บทที่ บทที่ 10 · THE PIPE

. THE PIPE

I

Maeda Narihiro, Lord of Kanazawa Castle in Ishikawa District of Kaga

Province, every time he went up to the Honmaru in Yedo Castle to

serve the Shōgun, was sure to take his favorite pipe along. Made by

Sumiyoshiya Shichibei, a then famous pipe maker, it was an elegant

piece of workmanship of pure gold with the plum-blossom-and-spear-point

crest scattered over it.

Under the system of the Tokugawa government, the Maedas, when on duty

at the Shōgun’s castle, had taken precedence immediately after the

three families of Owari, Kii and Mito ever since the time of the fifth

lord of Kaga, Tsunanori. Of course, in riches too they were practically

without a peer among the greater and lesser lords of the time. So it

was only to have an ornament suitable to his station that Narihiro, the

head of the family at that time, carried a pipe of pure gold.

But Narihiro was exceedingly proud of carrying that pipe. I should

explain, however, that his pride was due in no sense to a fondness for

the thing itself. He was delighted because the power which enabled him

to use such a pipe daily was superior to that of the other lords. In

short we may say that he was proud of being able to carry about with

him everywhere the million _koku_ of rice of Kaga Province in the form

of this pure gold pipe.

So Narihiro was almost never without his pipe while in attendance at

the Shōgun’s castle. Of course when conversing with others and even

when alone, he was sure to take it from the bosom of his kimono, and

putting it in his mouth vaingloriously, puff calmly away at Nagasaki or

some such fragrant tobacco.

Of course this feeling of pride may not have been of such an arrogant

nature as to make him deliberately show off the pipe and the million

_koku_ represented by it. But even though he did not show it off

himself, it was clearly evident that the attention of the whole palace

was concentrated on it. And the consciousness of that attention gave

Narihiro a rather pleasant feeling. Indeed after he had been asked

by other lords present just to show them the pipe, as it was such a

splendid one, he felt that even the familiar smoke of the tobacco bit

his tongue more agreeably.

II

Among those astonished at the pure gold pipe carried by Narihiro,

those who liked to talk about it most were the shave-pate attendants

called _obōzu_. Whenever they met, they put their noses together

and chattered away at each other, as they loved to, on the subject of

Kaga’s pipe.

“It’s an article fit for a lord.”

“And what’s more, such a thing has intrinsic value.”

“If you pawned it, how much do you suppose it would bring?”

“Who but you would ever pawn it?”

In general, such was the tone of their conversations.

Then one day when five or six of them had their round heads together

smoking and talking about the pipe as usual, Kōchiyama Sōshun,

attendant of the Osukiya, came by chance where they were. (He was the

man who came in later years to play the chief rôle among the “Six

Poetical Geniuses of the Tempō Period.”)

“H’m, that pipe again?” he grunted, looking askance at the group.

“It’s a splendid thing both as to carving and the metal of which it’s

made. To us who haven’t even silver pipes, it’s an eyesore--”

The attendant Ryōtetsu, who was letting himself go for a little speech,

suddenly noticed that Sōshun had drawn over his tobacco pouch and,

having filled his own pipe from it, was calmly blowing smoke rings into

the air.

“Here, here, that’s not your pouch!”

“That’s all right.”

Without so much as looking at Ryōtetsu, Sōshun filled his pipe again.

And when he had smoked it up, he threw back the pouch with a suppressed

yawn and said,

“Faw, that’s bad tobacco. A nice pipe-fancier, you!”

Ryōtetsu put away his tobacco pouch hurriedly.

“Nonsense! In a gold pipe, it’d taste pretty good, all right.”

“H’m, that pipe again?” said Sōshun for the second time. “If you think

so much of pure gold, why don’t you go and ask him to give you the

pipe?”

“Ask him to give me the pipe?”

“Yes.”

Even Ryōtetsu seemed surprised at Sōshun’s audacity.

