James Clavell - Gai-Jin

by Gai-Jin(Lit)

  Yoshi chose another. "Curious? Just their ancient custom. A bad custom. Better that men should be samurai or farmers, one or the other, according to the Legacy."

  "Ah yes, the Legacy. But then Sh@ogun

  Toranaga allowed that family to retain their fief and their heads after Sekigahara though they fought against him. Perhaps he liked their dates too.

  Interesting, neh?"

  "Perhaps he was satisfied that they put their heads to the dirt in front of him, humbly gave him power over Satsuma, humbly swore perpetual allegiance and, even more humbly, thanked him when he gave Satsuma to them as fief."

  "He was a wise ruler, very wise. But now the

  Satsuma under Sanjiro are not so humble."

  "That is also true of others," Yoshi said thinly.

  "As I said, we live in strange times."

  Wakura took time to select another date.

  "The rumor is he prepares his legions for war, and fief for war."

  "Satsuma is always on a war footing.

  Another ancient custom. You must tell me the name of your supplier, of dates," Yoshi said.

  "We could use a supplier, in Yedo."

  "Gladly," Wakura told him, knowing he would never pass over his network of spies, never.

  "Some wise advisors suggest this time Sanjiro really will bring war to the mainland."

  "War against whom, Lord Chancellor?"

  "I presume those he considers enemies."

  "And who are they?" Yoshi asked patiently, wanting to bring Wakura into the open.

  "It is rumored the Sh@ogunate, so sorry."

  "He would be so sorry if he did try war against the law of the land, Lord Chancellor. These wise counselors you mentioned, perhaps they should quickly counsel him not to be so stupid. Counselors can also be stupid, neh?"

  "I agree." Wakura smiled with his mouth.

  "I agree that Sanjiro is militant, but he is not stupid. Ogama of Choshu the same.

  And Yodo of Tosa. All the Outside Lords are militant and maneuvering, always have been--like some misguided, overly ambitious Court officials."

  "Even if that were true, what could a few courtiers do against the great Sh@ogunate, Sire, when the entire court possesses no armies, no lands, and no koku, all of whom depend on

  Sh@ogunate largess for stipends?"

  Yoshi smiled with equal mirthlessness. "They spread discontent amongst ambitious daimyos

  ... Oh yes, that reminds me," he said, deciding Wakura had gone too far and needed the whip, "perhaps, in this marvelous enclave you may not know it yet, but this year and next there will be famine throughout Nippon, even in my Kwanto. It is rumored the Court stipend will be cut, this year and next, I believe by half." He was glad to see Wakura's eyes almost cross. "So sorry."

  "Yes, so sorry, it would be sorry, a sorry day. Times are hard enough now." Wakura fought back his impulse to shout and threaten, trying to estimate Yoshi's power to initiate and force through such a cut. He is not alone in wanting that, daimyos are always complaining, and of course the

  Council of Elders would agree. But Tair@o

  Anjo would overrule them, why else is he there but to do our bidding. Ogama? That arrogant dog, would approve the cut, so would Sanjiro, and all the others! Anjo had better overrule them!

  Wakura put on his best smile. "The

  Prince Advisor asks if you would give him your views in a memorial on Satsuma,

  Choshu and Tosa, particularly the danger

  Satsuma poses, and how in the future the

  Court could help the Sh@ogunate--and avoid misunderstandings."

  "I would be glad to." Yoshi said brightening.

  This would be a wonderful opportunity.

  "Lastly, I'm honored to tell you the

  Divine has invited you as His personal guest,

  Sh@ogun Nobusada, some daimyos and those of

  Tosa, Choshu, and Satsuma to the Festival of the Winter Solstice. The Tosa and Satsuma invitations have already gone, yours and the Lord Ogama's will be presented with due ceremony tomorrow but I wanted the pleasure of telling you."

  Yoshi was astonished for such was an extreme honor for anyone outside the Inner Circle.

  The solstice was this month--Twelfth Month-- twenty-second day. In sixteen days. The festivities would last at least a week, perhaps longer. He could leave afterwards, plenty of time to deal with Anjo then.

  Wait! You have forgotten what the Legacy says: Beware of camping in the Lair of

  Heaven. It is not for us. We are men, they are gods, gods are like people, jealous like people and closeness breeds their contempt. The death of our line would please these false gods very much. It can only happen in their lair.

  Yoshi was filled with sudden dread. The invitation could not be refused. "Thank you," he said and bowed.

  At midday the shishi lookout stationed opposite the Toranaga barracks watched idly as the forty samurai and banner men came out of the gateway and went down the street towards the palace East Gate. This was the routine midday changing of the guard. Most carried spears, all wore two swords, and rain cloaks and wide, conical rain hats, all of straw.

