Shipwrecks (9 page)

‘Kura's not here yet?' asked the village chief; he was being buffeted by the wind.

‘She should be here soon,' replied the man standing at his side. The chief had asked her to come to the beach again, as the pregnant woman, and no doubt he would have her pray that the ship out there was a merchant vessel.

‘Here she is!' said a voice from the crowd as Kura stepped onto the beach and walked toward the village chief with Takichi, who was holding a flaming torch. Her belly was large and her movements were laboured.

Kura bowed to the village chief, took the sacred straw festoon from him, and held it reverently in front of her before walking over to the water's edge and casting it into the sea. The sound of the sutras rose from the crowd, and Isaku joined them in prayer.

The cold intensified, and the men took turns feeding wood to the fires under the cauldrons. On the village chief's instructions, more wood was brought down and another fire was lit, round which the villagers stood warming themselves.

The wind died down slightly as the first signs of dawn appeared. The night sky took on a bluish tinge, and the stars began to fade. The villagers fixed their eyes on the sea. Fountains of spray shot into the air around each side of the reef, and there, on one such cluster of rocks, for all to see was a ship stuck hard and fast. She swayed ever so slightly each time she was pounded by the waves.

‘She holds two hundred bales.'

‘More like three hundred,' the men whispered. The sails had been lowered, and the crest could not be seen.

‘She's got a full load.'

There was no doubt the deck was packed with what appeared to be cargo. Normally, if the crew sensed they might be in danger of sinking, they would cut the cargo free and jettison it to stabilise the ship, but most likely they had spotted the lights on the shore and turned towards land.

The sky became lighter, and the outline of the ship was clearly visible. The canvas of the shortened sails flapped in the wind.

‘I can see the crest,' said someone in a low voice.

‘It's not the
daimyo
's crest. It's a merchant ship!' cried one of the men.

For a moment there was silence, then suddenly the villagers broke into cheers. The crests of clan ships were large and were found in the middle of the sails, but the ship listing before them out on the water had only a small crest at the very top of the sail.

Isaku was shouting ecstatically with the rest of them.

The early-morning shore resounded with something halfway between cheering and wailing. There were people literally jumping for joy, while others ran around kicking up snow.

Isaku heard the sound of crying behind him; several women standing in a huddle were sobbing, no doubt overcome by the pain and sadness in their lives, lives never free from the fear of starvation. Tears welled up in Isaku's eyes, too. If his father had not sold himself into bondage, perhaps his sister would not have died.

‘Be quiet!' snapped the tall elder standing beside the village chief. ‘Out on
O-
fune-
sama
, there are people out there.'

Silence reigned and the villagers stood motionless, their eyes on the ship, the upper part of which protruded from the shimmering sea. There were people on board all right, sitting at the base of the main mast, palms pressed together in prayer as they looked toward shore.

‘The village chief has asked me to take over. I'll give the orders from now. Calm down and do as I say. First of all, we need lookouts. Gonsuke!' A man with one arm stepped towards the cauldrons.

‘As always, you're in charge of lookouts. I want them on Tide and Crow Points. And don't miss a thing!' said the old man, drilling Gonsuke with a steely look. Gonsuke bowed, turned to the villagers, and said, ‘Kinta, help us this time, too.' A small man emerged from the crowd and stood beside Gonsuke.

‘Sahei, Isaku, you've got young eyes. Go on lookout with Gonsuke and Kinta,' the elder said.

Isaku was not only disappointed at being assigned a job not involving the disposal of the wrecked ship, but also annoyed because he very much wanted to see what the villagers did with the long-awaited
O-
fune-
sama
. He followed Sahei over toward Gonsuke.

‘Right, let's get going. Get as much rope as you can. Also axes, mattocks, and mallets.' At this the villagers hurried up the slope back to their houses. As though girding himself for action, the old man took a handkerchief from his belt and wrapped it round his head.

