The shogun gave the globe a spin, and laughed. “So be it . . . Tairo.”
Tadakatsu bowed deeply. There had not been a tairo, a “great elder,” since the time of Hideyoshi. He was now the chief of the senior ministers of the State.
Negi-Cho district, Edo
Hanako studied her lover. “Wake up, Katsuo.”
No response.
“Katsuo, we’ll be late.”
Grunt.
Hanako reached for a pitcher of water near their bedding, and poured a thin stream onto Katsuo’s upturned face.
He rose with an oath, and reached for his sword . . . which Hanako had prudently first positioned out of his reach.
“Hanako, are you trying to drown me?”
“I am glad to see you’re awake now.”
“What time is it, anyway?”
“The sixth time.” That was what an up-timer would call six a.m. “Can’t you tell by the light? Didn’t you hear the shopkeepers sliding open their doors?”
“The sixth . . . I didn’t sleep at all last night. Let me go back to sleep.” He reached for the quilt, and pulled it over his head.
She pulled it back down. “You’re taking me to the theater, to celebrate. Remember?”
He reached for her. “I have a better idea . . .”
“Oh, no you don’t,” she said, taking evasive action. “It isn’t every day I get the chance to see Nakumura Kanzaburo perform.”
Grudgingly, he got dressed. Done, he grabbed a fold of his kataginu jacket, twisting his neck to get a better view of the insignia recently sewn on. “Wish we had a mirror.”
“What did you expect? It’s just a restaurant that earns some extra coin by letting people sleep here that want to get to the theater when it opens.”
The insignia was the triple hollyhock, the mon of the Tokugawa clan. Katsuo was now a gokenin, a direct retainer of the shogun, with a stipend of one hundred koku.
Hanako wouldn’t dream of saying so, but she was happy that he hadn’t been made a hatamoto. He might then think himself above consorting with a bikuni. “Hurry, Katsuo. Nakamura could come on stage any moment now.”
Kyushu, Japan
Hasegawa Sadamitsu pointed with distaste at the base of the stake. “Too much tinder,” he rebuked. “The irmao will burn too quickly. Since his crimes are greater, he should suffer longer.” The Franciscan brother tied to that stake waited impassively as the actual executioners, of the abhorred eta class, made the necessary adjustment. The missionaries who had come openly to Japan had been kicked out in 1614. Perhaps thirty had gone underground, but most of those had been captured, and had either recanted their faith or gone to their martyrdom. This brother was one of the handful who sneaked into Japan each year on Portuguese or Chinese ships.
Sadamitsu also waited, but more impatiently. It didn’t appear that he would have any last-minute apostates in the present lot of condemned kirishitan, and that meant that Sadamitsu wouldn’t receive the bonus for causing a Christian, especially a priest, to renounce his faith. It was enough to unsettle his stomach.
Gradually, Sadamitsu became aware of a commotion, coming closer and becoming louder. Nonetheless, he raised his hand, ready to command the executioners to light the piles.
“Halt!”
Sadamitsu turned angrily, but quickly swallowed his words.
A special messenger from the shogun, as the man’s uniform and banner proclaimed him to be, was not to be trifled with.
“Edict from the shogun.”
“Thank you, make yourself comfortable, I will read it as soon as I have this execution under way.”
“You must read it aloud to the prisoners before proceeding.”
“Very well. But it’s a waste of time giving them another chance to repent, if that’s what it’s about.” Sadamitsu cleared his throat, and began reading aloud.
“This edict is to be read aloud and posted in every place where it is customary to announce an edict.
“1. The padres of the Christians have disturbed the tranquility of the realm by advocating the destruction of the shrines of the kami and the temples of the buddhas. Such cannot be permitted.”
That was in Hideyoshi’s edict in the fifteenth year of Tensho, Sadamitsu recalled. 1587 in the Christian reckoning. Why was the shogunate wasting his time with this?
“2. They also spread a pernicious doctrine to confuse the right ones, with the secret intent of changing the government of the country and giving ownership of the country to a European king.”
Well, that hadn’t been in an edict, but the apostate’s oath required that he admit that the purpose of the padres’ teachings was to justify and facilitate taking the lands of others.