The Scent of Sake (47 page)

“Did you enter the kura that time, Grandmother, and make it go sour?” Hirokichi asked.

All the adults laughed, including Rie. Then she thought of Jihei’s treachery, and her smile vanished, her mood darkened.

“No, I didn’t cause it, Hiro,” she said.

Rie leaned over toward Fumi. “I knew Hiro would be a bright child, even before he was born,” she said softly, not wanting Hiro to become conceited.

Tama looked at Rie and leaned forward. “And Ume has started scouring the barrels, Mother. She’s so thorough. Toji is very pleased with her.” Tama, like Yoshi, was always eager to protect Ume. It was a shift since Tama’s anguish when Ume was adopted in.

“Yes,” Rie said. “That’s what I used to do when I was young, Ume.” She glanced at Ume. “Your mother did too. It’s good to see these traditions carried on by the grandchildren.”

“How is Buntaro working out, Mother?’ Eitaro asked.

“He’s an excellent worker, excellent. And we’ve promoted him now to Kinno’s number one apprentice. Sei is so far away that I’m glad we have this tie. Not like you, close by so that we

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can talk every day. You know Kinno worked in the kitchen at first. I found him there boiling rice.”

“Is that so?” Eitaro said. “I didn’t know. So he rose from rice boiler to head clerk?” He nodded appreciatively.

“And Buntaro shows the same promise as Kinno. That’s what really pleases me,” Rie said. “I’m glad his father and Sei didn’t insist that he go back, though I know they miss him.” Rie realized that Sei and Buntaro’s father were deeply disappointed to lose Buntaro.

“There’s a problem with the loan to the temple, Mother,” Yoshitaro said in the office one morning.

“Yes,” Kinnosuke agreed, worry lines making him appear older than his years. “It was a five-year loan, and they are not able to pay the interest. They haven’t paid for the last four months.” He looked from Rie to Yoshitaro.

“I see,” Rie said. She tapped the table with her fan.

“The priest came from Kyoto yesterday afternoon. He said, correctly, that the principle and interest have reached a total of fifteen thousand yen. They cannot pay the interest on it. He was quite distressed,” Yoshitaro said, watching his mother.

“I was afraid that might happen when they asked for such a big loan,” Kinnosuke said.

“Yes, it was not totally unexpected,” Rie said, although she had hoped it would never come to this. “Now we will have to treat them like any other borrower. Accept some of their collateral.” She reached over for the ledger book in front of Kinnosuke.

Yoshitaro frowned. “You mean . . . take the temple’s land?” he asked, wide-eyed with shock.

“They have quite a lot of good mountain land that they don’t need, and the demand for our wood and coal is increasing. We use a lot ourselves. So many are using steam power now. With the extra money we earn, we can make a larger donation so that they

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won’t be greatly affected, and won’t lose face by being unable to repay the loan.”

Yoshitaro smoothed the hair back from his face to reveal a gathering storm, and asked, “How can we do this to our family temple? Our ancestral records and graves are there. This would be a huge blot on our reputation. It just isn’t done, to take collateral from a temple, any more than it is to loan to them.”

“Yoshi, this is a new era. It calls for bold measures if we are to keep up with the times and stay ahead of the competition. We can’t cling to old attitudes.”

“I didn’t like it when we made the loan, but this is even worse,” Yoshitaro said, leaning on his crutches. He frowned. “I’m afraid when word of this gets around it will be bad for our business. We’ll be criticized. More than that, think of the bad karma that will accrue from taking temple land, taking advantage of the family temple. You can’t go against the gods and priests.”

Rie sighed. Although she understood his worries, even agreed, it was too late to be timid. It would only make matters worse. Instead, they needed to make the best out of a bad situation. Yoshitaro was at times so obviously Jihei’s son, not hers. “Yoshi, don’t be fainthearted,” she said. “Your father was that way too. Our markets are not only secure, they are expanding. And I doubt others will come to know of this. And as I said earlier, we can make added donations to the temple with our earnings. What do you think, Kinno-san?”

Kinnosuke spoke rapidly. “As the temple is more a family matter, I don’t feel I can offer an opinion. The decision is up to you, and the Master. But if you really want my opinion, I think Yoshi may be right.”

“We should consult with Sei and Eitaro,” Yoshitaro said, taking advantage of Kinnosuke’s evasion.

“I am sure they would support me,” Rie said.

Yoshitaro stomped around on his crutches. “Well, this is some—

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thing I refuse to do. And
I
would be the one who would have to inform the priest, not you.”

“Business is business, Yoshi!” Rie countered, standing in front of him so he could not escape her. “We often have to do things we do not enjoy. Yes, it’s your responsibility as house head. You’ll have to go to Kyoto tomorrow. Kinno can go with you and take care of the financial details.”

Kinnosuke bowed, but she could see the tension in his face.

