The Scent of Sake (39 page)

“And what about finding an agent in Edo?” Rie asked. “Was there too much confusion to do anything?”

Kinnosuke bowed again, blinked and nodded. “No, actually it was a good time to be there. I found a man to be our agent in Nihonbashi. Yoshioka is his name. I checked his references with friends. He knows most of the big wholesalers there, and dis-tributors too along the northern and southern routes out of the city. Keeps his eye on the whole situation. I think we were lucky to get him.”

Rie nodded. “Well done, Kinno-san,” she said.

Yoshitaro leaned forward. “I think it might be wise to send one of our clerks to work with him, act as our permanent liaison. We’ll need to watch the situation closely.”

Rie nodded. “Good thinking, Yoshi. Yes, we need to keep close contact there, especially now. Has Yamaguchi set up an Edo office yet?” Rie was relieved to be able to agree with Yoshi, for once.

“Not yet. I should go to Edo again in a few weeks to see how Yoshioka is doing and what is happening in Edo,” Kinnosuke said. “I can choose a man to go along and be based there. I discussed the question of northern versus southern routes with

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Yoshioka. He thinks a southern move would be more strategic now, especially in view of Satsuma and Choshu power along that route.”

Rie nodded and looked around the room again at the four men.

At the dinner table one evening Yoshitaro took Ume on his lap. “Ume is three now, Mother. I want Tama to take her out for
shichi-go-san.
” A day all children aged seven, five and three looked forward to, when they dressed in their finest for the outing. During the day they enjoyed special treats and played their favorite games.

“I’ve bought Ume a new red kimono for the occasion,” Tama said, smiling at Ume.

“Red kimono, red kimono,” Ume cried, waving her hands.

Rie looked at Tama.
Too bad there wouldn’t be a chance to get together with Kazu,
she thought, with Kazu’s Kimi turning seven this year. She quickly dismissed the thought. Kazu was no longer part of the Omura House, no longer her responsibility, and the thought of Kazu always elicited painful memories of Teru.

“Hirokichi isn’t three yet,” Rie said. “His birthday is still four months away, but I don’t think he’d like to be left out.”

“It wouldn’t really be suitable for him to join Ume, Mother,” Yoshitaro said. “You know how important the birthday is for this celebration.”

He no doubt wanted above all to protect Ume, but did he want to keep Hirokichi away from the house, too? Rie glanced at Yoshitaro and noticed that he was chewing on a chopstick.
Better than pulling at his eyebrows,
she thought.

When the special day arrived, Tama brought Ume dressed in her bright new kimono with matching ribbons in her hair into the office in the morning to greet Rie and Yoshitaro.

“Oh, don’t you look pretty!” Rie exclaimed. “And where

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are you taking her?” She looked at Tama, also wearing a dress kimono.

“We’re going to the temple. I know they’ll have sweets for the children today.”

Ume began to jump and cry, “Sweets! Ume wants sweets!”

Rie took Ume’s hand. “You can have sweet bean soup when you come home.”

Yoshitaro walked over to Ume and Tama. “Take her through the main office so Kinnosuke can see her,” he said. “She’s old enough to begin visiting.”

Tama bowed and took Ume by the hand. Rie and Yoshitaro both watched as they walked toward the outer office.

“It’s good she’s such a happy child,” Rie said.

“Not only happy, she’s also bright and pretty,” Yoshitaro said.

Rie smiled. There was no need to tell Yoshi her plans for Ume yet.

“Oku-san,” Kinnosuke said to Rie one morning, “Seisaburo has something he wants us to see. He particularly asked that you come too. He says it’s going to transform brewing.” He blinked rapidly.

Rie looked up quickly. “Transform brewing? What could that be?” She took out her fan from her obi and held it as if to fan herself, but stopped and looked at Kinnosuke.

“I’m not sure. I think his clerk said it has something to do with polishing rice.”

“Well, let’s go over this afternoon, Kinno-san. Have you told Yoshi?”

“Yes. He’s eager to go.”

“I want Eitaro to go too. Have someone go and ask him to meet us here after lunch. We’ll all go together.” She fanned herself. Not surprising that Seisaburo had made a discovery. Already he was well respected in the Brewers Association.

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Kinnosuke bowed. “I’ll have a horse and carriage waiting. It’s a long ride to Nishinomiya.”

Horse and carriage was a new mode of transport, available to families who could afford it.

