“If you won’t kill Hishigawa, then I want you to find out what happened to Mototane. If you want to know about this scrap of cloth, you will tell me what happened to my grandson. The moment you tell me what happened to him, I shall tell you where I got that cloth and what I know about it.”
Kaze didn’t bother trying to argue with Elder Grandma. He knew it would be useless to bargain with her. Instead he asked, “And what will you do?”
“We will wait to see if we have a chance to kill Hishigawa and rescue my granddaughter, Yuchan.”
“Yuchan!” Kaze said.
“You’ve seen her?”
“No, but I’ve heard Hishigawa talk about her. She’s his wife. He adores her and is still possessed by her. He even has a special palace for her inside his villa. She seems to be living in luxury.”
“Then I want you to get us information about Yuchan, too.”
“No,” Kaze said. “You said you wanted information about Mototane. If I find information about Yuchan, I will also tell you, but I won’t expand the bargain.”
“All right,” Elder Grandma said. “Done!”
It would take luck to discover the fate of Noguchi Mototane, but Kaze believed you sometimes made your own luck through work and preparation. It was like the story of Oda Nobunaga and the coins. Nobunaga was the predecessor of Hideyoshi, the man who recognized Hideyoshi’s unique talents and raised him from a common ashigaru foot soldier to a general.
Early in his career, Nobunaga and his troops, although outnumbered twelve to one, were marching to Okehazama to have a decisive battle with the powerful daimyo Imagawa Yoshimoto. Imagawa was invading Nobunaga’s territory, determined to crush him. He was launching a bid to march on Kyoto to claim control of all of Japan, and Nobunaga’s small domain was in the way. Imagawa had already destroyed a frontier fortress of Nobunaga’s and the Imagawa army was camped in the narrow and rugged gorge of Okehazama as they prepared to move on Nobunaga’s main castle.
On the way to battle the Imagawa army, Nobunaga stopped at the Atsuta Shrine to offer a prayer for victory. The Imagawa forces were far greater than Nobunaga’s, yet the headstrong Nobunaga chose to go on the offense instead of cowering in his castle. His troops felt that it would take divine intervention to come back alive, much less victorious.
While at the shrine, Nobunaga made an offering of several gold coins. Holding the coins in his hand, he looked at his retainers and announced, “If the Gods want us to win the upcoming battle, then all the coins I now offer will show their heads, to symbolize the heads of the enemy we will soon be taking.” Nobunaga then threw the coins toward the altar. They all landed with their heads showing.
His retainers were amazed and heartened by this sign of divine support, and they soon spread the word to Nobunaga’s troops. Under the cover of a furious thunderstorm, Nobunaga attacked the Imagawa army when they were still exhausted from their march. Imagawa, supremely confident, had not expected to be attacked by the smaller forces of Nobunaga. When he first heard the sounds of battle above the din of the thunderstorm, he thought a brawl had broken out among his own men. Without armor, Imagawa went to quell the brawl. Within minutes, he had lost his head. His troops, completely demoralized and routed, were defeated in a short, violent battle.
This victory marked the rise of Nobunaga. A year later Tokugawa Ieyasu, the same Ieyasu who later first allied himself with Hideyoshi and eventually conquered Hideyoshi’s family at Sekigahara, was Nobunaga’s ally.
The sign of divine favor shown Nobunaga at Atsuta Shrine was marred when it was later discovered that the coins that Nobunaga had used were doctored. They had heads on both sides.
After returning to Hishigawa’s villa, Kaze ate and then quietly slipped out of his room. In the dark, he made his way toward the drum bridge and climbed a tree. Ever since he was a child, Kaze had had an affinity for trees, seeing them as stairways to heaven, a way to separate his body from the earth both physically and metaphorically. Relaxing on a tree limb in the lotus position, he watched the island silently, curious about Yuchan’s lifestyle and convinced that Noguchi Mototane’s disappearance and possible death were linked to her.
Presently, he saw Ando scurrying to the bridge, carrying two nested lacquer food trays. He couldn’t see the contents of the bottom tray, but the top tray looked like it was full of delicacies, much finer than the supper Kaze had eaten. Kaze wondered if Yuchan was enjoying a special dinner. Yuchan seemed to live in cloistered elegance, like a member of the imperial family, her every whim and need catered to. Kaze was a bit surprised that a maid wasn’t taking Yuchan’s food to her, but apparently Hishigawa’s wife received very special treatment from all in the household, including Ando. Kaze mused that this must be a strange life, so much like that of a pampered prisoner. Was the loss of freedom compensated for by the granting of luxury?
Later, Ando returned to the main villa, but a few minutes later she and Hishigawa appeared. They passed the man guarding the drum bridge and crossed over to the island, entering the Jade Palace. What Kaze found interesting was that several hours later they returned to the villa together. Kaze would have expected Hishigawa to spend the night with Yuchan.
The next morning, the maid found Kaze sleeping soundly in his futon, as if he had been in his room the entire night.
CHAPTER 13
A thin strip of steel,
holding a noble spirit
and a master’s skill.
After a breakfast of miso soup and rice, Kaze went back into Kamakura. During his previous day’s visit, he had asked about the forge of Kannemori, the swordsmith, and learned that it was in the hills in the opposite direction from Hishigawa’s villa.
Kaze had met Kannemori during his first visit to Kamakura with his Sensei. Kaze was impressed by the Sensei’s respect and affection for Kannemori, which had prompted Kaze to refer to Kannemori as a Sensei, in this case meaning a master of his craft instead of a teacher.
Kannemori’s forge was tucked into a small valley high above Kamakura. The narrow mountain path to the forge gave Kaze an ideal opportunity to make sure he wasn’t being followed by the assassins of the previous night. He had not yet decided why these assassins had been hired, but he knew that once he discovered why they were hired, he would know who had hired them.
Before Kaze saw the forge, he heard it. A rhythmic clang-clang-clang-clang sound of hammers striking hot metal drifted up from the valley.
During his first visit, Kaze had been allowed to witness part of the forging process for a katana. This was a rare honor, because each swordsmith jealously guarded the way he formed a sword, sometimes by drastic means.
Kaze knew the story of the master swordsmith Masamune, who had once been tempering a blade in the presence of another swordsmith. This involved taking the heated blade and plunging it into a vat of water. The blade was usually heated to a degree that matched the color of the moon when it started its nightly journey in June or July. The water was described as the temperature of water in February or August. In fact, blades were often dated February or August, regardless of the month they were actually manufactured.
Masamune’s blades were of such superior quality that other smiths were convinced that he had some secret in their manufacture that he was hiding. The visiting smith surreptitiously stuck his hand into the water to see the exact temperature Masamune used when tempering his blades. Without hesitation, Masamune took the red-hot blade, still unfinished and held with pincers, and used it to strike off the offending hand of the visiting swordsmith.