When I Was a Boy in Japan

by Sakae Shioya

I have not said anything about him, but he was a well-fed man with a goat’s beard. He was very nervous, however, and could not keep from pulling his beard. This accounted for its scantiness. It was very amusing to observe how easily his temper was disturbed out of its normal mood. When he was contradicted he pulled hard at his beard and wrung his hands furiously. His body seemed to expand with the inner fire when he ejaculated many an “Ahem!” preliminary to an eruption. Everybody had to find shelter and thrust his fingers into his ears, lest the drums should break. But when he was pleased, his face melted with laughter; he went to a cupboard to look for some nice thing for us, ordered dinner to be hurried for our sake, and went round and round us to see if we were really comfortable.

He was very alert, and was always looking for a new thing. He did well, too, to keep himself abreast of the age, and, indeed, mastered something of the English language, of which he could well boast in his day. His pronunciation, however, was rather painful to hear, and in his talk with foreigners his nervous hands played a large part to fill in the gaps in his vocabulary, with an intermixture of many a “you know.”

One good thing about him was his love for outdoor sports. He could not sit all day like my Chinese teacher, and if ever an eruption occurred, it was always on the occasion of such confinement to his room. His Sundays were scheduled for this or that kind of pleasure excursion. And of course I was wise enough to do what I could to please him in order that I might not be left out of his party.

One Sunday we were to go clam-fishing. When it was announced on Friday before, I thought of a great time and could hardly sleep for joy. After a tedious labor of writing verse was over the next Saturday, I busied myself the rest of the afternoon with the preparation for the next day. I kept going to my uncle’s to see whether we had the same things that they had, and also to suggest the necessity of providing things we had and they had not. Many conferences for this purpose were held at the door-sill with Tomo-chan. Small hand-rakes were bought, one for each; small and large baskets, knives, thick-soled socks, small sashes, and so forth, were collected from various sources. To this I added a net three by four feet large, with two poles to meet the exigency of encountering some large fish—perhaps a whale. But of this I did not speak to anybody.

Mother was also busy preparing our lunch. For this she got up very early in the morning and boiled rice, which she made into triangular, round, or square masses, speckled with burned sesame seeds. She packed them in several lacquered boxes, with fresh pickles and cooked vegetables. We relied on our clams for chief dishes; so some cooking utensils were necessary. Also some tea and a teapot, cups and dishes, together with chop-sticks and toothpicks, even.

The day was not fair, but it was just the kind of weather for the season, dull and somewhat hazy, but bespeaking a calm sea. The tide was fast ebbing when we started in a boat. There was a good company of us, including uncle, aunt, mother, Tomo-chan, and me. As we emerged into the bay from the canal, the extended view was delightful. On one side green masses of pine-trees overhung the stone mounds and merged into a leafy hill, which stretched itself like an arm into the sea. On the other, beyond reedy shoals, the old forts, with a lighthouse on one of them, dotted the expanse. The view was washed in gray, and even the sails of junks, hanging lazily from the masts, were scarcely lighter than the background.

All was calm. But as we sighted from a distance some other parties already on the scene, we soon forgot everything for the excitement and let the boatman hurry with all his strength. It was nine when we arrived at the desired spot, and we had three hours to enjoy ourselves. We fixed our boat to a pole, from the top of which was drooping a piece of red and white cloth. This served as our mark to enable us to find the boat quickly in the case of need. So each party had something of its own design. Purple, green, white, and red in all sorts of combinations and forms were displayed, while a coat, a shirt, or even an improvised scarecrow was not denied use.

So we went into water, our sleeves and skirts being tied up and our legs bared to the knees. Each was provided with a basket and a hand-rake—except myself, who, in addition to the implements, took out secretly my net, wound round the poles. My people were all too busy to observe me, however. We went on raking for clams. There seemed to be lots of black or white shells which we did not want, but I soon found that clams were rather a matter of chance, and a chance would come no more than once in every fifteen minutes! I luckily struck on three nice ones in a short time, and dug diligently for some thirty minutes, but without any result. So I grew tired, and began inspection. Aunt had ten, mother eight, and uncle five. When I approached him, he looked up, red in the face. I wondered if he was not angry. But it was not so, for he heaved a sigh and straightening up and striking his back with his fist, said, “O dear!”

“Uncle, you will soon be quitting your job, just as I shall, I think,” said I.

“Pshaw! How many have you?”