after that... nothing at all. That was the year after the war—must’ve been twelve or thirteen years now.”

Shinjiro: “Father was quite the eccentric one, wasn’t he.”

Mother: “From his youth, he never applied himself to the family’s scholarly pursuits—always drawn to speculator-like ventures. The reason we ended up with so much debt wasn’t all his indulgences. He lost money on that scheme to sell Senkintan in China.”

Kenichiro (with a slightly displeased expression): “Mother, let’s eat.”

“Ah right, right,” Mother said. “Clean forgot.” She moved toward the kitchen, her figure disappearing from view. “What Mr. Sugita saw must’ve been some mistake. If he were alive—at his age—he’d have sent even a postcard by now.”

“What date was it when Mr. Sugita met that man?”

Shinjiro: “He said it was around nine o’clock last night.”

Kenichiro: “What was he wearing?”

Shinjiro: “It seems he wasn’t dressed too well.”
“He said he wasn’t even wearing a haori.”

Kenichiro: “I see.”

“Brother, what was father like that you remember?”

“I don’t remember.”

“That can’t be true.”
“You were eight years old at the time.”
“I have vague memories myself.”

Kenichiro: “I don’t remember.”
“I used to remember—but I worked hard to forget.”

Shinjiro: “Mr. Sugita often speaks of Father, you know.”
“They say Father was quite the handsome man in his youth.”

Mother (bringing food from the kitchen): “That’s right—Father had quite the reputation back then.”
“There’s a story that when he served as the Lord’s page, one of the maidservants sent him a chopstick box with a love poem tucked inside.”

Shinjiro: "For what reason did she give him a chopstick box? Ha ha ha ha!"

Mother: "Since it's the Year of the Ox—he'd be fifty-eight this year."
Mother: "Had he stayed put at home like proper folk do—he'd be enjoying his retirement years by now."

(The three begin their meal.)

“Otane should be coming home soon too.”

The chill had set in thoroughly now.

Shinjiro: “Mother, today a shrike was crying in the hackberry tree at Jōganji Temple.”
“It’s already autumn… Brother, I’ve decided after all to take the English certification exam.”
“There’s no good teacher for mathematics, you see.”

Kenichiro: “That’s fine.”
“So you’re going to attend Mr. Erikson’s place after all?”

Shinjiro: “That’s what I’m thinking of doing.”
“Since it’s a missionary school, there’s no tuition fee.”

“Hmm. Anyway, you must work hard. You study to prove that one can become a full-fledged person without relying on their father’s help.”
“I too had thought to become a higher civil official, but when they revised the regulations—said you couldn’t take the exam without a middle school diploma—I gave up on it.”
“Since you’ve graduated from middle school, you need to study hard.”

(At this moment, the lattice door opened and Otane returned.)
(A fair-skinned girl of more than average beauty)

“I’m home,” said Otane.

“You’re late, you see,” Mother responded.

Otane had been asked to handle another errand and such things, you see.

Mother: Come now, eat your meal.

Otane (sitting down with a slightly uneasy expression): Brother—when I was coming home just now—there was an old person across from our house staring fixedly at the front entrance.
(All three assume uneasy expressions.)

Kenichiro: “Hmm.”
Shinjiro: “What did they look like?”
Otane: “It was dark, so I couldn’t tell—but a tall person.”

Shinjiro (stood up, went to the next room, and peered out the window)...

Kenichiro: "Is someone there?"
Shinjiro: "No—there's no one here."

(The three siblings sit in silence.)

“That person left home three days after Bon Festival, you know.”
“Mother, I’ll ask you not to speak of old matters anymore.”

Mother: “I resented him too when I was young, but with age creeping in, somehow my heart’s grown frail.”

(The four of them ate their meal in silence.)
Suddenly the front door clattered open—Kenichiro’s face and Mother’s face registered the most violent agitation.
(Yet the substance of that agitation differed starkly.)

“Excuse me!” called a man’s voice.
“Yes!” replied Otane.
(However, she too made no move to stand)

“Otaka isn’t here?”

Mother: “Huh?!”
(She headed to the entrance as if magnetically pulled; from this point onward, only voices were audible.)

A man’s voice: “Otaka!”

Mother’s voice: “Oh!”
“So it’s you! Goodness!”
“You’ve changed.”

