David Mitchell - The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet

‘Father,’ Yûan speaks in Dutch, ‘you may say a few words.’

The senior Academicians occupy the centre; to the left stand fifteen of the doctor’s past and present seminarians; to the right stand an assortment of the upper-ranked and curious, a scattering of spies, monks from the temple and a few others whom Jacob does not examine.

‘I must first,’ he says in Japanese, ‘express my sincere thanks to everyone…’

A breeze shakes the trees and fat drops splash on umbrellas.

‘… for braving the Rainy Season, and bidding farewell to our colleague…’

I shan’t feel his death, Jacob thinks, until I return to Dejima, and want to tell him about the temple at Mount Inasa, but cannot…

‘… on his final journey. I offer my thanks to the priests here for providing my compatriot with a resting-place, and for sanctioning my intrusion this morning. Until his final days, the doctor was doing what he loved best: teaching and learning. So when we think of Lucas Marinus, let us remember a…’

Jacob notices two women hidden under broad umbrellas.

One is younger – a servant? – and wears a hood that conceals her ears.

Her older companion wears a headscarf hiding the left side of her face…

Jacob cannot remember what he was saying.

‘How kind of you to wait, Aibagawa-sensei…’ There was a donation to offer at the temple, pleasantries to exchange with the scholars, and Jacob was as afraid she would be gone as he was nervous she would not.

Here you are, he looks at her, the true you, truly here.

‘It is selfish of me,’ she begins in Japanese, ‘to impose on such a busy Chief Resident whom I knew so briefly, and so long ago…’

So many things you are, Jacob thinks, but never selfish.

‘… but Chief de Zoet’s son conveyed his father’s wish with such…’

Orito looks at Yûan – who is plainly besotted by the midwife – and smiles.

‘… such courteous persistence, that it was impossible to leave.’

‘I hope he wasn’t,’ Jacob’s glance thanks Yûan, ‘overly bothersome.’

‘One doubts such a mannerly boy could ever be bothersome.’

‘His master – an artist – tries his best to instil discipline into him, but after his mother passed away, my son ran wild and I am afraid the damage is irreparable.’ He turns to Orito’s companion, wondering whether she is a servant, assistant or equal. ‘I’m de Zoet,’ he says. ‘Thank you for coming.’

The young woman is unperturbed by his foreignness. ‘My name is Yayoi. I mustn’t say how often she talks about you or she’ll be cross with me all day.’

‘Aibagawa-sensei,’ Yûan tells him, ‘said that she knew Mother long ago, even before you came to Japan.’

‘Yes, Yûan, Aibagawa-sensei was kind enough to treat your mother and her sisters in the Maruyama tea-houses from time to time. But why, sensei, do you happen to be in Nagasaki at this…’ he looks towards the cemetery ‘… at this sad time? I understood you were practising midwifery in Miyako.’

‘I still am, but Dr Maeno invited me here to advise one of his disciples, who plans to establish a School of Obstetrics. I hadn’t been back to Nagasaki since… well, since I left, and so I felt the time was ripe. That my visit coincided with Dr Marinus’s demise is a matter of unhappy chance.’

Her explanation makes no mention of a plan to visit Dejima, so Jacob assumes she had none. He senses the curiosity of onlookers and gestures at the long flight of stone steps descending from the temple gates to the Nakashima River. ‘Shall we walk down together, Miss Aibagawa?’

‘With the greatest pleasure, Chief Resident de Zoet.’

Yayoi and Yûan follow a few steps behind, and Iwase and Goto bring up the rear, so Jacob and the celebrated midwife may speak in relative privacy. They tread carefully on the wet and mossy stones.

I could tell you a hundred things, thinks Jacob, and nothing at all.

‘I understand,’ says Orito, ‘your son is apprenticed to the artist Shunro?’

‘Shunro-sensei took pity on the talentless boy, yes.’

‘Then your son must have inherited his father’s artistic gifts.’

‘I have no gifts! I am a bumbler with two left hands.’

‘Forgive my contradiction: I carry proof to the contrary.’

She still has the fan, then. Jacob cannot quite hide his smile.

‘Raising him must have been taxing, after Tsukinami-sama’s passing.’

‘He lived on Dejima until two years ago. Marinus and Eelattu tutored him, and I hired what we call in Dutch a “nanny”. Now he lives in his master’s studio, but the Magistrate lets him visit every tenth day. Much as I long for a ship to arrive from Batavia for Dejima’s benefit, I dread the prospect of leaving him, also…’

An invisible woodpecker works in short bursts on a nearby trunk.

‘Maeno-sensei told me,’ she says, ‘Dr Marinus died a peaceful death.’

‘He was proud of you. “Pupils like Miss Aibagawa justify me, Domburger,” he used to say, and “Knowledge exists only when it is given…” ’ Like love, Jacob would like to add. ‘Marinus was a cynical dreamer.’

Halfway down, they hear and see the foaming coffee-brown river.

‘A great teacher attains immortality,’ she remarks, ‘in his students.’

‘Aibagawa-sensei might equally refer to “her” students.’

Orito says, ‘Your Japanese fluency is most admirable.’

‘Compliments such as that prove that I still make mistakes. That’s the problem with having a daimyo’s status: nobody ever corrects me.’ He hesitates. ‘Ogawa-sama used to, but he was a singular interpreter.’

Warblers call and query, higher up the hidden mountain.

‘And a brave man.’ Orito’s tone tells Jacob that she knows how he died, and why.

‘When Yûan’s mother was alive, I used to ask her to correct my mistakes, but she was the worst teacher. She said my blunders sounded too sweet.’

‘Yet your dictionary is now found in every domain. My own students don’t say, “Pass me the Dutch dictionary”, they say, “Pass me the Dazûto.” ’

The wind musses the long-fingered ash trees.

Orito asks, ‘Is William Pitt still alive?’

‘William Pitt eloped with a monkey on the Santa Maria, four years ago. The very morning she sailed, he swam out to her. The guards weren’t sure whether the Shogun’s laws applied, but they let him leave. With him gone, only Dr Marinus, Ivo Oost and I were left from your days as a “seminarian”. Arie Grote has come back twice, but just for the trading season.’

Behind them, Yûan says something funny and Yayoi laughs.

‘If Aibagawa-sensei wished, by chance… to visit Dejima, then… then…’

‘Chief de Zoet is most gracious, but I must return to Miyako tomorrow. Several Court ladies are pregnant, and will need my assistance.’

‘Of course! Of course. I didn’t mean to imply… I mean, I didn’t…’ Jacob, stung, dare not say what he didn’t mean to imply. ‘… your duties,’ he fumbles, ‘your obligations, are… paramount.’

At the bottom of the flight of steps, porters around the palanquins are rubbing oil into their calves and thighs for their burdened journeys back to town.

Tell her, Jacob orders himself, or spend your life regretting your cowardice.

He decides to spend his life regretting his cowardice. No, I can’t.

‘There is something I must tell you. On that day, twelve years ago, when Enomoto’s men stole you away, I was on the Watchtower, and I saw you…’ Jacob dares not look at her ‘… I saw you trying to persuade the guards at the Land-Gate to let you in. Vorstenbosch had just betrayed me and, like a sulky child, when I saw you I did nothing. I could have run down, argued, fussed, summoned a sympathetic interpreter, or Marinus… but I didn’t. God knows, I couldn’t guess the consequences of my inaction… or that I’d never set eyes on you again until today – and even that afternoon I came to my senses but…’ he feels as though a fish-bone is lodged in his throat ‘… but by the time I’d run down to the Land-Gate to – to – help, I was too late.’