Outfit
By Kaoru Morimoto
Translated by Takenori Noumi
and Ben Peacock

Characters
Seki female, Seki is a first name, the family name is unkown
Maiko Seki's elder daughter
Chise (pronounced "Chee say") Seki's younger daughter
Mr. Mine (pronounced "Mee nay")
Mr. Hibiki about fifty

(Room with furniture. At left a door leading to the entrance. At center left a varnished sliding door leading to the next room. At center right an upright piano conspicuous to the audience. At right, windows.
Early spring. Night.
When the curtain rises, Seki, Maiko and Mine. Maiko is smoking a cigarette.)

Mine: (Suddenly.) You put away the heater too soon.
Maiko: It's warm enough in the daytime.
Mine: I should have come in the daytime then. This room may be warm, if it's sunny enough.
Maiko: Yes, it is! From those windows ... here ... no, there.
Mine: No, not there, when you get up.
Maiko: How rude of you to say that.
Seki: Is it your first visit, since we moved here?
Mine: Yes, I've never ...
Maiko: Of course this is his first time. He didn't come to help us move.
Mine: I am not free like you. I have a job.
Seki: They were dark, the rooms in the house we were living in ...
Mine: Were they dark? Maybe. I don't remember. Did the house face north?
Maiko: You talk as if you remember it well.
Mine: You lived in it for a long time but you don't remember it well?
Seki: It faced west ... (to Maiko) didn't it?
Maiko: Yes ... did it?
Mine: And you think of yourself as female.
Maiko: And my sister ... Chise ... you don't think Chise is female.
Mine: She is out of the question.
Seki: (Laughs.) Yes, out of the question.
Mine: Even you, her mother, are of the same opinion.
Seki: (only laughs.)
Mine: I have run out of things to say.
Maiko: It's discouraging if you shut your mouth.
Mine: What's bad is her elder sister. It is she that makes Chise un-female.
Maiko: Her elder sister ... she is a good thing.
Mine: A good thing my foot!
Maiko: Why?
Mine: There is no why. A bad thing is a bad thing. (coughs) Stop your smoking.
Maiko: That means you lost your battle.
Mine: Lost my battle?
Maiko: Look at your face. Akkerakaaaan!
Mine: What is that in Japanese?
Seki: Is it really amusing to you two to say such things? (rises.)
Maiko: Are you going to bed?
Seki: No. Of course not.
Maiko: Then serve us tea.
Seki: "Serve us tea."? That's what I say to you. Serve us tea.
Mine: Never mind, never mind. She will do it herself.
Maiko: I said it instead of you.
Mine: If you were kind to me, you'd get up and serve me tea.
Maiko: Unfortunately I am not so kind.
Seki: Why are both of my daughters so foul-mouthed, I wonder.
(Exits to the sliding door. Brightly lit Japanese room is seen and in it gay-coloured garments are also seen.)
Maiko: Mother laments.
Mine: Not only she. Everyone laments. The world has come to its end to see such sisters be born.
Maiko: Nous sommes gentilles, really.
Mine: Gentil coquelico, mesdames, gentil coquelico, nous toutes.
Maiko: Don't get so angry.
Mine: No wonder nobody comes to propose to you.
Maiko: Come who (come) may, I shall refuse him.
Mine: Keep on refusing, and some day you will accept anybody.
Maiko: That's none of your business.
Mine: But it's your bad luck. And I will feel sorry for you.
Maiko: Then you feel sorry too easily.
Mine: Oh, my mouth, be silent. Our opponent doesn't understand our kindness.
(Pause.)
(Clock strikes ten.)
Mine: It's ten already. I have to ... (Begins to rise.)
Maiko: She will be coming back around this time.
Mine: No need to come back. Delinquent girl!
Maiko: Where on earth is she hanging about? She said she would come back by seven.
Mine: You know where she went to.
Maiko: Of course I know. And of course I also know she is not there now.
Mine: You should be a little more strict.
Maiko: Ah, it's no use.
Mine: Use or no use, you must try. You gave up from the start, didn't you? ... But if it's you who should be strict to her, it may be no use all the same.
Maiko: You try yourself. It's you who are proposing to her.
Mine: She doesn't lend ears to anything I say.
Maiko: Don't be so irritable.
Mine: I'm not irritable. I am just anxious that she would ...
Maiko: Don't be anxious. She wouldn't do anything.
Mine: You are all very strange.
Maiko: We all trust each other.
Mine: I must say you all live rather immorally.
Maiko: You will also have to live immorally, if you marry her. What will you do with her?
Mine: I'll have her serve me, leaving her alive. I can't butcher her and eat her.
Maiko: Butchering her may not work, either, I agree.
Mine: Her adviser, ... the person who is closest to her, is no good.
Did you decide that you would not marry?
Maiko: Oh no, nobody decides when to marry or where to marry or to whom to marry.
Mine: Oh, I thought you did.