Rie knew that if she didn’t do something quickly, Yoshi’s anger would soon spill over. She touched his arm, but he merely pulled away.

“There’s no need to take all their mountain land,” Rie said, trying a more conciliatory approach. “This won’t change our relationship. I doubt they’ll want to publicize these arrangements any more than they did the loan, and in the end, this will help the temple, which is in desperate straits financially and is dependent on the house for support.”

“Aren’t we all,” said Yoshi coldly, staring her boldly in the eye.

Rie ignored the challenge, and instead inserted her fan in her obi, rose, and left the office.

As Rie was preparing for bed that evening, thinking of Yoshi and Kinno’s opposition to taking temple land, and even loaning to the temple, her father’s words of warning came to her. “You know what they say about the peg that sticks up. It gets pounded down.” How many times had she heard this? Competition in business could not be avoided. But had she allowed her zeal for making White Tiger number one to cause her to stray too far from tradition, to get too far ahead of her competitors? Did she detect some resentment in the behavior not only of Yamaguchi but other brewers as well? Moreover, it was known among brewers that she, a woman, was making decisions for White Tiger, not Yoshi. She was venturing into many areas reserved for men.

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These troubling thoughts coursed through her again and again. How she missed her father and his unerring good judgment.

Rie needed a walk in the garden one morning several weeks later, a chance to take stock of all that had happened in the family and business. She stepped out and felt herself bending, as if under a great weight of worries. She straightened as her geta crunched against the carefully swept gray pebbles. She brushed her hand across her favorite rock and sat. Yoshi had not come around as she had hoped. Instead he had remained sullen, aloof. She sighed. At least her children were married now, all gone. A major part of her responsibility had been discharged. Only with Yoshi and Teru had she failed; Teru still a wound that festered. Now she could focus fully on the business side, though it had never been far from her thoughts, even when the children were present. The temple’s mountain land was a valuable addition to the Omura holdings, forested mountain land necessary for coal production and sales. She wished Yoshi and Kinnosuke could understand that.

She gazed at the koi pond and looked for the old fish, the grandfather fish that had inhabited the pond so many years. There he was, still lazing at the far side. As she watched, two red maple leaves circled dizzily down and touched the surface just above him. The koi swished into action and carried the leaves on its back to the center of the pond. She gazed, eyes half closed, and saw a ship, a cask ship carrying barrels of sake to Tokyo, the newly named capital.

The Omura ships now numbered six, and other brewers had followed their lead in purchasing ships of their own. Perhaps it was time to take another step in the shipping venture that had proven so successful. It was a matter of organization, a business issue, a way of deploying resources most efficiently. Kinno would offer some suggestion. His loyalty had really not wavered after

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divorcing Nobu and now with the tension around the temple, had it? And he had become so protective of Ume, just as he had always been of Yoshi. Surely Kinno would welcome a new move that could propel White Tiger to the forefront in yet another area. Other brewers watched him with great interest and followed his lead in each step he took.

Now with Seisaburo’s vision added to her own, Kinno’s dedication to the house could only strengthen. How gratifying that Sei was her son, though it was regrettable that his special talents were not shared by Yoshi, who tried so hard to live up to his role as house head. “At least our sake will not kill him as it did his father,” Rie mused.

She stirred on the rock, brushed off her kimono, and walked back through the corridor to the office. She lowered herself to the table where Yoshitaro sat.

“Good morning, Yoshi,” she said. “Where is Kinno?”

“I believe in the outer office, Mother,” he said stiffly. “Shall I get—?” Yoshitaro stopped, unable to raise himself easily.

“Don’t worry, Yoshi. I’ll call him,” Rie said, wishing that they could bridge the gap that seemed to have divided them since the argument over the loan to the priests.

When Kinnosuke joined them, he and Yoshitaro looked expectantly at Rie.

“Our shipping is going well with our six ships now, isn’t it, Kinno-san?”

Kinnosuke nodded. “Quite well, yes. That side of the business has a potential to expand, it seems certain,” he said, looking at Yoshitaro as he spoke.

“Just what I was thinking,” said Rie, her excitement mount-ing. “Now what was it you were saying recently about this new form of business organization? Was it called joint stock?”

“That’s right. A joint stock company is organized among sev—

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eral stockholders, owners, as a way of spreading the risk. They say it is useful in new ventures,” Kinnosuke replied. He looked at Rie quizzically.

“Well, Kinno, do you think our shipping has reached the stage where we could form our own shipping company, perhaps using this new form? Wouldn’t it give us still better control over shipping and labor?”

Kinnosuke scratched his head and sucked in his breath. “We were the first to purchase our own ships. I see no reason why we can’t be the first to form our own shipping company.” He nodded.

Yoshitaro looked back and forth at his mother and Kinnosuke, then just shook his head.