I’m home!" The entrance to Asano Mataemon's house was not large, but when Tokichiro stood there, it seemed awfully big. His voice was clear, and his presence brightened the surroundings.

Oh!" Nene's little sister, Oyaya, was bouncing a ball on the step and looked up at him with round eyes. She had thought that perhaps he was a visitor, but when she saw that he was her sister's husband, she giggled and ran into the house.

Tokichiro laughed too. He felt strangely amused. When he thought about it, he had left the party and gone drinking with his friends, and then had gone straight to the castle.  He was finally coming home at about dusk, the same time of the wedding ceremony the night before. Tonight there were no longer bonfires burning at the gate, but for three days now there had been some sort of family celebration, with guests coming and going.  Tonight the voices of guests filled the house again, and a number of pairs of sandals had been left at the entrance.

I'm home!" the bridegroom once again yelled cheerfully. No one came out to greet him, so they must be busy in the kitchen and the guest room, Tokichiro thought. He was, all, the son-in-law of the house since the night before. Next to his father and mother-in-law, he was the master here. Well, perhaps he should not go in before they all came out to greet him.

“Nene! I'm home!"

A surprised voice came from the direction of the kitchen, on the other side of a low fence.  Mataemon, his wife, Oyaya, some relatives and servants all came out and looked at him with exasperated expressions, as though they wondered what he was doing there.

Nene arrived, she quickly took off her apron, knelt, and greeted him by pressing both hands to the floor.

“Welcome home."

“Welcome back," the others all added hurriedly, lining up and bowing, with the exceptions, of course, of Mataemon and his wife. They appeared to have come out just to look.

Tokichiro looked at Nene and then at all the others and bowed once. He walked straight in, and this time he bowed politely to his father-in-law before reporting the day's events at the castle.

Mataemon had been disgruntled since the previous evening. He had wanted to remind his son-in-law of his duty to his relatives and of Nene's position. Tokichiro had back without a trace of remorse, and Mataemon had resolved that he wouldn't hold back,even if it was bad manners in front of guests. But Tokichiro looked so carefree that Mataemon forgot his complaint. Moreover, Tokichiro's first words had been to inform him of his day at the castle and of their lord's state of mind. Mataemon unconsciously staightened and responded, "Well, you must have had a hard day." Thus he said just the opposite of what he had intended, and praised Tokichiro instead of reprimanding him.

Tokichiro entertained the guests by staying up late that night and drinking. Even when the guests had gone, there were a number of relatives whose homes were so far away that they had to spend the night. Nene was unable to get away from the kitchen, and the servants looked tired.

Even though Tokichiro had finally come home, he and Nene hardly had enough time to smile at one another, much less to be alone together. As the night deepened, Nene put away the cups in the kitchen, gave orders for breakfast, made sure everything was well at the bedsides of each of the befuddled sleeping relatives, and finally loosened the cords that held up her sleeves. Herself again for the first time that night, she looked for the man who had become her husband.

In the room set aside for the two of them slept relatives and children. In the room where they had all been drinking, her mother and father and their close relatives were chatting.

Where is he? she wondered. When she went out to the veranda, a voice called from a dark servant's room off to the side.

"Nene?" It was her husband's voice. Nene tried to answer, but couldn't. Her heart was pounding. Although she had never felt this way until the wedding ceremony, she had not been able to see Tokichiro since the night before.

"Come in," Tokichiro said. Nene could still hear the voices of her parents. While she was standing there, wondering what to do, she suddenly spotted mosquito-repellent in­cense that had been left smoldering. Picking it up, she went in timidly.

"You're sleeping here? There must be a lot of mosquitoes." He had gone to sleep on the floor. Tokichiro stared at his feet.

"Ah, mosquitoes…"

"You must be exhausted."

"And you too," he sympathized. "The relatives resolutely refused, but I just couldn't make the old folks sleep in the servants' quarters while we slept in a room with a gold screen."

"But to sleep in a place like this, without any bedding…" Nene started to get up, but he stopped her.

"It's all right. I've slept on the ground—even on bare planks. My body has been tempered by poverty." He sat up. "Nene, come a little closer."

“Y-yes.”

"A new wife is like a new wooden rice container. If you don't use it for a long time, it smells bad and becomes unusable. When it gets old, the hoops are apt to come off. But it's good to remember that a husband is a husband, too, from time to time. We plan on living a long life together, and have promised to be faithful to each other until we become old and white-haired, but our life is not going to be an easy one. So, while we still have the kind of feelings we do now, I think we should make a pledge to each other. How do you feel about this?"

"Of course. I'll keep this pledge absolutely, no matter what it is," Nene answered clearly.

Tokichiro was the picture of seriousness. He even looked a little grim. Nene, however, was happy at seeing this solemn expression for the first time.

'First, as a husband, I'm going to tell you what I want from you as a wife."

"Please."

My mother is a poor farm woman and refused to come to the wedding. But the per­son who was happiest at my taking a wife more than anyone, anyone in the world, was my mother."

"I see."

“One day my Mother will come to live with us in the same house, and it will be fine if helping your husband takes second place. More than anything, I would like for you to

be devoted to my mother and make her happy."

"Yes."

"My mother was born to a samurai family, but long before my birth, she has been poor. She raised several children in great poverty; just to bring up a single child in such circumstances was to struggle through incredible hardship. She had nothing to make her happy—not even a new cotton kimono for the winter and one for the summer. She's uneducated, she speaks in a country dialect, and she's completely ignorant of manners. As my wife, will you take care of a mother like that with real love? Can you respect and cherish her?"

"I can. Your mother's happiness is your happiness. I think that's natural."

"But you also have two parents in good health. In the same way, they're very important to me. I'm not going to be any less filial to them than you are."

"That makes me happy."

"Then there's one more thing for me," Tokichiro went on. "Your father has raised you to be a virtuous woman, disciplining you with a lot of rules. But I'm not so hard to please. I'm just going to rely on you for one thing."

"Which is?"

"I just want you to be happy in your husband's service, in his work, and in all the things he must commonly do. And that's all. It sounds easy, doesn't it? But it won't be easy at all. Look at the husbands and wives who have passed years together. There are wives who have no idea what their husbands do. Such husbands lose an important incentive, and even a man who works for the sake of the nation or province is small, pitiful, and weak when he is at home. If only his wife is happy and interested in her husband's work, he can go out on the battlefield in the morning with courage. To me, this is the best wy a wife can help her husband."