Maiko: You know what? All men are the same ... after all ... (Grins.) By the way what will become of us?
Mine: "What will come of us?"? ... your father wouldn't let you say that if he were alive.
Maiko: Even if he were alive ... , oh, perhaps you are right. A family of women is no good.
Mine: You see? That's what I say. Female family is no good.
Maiko: No good. Because there are males in the world.
Mine: You say because of males, yet you flirt with males.
Maiko: And Chise, what does she say?
Mine: What does Chise say?
Maiko: Yes or no?
Mine: No. She says "No." definitely.
Maiko: You don't have to be proud of it.
Mine: I just can't understand her. Is it because of you? You are elder and you still stay at home not marrying ...
Maiko: Nonsense. It is not because of me.
Mine: Not because of you? But ... (Decidedly.) Because of you.
Maiko: No, absolutely no. In ordinary families, an elder sister not marrying may be one of the reasons. But not in my family. You should have known that by now.
Mine: As for me ... if she doesn't really like me, ... I won't force her to ...
Maiko: She really does like you. What are you talking about?
Mine: Then why does she say no?
(Bell rings.)
Maiko: Ah, it's her. (Rises.)
Mine: No, I don't understand women.
(The sound of sliding shoji (Japanese paper and wood door). Seki's voice "Oh, it's you. How kind ... etc. " is heard. Then a man's voice "I'm sorry to have come without warning ... etc." Not appearing to the scene, he goes to the next room. Maiko has been to the door and, not opening it, returns.)
Maiko: No. It's not her.
Mine: You are receiving a visitor. Then I ... (Rises.)
Maiko: Oh, never mind. You don't have to go.
Mine: You made up rooms upstairs?
Maiko: Yes, we did. Why?
Mine: So as to receive visitors.
Maiko: I should slap you. How rude ...
Mine: I can't but suspect. You seem to be receiving visitors so easily.
Maiko: What are you insinuating? You think this is a brothel?
Mine: Oh, I'm just suspicious by nature. (Goes to the piano.) Can I play this? (Taps one key hard.)
Maiko: Stop it! The baby will wake up.
Mine: Oh, frightful! It does make noise.
Maiko: It's my father's momento. Isn't it grand?
Mine: Too grand. Remnant of past glory.
Maiko: Old glorious glory.
Mine: Is the baby sleeping?
(Maiko points to the next room.)
Mine: Isn't he a pastoral baby? Pastorally born and pastorally brought up ... very good. (Opens the door and looks into the room. Shuts the door quickly.) Oh, he is there. Careful, careful.
Maiko: Stop moving around. Sit down. How annoying.
Mine: Don't you have to go? You?
Maiko: No. And it's none of your business.
Mine: OK. It's none of my business. I've got to go.
Maiko: Go? Stay a little longer. You don't have anything to do at home, do you?
Mine: I'll come some other time. (Rises.) Say goodbye for me to your mother.
Maiko: It's bad manners to leave so aburuptly. (Follows, leaning at the door.) Tell me anything you have to say to Chise. I'll convey it to her.
Mine: Tell Chise that she is the most absurd person in the world.
Maiko: OK. I'll convey it to her.
Mine: You are too, Maiko. (As he goes out, the bell on the front sliding door rings.) Bye!
(Maiko shuts the front door and is going to the next room, then reconsiders and goes back to the former room.)
(Seki's voice "Maiko, Maiko!" Maiko doesn't reply, pretending not to hear.)
(Seki appears with a cup of tea.)
Seki: Has he gone?
Maiko: Yes.
Seki: You should have told me so. I made this tea ...
Maiko: I'll drink it.
Seki: Go and at least say hello to him. He has come all this way ... and it's impolite that you don't ...
Maiko: ...
Seki: Or, shall I have him come here? That room is too formal ...
Maiko: Whatever you like ...
Seki: Don't you think it'd be more comfortable for him too?
Maiko: I said, "Whatever you like." Do as you like.
(Seki, helpless, goes out.)
(Maiko is going to get out to the front door, but too late. Hibiki and Seki appear.)
Hibiki: It is certainly a good idea, but in general Western style is ...
Maiko: (Very formally.) It is very kind of you to come all the way to our house.
Hibiki: Oh, it's nothing.
Seki: Please have a seat. We haven't swept and the room is messy ...
Hibiki: No, no, that's OK. Don't worry about it.
(Seki gestures for Maiko to sit down.)
Maiko: What? (Is still standing, pretending not to understand.)
Hibiki: Isn't it a good house? First of all it's new. And the materials are good, that is, it's made from good wood. Nowadays there are houses built very wisely ... bad materials are used but they still look good.
Seki: We must apologize. We always take the liberty to do anything on owr own, like designing this house also without asking your advice ...
Hibiki: Oh, if you take the liberty it's better for me too. It might be a bother if you always came and sought my advice. (Laughs.)
Seki: It might be. My daughters didn't like the former house. They said it didn't have enough sunshine ...
