Pathway to Japanese Literature

At the edge of the bridge, the naked body of a beautiful woman.

Shihanponi nasu wa kawasu na Nihonbashi

“A skinflint shouldn’t buy eggplants at Nihonbashi—Ah! Ha ha ha ha! This is amusing! Even when read backward, it’s the same. A satirical poem this well-crafted is truly masterful!”

“You bastards are hypocrites! Under these damn reforms nowadays, we can’t even taste fifty-five-kan first bonito—hell, not even a single bite of first eggplant costing one bu reaches Edoites’ mouths! What’s it mean? All eight hundred eight neighborhoods are crawling with skinflints! Even those Russian barbarians hear rumors on the wind and laugh at us! Heh heh heh heh!”

Of all places, His Excellency the Shogun had chosen Edo’s Nihonbashi Bridge—the very heart of his domain—

“Article 1: Diligently practice loyalty and filial piety……”

Right in the center of the official noticeboard proclaiming the realm’s laws—who would dare?—someone had pasted a scrap of paper bearing this sardonic satirical poem written in jet-black ink.

Even the once-bustling grandeur of Great Edo had, since last year [Tenpō 12 (1841)], been reduced to ashes under Senior Councillor Mizuno Echizen-no-kami’s reforms—like a fire snuffed out. Yet true to their reputation as inveterate spectacle-seekers, the Edoites’ penchant for wit and mischief showed no sign of waning even now. Before the noticeboard bearing the satirical poem, the crowd jostled shoulder-to-shoulder in such commotion—reading those seventeen syllables forward and backward, roaring with laughter—as they vented the resentment clogging their hearts.

“There he is—the demon!”

“Lord Kai-no-kami is here on official business!”

As the crowd parted like an avalanche, through their midst emerged Magistrate Torii Kai-no-kami Tadaaki of the South Town Magistracy, accompanied by his assistant officers and a retinue of undercover agents.

“Don’t any of you move!”

Under the hawk-like glare, the remaining cluster of people could neither flee nor hide; they hunched their shoulders, faces drained of color, standing frozen in panic.

For a town magistrate to personally patrol Edo’s streets was a rare occurrence not seen in years, but Torii Kai-no-kami—who had staked his honor on thoroughly implementing the reforms—would traverse Edo’s neighborhoods sometimes incognito, sometimes openly, casting his merciless gaze about.

“Those who slander the shogunate’s governance need no explanation—and not a single scoundrel defying the reforms’ intent shall be spared! Arrest them all, one after another!”

With a declaration as cold as steel, silver-polished jutte glittered fiercely in the undercover agents’ hands—the crowd no longer felt alive.

“Is there anyone wearing silk? Velvet sandal thongs, Chinese leather tobacco pouches—do you have any such prohibited items?”

The underlings, borrowing authority from their tiger-like superior, jostled and interrogated each trembling man and woman one by one—those unable to flee.

A woman forced to undo her freshly styled hair and publicly prove she’d tied it herself—a young girl whose velvet thongs were cut off and replaced with bamboo bark before shackles clamped her wrists as parents watched—and among them, a young man dragged away bound in ropes for possessing a gilded paper case.

Magistrate Torii Kai-no-kami’s eyes burned like those of a bloodthirsty beast, intoxicated by this ferocious scrutiny, glinting fiercely.
Every time they found a contraband item, a bitter smile that twisted the flesh of his cheeks made the townspeople huddled at the bridge’s edge tremble like scraps of paper in a windblown pile.

“You there!”

Kai-no-kami summoned his subordinates with a jerk of his chin.

“That young woman over there—those undergarments are silk, aren’t they? Investigate!”

“Ah!”

Realizing she had been caught in those flame-like eyes, the eighteen- or nineteen-year-old town girl lowered her face and tried to slip into the crowd—but the agents who pounced on her showed no mercy.
From the crowd that had half-heartedly shielded her, they dragged her out roughly,

“Look up.”

With their right hand grasping her topknot and their left hand hooked under her rounded chin, they forced her face upward.

“……”

The crowd rippled restlessly at such beauty—slightly faded pearl-colored cheeks, eyes like black obsidian wide with terror, lips devoid of red—yet this extraordinary beauty remained undiminished by anyone.

“You—state your parents’ occupation and name truthfully.”

“I am Fuji, daughter of Masudaya Sōbei of Kiba’s shipping agency.”

The girl, in a voice as faint as a mosquito’s hum, could barely manage to say this much.