“However avaricious I may be,--at least, if it were silver, it would be

different. But it’s pure gold, that pipe.”

“Of course it is. That’s just why you ought to ask for it. Who’d ever

go and get anybody to give him a brass pipe?”

“But I’d be a bit ashamed.”

Ryōtetsu gave his closely shaven pate one tap and struck a posture of

reverential awe.

“If you don’t get it, I will. See? Don’t be envious afterwards.”

So saying, Kōchiyama, as he knocked the ashes out of his pipe, shrugged

his shoulders and laughed derisively.

III

While Narihiro was smoking as usual in a room in the palace, one of the

golden doors with a picture of Seiōbo painted on it slid quietly open

and an attendant clad in a darkish kimono of _kihachijō_ silk and

a crested black _haori_ crawled reverentially into his presence.

As he did not raise his face, it was not yet evident who he was.

Narihiro, as he thought the man had come on some business, rapped his

pipe and said generously,

“What is it?”

“Er,--Sōshun has a request to make.”

So saying, Kōchiyama paused for a moment. Then, as he went on, he

slowly raised his head and finally fixed his eyes on Narihiro’s face.

He fixed them there like a snake charming its victim, overflowing the

while with that peculiar amiability possessed only by men of his sort.

“It’s only this, that I should like very much to have you give me that

pipe there in your hand.”

Narihiro unconsciously dropped his eyes to the pipe in his hand. At

practically the same moment, Kōchiyama went on as if following him up,

“What do you say? Will you give it to me?”

Sōshun’s words had in them something that was not simply a feeling

of supplication but also that sense of overbearing peculiar to the

attendant class in their relations with all daimyō. In the palace,

where complicated ceremony was held in high esteem, every lord of the

land had to follow the guidance of the attendants. On the one hand,

Narihiro was at this disadvantage. And on the other hand, for the sake

of his good name, he felt that he would not like to be called miserly.

Besides, a pure gold pipe was by no means a difficult thing for him to

obtain. When these two motives became one, his hand of itself placed

the pipe before Kōchiyama.

“Certainly I’ll give it to you. Take it along.”

“Thank you.”

Sōshun took the pipe and, raising it reverentially to his head, hastily

withdrew again beyond the sliding door with Seiōbo on it. Then just as

he turned to go away, somebody pulled at his sleeve from behind. He

looked round, and there was Ryōtetsu with a grin on his pock-marked

face pointing covetously at the pipe resting on Sōshun’s palm.

“Here, have a look,” whispered Kōchiyama, holding the bowl of the pipe

under Ryōtetsu’s nose.

“You finally got it out of him, didn’t you?”

“Didn’t I tell you? It’s no use your being envious now.”

“Next I’ll go and get him to give me one.”

“H’m, do as you like.”

Kōchiyama tried the weight of the pipe once and then, with a glance

toward Narihiro beyond the sliding door, again shrugged his shoulders

and laughed derisively.

IV

As for Narihiro, who had been wheedled out of his pipe, he was not so

unhappy as you might suppose. This was evident from the fact that when

he retired from the castle, the samurai attending him were surprised to

find an expression on his face which seemed to indicate an unusually

pleasant frame of mind.

He felt a sort of satisfaction at having given the pipe to Sōshun.

Perhaps this satisfaction was greater in degree than that he had felt

when he had the pipe. But this was most natural. Because, as has

already been explained, his pride in the pipe lay not in his fondness

for the thing itself. Really he was proud of his million _koku_ in the

form of the pipe. Wherefore, just as his vanity was satisfied by the

using of this pure gold pipe, would it not be the more fully satisfied

by the giving of it willingly to another? Even if he was somewhat

governed by outside circumstances when he gave it to Kōchiyama, his

satisfaction was not the least bit lessened by that fact.

So when Narihiro returned to his residence in Hongo, he pleasantly said

to the retainers nearest him,

“I gave the attendant Sōshun my pipe.”

