“You saved my life,” the boy said, “It belongs to you from this day on.”
Shigeru laughed again with mixed feelings of delight and pride. He had courage and fine instincts; he was a true Otori.
“What’s your name, boy?” he asked.
“Tomasu,” the boy replied.
Tomasu!
“That’s a common name among the Hidden,” Shigeru said. “Better get rid of it.”
An idea suddenly came to him, and he said, “You can be called Takeo.”
He had already decided he would adopt this boy and make him his son. Otori Takeo: his son. And together they would destroy Iida Sadamu.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I would like to thank:
Asialink, for the fellowship that enabled me to go to Japan for twelve weeks in 1999/2000;
The Australia Council and the Department of Trade and Foreign Affairs, for supporting the Asialink program;
The Australian Embassy in Tokyo;
Akiyoshidai International Arts Village, Yamaguchi Prefecture, for sponsoring me for that time;
Shuho-cho International Cultural Exchange House program, for inviting me for a further three months in 2002;
ArtsSA, the South Australian Department for the Arts, for a mid-career fellowship that gave me time to write;
Urinko Gekidan in Nagoya, for inviting me to work with them in 2003;
My husband and children, who have supported and encouraged me in so many ways;
In Japan, Kimura Miyo, Mogi Masaru, Mogi Akiko, Tokuriki Masako, Tokuriki Miki, Santo Yuko, Mark Brachmann, Maxine McArthur, Kori Manami, Yamaguchi Hiroi, Hosokawa Fumimasa, Imahori Goro, Imahori Yoko, and all the other people who have helped me with research and travel;
Christopher E. West and Forest W. Seal at www.samurai-archives.com;
All the publishers and agents who are now part of the Otori clan around the world, especially Jenny Darling, Donica Bettanin, Sarah Lutyens, and Joe Regal;
My editors, Bernadette Foley (Hachette Livre) and Harriet Wilson (Pan Macmillan), and Christine Baker from Gallimard;
Sugiyama Kazuko, calligrapher, who passed away early in 2006.
Lian Hearn
Lian Hearn is the pseudonym of a writer, currently living in Australia, who has a lifelong interest in Japan, and has lived there and studies Japanese. Visit the author’s website at www.lianhearn.com.