(Both spoke in voices choked with tears.)

A man’s voice: “My word!”
“You’re healthy—that’s what matters most.”
“The children must have grown up.”

Mother’s voice: “They’ve grown so much—they’re all splendid adults now.”
“Please come up and see them.”

A man’s voice: “May I come up?”

Mother’s voice: Of course you may.

(Father Sotaro, returning home after twenty years—haggard and led by his elderly wife—entered the room; Shinjiro and Otane blinked rapidly as they gazed intently at their father’s figure—)

Shinjiro: “Is that you, Father? I’m Shinjiro.”

“You’ve grown into a fine man. When I left you, you couldn’t even stand properly yet—…”

“Father, I’m Tane.”

“I’d heard there was a daughter, but what fine features you have.”

“Well now... Where should I even begin?” Mother said. “The children have grown so big—that’s what truly matters.”

“They say children thrive even without parents—how apt that saying is!” he laughed heartily.

No one joined his laughter.
Kenichiro kept leaning against the table, head bowed in silence.

Mother: “You see, Ken and Shin have both turned out splendidly.”
“Ken passed the ordinary civil service exam at twenty, and Shin never once fell below third place all through middle school.”
“Nowadays the two of them bring in sixty yen between them, and as for Otane—being such a beauty—she’s getting offers from good families.”

Father: “That’s truly wonderful to hear.
“I myself had twenty or thirty people under me until four or five years back—touring shows all over the country.
“Then my tent theater burned to ashes in Kure—cost me dearly.
“After that disaster, nothing ever went right.
“With what little time I’ve got left now... I started longing for where my wife and children were—that’s why I wandered back here.
“Since this old man’s days are numbered... I’m relying on you all now.”
(Staring intently at Kenichiro) “Well then, Kenichiro!
“Pour your old man a cup of that sake? Haven’t tasted decent liquor in ages.”
“Hmm... Yours is the only face I still recognize.”
(Kenichiro did not respond.)

“Come now, Ken. Your father is saying such things.”
“Come now, let’s celebrate—it’s been so long since parent and child have met.”

(Kenichiro did not respond.)

Father: "Well then, Shinjiro—you give me a cup."

Shinjiro: "Yes."
(Takes up the sake cup and attempts to pour for Father)

Kenichiro (resolutely): “Stop.”
“There’s no reason to pour it.”

Mother: “What are you saying, Ken?”

(Father glared intensely at Kenichiro.)
(Shinjiro and Otane both looked down and remained silent.)

Kenichiro (defiantly): “There’s no way we have a father.”
“How could there be such a thing?”

Father (suppressing intense fury): "What did you say?!"

Kenichiro (somewhat coldly): "If we'd had a father, we wouldn't have needed Mother to lead us by the hand from Kō Port to drown ourselves when I was eight."
"It's only because Mother accidentally jumped into shallow water that we survived."
"If we'd had a father, we wouldn't have had to work as office boys from age ten."
"We grew up without any childhood joys because we had no father."
"Shinjiro—have you forgotten crying in elementary school because we couldn't buy ink or paper?"
"Have you forgotten being mocked for bringing hand-copied textbooks when we couldn't afford real ones?"
"How could we have a father? If we did, we'd never have suffered like that."

(Otaka and Otane were crying.)
(Shinjiro was tearing up.)
(The aged father too was shifting from anger to sorrow.)

Shinjiro: “But Brother, since Mother’s bending over backwards like this, couldn’t you at least endure most things?”

Kenichiro (still calmly): “I don’t know how Mother feels as a woman, but if I had a father, he’d be my enemy.”
“When we were little and faced hunger or hardships—when we complained to Mother—she’d always say: ‘It’s all Father’s fault. If you resent someone, resent him.’”
“If I had a father, he’d be the enemy who’s tormented me since childhood.”
“I’ve been working as an errand boy at the prefectural office since I was ten—Mother’s been pasting matchboxes—have you forgotten that time when Mother had no match work for a month, and all four of us skipped lunch?”
“The reason I studied so hard was to defeat that enemy.”
“To get back at the man who abandoned us.”
“To show him you can become somebody even when your father throws you away.”
“I don’t remember ever being loved by a father.”
“My father was out drinking every night until I turned eight.”
“Then he racked up shameful debts and ran off with his mistress.”
“Even combining the love of his wife and three children—he still chose that woman over us.”
“No—after my father disappeared, even the sixteen-yen savings passbook Mother had put aside for me was gone.”

