Swords of Silence

by Shaun Curry

  With feverish, over-bright eyes, Miguel charged again, striking wildly at his opponent with large, jerky body blows, but to no avail. As Miguel raised his sword again and thrust down, Suzuki moved out of the way and countered with a tremendous blow to Miguel’s wrist, slicing through the bone and severing his hand.

  Miguel screamed as his hand dropped to the mat along with his sword, blood spurting from his arm.

  Grinning, Suzuki chased Miguel to the opposite side of the mat, where Miguel tried to retreat, but a group of unsympathetic samurai threw him back on to the mat. Trapped in the corner, Miguel had nowhere to go. He tried frantically to locate his sword, feeling around him with his remaining hand, his eyes never leaving his opponent’s face. Suzuki kicked the sword out of reach and laughed, before delivering a thrust deep into Miguel’s chest. Bleeding copiously, Miguel stumbled to the centre of the mat, where he quivered and fell to his knees.

  ‘Help me, Father!’ he cried, and reached out his remaining hand.

  Suzuki stood behind Miguel. With a decisive nod from the Shogun, the samurai brought his sword down fast on Miguel’s neck, decapitating him in one smooth action.

  Tonia and Joaquim watched in silence, their despair meriting no sound. But victory was not enough for Suzuki. He walked over to Miguel’s head and kicked it off the mat towards Joaquim, who could only stare, horrified at the shocking display of disrespect.

  ‘Your head is next,’ the Shogun laughed. He guzzled a shot of sake.

  Samurai gathered Miguel’s body parts and threw them into a garbage container.

  Joaquim could no longer control himself. ‘The book of Psalms says, “the wicked are ensnared by the work of their hands”. The Lord has judged you, Shogun Iemitsu!’

  ‘Shut your mouth, priest, and get on the mat. Today your poisonous words die with you!’

  Joaquim leaped onto the mat as he repeated a passage to himself. ‘“Let my soul live, and it shall praise thee! Let thy judgements help me!”’

  ‘I again call Suzuki-san!’ the Shogun shouted.

  ‘Su-zu-ki! Su-zu-ki! Su-zu-ki!’ the crowd chanted, louder this time, emboldened by their warrior’s swift dismissal of his previous Christian opponent. Everywhere Joaquim looked, he saw angry samurai yelling and jeering at him. Some spat in his direction.

  Interrupting their chant, however, the Shogun raised his hand, and the Budokan fell silent. ‘And . . . Daisuke-san!’

  ‘Dai-su-ke! Dai-su-ke! Dai-su-ke!’

  An imposing figure surfaced from the rear of the Budokan and approached the mat. Standing almost seven feet tall, Daisuke was an ogre, and by far the largest samurai within the Shogun’s forces. Watanabe jumped onto the mat in protest.

  ‘Get off the mat, ronin!’ the Shogun yelled. ‘This battle does not involve you!’

  ‘You have called two fighters,’ Watanabe replied. ‘I will be our second fighter.’

  ‘You will get off the mat or I will end the contest!’

  ‘How is this fair? How can you send two fighters against one?’

  ‘This is my Budokan and these are my rules! Get off the mat or I will have you both executed!’

  Reluctantly, Watanabe stepped off the pad and Joaquim approached the centre of the mat to face his two adversaries as he measured up his opponents. The priest knew defeating two of the Shogun’s top warriors would not be easy, but he had to remain focused; the lives of all the villagers and Christians in Edo prison depended on it.

  Joaquim asked himself what he knew about his opponents. He knew Suzuki was fast, skilled, and dangerous. He also knew Daisuke was large and powerful but, he could see, slower.

  The parties bowed and the fight began.

  Suzuki and Daisuke charged at Joaquim, but the priest made himself a target for Daisuke, forcing the smaller Suzuki behind the larger man. After years in the dojo, the priest knew to fight two at once he must use one attacker to block the other.

  Keeping Daisuke between himself and Suzuki he thrust and parried until an opportunity presented itself. He slashed Daisuke’s enormous legs with precision, drawing a copious amount of blood and a yell of pain.

