Manuscript I, dated - 8 January 1780
Part the First (Introduction)
That glorious morn is now arriving, and my old veins are now trembling with renewed vigour. It is to be expected that for a few young hours, I gained a chance to relived my past strength, cleared mind, and a childlike joy unburden by the woes of the world. Thus at this moment, I chose to pick up my quill, and begin to write in light giddiness.
It - the idea - originally came from an advisor of mine, a friend in need and with whom I shared many common grounds, the Duke of Kōtsumasa, lord Sorasuke , the Minister of Finances and Taxes. He told me the joy he felt when he read my previous works and though he was a bit weary to say it, he urged me to share with him, the stories of my past days also. He told it with a beaming smile upon his face, his young appearance blossoming with faraway wonder about those memories that people speculated about on the streets, and a natural redness was upon it when he was caught entranced by such dramatic episodes.
His giddiness amused me at the time and so I ask him whether he believed in what people say about me and my origins. Whether any of them are false and if any negativity ever sprouted from such anecdotes and sayings. Needless to be said, his answers are not within any of my expectations, as it is always been, and I was touched by his views of me.
Moved was I with the strength of his replies that I started to consider such a proposal. Throughout the rest of that fine day, we conversed and developed even a broader sense of familiarity, and his urge finally took a firm place within my mind. I find it greatly satisfying that in my last days, I can planned a new project that I can work upon, a comfort in a field i sincerely adore, and I sincerely thanked him for that.
So when that day's night finally came and my officials and handmaids retired to their quarters, I took a seat beside the window of my bedroom and put a firm stance to that growing giddiness. A determination gradually developed within me as I perched myself there in absolute silence and finally, with my newfound inspiration, I wrote several letters to all I wished to informed, telling them my decision to share my life, my story, and my experiences to the whole world for I hope that through my story, others may live their lives to the fullest, to the most adventurous, as it was what my life is all about. When the imperial couriers left my quarters with all my letters, the moon was already high in the skies, and the stars twinkeled so brightly in golden, blue, and red. My heart was joyous even when sleepiness invaded, and I found myself asleep with a familar feeling settled within me: the feeling of constant joy when I am at the table, with my quill and papers at hand, and I was glad.
Now here I am, at the wake of morn, already writing despite the fog lingering still in the cold winter air. With the fragrance of my black tea and a small plate of hot delicacies upon my table, a great view from my windows and a will that refresh my soul I truly hope that I can completed this with my expectations reached. But even with that in mind, in this very moment, I also believed the simplicity of all: that God may grace me with enough time and will to complete such a story and that I can truly share my life with you all, avid readers and connoisseurs of life.
Part the Second (Chapter I)
Then, let me begin with an introduction. My name is Shū Ichikawa with a maiden name, Hyaruki, and was immediately called Haruka after my birth because of my never-ending show of curiosity. I was born on the hour of the Black Eagle - which is between eight and ten in the afternoon -, 13 February, 1691 to a family of four, which is consisted of a father, a mother, and two kind and smart older brothers. My birth was only reported to the City's government on the next day, 14 February, upon which a certificate was issued to marked my arrival to the world and why I celebrated my birthday on that particular date.
I was a native to the city of Kōmatsukyo, one of the most prosperous cities of great economic means by the banks of the Imada River and the capital of the state of Kōmago-Kisai. That flourishing city was a world of its own and it was also a major trade-hub that connected a long route from Daigōkyo, the royal capital of the Lordship of South Hasakawa, to the cities of Æssia in the far west. Truly I tell you, most-knowledgeable readers, that such a city, was, and still is simple in its glory. But through its own native style, a different kind of warmth can be found which is not like any other, and it is why I commend you to visit such a place. May it be for your own satisfaction.
My father, that great old man, Shū Kozume, was a well-respected trader and merchant of noble descent that truly benefited from staying and working in such a place. Originally, because of his talents and brilliance, He was chosen to be a head-treasurer for a famous company of merchants that was called, "the Company of the Golden Eagles" along with several of my father's brothers and my great uncles. It is where my father's reputation soared high and his abilities recognised. It was also where my father's cold appearance and handsome face, spread far and wide because of the well-socialised works he had done for the company, become famous within the higher circles of society and which resulted in a company of many admirers who followed him from afar where-ever he goes. His face, shallow as it was, is my first innocent pride and that pride is a grin-inducing memory whenever I recollected it these days.
Because the company was ran by the state government, the honourable officials of the state naturally noticed my father's passionate brilliance and love for numbers - something I and my brothers share not with -, and decided to offer him the position of head-treasurer in the Department of Finances. He, however, decided to bargain so meticulously to be placed in the state capital that the officials cannot utter another syllable and decided to granted it to my father in a most well-mannered way that it was miss-able that they were speechlessly angry. It was well-merited, the skillful tongue of my father, and truly a sight it was to beheld a snake of words that bear death to anyone that tries to entertain him with mouthful of insults.