“What?”
“A shipping agent? Hmm—the daughter of Masudaya Sōbei, who until recently colluded with merchant guilds to profiteer unjustly from Edo-Osaka shipping routes and now languishes in prison under investigation? If you’re the daughter of such a man, your garments and belongings must surely be extravagant—undo that obi! What hesitance? Even a young woman merits no leniency before the shogunate’s edicts! Inspect every stitch against her skin—a single scrap of silk constitutes a crime!”

The two underlings, clutching their jutte between their teeth, lunged at her from both sides.

“What the—?!”

“Don’t make a commotion!”

First came the obi—coiled loose with rough haste—then her lined kimono, her undergarments—stripped away layer by layer like peeling bamboo shoot husks.

The crowd fell silent at the extremity of the situation, still as a primeval forest—some among them even quietly turned their faces away.
O-Fuji stood as if bereft of her soul, more powerless than a doll, letting herself be manipulated—what could a frail girl’s resistance possibly achieve?

It was Tenpō 13, March—a midday so still one could hear insects crawling across the bridge’s beams—at Edo’s Nihonbashi Bridge. Before hundreds of prying eyes, the maiden’s jewel-like skin, more mystical than any mortal sight—as flawless as a statue carved from pearl—lay completely uncovered and exposed to the spring sun, skin that had never before met human gaze.

“Look! The undergarment is silk!”

Separate from the agents’ triumphant voices, the human flotsam gathered at the bridge’s edge stirred like a wave surging ashore. Overwhelmed by such beauty and such cruelty, they must have cried out involuntarily.

The next instant, O-Fuji crumpled limply to the ground.

“Hey! You mustn’t sit down!”

As the undercover agents' arms—gnarled like ancient pine trees, muscular—lifted her up, a gush of blood surged...

“Ah—!”

The girl bit her tongue.
When they forced her face upward roughly, blood spilling from her lips streamed down her chin to her neck and across her pearl-hued chest like a crimson net.
Her eyes snapped wide open with terrible anguish blazing within them; her resentful gaze remained riveted on Kai-no-kami’s face, now twisted in shock and agitation.

The shadow of death deepening——

The crowd at the base of the bridge, overwhelmed by the gruesomeness, scattered in disarray and fled completely, slipping past the officials' notice.
There was no one left to chastise them for it.

Resenting the magistrates and senior councillors,

From the Bunka-Bunsei era through the dawn of Tenpō, Edo culture—cloyingly overripe in its decadence—had become utterly unmanageable in its effete extravagance; were this to continue unchecked, one shuddered to think what might become not just of Edo itself, but of all Japan.

But Senior Councillor Mizuno Echizen-no-kami Tadakuni’s so-called "Tenpō Reforms," which sought to rectify this all at once with their extreme severity and reactionary ferocity, made the hearts of the people tremble violently at the time.

Swept up in the great wave of these reforms, many wealthy merchants, actors, and entertainers faced imprisonment, exile, property confiscation, or handcuffing—but among them, Masudaya Sōbei of Kiba suffered most grievously. Targeted by Magistrate Torii Kai-no-kami Tadaaki, he was imprisoned with every last speck of his household possessions confiscated, and his daughter O-Fuji died biting off her tongue at the foot of Nihonbashi Bridge in March of Tenpō 13 [1842].

Her younger sister O-Toyo, aged eighteen—just a year apart—was said to surpass her in beauty and possess the fiery spirit of a Fukagawa native. Yet with relatives avoiding them for fear of official attention, she grew impatient and became a geisha from Yanagibashi, supporting her sole remaining parent—her ailing mother.

But her mother also died.

The twenty-first-day memorial service had been completed on September 13th. As if drawn by the waning harvest moon, O-Toyo wandered unsteadily out onto Ryōgoku Bridge.
Tormented by a helpless feeling—as if she wanted to keep walking on and on to the ends of the earth just as she was—she stood there.
The famous water teahouses that once bustled at both ends of Ryōgoku Bridge had been cleared away; let alone moon-viewing boats, there was not a single person on the bridge with enough leisure in their heart to gaze at the moon.

“O-Toyo… O-Toyo.”

“Oh, Yōjirō!”

“So this is where you were! I was worried sick—went to your house and found it empty with the lamp still lit. Asked the neighbors, and they said you’d finished your mother’s 21st-day memorial, then wandered off toward the Ōkawa River like you were possessed or something!”

The young man called Yōjirō leaned against the railing, aligned his shoulder with O-Toyo’s, and quietly moved his hand behind her back.

When he peered closer—perhaps due to the moonlight—her face was deathly pale,

"What’s wrong, O-Toyo?"

"Even I don’t understand."