Hibiki: Oh, of course in a house the lighter the better. (Noticing the piano, to Maiko.) Oh, the piano came over to this room. It seized its opportunity to come out into the world. Isn't it grand?
Maiko: Grand, grand, too grand. We are going to sell it. (Exits.)
Hibiki: Ha ha! And with the money from the sale, you will build a wine cellar. That's a good idea.
Seki: She is such a wayward girl. I don't know what to do with her.
Hibiki: She doesn't seem to like talking with me.
Seki: She doesn't like talking with anybody, not you particularly. When acquaintaces come to talk with us, I am always quite nervous she will be impolite. Is it because she was brought up by her mother only?
Hibiki: I don't think she is impolite at all. And part of it is her age. She is still young ...
Seki: Still young but old enough to be sensible.
Hibiki: Old enough ... how old is she now, may I ask?
Seki: She is twenty-six.
Hibiki: Twenty-six. Then ...
Seki: So she is old enough to be sensible. And she can be sensible if she wants to. She already knows what to say and what not to say. And yet ...
Hibiki: Oh I know how difficult it is to bring up children. By the way shall I act as a go-between for you? I have a young man in mind who has worked in my company for seven years, ever since he graduated from ...
Seki: Thank you very much, but even though we have quite a few acquaintances who are kind enough to say that they will introduce her to some young men, she won't meet any of them. When I make her , she gets very angry and argues like I'm abetting her in some sort of crime.
Hibiki: Ha ha! That's harsh. I see, it's her character. I don't think it will change, even if she gets married ... Now is the time when ...
Seki: If she were a boy, I wouldn't force her to ...
Hibiki: Don't you think she likes someone secretly? She has many male friends, and one of them may be her real boyfriend whom even you, her mother, are not aware of.
Seki: No, I don't think she has a real one. I suppose she thinks all men are equal.
Hibiki: Ha ha. All men are equally indecent, obscene, ...
Seki: (Embarassed.) No, no. I ...
Hibiki: No, you don't have to be embarassed. It's the truth. Men are no good. If they force themselves to behave themselves, they will not get in trouble and will not regret anything. But sometimes something in them rebels and (laughs) ... that is the problem.
Seki: Oh, I don't know what to say.
Hibiki: But coming back to her problem, it's no use persuading her to marry unless she herself wants to.
Seki: Yes, that's just what I feel myself. (Takes out a match hastily to light his cigarette.)
Hibiki: (Lifts his right hand.) Oh, that's O.K. (Seeing a match already lit.) Thank you. (Leans forward to the match.)
Seki: Nowadays I try not to think about her seriously. In fact I feel it's impossible to know what she thinks so I've just given up.
Hibiki: Would she like to run a pub or a small restaurant? She would make a good manageress with her disposition. I'll help her with money.
Seki: (Uninterested.) I don't know if ...
Hibiki: (Resigned.) I can't be of much help ...
Seki: Oh, yes, you'll be a great help. So much help that we shouldn't rely on you more than we do now.
Hibiki: Oh, yes, you must rely on me more ...That's not what I meant. Maiko is different. Chise is also different, but in her own way, Maiko is different.
Seki: Is that good or bad? (Laughs affably.)
Hibiki: Oh, what a nuisance to be an old man. I don't understand young men's feelings any more.
Seki: Oh, it's I that doesn't understand them, but you ...
Hibiki: I'm an old man really. Between you and me, I feel utterly depressed whenever I arrive at the front door. I doubt whether or not I should enter. I fear Maiko. It's a fact, but I also begin to fear Chise .. begin to fear looking at Chise's face.
Seki: (Lowers her eyes.) I haven't talked frankly with them for the past three years.
Hibiki: The times have changed. It's already been thirty years. I would have stopped coming here long ago, if it hadn't been for those two children. (Laughs.)
Seki: Those two children ... what do they think about each other? They are the only sisters. They should help each other, shouldn't they?
Hibiki: Oh, they are extraordinary. You cannot find such sisters anywhere else. I just gave up ...
Seki: And nowadays they ... what shall I say ... attack me from all sides ... and ...
Hibiki: It's because of me. Because of my coming here sometimes.
Seki: Oh no, not at all.
Hibiki: Oh yes, absolutely yes. I know it. But I just can't leave it up to you.
Seki: No. Don't leave us alone. We should thank you for it. They have no right to feel embarassed or annoyed.
Hibiki: I wish Maiko would put up with me for a little while longer. In a little while I'll find some job for Chise also.
Seki: Put up with you! No, it's you that put up with her. You actually saved her life and ...
Hibiki: Don't say that. What I did at the time now gives me goose bumps with shame.
Seki: But after she recovered, she had no intention to go back to her former job. Then does she want to marry? No. However I try, she won't listen to what I say. What will the neighbours think? I ...
Hibiki: For a woman to have a job is tough. Particularly for Maiko, after her long illness ...
Seki: They take advantage of your saying nothing, and do whatever they like. Considering this, I feel sorry for you to the marrow of my bones.
