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Authors: Laura Joh Rowland
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The Way of the Traitor: A Samurai Mystery (20 page)
BOOK: The Way of the Traitor: A Samurai Mystery
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To Yoriki Ota, he said, oDouble the number of police on the street in case there are disturbances when the citizens hear the news.
Governor Nagai turned next to the armory captain. oWhat munitions do we have? Upon hearing the quantity of cannon, arquebuses, powder, and shot, he said, oI hope that's enough. Transfer supplies to the warships and the harbor forts immediately.
He issued the magistrate orders concerning possible evacuation of civilians, then announced grimly, oWe shall maintain this state of emergency until Ssakan Sano meets the Dutch demands.
Everyone turned disapproving glances on Sano, seated apart from the others. oI expect to identify the killer within two days, he said, trying to infuse his voice with confidence. Unless he regained face with Nagasaki's officials, his investigation would suffer. And failure would destroy his career along with the city. Quickly he summarized his interviews with Peony, Urabe, and Abbot Liu Yun.
Governor Nagai frowned. oYou wish to attribute the murder to Japanese citizens?
oThey had motive, opportunity, and more access to weapons than the other suspects, Sano said.
The audience exchanged unreadable glances, and the room's atmosphere changed. Sano sensed a pressure against his ears and skin, as if from an approaching storm.
oYes. Well, Governor Nagai said. oI suggest that in your rush to incriminate your fellow Japanese, you don't overlook the barbarians on Deshima. Otherwise, you might suffer worse consequences than a superficial arrow wound.
Sano hadn't mentioned this. oWho told you about the attack? he asked.
Nagai smiled briefly. oI have my sources.
Either Nagasaki's spy network was very efficient, or Nagai had some other way of knowing. oI haven't overlooked Deshima, Sano said, emphasizing the last word to tell them that he didn't mean only the Dutch. oThe attack suggests that something is wrong there. Something that someone doesn't want me to know about.
When he explained about chasing the lights, his words dropped into a pool of silence. Then Yoriki Ota said, oYou got shot while chasing ghosts? Ha, ha. You probably scared a drunk who thought you were a ghost, and fired at you.
His laughter sounded artificial, but the others joined in. oThink what you will, Sano said coldly. oBut I mean to get to the truth about Deshima. When I do, I'll find Jan Spaen's murderer. And I should think it would be in your interest to support my efforts.
oOf course it is, ssakan-sama, Governor Nagai said placatingly. oWe must work together to save the city.
oI'm glad we agree on something. Still, Sano wondered whether Nagasaki's administrators wanted Spaen's murderer caught, or had reason to sabotage his investigation. Had they staged the attempt on his life? If so, why? Because Chamberlain Yanagisawa had ordered it?
Now Sano hoped that pursuing the murder's Christian angle would lead him to the truth he must find, in spite of the danger.
NAGASAKI JAIL was a complex of tile-roofed buildings set on multiple levels of a terraced slope near the edge of town. Guard towers rose from the surrounding high stone walls. In the adjacent neighborhoods, tumbledown shacks lined narrow alleys down which ragged peasants toiled and reeking open gutters flowed. Jails were places of death and defilement, where no one went voluntarily. Only the poor, who could afford no better accommodations, would live nearby.
As Sano dismounted outside the jail's ironclad gate, he surveyed the crowds and saw a familiar figure: the paunchy guard from his mansion. Coincidence might have brought the guard here, but Sano guessed that the man was spying on him.
Or waiting for a chance to kill him?
oI wish to see the official in charge of eliminating Christianity from Nagasaki, Sano told a gate sentry.
oThat would be Chief Persecutor Dannoshin Murashige. I'll take you to him.
Sano secured his horse at the gate and followed his escort into a large compound, where more guards patrolled earthen paths between buildings with cracked plaster walls. Screams and groans issued from tiny, barred windows. The guard took Sano through passages, up flights of stone steps, and through other gates to the prison's uppermost level. Here, neat, freshly plastered barracks with dark woodwork and latticed windows surrounded a small courtyard. Sano's escort led him to the largest building, into a room where samurai knelt in rows before a dais. Upon it stood a low desk from behind which presided Chief Persecutor Dannoshin.
