Two Novellas by Junichirō Tanizaki

Author:Junichirō Tanizaki [Tanizaki, Junichirō]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2013-10-15T16:00:00+00:00

BOOK V

In Which Terukatsu Returns to His Father’s Castle and Weds the Daughter of the Chirifu Clan

Terukuni, Terukatsu’s father, was old and in failing health, and had been anxious for some time to find a suitable wife for his son and retire as head of the clan. Again and again he asked the Tsukuma to send his son back to the castle on Mount Tamon. But there were alarming rumors; the senior retainers at Ojika Castle had grown increasingly suspicious, particularly since the rebellion at Tsukigata Castle, and were slow to grant the request. Still, though technically a hostage, Terukatsu had come to the castle as a child and had lived there for fourteen or fifteen years. He had served faithfully and repeatedly distinguished himself in battle, and there seemed to be no question of his father’s allegiance to the Tsukuma. Accordingly, Terukatsu was finally permitted to return to Terukuni’s palace in the autumn of 1557.

Though he was happy, of course, to be going home to his father, Terukatsu was a long time recovering from the sorrow of his separation from Lady Kikyō. His warrior’s spirit reasserted itself in the face of necessity, but first love is something special, even to a man of iron will. He had violated all norms of morality and gratitude in his passionate devotion to her, and yet they were being forced apart almost as soon as they had begun to meet. It had been the autumn of the previous year that vigilance had finally become relaxed enough for him to use the tunnel again, and so they had had less than one year together. Even then they had met in secret, living for brief moments of joy, probably without a single chance to pass the night in intimate conversation. Indeed, his regret was all the more intense in that his love was less for Lady Kikyō than for the unique role she enacted. In the future he might find other ladies as beautiful as she, but the strange and wonderful stage on which she was placed, particularly the drama that featured a comic supporting actor without a nose, was a world made to his order. He could hardly expect to find another noble lady with this setting and cast. And so Terukatsu, in his perverse lust, was reluctant to part with the lady and loath to withdraw from this environment. Their only consolation was a belief that the demise of the House of Tsukuma was not far off. They laid their plans for the future, pledged to meet again, and parted.

Lady Oetsu of the House of Chirifu, later known as Shōsetsuin, married into the House of Kiryu in the Third Month of 1558, less than six months after Terukatsu had returned to the castle on Mount Tamon. Terukatsu was twenty-one years old, and Shōsetsuin, fourteen. Though she was destined to pass her days in grief and loneliness, praying to the gods and buddhas that her husband’s shameful sex life might be reformed, Oetsu was a vivacious young girl at the time of her wedding.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.