Tokubei (to the boy): Chōzō, I’ll be following presently, but I want you now to call on the temples in Tera Street, make the round of the uptown mansions, and then go back to the shop. Tell them that I’ll be back soon. Don’t fail to call at the dyer’s in Azuchi Street and collect the money he owes us. And stay away from Dōtombori.[1]
Narrator: He watches as long as the boy remains in sight
Then lifts up the bamboo blinds.
Tokubei: Ohatsu, did you call me? What’s the matter?
Narrator: He starts to remove his bamboo hat.
Ohatsu: Please don’t take off your hat. I have a customer today from the country, who’s making the round of the Thirty-three Temples of Kwannon. He’s been telling everyone that he won’t stop drinking before night. At the moment he’s off at the theatre, but if he should return and find you here, he might cause trouble. Even the chair-bearers all recognize you, so please keep your face covered.
I’ve been so worried of late, not having had a single word from you. I couldn’t very well go to your shop to ask what had happened to you, but I must have called a hundred times at the other teahouses. They didn’t have any news of you either, but one of the musicians asked his friends about you, and they told him you had gone back to the country. I couldn’t believe it was true. It has really been a terrible experience. Didn’t you even wish to learn what had happened to me? Was that the way you wanted things to end between us? I’ve been sick with worry. If you think I’m making it up, just feel this swelling!
Narrator: His hand she takes and clasps against her breast,
And weeps reproachful and entreating tears
Exactly like a proper wedded wife:
Man though he is, he also weeps aloud.
Tokubei: All that you say is true, perfectly true, but what good would it have done to tell you and make you unhappy? The misery I’ve suffered since we met last is such that even if New Year and every other holiday in the calendar came all at once they
- ↑ A street in Osaka famed for its theatres and houses of pleasure.
