This Scheming World by Ihara Saikaku

Author:Ihara Saikaku [Saikaku, Ihara]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781462902606
Publisher: Tuttle Publishing
Published: 2011-09-07T04:00:00+00:00

HOW LOVELY THE SIGHT OF RICE-CAKE FLOWERS AT NEW YEAR’S

ON NEW YEAR’S Eve the bill collectors must be quite familiar with that old saying, ‘Be quick to do good,’ for they surely move around swiftly. On this special day they speed about the world like so many wing-footed Mercuries, till it seems that their sandals, though made of iron, would be completely worn out. Indeed, to the merchants their vitality means everything. By the way, I once heard an old bill collector give the following advice:

“To be successful in collecting bills you must start with the one who pays most readily and then work up to the hard one who is notorious for nonpayment. Be careful not to trip over your own tongue. If the debtor behaves in a manner calculated to irritate you, remain all the calmer and speak only of the matter at hand, and that with a persuasive tongue. Sit down on the threshold in a leisurely manner, tell your porter to put out the light, and talk in a way similar to this:

“ ‘What crime did I commit in a former life that I should have been condemned to suffer in this one as a bill collector? I have yet to celebrate New Year’s Day even once with my hair done up properly. My wife has to work in a banker’s office, a virtual hostage, where she has to try to please even the clerks. Of all the hundreds of possible ways to earn a living, why should I ever have chosen such a mode of life as this? Sometimes I feel like reproaching the tutelary god, even though I know he hasn’t anything to do with my present sorry lot.

“‘ In contrast, though I’m a stranger to your household affairs, I’m sure the mistress lacks nothing to make her happiness complete. Those lovely rice-cake flowers hanging from the ceiling are full of the rejoicing of the New Year season. And by the way, that fish hanger over there is the most attractive thing in the house. Oh, just look at the duck, and the dried sea cucumbers, and the dried sea ears hanging there. I’m sure you’ve already prepared your winter wardrobe. The patterns in vogue now with the ladies are peonies with leaves intertwined with four ginkgo leaves combined in a circle. I wish my wife could afford to wear fashionable and up-to-date kimono. It’s so true that clothes make the woman. Say, O-Matsu! The kimono the master gave you must be patterned with pale blue paulownia flowers against a dark brown background. You are lucky to be working in this house. Out on the edge of town I see many women wearing kimono of old-fashioned arabesque design.’

“Talking in this fashion, you must strive to create a leisurely atmosphere, in order to induce the wife to say something. Then, when the other bill collectors are not around, the master of the house will quietly come to you and say that although he is determined

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