by John Allyn
When all the shares had been distributed, Oishi felt called upon to say one final word. The men
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finished counting their money and gave him their full attention, many of them wondering if they would ever meet together again. His words were brief and to the point.
"Wherever you go, whatever you do, remember that in my mind and in our late lord's mind you are always samurai of the house of Asano. Please behave in such a way as to bring nothing but honor to the memory of this house. I know that Lord Asano is watching you at all times just as I know that he watches me. Please make his spirit happy—not sad."
There was silence for a moment and then the men began to leave. The last meeting they would ever attend in Ako was over.
"Here they come!" shouted the guard at the gate, and the word was quickly passed along to Oishi. He quickly finished his morning bowl of rice and hurried to the watchtower overlooking the plain in front of the castle. From the large cloud of dust approaching down the road it was apparent that the Shogun's troops had indeed arrived.
Swiftly now he gave the necessary orders: all men in semibattle dress, all guard stations fully manned, all available mounts saddled and ready to ride. He himself dressed for riding, not for battle, but he also wore a thick, lacquered breastplate carrying the great gold crest of Asano. Then he joined the other horsemen mounted behind the closed gates, taking a position where he could see out through an observation slit.
Leading the advancing foot soldiers across the plain was the Shogun's representative, a distinguished-looking man in his fifties on a well-groomed horse,
which he advanced at a stately walk. Oishi knew that if the men of Ako made any show of resistance the neighboring daimyo would be obliged to put their forces at the Shogun's disposal, but at the moment there was only this one small company of foot soldiers marching against him, and he had to admire the cool deliberateness of its leader.
The man on horseback continued to move forward, noting and appreciating the neat appearance of the castle and its approaches. He was more than halfway across the plain when his second in command, a plump, nervous dignitary who was also on horseback, called his attention to the castle gates which were now slowly opening.
As Oishi's group of men appeared in the opening, the breathing of the approaching troops became faster, but they relaxed again as Oishi and his men rode slowly out in strict formation, in the manner of troops on parade. The leader of the Shogun's forces noted that their horses were too well groomed, but he reflected that his own mount would not meet with the Shogun's approval either and dismissed the matter from his mind as the two groups drew nearer.
"Welcome to the castle of Asano," said Oishi in formal tones as he halted his men and saluted. The Shogun's representative stopped and bowed his head in polite acknowledgment of this courteous reception. The tension was broken and the fat little deputy commander mopped his brow.
This mutually respectful exchange set the tone for the relationship that existed during the next few days while the formalities of the transfer of ownership went on. To Oishi's satisfaction, the senior representative, whose name was Araki, was visibly impressed by the condition of the property and by
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the smart salutes he and his men received from the impeccable guards.
At the first opportunity, when the Edo group had had time to rest after their long journey, Oishi presented his petition. Along with it he recited the history of the Asano clan all the way back to service under the first Shogun, leyasu, and concluded that they were willing to make any sacrifice if Daigaku were made successor to their late beloved Lord Asano, even to committing seppuku before his grave.
Araki could not help but be impressed by the sincerity of Oishi and his men and promised to see what he could do on their behalf. He explained that he was in no position to personally make any guarantees but he would do what he could to see that the petition received proper attention at Tsunayoshi's court. He even went so far as to write a personal recommendation and dispatch it with the petition to Edo by special messenger.
Oishi was encouraged by this and felt that he could rely on Araki to follow up on the matter when he returned to Edo. There was no reason to doubt the promises made by one old warrior to another and Oishi dared to hope that something would eventually come of their plea.
The inspection of the castle and surrounding territory took five days. At the end of that time, Araki declared that as official representative of the Shogun he was satisfied that the property was accurately inventoried and in good condition. He was ready to take possession.
That night Oishi went again to Kegaku-ji, the Asano family temple. Here he found many of his men had gathered to say farewell to the ancestral tombs and to one another. Oishi personally spoke to each one
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and told those in his volunteer group to spread the word as to where he could be located, but asked that no one try to reach him for a period of at least two months so that a conspiracy would not be suspected. He gave each a sincere message of hope that eventually honor would be restored to their lord's name, although inwardly he could not help but feel certain misgivings about their being able to stay together as a band. He knew that separation was bound to weaken his position as leader and that discipline and morale, no matter how high now, would deteriorate with time.
The next morning at six o'clock the gates of the castle were opened and Araki's men marched in to change places with the old guard. The men of Ako and their families came out with hand-drawn carts loaded with their personal possessions and moved slowly onto the plain before the castle. There was a final formal exchange between Oishi and Araki and then the Shogun's men took possession and the gate was again closed.
Oishi and his men were silent as they looked back for the last time at what had been their invincible stronghold while the women stifled their sobs as was expected of wives and daughters of samurai. Then a baby started to cry, and to escape having to bear the unbearable the families began to move off in one direction or another, depending on where they thought their chances of making a livelihood would be best.
