My Letter to Ming Kwok 明国への手紙

My dear Ming Kwok,

Thank you for the brushes and calligraphy books. They are finally in my hands after you sent them nearly five years ago. I wonder if this will take another five years to reach you?

My life here is pretty much how it has always been. Just like how you left it. Yet things change so much in the space of five years. I thought I would never be able to live in peace without your gentle voice or fingers on my koto. But I think I underestimated (overrated?) myself and time.

Do you ever feel the urge to lean on someone? A sudden, strong urge that just takes hold of you and consumes your thoughts, even if the other person in the same room is a total stranger. You tell yourself you just need five minutes, but you know once you put your head down you will be willing to give up much more.

I never had this feeling until after I met you. On that cliff overlooking the sea, I rested my head on your lap whilst we gazed in the direction of your hometown. The horizon was vertical and I had a slightly chilly sensation that I was in two halves, one air, the other water. From then on I think I lost the equilibrium I knew in my life.

I truly hope you have found your equilibrium and that when I receive your reply to this letter (in about ten years), I will be able to say the same about myself.

Your Momojiri

Matsuo Sensei 松郎先生

Matsuo Sensei is the kind of woman that put stupid people very ill at ease because of her penetrating intellect. At the same time, her natural grace and beauty always excite much interest wherever she goes. So she commands respect amongst the geishas and clients alike; even those who are jealous of her position fear to show their contempt in case of being reprimanded by others.

But she never takes advantage of such social status because she is very modest and her manners unassuming. So she is completely unlike a man, even though her curious name should have adorned the more vain sex. Yet her knowledge of the classics and Chinese poetry is anthological, she plays the game of Go as if she were the general of an army, and the koto! When her fingers are on those strings of a koto, it’s like seeing fish in the sea and birds in the sky.

However, today her hands were not doing anything so cultivated or stylish. We have been kneading all day. I was finally able to procure a bucket of water from the well in our old tea house and had someone carry it to Matsuo Sensei’s place. When I told her about my idea of making the new perfume bag, she was immediately interested and thought it would be a splendid undertaking. And while I have been trying to gather what she thought we would need (silk gauze, handkerchiefs, the best rice and water from the well), Matsuo Sensei has been devising a perfect way of extracting that fragrance.

To be safe, she asked me to cook some of the congee I love so much first so we both knew what exactly we were trying to obtain. Her subtle smile with close eyes was exquisite when her face and all her senses were immersed in the steam above the congee glistening with the greenish tinge. She then instructed me to cook more and to drain out the liquid.

Meanwhile she started cooking with the rice and water I brought as if we were going to make mochi. The rice came out looking like normal steamed rice in that it was white, but the fragrance is still there. So Matsuo Sensei mixed it with the congee I drained. And instead of beating the rice like we would for mochi, we kneaded the rice-congee mixture with our hands to keep the fragrance.

When the mixture became mochi-like, we rolled them into little balls about the size of half of a quail egg and placed them under the sun to dry and harden. Then we waited for the congee juice to be completely cool, before submerging all the handkerchiefs in it.

“Now we wait.” Matsuo Sensei bid me to come back in three days.

“But that’s when the contest will be!”

“Perfect.”

Happy New Year! あけましておめでとうございます

What a New Year’s Eve!

The hanabi was magnificent. It lit up the entire city with green, gold and magenta. These explosions of lights and colours are just so mesmerising for some reason, even the smoke they leave behind give the landscape a magical look. Afterwards, my heart was suddenly injected with so much love for those around me I had to hold their hands and tell them how important they had been to me all year.

I saw the hanabi at Matsuo Sensei’s house with a few other girls, with Reiko amongst them. Matsuo Sensei taught me the koto at the geisha school. She was my favourite teacher and I’m very grateful that she has continued to be my mentor and friend all these years. I never make any important decision without first seeking her advice.

As usual, the sake flowed and I had too much to drink. I completely forgot to tell Matsuo Sensei what I told Reiko the day after I had the congee made with water from the old well: I am going to try to make a perfume bag of the fragrance of that congee for the perfume contest as part of the New Year celebrations. I must go to Matsuo Sensei again tomorrow to ask for her assistance on this.

After dinner and hanabi, we all went to a koto performance. I drank more and was quite beside myself. I felt so free without the men. I fancied myself Genji, the Shining Prince. I was surrounded by so much beauty, who were all creatures put on this land for art and pleasure. I wish I did not have clients, Oka-san or any of the worldly constraints but was completely free to enjoy these things. What a wondrous life that would be! I would drink, compose poems and have romantic intrigues with a different courtesan every night. Ah!

I sweated all the sake out in my sleep and felt very light and cleansed when I woke up. It is a good new start.