The Ronin's Mistress: A Novel (Sano Ichiro Novels)

by Laura Joh Rowland

  “It appears that these rōnin blamed Kira for their lord’s death and they’ve taken revenge,” Sano said.

  “But didn’t the shogun rule that Kira wasn’t guilty of anything and therefore shouldn’t be punished?” Fukida said. “Didn’t he forbid any action against Kira?”

  Marume covered the corpse with the tarp. “Yes, but apparently that didn’t stop the rōnin.”

  “This shouldn’t come as a surprise,” Sano said. Loyalty to one’s master was the highest principle of Bushido. Avenging the death of his master was a solemn duty that a good samurai could not neglect.

  “Except that it happened so long after Lord Asano’s death,” Hirata said.

  “And except that so many rōnin were involved and they killed so many people besides Kira,” Fukida said. “I’ve never heard of a vendetta like this.”

  Vendettas usually involved only two people—the perpetrator and the individual who’d wronged him—although sometimes relatives or friends would join in on either side. The scale and sheer brutality of this revenge astounded Sano. It would surely cause an uproar.

  “I don’t suppose the rōnin bothered to register the vendetta,” Hirata said. Vendetta was legal when the perpetrator notified the authorities of his intentions. This notification served as a warning to his target, who was then on his guard and had time to hide.

  “You’re right,” Sano said. “The shogun’s orders prohibited a vendetta in this case.”

  “My master was always afraid it would happen anyway,” Gorobei said. “That’s why he had so many guards. That’s why his bedchamber had a secret exit.”

  “That just goes to show: If someone’s determined to get you, they will,” Marume said.

  “Well, at least the mystery appears to be solved,” Sano said. “We know who killed Kira and why.”

  He felt a massive letdown. Kira’s murder was supposed to be the big case that he could impress the shogun by solving, the pathway to regaining his status and honor, but it had proved to be disappointingly simple, almost over as soon as he’d begun.

  “We still have to arrest the rōnin,” Hirata said, then asked Gorobei, “Where did they go?”

  “I don’t know,” the old man said unhappily.

  “We’ll find them.” Sano hoped that he could accomplish some good by finishing the investigation quickly. “Let’s get to work.”

  4

  “I HAVE GOOD news and bad news,” the matchmaker told Lady Reiko. “Which do you want first?”

  The two women sat in the reception room in Sano’s mansion, at the kosatsu—a table built over a sunken charcoal brazier. Their feet and legs were warm in the space around the fire. A quilt covered the table and their laps. They wore silk kimonos lined with fur. The old matchmaker’s was dark gray, Reiko’s a plum shade suitable for a matron of thirty-three. A teapot, cups, and a spread of sweet cakes shaped like flowers lay before them on the table.

  “Tell me the bad news,” Reiko said.

  The matchmaker was Lady Wakasa, the mother of Lord Ikeda, who was one of Sano’s most powerful allies. She was seventy-nine years old but vigilantly preserved, her hair dyed an unnatural black that matched her teeth, which were also colored black in the fashion of samurai wives. Age had shrunken her to the size of a child and withered her face, but she had the energy of a woman twenty years younger. She liked meddling in other people’s business, and when she’d heard that Sano and Reiko were looking for a bride for their son, she’d volunteered to act as the go-between who conveyed proposals to and from families with marriageable daughters.

  “The Fukushima clan rejected your proposal,” she said.

  That clan was another of Sano’s allies, with a large domain and much wealth. “Oh,” Reiko said, disappointed.

  Lady Wakasa jabbed her finger at Reiko. “I told you that you were reaching too high.” She was blunt and outspoken to the point of rudeness, a trait common in old women, a privilege of age. “When your husband was chamberlain, they would have leaped at a chance to intermarry with your family, but now—”

  “I know.” Reiko cut Lady Wakasa off before she could chew over the story of how Sano’s troubles had reduced Masahiro’s marriage prospects. A curse on Yanagisawa! Reiko was furious at him for jeopardizing her children.

  “Here’s the good news,” Lady Wakasa said. “A representative from the Chugo clan has offered Masahiro the youngest daughter of the main branch of their family.”

