The Fire Kimono

by Laura Joh Rowland

  “Where is Egen?” she cried.

  Her reaction was extreme, considering the fact that she’d claimed she hardly remembered the tutor. Sano saw Reiko eyeing her with puzzlement. He said, “We found him in Kodemmacho. He’s on his way to the castle.”

  “I want to see him!”

  “Why are you so eager to renew an acquaintance with the man after forty-three years?”

  Her gaze skittered. “I’m just curious.”

  That answer didn’t satisfy Sano, but he didn’t have time to press his mother for an explanation. Neither did Reiko ask; she kept silent. “I’m taking Egen to the shogun,” Sano said. “He’s agreed to testify that you and he didn’t kidnap or kill Tadatoshi. He’s going to exonerate you.”

  “He’s coming to save me.” As his mother murmured the words, she pressed her hands over her heart. A radiant glow suffused her. The years seemed to fall away from her like a dropped robe.

  Sano was disconcerted to see in her the beautiful, passionate young woman she’d once been, whom he’d never known. “After Egen finishes testifying, I’ll bring him here.”

  “No! I can’t wait. Take me to the palace with you!”

  “That’s not a good idea,” Sano said. “Lord Matsudaira and Colonel Doi will surely come to hear him testify. You’d have to face them again.”

  “I don’t care!” She grabbed Sano’s sleeve. “I must go. Please!”

  Sano had never seen her so excited about anything, and he hated to deny her what she wanted so badly. She might as well hear Egen testify on her behalf and the shogun pronounce her innocent.

  “All right,” Sano said. “Let’s go.”

  As they hurried through the garden together, she smoothed her robes and hair. Sano felt a twinge of a new suspicion that he couldn’t, or perhaps didn’t want to, define.

  He glanced over his shoulder and saw Reiko watching his mother. His wife’s face was an exact mirror of his misgivings.

  At the palace, Sano and his mother knelt on the lower level of the floor in front of the dais, Detectives Marume and Fukida behind him. The shogun occupied the dais, Yoritomo at his left, Lord Matsudaira at his right. Colonel Doi knelt on the upper level, near Lord Matsudaira. Along the walls Lord Matsudaira’s troops, Sano’s, and the shogun’s guards stood in tense proximity.

  “Well, ahh, Chamberlain Sano, who is this witness that you’ve gathered us all to hear?” the shogun asked.

  “It’s Egen,” Sano said, “your cousin Tadatoshi’s former tutor.”

  Yoritomo didn’t look happy. Neither did Lord Matsudaira and Colonel Doi.

  “So you’ve found him,” Lord Matsudaira said in a flat tone.

  “I suppose you didn’t think I would.” Sano turned to Colonel Doi. “You must have been counting on Egen never showing up and contradicting your lies.”

  The shogun frowned as if noticing and trying to understand the hostility between the three men. “Don’t, ahh, keep us in suspense any longer, Chamberlain Sano. Where is the witness?”

  The door at the back of the room opened. In walked Hirata, escorting Egen. The man had closed his kimono, tied a sash around his waist, and donned a pair of leggings; but the clothes were worn and stained, his frizzy gray hair a mess. The sight of his pockmarked face sent a stir through the assembly.

  “Smallpox!” the shogun cried, holding his sleeve over his nose and mouth to prevent the evil spirit of the disease from entering. “Is he contagious?”

  “I doubt it, Your Excellency.” Sano looked at his mother.

  Her eager smile had melted into stunned astonishment. Egen gazed around the room, remarkably nonchalant in the face of the repugnance he’d aroused. He grinned as he knelt and bowed to everyone.

  “Egen?” she blurted.

  The old man glanced in her direction, then said to Sano, “Is that your mother?”

  “Yes,” Sano said.

  She and Egen regarded each other. Her expression showed her disappointment. “You’re so changed,” she whispered.

  “Forty-three years will do that to a person.” His expression showed only mild curiosity. “Did I know you very well when we were living at Tadatoshi’s house?”

  Sano saw woe and disbelief in his mother’s eyes. She said, “Don’t you remember?” Sano wondered why she was so upset, but now wasn’t the time to ask.

  Egen turned away from her to face Colonel Doi, who glared at him. “Is that you, Doi-san? You’re certainly well preserved.”

