Chapter 6
Gon took chestnuts to Hyoju's house the next day as well. Hyoju was in the storeroom making some rope. Gon crept quietly into the house through the back door. Just then Hyoju happened to look up.
Was that a fox going into my house? That rotten fox Gon that stole my eel that day, he's up to no good again.
"Right."
Hyoju stood up, went across and grabbed his rifle off the wall and loaded it with gunpowder. He then crept quietly up to the back door, and just as Gon was coming out again - Bang! - he shot him. Gon flopped to the ground.
Hyoju ran up to Gon, but then, glancing inside the house, his gaze fell on the chestnuts lying on the floor.
"Huh!" exclaimed Hyoju in surprise, looking down at Gon.
"Gon, was it you? Are you the one who's been bringing me chestnuts?"
Gon nodded, his eyes clenched tight.
The rifle fell from Hyoju's hands, landing with a thud, a thin trail of blue smoke still rising from the barrel.
THE END
Grandpa's Lamp
by Nankichi Niimi
Chapter 1
Toichi, who had been hiding down the back of the storeroom in a game of hide and seek, came out holding a kerosene lamp.
It was different from any lamp he'd seen before. It had a thick bamboo stand around eighty centimeters tall, and sitting on top of that was a tiny section for the flame. Its globe was a narrow glass tube. It was so strange that most people seeing it for the first time wouldn't know it was a lamp.
Toichi and his friends thought it was something else entirely.
"I think it's an old rifle," said Sohachi, who had been 'it' in their game of hide and seek.
At first, Toichi's grandpa didn't realize what it was either. He had to peer over the top of his glasses before he finally recognized it.
But when he saw that they were holding a lamp, he started to scold them.
"Look here you kids, what are you doing with this? I leave you lot alone for a minute and you start dragging out all kinds of things. You're like thieving cats! Bring that here now and go play outside. Why don't you go play round a power pole or something! There's plenty of things to play with out there."
It was only after grandpa yelled at them that they realized they'd done something wrong. Toichi had been the one that had picked up the lamp, but even the neighborhood kids who hadn't touched anything at all, walked outside with gloomy faces as if they'd all done something bad.
Outside, the springtime afternoon wind picked up the dust and hurled it along the street, a white butterfly occasionally fluttering hurriedly by on the heels of a slowly plodding oxcart. Indeed, there were plenty of power poles along the street. But the children certainly didn't play around any of them. Children never like playing the way grownups tell them to.
They quickly raced off in the direction of the park, glass marbles rattling noisily in their pockets, and it wasn't long before they were completely absorbed in their games and had forgotten all about the lamp.
When dusk fell, Toichi came back to the house. The kerosene lamp was standing in a corner of the living room. But Toichi didn't dare ask his grandfather about it for fear he'd receive another scolding.
It came to that boring time after dinner. Toichi was leaning against a chest of drawers, banging the loose metal handles...clang, clang, clang...or going into the store to watch as a teacher from the agricultural school with a beard, ordered a complicated sounding book from the store clerk; Theory and Practice of Radish Cultivation.
After he grew tired of that, he went back to the living room, and after checking to see that his grandpa wasn't around, he shuffled over on his knees to where the lamp was, and, after removing the globe, he started drawing the wick in and out again by turning a screw the size of a small coin.
He was completely absorbed in playing with the lamp when his grandpa caught him for the second time. But this time grandpa didn't scold him at all. He called to the maid to bring him some tea, and slipping out his tobacco pipe, he said,
"Toichi, this lamp brings back a lot of memories for me. I'd forgotten about this for many years, but when you dug it out from the storeroom today, all those memories came flooding back. When you get old like me, it's quite exciting when you come across something like this from your past, even a lamp."
Toichi stared open-mouthed at his grandpa. After his grandpa had scolded them earlier he assumed his grandpa had been angry, but in fact he was happy at having rediscovered the lamp.
"I've got a story from long ago that I want to tell you, come sit over here," said his grandpa.
Toichi enjoyed listening to stories so he sat down in front of his grandpa just as he'd been told, but sitting like that made him feel like he was about to hear some kind of sermon, so he made like he always did when he listened to stories at home. In other words, he lay sprawled out on the floor with his feet pointing in the air, every now and then clapping the soles of his feet together like some kind of street performer.
This is the story his grandpa told.
______________________________________
This story of mine starts around fifty years ago, back when Japan was at war with Russia, and it's about me. In the village of Yanabe Shinden there was a thirteen year old boy named Minosuke.
Minosuke had no parents and no siblings, nor did he have even a single relative. He was a true orphan. Minosuke did work for the other families in the village, running errands, threshing rice, even babysitting, which was normally done by girls. He would basically do anything a boy of Minosuke's age could do, and this allowed him to stay in the village.
But the truth was, Minosuke didn't like having to rely on the generosity of other people in this way. He often thought to himself that if he had to spend his life babysitting or threshing rice every day, then there wasn't much point having been born a man.
A man was supposed to make his own way in the world. But how could he do that? He was barely making ends meet. He didn't even have enough money to buy one book, and even if he did have the money, and actually bought it, he'd never have time to read it.
