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'Aloeswood Boy of the East' by Ihara Saikaku

Posted by dandelion on 2017-April-21 22:50:21, Friday

From his collection of homoerotic short stories The Great Mirror of Male Love (男色大鑑 Nanshoku Ōkagami, 1687).

Source: https://books.google.com/books?id=vhoahz8MSv8C&pg=PA113&dq=Aloeswood+Boy+of+the+East


NOTES:

1. At the time this book was written Japan followed the East Asian age reckoning, by which a person is one year old at birth.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Asian_age_reckoning


2. Source: https://books.google.com/books?id=vhoahz8MSv8C&pg=PA28&dq=A+wakashu+was+identified

“A wakashu was identified essentially on the basis of his long-sleeved robe and his hairstyle. In reading Nanshoku õkagami, close attention must be paid to the way hairstyles and robes are described, for they are often the only clues to a boy's age and availability. At the age of eleven or twelve the crown of a male child's head was shaved, symbolizing the first of three steps towards adulthood. The shaved crown drew attention to the forelocks (maegami), the boy's distinguishing feature. At the age of fourteen or fifteen the boy's natural hairline was reshaped by shaving the temples into right angles, but the forelocks remained as sumi-maegami (cornered forelocks). This process, called "putting in corners" (kado o ireru), was the second step towards adulthood. From being a maegami (boy with forelocks), the wakashu had now graduated to being a sumi-maegami (boy with cornered forelocks). The final step, completed at age eighteen or nineteen, involved cutting off the forelocks completely; the pate of his head was shaved smooth, leaving only the sidelocks (bin). Once he changed to a robe with rounded sleeves, the boy was recognized as an adult man (yarõ). He was no longer available as a wakashu for sexual relations with adult men like himself but was now qualified to establish a relationship with a wakashu.”


Aloeswood Boy of the East

Girls mistaken for boys in spring fields.
Seed of a child they requested falls from a branch.
Proof his soul leapt into the man's sleeve.


Bush clover once bloomed at Miyagino, but not a single plant can be found there now. Old poems are all that remain to testify to their existence. Perhaps that food chest brought here on an outing was one left behind from among the twelve chests taken to the capital laden with bush clover. In the fields, green with new growth, there were two youngsters gathering lovely dandelion and horsetail shoots. They wore sedge hats that hid their faces and long-sleeved robes with sashes tied in the back. They looked for all the world like boys deserving of male lovers.

A man stopped to admire them. Just then, an old woman stepped from inside a picnic tent and called, "Here, little Fuji, little Yoshi."

"Why, they are someone's little girls!" he realized with disgust. He spat on the ground and went on his way.

He reached the castle town of Sendai. At the edge of town was a place called Bashõ's crossing where he passed the shop of a herbalist named Konishi no Jũnosuke. An incense of aloeswood wafted through the curtains over the doorway leading into the shop. The man paused to savor the fragrance. It had a penetrating quality in no way inferior to the White Chrysanthemum incense treasured by the lord of this province. Curious as to whose sleeve bore the fragrance, the man entered the shop.

"I would like to purchase some fragrance for my clothing," he said. "Is the aloeswood available that I smell wafting through the room?"

"That fragrance is my son's favorite," the old man replied. "Selling it would be impossible, I am afraid."

It was a disappointing reply, but he could feel desire for the boy burning in him without even lighting the incense. He rested there for a moment and then went on his way.

The man's name was Ban no Ichikurõ, a merchant from Tsugaru who was fond of boys to the point of obsession. He was on his way to Edo for the sole purpose of visiting a remarkable young actor by the name of Dekijima Kozarashi, popular of late in Sakaichõ. He had fallen in love with the boy sight unseen. A friend of his had sent a letter of introduction to the boy's attendant, Sakubei. Everything was now arranged. For someone from the country, he had quite sophisticated tastes.

Jũnosuke's son, Jũtarõ, fell in love with the man the moment he saw him.

