Chapter 7.4

"---From Kanemasa?"

Yuuki turned from the creole counter to face Katou Minoru. Katou ran the electronics shop beside Ichino bridge. He was a regular at creole, but today he came to say that Katou's mother and son had seen the owners of Kanemasa, in the early evening. 

"It seems she spoke with Kirishikis,"  Katou said, disinterested. The way he spoke and carried himself, he seemed more like a scientific researcher than the proprietor of an electronics shop. 

I see, Yuuki murmured. So they didn't exactly go around introducing themselves, but they did indeed step out of the house, he thought.

"What kind of people did you say they were?" Hasegawa casually prompted. 

"Apparently rather stately. Like actors, my mother said, but."

"...Hmm. The day before yesterday, I met with the young man from Kanemasa---Tatsumi-kun, I think it was---and I had a good feeling about the boy."

"Speaking of the day before yesterday, it seems like there was a big fuss from Shimizu-san's place, wasn't there?"

"That's right. Tatsumi-kun helped out with that. It was good we found her safe and sound."

Katou nodded. Glass in hand, he let the sound of the saxophone flow into his ears. Katou was in his mid-thirties, and was essentially a very peaceful, quiet, calm man. 

"I hope that resolves those uncomfortable misunderstandings, though." 

Hirosawa tilted his head at Yuuki's words. "Uncomfortable misunderstandings?"

Actually, Yuuki said, telling him about the cruel rumors he had overheard that night. 

"Just being told that now that you've moved out here, you should come out, in itself won't resolve everything. Tatsumi-kun and Ikebe-kun both laughed it off, but I'm sure inside they didn't find it that funny."

I see, Hirosawa sighed. Inside the shop were only Hasegawa and Katou, Hirosawa and Yuuki, for a total of four people, and the melancholy silence settled over them even in a place that had been quiet to start with. 

"Unity is a single word to refer to what, from another angle, is the exclusion of others after all," Hirosawa said with some restraint. "....But, there's no excuse for that."

Hasegawa nodded as well. "I see, then. That's why they've come down to the village. Unless they show their faces, they can't be sure what people are saying about them."

"If that's why, it's a shame."

Yuuki cocked his head. "But I do think it's strange. If it were me or the masters of Kanemasa, I understand that we'd be looked to with a suspicious eye. It's sad to say, that's what it is to be an outsider. But, Ikebe-kun and the Junior Monk are seen the same way, so what am I to make of that? The two of them work at the temple and are well integrated into the village's society, aren't they?"

Hirosawa gave a wry smile. "Normally, people wouldn't speak ill of the temple. That group must not have been a part of the temple parish. Probably new families in Kami-Sotoba. People who came in the post-war period, likely."

"Would that matter?"

"That in itself is another case of the exclusion of others I'd spoke of. Sotoba has a history as a society of regional bonds, which means the sense of unity was strong. There were families that moved in after the war, but those families at the time were excluded, and in turn, those people developed hostility towards the society that rejected them. That isn't to say all of them did but it was the general pattern that they more or less fell into. To those people, the temple must have been seen as the enemy's leader, I imagine. The temple and Kanemasa, then later Ozaki were called the three pillars, were the heart of the village after all.

[TL/N: Three Pillars -

a continuation of the

Murakata

 matter. 

The situation described between the temple, Kanemasa, and the Ozaki house is a reflection of the common style of governance of villages during the Edo period. Called the Murakata Sanyaku, or the three roles of the Murakata, it consisted of the following roles: The village headman, the village elder (also occasionally called the group leader) and the people's representative. How each position was assigned varied from votes to appointment by outside sources, throughout history and territories. In summary, the three were involved in civil administration of the village.  

The village headman was generally responsible for the overall delegation and governing of the village. the elder assisted, and the people's representative was an auditor. This was the general rule and not an absolute, as things varied region to region]

"Heeh."

"Originally the village was strongly united around the three pillars. So to new citizens, they'd be considered the final boss. In those days, Kanemasa was central to everyone's interests as long as they were living in Sotoba, so as long as he served as the village headman, Kanemasa would be revered with respect, and hostilities would be withheld. All the more for the Ozakis. Everyone was dependent on their care. But as for the temple, if you weren't a part of the parish, there was no point of relevance. They were an ideal target for those hostilities."

"I guess that would be the case."

"And in the Junior Monk's case, he's also a novelist, and having such a distinct side occupation is probably cause for some prejudice as well. There's no doubt he's a moody eccentric, they say. On the practical side, it's strange for any of the eldest sons in the village to be single past thirty. Especially since the Junior Monk is an only child, if the Junior Monk doesn't start a family, there will be no heirs, which will be problematic."

"Ah, that's true."