Stout and middle-aged, Dannoshin had pale, moist-looking skin and the soft flabbiness of a man accustomed to rich food and no physical exercise. Puffs of fat surrounded his narrow eyes; a double chin girded his neck. His mouth was full and red, the corners upturned in a perpetual smirk. Wearing a glossy cream silk kimono printed with mauve irises, he looked like an idle bureaucrat. Yet Dannoshin's authoritative manner imposed an air of military discipline upon the assembly.
oWe must increase our efforts to banish Christianity from Japan. His voice, a heavy, deep monotone, brooked no resistance. To a group of men seated to his right, he said, oYou shall administer the Anti-Christianity Oath to two hundred citizens a day instead of the usual one hundred.
oYes, Honorable Chief Persecutor, the men chorused. They filed out of the room, taking portraits of the Christian deity for the oath takers to trample, and scrolls for them to sign.
Dannoshin addressed his remaining subordinates. oYou will search fifty houses for Christian crosses, pictures, and holy writings. Leave no place or person unexamined.
The searchers left, carrying spears for threatening citizens and poking into small spaces. The chief persecutor bowed to Sano. oGreetings, ssakan-sama. Have you come to inspect Nagasaki's anti-Christian operations? You'll find that we've been very successful in controlling the spread of Christianity. However, the rabble cling tenaciously to their faith. Total eradication will take time.
Dannoshin's sly smile hinted at his pleasure in harassing citizens. Sano immediately distrusted him, but he needed the chief persecutor's help. Approaching the dais, he opened his cloth pouch, took out the crucifix, and explained that it had been found on Director Spaen's corpse.
oI'm trying to track down the owner, who may be a member of Nagasaki's Christian community, and involved in the murder.
The chief persecutor took the crucifix from Sano. Their hands touched; Dannoshin's was repulsively warm and moist. As he examined the intricate carving, his pale, thick tongue slid over his lips, coating them with glistening saliva.
oA fine example of Spanish work, he said. oWe don't see these often; most have been destroyed. The last time one turned up was in a raid on a secret Christian church ten years ago. I personally supervised the melting of all the gold and silver artifacts. So I must conclude that this crucifix belonged to a Dutch barbarian, who brought it with him to Japan and placed it on Director Spaen's corpse after killing him. He smiled, and his eyes creased into puffy slits.
oBut it's my understanding that all Christian artifacts are confiscated from the Dutch before they enter Japan, Sano said, oand not returned to them until the ship leaves.
Dannoshin shrugged. oThe barbarians are clever. They probably hid this crucifix so well that it wasn't discovered during the search. Nothing like it has survived the vigorous persecution that has reduced Japan's Christian population from over three hundred thousand to a few hundred. He handed the crucifix back to Sano with an air of finality.
Sano imagined searchers turning the city inside out, day after day, year after year. He understood the difficulty of locating every hiding place in the Dutch ship. However, he knew that the Japanese, too, were clever "and determined. Families who had preserved their traditions and treasures during wars, famines, and natural disasters could retain their religious faith and artifacts despite persecution.
oAre there any individuals whom you suspect of practicing Christianity? Sano persisted.
The chief persecutor compressed his lips in irritation. oYou shan't find the barbarians killer among them. When a Christian cell is discovered, the members are jailed. Their associates are relocated in order to disperse any remaining evil influence. There are several people under surveillance now, and if any tried to approach Deshima, they would have been arrested. We exert great effort to prevent contact between Japanese Christians and foreigners. And the effort has been very successful. Come. I'll show you.
Rising, he led Sano outside and through a guarded gate. oWelcome to Nagasaki Jail's Christian compound.
Sano knew that Nagasaki, where Christianity had first taken root in Japan, had always harbored the largest concentration of converts and thus seen the most severe persecution in the country. During the Great Martyrdom some seventy years ago, churches had been destroyed and one hundred twenty Christians beheaded or burned to death. Subsequent regimes had carried out over five hundred more executions. Sano had heard that Nagasaki's current administration continued the relentless, brutal campaign against the few remaining Christians. But his first sight of the Christian compound didn't confirm this.
