Sano Ichiro 6 Black Lotus (2001)

by Laura Joh Rowland

  "He says you can stay." Watching Hanu's face brighten, Reiko didn't mention her father's reluctance. "Come on, I'll show you where you'll sleep."

  She led Haru to the mansion's private quarters and slid open the door of a spacious chamber. "This used to be my room."

  The girl entered haltingly, gazing around at the walls decorated with painted murals of blossoming plum trees, the polished teak cabinets, lacquer tables and chests, and the raised study niche. "It's beautiful," she said in a hushed voice. "How can I ever repay your generosity?"

  "Just try to recover from your bad experiences," Reiko said, hoping that these safe, pleasant quarters would help restore Haru's memory. She opened a cabinet, gazing at shelves that held some old illustrated books; everything else of hers had been discarded or moved to Sano's estate when she married. "I'm sorry there's not much here to entertain you," she said. "I'll get you some things later." Reiko saw Haru stifle a yawn and said, "You're tired. You should rest."

  She ordered a maid to make up a bed. Haru snuggled under the quilts on the futon with a contented sigh, looking sweetly innocent. Reiko felt sympathy toward the girl, but a lingering distrust that she couldn't ignore. Troubled by her conflicting inclinations, she returned to her father's office.

  Magistrate Ueda looked up from his papers. "What else is it you require from me, Daughter?"

  "I need information about several members of the Black Lotus sect," Reiko said.

  "Hmm." The magistrate leveled a shrewd gaze at Reiko. "I don't suppose the sōsakan-sama knows you're looking into these people?"

  "He needs background facts on them for his investigation of the temple," Reiko said.

  Her father's frown registered displeasure at her evasiveness. Reiko tried to look humble. She waited.

  At last he lifted his hands and let them fall in a gesture of resignation. "You wish to know whether the sect members have ever been in trouble?"

  "Yes," Reiko said.

  "Who are they?"

  "High Priest Anraku, Abbess Junketsu-in, Priest Kumashiro, and Dr. Miwa."

  "Kumashiro." Disgust permeated the magistrate's pronunciation of the name. "I am well acquainted with him."

  "Has he broken the law?" Reiko asked, eager for compromising facts about the priest who'd tried to incriminate Haru and extort a confession from her.

  "Not exactly," Magistrate Ueda said. "When he was thirteen, he decapitated a man just so he could test a new sword. Later, as a youth in his twenties, he roamed around town picking fights and killed three more men in as many years."

  "But he was never punished because all his victims were peasants?" Reiko guessed. Tokugawa law permitted samurai to kill peasants on a whim.

  Magistrate Ueda nodded in grim disapproval. "After the third fatal brawl, I reprimanded Kumashiro." This was the usual penalty for samurai whose misdeeds became too numerous for social acceptability. "'Kumashiro promised to control himself, yet his behavior only grew worse. He started attacking prostitutes at illegal brothels. He beat two of them to death and strangled a third.

  "By then, I'd decided that Kumashiro had grossly violated honor and was a menace to the public. I imprisoned him and charged him with multiple murder. He would have been put to death, but his clan, who are prominent Tokugawa vassals, negotiated a deal with the shogun. In exchange for paying a large fine, Kumashiro would enter a monastery as the only punishment for the deaths he caused." He shook his head regretfully. "So he's joined the Black Lotus sect, hmm?"

  "He's chief security officer and second-in-command to the high priest," Reiko said.

  "I wouldn't be surprised to learn that he has continued his old ways," said the magistrate.

  Nor would Reiko, after witnessing his brutality toward Haru. He seemed a much likelier murder suspect than the orphan girl. Surely now Sano would agree that Kumashiro merited investigation.

  "What about the others?" Reiko asked.

  "The name Miwa strikes my memory. I believe the doctor has appeared in my court." The magistrate rose, walked to a bookshelf, removed a ledger, and turned pages. "Yes, indeed. Here is the record of his trial, six years ago. Dr. Miwa was arrested for peddling rhinoceros-horn pills that were actually pebbles coated with gray paint and minced cat hair. Ordinarily this sort of fraud calls for death by decapitation, but since no one was hurt and it was Miwa's first offense, I ordered him to return his customers' money or spend a month in jail."

