by Boris Akunin
O-BARA What for? I do not understand.
FUTOYA I have sworn to answer for the safety of the token. They will come and ask me: ‘Where is the jade dragon? Pay us either with your life or with all your fortune.’ Where can I run from them? They will beggar me completely. A cunning trick like that is well within the customs of the Ninja. But you are not known to them. Our liaison is a secret. So take the dragon now and hide it well.
Futoya hands the jade dragon to the geisha. O-Bara takes the token that the deal will be completed. They both freeze in this pose.
The light goes out.
The stage revolves.
Scene two
The garden in front of Izumi’s pavilion. The lanterns on the engawa are not lit. The Inaudible One is standing on the apron of the stage in a strange pose: his hands are held out in front of him, clutching several wooden knives. Soga is standing equally motionless on the edge of the engawa. Sen-chan is sitting beside him.
STORYTELLER
Too look at, in Yanagi all is peace and quiet.
But the great day is near when all will be decided.
The owner is agitated, and the entire house along with her,
As if the world’s fate has been staked upon the outcome.
But omnipresent karma observes this bustle
With impassive features. She already knows
The ending of the drama known as ‘Fate’.
Nobody can escape what has been decreed on high …
He strikes his drum.
The Inaudible One starts moving – juggling the wooden knives. Sen-chan claps her hands. Soga steps down off the veranda and walks resolutely towards the juggler, who shows him that the knives are made of wood. But it is not the knives that interest the Ronin.
SOGA Listen, my friend, I do not like you. You may fool the women, but you don’t fool me. Take off your mask. I want to see what kind of face you have, perhaps this is some trick.
The juggler makes clownish gestures to explain: This is impossible, my face is disfigured!
Nonsense! I have seen many terrifying faces. With no nose and no eyes, hacked by a sword …
He tries to take the Inaudible One by the shoulder, but the juggler deftly dodges away. This is repeated several times. Soga begins to lose his temper.
Hey, brother, I’m not going to play jokes with you. How would you like to feel some solid punches?
Izumi comes out of the pavilion onto the engawa and watches. At this moment, taking advantage of the fact that no one is watching her, Sen-chan goes over to a lantern and starts pouring oil on her sleeves.
IZUMI I beg you, Soga-san, do not torment him. To live in this world with no face is a hard fate.
A brave man who has not been broken by the worst of all misfortunes is deserving of respect.
She touches her own face and shudders.
Sen-chan repeats the ‘magical gesture’ that the Inaudible One performed before his trick with fire.
SOGA I do not teach you how you should dance and sing, my lady. Do not teach me how to keep guard …
SEN-CHAN (she strikes a spark with a flint, sets tinder alight and shouts) Look, everybody, look! Having performed the magical gesture, I too shall demonstrate the phoenix bird to you!
She sets fire to her kimono and it flares up. Izumi screams in despair. Soga freezes in uncertainty. Only the Inaudible One does not lose his head. He dashes to the little girl, tears the kimono off her with his bare hands and flings it to the ground. The little girl cries in fright, but she is unhurt. The Inaudible One has fallen to his knees, doubled up in pain, and pressed his burned hands to his chest, but has not uttered a single moan.
Soga and Izumi dash to Sen-chan.
IZUMI Ah, what have you done! You silly thing, are you all right?
SOGA (examining the little girl) A miraculous rescue! There are no burns at all. But if the Inaudible One had reached you a moment later, you foolish child, you would have burned up like dry grass.
Izumi hugs her pupil close and the Ronin walks over to the Inaudible One and looks at his hands.
But this one is in a bad way … Terrible burns. With these injuries he cannot perform. Okasan will be upset now. And I feel sorry for the lad. He acted so bravely. What a fine thing to do!
Everybody freezes: Izumi and Sen-chan hugging each other; Soga with his hand on the Inaudible One’s shoulder; the Inaudible One with his head lowered.
The light goes out. The curtain closes.
The stage revolves.
Scene three
A room in the tea house that has been set aside for the juggler. Paper partitions. A floor covered with straw mats. No decorations and no furniture, apart from a low table on which the items required for his tricks are laid out. Standing on a bench in the corner is a tub with water for washing.
The Inaudible One is sitting on the floor, hanging his head, with his hands, bound up in rags, crossed on his forehead. He is motionless.
STORYTELLER
The killer sits alone in his small, wretched room,
A violent conflagration raging in his soul.
He curses himself for his stupid impulse.
In saving the girl he has ruined the whole business.
For now his hands are blistered all over,
His fingers now are burnt and helpless.
How can he kill someone with useless hands like this?
Only death can atone for such disgrace.
He strikes his drum.
