between Iemon and O'Hana there had been a
closer connection than that of mere accident.

CHAPTER IX

LOVE KNOTS

Many were the visits paid by Iemon to contest at _go_ with Ito[u]
Kwaiba. Rapid was the progress of the love affair between a young man
and a young woman, both inspired with a consuming passion for each
other. In former days--something more than two years before--when Iemon
was priest in the Jo[u]shinji of the Reigan district of Fukagawa, and
was spending the money of the _osho[u]_ so freely, he had met O'Hana at
the Fukagawa of Yagura no Shita. Just entering on her career, she at
once captivated him with a permanent passion. It was in her company that
the funds of the temple had been cast to the four winds of heaven. His
love had been fully reciprocated by O'Hana. The one purpose was to
ransom the lady, and then to live together as husband and wife. Such was
the engagement plighted between them. However, the ransom figure was
large. Iemon--or Kazuma at that time, he dropped his priestly name when
out of bounds--had already planned a larger raid than usual on the
ecclesiastical treasury. Warned by O'Hana that his operations had been
discovered, he had sought safety in flight; not without a last tearful
parting with his mistress, and assurance that fate somehow would bring
them again together. The engagement thus entered on was to flourish
under the new conditions.

As to this pursuit of O'Hana, in which the maiden was coy and willing,
the lover circumspect and eager, or at least thought he was, those
around the pair were soon well informed; that is, with the exception of
the most interested--O'Iwa and Kwaiba. The marked neglect which now
ensued O'Iwa took in wifely fashion; and attributing it to some passing
attraction of Shinjuku Nakacho[u], she did not take it to heart as she
would have done if a concubine had been at issue. As for Kwaiba, the
usually astute and prying old man was so immersed in his _go_ as to be
struck blind, deaf, and dumb. The matter coming to the ears of Kondo[u]
Rokuro[u]bei, the worthy gentleman was seriously alarmed. If true, the
old man had indeed reached a parting of the ways, at which he had to
satisfy Iemon, Master of Tamiya, O'Iwa, his ward, and Ito[u] Kwaiba, the
powerful influence in the daily life of all of them. That night there
was a meeting at the house of Kwaiba, a competition in _gidayu_
recitation, dancing, and poetry (_uta_) making. He presented himself in