Shipwrecks by Akira Yoshimura

Author:Akira Yoshimura [Yoshimura, Akira]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: General Fiction
ISBN: 9781847677228
Publisher: Canongate Books
Published: 2009-11-08T13:00:00+00:00

The next day the sea was rough. The waves broke on the shore with a thunderous roar, and the straw matting at the entrances to the houses fluttered as the wind lashed against the coast.

Isaku and his mother headed along the path to the village chief’s house, spray raining down on them each time a wave crashed in. The faces of the people they met along the way beamed with joy.

The earthen floor of the entrance to the village chief’s house thronged with people talking in restrained voices, but there was no doubting the gleam in their eyes and the gaiety in their voices. At the back of the room the village elders were busy laying out hemp stalks on the floor to use for their calculations. It had been decided that the rice would be distributed first.

The men bent over the sticks on the floor looked up as one of them got down on all fours and spoke to the village chief. The chief nodded again and again. When the trusted elder sitting beside the chief stood up, the noise of talk died away.

‘There were three hundred and twenty-three bales of rice on board O-fune-sama,’ he said. The crowd seemed to sway as one in reaction to his words. Isaku’s heart almost missed a beat at the news of such incredible riches.

‘Each adult man and woman will receive three bales and each child one bale. The remaining forty-nine bales will be stored as the village chief’s share.’

On hearing this, the villagers struggled to hold back their excitement, and a hubbub of voices broke from the floor again as people bowed deeply toward the village chief.

Smiles appeared on the faces of the village chief and the elder, and Isaku saw his mother and others around him weeping. Those ten years old and above were judged to be adults, so both Isaku and his mother qualified for the adult quota. Isaku counted up their allotment on his fingers, working out that their family was entitled to eight bales of rice.

‘We’ll get eight bales!’ he blurted excitedly to his mother.

‘Eight bales!’ she cried, looking down at her son. Tears continued to well up in her eyes and flow down her cheeks. From the look on her face, she seemed to be fighting to stop herself from breaking down and sobbing.

When people returned to the village from indentured service, the chief would supply them with their share of rice from what was stored away. When Isaku’s father returned in the spring the year after next, he would receive an allotment, too, and the family would benefit even more.

The village chief got to his feet, as did the elder. The villagers followed them to the area behind the house. There were too many bales to fit in the storeroom, so they had been stacked up outside on straw matting. Isaku peered over people’s shoulders at the bales of rice as though he were looking at an incredible treasure.

On the elder’s instructions the men started sharing out the bales of rice.

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