Gonsuke explained the role of lookout to Isaku and Sahei. At sea there would be two types of ships passing, those that sailed in deep water and those that hugged the coastline. If the people aboard the latter were to see them disposing of
O-
fune-
sama
, the villagers would be severely punished for plundering the cargo. The lookouts were to keep watch from the promontories jutting out into the sea. If they spotted a ship, they were to use a signal fire as a warning, and the village chief would immediately stop the work dismantling the ship.

‘I was chosen because I'm long-sighted. Kinta's got good eyes, too. It's an important job. You've got to keep your eyes peeled, too,' said Gonsuke. Kinta and Sahei would go on lookout on Tide Point to the west, and Gonsuke and Isaku on Crow Point to the east.

With daybreak came the first signs of sun rising behind the snow-covered mountains to the rear of the village. The wind had died, but there was still a considerable swell on the sea. The ship was now clearly visible, its broad rudder smashed in half, and the railings on the starboard side must have been blasted clean off the deck by the force of the waves. Two men could be seen sitting beside the mast, their hands together in prayer as they looked toward the shore.

Isaku did as Gonsuke ordered and ran back to his house, put some roasted beans into a bag, and tied it to his belt. His mother
must have been at the village chief's house because there was no sign of her or his little sister.

He slipped a hatchet under his waistband and hurried out of the house up the path, where he met Gonsuke waiting with an axe over his shoulder at the start of the mountain trail. The two of them followed the trail through the deep snow before climbing up a rocky slope. The farther they climbed, the more clearly they could hear the cawing of crows and they saw birds resting their wings in the treetops. Gonsuke was fleet of foot, and Isaku sweated profusely as he tried to keep up.

Soon they reached the top of the promontory. This was the first time Isaku had set foot there. Gonsuke ploughed his way through the snow, threading a path ahead between the low trees. Down below they could hear the thunderous waves breaking on the rocks.

The wooded part of the point came to an end, and they stepped out into a flat, open area. They stood at the very tip of the cape, looking down to the left at the village and across the bay. They could see the water seething white round the reef, and they had a clear view of the wrecked ship. It was an excellent spot to post a lookout. Across the bay was Tide Point, also covered in snow, jutting out into the sea. Isaku imagined Sahei hurrying with Kinta towards its tip.

‘Get some dead trees and branches together,' Gonsuke said hurriedly.

Isaku followed the man back into the trees, then started dragging out dead pieces of wood and carrying bundles of dry branches. Gonsuke meanwhile used his hatchet to strip pieces of bark from treetrunks.

Gonsuke lit a fire, adding some dry branches to the pile once the wood caught alight. Isaku worked with the axe, cutting up branches.

‘If you put snow on these pieces of bark and then put them on the fire, it works as a smoke signal. You keep watch,' said Gonsuke.

The sea glistened in the sunlight; not a bird could be seen in the clear sky. Isaku flinched from the cold wind
off the water and moved to the fire, keeping his eyes on the sea.

‘They've started,' said Gonsuke. Isaku looked down at the bay. He could see many small boats setting off from the shore towards the wrecked ship. There was a crowd on the beach.

‘Keep your eyes out to sea,' barked Gonsuke, but he, too, was looking down into the bay. The fleet of small boats converged on the stranded ship, eventually surrounding it just like a horde of ants round a caterpillar. Several boats drew up alongside the ship, and he could see people climbing on board. He thought that no doubt they would be screaming at the ship's crew, but the sunbathed cove felt eerily tranquil.

The boats stayed round the ship for some time before starting to ferry what seemed to be cargo from the ship's deck back to shore. This activity grew more and more hectic as the little boats plied to and fro between the ship and the shore.

The lifeless sails were removed and the mast was cut down and dropped into the sea, throwing up a sheet of spray as it hit the water. One of the boats worked its way to the floating mast and proceeded to tow it to shore. The cargo was stacked up on the beach and looked very much like straw bales of rice.

Feeling hungry, Isaku started eating some of the roasted beans he had in his bag.

‘There's quite a bit of cargo there. That's some haul,' said Gonsuke, his voice trembling as he looked down on the bay.

