Arthur Golden - Memoirs of a Geisha

By now the wrestlers had all entered the building and stood around the base of the mound. One by one their names were announced, and they climbed up and arranged themselves in a circle facing the audience. Later, as they made their way out of the hall again so the wrestlers of the opposing side could begin their procession, Nobu said to me:

“That rope in a circle on the ground marks the ring. The first wrestler to be shoved outside it, or to touch the mound with anything but his feet, is the loser. It may sound easy, but how would you like to try pushing one of those giants over that rope?”

“I suppose I could come up behind him with wooden clappers,” I said, “and hope to scare him so badly he’d jump out.”

“Be serious,” Nobu said.

I won’t pretend this was a particularly clever thing for me to have said, but it was one of my first efforts at joking with a man. I felt so embarrassed, I couldn’t think what to say. Then the Chairman leaned toward me.

“Nobu-san doesn’t joke about sumo,” he said quietly.

“I don’t make jokes about the three things that matter most in life,” Nobu said. “Sumo, business, and war.”

“My goodness, I think that was a sort of joke,” Mameha said. “Does that mean you’re contradicting yourself?”

“If you were watching a battle,” Nobu said to me, “or for that matter sitting in the midst of a business meeting, would you understand what was happening?”

I wasn’t sure what he meant, but I could tell from his tone that he expected me to say no. “Oh, not at all,” I answered.

“Exactly. And you can’t expect to understand what’s going on in sumo, either. So you can laugh at Mameha’s little jokes or you can listen to me and learn what it all means.”

“He’s tried to teach me about it over the years,” the Chairman said quietly to me, “but I’m a very poor student.”

“The Chairman is a brilliant man,” Nobu said. “He’s a poor student of sumo because he doesn’t care about it. He wouldn’t even be here this afternoon, except that he was generous enough to accept my proposal that Iwamura Electric be a sponsor of the exhibition.”

By now both teams had finished their ring-entering ceremonies. Two more special ceremonies followed, one for each of the two yokozuna . A yokozuna is the very highest rank in sumo-“just like Mameha’s position in Gion,” as Nobu explained it to me. I had no reason to doubt him; but if Mameha ever took half as much time entering a party as these yokozuna took entering the ring, she’d certainly never be invited back. The second of the two was short and had a most remarkable face-not at all flabby, but chiseled like stone, and with a jaw that made me think of the squared front end of a fishing boat. The audience cheered him so loudly I covered my ears. His name was Miyagiyama, and if you know sumo at all, you’ll understand why they cheered as they did.

“He is the greatest wrestler I have ever seen,” Nobu told me.

Just before the bouts were ready to begin, the announcer listed the winner’s prizes. One was a considerable sum of cash offered by Nobu Toshikazu, president of the Iwamura Electric Company. Nobu seemed very annoyed when he heard this and said, “What a fool! The money isn’t from me, it’s from Iwamura Electric. I apologize, Chairman. I’ll call someone over to have the announcer correct his mistake.”

“There’s no mistake, Nobu. Considering the great debt I owe you, it’s the least I can do.”

“The Chairman is too generous,” Nobu said. “I’m very grateful.” And with this, he passed a sake cup to the Chairman and filled it, and the two of them drank together.

When the first wrestlers entered the ring, I expected the bout to begin right away. Instead they spent five minutes or more tossing salt on the mound and squatting in order to tip their bodies to one side and raise a leg high in the air before slamming it down. From time to time they crouched, glowering into each other’s eyes, but just when I thought they were going to charge, one would stand and stroll away to scoop up another handful of salt. Finally, when I wasn’t expecting it, it happened. They slammed into each other, grabbing at loincloths; but within an instant, one had shoved the other off balance and the match was over. The audience clapped and shouted, but Nobu just shook his head and said, “Poor technique.”

During the bouts that followed, I often felt that one ear was linked to my mind and the other to my heart; because on one side I listened to what Nobu told me-and much of it was interesting. But the sound of the Chairman’s voice on the other side, as he went on talking with Mameha, always distracted me.

An hour or more passed, and then the movement of a brilliant color in Awajiumi’s section caught my eye. It was an orange silk flower swaying in a woman’s hair as she took her place on her knees. At first I thought it was Korin, and that she had changed her kimono. But then I saw it wasn’t Korin at all; it was Hatsumomo.

To see her there when I hadn’t expected her… I felt a jolt as if I’d stepped on an electric wire. Surely it was only a matter of time before she found a way of humiliating me, even here in this giant hall amid hundreds of people. I didn’t mind her making a fool of me in front of a crowd, if it had to happen; but I couldn’t bear the thought of looking like a fool in front of the Chairman. I felt such a hotness in my throat, I could hardly even pretend to listen when Nobu began telling me something about the two wrestlers climbing onto the mound. When I looked at Mameha, she flicked her eyes toward Hatsumomo, and then said, “Chairman, forgive me, I have to excuse myself. It occurs to me Sayuri may want to do the same.”

She waited until Nobu was done with his story, and then I followed her out of the hall.

“Oh, Mameha-san… she’s like a demon,” I said.

“Korin left more than an hour ago. She must have found Hatsumomo and sent her here. You ought to feel flattered, really, considering that Hatsumomo goes to so much trouble just to torment you.”

“I can’t bear to have her make a fool of me here in front of… well, in front of all these people.”

“But if you do something she finds laughable, she’ll leave you alone, don’t you think?”

“Please, Mameha-san… don’t make me embarrass myself.”

We’d crossed a courtyard and were just about to climb the steps into the building where the toilets were housed; but Mameha led me some distance down a covered passageway instead. When we were out of earshot of anyone, she spoke quietly to me.

“Nobu-san and the Chairman have been great patrons of mine over the years. Heaven knows Nobu can be harsh with people he doesn’t like, but he’s as loyal to his friends as a retainer is to a feudal lord; and you’ll never meet a more trustworthy man. Do you think Hatsumomo understands these qualities? All she sees when she looks at Nobu is… ‘Mr. Lizard.’ That’s what she calls him. ‘Mameha-san, I saw you with Mr. Lizard last night! Oh, goodness, you look all splotchy. I think he’s rubbing off on you.’ That sort of thing. Now, I don’t care what you think of Nobu-san at the moment. In time you’ll come to see what a good man he is. But Hatsumomo may very well leave you alone if she thinks you’ve taken a strong liking to him.”

I couldn’t think how to respond to this. I wasn’t even sure just yet what Mameha was asking me to do.

“Nobu-san has been talking to you about sumo for much of the afternoon,” she went on. “For all anyone knows, you adore him. Now put on a show for Hatsumomo’s benefit. Let her think you’re more charmed by him than you’ve ever been by anyone. She’ll think it’s the funniest thing she’s ever seen. Probably she’ll want you to stay on in Gion just so she can see more of it.”