  “Let’s stop the chatter and get down to business,” Lord Matsudaira interrupted.

  The shogun hesitated as if seeking an excuse to contradict his cousin; not finding one, he nodded. Yoritomo looked anxious. Sano said, “Egen, tell them that Colonel Doi lied about you and my mother.”

  Egen sat straighter, unfazed by all the attention on him. Breath swelled his chest. He spoke in a deep, resonant voice: “He didn’t lie. Not exactly.”

  “What?” Sano couldn’t believe he’d heard right.

  The shogun wrinkled his forehead, puzzled because Egen had said something other than what he’d been led to expect. Lord Matsudaira and Colonel Doi leaned forward, their displeasure giving way to alert anticipation.

  “Doi lied about me,” Egen said. “I had nothing to do with what happened to Tadatoshi.” His voice was clear, loud enough to fill the room, and adamant. “I didn’t kidnap him. I didn’t kill him. But she did.”

  He pointed dramatically at Sano’s mother. She gaped at him, as horror-stricken as Sano was. For an instant everyone sat in speechless silence. Lord Matsudaira and Colonel Doi traded smug glances: The game had just changed in their favor.

  “Hey, that’s not what you told us earlier,” Marume said to Egen.

  “You said neither you nor Chamberlain Sano’s mother did it,” Fukida said.

  The tutor grinned sheepishly.

  Aghast and furious, Sano said, “You changed your story!”

  “What a shame,” Lord Matsudaira said with satisfaction.

  “What’s happening?” the shogun cried.

  “Chamberlain Sano’s witness has turned traitor on him,” Yoritomo said.

  Sano noticed that the young man seemed at once distraught and glad. He grabbed Egen by the front of his robe and said, “Why did you tell me you were going to testify on my mother’s behalf, and then incriminate her?”

  “I said what you wanted to hear.” Fright and cunning glinted in Egen’s eyes. “You and your men burst into my house and threatened me. I was afraid you’d kill me if I said anything else.”

  “He wants to make sure he doesn’t get blamed for Tadatoshi’s death,” Hirata said. “He’s throwing her to the wolves to save himself.”

  “No!” Egen said, clawing at Sano’s hands.

  Marume grabbed Egen’s hair in his fist. “Why did you let us bring you here? How dare you?”

  As the man struggled to break free of Sano and Marume, he appealed to the shogun: “Your Excellency, I came because I wanted to tell the true story to you. It’s my duty.”

  “Your duty, my rear end!” Marume shouted. “Take back your lie, or I’ll kill you!”

  “I say let the man tell his story,” Lord Matsudaira said.

  The shogun wavered, but Lord Matsudaira’s aggressive stare cowed him. “Very well. Let him go.”

  Sano and Marume reluctantly did, although Marume smacked the tutor’s ear. Egen drew himself up with haughty dignity and said, “The day the Great Fire started, Tadatoshi went missing. His father sent everybody in the house out to find him. I tried, but when I went into town, the fire was already raging. I decided to save myself. I ran for the hills.

  “I wasn’t the only one who had that idea.” His voice took on the same dramatic resonance as when he’d flung down his accusation against Sano’s mother. The shogun hung on his words. Sano saw with disgust that Egen liked an audience; he positively swelled. “Thousands of people were swarming up the hills. And who did I see among them but Tadatoshi and Etsuko?”

  He gestured
toward Sano’s mother. She stared at him, her mouth open, her hands gripping her middle, as if he’d punched her. “They were with a soldier from the house, a man named Otani. He and Etsuko were lovers. They were holding Tadatoshi by his hands, dragging him along the road.”

  “How can you say that?” Sano’s mother cried. “You know it’s not true!”

  “Quiet!” ordered the shogun.

  “Tadatoshi was crying and lagging behind Etsuko and Otani. I heard him say, ‘I want to go home!’” Egen’s voice imitated a boy’s with startling accuracy. “At the time I thought he was upset and didn’t understand that he couldn’t go home because of the fire. I thought Etsuko and Otani had found him and rescued him. When they disappeared into the crowd, I didn’t run after them because I thought he was safe with them. But later, when the fire was over—”

  “You’re making it all up!” wailed Sano’s mother.

  “—Etsuko and Otani came back. Without Tadatoshi.” The tutor spoke with emphasis, paused for a theatrical moment.

