The Samurai's Garden

Matsu informs Stephen that Kenzo will be buried the next morning in a Buddhist ceremony. Other than this, Matsu has been eerily silent. “Since I’d arrived in Tarumi, Matsu had been the anchor and I was the one afloat. I wasn’t ready to switch places” (102), writes Stephen. Matsu tells Stephen that yesterday, he went to tell Sachi of Kenzo’s suicide.

Matsu tells Stephen that strangely, at the news of Kenzo’s death, Sachi began speaking about a Tama Matsuri festival many years ago during which Matsu rescued her from being crushed by a frenzied crowd while popular Kenzo helped carry the festival shrine. Matsu had long thought that this rescue had been anonymous; it turns out that Sachi has guessed that it was him all along, even though Tomoko spread the rumor that Kenzo was the rescuer. Sachi apologizes to Matsu: “Sometimes you can’t see what is right in front of you” (104). Matsu reflects on the fact that both he and Kenzo were faithful to Sachi for decades: while Kenzo couldn’t accept Sachi’s changed appearance and Matsu visited her faithfully, neither man found himself able to leave Tarumi or be with another woman. Sachi comments on all of their suffering and says she will not attend Kenzo’s funeral.

Stephen writes to his mother, focusing on the pleasant holidays and avoiding news of his father and Kenzo. Feeling physically better, he goes to the post office to drop off the letter and pick up the mail for Matsu. After his errand, he feels someone tap his arm and turns to see Keiko, carrying a basket of persimmons.

They exchange greetings, and Keiko asks why Kenzo would take his own life. Stephen says only that the suicide is sad. He offers to carry Keiko’s basket home for her. She agrees, then changes her mind. As they both pull on the basket, the persimmons tumble out. Keiko seems frantic about her father seeing her with Stephen; Stephen does not know if this is because her father is old-fashioned or because Stephen is Chinese. Keiko collects the persimmons and hurries away.

The village gathers for Kenzo’s burial. Stephen, wearing an ill-fitting dark kimono and wooden sandals borrowed from Matsu for the event, sees that he is the only young man there – all of the other young men have moved away or joined the Japanese army. He feels like a fish out of water. The crowd moves in procession to the Buddhist temple.

During the incense-thick ceremony, Stephen sees Keiko, Mika, and their parents. Afterward, he approaches them; Keiko’s father looks at him with a glare so full of hate that Stephen ducks his head and walks away. As he leaves the temple, he sees a black-veiled figure hovering nearby, among the trees. It is Sachi. They bow to one another, and when Stephen looks up, she is gone.

Since the funeral, life seems frozen. There is no news from Stephen’s family, and both Sachi and Keiko have disappeared. Stephen sleeps late and does little. Matsu has stayed close to the house and away from Yamaguchi. Stephen has not told him of Sachi’s presence at the shrine.

Matsu goes into town, and Stephen, feeling restless, sketches in the garden. He hears footsteps, then a knock at the gate: It is Keiko. She apologizes for her father’s behavior, saying that even though her brother is fighting in the war against Stephen’s nation, her father should not have been rude to Stephen. Stephen invites her into the garden but she refuses. Before she can refuse again, he offers to walk her home, then joins her outside the gate.

Stephen and Keiko walk down the beach. She explains that she has had to lie to get away from Mika and her father in order to see him. They pause on the sand, and Stephen kisses her. Keiko says she must leave but promises she will come again. Stephen writes, “I didn’t want her to leave so soon, still feeling the warm rush of desire. But I stood there, my feet pressing deep imprints into the sand” (114).