Within the fenced yard stood ten neat, thatched huts. Through the windows, Sano saw men and women placidly spinning yarn and sewing clothes; mothers nursing babies; families eating meals together; a doctor lighting herbal healing cones on a patient's chest.
oThis is most of what remains of Nagasaki's Christian community, Dannoshin announced with a proud sweep of his pale, fat hand. oSixty people, including children. Locked away so they can cause no harm.
In a larger building, residents bathed in wooden tubs or strolled around the room, watched by guards. More guards patrolled the yard; otherwise, the compound was a far cry from the jail's grim dungeons and torture chambers.
oThe rabble are allowed to sell the things they sew, and keep the money, Dannoshin said. oMen and women have separate quarters, but families can visit freely. They can wash and take walks in the common house, and if they get sick, we cure them.
Sano was about to commend the chief persecutor for his humane treatment of the prisoners, and to ask if he might question them about fellow Christians outside the prison. Then Dannoshin added, oYou might think we're too easy on them, but harsh punishment only makes them cleave more stubbornly to their faith. It creates martyrs, who attract more converts. We treat them well so they'll behave.
He licked his lips and smiled, a salacious leer. oI prefer to concentrate my efforts on a few favored individuals whom I believe will make good informants. As you will see.
Dannoshin ushered Sano into a small fenced enclosure. From a pulley attached to a pole, a man hung by a rope tied around his ankles. His head and torso dangled into a pit dug in the ground. His entire body was swathed in dirty hemp sacking, except for the right arm, which dangled free. Two guards awaited his confession. Sano stared, aghast.
oThis torture method was devised by the governor who ruled Nagasaki seventy years ago, Dannoshin said. oHe convinced a Jesuit priest to renounce his faith this way. He also forced Christian women to crawl naked through the streets, where they were violated by ruffians. Then he had them thrown into tubs full of snakes. Saliva welled at the corners of Dannoshin's smile. oWhen the snakes entered their bodies, the women were more than willing to give up.
Seizing the rope, he hauled the prisoner out of the pit. The man's face was purple and bloated, his eyes swollen shut. Blood oozed from his mouth, nose, and ears. His shaved crown and knotted hair marked him as a samurai; his lips moved in a cracked whisper: oGod have mercy on my soul...
oHe's been here four days, Dannoshin said. He peered into the prisoner's face. oToz. Are you ready to renounce your faith and tell me the names of other Christians you know? If you are, then just raise your hand, and I'll free you.
The prisoner's arm remained limp. oGod... Gesu... Maria... he whispered.
Though conditioned to despise Christians and accept the bakufu's authority, Sano admired the prisoner's courage. He deplored torture, and the perversion that made Dannoshin enjoy such awful work. Sano remembered that Christianity was a tool of war, used by the barbarians to command loyalty and foment internal strife. Had it not been suppressed and its foreign proponents expelled, the Japanese might now be subjects of the Spanish crown. Sano had sworn a blood oath against Christianity, but he couldn't allow such terrible abuse of a helpless fellow samurai. All his anger toward the cruel, oppressive Tokugawa regime rose up in him.
oTake him down! Sano ordered.
Dannoshin gaped. oBut he hasn't cooperated yet.
oI don't care. Take him down. Now!
oAll right. If you say so. Shrugging, the chief persecutor let his minions lay the prisoner on the ground. He shot Sano a glance full of resentful insinuation. oFour days' work, wasted. One might think that even a naA_ve, thoughtless newcomer would know better than to sympathize with Christian rabble. There is such a thing as guilt by inference and association.
Sano didn't lower himself to answer the chief persecutor's insults or threats. He couldn't stand the sight of Dannoshin or the smirking guards. oLeave us, he said.
Once alone with the prisoner, he knelt by the man's side and loosened the tight sacking. Toz's chest rose and fell in slow, barely perceptible breaths. His lips formed the names of his Christian deities. oToz, Sano said. oCan you hear me?
The swollen eyes cracked open. Blood filmed the whites. oGod have mercy, Toz whispered through the blood that burbled from his lips.
Sano grasped the man's free hand. oYour ordeal is over, he said. oYou can die in peace now.
oDie... yes. Toz smiled. oEnter... the holy Kingdom... of Heaven. He stared beatifically at the sky. oFor God is the glory...