Hibiki: There you go again. You embarrass me when you say that.
(The front door opens. The sound of noisy footsteps is heard.)
Mine: (Unseen.) Get inside, drunkard!
Chise: (Unseen.) Oh, Mine, I can't walk, I'm legless.
Mine: (Unseen.) Lier. You could walk this far.
Chise: (Unseen.) I didn't walk. A friend gave me a ride in his car. I asked him not to stop it just in front of the house. Because of the neighbours ... I'd be embarrassed ... so he stopped in front of the tobacco shop.
Mine: (Unseen.) Oh, shut up. I don't want to hear the details. Look, someone is looking at you!
Seki: Oh, so she's come home.
Hibiki: Ah, ...
Maiko: (Unseen.) Oh, you came back at last! Where have you been rambling? It's late ... too late. Come, give me your hand. Oh, don't stagger. It's not because of alcohol. You do it intentionally.
(Chise, supported by Maiko and Mine, appears. A spoiled child grown up.)
Mine: Oh, you can't even walk , you spoiled child! What a hassle a female drunkard is! (Sees Hibiki. Nods. Hibiki also nods hastily.)
Seki: Thank you very much for helping her come home. Where did you find her?
Mine: Returning from here, I saw a figure across the street that I thought I'd met before. I crossed the street, and just as I thought ...
Seki: Oh, so kind of you to ...
Chise: (Leaning against the sliding door, grins.) Oh, you saw a figure that you thought you'd met before. What poor intuition! Wasn't it the figure of your sweetheart?
Maiko: What the matter with your overcoat? It's all muddy. Did you fall in some mud?
Chise: No. I don't remember.
Maiko: Take the overcoat off, Chise. I'll help you. Come, give me your hand ... the other one ... Oh, what a troublesome child! (Kinder than her real mother.) Where is your glove? ... the other one?
Chise: Glove? ... in my pocket, I think ...
Maiko: (Searches her pockets.) No glove. You lost it.
Chise: Oh, I lost it? I must have. I have no memory of putting it in my pocket.
Mine: "I have no memory."? Of course you don't remember. Look how you stagger.
Chise: Oh, it doesn't matter. One glove does what a pair does. Have you ever drunk that one, Maiko? ... that one? ...
Maiko: (Carrying her overcoat and her hat to the piano.) That ... what?
Chise: Oh, what is the name of it? You always hear it in the movies. ... Mine, you must know it.
Mine: No, I've never drunk it.
Chise: So you know the name. Tell me, Mine, tell me. You don't lose anything by telling me.
Mine: How can I know what you drank? Remember it yourself.
Chise: Rubbish! I don't care what it is. Oh, my head ... my head hurts.
Hibiki: Come, Chise, sit down.
Chise: Oh, Mr. Hibiki! You're here? I didn't notice. (Smiles and sits on the floor.) Did you wait long?
Mine: Hey, don't sit on the floor. (Tries to get her up. Pulls her hand.) Get up, Chise. Do you want to be slapped?
Chise: Don't pull so hard. My arm will come off! Then will you carry me in your arms?
Mine: Oh, you! You deserve to have cold water poured on your head. You should be ashamed of yourself to be so drunk. You are a lady, aren't you?
Maiko: Carry her to her room, Mine. Don't bother about us. (Looking hard at Hibiki.) Don't you think so, Mother?
Seki: (Can't say yes or no.)
Mine: Won't she throw up? I'm afraid of going near her.
Maiko: She never throws up. She only pretends to be drunk.
Seki: Maiko!
Chise: Mine, my sister thinks that I am a ... bad girl ... oh, I know, it's true. I know it well.
Maiko: Oh, you fool! Who thinks you are a bad girl?
Chise: Oh, you ... you think that I am a bad girl! Then why did you say such a terrible thing?
Maiko: A terrible thing? What? What did I say?
Chise: You said ... you said ... Mine, tell her what she said.
Mine: I don't remember what she said. She may have said you are a nuisance when you are such a drunkard.
Chise: Oh, that ... that is what you said. I don't care a hair about what you say. My sister ... she ... despises me.
Maiko: You say always that, when you are drunk! You are you, so you have the right to be drunk. But don't pick on me pretending to be drunk!
Chise: (Cries.) Me, bully you? (Rises, staggering.) You're saying I bully you?
Mine: Oh, stop it.
Chise: You don't know anything, Mine. You shut up! You think you know everything. But you don't know anything really. So I pity you sometimes. I don't despise you for that, don't misunderstand me. But just because I like you, it doesn't mean you know anything.
Seki: Go to bed, Chise. You seem to be very tired. I've already made you the bed and warmed it.
Hibiki: Yes, Chise, go to bed. You had better go to bed now.
Chise: No. You are all here. And I go to bed? No. No. Let's chat. Oh, let's play something together. Isn't it ... hot in here ... this room? May I open the window? (Goes to the window.)
