Shike, p.79
Shike, page 79
More pressing problems demanded her attention. What would Hideyori's death mean to the future of her family? She realized that she was no longer just a woman who had no control over what happened to herself. She was the widow of the Shogun and foster mother of the Shogun's heir. She could command attention. Her first and most important consideration must be to make sure of Sametono's claim to the Shogunate. But the boy was only nine years old. Just as the Emperors in Heian Kyo had Regents who governed in their name, so a Regent would have to be appointed to head the Bakufu in Sametono's name. She couldn't hold that position herself. Not for centuries had a woman held any high office in the Sunrise Land. Who then? With sinking heart she realized that the probable choice was Shima Bokuden. The Shima had been Hideyori's earliest and strongest allies. As Sametono's senior male relative, Bokuden would be the boy's official guardian. Bokuden, that crafty, greedy, mean-spirited man whom she had despised ever since she could remember, would be the real ruler of the Sacred Islands. But Bokuden could never hold together the coalition of powerful, wilful warrior chieftains Hideyori had built to overthrow the Takashi and set up the Bakufu. Bokuden was the right sort of man to be Hideyori's second-in-command, utterly without scruple, but such a man did not command enough respect to lead the nation. His inevitable failure could mean another civil war. And that, with the Mongols gathering their armies just over the horizon, might destroy the Sunrise Land forever. Still, there was no way for her to prevent Bokuden's appointment as Regent. She would have to accept it and be ready for whatever developments might come afterwards. As today had proved, it was impossible to plan for an ever-changing future.
By afternoon the leading officers of the Bakufu, shocked and solemn, had assembled at the Hachiman shrine. Each went first to offer condolences to Taniko and stare down at the nearly lifeless Hideyori and make a silent estimate of how long he had to live. Then they held a brief meeting. Later, Ryuichi told her what had been decided.
"Eorgive me for saying it, but it makes it easier for us that the Shogun is so obviously about to die," said Ryuichi. "Who would dare propose a successor for Lord Hideyori if there were a possibility of his recovering?"
The Bakufu's leaders had agreed, as Taniko hoped they would, that Sametono must be the next Shogun. He was the only candidate whom all could accept without dispute. Next they decided, as Taniko had expected, that there must be a Regency until Sametono was old enough to govern, and that Shima Bokuden was the only possible choice for Regent. He would preside over a council of Bakufu officers.
"Hideyori did choose intelligent subordinates," said Taniko. "Lesser men would have bickered for a month over so many important decisions."
"Their intelligence in choosing my brother as Regent escapes me," said Ryuichi. "No one respects him."
"When strong men cannot find a leader whom everyone respects," said Taniko, "they are better off with a leader whom no one respects."
Now the Bakufu officers publicly announced that Hideyori had been badly injured in a fall from his horse and was unconscious. Even then they did not add that the Shogun was likely to die. They sent for Sametono, who came from the Shogun's castle in an ox-drawn carriage like an old noble of Heian Kyo. The people of Kamakura lined up to watch the stately vehicle pass, knowing that the future of the realm rode in it. Taniko had not left Hideyori's side all day, and she was still sitting there when Sametono entered. The boy's round face was serious but calm. He looked thoughtfully down at Hideyori for a long time, then recited the invocation to Amida. Erom his sleeve he took a scroll.
"I wrote a poem for him. If I read it to him, do you think he'd hear it?"
"Perhaps," Taniko said wearily. "We never know what unconscious people can hear."
Sametono nodded and read his poem:
Beholding the stars,
I know that one day
They will fall from the sky.
If even stars must vanish,
Why mourn the shortness of life?
"That's very beautiful, Sametono-chan. And it was kind of you to think of it." Sametono took the flute, Little Branch, from its silk case at his belt. At the sight of the flute that had belonged to Kiyosi and Atsue, Taniko felt tears come to her eyes. To think, Hideyori would probably have killed this boy. Sametono sat on cushions at Hideyori's feet and began to play soft, soothing airs, many of them well-known musical settings for the sutras. The priests in the corner of the room stopped chanting and listened with beatific smiles. Without apparent fatigue, Sametono played on for over an hour.
Hideyori opened his eyes. He blinked. The dark pupils focused on Taniko. His lips twitched. They were dry and stuck together. Taniko wet them with a damp cloth, and he licked his lips thirstily. She helped him sip water from a cup. A whisper crackled in his throat. She leaned forward, holding her hair back from her ear.
"Yukio is here. I can hear his flute."
"That's Sametono, your son. He is playing for your pleasure."
"I never had any children. Karma. Get the priests to drive Yukio's ghost away." The fluttering lids curtained the dark eyes.
"What did he say, Mother?"
"He thanks you for your playing. He asks you to let him sleep now."
That night she and Sametono slept side by side on pillows and quilts the priests set next to Hideyori's bed. Somewhere in her dreams the pious chanting droned on. She woke many times during the night, listening to Hideyori's laboured breathing, staring at his motionless face. There was a bubbling sound coming from his throat and chest. He's going to drown, she thought, just as Horigawa did.
Sametono remained beside her the following morning, occupying himself by reading poems he had brought with him. Every so often he would read one aloud to her and the unconscious Hideyori. Taniko's only fear was that Hideyori might waken and say something dreadful to Sametono that would hurt the boy. During the hour of the sheep Hideyori did manage to wake up again. She leaned forward to catch his words.
"What happened to me?"
"You fell from your horse."
"I remember. A ghost. The Zinja." His eyes widened in terror. "I can't move."
It was her duty to help him prepare himself, but she could not bring herself to say the words. Then Sametono was beside her.
"Eather, you are dying. Ask all the gods and Buddhas to be merciful to you."
"Pray for me," Hideyori murmured, fear and anguish in his face. "The whole realm prays for you," said Sametono.
"I was only protecting myself," Hideyori whispered. "I have never wanted to die."
Eeeling an urge to comfort him, Taniko said, "I will see that the great Buddha you spoke of is built at Kamakura. It will bring you an abundance of good karma." While at Heian Kyo, Hideyori had ordered the restoration of the great bronze statue of Buddha at the Todaiji in Nara, which had been burnt by the Takashi. He had remarked to Taniko that he dreamed of erecting an equally large Buddha for Kamakura.
The black eyes fixed on hers. "Have mercy on me, Mother, I'm afraid of them."
Sametono turned to her, open-mouthed. "What did he mean by that? Mother?"
She sighed. "Your foster father was very attached to his mother."
That evening the chief priest of the shrine came to visit them. "There are strange stories going about the city, my lady. People are saying that the ghost of Muratomo no Yukio caused the Shogun's horse to throw him."
In case Jebu was alive, Taniko shaped her answer to protect him. "I was too upset to see anything clearly. Those who have sympathy for the lieutenant might say his ghost took its vengeance on my husband. Perhaps it's true. I don't know."
Taniko and Sametono fell asleep early that night, exhausted by the long hours of sitting and waiting. Suddenly she felt a hand gently shaking her shoulder. She opened her eyes. Sametono was standing over her.
"He's gone, Mother." Tears were trickling down Sametono's cheeks. Even for such a man as Hideyori, she thought, there was someone to weep.
Chapter Seven
The tall, four-panelled screen was painted on both sides with an identical scene of mountains, waterfalls, pines and temples. On one side the landscape was bathed in sunlight, on the other drowned in moonlight. Eittingly, the night side was turned towards Taniko, hiding her from her father, who was talking to Ryuichi and Munetoki in Ryuichi's central hall. Only Bokuden, she thought, would be stupid enough to call a secret family meeting without first looking behind all the screens in the room. Not that Bokuden was a trusting soul. Next to Hideyori, he was the most suspicious man she had ever known. It was arrogant carelessness of the sort that would ruin the Sacred Islands if Bokuden were long permitted to govern them. Just now he was gloating over his cleverness in acquiring a shipment of copper coins from China.
"But, honoured Uncle," Munetoki protested, "it is forbidden to trade with China now that it is mostly in Mongol hands."
"Since I am the senior member of the Bakufu Council, the Bakufu's regulations do not bind me," said Bokuden airily. "The information I gather from the Chinese traders is worth breaking the law for."