Governor Nagai turned next to the armory captain. oWhat munitions do we have? Upon hearing the quantity of cannon, arquebuses, powder, and shot, he said, oI hope that's enough. Transfer supplies to the warships and the harbor forts immediately.
He issued the magistrate orders concerning possible evacuation of civilians, then announced grimly, oWe shall maintain this state of emergency until Ssakan Sano meets the Dutch demands.
Everyone turned disapproving glances on Sano, seated apart from the others. oI expect to identify the killer within two days, he said, trying to infuse his voice with confidence. Unless he regained face with Nagasaki's officials, his investigation would suffer. And failure would destroy his career along with the city. Quickly he summarized his interviews with Peony, Urabe, and Abbot Liu Yun.
Governor Nagai frowned. oYou wish to attribute the murder to Japanese citizens?
oThey had motive, opportunity, and more access to weapons than the other suspects, Sano said.
The audience exchanged unreadable glances, and the room's atmosphere changed. Sano sensed a pressure against his ears and skin, as if from an approaching storm.
oYes. Well, Governor Nagai said. oI suggest that in your rush to incriminate your fellow Japanese, you don't overlook the barbarians on Deshima. Otherwise, you might suffer worse consequences than a superficial arrow wound.
Sano hadn't mentioned this. oWho told you about the attack? he asked.
Nagai smiled briefly. oI have my sources.
Either Nagasaki's spy network was very efficient, or Nagai had some other way of knowing. oI haven't overlooked Deshima, Sano said, emphasizing the last word to tell them that he didn't mean only the Dutch. oThe attack suggests that something is wrong there. Something that someone doesn't want me to know about.
When he explained about chasing the lights, his words dropped into a pool of silence. Then Yoriki Ota said, oYou got shot while chasing ghosts? Ha, ha. You probably scared a drunk who thought you were a ghost, and fired at you.
His laughter sounded artificial, but the others joined in. oThink what you will, Sano said coldly. oBut I mean to get to the truth about Deshima. When I do, I'll find Jan Spaen's murderer. And I should think it would be in your interest to support my efforts.
oOf course it is, ssakan-sama, Governor Nagai said placatingly. oWe must work together to save the city.
oI'm glad we agree on something. Still, Sano wondered whether Nagasaki's administrators wanted Spaen's murderer caught, or had reason to sabotage his investigation. Had they staged the attempt on his life? If so, why? Because Chamberlain Yanagisawa had ordered it?
Now Sano hoped that pursuing the murder's Christian angle would lead him to the truth he must find, in spite of the danger.
NAGASAKI JAIL was a complex of tile-roofed buildings set on multiple levels of a terraced slope near the edge of town. Guard towers rose from the surrounding high stone walls. In the adjacent neighborhoods, tumbledown shacks lined narrow alleys down which ragged peasants toiled and reeking open gutters flowed. Jails were places of death and defilement, where no one went voluntarily. Only the poor, who could afford no better accommodations, would live nearby.
As Sano dismounted outside the jail's ironclad gate, he surveyed the crowds and saw a familiar figure: the paunchy guard from his mansion. Coincidence might have brought the guard here, but Sano guessed that the man was spying on him.
Or waiting for a chance to kill him?
oI wish to see the official in charge of eliminating Christianity from Nagasaki, Sano told a gate sentry.
oThat would be Chief Persecutor Dannoshin Murashige. I'll take you to him.
Sano secured his horse at the gate and followed his escort into a large compound, where more guards patrolled earthen paths between buildings with cracked plaster walls. Screams and groans issued from tiny, barred windows. The guard took Sano through passages, up flights of stone steps, and through other gates to the prison's uppermost level. Here, neat, freshly plastered barracks with dark woodwork and latticed windows surrounded a small courtyard. Sano's escort led him to the largest building, into a room where samurai knelt in rows before a dais. Upon it stood a low desk from behind which presided Chief Persecutor Dannoshin.