  He scanned the record, then said, "That's interesting: my chief clerk has made a note that Dr. Miwa was destitute and went to jail until a priest named Anraku repaid the customers and freed Miwa."

  So that was how Miwa and Anraku had joined forces, Reiko thought. She interpreted the doctor's criminal record as evidence of his shady character. He, too, warranted more investigation. "Have you ever met Abbess Junketsu-in?"

  "I do not recall that I have." Magistrate Ueda perused an index of criminals and shook his head. "She does not appear here, at least not under her religious name." Upon entering a convent, women often took new names that ended with -in. "However, she may have a record under her previous one. What is she like?"

  Reiko described Junketsu-in's inappropriate appearance and manner.

  "Perhaps her history lies in trade with men," said the magistrate. After considerable time spent searching other ledgers for records containing mention of the Black Lotus, he said, "Ah. This is it. Eight years ago, a courtesan named Iris was brought before me. She and another courtesan were rivals for the favor of the same wealthy client. Iris physically attacked the other courtesan. I sentenced Iris to a flogging.

  "And my clerk has again made a note on the record. Shortly after Iris returned to the pleasure quarter, a priest named Anraku discharged her debts and bought her freedom." Women sold into prostitution paid off their purchase price with their earnings, but since they also had to pay for their keep, they seldom gained liberty unless a wealthy patron interceded. "She joined his temple and took the name Junketsu-in."

  "Then all three Black Lotus members have dark pasts," Reiko said, especially intrigued by the discovery of Junketsu-in's violence toward a woman. Could the abbess have strangled the female victim? Had she beaten and tried to murder Haru, whom she so obviously disliked?

  After turning more pages, Magistrate Ueda said, "There are no records for High Priest Anraku."

  "Such valuable information on three out of four suspects is more than

  I expected. Thank you for your help, Father." Reiko hid her disappointment. That Anraku recruited criminals into the Black Lotus spoke ill of his character; that his followers seemed determined to keep her away from him aroused Reiko's suspicions. Reiko had to learn more abouit him, but how?

  Then inspiration struck. She knew two people who might be able too help. She would visit them today.

  "Daughter." Magistrate Ueda regarded her with somber scrutiny. "I am worried about the use that you intend to make of the information I've given you. Religion may have reformed these criminals, but if that's not the case, then they could be dangerous. Give the information to your husband and let him deal with them."

  "I will," Reiko said, wanting to reassure her father, yet determined to take matters into her own hands if necessary.

  She bid Magistrate Ueda farewell, then looked in on Haru. The girl was fast asleep, a guard stationed outside her door. Would that she proved to be as innocent as she looked! Reiko left the mansion. As she rode in her palanquin toward Edo Castle, she wondered how Sano's investigation into the sect was going.

  * * *

  13

  The multitudes shall abandon their lands,

  They shall come on purpose to this place.

  Here lotus blossoms adorn a clear pond

  jeweled trees burn bright in the darkness of night.

  ——FROM THE BLACK LOTUS SUTRA

  The rain had ceased by the time Sano arrived at the Black Lotus Temple. Sunlight sparkled in puddles along the central path where Sano walked. Worshippers strolled; children ran and laughed.
The colors of their clothing, the dripping foliage, and the patches of blue sky among the fleeing clouds were bright in the clean, fresh air.

  A priest who'd escorted Sano during his inquiries on the morning after the fire greeted him outside the main hall. "Greetings, Sosakan-sama. I am at your service."

  "Thank you, but I'd like to explore the temple on my own today," Sano said.

  The priest said, "Very well," bowed, and departed.

  So much for Reiko's claim that the sect was trying to restrict the investigation, Sano thought. He walked to the novices' quarters. These were secluded, but looked ordinary and well kept. From inside came the sound of youthful voices, chanting: "I offer gratitude to the god of the world, the god of thunder, the god of the sun, the god of the moon, the god of the stars, and all other deities who protect the followers of the Black Lotus Sutra. I praise the supreme truth hidden in the Black Lotus Sutra and give thanks for the benefits I have received. I offer praise and deepest gratitude to High Priest Anraku, the Bodhisattva of Infinite Power. I pray for spiritual enlightenment, to erase the negative karma created by my past actions, and to fulfill my wishes in this life and in the future. I pray for the truth of the Black Lotus Sutra to bring nirvana to all mankind."

