Adventures of Young Tezuka Kunimitsu
Chapter 21: Mountain Climbing Part 2
The next morning, Kuniharu woke up and found himself pinned under his personal walking alarm clock. At 5am, Kunimitsu was all ready wide awake and sitting on him to wake him up. He was bent over Kuniharu, the feathery fringe of his hair tickling Kuniharu's nose. He appeared to be looking with great interest at the vicinity of Kuniharu's chin.
"Kunimitsu, what are you doing?"
"Papa!" He rubbed his forefinger over his Papa's cheek and chin. Then he curled his finger and scraped his nail against his Papa's jawline, making a soft buzzing sound. He laughed and climbed off.
"Right," said Kuniharu, rubbing his 3-day-old stubble. "Go brush your teeth!" he said as Kunimitsu sat on Harada's legs to wake him up.
Harada sat up in alarm at the unfamiliar weight. "What? Where? Eh?" He looked about for a source of danger but Kunimitsu had quietly disappeared into the bathroom.
"It's 5," said Kuniharu.
Harada peered out at the still dark sky and groaned. "Call me when breakfast is ready," he said and pulled his blankets over his head.
Kuniharu took one last regretful look as his rumpled but warm bed. Then he got up to check on Kunimitsu. The boy had just finished brushing his teeth. Kuniharu knelt down to wipe his face with a wet towel.
Kunimitsu took the opportunity to clapped for his hands on his Papa's jaws, stroking and marvelling at the rough sensation. Kuniharu hugged the boy tightly and rubbed his stubble against Kunimitsu's smooth cheek. Kunimitsu shriek and tried to back away. But he found himself trapped by his Papa's arms wrapped around his back. He squirmed and sat down, slithering through his Papa's grip and slipped out. He quickly padded out of the bathroom. Then crouched behind the door to peer mischievously at his Papa.
"Rawr!" growled Kuniharu playfully.
"Eee!" cried Kunimitsu and pulled his head back out.
"Ok, Papa is going to brush teeth. Play by yourself and don't disturb Harada-san." And locked the bathroom door.
Kuniharu came out of the bathroom cleanly shaved. He should have shaved yesterday morning, but given the early departure, was too lazy to do it. He closed the door to find Kunimitsu's small backpack opened and its contents spilled all over the futon. Kunimitsu had also pulled down Kuniharu's pack and half his body had disappeared into the opening, with his little tushy and toes sticking out.
"Kunimitsu! Don't mess up the packs!"
"Judo-gi!" was Kunimitsu's muffled reply from inside the bag.
"No gi," said Kuniharu.
"Zazen." Kunimitsu pulled his head out looking questioningly at his Papa.
"Just wear your pyjamas."
Kunimitsu looked askance, then shrugged. He stood up, grabbed a cushion from the low dining table and went out to the verandah, sliding the shoji paper door softly aside.
Kuniharu muttered about messy 5-year-olds as he tidied up the clutter, setting aside Kunimitsu's clothes for the day. By the time he was done, Kunimitsu had finished his zazen and was into his warming up routine. Kuniharu took his place beside the boy and joined him in his routine.
Harada came out to the sound of clapping, off-tune singing and childish laughter. Kuniharu was singing some nonsensical song and doing sit-ups. Kunimitsu was sitting on his knees, giggling away and trying to be quiet at the same time.
"Hakone Mountain is hard to climb!" sang Kuniharu.
"Hai!" said Kunimitsu as Kuniharu came up. They clapped hands together.
"Rising in front." Kuniharu sat up again.
"Peaking in the back." Kuniharu bucked his knees, bumping Kunimitsu up and down.
"Clouds around the tops!" He lay down and pushed his knees up.
Kunimitsu sat on Kuniharu's shins, high up in the air, waving his hands. "Clouds!"
"Mist fills the vales." He tilted his feet up, spilling Kunimitsu onto his chest.
"Mist! Sssss ..." Kunimitsu came down wriggling and hissing.
"Aiyo! Aiyo! Aiyo!" cried Kuniharu in mock pain.
"Aiyo! Aiyo! Aiyo!" parroted Kunimitsu.
"Breakfast is ready," said Harada amused.
"Go!" said Kuniharu.
Kunimitsu clambered off and dashed back into the room. "Unagi!" They heard him shouted excitedly. He was all ready seated at the table when they went it.
"Have you washed your hands?"
Kunimitsu showed him his still wet hands.
"What do you say?" said Kuniharu.
"Itadakimasu!" Kunimitsu grabbed his chopsticks and attacked the eel.
Kuniharu quickly piled vegetables into his rice bowl. At least he remembered Ayana's warning about unagi. Kunimitsu would eat nothing but rice and unagi if given the chance. So it was important to put the veggie in first before he finished his rice. By mutual agreement, the minute Kunimitsu ate his last grain of rice, he had finished his meal and was free to run off and play. He was under no obligation to eat anything else, no matter what was piled into his bowl after. Unless, of course, it was something he wanted to eat.
Kunimitsu looked pleadingly at his Papa. The vegetables had buried his unagi. He thought he could get away with it, since Papa was usually less strict about vegetables than Mama.
"These are speciality of the ryokan. You can't get such fresh mountain vegetables in the city. They're delicious. Eat up."
He picked one up gingerly and put it into his mouth. Well, at least it wasn't too objectionable. He ate messily, rice and vegetables scattered around his bowl. And any fish that fell over the side was picked up carefully, to ensure no vegetable was stuck on it, and put into his mouth.
"Dirty!" Kuniharu chided him, but left him to his own devices, as long as as much greens went into his mouth as unagi.
Harada ate with one hand clutching chopsticks and the other clutching his stomach and shoulders shaking with mirth.
Kuniharu pointedly ignored both their antics and ate primly.
"Finished!" Kunimitsu showed his Papa his shiny empty bowl. He had even licked the last smear of unagi sauce from the bottom.
"Go wash your face and hands," said Kuniharu. Kuniharu scraped his mess off the table into the empty bowl. By coincidence, every piece of green onion had miraculously landed on the table in a neat row.
One more bath and dip in the hot springs, mostly empty due to the early hours, and they were off.
Kunimitsu was in high spirit. His little pack did not slow him at all. They had taken to the road again, which was broad and gentle. He ran up and down, squatting to peer at beetles and strange plants, picking up an odd coloured stone.
An hour later, they turned off the main road to a dirt track. A signboard gave it an ominous name, Jigoku-dani, Hell Valley. Twenty minutes of downhill hike brought smell of rotten eggs. Kunimitsu sniffed curiously at first. Then, as they came into view of the barren valley floor, he pinched his nose and made a rude face.
"We won't go down there," assured Kuniharu as they turned to the north edge of the valley.
Below them, yellow chimneys of sulphur sprouted from the muddy ground. Hot steam vents smoked and wreathed around the surface. Ponds of blue-grey water boiled and steamed. Mud puddles bubbled and frothed. Kunimitsu gaped at the otherworldly sight, then hurried along the trail to get away from the sulphurous smell.
The sun was high and bright, when they left the valley behind. But the trees along the route gave them enough shade to make the route quite comfortable. Here and there, they met travellers sitting by the banks of hot steaming stream, soaking their bare feet in the hot water.
Eventually, they left the bathers and climbed into higher elevation. Kuniharu allowed Kunimitsu to range further along the side, as long as he kept within view of the track and his Papa. His brightly coloured backpack made him highly visible amongst the undergrowth.
"Papa, mushroom!" he called excitedly. "It's big and funny yellow."
Both adults came to find him squatting a foot away from a cluster of funnel shaped golden yellow mushrooms. He poked his hiking stick at them for emphasis. Both Kuniharu and Harada had impressed on him not to touch any unknown plants and animals with bare hands.
"Chantrelles!" said Harada happily. "They are delicious." He bent down to pluck a few large ones. "Lunch!" He waved a stalk at Kunimitsu. Kunimitsu smelled apricot.
Kunimitsu, seeing that it was a 'safe to touch' specimen, immediately wanted in on the action. Kuniharu gave him a small pocket knife to use while Harada pointed out the ones he could pick. They left the smaller ones to grow and repopulate. Kuniharu carefully wrapped their find in a square furoshiki cloth and gave the bundle to Kunimitsu to carry proudly.
Buoyed by his success, Kunimitsu peered under logs and between roots. Every few minutes, he would call his Papa to show off his find. A frog, a fat caterpillar with punkish tuffs of hair, bright red mushroom that Harada said was poisonous.
The next find was discovered by Kuniharu. Kunimitsu ran back to him and squatted down. "It's a holes mushroom."
"Black morel mushroom!" said Harada quite pleased. He pointed out at the honeycombed cap, edged with black that stood out against its pale whitish interior. Then quickly plucked it off the ground.
"Holes!" said Kunimitsu, pointing to another one nearby. Before long, they were crawling all over the area looking for the morels. They had about 10 large ones when Kuniharu declared they had enough and should not be greedy. Kunimitsu was getting too good at spotting the mushrooms, since he liked the beautiful honeycomb patterns.
They foraged a few zenmai, young shoots of fiddlehead ferns, with their leaves tightly furled. A few more varieties of wild greens later, they left the highly forested area to emerge on the ridge of the mountain. Below them, the gentler open road snaked in and out between the trees. Ahead of them, a mountain hut perched precariously on the saddle, with the road leading to its doorstep.
They went into the hut. Kuniharu chose a table, nodding and exchanging greetings with fellow travellers. A few had their laptops out, surfing the net. Harada went to speak to the owner and cook, bringing their bundle of harvest with them. When he came out again, the bundle was noticeably smaller.
Kunimitsu slithered down from his bench to peer curiously at the open laptops. Some were boring, with lots of words on the screen. Some had colourful pictures and movement. One lady had screen with a man and woman in strange costume. And she was pressing the keys quite quickly. The people in the computer jump and kick and punched with much explosion and bright fireworks. Kunimitsu liked the fireworks very much. He climbed under the table and insinuated himself between the lady's arms, poking his head right in front of the screen.
She ignored him, intent on her game, till the screen showed "Game Over!" blinking and bouncing all around. Then she looked down at the top of his head. "Hello," she said.
Kunimitsu turned around, craning his head up to look at her. "Hello. I like the fireworks," he said.
"You want to try?"
Kunimitsu turned to his Papa, to see if he needed Papa's permission. But Papa and Harada-san were busy talking with other people. So he took that affirmative. "Yes," he said solemnly.
The lady put his little fingers on the keyboard and showed him which ones to press. In a few minutes, he had the man inside the screen jumping and kicking.
"Make fireworks," said Kunimitsu.
The lady pressed some buttons and there were two people now. "Fight!"
Kunimitsu made fireworks and many explosive sounds in the laptop. The lady let him try many different characters. "The red girl is best," Kunimitsu commented after she kicked and whipped her larger opponent with rainbow starbursts and blue lightning. There was even a judo man. But Kunimitsu did not like him. "He is not doing it properly," he criticised.
"What is he not doing properly?"
Kunimitsu made him roll and throw his opponent over his shoulder again, pointing to the parts that were wrong. "His ukemi is wrong. He put weight on neck and back bone. Ojiisan said very bad. Can hurt and die. Ojiisan scold if do like that." He slithered out under the table again. "Proper way, like this." He positioned himself on one end of the aisle and did a mae-ukemi forward roll, tucking his head in properly and rolling from shoulder to hip, head over heels till he came back to his feet. "Like this!"
The lady clapped and asked him to do it again. That caught the attention of the rest of the guests, including his Papa. But Kunimitsu was too busy to notice as he made several more perfect rolls in succession. His impromptu audience clapped and Kunimitsu felt obliged to bow politely in acceptance.
"Kunimitsu!" said Papa.
Kunimitsu tilted his head to await what Papa will say.
"I'm sorry," Papa said to the nice lady. "Is he disturbing you?"
"No," she shook her head. "not at all. He is a good boy." She patted his head so Papa could not scold him.
"It's time to eat," said Papa to Kunimitsu. "Say thank you to Oneesan."
"Thank you, Oneesan," intoned Kunimitsu with a polite bow and went off with his Papa.
Lunch was a big pot of nabemono steamboat, filled with the fruits of their morning forage, tofu, more vegetables and thinly sliced beef. Kunimitsu had both a rice bowl and a soup bowl. He ate sporadically, playing with the morel mushroom, dipping the cap into the soup and tipping it over to make the soup spill out of the holes. He even tried to unroll the fiddlehead fern and plucked the small leaves one by one.
Papa put more vegetables and beef in Kunimitsu's bowl, burying his mushroom and fern. "Iyaaa!" protested Kunimitsu.
"Eat!" Papa said unsympathetically. He had put a big plate under Kunimitsu's rice bowl to catch the fall out. With Kunimitsu more interested in playing, there were more fall out that usual. Some of the vegetables got rescued from the plate and put back into Kunimitsu's bowl. He had to be more creative to drop and hide the green onions and coriander leaves under the plate where Papa couldn't see.
He turned the mushroom half upside down and floated it like canoe on the soup. He ate his carrots and saved a slice of radish to stand in the hollow of his mushroom. A spiralled tip of the fern was curled the side of one stem while he made sounds of waves crashing and imagined a green giant squid was eating his ship while his radish sailor screamed and drowned and got eaten by Kunimitsu-monster.
"Kunimitsu!" said Papa half an hour later. "If you don't finish your food, Papa will leave you here."
"No!" said Kunimitsu.
"Then eat!"
Kunimitsu quickly ate the rest of his food. In ten minutes, his bowls emptied. "Finished!"
At 7000 feet, the air was dry and chilly. Kuniharu zipped up Kunimitsu's jacket, checking he was warm enough. Kuniharu kept watch on Kunimitsu for signs of altitude sickness, but Kunimitsu was as hale and energetic as usual. He skipped and ran up and down the slope while Kuniharu and Harada stuffed several cans of beer and milk tea into their packs from the vending machine.
They made their way in slow leisurely walk up to the peak. In a short while, their camp ground came into view. They chose a nice level spot and pitched their tents next to each other. Harada with a low, long and narrow one-man tent. Kuniharu and Kunimitsu in a squarish dome-shaped two-men tent. Then Kunimitsu spent many minutes happily zipping and unzipping every meshed door and window, tying and untying the waterproof flaps in as many configurations as possible.
He crawled into Harada's tent, curling himself into the low narrow end peering over the the pack that Harada had stuffed into the tail end. It was dark and very tunnel-like inside. Harada zipped up the front entrance and Kunimitsu made himself comfortable on Harada's soft and fluffy sleeping bag imagining himself a great big dragon and making growling noises. Then as an underground train, calling out station names. "Shinjuku! Roppongi!" can be heard from within.
"Ok, I've got him in my tent. We better hurry and set up everything before he comes out," said Harada.
The work went much more quickly without Kunimitsu underfoot. They set up a roofed area over both entrances and piled their food and cooking gear on a ground sheet in the middle. Then they sat outside enjoying the scenery, and crisp clean air.
When Kunimitsu finally emerged, after figuring out how to unzip the door from inside, Kuniharu and Harada were deep in discussion on which feature they would go for later. Several customers at their lunch place had told them of new vertical wall about half-hour walk from their location, a waterfall and some pools further down. The discussions did not make any sense to Kunimitsu as he went around poking at the unpacked gear. Finding his water bottle empty, he looking around again. There was an open canned drink next to his Papa. Harada-san had one in his hand too. He liked the silver and black shiny design on the can. Kunimitsu took his Papa's can and took a mouthful.
"Kunimitsu!" said Papa sternly, taking the can away.
Kunimitsu made a face and spit out the drink. He stuck his tongue out. "Yuck!" he complained, finding the drink bitter and not at all tasty. "Worse than medicine!" He wiped his tongue with his hands.
"Not for children," Papa scolded him. He gave a cup of water for Kunimitsu to wash the taste out. And made Kunimitsu promise not to drink from that kind of can again. Kunimitsu was quite sorry and said he won't even drink it when he was grown up like Papa, because it was such a horrible water.
Harada took pity on him enough to open a can of milk tea for him. He eyed the can suspiciously and licked a drop from the lid. Finding it sweet and milky, he happily drank it down and that cleared off the last of bad after taste.
Note:
* Hakone Mountains (Traditional Song) - Selected lines taken and butchered.
* Oneesan - elder sister. Also used to address a young woman by someone younger than her.
* Kids, at any age, will naturally test the limit of their parents and caretakers.
* Black Morel mushroom grows from April to June, often after forest fires or other traumatic events in the woods.
* Fiddlehead ferns are harvested in early spring. Each plant produces seven tops that turn into fronds. Pick three tops per plant; over-picking will kill the plant.
* Altitude sickness can occur at 8000 ft or 3km above sea level. Symptoms headache, nausea, insomnia, breathing difficulty, etc.
* Harada's tent model - Highlander Falcon Hooped bivi tent
Responses:
Aoe chan: Thank you. 'And we continue on' writer had quite a few good ones, too bad they are all incomplete. thanks for the rec.
Faoiltierna: Thanks! I remembered someone told me, to be a parent, you need a heart of iron to let kids learn important lessons.
Amarie-Chil: More 'super-papa' for your reading pleasure. His parenting style is quite different from Ayana.
Aan: Thanks! School trip vote, eh? Looks like this is special trips year for young Tezuka.