The Inaudible One jumps up and mimes a pantomime of despair: he dashes randomly around the room, trying to find a way to take his life. He tries to take something out of a sack, but his hands will not obey him. He picks up the rope on the table, but he cannot form a noose. Finally he falls face down on the floor and rolls about in silence, beating his head against the mats.
STORYTELLER (continuing)
But how can he take his own life, if he is crippled?
He cannot draw a dagger and he cannot tie a noose.
No fate exists more terrible, no despair is darker
Than when you cannot even let death in.
The Inaudible One lifts himself up and crawls on his knees to the tub. An idea has occurred to him: he can drown himself! He lowers his head into the water and remains in that pose.
STORYTELLER (continuing)
The Ninja has found his solution. His honour will be saved!
The water in the tub is a mere three suns deep,
But the Sinobi has a will of iron.
If not blood, then water will wash away his shame!
Fate herself, as if taking pity on Izumi,
Seems to have set aside the sword already raised.
But karma’s mystic pattern is so tangled!
And often we destroy ourselves unknowingly …
He strikes his drum.
IZUMI’S VOICE (coming from behind a partition) Will you permit me to enter your room? Can you hear me? I have come to visit you! May I come in?
The Inaudible One’s body starts shuddering convulsively, but he does not change his pose. The shoji slide apart. Izumi is there, seated on her knees.
STORYTELLER
Seeing this picture, she thinks to herself:
‘Poor fellow! He cannot even wash without his hands.
He cannot take his mask off and is obliged to soak
His damaged face like this, straight through the cloth.’
Izumi gets up, hurries across to the Inaudible One and touches him on the shoulder. In his surprise he straightens up abruptly. His mask is soaked right through and clinging to his face.
IZUMI Permit me to remove your mask and wash your face. I swear I will not look if that is painful for you.
He shakes his head furiously and backs away.
Very well then, I won’t. That is not what I came here for … I am so grateful to you for saving Sen-chan! (She bows deeply to him.) In the garden I was completely numb with fear, I could not say a single word.
He looks at her
without moving. A furious fire glitters in his eyes.
I expect you feel distressed because your hands will not allow you to take part in the performance. But there is a certain cure for all burns. My father was a healer, I inherited a chest of potions and ointments from him, and one of them is a miraculous soothing balm. In a single hour it can make burns close over and help heal up the skin. In just a day or two your hands will be as dexterous as they ever were. I only ask you, please, to follow me.
She walks to the way out, looking round at the Inaudible One. He watches her but does not move from the spot.
STORYTELLER
He does not know what to believe. Oh, wonder of wonders!
A whimsical joke by a droll, mischievous Fate.
The innocent moth has flown to the flame herself.
The victim is rescuing her own murderer.
Izumi freezes on the threshold, holding out her hand to the Inaudible One. He starts getting up and also freezes.
Darkness. Curtain.
The stage revolves.
Scene four
Izumi’s room. The shoji are opened wide. The Inaudible One is sitting on a mat, with his hands bound up in snow-white bandages. Sen-chan is there beside him. There are refreshments on the table.
Sen-chan tries to thrust chopsticks holding a rice ball in through the opening in the mask for the Inaudible One’s mouth.
SEN-CHAN How disobedient you are. My lady told me to take care of you and serve you everything. While the soothing balm is healing your burns, I must be your hands. Come on, open your mouth!
The Inaudible One turns away.
SEN-CHAN Don’t you want to eat? Then I’ll eat it myself.
She eats the ball of rice and carries on talking with her mouth full.
Why don’t I loosen up your shoulders and your neck? Sometimes I give lady Izumi a massage like that.
She jumps up, sits behind him and starts giving him a massage. He tries to move away, but she won’t leave him alone.
For you I will do anything you want! Just let me know! Since you saved my life, I am yours for ever. And if the balm doesn’t help to heal your hands, then I’ll be your hands and I’ll never leave you. You’ll stay with us and live here as our guest. I’ll do as I am told by my lady and by you. Where could you go, with no hands and no tongue? But here I’ll put your clothes on, and take them off, and feed you.
The Inaudible One shudders at this prospect.
No one in all the world is kinder than my Izumi-san, and no one is nobler than you. What more could I want? What happiness it will be to serve you both! … But have I worn you out? Do you want to lie down?
Izumi comes out onto the engawa. She is wearing an elegant kimono and holding a fan in her hand.
IZUMI I won’t be in your way here, will I? Let the soothing balm take effect and I’ll carry on practising my dance.
Sen-chan sits down with the shamisen. Slowly and painstakingly, sometimes making mistakes, she accompanies Izumi in her dance. The Inaudible One watches Izumi without taking his eyes off her.
STORYTELLER
The helpless villain follows the marvellous dance,
Admiring all the beauty of the movements despite himself.