  Joaquim now positioned himself between Suzuki and Daisuke, making sure that while he watched the larger man, he could see Suzuki sidle around to attack him from a blind side when Daisuke struck. Daisuke growled in anger, and hobbled in to deliver a devastating blow to Joaquim. As Daisuke cut down with his sword, the Jesuit sensed Suzuki moving in for the kill. Instead of parrying Daisuke’s blow, Joaquim slipped out of the way. Daisuke’s sword slashed the fast-approaching Suzuki who was watching Joaquim, not Daisuke. The blow cut his shoulder deeply before he had a chance to defend against it.

  The Budokan fell silent. None had ever seen Suzuki suffer any kind of injury. Capitalizing on the confusion on the mat, Joaquim cut Daisuke’s Achilles tendons from behind, causing him to crash to his knees.

  As Daisuke fell, Father Joaquim also lowered himself, continuing to use Daisuke’s enormous size as a shield. From his cover behind the giant samurai, Joaquim changed the grip on his sword and threw it like a spear at Suzuki, piercing his stomach. He reached forward and found a pressure point on the inside of Daisuke’s wrist. The huge samurai resisted briefly, but in his weakened state, the bolt of pain that shot through his grip proved unbearable and his sword dropped, useless, to the mat. Picking up the larger man’s weapon, Joaquim walked towards the mortally injured Suzuki. Beads of sweat had formed on Suzuki’s face. He was sitting on the tatami in a kneeling seiza position, holding Master Yamaguchi’s sword with one hand as it protruded from his stomach. His body trembled as shock set in, and his face was filled with confusion and disbelief.

  The priest kicked his sword deeper into Suzuki’s body, forcing the blade out through his lower back. Dropping Daisuke’s sword, Joaquim disarmed Suzuki and decapitated him with his own sword in a devastating blow. The Budokan was silent.

  Using his foot, Joaquim withdrew his sword from Suzuki’s lifeless body. The priest then picked up Daisuke’s sword and approached him. On his knees and unable to stand, Daisuke roared, ready to fight hand to hand if the chance came. Joaquim walked behind him as the giant struggled to follow him. He sliced through Daisuke’s jugular vein with the giant’s sword then threw it down in disgust as a fountain of arterial blood splattered far across the room, anointing the Shogun and his aides in a baptism of red.

  CHAPTER FOURTY-NINE

  Shogun Iemitsu pounded his fists on the floor in fury. Three of his most venerated warriors were dead, and he’d lost the contest. Unsure how to respond, he turned to his cabinet members.

  ‘We cannot let these dogs escape.’

  ‘I do not think we have a choice, Lord,’ replied Abe, the oldest member of his Roju cabinet. ‘You declared that your “word is stronger than metal”.’

  ‘For the honour of the clan you must abide by the terms of the contest, Lord,’ Sakai, a second member, added. ‘We can avenge ourselves on this priest later.’

  Veins protruded and pulsed in Iemetsu’s forehead and neck as he battled with the urge to break his word and kill the priest. But he reminded himself that doing so would undermine his authority with his retainers, and lose the opportunity to get the list of Christians. He thought about the young man, Akihiko. Despite all that he had done to him, the cursed Christian still would not submit to his will. He knew this gaijin would be just as strong. The Shogun finally convinced himself that the Jesuit’s destruction could come at a later time. ‘We will not tarnish our word, but I will have my vengeance on this priest and his flock!’

  Joaquim huddled with Tonia and Master Watanabe, mourning the loss of Miguel. The Shogun spoke. ‘It seems, priest, you have done more than just spread your poisonous cult in Japan. It appears you have also learned the Way of our Sword.’

  Joaquim remained silent.

  ‘You and your band of Christians are free to leave.’

  Joaquim bowed in acknowledgement.

  ‘Return to Europe or go to the Philippines. If
you stay in Japan, I will hunt you down and kill you!’

  ‘We request the return of our friend’s body so we may bury him.’

  His anger barely contained, the Shogun replied, ‘Do not try my patience, priest! We will incinerate his body; not an ash of him will remain. Soon there will be no trace or memory of your kind in Japan!’ At his sign, samurai opened the doors. ‘There is your freedom. Take it. The other prisoners will join you soon.’

  * * *

  ‘I command all Christians to stand up,’ the lead guard yelled.