Hibiki: I'll ... go now. I only dropped in.
Seki: Oh, please stay a little more. We are all here and ...
Mine: Me, too, ...
Chise: No. No, no, no. You must not go. Don't you see me? I came back. And you all leave ... (Window doesn't open.) Mine, won't you help me? You can see I'm struggling but you don't help me. How unkind!
Maiko: Oh, of course you can't open it. The latch. (Opens the window.)
Chise: Thank you. Let's stop quarelling, sister, and be friends. (Tries to sit on the window sill but fails.)
Maiko: Be careful! Don't sit on the sill. You will fall into the garden. (Helps her come down from the sill.) Behave yourself, Chise ...
Chise: (Putting her hands on Maiko's shoulders.) Sit down, everyone, sit down. Are you leaving because I came back drunk? No, don't leave. Mr. Hibiki, (Pointing at Mine) he is the one I told you about. The one I love.
(Two men laugh uneasily.)
Hibiki: You look very happy and gay. Where did you go today?
Chise: I went to see Mr. Kuga. He always tells me to come to his house. So I went today. He is a college teacher. What is his first name ... oh, I forgot. Mine, you must know it.
Mine: ...
Chise: While I was there, a visitor came to see him. So the three of us went to the dance hall.
Mine: Again the dance hall. You should become a dancer.
Chise: You can't dance, so you despise dancers. Dancing ... it's fun. (To Maiko.) Oh, I'll teach you how to dance, Maiko, some day. Once you begin, you'll find out what fun it is ...
Mine: No, I don't want to be taught. (Maiko raises her hand as though to say, "Wait", and listens.)
Maiko: (To Seki.) Did he wake up, Mother? Or not?
Chise: He? Who? Ah, bring him here. I will take care of him. Mine, do you like babies?
Mine: I don't know. It depends. I may like a baby who likes me.
(Seki exits to the next room.)
Chise: Will he like you? You always have a grim face. He may not like it.
Maiko: (Changes subject.) So you have been dancing till now? In the dance hall?
Chise: No, after that we went to a bar ... all of us. It was a fun place. They all found me fun and ... Oh, Mine, what a grim face! I won't talk about this any more.
Mine: You care about my grim face! What nonsense!
Chise: Mr. Hibiki, oh, Mr. Hibiki!
Hibiki: Yes ...
Chise: He is asking me to be his wife. What shall I do, Mr. Hibiki?
Hibiki: Oh, be his wife. It'd be good.
Chise: Would it be good?
Mine: Oh, stop it, stop it.
Hibiki: Anyway you should get married with someone in the near future, you and your sister. And now someone is proposing to you. Why not, it'd be good.
Mine: I'll leave now. I shall come again when you are sober. (Rises.)
Chise: (Jumps from the window sill. Goes over to Mine.) No, I won't let you leave.
Mine: What's the matter if I leave?
Chise: No, no, that grim face ... I can't let you leave with that grim face for I'll feel sad afterwards.
Mine: I don't have a grim face. I'm not at all angry with you. But you are drunk today. Behave yourself and go to bed or you'll be ill. You are not used to drinking.
Maiko: No, not at all. And yet she drinks. So it's always my job to take care of her.
Chise: My sister is a drinker. She drinks and drinks, and is never drunk. It's surprising.
Mine: Oh, God, you drink too.
Maiko: I don't like alcohol. But I can drink. I drink but never get drunk.
Mine: What women!
Chise: An exclamation. Are you disgusted?
Mine: Oh, long ago.
Maiko: Oh, that's enough, that's enough. Or you'll be really disgusted, Chise.
Chise: You are rare as a man. Not drinking, not smoking ...
Mine: But I don't go so far as to say, "Not liking women".
Chise: Then you are Iwami Jutaro. (Saint John or Lancelot.)
Mine: He liked women? I didn't know that.
Chise: I once heard that on the radio.
Mine: You only remember things like that.
Chise: I'm going to bed Mine, so I don't get scolded. So, Hibiki, good night. I'm going to bed.
Hibiki: Good night.
Chise: (On the threshold.) I sleep very well. I don't know why I sleep so well. Do you remember the day, Mr. Hibiki, the day we went to Unzen by ship? (Maiko approaches Chise.) The moment I got on board, I fell asleep ... No sight seeing. I had been looking forward to it though ... so funny ... Until after midday when the waiter came and woke me up, I was sleeping like a dead man. He came, woke me up and said, "Your father has finished his lunch, ma'am." He said, "Your father." (Chuckles.)
(Saying nothing, Maiko pulls Chise out of the scene. Chise's repeated voice "Your father ... ha, ha ... " is heard.)
(Pause.)
Hibiki: (Left alone with Mine, uneasy.) Excuse me, but ...
Mine: What? You have something you want to talk about?
Hibiki: No. Not particularly.
Mine: I prefer the house they lived in before. This house seems to show itself up. Isn't it only a house to let? Nobody misunderstands about that.