"Though I may be at the peak of youthful beauty, my bloom of youth will not last another five years. First they will take a tweezer to my hairline, and before long my forelocks will fall. I have left unopened the hundreds of love letters from my suitors and gained a reputation for being cold-hearted only because I have never found a man to my liking. This man is different, though. If he would but take pity on me and love me, I would gladly give myself to him in a vow of love."

He continued with this unexpected outburst, and his eyes took on a crazed look. With one arm he held his pet Pekinese, while with the other he waved an unsheathed spear menacingly. No one dared go near him.

At last, risking her life, his old nursemaid clung to him and said, "We will call back the traveler who just passed through, and you can love him as you wish."

At this, his raving calmed down somewhat.

The family called an ascetic named Kakudembõ from Zen-ken'in to perform exorcising rites. He set up an altar where he chanted Buddhist incantations, accompanied by the noisy ringing of a bell and the rattling of his priestly staff.

These were the circumstances of the boy's birth. His father, Jũnosuke, had married into the Konishi family as an adopted son. Thirty-five years later, when he was over 60 years old, he had still failed to produce an heir. Grieved over this matter, he and his wife secluded themselves in the Tenjin Shrine at Tsutsuji-ga-oka to pray for a son.

One night in a dream, a length of scarlet silk crepe used as a loincloth came falling from the branches of a red plum tree in front of the shrine and made its home in her womb. From the very next day, his wife developed a craving for sour plums. When the allotted time had elapsed, she gave birth to this boy.

Remarkably, he began at the age of five writing large letters he had never learned. These were hung in temples and shrines as votive offerings to the gods. His ability to write was identical to Sayo's of Izumiya.

When he reached the age of thirteen, he wrote a story called "Short Tale for a Summer's Night" in which he depicted love's joyful meetings and sad partings. Even then he showed a remarkable grasp of the fleeting ways of love.

The fact that the sight of this man triggered in him such uncontrollable emotions must have been due to a very powerful karmic bond.

The boy's longing for the man grew stronger and stronger. Those around him did their best to nurse him back to health, but each morning his pulse was slightly weaker and his evening dosage of medicine had less and less effect. It seemed that his life in this floating world had reached its end. They prepared a shroud for his body and ordered a coffin, expecting him to die that evening.

As they waited for the end, Jũtarõ feebly lifted his head.

"How happy I am!" he said. "The man I yearn for will pass here tomorrow when the sun is in the west. I beg you, please stop him and bring him to me."

They were sure that his words were the product of delirium, but they placed someone at the town gate of Biwakubi to keep watch. Just as the boy predicted, the man appeared. He was led to the Konishi home immediately. Jũnosuke quietly told him the story from beginning to end.

Ichikurõ wept.

"If anything happens to Jũtarõ, I will be the first to join you in taking religious vows to mourn him. First, though, let me see the sick boy and bid him farewell in this life."

He approached the boy's pillow and immediately the boy regained his former health. He poured out his heart to Ichikurõ.

"My body remained at home, but my soul was with you the entre time. Did you know I spent a mystical night in your arms? It was after you visited the Takadachi ruins at Hiraizumi. You spent the night at the Hikaridõ Sanctuary in a temple there. I burned with passion as we made love in your traveler's bed and wordlessly vowed myself to you. As a sign, I broke a stick of aloeswood incense and placed half of it in your sleeve. Is it still there?"

Ichikurõ reached into his sleeve and withdrew the incense.

"How remarkable! Here it is! My doubts are dispelled, but your story is all the more puzzling."

"Allow me to show you something that will put your suspicions to rest forever," the boy said.

Producing a piece of aloeswood, he joined it to the piece that Ichikurõ had taken from his sleeve. It matched perfectly to form one stick. When burned, both halves produced the identical fragrance.

Convinced, Ichikurõ pledged himself to the boy in this life and the next and received Jũtarõ for his own.

The hoofbeats of their two brave steeds echoed over the five-span bridge of Sendai on their way to Tsugaru.

Or, so the story goes.

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