Deep down, Minosuke was always waiting for a good opportunity to establish himself.
Then early one afternoon, Minosuke was asked to help out with a rickshaw.
In those days, there were always two or three rickshaw operators in Yanabe Shinden. Most of the people who traveled from Nagoya to go swimming in the ocean would take the steam train to Handa, and afterwards they'd take a rocky rickshaw ride the rest of the way from Handa to Ono, or Shinmaiko. Either way they would pass through Yanabe Shinden.
Because the rickshaws were pulled by people, they didn't move very fast. And to get from Yanabe Shinden to Ono they needed to go over a mountain pass, which meant it took even longer than usual. To make matters worse, in those days the rickshaw wheels were made of heavy steel rings, which clattered noisily along the road. If a customer were in a hurry they would pay double the fare to have the rickshaw pulled by two men. The customer who hired Minosuke was a summer tourist and was in a hurry to get to the ocean.
With a rope tied to the rickshaw slung over his shoulder, Minosuke heaved one, two, one, two, as he ran along the hot road beneath the late afternoon summer sun. As he wasn't used to this kind of work it was particularly grueling. But that didn't worry him in the slightest. He was burning with curiosity. That was because, as far back as he could remember, Minosuke had never set foot outside his own village, and he had no idea what kind of village or what kind of people there were on the other side of the mountain pass.
The sun had begun to set and the people dotted here and there had started to take on a pale hue in the bluish twilight, when the rickshaw finally entered the town of Ono.
In that town, Minosuke saw many things he'd never seen before. To begin, the sight of so many large stores all lined up in a row was a first for Minosuke. In his village there was just the one small shop which sold cheap sweets and straw sandals, silk spinning equipment, oint
ment and sea shells that contained eye lotion, and pretty much anything else that people in the village had a use for.
But what really surprised Minosuke were the glass kerosene lamps that shone like flowers, lighting up every one of these big stores. When night came, most of the houses in Minosuke's village were without light. Inside those houses it was pitch black and people had to grope around blindly looking for things like water jugs, stone mortars, or just the main pole of the house. Families that were a little more extravagant made use of the paper lanterns carried by the brides when they came to get married. A paper lantern had a plate filled with oil that was surrounded by paper on all sides. A tiny flame about the size of a cherry blossom bud burnt on a wick that rose slightly above the plate, giving a warm mandarin-colored glow to the paper, and providing a weak light for the surrounding area. But no matter what kind of paper lantern was used, there was no way they could compare to the brightness of the lamps Minosuke saw in Ono.
What's more, these lamps were made of glass, which was still quite rare in those days. In Minosuke's eyes, that alone was enough to make them superior to paper lanterns, which often became sooty or torn.
These kerosene lamps made the entire town of Ono so bright Minosuke felt like he was walking inside the Palace of the Dragon God. He even felt reluctant to return to his own village. People, wherever they may come from, don't like returning home to a dark place from a bright one.
Chapter 2
Minosuke collected his pay of fifteen sen and took leave of the rickshaw, wandering through the seaside town with the sound of waves crashing relentlessly on the shore, like a drunk, peering into all of the fantastic stores, captivated by the beautiful bright lamps.
In the draper's, the clerk had spread out some fabric dyed with a large camellia flower, and was showing it to a customer beneath the light of a lamp. In the grain merchant's, a shop boy was sitting under a lamp, sorting through adzuki beans, picking out the bad ones. In one house, a girl was playing a game of hajiki, and the shells laid out in front of her were shining a brilliant white under the light of her lamp. In another store someone was making a Buddhist rosary, guiding a thread through a hole in each of the tiny beads. These everyday scenes from people's lives, under the vivid blue light of the lamps, took on a kind of nostalgic beauty, as if they were from a world out of a storybook or a magic lantern.
Minosuke had often heard people say how 'cultural enlightenment was making Japan a more advanced society,' but this was the first time he felt that he understood what 'cultural enlightenment' actually meant.
Continuing along, he eventually came to a store where lots of lamps were on display inside. Surely this was a lamp store.
Minosuke hesitated for a little while in front of the store, tightly gripping the 15 sen he held in his hand, but finally he made up his mind and walked confidently inside.
"Please sell me one of those," he said, pointing at one of the lamps.
(He didn't know the word 'lamp' yet.)
The shopkeeper took down the large hanging lamp Minosuke had pointed to, but it couldn't be bought for 15 sen.
"Give me a discount please," asked Minosuke.
"Not for this one," replied the shopkeeper.
"Please, give me the wholesale price."
Minosuke knew that things had a retail price and a wholesale price, and that the wholesale price was cheaper. This was because he would often take straw sandals that he made himself and sell them to the general store. They would buy the straw sandals Minosuke made at the wholesale price of 1½ sen, and then they would sell them to a rickshaw driver at the retail price of 2½ sen.
The store owner was surprised to hear this from a young boy, who he'd never seen or heard of before , and he took a long look at Minosuke's face. Then he said,
"The wholesale price? I could sell it to a lamp seller for the wholesale price, but I can't sell it to an ordinary customer for that price."