"The parishioners are worried about it themselves but the Junior Monk is terribly delicate in some ways, so it's as if you can't really be too aggressive with him. The head monk married late himself, and he does seem to understand his own position at least, so the parishioners are probably thinking to give him just a little more time." 

Hasegawa leaned in and spoke in a hushed tone. "Is that rumor true?"

"---Rumor?"

"Yes. The Junior Monk once, that is... attempted suicide, or so it's said."

Hirosawa smiled wryly. "It seems so. I don't know anything other than the rumor either, though. That may be why those around him aren't pushing too forcefully towards marriage. If they try to force anything, his nerves will snap again, which would again become problematic."

I see, Yuuki thought. The Junior Monk from the temple, while a pillar of the village, with his side job and personal history, was another form of foreign substance in a way different from Yuuki and the others. 

"Is that why there are rumors of that nature?"

""More than anything, the feelings of resentment towards the temple are the strongest. The temple--while one of the three pillars of the village, is partially separated from the village in a way."

"I don't really get it."

"It's like this. When the search went out for Megumi-chan, nobody from the Ozakis or the temple family came. Ikebe-kun came from the temple but the Junior Monk and the madame certainly didn't come. Festivals are the same. The three pillars don't participate in village festivals. Traditionally, they don't take wives from the village either, nor do their daughters marry out into the village. The Murois only have one line in the village, as do the Ozakis. That's what it means when they're said to be central to the village but separated. They're especially important, you could say."

"Important, is it?"

Hirosawa nodded and pointed to the north. "Halfway up the northern mountain is the temple. And in the western mountain is Kanemasa, and between them, Ozaki."

"Muroi, Kanemasa and Ozaki's lots are at different levels of height. The temple is on the highest grounds, the hospital the lowest. And that's how it is to the village in terms of their social standing as well."

Heeh, Yuuki murmured. 

"The doctor being third feels strange to me. In a sense, aren't the lives of the village in their hands?"

"It's a long standing custom with quite a hit of history. This used to be the temple's dominion, you see, and into this territory came wood workers to establish the village. In order to be a point of contact for the wood workers who had settled here, they opened that temple. Later, when the temple's territory was disseminated, it became an independent temple from the head. As the villages were in a sense leasing the land from the temple, and with the Edo system in place where all commoners had to register with a temple, everyone was included in the temple parish. If a monk from the temple didn't deliver a prayer for the dead so that one could move on, then, why, it was as if you couldn't even die. It seems in the past the temple had also served as the public office with the family registers, so the temple had life, death, and land--really daily life itself in their grasp."

"Ah, I see."

"From birth to death, you were in the temple's palm. That's why, while it doesn't seem you can say as much of it today, in the past, well, the temple's influence was broad. That land was leased in one chunk by Kanemasa from the temple and split amongst the villagers. Which house would have how many rice fields, which territory did the mountains belong to; these distributions were the duties of Kanemasa, and Kanemasa would collect the dues and the rent for the territories."

"I see, so that's why the temple is first and Kanemasa is second. If you weren't in the temple and Kanemasa's good graces, you couldn't get by."

Hirosawa smiled. "That's how it is. ---Well, that isn't quite all. Sotoba had, until fairly recent years, an organization called the Sotoba-Kou."

[TL/N: Kou

Japanese RoSCAs, historically run by communities since before Japan was strongly united under a single government or wide scale banking. Set up by communities for themselves, all members bring a fixed amount of money to the pot and then who gets to take out how much at each meeting is decided, by a representative, by putting in more money/bidding, or by lottery. Those who received continue to pay into the pot at future meetings, with an interest-adjusted rate to assure those who had their share of the pot later have not put in more than they receive when their turn arrives. The people continue to come to meetings until everybody has has had a share. Once all people have had a share, the unit may be dissolved. At times small local governments would form organizations of this nature in order to fund welfare programs, such as during poor harvests, by delegating it to the neediest portion quickly. Because such arrangements were largely regional, the likelihood of failing to meet one's obligation or leaving early was low. As they were frequently community endeavors, at times who received first could be determined based on need or by a representative with little risk, as involvement was voluntary]

"Sotoba-Kou---from what we learned in history class, that kind of Kou?"

"That's right. Kanemasa was the representative of the Kou. The land was borrowed from the temple by the Kou. That was divided among the people by Kanemasa as the representative of the Kou. The collection of rent and the division of the land, the delegations of the Kou, and the yearly rent negotiations were all the duty of Kanemasa."

"In other words, price bargaining?"

"I suppose so. Kanemasa wan't a company per-say, they were ultimately on the side of the villagers, as the leaders of a Kou. Then with the rental fees decided on, Kanemasa would go about gathering them and present them to the temple. The temple would keep a portion of that set aside, as emergency funds for development."

