Traditions of Dead Generations

Round Three - The Widow of Assha Yokuda, Pt. 2

Honnō-ji had all but been erased from the earth by Akechi Mitsuhide's treacherous attack.  The Temple had once been large enough to lodge Oda Nobunaga's entire household, but now the space was little more than a clearing in the trees tiled with worn stone. As Yokui had suspected, his brothers were still lodged nearby, engaged in an ongoing effort to move the old sacred stones one at a time to the site of the new Honnō-ji, yet unbuilt.

"Two samurai, you say?" the wizened old records-keeper lifted crackling page after crackling page of entries, but shook his head. "It was a difficult time, you understand. Not all the bodies were recovered. Oda Nobunaga himself was never found."

"I understand, dai-oshō." Yokui shifted on his mat to look at the list of names himself. "That would certainly explain the widow's yūrei problem."

"Gaki, you said?" the old man shook his head. "Bad business. What were the names again?"

"Niwa Jimsa and Niwa Takegi. Just young lads. Part of Nobunaga's household guard."

"Ah, yes. Here we are: Niwa Jimsa. Yes, the rites were performed here last year. Would you like to take the remains back to the mother?"

"You performed a funeral already?" Yokui was surprised, and read the record himself. "This is one. What of the brother?"

"As I said, not all the bodies were recovered. The fire was quite extensive."

Extensive enough for a person to slip away in the confusion. Yokui pursed his lips. "I will take the remains of young Jimsa please, dai-oshō." The old man replaced the records in a cupboard and rang a bell to summon a steward.  "What of Oda Nobunaga, brother? Without the body, the funeral..."

"We performed the rites. He had been seen with the Mori family. Some of the servants were able to escape, but Nobunaga, Ranmaru and the rest chose seppuku. They died quite honourably."

"Might the other Niwa boy have died with them?"

"Anything is possible, but the servants who lived were quite explicit: Mori Bōmaru and Mori Rikimaru died in a skirmish in Nobunaga's rooms. Nobunaga himself was said to have fought like a devil, and though Mitsuhide's men were defeated, the Temple was lost. Nobunaga chose death with honour, and Mori Ranmaru followed his master. That whole section of the Temple was reduced to ash. You may speak with the witness yourself, if you like."

"I would, thank you." Yokui stood and bowed. "The one has gone, to the other I say farewell. They go their unknown ways. The end of autumn." he quoted,  "I can't imagine two brothers so close in life could have fallen too far in death. I will speak with the servant at your convenience."

*

Yokui found Kazu standing, stunned, in the middle of a busy Kyoto street being jostled by merchants, fishwives and travellers. Yokui paused a moment, thinking to leave the lost heinin to his life, but recanted and went to retrieve him.

The servant the dai-oshō had invited him to interview was firm. He had not seen the younger Niwa boy, Takegi. Yokui had suspicions now, and unexpectedly, Kazu seemed uniquely suited to confirm of deny his theories. He navigated the busy street with practiced ease and gathered his scrawny companion in the crook of his arm.

"Kazu-san, I would ask you more questions about the renown bandit Nakamura. Can I buy you lunch?" the heinin could not have looked more pleased if he had offered him his weight in koku.

The inns of Kyoto were richer and better maintained than any along the traveller's road, and Yokui indulged Kazu with a hearty lunch of kyōyasai, tea and rice: riches, as far as the heimin was concerned. The inn's windows were propped open despite the cool autumn air, admitting the smell of fresh-cut straw and fragrant kamo. The idyllic surroundings would have put the most hardened criminal in a chatty mood; the loquacious Kazu became a bottomless well of chatter. Yokui could barely keep up.

"Wait - wait - Kazu-san, please, STOP. Are you saying Nakamura only arrived in Shigu last year?"

"I suppose so, oshō-san. He beat old Hachi for control of the gang is what I heard. Maybe he was heimin, but," Kazu shook his head and took a bite of daikon, "-a devil like Nakamura? No, that man had seen wars, combat."

"Is he yojimbo, perhaps?"

Kazu looked offended at the suggestion. "Nakamura fights for no one but himself!"

"Rōnin, then?"

Kazu scratched his head in thought. "Perhaps."

"Kazu, what does the man look like?"

"Oh, he's an ogre! Too tall for any horse, so he rides a buffalo. They say he wears his hair long, for no enemy could reach his head to take advantage. He wields two naginata, and can toss a yari from one village to the next-"

"Kazu, have you ever seen Nakamura?"

The heimin frowned and glared at the monk. "Not with these eyes." he turned his attention to his lunch, "But it is well known."

Yokui sighed. "Do you know where Nakamura's gang lives? Where is their base?"

Kazu looked startled. "I do, but you would not want to go there, oshō-san! His men are devils! They'd take all you have and leave you naked as the day you were born!" he swallowed with some difficulty. "And they'd kill me."

Yokui's eyes narrowed. "And why is that?"

"Uh, the gang and I, we have some history. You know, old friends, new enemies - it's a long story..."

Yokui took Kazu's mostly-empty bowl off the table and handed it to the inkeep's wife, along with some koku and a prayer of thanks. Kazu protested only when he hauled him up by the scruff of the neck and led him towards the door.

"What- oshō-san! What are you doing?"

"We're going to find Nakamura, Kazu-san. It sounds as if you are uniquely suited to draw him to us. Ah! Hush now, friend. I won't let anyone hurt you. Well, not permanently. Tsst, trust me. I know magic."