Introduction
The following tale was told to Gordon Smith as a real-life story, set in seventeenth-century Maizuru. Since 1943, Maizuru has been a naval base in Japan’s Kyoto Prefecture; in 1626, when our tale begins, it was a modest provincial harbour where prosperous merchant Shiwoya Hachiyemon had his business.
IN the days of the Emperor Go-Mizunoo, when King Charles I reigned in England, a boy of fifteen named Kichijiro was apprenticed as a clerk to Shiwoya Hachiyemon, a prosperous merchant in Maizuru.* Kichijiro was conscientious, and soon became Hachiyemon’s most trusted employee — much to the annoyance of fellow clerk Kanshichi, who not only resented being passed over for promotion, but was envious of the way that Hachiyemon’s daughter Ima had eyes only for Kichijiro. To make it worse, Kichijiro did not seem to notice her.
One day when Kichijiro was away on business Kanshichi raided the company safe and made sure the cash turned up in Kichijiro’s incense-burner. Hachiyemon suspected a trick, but had to let Kichijiro go after Kanshichi threatened to resign along with all the other clerks. Kichijiro left Maizuru and went home to his uncle in Kyoto, though not before he had promised Hachiyemon that he would clear his name and come back to claim Ima’s hand. It had taken this to make him realise how much he loved her.
Find Maizuru on Google Maps. It is a port on the northwestern shore of Honshu Island, on the Sea of Japan. Kyoto is some forty miles to the south; Tokyo is about 250 miles to the east. The tale begins in 1626, six years ofter the death of samurai Miura Anjin, formerly Will Adams, the first Englishman in Japan.
Word Games
Jigsaws Based on this passage
Express the ideas below in a single sentence. Do not be satisfied with the first answer you think of; think of several, and choose the best.
Ima was in love with Kichijiro. He did not realise this. He was too busy.