  “We were hoping for something better,” Reiko said. The Chugo clan were Tokugawa vassals, but their leader was only a captain in the army. An alliance with them would do little to improve the political standing of the Sano clan. Furthermore, Reiko knew the girl, a dull creature.

  “Are you directing me to say you’re not interested? We’ve had sixteen refusals in a year, and this is our first offer. Don’t be too quick to turn it down.”

  “All right,” Reiko said reluctantly. “Tell them we’re considering their proposal. But keep looking for new prospects. There’s still time. Masahiro is only eleven.”

  Samurai boys didn’t officially reach manhood until age fourteen; yet children were often betrothed, and Sano and Reiko needed to safeguard Masahiro’s future. If Masahiro was betrothed, he would have another family to protect him while he was young and give him a place in society when he was an adult—if Sano wasn’t there to do it. Reiko must find Masahiro a bride quickly, because Sano’s situation wasn’t getting any better. But she felt as if she was hurrying the end of his childhood. She wanted him to remain her baby for as long as possible.

  “Time goes fast,” Lady Wakasa warned. “The sooner your son is settled, the better, and your daughter, too. You can bet that Chamberlain Yanagisawa isn’t wasting any time getting his sons married. Have you heard the rumor? It seems that Yanagisawa is in marriage negotiations with Tokugawa Ienobu, to arrange a match between his daughter and Yoritomo.” She added, “Ienobu is the shogun’s nephew.”

  “I’ve heard that he’s the man most likely to succeed the shogun,” Reiko said, disturbed.

  “So have I,” Lady Wakasa said. “The shogun will die eventually. If Yoritomo marries into Ienobu’s family, then Yanagisawa has a chance to control the regime for another term.”

  And Sano would have to fight Yanagisawa at an even greater disadvantage. “In that case, it’s all the more important that we find the best possible match for—”

  Reiko stopped because she saw Masahiro standing in the doorway, holding a bamboo scroll container. She didn’t like to talk about his marriage prospects in front of him. She didn’t want him to hear himself discussed as if he were a commodity for sale, which buyers rejected. But he had a talent for sensing when something important was happening. He would appear on the scene before Reiko knew he was there.

  Lady Wakasa understood. “I’d better go.” She rose, grimacing as her stiff joints creaked. On her way out she told Reiko, “Remember what I said: Don’t wait too long.”

  Reiko extended her hand to Masahiro and drew him beside her. How tall he was! And how handsome in his white martial arts practice clothes. He didn’t look like her or Sano; he was a blend of their best features, her beauty toughened by Sano’s strength. Reiko beamed with pride and love. “Have you finished your practice?”

  “Yes, Mother.” Masahiro asked, “Can’t she find a bride for me?”

  Reiko sighed. Masahiro knew everything that went on in the household, despite her efforts to shield him. “Not yet.”

  He looked relieved. “I don’t think I’m ready to get married.”

  “It wouldn’t be until you’re at least fourteen.”

  “If I can marry a girl I like, I won’t mind.” Masahiro sounded hopeful.

  Reiko realized with surprise that he was becoming a young man, with a young man’s dreams of romance. “I promise I’ll do my best to find you a girl you’ll love.”

  Masahiro nodded, reassured. He seemed once more a child, who believed that the three years until his manhood would last forever. Bu
t he’d already taken on adult responsibilities. “I have to change my clothes and go to the palace.” This winter he’d begun his first job—as a page in Edo Castle, the position in which many boys from good samurai families started. He was inordinately proud of the fact. “The shogun will be wanting me.”

  His mention of the shogun made Reiko’s blood run cold.

  The shogun liked sex with young boys. He surrounded himself with male courtesans and actors, and every page, soldier, and servant in Edo Castle was at his disposal. Reiko didn’t want Masahiro to become the shogun’s concubine, not even to gain influence at court. It was too repulsive and degrading. The shogun’s favor could advance Masahiro in the world, but Reiko prayed that Masahiro would never attract the shogun’s lust.

