I’m fond of Shabake, to be sure. But a major reason I am is that I’m fond of Ichitarou. And increasingly I find myself frustrated with the treatment he gets from most of those around him. They mean well to be sure, but they’ve made him a prisoner inside his own life (and his own body). Reiterate his fragility and feebleness so often that it’s become a self-fulfilling prophecy. They do their best to prevent him from having any sort of life at all, in fact – life is what they’re “protecting” him from. And that certainly includes his youkai protectors.
As is so often true in cases such as this, I find myself wondering if the perspective of the writer aligns with my thinking on that subject. I’d like to think it does, but there are times when Shabake seems to side with the captors over the captive. There’s no denying their consternation when he disappears is genuine, or that it is dangerous for him to be out and about when there are weird things happening all over this town (including murders). But what’s also true is that he sneaks out because they never let him leave otherwise. He seeks out his brother in secret because his parents his his existence from him. What choice does Ichitarou have but to live a secret life, really?
The murder of a temporarily unnamed apothecary certainly sets the shop and household into a panic. Nikichi pulls his usual strongarm tactic and tries to strangle a confession out of Eikichi when it comes to the young master’s going’s on. The truth about his secret trips to see Matsunosuke comes out – though it seems as though Ichitarou and Matsunosuke (who’s working as an apprentice at a cooperage) have actually met yet. Nikichi and the chief head off in search of answers, and Sosuke – who’s been searching on his own – finds Ichitarou on his own at a shrine.
It falls to Nozoki-byoubu – who’s really the only one at Nagasakiya who doesn’t treat Ichitarou like a cross between a crystal goblet and a zoo animal – to educate him about what really happened with his parents and his brother. They come off poorly (as Nozoki-byoubu warns they would), but the truth is, this sort of story was utterly typical among wealthy merchants at the time. This sort of thing was just standard operating procedure – not that it excuses the parents (especially the father) from engaging in it.
What really makes all this galling is that Ichitarou is actually a very capable and resourceful kid. Maybe his health isn’t the best but I suspect it’s not as bad as the parents and youkai jailers make it out to be. Either way he’s clever and driven by decency. The Matsunosuke situation is wrong on the face of it, typical as it was, and it’s to Ichitarou’s credit that he’s unwilling to just accept it. And even there, his main motivation is to prepare the Nagasakiya to survive if he doesn’t, something he somewhat naively believes Matsunosuke represents. Ichinosuke is a good kid, and he deserves more credit than he’s getting from the cast. The question in my mind is whether that’s true of the author as well.
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