Hibiki: ...
Mine: Is it in fashion now to build a house like this?
Hibiki: I don't know. Do you have an interest in architecture?
Mine: Oh, no. Not at all. I am a clerk in a bank. My salary is ...
Hibiki: No, no. You don't need to say such things.
Mine: That's true. It was unnecessary.
Hibiki: It may be abrupt to say this to you, but ... do you really want to marry Chise? I must apologize to you for this total frankness, but ...
Mine: What right do you have to ask me such a thing? Are you her father?
Hibiki: Oh, don't give me a hard time. (Of course I have no right.) I'm asking relying on your kindness. I'm an old man. You are young. What's the use of being angry?
Mine: I shouldn't be angry, I suppose, because I'd hurt you if I hit you.
Hibiki: Yes, it would hurt me. But hurting doesn't make any sense, if we don't understand each other.
Mine: (Laughs.) Then can I hit you if we understand each other?
Hibiki: You have some confidence in fighting, it seems.
Mine: I rowed a boat when I was a student. Regatta is very good for the muscles. Although I have never used them to hit people, ... (Passes his left hand over the right arm ... gesture of menace half jokingly.)
Hibiki: I myself don't like hitting people. If you seriously intend to hit me, I'll scamper away.
Mine: "Scamper" is a good word, ... ha, ha.
Hibiki: But isn't it absurd ... isn't it absurd that you might hit me?
(Mine, saying nothing, rubs his chin.)
Hibiki: What would you do if I said I'd hit you?
Mine: (Grins.) I'd just ... But why did you take it seriously that I would hit you?
Hibiki: (Also grins.) Why seriously ... I don't know. I just thought you would hit me.
Mine: You had good intuition. I also thought I would hit you.
Hibiki: Anyway, it's all getting mixed up. I've never of heard such a thing.
Mine: Do you want to say you are the first and I am the second? Then shall we do it again? What we did now was just a rehearsal.
Hibiki: I immediately thought that I might be hit. Immoral ... immoral is all I think of myself.
Mine: Nonsense!
Hibiki: I have to tell you how it all came out. But it is rather complicated ...
Mine: Before that, may I ask you ... that baby ... whose baby is it?
Hibiki: Mr. Mine ... that is ... Chise's.
Mine: (Groans.) I'd supposed either the elder's or the younger's, but ...
Hibiki: You couldn't guess it was younger's.
Mine: Oh, you ... you are cruel.
Hibiki: Oh, don't blame me. Blaming misses the point. You can easily see that I'm in trouble.
Mine: What is the trouble? There is no trouble. She is young and beautiful and ...
Hibiki: Oh, don't talk as if you were an outsider. Won't you listen to what I say more seriously?
Mine: ...
Hibiki: In those times ... that is ... when I first approached Chise, her elder sister Maiko had bad pleurisy and her family was badly off. I myself didn't know it. I began with Chise partly for pleasure. But for her it may have been a question of life and of death.
Mine: Rubbish! You yourself don't believe it. A woman flirts with an old man to save her family. It's an exception. It hardly ever happens. If Chise isn't that exception, you can't grumble.
Hibiki: You can't imagine how Chise and Maiko feel about me.
Mine: They don't hate you, I assure you. This house, these furniture, ... they owe all these things to you. (Looks around.) ... Hm.
Hibiki: Yes, they may owe these things to me. They may not hate me. I don't know. But paying a lot of money for a girl and being hated by her is not a good deal, I think.
Mine: Oh, don't exaggerate. She can't be such a puritan.
Hibiki: But look at what she does nowadays. She isn't what she was before.
Mine: Before she wasn't ... (Pause.) Maybe. Not because she is a puritan but because she is a child.
Hibiki: Yes. Maybe because she is a child. But when it comes to taking care of a child, I'm fed up even with my own children. Anyway I can't catch up with her anymore. As you say nowadays there is no limit which young girls cannot go beyond.
Mine: Ha ha ha.
Hibiki: It's not a laughing matter. I think you've also heard that this family was once ...
(Maiko comes in.)
Mine: Has she slept?
Maiko: No, she is still grumbling and will not got to bed. The things she said now here ... She can't say those things when she is sober. She says them pretending she is drunk.
Mine: Was she not drunk? I thought she was drunk.
Maiko: It's not the first time.
Mine: Does she do it often?
Maiko: Haven't you ever seen Chise like that?
Mine: No, but it's interesting.
Hibiki: I must leave now. It's already late.
Mine: No. You stay. I'll leave now.
Maiko: Oh, you stay. I have something to talk to you about.
Hibiki: Then I'll go.
Maiko: Must you go? Then ... mother! Hibiki is leaving. (Opens the door.)
Hibiki: (To Mine.) If you are seriously thinking about marriage, I myself will take care of the baby ...
Mine: (Smiles bitterly.) Oh, I'll consider it.
(Hibiki exits.)
(Maiko shuts the door as soon as he leaves. Seki's voice is heard in the next room and then the sound of the front door opening.)