What does Izumi’s dance have in common with the craft
To which this Ninja has devoted his whole life?
At first sight, one would think, not much. And yet there is a likeness,
A unifying law: to raise mystery to the level of an art.
Yugen conceals the radiance of beauty from the eyes.
The way of the Sinobi conceals the blackness of murder.
Like Yin and Yang, these two forces strive towards each other.
Without darkness there is no light, without light there is no darkness.
Shaken by a strange trembling, the Inaudible One
Sits there, not understanding what is happening to him.
Izumi stops dancing and goes over to the Inaudible One.
IZUMI I think an hour must have gone by now. So let us take a look and see if my secret balm has helped you as it should. Please, let me have your hand … That’s right, thank you. And if it hurts, let me know straight away.
She cautiously unbandages one hand and examines it, nodding in satisfaction. She unbandages the other one.
There now, that’s a quite different matter. But there is still some redness and the swelling has not yet gone down completely. Now I’ll give you a sleeping draught to drink. A healthy sleep will complete the course of healing.
She prepares the potion. The Inaudible One looks at his hands in amazement and wriggles his fingers.
STORYTELLER
He looks and he cannot believe his eyes. The burns are gone!
He can control his hands, strength has returned to them.
It hurts to move them, but that is a trivial thing.
The assassin can perform his duty with no difficulty.
IZUMI (handing him a cup with a bow) Here, drink this please, and soon you will fall asleep. And I shall stay with you awhile and watch over your sleep.
(To her pupil.) And you go and run around for a while. With your character you won’t be able to sit still in any case. You will start squealing and fidgeting, and we don’t want that. Nobo-ji-san must sleep soundly now.
The little girl bows and goes out. The Inaudible One hesitates and does not take the cup.
Ah, it must still be painful for you to hold it. Let me give you the medicine to drink myself.
She gently takes the Inaudible One by the neck and raises the cup to his lips. He shudders and squeezes his eyes shut. He pauses again, then drains it all.
STORYTELLER
In his heart the assassin feels a sudden strange desire,
An absurd, nonsensical dream. He tells himself:
‘Oh, if there had been deadly poison in this draught,
How gladly would I have drunk the fatal dose!
And in the next life – who can tell, all things are possible –
I could be born to a quite different destiny.
Perhaps Providence would bring us together once again.
And then I would behave quite differently with her.
Izumi lowers his head onto the pillow, which is a wooden support. The Inaudible One instantly falls asleep, his chest rising and falling smoothly. The geisha sits there, looking at the sleeping man.
STORYTELLER
Two feelings arise now in Izumi’s heart
For this man, who saved her pupil from an awful death:
Firstly, admiration: He is a genuine hero!
When everybody lost their heads, he still kept his.
Secondly, there is pity. He is dumb and he has no face!
Oh, how hard it must be for him, living in this world!
She looks at him and sighs. By turns she feels
Her admiration flare up and pity get the upper hand.
A woman’s heart filled with rapture can bring disaster,
But pity is more dangerous to the compassionate soul.
When these two feelings are suddenly combined in one,
Nothing good can come from this combination.
To this we can add mystery. The man without a face
Frightens and fascinates her with his strange allure.
No matter how handsome might be an ordinary man,
Izumi’s pride would not have let her love him.
But this one she beholds with a hundred thousand faces –
As if all men lie there in supplication at her feet.
There is only one way to banish this strange vision –
To glance under the mask while he is sleeping.
The sight of gross deformity will bring her down to earth.
She reaches out to raise one corner of the mask –
Then suddenly, driven by a strange impulse,
She moves away and seats herself before her mirror …
Izumi sits down in front of the dressing table, raises the lid of the casket
and looks into the mirror. The sleeping man is left behind her back.
IZUMI (in a low, agitated voice) Yugen is always invisible! Beauty remains concealed! To tear away its veil means only to destroy the mystery. A beloved with no face! That is true yugen! Here my imagination can create the world’s loveliest face, a magical face! I shall love him! Yes, it is decided: we shall be such a couple as the world has never seen. I the best of women and he the best of men. I fine, he finer still, as dream is finer than reality. Anybody can easily see me. But his beauty shall be revealed to me alone!
Suddenly the Inaudible One gets up and walks out of the room. Izumi does not notice.
We women are corporeal creatures, weak and timid. Thus nature’s female Yin created us. My chosen one shall be fearless and disincarnate. A true man is a disembodied Spirit! My face will wither, but an ethereal Spirit is eternal. He is the very one I need!
She looks round abruptly and sees that the sleeping man has disappeared.
Truly he is incorporeal … And, truly, like a Spirit … Could he have heard my words and run off in embarrassment?
She grabs her head in her hands.