Shinjiro (swallowing tears): “But Brother—Father is... Father stands before us aged so...”

Kenichiro: “Shinjiro! How dare you mouth ‘Father’ so lightly? When some stranger barges in claiming parenthood—should we suddenly feel filial affection?”

Shinjiro: “But Brother—as flesh-and-blood kin—mustn’t we sustain our parent however they’ve been...”

Kenichiro: "Are you saying there's an obligation?"
"He went off indulging in his own pleasures, and now comes crawling back claiming he's too old to move."
"No matter what you say, I have no father."

Father (angrily retorts, though his feigned fury lacks any real force): "Kenichiro!"
"You dare speak that way to your biological parent?"

Kenichiro: “Are you calling yourself my birth parent? The Kenichiro you claim to have given life to died at Minato Harbor twenty years back. You yourself discarded any fatherly rights two decades past. What stands before you now is a self-forged man. Not one soul has ever tended to my needs.”

(Complete silence persisted, broken only by Otaka and Otane’s stifled sniffles.)

Father: Fine then. I’ll go.
“I’m a man who once handled tens of thousands of yen!”
“However destitute I’ve fallen, I can still feed myself.”
“I’ve overstayed my welcome.”
(He starts shuffling away with desolate resignation.)

“Please wait,” said Shinjiro. “If Brother refuses, I’ll manage it myself.” He turned back to Kenichiro, voice trembling with conciliation. “You’re still father and son—your feelings will surely soften in time.” To the retreating figure he pleaded again: “Please wait.” The words spilled out like a vow. “I’ll care for you no matter what it takes.”

“Shinjiro! Have you ever received any care from that person? I at least got fists from him, but you didn’t get so much as a speck of dust! Who paid your elementary school fees? Who do you think raised you? Have you forgotten your brother paid your tuition from his measly clerk’s salary? The real father to you and Otane is me. I performed a father’s role. Take care of him if you want. But in return, Brother won’t speak to you.”

“But…”
“If you have objections, you can just leave with that person.”

(Both women continued crying.
Shinjiro fell silent.)

Kenichiro: "The reason I suffered through sleepless nights struggling was precisely because I had no father—to spare my brother and sister that pain, I made sure they both graduated from middle school."

Father (weakly): "Say no more."
"My return must be an inconvenience."
"No need to force myself on my children."
"I've got enough resourcefulness to support myself."
"Well then, I'll be off."
"Otaka!"
"Live strong."
"You're better off having been abandoned by me."

Shinjiro (chasing after his father who was about to leave): “Do you have any money?”
“You haven’t even eaten your evening meal yet, have you?”

Father (with eyes glistening imploringly): “Alright now, alright.”

(Attempting to step down to the entrance, he stumbled and settled onto the bench.)

Otaka: "Ah! Watch out!"

Shinjiro (helping his father up): "Do you have somewhere to go now?"

Father (utterly despondent, remaining seated): "To die like a stray dog needs no house..." (as if soliloquizing) "Though I've no right to set foot here... When you grow old and frail, your feet turn toward home."
"It's been three days since returning to this town."
"Each night I'd stand before this house—that threshold felt too steep... Better I'd never entered."
"Return penniless and they'd laugh in your face... Nearing fifty, I longed to bring a thousand or two thousand yen to make proper amends... But age robs a man's strength..." (finally rising) "Ah well—managing this failing body's burden enough."
(Staggering up, he cast one last look at his aged wife before sliding open the door and leaving.)
(The four sat wordless.)

Mother: (pleading) Kenichiro!

Otane: “Brother!”

(A tense interval passed.)

Kenichiro: “Shin! Go bring Father back here.”

(Shinjiro darted outside as if flying.)

The three waited tensely.
(Shinjiro returned with a somewhat pale face.)

Shinjiro: “I checked the southern road but didn’t see him. I’ll search the northern area—come with me, Brother.”

Kenichiro (aghast): “Nowhere to be seen?!”
“How could he have vanished?!”

(The two brothers rushed out like madmen.)

―Curtain―