"Of course—when one of Edo’s ten wealthiest merchants, thanks to these blessed reforms, had his livelihood destroyed in under half a year—father imprisoned, sister driven to suicide, even your last remaining mother taken by death—"

——

"But listen, O-Toyo—misfortune isn't yours alone. Illustrated books and nishiki-e prints are banned; a woodcarver like me is finished. Even if I return to being a gardener, there's no decent work to be had. I don't know what I'll do starting tomorrow—not a clue. The debts from my parents' time are piled mountain-high, and—I just want to die."

Yōjirō the woodcarver was no less dispirited than O-Toyo.

"Yōjirō."

“Will you die with me, O-Toyo?”

“Yōjirō.”

O-Toyo clung desperately to Yōjirō.
On the bridge where no one came to view the harvest moon, the two of them could think of nothing but death.

“Why does Heaven curse us like this?”

“Hm?”

“It’s the officials on patrol—hawk-eyed, checking if anyone dares put out moon-viewing boats.”

Hearing the commotion at the riverbank—the distant scuffle of hurried footsteps—Yōjirō let slip a bitter smile.

“Yōjirō, was it Heaven that threw Father in prison? That destroyed our family’s livelihood?”

——

“Was it Heaven that made my sister die so cruelly? That stripped you of your work?”

“That’s just a figure of speech—our real misfortune is being born into these times.”

“And you think you can just sit there rubbing your chest?”

——

“Who in this world created such times? That a young girl who knew nothing could be stripped naked in broad daylight on a public street—is that His Majesty’s mercy? With their ‘Senior Councillor’ this and ‘Magistrate’ that—!”

“O-Toyo.”

“No, let me speak! I don’t care if people hear—the enemies of my parents, my sister... the enemy who took your job too—”

“——”

O-Toyo pulled away from Yōjirō’s chest and, while watching the retreating figures of officials disappearing toward Hamachō under the moonlit sky, spoke these words.

“If I were a man, even if I had to become a beggar, I would stalk and strike down that bastard Torii who shamed my sister—and while I’m at it, that Senior Councillor who’s made all of Edo suffer like this—”

“O-Toyo, please calm down.”

“Yōjirō, you just said you wanted to die—I too thought I wanted to die, but there’s no guarantee I’d come back to haunt as a ghost. Rather than commit some half-hearted double suicide, if I’m to die anyway, I’d rather prepare myself to at least scratch those hateful enemies—to seize even one chance in ten thousand to avenge this grudge.”

“O-Toyo, don’t talk nonsense. They’re Senior Councillors and Magistrates—folks like us can’t even get close to them. Just give up and die with me already.”

“No—no! Even I, a woman, am this furious—do you feel nothing at all?! And you call yourself an Edokko?!”
“I never thought you were such a spineless man...”

After hurling fiery words at the man’s face, O-Toyo—as though a century’s worth of love had drained away—sharply turned her back and hid her face against the railing.
With a heavy snap, her traditional shimada mage came undone; upon her pale nape, the cold moonlight pooled without a thought.

The long undergarment blazed in scarlet crepe silk.

The decadent extravagance of Edo prior to Mizuno Echizen-no-kami's rise to power is detailed in historical records and such. For instance: "Installing drawers in courtesans' clogs to hold white crepe silk cloths for wiping feet; threading thick white straps with red coral beads that glimmered translucently through them as luxury accents—or overlaying komageta sandals with tortoiseshell, coating their edges in gold lacquer, and filling their platforms with hot water to keep feet warm in winter—or edging zōri sandals with red copper and inlaying their soles with brass designs that revealed their beauty when flipped upward on boats." Even focusing solely on footwear, this was a society steeped in such lawless extravagance.

Mizuno Echizen-no-kami made the dissolute Edo townspeople swallow three to of vinegar.

“Come now—an edict is an edict, and rest is rest! Even governance has its seasons. There now—isn’t it fitting? To occasionally show Your Honor—who toils day and night for righteous governance—some lively diversion to soothe your burdened heart... why, that itself is loyal service to His Majesty! Ah yes—I’ll take full responsibility! Let them play and revel!”

Chief Inspector of the Gold Mint Gotō San’emon tapped his bald head as he surrounded Torii Kai.

“Gotō, this is getting a bit too lively. Could the noise reach outside?”

Magistrate Torii Kai-no-kami—perhaps feeling a twinge of guilt—leaned against an armrest and smirked repeatedly at the great crowd of beauties flanking him as he spoke these words.

“Nonsense! The vice squad has dozens securing the estate. If townsfolk grow suspicious, we’ll say a raccoon-dog parade has begun—those were my exact orders.”
“Heh heh.”