Oishi and his family headed for the main highway that led to Osaka and Kyoto, as did most of the others including Hara, Kataoka, and Mimura. He led his horse beside a cart piled high with luggage and his son Chikara walked beside him. Behind came his wife
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with three h'ttle ones, all dressed in warm traveling clothes that were very much alike. No outsider could have known that one of the three children was Lord Asano's httle daughter, whom Oishi had sworn to protect with his life if necessary. He had been unwilling to give her into anyone else's care even during the period when he was dealing with Araki, preferring to take the risk and responsibility himself. He had no way of knowing what the Shogun's orders were regarding the child and preferred to let Araki think she was with her mother, which was where he intended to dehver her when the time was right. As the castle disappeared in the dust behind them, Oishi glanced back at the little girl and saw that she was dry eyed, even as she had been when told of her father's death and her mother's exile. He was impressed by her self-control, worthy of a true daughter of a samurai, and hoped that in the uncertain future they were facing she would continue to bend hke the willow before the winds of fortune.
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Kyoto was visited by great floods that spring, which made Oishi's first move more difficult. The Kamo
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River, flowing through the central part of the city, overran its banks in nearly a hundred places and brought widespread death and destruction. Most of the principal foot bridges were down, and crisscrossing the area with a small child in tow was not an easy task. The one advantage was that such conditions made it harder for spies from Edo to stay on his trail, if any were in fact present.
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br /> He had brought Lord Asano's little daughter here to find a suitable home where she could be brought up as one of the family. Later, if she could not rejoin her mother, the adoption could be made permanent. The important thing was that no one must know she was an Asano, lest she fall into the Shogun's hands and be held as a hostage for Oishi and his band's good behavior.
Kyoto was still Japan's religious capital and nearly a tenth of its half-million inhabitants were priests of one sort or another. Although the influence of Buddhism was past its peak, there were still temples everywhere, not to mention large numbers of "holy men" who had established their own priesthoods and roamed the streets dressed according to their fancies.
As a city of business, Kyoto could not compare with nearby Osaka in size or capacity, but as a place of pleasure it had no rival anywhere. There were three enormous geisha districts, including the fabulous Gion quarters, and the businessmen from Osaka and other surrounding towns kept them humming with activity.
For Oishi, however, the main attraction in Kyoto was not in either its spiritual or its recreational aspects. He had come to Kyoto because it was the residence of the Emperor Higashiyama and his court,
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reasoning that it would be in the home of one of the Imperial courtiers that his young charge would be safest. It was well known that the Shogun wished to keep the divine person of the Emperor untroubled by the mundane affairs of government and he had therefore separated the two capitals. It was also part of the unspoken bargain that the Shogun kept his hands off the small isolated realm of the Emperor and would do nothing that could conceivably offend his court. If Lord Asano's daughter came under the protection of a member of this court, Oishi felt he could rest assured that she would be entirely safe from even the Shogun himself.
The Asano affair was well known throughout Japan by now and Oishi himself was much talked about. Fortunately, few knew him by sight and by dressing as a commoner he could move about without attracting undue attention. He stayed strictly away from his own family to avoid possible exposure to spies, but as time went by and he was still unsuccessful in finding a home for the girl, he grew more and more tempted to give up the search for a foster home and go home.
The candidates on his list of foster parents were eliminated one by one as they found some excuse or other to decline Oishi's request. Some of the reasons they gave were undoubtedly legitimate, such as simple lack of material resources, but others he suspected were motivated by the fear of becoming involved in any way with a family whose name had come under a shadow. With all his prospects Oishi took the precaution of veiling the little girl's face so that the family who eventually took her would not be embarrassed in future meetings with fellow courtiers who might remember her.
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He had almost despaired of ever finding a place for her when he was directed by relatives to the home of a certain noble of samurai rank who had once been a good friend of the late Lord Asano. The man's qualifications were excellent: he held fairly high rank in the court; he had financial means to support the girl adequately, and he had several children of his own. He promised to talk the matter over with his wife and meet with Oishi and the girl on the following day.
At the appointed time they arrived at the house near the Emperor's Palace, and he left the girl in the entrance hall while he went in to discuss her future. He was disconcerted when the couple asked to see the child but he hesitated only a moment, then called her in and asked her to take off the scarf around her head. Dressed in her prettiest kimono, she was so unexpectedly charming in appearance that the family took to her at once and insisted that Oishi search no farther. They would absorb her into their family group as a "cousin from the country" and no one would ever be the wiser.
Oishi was satisfied that he could not have found a better home in which to leave her, but the moment of farewell was no less poignant. The couple who were adopting her withdrew so the good-bys could be said privately but, left alone, Oishi and the girl were suddenly silent in the realization that this would be their last meeting. She turned away from him, but he could see the tears she was trying to hide.