  Following his earlier outburst, Susumu, the thief, had kept an eye on his new Christian cellmates. Their concern for one another seemed genuine. In silence, he’d listened to their discussions – and their prayers. Although part of him wanted to hate them for their weakness, another part of him recognized that their weakness – their unwillingness to fight their way to dominance – was, in fact, their strength. Leaning forward, his body language showed that the Christians impressed him, although he would not admit it. When the prison guards opened the door, startling the prisoners trapped inside, and commanded the Christians to arise, Susumu was not sure how to respond.

  Most of the prisoners were slow to move, others incapable of obeying, owing to their weakened state.

  ‘Did you hear me?’ the guard shouted. ‘I command all Christians to stand up!’

  The Christians rose, including everyone from the village.

  ‘If you cannot stand, raise a hand or a limb!’ the guard yelled with impatience in his voice.

  Several hands and feet rose, and the main prison guard counted. ‘Are there any others?’

  Again he looked around the jail for any motion, but saw none.

  ‘One more time!’ the main guard bellowed as his face tightened. ‘Are there any more prisoners who believe in this Christ?’

  One final prisoner rose in the far corner of the dark prison. Susumu.

  * * *

  Waiting for their friends to join them, Father Joaquim, Tonia, and Master Watanabe stood in a street next to the prison with their arms around each other, grieving for Miguel.

  ‘Father,’ a young man from the village cried out as he ran down the street, ‘is it true? Are we truly free?’

  ‘We are free,’ Joaquim nodded. ‘But we must leave Edo at once. I do not trust the Shogun.’

  With an upturned face, Joaquim looked around at all the familiar faces of his village, but struggled to see all the Christians previously incarcerated in the Shogun’s prison. As the priest looked down the road and rubbed the back of his neck, a deep sense of anxiety pervaded his mind. He knew that any freedom they had won was short-lived.

  As many of the villagers kissed the ground and praised God, Shinobu asked, ‘Where’s Miguel?’

  ‘He is with God now.’

  ‘Where are the others?’ Joaquim asked Shinobu.

  ‘They are coming. The prison guard has released all Christians, but some are ill or cannot walk.’

  ‘We must help them.’

  ‘They just released thirty Christians from the prison.’

  ‘Thirty? A new one?’

  The words were no sooner out of his mouth than Father Joaquim spotted feisty Susumu coming down the path, helping to carry the crippled Akihiko.

  * * *

  ‘I want them all slain, at once!’ the Shogun shouted with curled lips and a reddened face.

  ‘Yes, Lord,’ Sakai, a cabinet member answered. ‘We will execute them the moment they leave the city.’

  ‘Why not before?’

  ‘Because Edo needs to know that you keep your word, Lord,’ Abe replied.

  ‘That’s ridiculous! They are filthy exiled Christians! How can we let them go?’

  ‘This is a problem you created,’ the Shogun’s father said. ‘Now you must live with it and hold your end of the agreement.’

  ‘That’s preposterous.’ The Shogun paced back and forth. Unable to contain his frustration, he made a fist and punched a beam of wood.

  ‘You should not have accepted the priest’s ridiculous challenge in front of everyone,’ Hidetada interjected. ‘The Christian baited you and you fell into his trap.’

  ‘How was to I know the priest and the girl had mastered the art of bushido? Who could know this?’

  ‘What does it matter?’ Hidetada replied. ‘It is now up to you to uphold the honour of the Tokugawa name.’

  ‘This is one more reason I abhor these foreigners. They deceive us. They come here under the guise of commercial trading, but learn our ways of battle in secret, then defeat us with it!’

  For a moment, Iemitsu conjured up an alarming vision of the Spanish and Portuguese armadas invading his country, using the Way of the Sword in battle against them. He grimaced as his eyes narrowed.

  ‘But how did they learn it?’ a retainer asked. ‘Who would teach them?’

  ‘Ronin,’ the Shogun spat. ‘Dissenting ronin, who roam the land and have nothing better to do than to plot against me. Can you imagine an invading Spanish army trained with such skills? They could teach our techniques throughout Europe and conquer us!’

  ‘I agree, Lord,’ the retainer said. ‘This is a threat. Perhaps it would be wise to expel all foreigners from Japan, including all foreign traders and merchants.’

  ‘Perhaps we should seal off the country from the entire outside world. I will not tolerate any faction that could challenge my authority.’ Iemitsu pondered this idea, seeming to reach a conclusion.

