The Rainbow by Yasunari Kawabata

Author:Yasunari Kawabata [Kawabata, Yasunari]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Published: 2023-11-07T00:00:00+00:00

3

The entrance permit to the Katsura Imperial Villa listed the names of Mizuhara, Momoko, Asako, and Natsuji, but both Mizuhara and Momoko had decided not to go.

Given his renown as an architect, Mizuhara’s name might have been meant simply to gain them entrance, but Momoko’s absence came as a surprise to Asako.

When Natsuji arrived at their inn at Sanjō, Momoko had already gone out.

“She went to the station to meet someone coming from Tōkyō,” Asako said, her cheeks turning red.

The Takemiya boy had followed her all the way to Kyōto, it seemed.

“And your father?”

“He went to Nara. They’re both out enjoying themselves.” She found herself echoing what Momoko had said the other day.

They changed trains at Shijō-Ōmiya and got off at Katsura Station.

To reach the villa, they had to walk back part of the way toward the Katsura River.

“Maybe we should have come by bus? We could have gotten off by the river and followed the bamboo wall right to the entrance,” Natsuji observed.

But for Asako, their stroll through the wheat fields came as an unexpected joy. There were fields of rapeseed too. Hearing the unusual cry of a skylark, she stared up into the sky.

They were in one of the most open areas in Kyōto, and the view extended from the nearby Mount Arashiyama to Mount Atago past Mount Ogura, all the way to the distant Mount Hiei and Kitayama. Higashiyama was shrouded in mist.

Asako glanced around, taking in the spring landscape.

“I wish Momoko could have come.”

“That night after coming home from the Saami, my dad and I spoke a lot about what she said,” Natsuji remarked.

Asako glanced around. “What did you say?”

“I was struck by how something as small as changing the contents of a cyanide capsule with sugar could have such a profound impact on someone’s life, and what might have happened if your mother hadn’t done it.”

“But I’m not really sure she truly did take it.”

“It’s an interesting story, even if it was made up. But I think she was telling the truth.”

“No one at home knew anything.”

“Your mother was a wise woman.”

“I’m sure any parent would have done the same if their child had brought something so dangerous home.”

“It would be no good just hiding it away. They might get their hands on another.” Natsuji paused for a moment. “But my brother always kept his own cyanide in his desk drawer. Right up until our house was destroyed. When your sister was telling us about what happened, I feared at first he had given his to her.”

Asako was shaken.

“And I wondered whether she was telling us it all now to spite how we handled everything after his death.”

“I’m sure that wasn’t it.”

“Anyway, as she said, life is a curious thing. These kinds of situations really do happen. Last night, it struck me that she was only alive today because she had taken sugar instead of poison, and she seemed all the more beautiful for that.”

They passed through an area laid out like a small hamlet. Kerria flowers were blooming amid cracks in the decaying plaster walls of the buildings.

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