  The chanting gave way to chatter. A priest greeted Sano at the door.

  "I'd like to speak with the novice monks," Sano said.

  "Certainly," the priest said. "It's time for our noon meal. Will you please join us?"

  A noisy crowd of youths ranging from early teens to mid twenties, all sporting muslin robes, swarmed out of the building. They knelt on the veranda. When Sano introduced himself, they studied him curiously. He noted their rosy cheeks, bright eyes, and healthy bodies. Servants brought out the meal. Tasting his share, Sano found the fresh vegetables and noodle soup delicious.

  "Are you happy here?" he asked the novices seated nearest him.

  Amid chewing, bulging cheeks and cheerful smiles, they chorused, "Yes, master."

  Sano noticed that the priest had vanished, leaving him alone with the novices. "Tell me how you spend your days."

  An adolescent with a pointed face said, "We get up at sunrise and pray. Then we have our morning meal."

  "We clean our rooms," offered a muscular youth of perhaps twenty years. "The priests teach us religion until noon, when we eat again."

  "Is the food always like this?" Sano asked.

  "We get rice and fish and eggs and pickles and fruit, too."

  Other novices chimed in: "We get to play for an hour, then we study until dinner."

  "Afterward, we take baths."

  "At sunset, we have prayers."

  "Then we go to bed."

  It seemed a reasonable routine, Sano thought, and similar to that of other Buddhist orders. "What if you misbehave?"

  The young men grinned at a pudgy boy who was evidently a troublemaker. He said, "The priests lecture us on the error of our ways. Then we sit alone and meditate."

  "They don't beat you?" Sano asked.

  The question elicited puzzled looks and denials.

  "What if you were unhappy and wanted to leave?"

  A general stir of amusement indicated that the novices thought this an unlikely situation. "I missed my family at first," said the pudgy boy, "and I told the priests I wanted to go home. They sent me back to my parents' house, but after a few days of cleaning fish at my father's shop, I came back."

  Evidently he hadn't been detained against his will or by force, and Sano didn't see anyone watching to make sure the novices didn't wander off. Sano said, "Is there a novice monk named Pious Truth here?"

  Boys shook their heads.

  "He was also known as Mori Gogen," Sano said, giving the name Reiko had said to be the monk's original one.

  The lack of recognition on the boys' faces increased his doubts about the tale Reiko had told him. If there was no novice called Pious Truth here, who was it she'd met?

  "What do you know about Haru, the girl who was found near the fire?" he asked the novices.

  They exchanged sly glances. "She's generous with her favors," said the muscular youth. "Two novices were expelled for meeting her at night."

  Reiko wouldn't welcome this confirmation of Abbess Junketsu-in's story about the girl, Sano knew. He finished his meal, thanked the novices for their company, then chatted with others, who gave similar answers to the same questions. Afterward, he walked to the novice nuns' quarters.

  There, he found girls sitting inside a room, sewing while a nun read aloud a story about an emperor who entices his subjects to flee a city threatened by a flood, then rewards them with great wealth after they escape drowning. If this was a passage of the Black Lotus Sutra, it seemed to Sano that the scripture borrowed heavily from the famous Lotus Sutra and its Parable of the Burning House, but doctrinal imitation was no crime.

  The novices burst into giggles at the sight of a man invading their domain. The nun readily granted Sano's request to interview them by himself. At his prompting, they described their daily life, which followed a routine similar to that of the boys. Apparently, they* all felt free to leave if they wished, and they corroborated Haru's reputation for seducing young men. They looked healthy and contented; Sano detected no evidence of starvation or drug-induced stupor here, either.

  "Is there someone named Yasue among you?" Sano asked.

  Heads turned toward a chunky girl of about fifteen, seated near the window. She blushed at finding herself the center of attention.