Mine: What do you have to talk to me about?
Maiko: You've already guessed, haven't you?
Mine: Guessed what? The baby?
Maiko: I thought you would have guessed earlier.
Mine: My intuition had told me long ago, but ...
Maiko: You haven't had the experience yourself, so you couldn't guess. Any man who's had the experience can ...
Mine: I thought it was your baby.
Maiko: I suspected you did. Wouldn't it be better if you still believed it?
Mine: Oh, what a cruel thing to say. Why didn't you tell me? You could have told me long ago.
Maiko: I thought she would tell you. How could I tell you ... me?
Mine: Hm, you may not. And I understand one thing.
Maiko: One thing ... what?
Mine: A small thing. That he is timid.
Maiko: Yes, very. That's why all this came out.
Mine: Did Chise consult with you?
Maiko: About this? Oh, no. Do you suppose that I'd have consented?
Mine: No, you may not have consented. So you didn't know. But your mother ...
Maiko: She didn't either. When we found out, it was too late to do anything.
Mine: I should have hit him. Shit!
Maiko: Who?
Mine: He whom I heard it from.
Maiko: It would have been better if I hadn't come back from the sanatorium and had stayed there.
Mine: Then her effort would have been utterly in vain.
Maiko: She is an idiot. She is young. She is a child. She doesn't know anything. But she should know what is right and what is ...
Mine: Romantic novels. She was influenced by romantic novels.
Are there not such novels? Then from radio programs. (Thinks a while.) Seventeen years old and she has had a baby. She is not normal by nature.
Maiko: She knows well that if we know what she did, we wouldn't be pleased at all. Of course I wanted tolive, but if my life were based on Chise's sacrifice, I ... and my mother also wouldn't like her daughter to ...
Mine: You can say it now that it's over.
Maiko: She is showing off. I don't want to be saved the same way that she was.
Mine: Remnant of old glory ...
Maiko: (Painfully.) Yes, remnant of old glory. Can't she forget that? I can't believe it. There are other ways to get by though, aren't there?
Mine: (To console her.) It's finished. It's over. But what I don't like is what happened after that.
Maiko: What matters, after that? It's finished. It's over.
Mine: It matters. Your way of leading life after that is no different from hers. The only difference is that she ... Oh, I won't bring that up.
Maiko: I don't mind. Talk about it.
Mine: I can't. Because I don't really know that well. But I see you smoke, you drink, you flirt with boys ... you are following ... no, you are encouraging your sister's example.
Maiko: I am doing my best. What else can I do for her? It's not as easy as you think.
Mine: Not so easy? Isn't it easier than standing for eight hours as a salesgirl at a counter in a department store?
Maiko: I tried to do almost all that she did. The only way that I couldn't follow her example was ... oh, that's impossible. For her there was a good reason to be able to forget what is right and what is wrong. For me there wasn't. I couldn't go so far.
Mine: Do you call it love for family? I wouldn't recognize it as love.
Maiko: I should have held her hands and cried, you say?
Mine: (Smiles unwittingly.)
Maiko: But I couldn't. I just couldn't do it. I felt I should do more for her ... more than crying and holding her hands.
Mine: Does she understand what you feel? I doubt it.
Maiko: Understand? It's not a question of understanding. She must feel it.
Mine: But if she understands that, there's no problem. All the problems come from the fact that she doesn't understand your ...
Maiko: You are a bank clerk. As such you speak clearly. I understand what you're saying.
Mine: (Scratches his head. (Sign of embarassment.)) A bank clerk is a bank clerk. I don't understand.
Maiko: That's OK. You need not understand. She is an idiot. I am, too. It's good to be an idiot. Is it funny? It may be a superstition.
Mine: No, mysticism.
Maiko: Mysticism OK, anything is OK. This is how I feel. And what is her attitude? She is in fear, in great fear as she is concious of my mother and me. It's so touching and miserable to see her. She is ashamed of what she has done. It's a burden for me to see her like this.
Mine: Burden ... I understand.
Maiko: I want her to be reassured ... to have confidence in herself again. I will do anything for that. I must do something soon. Don't despise me. I can, even I, do what I decided to do myself.
Mine: Oh, stop it. How horrible! I don't like to hear such a ghastly story. It's contagious. Let's change the subject. I'm fed up with superstitions.
(Seki enters.)
Seki: Maiko, did you say something to Chise?
Maiko: Nothing in particular. Why?
Seki: I went to see her. She was drunk and I thought she might have thrown off her blanket. But she was awake, I don't think she was asleep.
Maiko: ...
Seki: I'm not sure, she was wrapped up in her blanket and I couldn't see her face. (Hesitating to see that Mine is listening.) She was weeping, I suppose. (Sighs.)
(Pause.)
Mine: A kind of hysteria. That's one of the symptoms of hysteria..
Maiko: I'll go and see. (About to go. Stops. To Mine.) Which is better?