  ‘Let us be careful,’ Hidetada interjected. ‘Your grandfather, great Shogun Ieyasu, believed international trade benefits Japan. I do not think we should rush to cut it off.’

  ‘I revere Grandfather Ieyasu, Father. He is our deity, but we must crush these Christians.’

  ‘Agreed. Their cult remains a threat and we must complete their annihilation.’

  ‘So, let us decapitate this band of Christians and hang the priest’s skull in my castle.’

  ‘How shall we proceed, Lord?’ a retainer asked.

  Iemitsu contemplated ways in his mind to massacre the Christians after they left the city without being seen to break his word and lose face.

  ‘Place bands of samurai at all roads leaving Edo. Our spies will follow them through the streets. Once they have left the perimeter of Edo and are out of sight, we will massacre them.’

  ‘What shall we do with their corpses?’

  ‘Burn them and throw their ashes into the sea. But place their heads in a sack and bring the sack to me.’

  CHAPTER FIFTY

  14 July 1626

  Streets of Edo, Musashi Province

  ‘Well, my friend, you and Tonia have won our freedom,’ Watanabe said. ‘Now we must see if we can keep it. Can we escape the Shogun’s grip before he changes his mind?’

  ‘I suspect we still have some testing experiences ahead of us,’ the priest answered. Father Joaquim thought of the immense task they faced, not least because of the appalling physical condition of many in the group. The priest could see that all were malnourished and few had had a good night’s sleep in weeks. Some exhibited signs of illness, and many had recent, crude amputations, including hands or feet. Among the worst was young Akihiko. Because of his physical condition, others had to carry him. Joaquim knew these things would be limiting factors in terms of what options they had in pursuit of their freedom.

  ‘What is our plan, Father?’ Shinobu asked. ‘Shall we walk towards the main seki to leave the city?’

  ‘No, Shinobu.’ Joaquim frowned. ‘That would be too risky.’

  ‘Why? I thought the Shogun promised us freedom.’

  The priest answered. ‘We cannot trust the Shogun. He is like Pharaoh and the Israelites. The moment we try to leave he will give chase.’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘Because he hates Christians and foreigners.’

  ‘So, what should we do?’

  ‘We must leave Edo immediately, but not on foot.’

  ‘How then?’

  ‘By
boat. It will be harder for the Shogun’s men to ambush us at sea.’

  ‘But where will we get a boat?’

  Joaquim looked at Watanabe and sighed before answering Shinobu. ‘I don’t know. We will need to pray for it.’

  Master Watanabe nodded. The two of them moved towards a group of huddled men. Two of the men, Kenta and Jiro, had finished rewrapping Akihiko’s stumps and were ready to carry him.

  ‘Thank you, Father,’ Akihiko said. He cupped his hands to the sides of his head to funnel the voices.

  ‘For what?’

  ‘For liberating us, for our freedom.’

  ‘Don’t thank me, Akihiko-san. Thank our Lord.’

  ‘But I am told it was you who defeated two of the Shogun’s top samurai in battle.’

  ‘I can do nothing on my own. It was the hand of God that struck down those men.’

  ‘Without doubt, you have great skill to defeat such venerated warriors. I did not know the Jesuits possessed such martial skills.’

  Father Joaquim sat next to Akihiko. ‘The founder of the Jesuits, Saint Ignatius of Loyola, was a knight before he repented and chose to lead his brothers as a priest.’

  ‘Then warfare is good?’

  ‘No, it is not.’ Grimacing and shaking his head, Father Joaquim looked with soft eyes at the young man who would never walk again. ‘The Society is bound by a different set of vows now, of poverty, chastity, obedience, and love. We will never conquer by the sword. That is not God’s will.’

  ‘But this time the sword bought our freedom.’

  ‘Yes, Akihiko-san, but the sword must be a last resort. Isaiah tells us, “And they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning hooks.” Our Lord Jesus told the apostle Peter that those who take up the sword will perish by the sword.’

  ‘I understand, Father.’ Akihiko looked at his stumps, no doubt recalling the sharp, cruel saw that had removed his feet. ‘So what do we do now?’

  ‘We make our way to Edo harbour.’

  Several villagers joined the conversation. ‘Then what, Father?’