"Funds for development?"

"Yes. This was money that, in the case of a calamity or disaster or crop failure, could be loaned to the village as a Buddhist public work of sorts---in case the general public had a need, the money given as alms could be loaned to the Kou interest free. The villagers made offerings of gratitude for this, which in turn repaid the loan over a long period. There's a sluice below the highway, isn't there? The Mizuguchi dam was engineered to collect irrigation water for the crops, and it seems like it was built with that developmental fund, during the Edo period."

"Heeh...."

"Therefore, it's not simply a matter of fear. You could call it a debt of gratitude. The temple and Kanemasa were always running a three legged race together, to support the village. The ones to construct a hospital, to invite a physician, were the temple and Kanemasa. This was a time when even the town of Mizobe didn't have anything resembling a hospital, either. The temple couldn't very well loan the land out to each villager directly. Between the temple and the villagers was the house of Kanemasa, always building good will as a third party, so that it could be done at all; the village came into being with that good will as its foundation. That's why the people of the village even now can't abandon their respect for the temple and Kanemasa."

"I see..."

"Now that's no longer so much the case but our present day community center was constructed with the donations of the three pilalrs of the village, and Sotoba's school districts were decided on by a three-person committee, so at heart, nothing's really changed. In that case the third party isn't Kanemasa but the Tamo head family, though."

"Haa."

"In the past, it was Muroi, Kanemasa and Ozaki. By the old system, Kanemasa, as the village headman, would take a vote at the village assembly. Kanemasa had one vote in terms of the decisions of the government, seeking an agreement between the three strongest figures of the village. The village elder had one vote, and Muroi and Ozaki each had one vote. If either Muroi or Ozaki were opposed, it could still be approved with two votes. But, if both Muroi and Ozaki were to vote no, then by two votes it would be vetoed, and sent back to the headman as the representative of the Diet.  ---Well,  in truth, it would be closer to say they met and discussed it over further meetings but, that was the system that we had. Now we don't have the village assembly but the district assembly. The name has changed but the system is the same. In the end, the three head figures make all final judgments and determinations. Kanemasa is no longer in the village, so the district assembly's chairman serves as the third in Kanemasa's place. As Kanemasa was originally the village's representative in the government, there really isn't any change at all." 

"Ultimately, the Kou's make-up has been persistently maintained, hasn't it."

"Indeed it has. Even now the meetings between the three highest in the village are unofficial. Mostly a formality, in practice, Muroi and Ozaki hardly say no in regards to the district chief's decisions, so it's really more of a consultation. The villager's matters are settled by their representative, and the temple and Ozaki take part in that from above. As such a system is still in place, in a way it draws a line marking the temple and Ozaki as special, and the Kanemasas, too, have a line drawn between themselves and ordinary villagers. So while they're at the heart of the village, it can be said they're not a part of the village."

"Heeh."

"As for us--that is, the inhabitants from Sotoba's former days, this isn't a matter of rationale; it's best understood as instinct, like a sensation on the skin. It's the unconditional imprinting etched into the village, cultivated through history from when the village was first erected. That the three pilalrs are special, are elite, so to speak. That said, the people who entered the village afterwards don't have that sensation. Not only do they not know the history, they probably can't understand what makes the big three so high and mighty as they are. Especially if they aren't families of the temple parish, then they have no frame of reference for the temple. So, the temple being so high and mighty must seem ill founded. The village has a strong sense of unity, which comes with the instinct to distinguish one's own from others'. The one that's the most removed on its summit, so towards the temple a certain antipathy is born."

"I see...."

Hasegawa forced a smile. "But that's rather strange, isn't it? Speaking of those new residents, it's the new people who who have the strictest view on outsiders. Of course there are exceptions in both camps but, in general it's the older houses who are more gregarious towards outsiders. There's differentiation, but without distinct discrimination. The new folks are more frank about it."

Heeh, Yuuki blinked. Katou quietly added in.

"Like an organism, isn't it?"

That simple statement, Yuuki felt, well summed up his thoughts towards the village.

"It is. ...It really is."

The village itself was an existence like a single organic life form. It came about through a complex process, with various systems writhing within its boundaries. It cycled through changes while splitting off multiplying portions of itself, voracious and regenerating, for the maintenance of the whole being. ---Like a living animal. 

Yuuki wondered, incidentally, whether this was a good thing. Not even a year ago, when he was here in Sotoba, they were partitioned out as outsiders, with vexated thoughts towards them. And still he did not regret moving here to Sotoba; yet, becoming more intimate with the village as he finally was now, he felt as this were his first time feeling the suspicious nature borne of the village's society.