  "Don't be nervous," Sano told her. For Reiko's sake, he was sorry that he'd apparently found the novice Yasue alive and well; yet he was glad to disprove the story about her murder at the hands of the Black Lotus priests. "I just need to know if you've ever tried to run away from the temple."

  "Oh, no, master." Yasue's surprised expression asked why she would do such a thing.

  "Perhaps your brother suggested that you both should leave?" Sano said.

  Confusion puckered the girl's forehead. She murmured, "I'm sorry, but I haven't got a brother."

  Then she wasn't the sister of Pious Truth, whoever he might be. "Is there any other Yasue here?"

  The novice nuns shook their heads, gazing earnestly at him.

  "Is anyone ever punished for trying to run away?"

  A wave of denials swept the room. Sano became more convinced than ever that Reiko had been deceived, perhaps by someone masquerading as a monk. What was going on? Sano decided he'd better pursue the matter further, partly because he mustn't ignore possible clues, but mostly because he needed facts to allay Reiko's suspicions about the sect.

  Sano bid farewell to the novice nuns and walked to a low, thatch-roofed building. The priests had supposedly taken Pious Truth to the temple hospital, and Reiko would expect Sano to look for the monk there.

  Inside the hospital were thirty mattresses on wooden pallets, all occupied. Three nuns bathed the sick, served them tea, and massaged backs. Sano walked along the rows, inspecting the patients. They were male and female, all middle-aged or old.

  "Are there any other patients elsewhere?" Sano asked a nun.

  "No, master," she said.

  "Has a young novice monk named Pious Truth been recently treated here?"

  "No, master."

  A physician in a dark blue coat entered, knelt beside a bed containing an elderly man, and spooned liquid from a bowl into the patient's mouth.

  Sano walked over to the doctor and asked, "What ails your patient?"

  "He has a fever," the doctor said, adding, "I'm giving him willow-wood juice."

  This was a standard remedy. "Do you ever perform medical experi-ments on the sect members?" Sano asked.

  "Never."

  -:, The doctor looked genuinely shocked by Sano's suggestion that he would endanger his patients' lives. The nuns came over to join them, and Sano asked the group, "Has anyone from here disappeared recently?"

  "No, master," said the doctor. : The old man in bed mumbled something.

  "
What did you say?" Sano asked.

  "Chie," said the old man. His bony cheeks were flushed, his eyes dazed. "She's one of the nurses. Used to take care of me. Haven't seen her in days."

  "He's delirious," the doctor told Sano apologetically. "There has never been a nurse named Chie here."

  Sano looked at the nuns, who murmured in agreement. "Has Haru ever been treated here?" Sano said.

  "Yes," said the doctor. "Haru is a patient of Dr. Miwa, our chief physician. Her spiritual disharmony causes bad behavior."

  Sano considered the possibility that everyone at the temple was part of a conspiracy bent on hiding secrets from him and smearing Hani's reputation, but these people seemed honest. After leaving the hospital, he wandered through the temple precinct. He observed nuns and monks tending the gardens and washing dishes in the kitchen. They appeared as normal as the clergy at any other temple, and their activities mundane. Sano continued on to the orphanage. He thought of his interview with Hani's parents, and guilt tugged at him, because he was about to do something else he hadn't mentioned to Reiko.

  Children's laughter and shouts greeted his entry into the garden surrounding the orphanage. Under the supervision of two nuns, the thirty-one orphans were running, jumping, and skipping in play. They ranged in age from a toddler, who reminded Sano of Masahiro, to two girls of ten or eleven years tossing a leather ball with some younger boys. One of the boys missed a catch, and the ball flew toward Sano. He caught it. The group turned to him, wary at the sight of a stranger.

  "Watch," Sano said.

  He kicked the ball high in the air. The children squealed in delight, and a boy caught the ball. He clumsily imitated Sano's kick, booting the ball into some bushes.

  "Here, I'll show you," Sano said. With his coaching, the children mastered the trick and began a lively contest to see who could kick the ball highest. Someone sent the ball soaring over the orphanage roof. The boys ran to retrieve it, and Sano turned to the two girls.