Part 2 (1/2)
Furious at this blatant coercion, Sano could only stare.
oAnd oh, before you leave to prepare for your trip, Ssakan Sano, Chamberlain Yanagisawa said, eyes alight with cruel mischief, owhat do you think of my poem? I composed it specifically with you in mind.
With a graceful flourish, he turned the paper around to face Sano. Thunder rumbled; raindrops pelted the pavilion's roof. Sano read the characters:
In this difficult and uncertain life
Success often requires many endeavors ”
Ah! But the wind can fell a tree
From more than one direction.
Chapter 2.
Where is that miserable Nagasaki harbor patrol? They should have seen us by now, and come to welcome us. Regal in his many-plated armor and horned helmet, the captain stomped angrily around the deck of the s.h.i.+p. oThis is a disgraceful slight against the shogun's envoys. Someone will pay! To the crew, he shouted, oPrepare for landing, and discharging our pa.s.sengers.
He sneered at Sano and Hirata, who stood in the bow, hands s.h.i.+elding their eyes from the sun as the s.h.i.+p approached Nagasaki Harbor.
Hirata sighed in relief. Due to frequent seasickness, he was pale, shaky, and thinner than when they'd left Edo. oI sure will be glad to get off this s.h.i.+p.
oYou're not the only one, Sano said.
When Chamberlain Yanagisawa had banished him, he'd dreaded reaching Nagasaki. Yet after two months at sea, sailing along the coasts of Honsh, s.h.i.+koku, and Kysh, he rejoiced at the thought of stepping onto land. Beyond the sparkling water, the green landscape of their destination looked like paradise, for the journey had been a terrible experience.
Like all j.a.panese craft, the s.h.i.+p, whose square sail bore the Tokugawa triple-hollyhock-leaf crest, was unseaworthy because the government wanted to discourage citizens from leaving the country. With its shallow draft, the awkward wooden tub pitched at the slightest wave. Sano and Hirata had experienced nerve-racking pa.s.sages through reefs, shoals, and ferocious summer storms. They'd shared the tiny cabin with the officers, while the sailors slept on the roof, and eaten a monotonous diet of salt fish, pickles, and rice cakes. The journey's relentless pace told Sano that Chamberlain Yanagisawa had ordered the crew not to stop for bad weather, hoping Sano might die in a s.h.i.+pwreck. Hostilities within the bakufu's upper echelon were no secret to the lower ranks, and the crew had treated Sano resentfully, knowing the chamberlain would sacrifice their lives to destroy an enemy. And Sano had never ceased worrying about how the hiatus from Edo would affect his future.
Thuds and crashes erupted from the stern, where the crew was bringing baggage out of the hold.
oI'll make sure they don't ruin your things. Hirata ran down the deck, shouting, oHey, be careful with those!
Before leaving Edo, Sano had postponed his wedding again, angering his prospective in-laws and jeopardizing the match. He'd left his detective corps behind to serve the shogun in his absence, but knew it couldn't subst.i.tute for his personal attention; he might not have a post when he got home. He seethed with anger at the regime that rewarded his accomplishments with virtual exile. Surely Chamberlain Yanagisawa was sending the governor of Nagasaki instructions to ruin him.
But now Sano's relief at surviving the journey inspired a burst of optimism. As he neared Nagasaki, his interest stirred. He'd never been this far from home. What unknown challenges awaited him in this land of troubled history and exotic foreign influences?
The s.h.i.+p moved down a wide, convoluted channel in the Kyshcoastline. Coves adorned the sh.o.r.es; woodlands topped high cliffs. Terraced rice fields ascended gentler inclines. Over small islands, seabirds soared and shrieked. Fis.h.i.+ng boats dotted the calm water. In the distance, the city of Nagasaki cascaded down the lower slopes of steep hills.
oLook! Returning, Hirata pointed to a glint of light on a clifftop. oAnd there's another. What are they?
oThe sun reflecting off spygla.s.ses, Sano answered. oThey're used by guards who watch for foreign s.h.i.+ps and warn of any threat to national security.
Nagasaki, the center of overseas trade, received merchants from many nations ”some with hopes of military conquest as well as financial gain.
The s.h.i.+p pa.s.sed a large island that rose like a mountain in the channel. oTakayama, Sano said. oDuring the Christian persecutions a hundred years ago, foreign priests were thrown off it and drowned. And that smaller island must be the Burning Place, where hostile s.h.i.+ps are set on fire.
Remembering these facts, Sano felt the resurgence of a buried pa.s.sion. While a young pupil at the Zj Temple school, he'd sneaked into a forbidden section of the library. There he'd discovered scrolls doc.u.menting j.a.panese foreign relations over the past two hundred years, and read with fascination of the white barbarians... until the abbot caught him. Sano's back still ached when he recalled the beating he'd received. But his curiosity about the barbarians had persisted, despite much discouragement. Laws barred everyone except the most trusted individuals from contact with Europeans, whom the bakufu feared would incite rebellion, as they had in the past, and ultimately conquer j.a.pan. Foreign books, and books about foreigners, were banned. Now Sano saw an advantage in his status and his unwanted trip to Nagasaki. At last he would see the legendary barbarians with golden hair, eyes the color of the sky, and bizarre customs. And hidden under his sash was a doc.u.ment that would bridge the language barrier between them.
Sano's closest friend was Dr. Ito Genboku, a physician sentenced to lifetime custodians.h.i.+p of Edo Morgue as punishment for practicing forbidden foreign science. Dr. Ito had a.s.sisted Sano with murder investigations and continued his studies, using foreign books obtained through illicit channels from Dutch traders in Nagasaki. Sano, kept under house arrest by Yanagisawa's men during his last hours in Edo, had sent Hirata to convey his farewells to Dr. Ito. Hirata had returned with this message: