Miscellany (cont’d)
A Scar on the Forehead
Earlier I briefly touched on Okiku, who is in relationship with a black man in Fernie, but here I would like to sketch out how she came to have a scar on her forehead. Four or five years ago, a devil you know, Tsurutarō Mizoguchi, borrowed some money from Tetsuji Ishida in Nelson by mortgaging his wife-on-paper, who is a prostitute with the English name Memmy. He returned to Japan and used this money to purchase another woman. He was indeed able to obtain Tomi but encountered difficulty entering, so he had her marry Takiji Kawano, his wife’s brother, and had both Tomi and Takiji migrate to this country in the spring of 1905. Mizoguchi himself attempted to get on board with yet another woman in Kōbe but they were not able to travel. However, for the convenience of Ishida in Nelson, the woman brought in by Kawano received 650 dollars and started to live at Okiku’s cave in Fernie together with Memmy, the mortgage.
The woman brought in by Kawano started to call herself by the English name Maple and started to prostitute with Memmy. Then Memmy became pregnant. Having no other option, Okiku decided to send Memmy to Yatoro Shimizu, who was running a boarding house for boys working at Cedar Valley Logging in Fernie.
Shimizu is from Kurume. Because Memmy was staying there, Maple visited Shimizu’s house frequently and complained about Okiku every time she was there. Shinsuke, Kawano’s brother, who was working at a sawmill in Cedar Valley then, heard those complaints, learned that she did not like to work at Okiku’s and got an idea that he might able to benefit from having Maple move to another cave. Shinsuke waited for the right time and brought this up to Maple; the woman immediately agreed with his idea and asked him to carry it out. Shinsuke consulted with devil Nagata in Fernie, borrowed some money from him and finally started his negotiation with Okiku about whether the woman could take a leave. Okiku responded to him with her double talk, saying to him that as long as he gave her 580 out of his profit, after taking Maple’s earnings out, she could give her a leave at any time. In the meantime, Okiku said to Maple that she migrated to this country being hired by Mizoguchi so no one else could say anything about her business. “Shinsuke wants to pay your debt off only to make the best use of you, so even if he approaches you don’t go with him. Once you finish paying me back your debt, I will keep you as a guest so that you can take all of the money you make as your income,” Okiku convinced her with her sweet talk.