V

When Narihiro’s household heard this, everybody was surprised at his

generosity. But just three men, Yamazaki Kanzaemon, chamberlain, Iwata

Kuranosuke, keeper of the stores, and Ueki Kurouemon, treasurer,

involuntarily knit their brows.

Of course the cost of one pure gold pipe was nothing to the finances

of the Kaga Clan. But if one had to be given to an attendant every

time Narihiro went to the castle on festival days, and the first, the

fifteenth, and the twenty-eighth of every month, it would entail an

alarming expenditure. There was no denying that the taxes might have

to be increased to pay for the pipes. That would be terrible, and the

three loyal samurai were one in their anticipatory fear.

Therefore they decided to hold a council at once and devise remedial

measures. But of course there was only one possible remedial measure,

and that was to change entirely the material of which the pipe was made

and use some metal that the attendants would not covet. But Iwata and

Ueki differed in their opinions as to what metal should be used.

Iwata said it would be derogatory to the honor of their lord to use any

metal cheaper than silver. Ueki thought that, if they wanted to put a

stop to the avarice of the attendants, nothing could be better than the

use of brass. To regard honor now was temporizing. Each stuck to his

own opinion and argued for it hotly.

Then the experienced Yamazaki said that there was the greatest reason

in both opinions and offered a compromise, suggesting that they might

try silver first, and then, if the attendants were still covetous,

it would not be too late to use brass afterwards. Of course neither

could make objection to this. So the council at last decided to order

Sumiyoshiya Shichibei to make a silver pipe.

VI

Thereafter Narihiro carried a silver pipe with him every time he

went to the castle. It, too, was a most elaborate pipe with the

plum-blossom-and-spear-point crest scattered over it.

Of course he was not so proud of the new pipe as he had been of the

old one. In the first place, he seldom took it in his hand even when

he was conversing with others. Even when he did, he put it away again

immediately. This was because the same Nagasaki tobacco did not taste

so good to him as it had when he smoked it in his pure gold pipe. But

the changing of the metal of which the pipe was made did not affect

only Narihiro. As the three loyal retainers had expected, it had an

effect on the attendants as well. However, in the end, this effect

utterly betrayed their expectation. For when the attendants saw that

the gold had been replaced with silver, even those of them who had

up to this time stood back because of the pure gold raced to ask for

a pipe. Moreover, Narihiro, who begrudged not even a pure gold pipe,

naturally was not averse to giving away a silver pipe. Whenever he was

asked for one, he promptly tossed it away ungrudgingly. Finally even

he himself could not say whether he gave away a pipe when he went to

the castle or went to the castle to give away a pipe,--at least, he

hardly could.

At this, Yamazaki, Iwata and Ueki knit their brows and conferred again.

Now at last there was nothing for it but to make brass pipes as Ueki

had proposed. Then when they were just on the verge of sending an order

to Sumiyoshiya Shichibei as usual, a personal attendant came to them

with a message from Narihiro.

“Our liege lord says that when he carries a silver pipe, he’s tormented

by the attendants’ importunities. Henceforward you are to make his

pipes of gold as heretofore.”

The three were struck dumb and knew not what to do.

VII

Kōchiyama Sōshun sourly watched the other attendants vying with one

another each to get a silver pipe from Narihiro. Especially when he saw

Ryōtetsu overjoyed at getting one when Narihiro went to the castle on

the first of the eighth month, he went so far as to abuse him roundly

and call him a fool in his usual sharp and peevish voice. It was by

no means that he was not covetous of a silver pipe, but he felt his

dignity too much to run after one with the other attendants. Troubled

by the conflict between his pride and his avarice, he kept his eye on

Narihiro’s pipe constantly, pretending indifference, the while he was

saying to himself, “Wait and see. I’ll soon put their noses out of

joint.”