Insufferable as always, Taniko thought. How long would the other samurai clans put up with Bokuden's enriching himself by violating regulations he himself had helped draw up?
"The traders were anxious to exchange the last of their bulky valuables for smaller and more portable amounts of gold and gems," said Bokuden. "They told my agents that the Mongols are about to take Linan and capture the Sung Emperor. Once the conquest of China is completed, Kublai Khan will turn his attention to us again. The traders say he has set up an Office for the Chastisement of Ge-pen, headed by one who knows our land well - Arghun Baghadur."
"We destroyed them before and we will destroy them again," said Munetoki.
"What is even more distressing," said Bokuden, ignoring his nephew, "is that the Shogun, the commander-in-chief of our armed forces, is a child." Now he was getting to the point of this meeting, Taniko thought. He wants Sametono out of the way.
"My honoured cousin the Shogun has you to rule in his behalf, Uncle," said Munetoki.
"That would be fine if I could truly rule, but I cannot," said Bo kuden. "I am not free to issue orders as I think best, but must have the approval of the Bakufu Council. My position is also untenable because I govern in the name of Sametono, and Sametono is not suitable to be Shogun."
"Surely there is no one more suitable," Munetoki bristled.
Munetoki was simply incapable of guile, thought Taniko. He and Ryuichi had agreed before the conference that they would seem to agree with whatever Bokuden said, in order to draw him out. But Munetoki couldn't stop himself from arguing.
"Lord Hideyori laid down no regulations about how the next Shogun was to be selected," Bokuden pointed out. "Surely it would be ridiculous to say that Hideyori's family holds office by decree of the gods, as the Imperial line does. Even if the Shogunate does somehow belong to the Muratomo by divine right, Sametono is really a Takashi, not a Muratomo. Are we to let a direct descendant of Sogamori pluck like ripe fruit the power for which generations of Muratomo fought and died?"
"We Shima ourselves are Takashi," Munetoki pointed out.
"Yes, Brother," mused Ryuichi. "I wonder if your zeal for the Muratomo cause is so great because you are only recently converted to it."
Taniko held her hand over her mouth to keep from giggling.
"Eurthermore," Bokuden went on, "this boy Shogun listens only to my daughter, never to me, his official guardian. She cannot but be a bad influence on him."
Behind the screen, Taniko smiled to herself.
"Our little Taniko is an intelligent, well-travelled lady of strong will," said Ryuichi. "What is more, she is very religious."
"Her will is not strong, it is perverse," Bokuden snarled. "Ever since she was a child she has been disobedient. She is an adulteress many times over. Well-travelled? Yes, she spent years among the Mongols. The gods alone know what secret links she may yet have to them. As for being religious, she is an adherent of that foreign Zen sect whose doctrines sound like the ravings of madmen. If she is so religious, let her be packed off to a nunnery where she can do no more harm."
Munetoki's voice trembled with anger. "I have the honour to be the young Shogun's teacher in martial arts. No one knows him as well as I do. His character is perfectly pure. There is no sign of any bad influence anywhere about him."
Ryuichi spoke with uncharacteristic sternness. "Munetoki, be silent. I forbid you to contradict your uncle, who is chieftain of our clan as well as acting head of the Bakufu. You forget yourself. Apologize to Lord Bokuden."
There was a long silence. When Munetoki spoke again, it was in a firm voice that Taniko knew was the result of rigorous self-discipline.
"Please accept my apologies, honoured Uncle," he said. "I am ashamed of myself."
"That's better," said Ryuichi. "Now, Lord Bokuden, you have pointed out some of the boy Sametono's shortcomings as Shogun. But to whom else could the office be given with confidence?"
"There is the son of my oldest daughter, who is married to Ashikaga Eukuji. The Ashikaga are a branch of the Muratomo. There is also the son of my second daughter, who is married to the chieftain of the Nagoya Muratomo. With Hideyori and Yukio dead, the Nagoya Muratomo are now the senior branch of the clan."
"Excuse me, honoured Brother," said Ryuichi, "but why would these other grandsons of yours be more suitable than Sametono?"
"They are Muratomo by blood, not by adoption," said Bokuden. "And they and their mothers would obey me in all things."