"Bees sting a crying face," he said in as light a tone as he could manage, and the little girl bravely tried to smile.
"Uncle . . . uncle, please give my best regards to my mother."
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Then she broke down completely and threw herself into his arms. He comforted her by assuring her he would deliver her message and then gently reminded her that as the daughter of a samurai she should have better control of her emotions. As for himself, he said, he was the same as a blood relative and did not mind her tears, but the others, the members of her new family, should not be expected to bear her troubles as well as their own. This was part of her obligation for their kindness.
Deliberately she stopped her tears and released him. She stepped back and wiped her eyes, then forced a little smile. "I will do as you say, uncle," and she delicately bowed her head. "I will do it for you."
"For your family, child," he said abruptly. "Let all your actions be guided by the honor of the name of Asano."
Then he bowed quickly, turned, and went out the door. He knew he should feel some satisfaction in having done so well, but instead found only a larger sense of desolation within himself as he returned to his wife and children.
Local relatives had obtained a house for Oishi and his family at Yamashina, a village a few miles east of Kyoto. This location had seemed ideal because of its proximity to Kyoto and Osaka, where most of the band was located, and because it was closer to Edo than either of them. The house itself was old but comfortable looking, Oishi saw as he approached it for the first time, and he was sure it could soon be put in good repair. Surrounding the property was a wall of rough stone, topped with a low solid wooden
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fence. On each side of the heavy wooden gate a plaster wall extended for a short distance, pierced by a long narrow window with wooden bars. There were no guards for the gates and the wall would provide no effective deterrent against a determined attack, but the arrangement did furnish some degree of privacy.
After he greeted his family and young Mimura, who would act as his household steward, Oishi toured the house and was pleased by the many rooms of various sizes, connected by narrow crooked halls. There was something of the feeling of the castle they had left in Ako and it immediately felt like home. He noted that the heavy thatched roof sagged somewhat at the gable joinings and that there were patches in the plaster here and there, but some additional strengthening of the walls should make things right and on the whole he felt grateful to his relatives for finding such a place. He assumed they had come by it through honest means out of the money he had given them, although he could never be sure about such schemers as his Kyoto cousins, the sharp-nosed Shindo and the innocent-eyed Koyama.
He was surprised to find that he had received messages from several prominent daimyo who wanted to employ him as chief retainer, but his dedication to the house of Asano had never been stronger and he answered them all with polite refusals on the grounds that his health was impaired and he would not be able to take on full-time duties of any sort for the time being. The truth was that he did have a recurrent pain in his stomach, brought on by the strain he had been under since the death of Lord Asano, but to his family he made light of it as a minor sickness of the soul that would disappear when the petition was granted.
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Their first visitor in the new house was Kataoka. He had been in Osaka with Hara and was now pleased to report that his fierce old friend had found employment as an archery instructor to the townspeople and thus would be able to keep himself in excellent practice for combat.
Kataoka was dismayed to see, however, that Oishi was not pleased at this news. The thought of his prize warrior teaching commoners one of the arts formerly reserved for the samurai class did no
t set at all well with him, although he knew he was being foolish. He tried to convince himself that it was all for the best, but he was plainly shocked at first hearing about Hara the warrior as Hara the school teacher.
Kataoka quickly understood what his feelings were and avoided mentioning Hara's new employment from that time on. He assisted Oishi in lining up a crew of workmen to start the house repairs and for several days they were busy planning and supervising these activities. They were careful in hiring the men to question each one about his experience and place of origin, hoping to screen out any possible spies from Edo, but there was always the possibility that one could have slipped through. For this reason Kataoka kept a close watch on their comings and goings and reported to Oishi daily.
One evening after the workmen had left, Kataoka appeared before his leader with a worried look on his wizened little face. For the past two days he had noticed a flute-playing komuso, or itinerant priest, standing across the road from the house and just now, looking out the long narrow peephole in the wall, he had seen one of the workmen exchange words with him. The suspicious aspect of the encounter was that the priest had then led him away out of sight
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instead of merely accepting a donation. Oishi was thoughtful as Kataoka led him outside to the wall and showed him that the "priest" had returned. Like all those of the komuso variety he wore a woven reed basket over his entire head to preserve his anonymity. It was the perfect disguise for a spy, if that was indeed his business.
Oishi had to admit that the man was behaving suspiciously, but he did not know what action they could take except to note which workmen appeared to have any connection with him and to get rid of them on some pretext or other. Mindful of the fact that a word once uttered is beyond the reach of galloping horses, from this time on Oishi and Kataoka barely spoke to each other at all for fear of giving something away. Even if there were no spies, there was no point in tempting robbers. For one thing, the chest containing the funds for the "restoration of the house of Asano" was in the house and they dared not jeopardize it under any circumstances.