However, such a news was unfortunately left hidden because my father's odd fascination with numbers and their relationships with one another outweighed his own relationship with his long-time friends in the company that he deigned to left them all unexcused. However I must also be thankful - even though I am non-existent at the time - that amongst all of his sleep-deprived friends there, a few also have such an odd fascination that they can understood him and saved my father's reputation from being smeared by a mob of betrayed, tired and sleepless young but old-like accountants.
So to put those things chronologically, my father began his colourful career in 1674 when he was a mere 17 years old and entered the Company a year later in 1675. He worked there until 1681 when he began working directly for the state government and received a much more "agreeable" salary there, much to the chagrin of his old friends. As my father ran on his path to everlasting success aided by his almost ridiculous fascination and love for numbers, another path of love, that will challenge and slowly defeated the former, will be found on an autumn banquet in 1683, when finally he met his beloved for life: my mother, my sweet and loving mother.
Arata Arida she was, a lady-in-waiting to the Duchess of Kanbu-Seiko, Her grace Fujioka Rin. It was to be noted that my mother's most-glorious family has dutifully served the Duchy for generations on end, and many of its members, of either gender, always become honoured attendees to the Duke, the Duchess and any of the emeritus still living. Their service was well-merited and since the 1400s, my mother's family was well-respected by the nobles and common people alike.
It was mysterious fate, I supposed, that the harvest of the summer of 1683, the reason of my parents' first exposure to one another, was so successful that it remains a desired topic to be discussed by the people until this very day. For its success was so overwhelming that the Duchy and the State Government decided to conduct a week-long celebration for it that was to be held in the Autumn. So when fall started and the leaves showered the earth, they hold a public thanksgiving ceremony in the Capital City's main temple, distributing volumes of goods to the needy, and finally organised an autumn banquet where my father, because of his effective management of the state's treasury during the harvest season, was graciously invited.
As platitude (cliché) as it maybe, as soon as my father's eyes laid upon the gracious deportment and scholar-like beauty of my mother, he become so breathless that his footing was no more and he almost fall silly when he greeted the Duchess - for my mother stood just beside her -. The first time he recounted such a meeting, I also become breathless with pent-up laughter and child-like joy because truly, such a thing is exclusive to fictional romance novels and the imagination of the younglings of the countryside . But still, as silly as it sounds, it was his favourite story to tell when he was at home and his handsome cold face always twiched so strangely to restrained that handsome smile while the reminiscence of it came to him.
At that moment, thankfully, his love for numbers collapsed and a new love for a young and learned lady blossom above anything else. I was told that my father's first ways of pursuing my mother was child-like and full of inexperienced innocence, but I was also told that such a thing was what drew my mother towards him, her lover for a lifetime. My mother, a learned woman of great knowledge had spent all of her life in a household and high society full of people of stiff and formal deportment that she was almost as stiff as her grandfather was when she first served the Dowager Duchess and the Duchess. So you may imagine her surprise that she can laughs so wildly whenever she faced my poor father's pitiful attempts to capture her heart and giggles in length when she saw the embarrassing blushes of my father's expressionless face when he discovered his attempts are so odd yet as she said, "strangely exotic." This two smart people become so close in such a small amount of time when they discover that they truly complemented each other so efficiently, and love was visible from their eyes even before the cornfield can blossom for another time.
Such a glorious romantic success was also the work of the Duchess, the childhood friend of my mother, who grew fond of my father and allowed him to "borrowed" her whenever it was possible for them to deepen their feelings for each other in the back garden of the duchal palace. There was also the Governor of the State, His Honourable, Daikawa Issei, who to his own amusement, accepted my father's proposal to change his position from the head treasurer to the head financial secretary of the State to the Duchy so that he can visit the duchal palace more often and perform his romantic duties to his beloved to-be-wife. It was all my father's way of chasing his first and last beloved, and it was greatly accomplishing in the end.
After such feats, that caused a smile-inducing soft gossip to spread throughout the state capital, was done, the two families finally met in the spring of 1684 to finally legalise their relationship and the two ultimately wed at the first day of summer, when the city was warm and the summer festival of flowers started. The banquet that followed such a lovely and spiritual marriage in the main temple was simple yet elegant and many people were invited to it, including my father's poor sleep-deprived friends in the company that became even more furious to find my father's betrayal doubling by leaving them in the dust of marriage-less ideals. Thus despite their chagrin that lit up the entire afternoon banquet, a new family was born.
A family, that in my innocent mind at the time, I greatly want to replicate with my own in the future. A child-like desire that cannot be fulfilled because of my future entanglements, a lifetime of joy and sorrow.