Chapter 4 Chapter Four

In that strange place, in the first few days, I thought about Zuozun day and night.I lost my father, my mother, not even the clothes I used to wear.However, after a week or two, I managed to get over it.I remember one time I was drying the dishes in the kitchen and suddenly I felt so dazed that I had to stop what I was doing and I stared at my hands for a long time.Because I just can't fathom the fact that it's me who is drying the bowl. My mother told me that if I behaved well, I could start training in a few months.That means going to a school in Gion for lessons in music, dance and tea ceremony, among other things.All girls who want to be geisha attend this school.I was sure I would find Zatsu at school, so I decided to be obedient like a cow on a rope and hope my mother would send me to school right away.

Most of the chores I do are simple, but make mattresses, clean rooms, sweep dirt hallways, etc.Sometimes, I'm also sent off to do some shopping.I was terrified of Hatsumomo, so I always tried to clean her room when she was away from the keikan for dance lessons.Unfortunately, Grandma had me do a lot that morning, and it was almost noon by the time I was done.Hatsumomo's room was the largest in the art hall. Although she was the only one living in it, the room was as messy as if there were four people living in it.I was tidying up when Hatsumomo came back. "Oh, it's you," she said, "I thought I heard a little mouse. I know you've been tidying up my room! Are you the one who's been rearranging all my makeup jars ? Why do you have to do that?"

"I'm sorry, ma'am," I said, "I moved them just to get the dust off of them." "But if you touch them," she said, "they'll smell of you. Then the men would say to me, 'Miss Hatsumomo, why do you stink like a clueless girl from a fishing village? 'I just don't understand why girls from fishing villages like you smell so bad. Your ugly sister came here to find you the other day, and she smells almost as bad as you.' I jerked my head up. "You look so surprised!" she said to me. "Didn't I mention she was here? She wanted me to send you a message telling you where she lived. She probably wanted you Go find her, and then the two of you can escape together."

"Miss Hatsumomo—" "You get out for me." "Miss Hatsumomo, I know you don't like me." I said, "If you can kindly tell me what I want to know, I promise I won't bother you again." Hatsumomo looked happy when she heard this, and she walked towards me.I thought she would come over and whisper in my ear, but after she stood in front of me and smiled, she pulled out a hand and slapped me across the face. About a month after I came to the Art Museum, my mother informed me that it was time to start school.The next morning, I first followed the pumpkin to the school to meet the teachers.Afterwards, Hatsumomo would take me to a place called the “registration office,” and then later in the afternoon, I would watch Hatsumomo put on makeup and put on a kimono.It is a tradition in geisha that a young girl observes one of the most senior geisha on her first day of training.

When Pumpkin heard that she was going to take me to school the next morning, she became very nervous. "You have to be ready to go as soon as you wake up," she told me. "If we're late, we'll drown ourselves in the gutter..." I have seen Pumpkin scrambling out of the art hall every morning, her eyes are still swollen because it is too early, and she often looks like she is about to cry when she goes out.She did not do well in class, and she always looked depressed when she came back. Pumpkin and I are of the same age, and have similar status in art museums. I believe that if possible, we will chat together often.But the heavy housework keeps us all so busy that we hardly even have time to eat.I once asked her:

"Pumpkin, are you from Kyoto? Your accent sounds like that from Kyoto." "I was born in Sapporo. My mother died when I was five years old, and my father sent me here to live with an uncle. My uncle lost his job last year, so I came here." "Why don't you run back to Sapporo?" "My dad died last year too. I have nowhere to go." "Wait until I find my sister," I said, "you can follow us. Let's run away together." The Pumpkin stopped. "My uncle was a very nice man. The last thing he said before he sent me away was, 'Some girls are smart and some are stupid. You are a kind Girl, but you're one of those dumb ones. You can't get by in this world on your own. I'm going to send you to a place where you'll be told what to do. Do what they tell you, and you'll keep getting Take care.' So if you want to run out and live on your own, Chiyo, you go. But me, I've found a place to spend my life. I'm going to work my ass off so they don't send me away But I'd rather jump off a cliff and kill myself than ruin my chances of becoming a geisha like Hatsumomo."

The school garden is really magnificent in my opinion.Evergreen shrubs and twisting pine trees surround a pond full of carp.In the narrowest part of the pond lay a stone slab on which stood two old women in kimonos holding painted umbrellas to shield them from the morning sun.Out of the hall, we walked into a spacious classroom in a traditional Japanese style.On one wall of the classroom hung a large wooden board with many small wooden rafts hung on small wooden posts; each small wooden board had a name written in bold black letters.Pumpkin walked to the board, took a wooden plaque with her name on it from a shallow box on the floor mat, and hung it on the first vacant hook.It turns out that the wooden boards on the wall are equivalent to a sign-in book.After this, we went to several other classrooms to sign in in exactly the same way.That morning, Pumpkin had four lessons—shamisen, dance, tea ceremony, and a singing style we called "long chanting."

After we went back to the Yikan for a bowl of soup at noon, we ran back to school as quickly as possible so that Pumpkin could have time to kneel in the back of the classroom and assemble her shamisen.Some people refer to this instrument as a "Japanese guitar," but it's actually much smaller than a guitar, with three large tuning posts at the end of its thin wooden handle.The body of the shamisen is nothing more than a small wooden box topped with cat skin like a drum.The whole instrument can be disassembled and put into a box or bag for people to carry.The classroom was soon filled with girls and their shamisen, lined up like chocolates in a box.I kept staring at the classroom door, hoping that Zatsu would come in, but she didn't.

After a while the teacher came in, a very thin old woman with a piercing squeaky voice.Her name is Mizuki, but the pronunciation of the surname "Mizuki" is very close to the word "mouse"; so behind her back, we all call her Mr. Mouse. Mr. Mouse was kneeling on a mat facing everyone, with an unfriendly expression on his face.When the students bowed to her together and said good morning, she just glared at them without saying a word.Finally, looking at the boards on the wall, she called out the first student's name. This first student seemed to have a high opinion of himself.She slid to the front of the room, bowed to the teacher, and began to play.After only a minute or two of playing, the teacher called the girl to stop, saying a lot of bad things about her playing; then she snapped her fan shut, waved the girl to get her back, and called out again. The next student's name.

This situation lasted for more than an hour, until finally the pumpkin was called.I could tell that Pumpkin was very nervous, in fact, when she started playing, everything seemed to be wrong.Mr. Mouse first told her to stop, took the shamisen and tuned it for her personally.Then Pumpkin tried again, but all the students started looking at each other, because no one knew which piece she was playing.Mrs. Mouse slapped the table hard, ordering them all to look straight ahead; then she beat out a rhythm with her folding fan for the pumpkin to follow.It didn't help, so finally Mr. Mouse started correcting the way the pumpkin held the pick instead.It seemed to me that she sprained almost every finger of Pumpkin trying to teach her to hold the pick the right way.Finally, she gave up on even that, and dropped the pick on the mat in disgust.Pumpkin picked up the pick and returned to her seat with tears in her eyes.

"Please allow me to introduce Chiyo to you, teacher." Pumpkin said, "I beg you to take the time to guide her." Mrs. Mouse didn't speak for a long time, but just looked me up and down, and then she said, "You're a smart girl. I just have to look at you to know. Maybe you can help Pumpkin learn her lessons well." I searched wide-eyed for Satsu in the hallway between the classrooms, but I couldn't find her.I began to worry that I might never see her again, and my frustration was picked up by a teacher. "You, over there! What's on your mind?" "Oh, it's all right ma'am. I just accidentally bit my lip," I said.In order to justify myself, I bit my lip hard, and the blood came out from the bite.