Mine: Which? You mean to leave her alone or to go and see her?
Maiko: (Pleadingly.) I wish ... you would go and talk with her.
Mine: I've never been in a women's bedroom.
Maiko: Don't worry about it. Go.
Mine: All the same ... (Hesitates.)
Seki: Maiko!
Maiko: Don't worry, mother. (To Mine.) Upstairs, to the right.
Mine: (Makes up his mind.) Mysticism. This is mysticism. OK. I'll go. Come what may. (Exits.)
Seki: Can you trust him, Maiko?
Maiko: Don't be so anxious, mother. It's best for you to leave it as it is.
Seki: I don't know him so well, that Mr. Mine. Is it all right to let him go and see her?
Maiko: All right or not all right ... do we have any choice? Could our life be in more danger?
Seki: ...
Maiko: I'm not complaining to you. Mine is an ordinary man. Ordinarily having graduated from the faculty of law, ordinarily working at an ordinary bank. We can find his sort anywhere. But this ordinariness is something we don't have in our family. Perhaps Chise will like it. Perhaps Chise will like to lead that ordinary life. Then it will be Chise's happiness.
Seki: It would be my happiness too, if she wants it. But he doesn't know ... Mine doesn't know anything about us, does he? ... about Hibiki, the baby, ...
Maiko: He knows now ... all. I told him. But he'd had an inkling long before.
Seki: He already knows ... and yet ...?
Maiko: She should have told him herself. She just couldn't. So she suffered ... suffered alone ... as always.
Seki: You say she conceals it even to her own mother or sister? You say that it is her warmness of heart? No, it is not warmness, it is coldness. I myself would do anything for her. If she suffers, she should say it to me frankly. She shouldn't suffer by herself. She shouldn't get drunk somewhere alone. She should tell me what she suffered from ... ( Tears come to her eyes.)
Maiko: We don't love her enough. That's why she suffers alone. We think that we will do anything for her. "Do anything for her" doesn't work. This is not real love for her. We can't come close to her heart so long as we repeat that.
Seki: How complicated! I'm at a loss what to do. I can't but think you two are teasing me.
Maiko: Teasing ... what are you saying?
Seki: Oh, yes, you are teasing me. If your father were still alive, none of this would have happened. You all despise me. You all make a fool of me. You have never asked my advice, you have never told me your troubles. And how can I explain that to your father, when I am sent to him in heaven? I promised him that I would bring up my children by myself ... decently. I gave him my word for it. And how can I explain ... how? (Weeps.) You have no love ... you have no sympathy to me.
Maiko: Don't weep, mother, don't weep. Who makes a fool of you? Nobody. How do we make a fool of you? Stop weeping. Mine is here.
Seki: It's all because of me. I myself am responsible. I couldn't do anything for you as a mother. It's all because of me.
Maiko: (Putting her hands on Seki's shoulders.) No, not because of you. You are not responsible. Oh, stop crying. We, Chise and I, shall become more decent by and by. If only Chise gets happier, I'll get married and be a good daughter to you.
Seki: Oh, no need to be a good daughter. You only need to be as before, as when we were happier ...
Maiko: Yes, we can be as before. We can be. I want to get married to someone, me too. But can I leave Chise alone? Leaving her alone, can I get married? Can I go to work at some shop? If only Chise finds a decent way of living, if only, then I will also find a decent way of living. I promise ... I promise ...
Seki: Do you really promise? If only Chise finds ...?
Maiko: I promise ... I really promise, mother. (Tears come up to her eyes.)
(Mine enters.)
Mine: (His face has turned pale.) I thought she was in hysterics. But no, she is mad. She is truly mad. I'm leaving. I'll never come back here again.
Maiko: (Being upset.) Oh, Mine, what's the matter? What did she say?
Mine: What did she say? Oh, yes, what did she say? She said she couldn't part with the old man ... couldn't part with that Mr. Hibiki. She said that she found out ... that she realized it. She couldn't part with a man who is the same age of her own father. It's not mysticism, it's madness.
Maiko: Oh!
Mine: I can't get along with her, with such a filth.
Maiko: Isn't she thinking about our life? Our life to be better off ... our income ... Me too, I also think about ...
Mine: I talked to her about it. She said that, no, that's not the reason.
Maiko: Wait. Don't leave now. Wait. (Opens the sliding door, about to exit. Nearly bumps into Chise who has followed Mine.) Oh!
(Pause.)
Maiko: Is it really not the reason, Chise?
Chise: ...
Maiko: It's a lie, isn't it? It is a lie, as always, isn't it?
Chise: ...
Seki: (Totally discouraged.) Oh, Mine. I want to die. I want to die rather than hear such an absurd story. I would rather just go to my husband in heaven ... (Stops speaking.)

(Curtain.)

(1936) (Showa 11)

Translated by Noumi 1994 2 10
revised by Ben 1994 4 17
revised by Ben 2000 6 10
revised by Ben 2000 8 16