Rie enjoyed the ride in the covered black carriage with horse and coachman, a luxury she had recently adopted that now seemed a necessity. With it came the rare chance to visit her son. She leaned forward to look at the looming wooden brewery buildings as they passed, street after street of towering brown structures, apprentices pulling carts piled high with bags of rice or sake barrels, couriers dashing back and forth on their errands. How wonderful to be outside, to feel the pulse of activity that animated her world. And today there was the special excitement about what awaited them at Seisaburo’s brewery. She clutched at the side of the carriage.

Seisaburo was waiting at the main entrance to greet them. Rie was pleased at his invitation.

He bowed. “Welcome. I’m glad you could come, Mother.

Please come this way.”

He led them into his outer office where several clerks in indigo jackets and leggings stood in a row bowing to greet the head of the main house and his mother.

Seisaburo stood as tea was served. “I have exciting news for you. I have discovered something quite astonishing: a new and far faster and more efficient way of polishing rice. I want to show it to you. Mother, you will be able to observe it too, because we cook and polish the rice outside the main kura, next to our storeroom.”

Rie took out her fan without opening it. All four visitors leaned forward expectantly.

“First I’ll explain it to you, then we can see it in operation. It’s a machine that uses steam power rather than a waterwheel to polish rice. I suspect that eventually steam power will completely replace the waterwheel for polishing.”

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“Steam power!” Yoshitaro exclaimed. “How does it work?” Eitaro asked.

Rie rested her fan under her chin, eyes riveted on her son, who spoke so confidently.

“We use coal to generate the steam power,” Seisaburo began. He opened a large drawing on the table and pointed as he spoke. “Here, you can see the process. The heat from burning coal boils water in a tank. This produces steam that expands and creates pressure that forces pistons to move the arm that comes down on the polishing area.” He looked around the table at his relatives and Kinnosuke.

“And all this comes from burning coal?” Kinnosuke asked. “Yes. Coal is the source.”

“And how much faster or more efficient is this engine than the waterwheel?” Eitaro asked.

“We can polish forty times as much rice as the waterwheel does in the same amount of time.”

The men gasped.

Rie placed both hands on the table. “Forty times! Just imagine!” she exclaimed.

“How did you learn about these steam engines, Sei?” Yoshitaro asked.

“Steam power was being used by those barbarian ships that came to Yokohama a few years ago. I went to Osaka some months ago and saw one of the steam engines in operation. I thought we might apply it to rice polishing, so I studied it carefully and tried to reconstruct it here. It seems to be working well.” He smiled proudly.

“Brilliant, Sei! Brilliant!” Rie cried. “And you did this all on your own.” She beamed. “Now . . . we’ll need a supply of coal, won’t we?”

“You’re right, Mother.” Seisaburo nodded. “We’ll need to start a coal plant of our own. I’ve begun negotiations.”

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“Kinno-san, Yoshi, study Sei’s machine so we can build one of our own. You too, Eitaro,” Rie said.

“You can model it after mine, Mother,” Seisaburo agreed. “Make sure you learn how it works,” Rie told the others.

“Come, let’s see it.” Rie patted Seisaburo’s arm and smiled at him. “This will put us way ahead of Yamaguchi.”

Seisaburo led the way through the storage area to the new rice polisher.

Rie could not be more proud of Sei.

Rie had Kinnosuke and her sons carefully study the revolution-ary steam-powered rice polisher to adopt it immediately for the main house. Within three months of their visit to Seisaburo it was operating. The Omura enterprise thus became the first brewing house in Japan to use steam power for polishing rice.

“And I’m sure everyone will want to adopt it. But meantime it gives us a big advantage, very big.” Kinnosuke worked rapidly with the abacus as he talked. “It looks as if we may jump from fifth to third place this year.”

“
Ah,
is that so?” Rie rose and began to pace up and down in the office, hands clasped behind her in imitation of her father. “And I remember my father being so pleased when we climbed from number nine to number eight. But you know, Kinno-san, I have always felt Seisaburo would do something remarkable, even though I shouldn’t say it, as his mother.”

Just then, Yoshitaro entered the office. The moment Rie saw his face she knew he had heard their conversation. And he wasn’t happy.

Rie turned to Yoshitaro one evening after dinner. “Yoshi, please bring me the ledger of donations to the temple. It’s in that tansu behind you,” she said. “It’s time for our annual donation.”

“Yes, Mother.” Yoshitaro paused. “I was going to mention it to you anyway. We’ve been approached by the head priest.

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They’re in financial trouble and ask that we double our donation this year.” He scratched his chin and looked at Rie.

“Double it?” Rie frowned. “What kind of financial trouble?” “I believe they had a fire in the old part of the main building.