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make her father’s dream a reality.
    “This is Jihei Okamoto, Rie’s new husband and my successor,” Kinzaemon said. “Now we have a man to succeed me.” Rie bit her lip as she heard this.
    Kin bowed lower than Jihei, as was appropriate. “Good.” He nodded to Kinzaemon and Jihei.
    Rie backed quickly out of sight but lingered to hear more. A man to succeed made her father happy, of course. She expected it of her father and was glad that it pleased him, but for her the union had been an outrage that even now left her feeling unclean. Her throat tightened at the memory as she ducked farther out of sight. She did not wish to be seen by her husband, or by
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    Kin either. She would have to catch Kin sometime alone and talk to both him and Jihei about increasing market share. There was nothing to prevent her from going to the office in the evening after her father had left.
    She heard Kin open the ledgers and begin to relate a summary of White Tiger’s main suppliers, customers, and sales routes to Jihei. She tried to remember everything Kin said. “In this ledger here you see all our suppliers of Yamada Nishiki rice, koji mold, and yeast. And in this one here are all our major customers.” As Kin talked, Rie heard the shoji to the outer office open and the men’s voices grow fainter. She moved along the corridor toward the outer office so as not to miss any of the valuable summaries of White Tiger’s operations.

    Rie brought a flask of heated sake to the bridal room that evening and turned to Jihei, her hands shaking as she handed him his drink. She needed to prepare for the future growth of the business, but she could only do so if her husband was in concurrence with her wishes. She took a steadying breath before launching in. “You know you will be house head as soon as Father retires,” she said hesitantly. “And it isn’t far off now. He is fifty. So is Kin,
    therefore we may have a double retirement.”
    “That would be a problem if they both retired at the same time, wouldn’t it?” Jihei asked. He pulled at his bristling eyebrows.
    “Oh, we’re sure to find someone to apprentice with Kin before that happens, maybe one of the boys from Tamba. Anyway, Father and Kin will soon be on the lookout among the brewing houses.”
    Jihei picked up a small cup, and Rie leaned over to pour for him.
    “Maybe we should be looking now,” Jihei offered. “Yes, I’ve started looking myself.”
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    Jihei worked at his eyebrows again and shifted uneasily. “I wonder if the daughters of other houses are as active as you.”
    “Well, I’m an only child and have always loved brewing, even when I was little.” She smiled, tentatively.
    Jihei leaned back and drained a second cup. “I was trained as a child too, but then it was always my elder brother who would succeed, so there wasn’t the same pressure on me. Still, my father always said there was sake running in our veins, not blood,” Jihei said, smiling at his joke.
    “Yes, we all felt that way,” Rie responded, beginning to relax in his presence. Maybe last night was an aberration, and tonight would go better. She hoped so. And yet she couldn’t bring herself to think of it.
    When Rie drew their futon from the cupboard for the night she deliberately placed hers as far from Jihei’s as possible. After they had lain on their separate futon for a few minutes Jihei slid out of his and moved over to Rie. He lifted her quilt and began to move closer.
    “Uh!” She grabbed the futon tightly around herself. “Let’s wait until we both feel ready,” she said more gently. She knew she couldn’t continue this way, that she would have to relent, and soon, but the thought of his breath, his clumsy moves, put an ache in her chest. Rie guessed that the reason he didn’t insist was that he felt a stranger in the house, his position as a mukoyoshi without much power as he saw it.
    To his credit, Jihei moved back to his futon, picked up a