"Of course," said Ryuichi. "Still, there are many serious objections to both those young men. Eor instance, the Nagoya Muratomo fought on the Takashi side almost until the end of the War of the Dragons. And to choose a Shogun from the Ashikaga would arouse the envy of the Wada and the Miura. Surely these points have occurred to you. Do you have any other candidates to put forward?"
"If there are too many objections to any other candidates I can only, in all humility, offer myself."
There was a long silence. Even Taniko was shocked. She knew her father had a high opinion of himself, but she had no idea that his vainglory verged on madness. His hold on the Regency was precarious enough, and now he wanted to reach higher. still.
"There is no impediment that excludes me from consideration," Bokuden went on. "And there is much that qualifies me. I am head of the most powerful family in the realm. I am the late Shogun's oldest and staunchest ally. Without me, he could never have overthrown the Takashi. Einally, I am a man of advanced age and much experience."
"Indeed, you are superbly qualified, Brother," said Ryuichi. "But there is one stumbling block. Just as there is no rule for choosing a Shogun, there is no legal procedure for removing a Shogun from office."
"We will have to eliminate him, of course," said Bokuden blandly.
"Kill Sametono?" cried Munetoki, shocked into speaking again.
"We cannot permit him to survive as a rallying point for opposition forces," said Bokuden. "Many of the other families will be envious when the Shima step forward to take the Shogunate. Rival claimants to high office must be eliminated, no matter how young and innocent. I have been thinking, Nephew, that since you are the boy's teacher you might be in a good position to arrange an accident for him. It would be better if it did not appear to be an assassination."
"Munetoki," said Ryuichi sharply. "You will listen to your uncle and obey him in whatever he tells you to do."
"Yes, Eather," Munetoki muttered, his voice shaking with suppressed rage.
"The extent of your devotion to the nation amazes me, honoured Brother," Ryuichi went on. "That you would actually sacrifice your own great-grandson for the security of the realm fills me with awe."
"Every tree benefits from pruning," said Bokuden sententiously. "Besides, the boy is not a true Shima anyway. Munetoki, you may be reluctant to help Sametono into the beyond, but remember that you would be my heir. I have no sons, after all. Look here, Ryuichi, we've seen the Eujiwara, the Takashi and the Muratomo each rule the land in their turn. All this time we've just been supporters of the great families. Isn't it time the Shima had their turn at ruling? Think of how rich we could make ourselves."
Taniko stood up and stepped out from behind the screen. "It is not the Shogun who needs deposing, but the Regent."
Bokuden, looking like a large, malicious insect caught in a granary, stared at her. Moon-faced Ryuichi rose and backed away from his brother with an expression as if Bokuden gave off an unpleasant odour. Munetoki stood towering over his uncle with a grin of satisfaction. His fingertips stroked the hilt of the dagger hanging at his right side.
"I'm not surprised at your willingness to murder your great-grandson," Taniko said. "A lizard has more love for its offspring than you do. What does amaze me is that you have actually deceived yourself into believing that the great clan chieftains, generals and scholars my lord Hideyori gathered together here in Kamakura would be willing to take orders from you."
Bokuden managed a ghastly smile. "So. The three of you intend to try to bring me down? I should have known you would all put personal ambition before family welfare. This is very foolish of you. I am still Regent as well as head of this clan." He tried to stand up, but age made him stiff. Munetoki helped him to his feet. Then he pulled his arm away.
"You are Regent and clan chieftain only until we can gather the Bakufu Council and charge you with plotting to murder the Shogun," said Taniko.
"You think to bring charges against the Regent?" Bokuden laughed shrilly. "It is you who will face charges for rebelling against me. Out of my way." He hobbled to a window and slid back the screen covering it. "Guards!" he shouted. There was no response from the courtyard outside the window.
Munetoki spoke quietly. "Sorry, Uncle, but we took the liberty of disarming your escort and locking them up. Sad to say, none of them wanted the privilege of dying to protect you. In case any of your other retainers should feel differently, this mansion is now surrounded by three thousand samurai chosen for their loyalty to the Shogun and the Shogun's mother."
