Tokichiro felt himself stiffen as he sat there.
From this night forth…
This ceremony would tie him to the responsibilities of being a husband, to a new life, and to the fate of his in-laws. All of which made Tokichiro take a fresh look at himself. More than anything, he could not help being in love with Nene. If he had not insisted, she would have quickly married another, but after tonight, her fate would be tied to his.
I must make her happy. This was the first thought that came to him as he sat down in the bridegroom's seat. He felt sorry for her because, as a woman, she did not have as much control over her fate as a man.
Before long, the simple ceremony began. After the bridegroom had sat down, Nene was led in by an old lady and took the seat at his side.
Her long hair was tied loosely with red and white cord. Her outer kimono, which was of white raw silk with a brocaded diamond pattern, was wrapped around her waist into a skirt. Beneath it she wore a gown of the same white silk, and beneath that was a final layer of red glossed silk that peeked out from the edge of her sleeves. Apart from a good-luck charm around her neck, she wore no gold or silver hair ornaments, or any thick rouge or powder. Her appearance was in total harmony with the simplicity of the surroundings. The beauty of the ceremony was not the beauty of gaudy clothes, but rather that of the unadorned. The only note of ornamentation in the room was a pair of flasks held by a little boy and girl.
"May this relationship be happy and everlasting. May you be faithful to each other for a hundred thousand autumns," the old woman said to the bride and groom.
Tokichiro held out his cup, received some sake, and drank. The server turned to Nene. Nene in turn made her pledge with a sip from her cup.
Tokichiro felt a rush of blood to his head and a pounding in his chest, but Nene looked remarkably calm. This was something that she herself had decided. She was determined not to hold anything against her parents or the gods, no matter what she encountered from this day on. Thus there was something touching and lovely in her appearance as she put the cup to her lips.
As soon as the bride and groom had shared the wedding cup, Niwa Hyozo began a congratulatory song in a voice seasoned by many years on the battlefield. Hyozo had just gotten through the first verse of the song, when someone outside took up the chorus.
The house had fallen silent during Hyozo's song, so the sudden, mannerless singing outside was all the more shocking. Hyozo was surprised, and hesitated for a moment. Without thinking, Tokichiro looked toward the garden.
"Who is it?" a servant asked the prankster.
Just then, a man outside the gate began to sing in a deep voice, mimicking a Noh actor, and walked toward the veranda. Completely forgetting himself, Tokichiro left his seat and walked unceremoniously to the veranda.
"Is that you, Inuchiyo?"
"Master Bridegroom!" Maeda Inuchiyo threw back the hood that was hiding his face. "We've come to perform the water-pouring ceremony. May we come in?"
Tokichiro clapped his hands. "I'm really glad you came. Come in, come in!"
"I came with friends. Is that all right?"
"Sure. We've finished the wedding ceremony, and from tonight, I'm the son-in-law of this house."
"They have a good one. Perhaps I might receive a cup from Master Mataemon." Inuchiyo turned and beckoned toward the darkness.
"Hey, everybody! They're going to let us do the water-pouring ceremony!"
Several men answered Inuchiyo's call at once and pushed their way in, filling the garden with their voices. Ikeda Shonyu was there, as was Maeda Tohachiro, Kato Yasaburo and his old friend Ganmaku. Even the pockmarked master carpenter was there.
The water-pouring ceremony was an ancient custom in which the old friends of the bridegroom went uninvited to his father-in-law's house. The bride's family was obliged to receive them cordially, and the gate-crashers would then drag the groom out into the garden and douse him with water.
Tonight's water-pouring ceremony was a little premature. As a rule, it was carried out from six months to a year after the wedding.
Mataemon's entire household and Niwa Hyozo were appalled. But the bridegroom was elated, and welcomed them.
"What? You, too?" he said, greeting men he hadn't seen for some time, and then told his white-robed wife, "Nene, quick, bring some food. And sake. A lot of sake!'
"Right away." Nene looked as if she had been expecting this visit. As Tokichiro's wife, she knew that she should not be surprised by such things. She accepted the situation without the slightest complaint. She took off her snow-white kimono and wrapped an everyday thick skirt around her waist. Tying up her long sleeves with a cord, she set to work.
"What kind of wedding is this?" complained an indignant wedding guest. Calming their relatives down, Mataemon and his wife bustled through the din and confusion of the crowd. When Mataemon had heard that the gate-crashers were led by Inuchiyo, he had been alarmed. But when he saw how Inuchiyo laughed and talked with Tokichiro, he was put at ease.
'Nene! Nene!" Mataemon said, "if there's not enough sake, send someone out to buy some more. These men should drink as much as they want." And then, to his wife, Okoi! Okoi! What are you doing, just standing around? The sake is here, but nobody has a cup. Even if it's no great feast, bring out whatever we have. I'm so happy that Inuchiyo has come here with all these people."
When Okoi returned with the cups, Mataemon served Inuchiyo personally. He had very strong feelings for this man who might have become his son-in-law. But that fate had not been theirs. Strangely, though, their friendship had survived, the straightforward
comradeship of two samurai. Emotion swelled in Mataemon's breast, but he did not let it show in his face or words—they were two samurai together.
"Well, Mataemon, I'm happy too. You've got a good son-in-law. I congratulate you with all my heart," Inuchiyo said. "Listen, I know I barged in tonight. You're not put out, are you?"
"Not at all, not at all." Mataemon himself was spurred on by this. "We'll drink all night long!"
Inuchiyo laughed loudly. "If we drink and sing all night, won't we make the bride angry?"
"Why? That's not the way she was brought up," Tokichiro said. "She's a very virtuous woman."
Inuchiyo drew closer to Tokichiro and began to tease him. "Well now, could you talk a little more about such shameful things?"
"No. I apologize. I've already said too much."
"I'm not going to let you off so easily. Now here's a big sake cup."
"You can spare me the big one. The little one will be just fine."
"What kind of bridegroom are you? Don't you have any pride?"
They teased each other as though they were children. But even with so much sake around, Tokichiro did not drink to excess—not tonight or ever. Since childhood he had carried with him the vivid memory of the effects of excessive drinking, and now when he looked at the big sake cup being forced on him, he saw the face of his drunken stepfather, and then the face of his mother, who was made to grieve so often because of his stepfather's drinking. Tokichiro knew his own limits well. He had grown up in great poverty, and his body was not strong compared to others. Although he was still a young man, he was careful.
"A big cup is too much for me. Give me a small one, please. In return, I'll sing something for you."
"What? You'll sing?"
Instead of giving an answer, Tokichiro had already begun to beat his lap as if it were a drum, and now started to sing.
To think that a man
Has only fifty years to live…
"No, stop." Inuchiyo put his hand over Tokichiro's mouth in mid-verse. "You shouldn't sing that. It's from Atsumori, the one His Lordship does so well."