Fish of the Seto Inland Sea. Ruri Pilgrim

were free.

      â€˜It does not matter if we have to sell our land now,’ she went on. ‘Kitani village is too small for our children. They should go out, and get their places in the wider world. Your ancestors would be proud of you if you spend what they passed on to you for the sake of the people around here.’

      â€˜Oho!’ Tei-ichi stared at his wife. If Haruko had been present, she would have understood that Yasuharu’s ambition had inspired Kei. ‘You have grown to be a great woman.’ Tei-ichi disguised his surprise by teasing.

      â€˜Oh, no,’ Kei replied modestly. ‘I am just repeating something Yasuharu san told me the other day.’

      Tei-ichi Shirai’s campaign had hardly any opposition, particularly after Shobei offered his wholehearted support. Shobei’s trust in the Shirais as a mainstay for his family, expressed before his son’s marriage, had been fulfilled.

      Tei-ichi was busier and within a few years had risen to the position of Chairman of the Assembly.

      In the spring, Masakazu started to work at the post office. Kei bought him the first bicycle in the village. On the morning of his first day, she lit new candles in the recess where the ancestral name tablets were placed. She made Masakazu sit by her and both of them prayed.

      â€˜I thanked our ancestors that you have grown up to be a fine man,’ she said. ‘I am sure they are very proud of you.’ She handed him his lunch box. She stood at the gate and watched him ride away until he waved at her and turned a corner.

      The villagers were getting used to hearing the bell of the bicycle through the early morning mist, and a cheerful ‘Good morning.’ ‘Kuma san, if you want to write to your son again, I’ll do it for you. Come to the post office.’ ‘Thank you very much, Masakazu dansama. I’ll come to see you tomorrow, if it’s all right with you.’ Watching his disappearing back, they would say, ‘The young dansama of the Shirais are all hard-working and well educated.’ Kei’s plan was successful.

      â€˜It is better to be a chicken’s head than an ox’s tail.’ Kei was breezy when talking to Ayako about her younger brother. ‘He is respected now and appreciated. He would have been miserable among scholars.’

      â€˜What does that mean, obahsama?’ Haruko asked, laughing. ‘Why is he a chicken’s head?’

      Kei was serious. ‘It means, it is much better to know one’s place than to hang at the bottom of more able people and be undistinguished. Remember it. It is an important lesson in life.’

      As for Hideto, Kei was confident and hardly worried about her youngest son. He was now a boarder at a school in town. Although he was mischievous, he was popular among his friends. Kei secretly believed that he had the potential to become a great man. He would be a hero among heroes, she thought. The school tolerated most of his adventures and he was given only minor punishments.

      It was mere boyish misbehaviour. On winter evenings, when the boys were hungry, the vendors came around calling, ‘Baked sweet potatoes! Baked sweet potatoes!’, or, ‘Buckwheat noodles. Hot noodles!’, over the school walls. The vendors had earthen barrels with burning charcoal on a cart, and the sweet potatoes were hooked and baked inside. It was always Hideto who had to go and buy them for everyone, as he was the best able to climb up on the high wall of the boarding house.

      One night, as Hideto carried a hot newspaper bag and jumped down into the school premises, a teacher was waiting for him. He was also involved in many fights, mostly defending weak boys from bullies. All the incidents were duly reported to his parents and they both ignored them.

      â€˜He has already been punished at school,’ Tei-ichi would say. ‘Leave him. If he is still like that when he is eighteen, then, I will disown him.’ Kei secretly loved these stories which she thought gallant and fun. But when he participated in a strike against the school authorities, the matter could not be left unattended. It was an incident concerning a young history teacher. He was enthusiastic about democracy and freedom and excited the boys with an idealism bordering on anti-imperialism and anti-militarism.

      This was at a time when twelve people had been sentenced to death just for being accused of planning the assassination of the Emperor. Socialism was a dangerous word. The Military Police were increasing their influence. Although Hideto was not a senior pupil or the main agitator, taking part in the strike was judged to be a grave offence. Tei-ichi was not only Chairman of the Assembly but also by then the head of the parents’ association of the school. The school hesitated to publicise his son’s misconduct. If it was known that Hideto was treated generously because he was Dr Shirai’s son, Tei-ichi’s name would be tarnished. On the other hand, if Hideto was either suspended or expelled from school, it would affect his future.

      Kei visited the headmaster, the deputy headmaster, the class teacher, and all the other teachers, even the kendo instructor, and apologised to each one. She was the wife of the Chairman of the Prefectural Assembly and a doctor who was widely known and respected. Her family was also closely connected with the Miwas, but she humbly and politely asked everybody to forgive him as in future he would be strictly supervised. All the teachers sympathised with Kei. She was admired as ‘a very accomplished lady’.

      â€˜What has he done?’ Haruko asked Kei.

      â€˜Boys get passionate about new ideas. That is the way they learn. Only those who are stupid never get into trouble when they are young, but only stupid ones go on being trouble after they grow up,’ Kei said.

      â€˜What trouble, obahsama?’

      â€˜Oh, politics. Something that we women do not have to understand.’

      And it was not long before Hideto proved himself worthy of his mother’s efforts.

      The summer holiday came and Yasuharu returned home. He brought with him a friend who was a paediatrician. The children were told to call him Dr Komoto but, in spite of the formal address, he was soon joining in with wrestling, games and other lively activities. Haruko’s English alphabet progressed from ‘apple’ to ‘pen’ with Dr Komoto’s help.

      The days passed, happy and uneventful, until the day that Yasuharu, Dr Komoto, Hideto and Shuichi decided to go sea fishing. Early in the morning, they left, both Yasuharu and Dr Komoto in yukata, cotton kimono, and Hideto and Shuichi in cotton shorts, all wearing straw hats. The day promised to be fine. They carried rice balls that Shige had made. The rice balls had cooked seaweed inside instead of the usual pickled plums. Pickled plums prevented the rice from going sour but, if taken fishing, Shige insisted, there would not be any catch.

      â€˜Oh? That won’t do, Shige san. Thank you,’ Dr Komoto said politely. Yasuharu just opened his mouth and laughed noiselessly.

      At the shore, a fisherman was waiting for them with a small boat. He said, ‘It is windy further offshore. Come home early before the weather changes.’ But the sky was deep blue and the temperature was rising. The sun was already strong. They got into the boat and the fisherman pushed it out into the water.

      â€˜Shu-chan, you must get as tanned and strong as Hideto,’ Yasuharu said. Yasuharu, Dr Komoto and Hideto rowed the boat in turn until they were a long way from the shore. They were all happily fishing when Dr Komoto said, ‘Oh?’ and looked up at the sky.

      The wind was getting cool and he thought he felt a raindrop on his face. But he did not pay further attention as Yasuharu and Hideto did not seem to be worried. They were brought up in the area, he thought, they should know. But although they had grown up near the sea, neither Yasuharu nor Hideto had much knowledge or experience of boats. Yasuharu looked up at the sky as large drops of rain started to come down on them.

      â€˜It will pass,’ he said, and asked Shuichi if he was cold. Shuichi was catching the rain water running down his cheeks by sticking out a lower lip.