  A glance around the room showed Sano that Yoritomo was listening with horror and awe, Lord Matsudaira and Colonel Doi with cautious satisfaction.

  “He never showed up,” Egen went on. “They said they hadn’t found him, hadn’t even seen him. And I realized that they hadn’t saved him after all. They’d killed him.”

  “Did you see them do it?” Sano demanded.

  “No, but they must have,” Egen said. “I figured they’d cooked up a plan to hold him for ransom. They probably wanted money to elope. Maybe he fought back. Maybe they killed him by accident. But it must have happened. Otherwise, why would they have lied?”

  “Why are you lying?” Sano’s mother began to sob.

  “Shut her up, Honorable Chamberlain,” Lord Matsudaira said.

  “Mother, let me handle this,” Sano cautioned her, then asked Egen, “If you thought my mother and this man murdered Tadatoshi, why didn’t you say something then? Why did you leave town and wait forty-three years?”

  “Because it would have been my word against theirs,” Egen said in a tone that proclaimed himself the most reasonable person in the world and Sano an idiot. “They were of the samurai class. Nobody would have believed me, a poor monk and tutor. I’d have gotten in trouble.”

  “I’ll show you trouble.” Marume bunched his fists.

  Cringing from him, Egen said, “I was ashamed of not speaking up. That’s why I left Edo, broke my religious vows, and became an itinerant peddler.” Now he sounded pious; he bowed his head. “To punish myself.”

  Fukida rolled his eyes. Hirata said, “Your Excellency, it’s still Egen’s word against that of the Honorable Chamberlain’s mother. It’s also his word against Colonel Doi’s. Colonel Doi has said she and Egen are guilty. Egen says he’s innocent and puts the blame on her and this soldier—who, by the way, isn’t here to defend himself. The stories contradict each other. They can’t both be true.”

  “They have one thing in common.” Lord Matsudaira pointed at Sano’s mother. “She’s a party to the kidnapping and murder in both.”

  “Maybe I was wrong about her accomplice,” Colonel Doi said, “but I’m not wrong about her.”

  Infuriated, Sano said, “You are wrong. And so is Egen. Neither of you can prove anything you said. You’re both lying.”

  His mother wept. “Egen, how can you do this? How can you betray me?”

  He regarded her as if her suffering meant nothing to him. Lord Matsudaira said, “Your Excellency, it’s up to you to decide. Is she guilty or not?”

  The shogun vacillated, looking to Yoritomo for help. In the past the young man had put in many a good word for Sano; now he sat quiet, eyes downcast. The shogun raised his hand for silence while he thought. At last he said, “I’m afraid that I, ahh, tend to believe that she is, ahh, guilty.”

  Horror struck Sano. A high, keening moan issued from his mother. No one else made a sound, but Lord Matsudaira and Colonel Doi shone with such victorious elation that Sano imagined he heard them cheering.

  “Take her to Edo Jail,” the shogun told his guards. “Have her executed at sunrise tomorrow.”

  The guards descended on Sano’s mother. Sano shouted, “No!”

  He and Hirata, Marume, and Fukida leaped to her defense. Lord Matsudaira signaled his troops, who seized and restrained them. As they tussled, Sano’s troops joined the fray. But the shogun’s guards dragged Sano’s mother toward the door. She didn’t resist, but her sobs rose to a wild, crazed pitch. Between them she screamed Sano’s name.

  “Mother!” Sano struggled to run after her and rescue her, but Lord Matsudaira’s troops held him immobile. He ordered several of his own troops, “Go with her. Guard her with your lives.”

  They obeyed. Her screams faded down the corridor. The shogun said “Well!” as if proud that he’d dispensed with an irksome job.

  Egen cleared his throat and said, “Pardon me, Your Excellency, do you mind if I leave now?”

  “Go,” the shogun said, waving his hand.

  The tutor stood, performed an exaggerated bow to the assembly, then scuttled out the door.

  “Hey!” Marume yelled, straining against the Matsudaira troops. “Come back here, you rat!”

  But Egen was gone. Sano felt more than rage because the man had stabbed him in the back and gotten away with it. Panic filled him because he knew that worse was yet to happen.

  “So much for that.” The shogun’s smile begged for approval. He flapped a hand at Lord Matsudaira’s troops. “You can let Chamberlain Sano and his men go now.”