Stout and middle-aged, Dannoshin had pale, moist-looking skin and the soft flabbiness of a man accustomed to rich food and no physical exercise. Puffs of fat surrounded his narrow eyes; a double chin girded his neck. His mouth was full and red, the corners upturned in a perpetual smirk. Wearing a glossy cream silk kimono printed with mauve irises, he looked like an idle bureaucrat. Yet Dannoshin's authoritative manner imposed an air of military discipline upon the assembly.
oWe must increase our efforts to banish Christianity from Japan. His voice, a heavy, deep monotone, brooked no resistance. To a group of men seated to his right, he said, oYou shall administer the Anti-Christianity Oath to two hundred citizens a day instead of the usual one hundred.
oYes, Honorable Chief Persecutor, the men chorused. They filed out of the room, taking portraits of the Christian deity for the oath takers to trample, and scrolls for them to sign.
Dannoshin addressed his remaining subordinates. oYou will search fifty houses for Christian crosses, pictures, and holy writings. Leave no place or person unexamined.
The searchers left, carrying spears for threatening citizens and poking into small spaces. The chief persecutor bowed to Sano. oGreetings, ssakan-sama. Have you come to inspect Nagasaki's anti-Christian operations? You'll find that we've been very successful in controlling the spread of Christianity. However, the rabble cling tenaciously to their faith. Total eradication will take time.
Dannoshin's sly smile hinted at his pleasure in harassing citizens. Sano immediately distrusted him, but he needed the chief persecutor's help. Approaching the dais, he opened his cloth pouch, took out the crucifix, and explained that it had been found on Director Spaen's corpse.
oI'm trying to track down the owner, who may be a member of Nagasaki's Christian community, and involved in the murder.
The chief persecutor took the crucifix from Sano. Their hands touched; Dannoshin's was repulsively warm and moist. As he examined the intricate carving, his pale, thick tongue slid over his lips, coating them with glistening saliva.
oA fine example of Spanish work, he said. oWe don't see these often; most have been destroyed. The last time one turned up was in a raid on a secret Christian church ten years ago. I personally supervised the melting of all the gold and silver artifacts. So I must conclude that this crucifix belonged to a Dutch barbarian, who brought it with him to Japan and placed it on Director Spaen's corpse after killing him. He smiled, and his eyes creased into puffy slits.
oBut it's my understanding that all Christian artifacts are confiscated from the Dutch before they enter Japan, Sano said, oand not returned to them until the ship leaves.
Dannoshin shrugged. oThe barbarians are clever. They probably hid this crucifix so well that it wasn't discovered during the search. Nothing like it has survived the vigorous persecution that has reduced Japan's Christian population from over three hundred thousand to a few hundred. He handed the crucifix back to Sano with an air of finality.
Sano imagined searchers turning the city inside out, day after day, year after year. He understood the difficulty of locating every hiding place in the Dutch ship. However, he knew that the Japanese, too, were clever "and determined. Families who had preserved their traditions and treasures during wars, famines, and natural disasters could retain their religious faith and artifacts despite persecution.
oAre there any individuals whom you suspect of practicing Christianity? Sano persisted.
The chief persecutor compressed his lips in irritation. oYou shan't find the barbarians killer among them. When a Christian cell is discovered, the members are jailed. Their associates are relocated in order to disperse any remaining evil influence. There are several people under surveillance now, and if any tried to approach Deshima, they would have been arrested. We exert great effort to prevent contact between Japanese Christians and foreigners. And the effort has been very successful. Come. I'll show you.
Rising, he led Sano outside and through a guarded gate. oWelcome to Nagasaki Jail's Christian compound.
Sano knew that Nagasaki, where Christianity had first taken root in Japan, had always harbored the largest concentration of converts and thus seen the most severe persecution in the country. During the Great Martyrdom some seventy years ago, churches had been destroyed and one hundred twenty Christians beheaded or burned to death. Subsequent regimes had carried out over five hundred more executions. Sano had heard that Nagasaki's current administration continued the relentless, brutal campaign against the few remaining Christians. But his first sight of the Christian compound didn't confirm this.