‘Is this more than
O-
fune-
sama
in the past?' asked Isaku.

‘There have been bigger ships, but this amount of cargo's unusual. There's a lot on the beach, and there's still more to come off the ship.' Gonsuke's eyes glistened with excitement.

Gonsuke undoubtedly knew what he was talking about, since he had been on lookout each time
O-
fune-
sama
had come. Isaku felt excitement welling up inside him at the very thought of the exceptional amount of cargo. ‘What do you think could be on board?' he asked.

‘Well, first of all, there could be rice, then maybe things like beans, cloth, pottery, tobacco, writing-paper, oil and sugar.
Once there was even a ship carrying twenty casks of wine,' he said, baring his chipped teeth in a grin.

The ship must have been eventually emptied of cargo around the time the sun began to set. The boats became less active, and the villagers started to carry everything off the beach up to the chief's house.

The snow on the mountains looming behind the village took on a purple tinge before giving way to the night. Down on the beach the light of the fire suddenly glimmered, and the village sank into darkness.

Isaku helped Gonsuke dig a hole in the deep snow that had built up behind a large rock, lining the inside with dry leaves and grass. After they had criss-crossed sticks over the top of the hole and placed bark on top, they climbed in and lay down back to back.

There was a wicked chill in the air, but inside the hole it gradually became warmer. Gonsuke started to snore.

Isaku lay in the dark, his eyes wide open. By all accounts the village chief would order the bounty from
O-
fune-
sama
to be distributed fairly to each household, according to the number of people in each family. With the bulk of the cargo undoubtedly being bales of rice, Isaku was beside himself with joy at the thought of partaking of such a delicacy. His younger brother and sister had never tasted rice, and he imagined the luxury of serving them rice gruel. He could just picture how the delectably sweet taste of the white gruel would astonish them.

Gonsuke was certainly right about the large haul, and naturally this meant that each family could look forward to receiving a generous amount of food and other items. With the saury not selling and a poor catch of autumn octopus allowing them to buy only a pitiful amount of grain, the coming of
O-
fune-
sama
was nothing less than deliverance from the fear of starvation. If managed properly, the bounty would last them two or even three years. There would be no need for them to sell themselves into bondage, and no doubt they would be able to lead quiet, peaceful lives for some time to come. Tami would stay with her family, and Takichi would
continue to spend his days as a fisherman and a father to his child.

Isaku put his hand over his heart. The coming of
O-
fune-
sama
was due to divine intercession, and Isaku wanted to offer a prayer of gratitude from the bottom of his heart.

The sound of the waves breaking at the foot of the promontory seemed to reverberate from the earth's very core. Before he knew it he was asleep.

He woke up to find a hand shaking his shoulder.

Gonsuke reached up and pushed aside the branches and bark covering the hole. Isaku felt a sudden rush of cold air. There were still stars in the night sky, but they were losing their brightness.

Isaku crawled out of the hole. Gonsuke was blowing life into the dying embers of the fire, and in no time he had the dry branches crackling.

Isaku warmed himself by the fire and looked out to sea. As daybreak drew near, the sea was calm. Down in the bay, work had already started; he could see what must have been flaming torches set up in the boats moving on the water, as well as on the stranded ship.

Gonsuke cooked two salted saury in the fire, handing one to Isaku. Fat oozed out of the hot fish, and as he ate it with the roasted beans the saltiness of the saury was neutralised, producing an incredibly delicious taste.

Daybreak came, and the sea was bathed in morning sunlight. Splashes of spray shot up again and again round the stranded ship as pieces of timber and planks were thrown overboard.

‘Looks like they're taking
O-
fune-
sama
apart,' said Isaku, straining his eyes to see what was happening.

‘That's because she's made of good-quality timber. Can be used for anything. There are nails and hinges to be had there, too. And all the pots and pans down in the galley, not to mention the knives, buckets and rice tubs. Sometimes there are even cabinets or chests,' said Gonsuke enthusiastically.