  The soldiers did, but Lord Matsudaira said, “Not so fast, Cousin.” He reeked of the humor of a man who’s had a contest turn in his favor through a heaven-sent piece of good luck. Colonel Doi maintained a somber expression, but he relaxed. “This isn’t over yet. Chamberlain Sano’s mother is guilty of murder and treason, and so is he, by association. You must condemn him to death, too.”

  Sano and his men stood speechless with shock even though they’d all seen this coming.

  “Oh.” The shogun’s smile faded. He obviously hadn’t foreseen that consequence of his action, and he was alarmed to discover that he’d stepped in deeper water than he liked.

  “And not just Sano, but his family and his close associates.” Lord Matsudaira eyed Hirata, Marume, and Fukida.

  “Well, then,” the shogun said faintly; he didn’t want to back down and seem weak. “Chamberlain Sano, I am, ahh, afraid I must have you and your people executed …”

  Neither Sano nor his men spoke, for the shogun had the right to do with them whatever he wished. But the shogun quailed under their outraged stares. “… unless you can give me a good reason not to.”

  Sano pounced on the chance for a reprieve. “I can, Your Excellency.” He felt his men waiting in suspense, their lives riding on his wits. Intuition more than conscious thought guided him. “If you kill me, you’ll be alone with nobody to advise you—except your honorable cousin.” He flung out his hand at Lord Matsudaira. “Do you really want that?”

  He willed the shogun to remember the talk they’d had last night. The alarm on the shogun’s face said he did.

  “‘things become difficult and troublesome’?” Sano hinted.

  Lord Matsudaira’s expression went as dark as a storm cloud. “What are you up to?”

  “What should I do?” the shogun anxiously asked Sano. “I don’t want to kill you, but I can’t just excuse you, either. My law says that a criminal’s family must be punished.”

  “How dare he imply that I’m not fit to advise you?” Lord Matsudaira spoke to the shogun, glared at Sano. “This is a trick, Cousin. He’s insulting your kin to save his own head. Don’t let him manipulate you.”

  Suddenly furious, the shogun turned on Lord Matsudaira. “Don’t tell me what to do! I’m getting sick of your interfering. I’m beginning to think that you think I can’t make decisions.” Spittle flew out of his mouth at Lord Matsudaira, who flinched. “Stay out of this. I’l
l handle it myself!” He turned to Sano. “What do you suggest?”

  Lord Matsudaira sat dumbfounded and crimson with rage. The spectators’ faces were made of stone. Sano said, “Give me another chance to prove that my mother is innocent. Postpone her execution. Let me continue my investigation and find the real killer.”

  “Well, ahh, that sounds reasonable,” the shogun said.

  Sano spoke quickly, lest the wind stop blowing in his direction. “In the meantime, have my mother taken to my house instead of jail.”

  “Oh.” The shogun tapped his finger on his cheek. “But she’s, ahh, already on her way. It would be too much trouble to change my order.” He sounded as if he would have to run after the troops and tell them himself. He probably neither knew nor cared how bad the conditions were in Edo Jail. “I’ll tell you what: I’ll give you three more days to, ahh, exonerate your mother. If you succeed, she won’t have to stay in jail very long, will she?”

  He was delighted by his clever compromise. Three days. The words felt like a delayed death sentence to Sano. The time seemed cruelly short, his prospect of solving the forty-three-year-old murder case impossible. But Sano didn’t argue and risk changing the shogun’s mind. Lord Matsudaira’s temper visibly brightened.

  “If you don’t succeed, she must die. As for you and your family and your associates …” The shogun creased his brow. The threat of execution, banishment, or being stripped of his rank and samurai status and cast out on the street in disgrace hung in the air over Sano. “I must say I am reluctant to put you to death, because I’ve always been fond of you. You’ve always served me well.” He cast a dubious look at Lord Matsudaira. “I’ll think of something before the time comes.”

  Sano met Lord Matsudaira’s gaze. Lord Matsudaira smiled and mouthed words at Sano. Sano read his lips: So will I.

  After leaving the palace, Sano returned home with Hirata and Detectives Marume and Fukida. He told his staff not to disturb him for anything less than a second Great Fire. He and his men sat down for an emergency conclave.

  “Lord Matsudaira wins this round,” Marume said.

  “What’s our next move?” Fukida asked.