A New Year’s Eve Calculation
That Didn’t Add Up
“Actually,” Naisuke’s wife said from the kitchen, “the coin was here all along.” She presented it, still attached to the lid of her lacquered food container.
“It’s likely the steam from the simmered yam dish you had earlier caused the coin to be pasted to the lid,” she continued. “Such a thing is not unheard of. And hold on…there are eleven coins now?”
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The illustration depicts two separate scenes from the text. On the right, Naisuke's wife brings a jūbako (重箱 a tiered, lacquered food box) with a gold coin stuck to its lid.
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On the left side, the guest seated on the rightmost is reaching for the hilt of his sword, presumably to take his own life for appearing to have stolen the missing coin. At the same time, the other samurai are fretting over the celebration turning to a grim conclusion.
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While the illustration features remarkable detail for the inner home and some of its fixtures, Saikaku eliminated three of the guests from the scene and drew the coins in a simple way.
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The fact that Naisuke's rented home has a corridor connecting the kitchen to the parlor suggests the rōnin was once a middle-ranked samurai.