Then one day he noticed that Narihiro was calmly puffing away at a pure

gold pipe again. But it seemed that not an attendant was going to ask

for it. So he stopped Ryōtetsu, who was just then passing, and slyly

pointing in Narihiro’s direction with his chin, whispered,

“He’s got a pure gold one again, hasn’t he?”

When Ryōtetsu heard this, he looked at Sōshun with an amazed expression

on his face.

“You’d better show some moderation in your greed. When, even with

silver pipes, he’s importuned so much, why would he want to carry a

pure gold pipe again?”

“Then what is it?”

“Brass, I should say.”

Sōshun shrugged his shoulders. He looked all about him carefully and

did not raise his voice in laughter.

“All right, if it’s brass, let it be brass. I’m going to get it.”

“Why do you think it’s gold again?” asked Ryōtetsu, his assurance

seeming to weaken.

“He knows your minds. Pretending that it’s brass, he’s brought a pure

gold one. To begin with, a lord with a million _koku_ of rice

wouldn’t meekly carry a brass pipe.”

Sōshun said this rapidly and went in alone to Narihiro, leaving the

astonished Ryōtetsu outside that golden sliding door on which was the

picture of Seiōbo.

An hour later, Ryōtetsu met Kōchiyama in the matted corridor and asked,

“What happened, Sōshun, in that matter?”

“What do you mean, that matter?”

Ryōtetsu, sticking out his lower lip, stared into his face and said,

“Don’t sham. The matter of the pipe, of course.”

“Oh, the pipe? If it’s the pipe you mean, I’ll give it to you.”

Kōchiyama took a shiny yellow pipe out of the bosom of his kimono and,

throwing it into Ryōtetsu’s face before he had more than caught a

glimpse of it, walked hastily away.

Ryōtetsu, rubbing the place where the pipe had hit him,

grumblingly picked it up from where it had fallen and, looking

at it, found it to be an elegant piece of workmanship with the

plum-blossom-and-spear-point crest scattered over it and made

of--brass! With a gesture of detestation, he threw it down on the mats

again and, lifting a foot inclosed in a one-toed shoe of white cloth,

went with exaggeration through the motion of stamping on it.

VIII

After that the attendants’ begging of pipes from Narihiro came to an

abrupt end. This was because Sōshun and Ryōtetsu proved to them that

the pipe he carried was made of brass.

Then Narihiro’s three faithful retainers, who had temporarily deceived

him with a brass pipe made to look like gold, after conferring together

again, commanded Sumiyoshiya Shichibei to make a pure gold pipe. It

had the plum-blossom-and-spear-point crest scattered over it and did

not differ in the least from the one Kōchiyama had received in the

beginning. In his heart looking forward to the importunities of the

attendants, Narihiro went triumphantly to the castle with the pipe.

But not a single attendant came to ask him for it. Even Kōchiyama, who

had already begged two of them out of him, took but a single glance at

this one and, with a slight bow, went away. The other daimyō present

maintained silence and, of course, never asked to see it. This seemed

strange to Narihiro.

No, it was not just strange. In the end, it made him vaguely uneasy. So

when he saw Kōchiyama coming again, he spoke first himself this time.

“Sōshun, don’t you want me to give you a pipe?”

“No, thank you, I’ve already had one.”

Sōshun probably thought to make sport of Narihiro. There was a

sharpness in the way these polite words were spoken.

When Narihiro heard them, his face clouded with displeasure. The flavor

of his Nagasaki tobacco was no longer sweet in his mouth. For suddenly

he felt that the power of his million _koku_, of which he had been

sensible up to this time, was vanishing away utterly like the smoke

rising from the end of his pure gold pipe.

According to men now grown old, in the Maeda family, after Narihiro,

both Nariyasu and Noriyasu used only brass pipes, and this may well

have been the result of a death-bed warning left to his descendants by

Narihiro, whose pure gold pipe had taught him a lesson.