  Noises outside the chamber interrupted her thoughts. She saw two servants lugging a trunk down the corridor. Her daughter, four-year-old Akiko, skipped after them, hand in hand with a woman in her mid-thirties, who wore a brown silk quilted coat. The woman had a pensive, pretty face, and her hair was arranged in a neat twist at the back of her head. Entering the room with Akiko, she smiled at Reiko and Masahiro.

  “Chiyo-san!” Reiko rose; she and the woman exchanged bows. “How good to see you.”

  “Many thanks for your hospitality,” Chiyo said.

  She was Sano’s cousin, the daughter of his maternal uncle, Major Kumazawa from the Tokugawa army. Sano had been estranged from the Kumazawa clan due to a breach between them and his mother that had occurred before his birth. He hadn’t known they existed until a crime had brought them together two years ago. That crime had been a kidnapping—the case that had resulted in his fall. Chiyo had been a victim. One of the few good things to come out of the case was a close friendship between Chiyo and Reiko. Although Chiyo had recovered physically from the experience, her husband had divorced her because she’d been violated, and she would have lost her two children to him, had Sano not ordered him to let the children live with her, at the Kumazawa estate, every other month. Still, Chiyo grieved during their absences. Reiko had invited Chiyo to spend those months with her, so that she wouldn’t be as lonely. And Reiko was glad of Chiyo’s company. Her usual companion, Midori, was pregnant and slept a lot, and Reiko had lost many other friends after Sano’s demotion.

  Masahiro greeted Chiyo, happy to see her. He and Akiko had adopted Chiyo into their family. Then he proffered the scroll container to Reiko. “Mother, this just came for you.”

  Reiko opened the container, which was a roughly cut length of bamboo sealed with crude wooden plugs. She took out a rolled piece of cheap rice paper, unfurled it, and read,

  Honorable Lady Reiko,

  Please excuse me, a humble stranger, for writing to you. I’ve heard that you help women in trouble. My name is Okaru. I’m in trouble. Please forgive my poor words—I’m so upset I can hardly think. My man has done something terrible. It’s too complicated to explain in a letter, and the scribe is charging me for each line, and I’m running out of money. I’m sorry to impose on you, but I’m new in town, I don’t know anybody here, and I have no one else to turn to. Will you please help me? I’m staying at the Dragonfly Inn in Nihonbashi, three blocks from the south end of the bridge. I wait eagerly to hear from you.

  Reiko was moved by Okaru’s urgent tone. “I haven’t received a letter like this in quite a while.”

  “Didn’t you once run a kind of service for helping women in trouble?” Chiyo asked. “Is that what the letter refers to?”

  “Yes.”

  Reiko had once had a reputation for solving problems. She had often assisted Sano with his investigations, and her part in them had been rumored in high-society gossip and in the news broadsheets sold in town. Many people thought her unfeminine, scandalous, and disgraceful, but others—mainly women—had flocked to her in search of help. She’d found jobs and homes for them, paid for doctors to cure their sick children. She’d rescued women from cruel husbands, lovers, and employers. She’d also intervened on behalf of people unjustly accused of crimes. The daughter of Magistrate Ueda, one of two officials who presided over Edo’s court of justice, Reiko had used her influence with him to get the innocents acquitted. Helping people made her feel useful, and serving the public also served honor.

  “But I don’t get many requests for help lately,” Reiko said. The whole samurai class knew about Sano’s fall from grace, and the news must have filtered down to the commoners. Perhaps Okaru, from out of town, was the only person who thought Reiko had the ability to help anybody anymore. “Only letters from people wanting money.”

  And she had less of that to give nowadays. His demotion had cost Sano a fortune. His stipend from the government had been reduced, and he’d had to discharge many of his retainers and servants. Too kind to throw them out in the streets, he’d paid other samurai clans to take on the retainers and given the servants money to live on until they found other jobs. He and Reiko were far from poor, but for the first time in her life she was feeling the pinch of tight finances.

  “What kind of trouble is this Okaru in?” Masahiro asked.

  “Your guess is as good as mine.” Reiko headed for the door.

  “You’re not going to her, are you?” Chiyo said, alarmed.

  “I can’t ignore such a desperate cry for help,” Reiko said.

  “But you don’t know anything about Okaru,” Chiyo said. “Or about this man, except that it sounds as if he’s her lover and not her husband.”