"So I could have it at the wholesale price if I was a lamp seller?"
"Sure."
"Then I'm a lamp seller. Please give it to me at the wholesale price."
The shop owner, still holding the lamp, burst out laughing.
"You're a lamp seller? Ha ha ha..."
"Mister, it's true. From now on, I'm going to start selling lamps. Please, just sell me one today at the wholesale price. Next time I will buy a lot more."
Although he laughed at first, the shopkeeper was impressed by Minosuke's sincerity, and after asking Minosuke a few questions about his situation, he said,
"Alright then, if that's the case, I'll sell you this one at the wholesale price. To be honest, even at the wholesale price this is not 15 sen, but I'm impressed by your enthusiasm, so I'll give you a discount. But in return, make sure you sell lots of lamps. Go out and sell as many of my lamps as you can."
And saying that, he handed over the lamp.
After learning the basics of how to use it, Minosuke headed back to his village, lighting the road home with his new lamp.
There was no longer any need to be frightened by the pitch black mountain path that continued endlessly through the dense thickets and pine forests. He was carrying a lamp that was as bright as a flower.
And there was another lamp burning inside his heart. That lamp burnt with his desire to bring light into the lives of the people in his own dark village, which had fallen behind in this era of cultural enlightenment, by selling them this wonderful modern convenience.
Chapter 3
But at first, Minosuke's new business didn't take off at all. This was because farmers tend to be suspicious of anything new.
After thinking of different strategies, he decided to take the lamp to the one and only village store and lend it to them for free so they could try it out.
The old lady at the store reluctantly agreed. She promptly hammered a nail into the ceiling and hung the lamp from it, lighting it for the first time that night.
Five days later when Minosuke took some more sandals to sell at the store, the old lady was grinning as she told him what a convenient and bright thing it was, that customers could now come into the store at night and she didn't have to worry about mistaking their change, and that she was very pleased with it and could she please have one. She then told Minosuke that because the villagers had seen the benefits of a lamp, there were already three people who had put in orders. Minosuke felt like he was on cloud nine.
After taking payment for the lamp and the sandals, he headed straight for Ono, running most of the way. After he explained the situation to the owner of the lamp store, the owner lent him the amount that he was short, and he bought three lamps so that he could take them back and sell them to those people who had put in orders.
After that Minosuke's business began to prosper.
At first he would only go to Ono after he had received an order, but when he had built up enough savings he began purchasing in bulk, whether he had orders or not.
And he was soon able to quit running errands and babysitting and concentrate only on selling lamps. On the back of a cart, he attached a frame like the ones used for drying clothes, and from it he hung as many lamps and lamp globes as he could fit. The glass lamps made a soft tinkling sound as he traveled around selling them from village to village.
Although Minosuke was able to profit from his business, there was more to it than that, he really enjoyed selling lamps. The lamps sold by Minosuke were gradually lighting up the houses that had previously been so dark. It was as if he was lighting the flame of cultural enlightenment in each of these dark houses, one at a time.
Minosuke grew into a young man. Until now he had never lived in a house of his own, but had instead been allowed to stay in an old rundown shed at the back of the ward mayor's. Having now saved a little money, he was able to build a house of his own. Soon after, he met a woman who took an interest in him, and they got married.
One day, as he was preaching the benefits of a lamp, he said, "...and with a lamp, you'll be
able to read a newspaper while you are sitting on the floor," which was something the ward mayor had told him, but the customer replied, "That's hard to believe." Minosuke hated the idea of being thought a liar, so he decided he would see for himself. He borrowed a newspaper from the mayor and spread it out beneath the light of a lamp.
The mayor had been telling the truth. Every one of the tiny characters of the newspaper could be clearly made out under the light of the lamp. "I haven't been lying to anyone," said Minosuke to himself. But even though he could clearly see each character, they didn't mean anything to him - because he couldn't read.
"Even if lamps let us see clearly in the dark, it's not real cultural enlightenment if we can't read."
With this as his motivation, from that day on, Minosuke went every evening to the ward mayor's to learn how to read.
He was so dedicated to his studies that after only a year, he could read as well as anyone else in the village that had graduated elementary school.
After that he learnt to read books.
By now he was in the prime of his manhood, and his wife had given birth to two children. Every now and then he would ask himself, How did I manage to get this far all on my own? and then he'd think, I've still got a way to go before I'm fully established though. Such thoughts gave him a warm sense of self satisfaction.
One day he was walking to Ono to stock up on lamp wicks, when, as he approached the town, he came across a group of workers who had dug a hole by the side of the road, and were placing a big thick pole in it. At the top of the pole there were two horizontal pieces of timber that looked like wooden arms, and on top of these arms were white ceramic knobs that looked like little fat men. As he was wondering to himself why they would be placing such strange objects along the side of the road, he soon came across another tall pole, a sparrow singing away on its wooden shoulders.
These strange looking poles had been placed in the ground every fifty meters or so.
Minosuke came across an old man drying noodles in the sun, so he asked him what these poles were for. He told Minosuke,