Within the fenced yard stood ten neat, thatched huts. Through the windows, Sano saw men and women placidly spinning yarn and sewing clothes; mothers nursing babies; families eating meals together; a doctor lighting herbal healing cones on a patient's chest.
oThis is most of what remains of Nagasaki's Christian community, Dannoshin announced with a proud sweep of his pale, fat hand. oSixty people, including children. Locked away so they can cause no harm.
In a larger building, residents bathed in wooden tubs or strolled around the room, watched by guards. More guards patrolled the yard; otherwise, the compound was a far cry from the jail's grim dungeons and torture chambers.
oThe rabble are allowed to sell the things they sew, and keep the money, Dannoshin said. oMen and women have separate quarters, but families can visit freely. They can wash and take walks in the common house, and if they get sick, we cure them.
Sano was about to commend the chief persecutor for his humane treatment of the prisoners, and to ask if he might question them about fellow Christians outside the prison. Then Dannoshin added, oYou might think we're too easy on them, but harsh punishment only makes them cleave more stubbornly to their faith. It creates martyrs, who attract more converts. We treat them well so they'll behave.
He licked his lips and smiled, a salacious leer. oI prefer to concentrate my efforts on a few favored individuals whom I believe will make good informants. As you will see.
Dannoshin ushered Sano into a small fenced enclosure. From a pulley attached to a pole, a man hung by a rope tied around his ankles. His head and torso dangled into a pit dug in the ground. His entire body was swathed in dirty hemp sacking, except for the right arm, which dangled free. Two guards awaited his confession. Sano stared, aghast.
oThis torture method was devised by the governor who ruled Nagasaki seventy years ago, Dannoshin said. oHe convinced a Jesuit priest to renounce his faith this way. He also forced Christian women to crawl naked through the streets, where they were violated by ruffians. Then he had them thrown into tubs full of snakes. Saliva welled at the corners of Dannoshin's smile. oWhen the snakes entered their bodies, the women were more than willing to give up.
Seizing the rope, he hauled the prisoner out of the pit. The man's face was purple and bloated, his eyes swollen shut. Blood oozed from his mouth, nose, and ears. His shaved crown and knotted hair marked him as a samurai; his lips moved in a cracked whisper: oGod have mercy on my soul...
oHe's been here four days, Dannoshin said. He peered into the prisoner's face. oToz. Are you ready to renounce your faith and tell me the names of other Christians you know? If you are, then just raise your hand, and I'll free you.
The prisoner's arm remained limp. oGod... Gesu... Maria... he whispered.
Though conditioned to despise Christians and accept the bakufu's authority, Sano admired the prisoner's courage. He deplored torture, and the perversion that made Dannoshin enjoy such awful work. Sano remembered that Christianity was a tool of war, used by the barbarians to command loyalty and foment internal strife. Had it not been suppressed and its foreign proponents expelled, the Japanese might now be subjects of the Spanish crown. Sano had sworn a blood oath against Christianity, but he couldn't allow such terrible abuse of a helpless fellow samurai. All his anger toward the cruel, oppressive Tokugawa regime rose up in him.
oTake him down! Sano ordered.
Dannoshin gaped. oBut he hasn't cooperated yet.
oI don't care. Take him down. Now!
oAll right. If you say so. Shrugging, the chief persecutor let his minions lay the prisoner on the ground. He shot Sano a glance full of resentful insinuation. oFour days' work, wasted. One might think that even a naA_ve, thoughtless newcomer would know better than to sympathize with Christian rabble. There is such a thing as guilt by inference and association.
Sano didn't lower himself to answer the chief persecutor's insults or threats. He couldn't stand the sight of Dannoshin or the smirking guards. oLeave us, he said.
Once alone with the prisoner, he knelt by the man's side and loosened the tight sacking. Toz's chest rose and fell in slow, barely perceptible breaths. His lips formed the names of his Christian deities. oToz, Sano said. oCan you hear me?
The swollen eyes cracked open. Blood filmed the whites. oGod have mercy, Toz whispered through the blood that burbled from his lips.
Sano grasped the man's free hand. oYour ordeal is over, he said. oYou can die in peace now.
oDie... yes. Toz smiled. oEnter... the holy Kingdom... of Heaven. He stared beatifically at the sky. oFor God is the glory...
BOOK: The Way of the Traitor: A Samurai Mystery
9.86Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
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