  The shishi yawned and pulled his own cloak around his shoulders when a light shower began, shifting his stool under the awning of the street stall that served noodles and soup and tea and was owned by a sympathizer. Soon his own replacement would arrive. He had been on duty since dawn.

  He was eighteen years old, his beard heavy. A

  Satsuma ronin.

  Before sneaking out of Ky@oto their leader

  Katsumata had ordered a constant surveillance on the Toranaga and Ogama headquarters.

  "The moment there is a chance to attack either man-- it will have to be outside their walls and must have a reasonable chance of success--mount an immediate one-man assault. One man, no more. Shishi must be conserved, but we must be ready. A random attack is our only way for revenge."

  At the gateway several porters carrying bales of fresh vegetables and panniers of fresh fish stopped at the barrier. Attentive guards checked them carefully, then gestured them through, everyone was inspected with equal care.

  The youth yawned again. No chance of sliding through the cordon. He wondered briefly if the girl

  Sumomo had managed to get inside and set herself in place as Katsumata had agreed. Eeee, a miracle those three escaped through the tunnel, a miracle. But where are they now? Nothing had been heard of them since their miraculous escape. What does it matter? They must be safe, like us--we have important patrons. We will regroup later. We will be revenged.

  Sonno-joi will happen.

  He saw the guards turn the corner and disappear. Now he was tired, but the thought of warm futons and his waiting lover took most of it away.

  The Sh@ogunate patrol reached the East

  Gate. A low barracks-guard house nestled against the walls and spread on either side of the

  Gate and could house five hundred men and horses if need be. The Gate was six metres high and made of heavy, iron reinforced timber with a much smaller gate off to one side standing open. The perimeter walls were higher, ancient, and stone.

  For a moment the new guards noisily intermingled with the old, all of them well muffled. Officers inspected men and arms, the old guard began forming up and an officer and an ashigari, a foot soldier, from the replacement group trudged across the roadway. The shower stopped. A little sun broke through. The two men turned into another street, and went into another barracks, similar to many all over Ky@oto. Here two hundred of

  Ogama's samurai were housed--well away from the

  Gate, but close enough.

  "Forty men, here are their names," the officer said to his counterpart and bowed. "Nothing new to report."

  "Good. Both of you come with me please." The

  Ogama officer studied the list of names as he led the way down a corridor through a cordon of his men. Through a doorway into an empty room, across it to a closed door. The officer knocked, then opened it. T
his inner room was bare but for a low table and tatami mats. Ogama stood by the window, armed, wary but alone. Both officers stood aside and bowed.

  The ashigaru took off his large hat and revealed himself as Yoshi. Silently he gave his long sword to his officer, keeping the short one and went into the room. The door closed behind him.

  Both officers exhaled. Both were sweating.

  In the room Yoshi bowed. "Thank you for agreeing to the meeting."

  Ogama bowed, motioned Yoshi to sit opposite him. "What is so urgent and why such secrecy?"

  "Bad news. You said partners should share particular information. So sorry, Nori Anjo has been made tair@o!"

  The news visibly shocked Ogama and he listened intently as Yoshi talked. When Yoshi spoke about the Imperial invitation some of his anger dissipated. "Such an honor, and recognition!

  Eeee, and none too soon."

  "That is what I thought. Until I was out of the palace. Then I saw the depth of the trap."

  "What trap?"

  "To have the Lords of Satsuma, Tosa, you and me all in one place at the same time? In ceremonial clothes? Inside the palace walls. Without arms or guards?"

  "What could Wakura do? Anyone of them? They have no samurai--no armies, no money, no arms. Nothing!"

  "Yes, but think: when we four are in front of the Son of Heaven together, that would be perfect timing for someone--Wakura, Prince

  Fujitaka, Sh@ogun Nobusada, or the

  Princess--to suggest "as a gift to the Divine now is the moment for the four greatest daimyos in the

  Land to express their loyalty by offering up their powers to Him.""

  Ogama's brow darkened. "Not one of us would agree, not one! We would prevaricate, stall, even lie an--"

  "Lie? To the Son of Heaven? Never. Listen further: say the Prince Advisor, before the ceremony, in private, was to say to you something like:

  "Lord Ogama, the Son of Heaven wishes to adopt you, to make you Prince Ogama,

  Captain of the Imperial Guard, Lord

  Chieftain of the Gates, member of the New

  Imperial Council of Ten who will rule instead of the usurping Toranaga Sh@ogunate. In return...""

  "Eh? What Council of Ten?"

  "Wait. "... in return, you just acknowledge

  Him as who He is: the Son of Heaven,

  Emperor of Nippon, Possessor of the

  Sacred Regalia--the Orb, Mirror and

  Sceptre--descended from the gods and ascendent over all men; in return you dedicate your fief and your samurai to His service and His wishes that will be exercised through the Imperial Council of

  Ten!""

  Ogama stared at him, beads of sweat on his upper lip. "I would... would never give up

  Choshu."