  “I’ll know soon,” Reiko said.

  “I think you shouldn’t go.”

  Reiko was surprised that Chiyo would oppose her. Chiyo had a mild nature; she’d never gone against anything Reiko wanted to do.

  “I’m concerned for your safety,” Chiyo explained. “Okaru might be someone you’d be better off not knowing.”

  “If she is, I’ll find out when I meet her.” Reiko had made up her mind. Not only did she want to help a woman in need, but she had a taste for adventure that had gone unsatisfied too long. She craved an outing to lift her spirits after the bad news from the matchmaker and the grim consequences of Sano’s downfall.

  “All right,” Chiyo conceded with good grace, “but I would like to go with you, if I may.” She smiled at Akiko, who was playing with her doll. “I just wish I could stay with her, too.” Reiko’s children helped to fill the emptiness in her heart left by her own children’s absence.

  “I would be glad of your company,” Reiko said sincerely.

  “Maybe there will be an investigation.” Masahiro’s eyes sparkled with excitement. He loved detective work. He’d done some in the past, and he’d performed well beyond what could be expected of a child. “Can I go, too?”

  Reiko hesitated. Masahiro should be at the palace, attending the shogun. If he was absent when the shogun wanted him, the shogun would be displeased, and nobody in their family could afford to displease the shogun. But Reiko badly wanted to keep her son away from the shogun as much as possible.

  “Yes,” she said. “You can come.”

  5

  OUTSIDE KIRA’S ESTATE, Sano and his men mounted their horses. They followed the bloody footprints in the snow down the street and through the neighborhood until the gang’s trail had been obliterated by pedestrians and horses. Sano stopped at a gate at an intersection.

  “Did you see a gang of samurai pass by here?” he asked the watchman.

  “Yes. They went through, even though I told them it was too early for the gates to open.” The neighborhood gates in Edo closed each night, to restrict traffic and confine troublemakers. “I couldn’t stop them.” The watchman exclaimed, “They had a head stuck on a spear!”

  Sano envisioned the gang parading Kira’s head around town like a war trophy. It seemed outrageous, barbaric. “Which way did they go?”

  The watchman pointed. Sano and his men followed the gang’s trail across the Ryōgoku Bridge. They had plenty of witnesses to direct them. Gate sentries, shopkeepers, and other folks had seen the gang. “There were
forty-seven of them,” said a noodle vendor.

  “They didn’t even try to hide,” Fukida remarked.

  Indeed, the forty-seven samurai had made no secret of what they’d done. The Nihonbashi merchant quarter buzzed with the news. People clustered in shops, doorways, and teahouses, glad to pass on information to Sano and anyone else who came along.

  “They killed the bastard who caused their master’s death,” said a teahouse owner. Everyone in the teahouse cheered. “I gave them all free drinks.”

  Sano wasn’t surprised that the gang had aroused the sympathy of the public, which romanticized people who took the law into their own hands. “Did they say where they were going?”

  “To Sengaku Temple.”

  “I might have guessed,” Sano said to Hirata as they and their party rode away. “Lord Asano’s tomb is at Sengaku Temple. Of course his men would take Kira’s head there.”

  The story of the vendetta spread through town. News-sellers were hawking hastily printed broadsheets: “Read all about the Forty-seven Rōnin Revenge!”

  “So the crime already has a name,” Fukida said.

  “It has a nice ring to it,” Marume said.

  Restaurants had fed the gang; girls at the bathhouses had offered them sexual favors. The city had a carnival atmosphere that seemed a harbinger of more lawlessness. The trail continued through Ginza, the sparsely populated district around the Tokugawa silver mint. Sano and his men turned their horses onto the Daiichi Keihin, the main highway to points south. The highway ran through woods, past walled samurai estates. The gang’s footprints showed clearly in the snow and led straight to Sengaku Temple.

  Sengaku was a modest temple, a few buildings set apart from the huge Zōjō Temple district to the west and the inns, markets, and brothels that served the religious pilgrims. Sano and his men stopped at the outer gate, a simple square arch topped with a tile roof. They jumped off their horses and looked around.