  "Perhaps, perhaps not. Perhaps the Imperial

  Mouthpiece says, in addition the Emperor will confirm you in your fief as Lord of Choshu,

  Conqueror of the gai-jin, Keeper of the Straits, subject only to Him, and the Imperial Council of Ten."

  "Who else is on the Council?" Ogama said hoarsely.

  Yoshi wiped the sweat off his own brow. The whole scheme had suddenly presented itself when he had reached his own barracks. General Akeda had precipitated it with a chance remark about how devious Ky@oto thinking was, that it seemed to be in the very air they breathed, that what was considered a prize in an instant became a noose.

  He had become physically ill because he knew he could be charmed as easily as anyone--he was today, a few moments before, lulled into a false sense of security until he would be isolated and then invited onwards.

  "There, you see, Ogama-sama, you're already tempted. Who else is on the Council? As if what they told you mattered. You would be one against their appointees, Sanjiro too. Lord

  Chancellor Wakura and his ilk would overwhelm and rule."

  "We would not agree. I would n--"

  "So sorry, you would agree--they could gear honors to tempt a kami--the great temptation being that they would pretend to replace the Toranaga

  Sh@ogunate with the Council of Ten

  Sh@ogunate! Of course I would not be offered a place on the Imperial Council, nor any

  Toranagas except Nobusada and he's already theirs because of that Princess, as I warned." Yoshi spat with rage. "Anjo is the first move."

  The more the two men considered the ramifications, the more they could see the spikes of the limitless traps ahead. Ogama said hoarsely, "The festivities would go on for weeks or more--we would be obliged to give banquets to the Court and to each other. Slow poisons could be introduced."

  Yoshi shuddered. All of his life he had carried a deep fear of being poisoned. A favorite uncle had died in great pain, the doctor saying "natural causes," but the uncle had been a barb in the side of a hostile

  Bakufu and his death a great convenience. Perhaps poisoning perhaps not. The death of the previous

  Sh@ogun the year Perry returned, one day healthy the next dead, again so convenient to the

  Tair@o Ii who hated him, wanting a puppet--Nobusada--in his place.

  Rumors, never proof, but poison was an ancient art in Nippon, and China. The more

  Yoshi reasoned with himself--if death by poisoning was his karma--the more he made sure his cooks were trustworthy and took care where he ate. But that did not remove the panic that possessed him now and then.

  Abruptly Ogama bunched a fist and smashed it into the palm of his other hand. "Anjo tair@o!

  I cannot believe it."

  "Nor I." When Yoshi had sent the messenger to arrange this secret meeting he had been thinking how ironic it was that now he and

  Ogama really had to work together if they were to survive. No longer could they survive alone.

  At the moment.

  "How do we stop this happening? I can see they could tempt me." Ogama spat on the tatami in disgust.

  "They can tempt anyone, Ogama-dono."

  "They are like wolf kamis, I can understand that.

  We are trapped. If the Divine invites us,

  His befouled minions will destroy us. Let us round up those you spoke of, or... I'll send for

  Basuhiro, his mind is like a serpent's!"

  "We are only trapped if we accept the invitation tomorrow. I propose we both leave

  Ky@oto tonight, secretly. If we are not here

  ... eh?" Ogama's sudden smile was seraphic but it evaporated as quickly. Yoshi understood why, and said, "Such a move requires great trust between us."

  "Yes, yes it would. What do you propose to, to guard against any mistakes?"

  "I cannot cover all alternatives but this is temporary: we both slip out of Ky@oto tonight, agreeing to stay away for at least twenty days.

  I will go at once to Yedo and deal with, or neutralize Anjo, and stay there until that is done. General Akeda will be in charge as usual who will say that I had to return suddenly to Dragon's Tooth, a sickness in the family, but I am expected back quickly. You go to Fushimi and spend the night there. At sunset tomorrow, after the invitation has failed to reach you--because no one, not even Basuhiro knows where you are, eh?"

  "Too dangerous not to tell him, but go on."

  "I leave that to you but at sunset tomorrow you deliver a message to Prince Fujitaka inviting him to a private meeting the next morning, say at the Monoyama ruins"--a favorite sightseeing place for Ky@oto people.

  "When you see him you express astonishment at the

  "Invitation" and regret not being there to accept it.

  Meanwhile he had better ensure no more invitations arrive until you return. "When will that be?"' You are not sure. The gai-jin have threatened to land at Osaka imminently. You must visit there and make plans.

  Meanwhile make it clear to him that there better not be any more sudden Imperial Invitations--however much you humbly appreciate them--until you decide you will accept them."

  Ogama grunted. He stared at the tatami lost in thought. Then he said, "What about

  Sanjiro, and Yodo of
Tosa? They will be arriving, in ceremonial force, but still force."

  "Tell Fujitaka to make sure their invitations are postponed--he should suggest to the