The celebration for Gotō San'emon’s newly built villa in Mukōjima Koumai—with Town Magistrate Torii Kai-no-kami as guest of honor—assembled his inner circle and dozens of town geishas for an officially sanctioned uproar.

Gotō San'emon was a hereditary gold inspector, but particularly the current San'emon was a man of considerable business acumen who colluded with Torii Kai-no-kami to mint debased coins, drive up prices, and amass a fortune in his lifetime as a shrewd operator.

Since the reforms began, restaurants and meeting tea houses had been shuttered, and even the shamisen played by geishas had been performed in secret—but now that permission had been granted by the Edo Magistrate himself, the gathering erupted into uproarious commotion—.

The magistrate who had been feared like a demon now grinned like the King of Hell savoring candy—a sly smirk playing across his face.

“Gotō, Gotō.”

“Yes, yes.”

San’emon sidled closer, likely fearing he might have caused some offense.

“What is that? That woman over there?”

“She is a geisha—but”

While peering in the direction Kai-no-kami was pointing, San’emon answered timidly.

“And you call that a geisha? From what I’ve observed, that courtesan alone neither sings nor plays the shamisen—just glares my way every so often with a ‘Hmph,’ acting all composed. Yet for all that, her looks are exceptional—”

“As you command.”

San’emon sprang up as though propelled by a spring mechanism.
A gold mint official of all people—though what had flustered him—lunged from behind the young geisha and seized her shoulder with a wrenching grip.

“Hey! What do you think you’re doing?”

The one who turned around was a seventeen- or eighteen-year-old girl of unparalleled beauty; whether from the self-poured sake she had gulped down, her cheeks were flushed a deep red, and with sharply upturned eyes glaring upward, she exuded a fierce allure,

“What’re you here for?”

“How pretentious—meddlin’ in folks’ business like that.”

“What?!”

Brushing off San'emon's hand, she stood up smoothly.

"I came for revenge—step aside. That bald pate of yours? On this very day, it's the perfect match for those shoddy gold coins they've been minting this season."

"You hussy!"

Shoving aside the persistent San'emon, she slipped through the startled geishas with quick, swishing movements—swish, swish, swish—before plopping down with one knee raised barely three feet before Magistrate Torii Kai-no-kami.
The crimson undergarment peeking from her hem—was that not silk burning into Magistrate Kai-no-kami's very eyes?

“Now then, Your Lordship—or should I say Lord Demon Magistrate Torii Kai-no-kami—it’s you, isn’t it?”

“You there! Such insolence!”

As San'emon lunged forward, Magistrate Torii Kai-no-kami stopped him with a look.

“If I were Torii, what would you do?”

An icy chill.

“If you are Torii Kai-no-kami, hear this—my sister died biting off her tongue after being stripped naked at Nihonbashi Bridge by your orders, all because she wore the one silk undergarment she owned! You can’t possibly claim ignorance of this!”

“…………”

Magistrate Kai-no-kami was startled—he had never dreamed this was Masudaya’s O-Fuji’s sister.

“I’m wearing silk undergarments too—my sister only had that one set, so she wore it out of necessity. But mine? I had this finest scarlet crepe silk specially made—cost me three ryō and two bu! Not that I’m boasting, but do you really think skin as lovely as mine should be wrapped in coarse cotton? —Go on, strip me naked.”

O-Toyo kicked away the tray and pressed herself forcefully against Magistrate Torii Kai-no-kami’s knees.

“…………”

Magistrate Kai-no-kami smiled faintly as he stared at her; the scene was so lawless that for a time, no one moved to intervene.

“Lord Torii’s banquet—no, Magistrate Who Ruins Edo—your luxury ban edict hasn’t been scrapped yet! Go on—strip me naked and bind me! Have me dragged from Lord Torii’s pleasure hall as a bound prisoner—that would fulfill my dearest wish!”

“…………”

“What—lost your nerve to strip me? Look well! Behold this Edo-born O-Toyo’s flesh! And since we’re here—even my loincloth beneath is forbidden silk! Don’t you dare avert your eyes!”

O-Toyo sprang up in one fluid motion; San’emon and the others had no time to stop her.
With a twist of her body—perhaps having prepared in advance—her formal overgarment slipped from her shoulders, revealing the blazing scarlet crepe silk of her long undergarment; in her right hand, two razors pressed together caught the light of dozens of candlesticks and glinted like venomous snakes.

“My sister’s enemy, my parents’ enemy—prepare yourself!”

A resolute voice dominated the banquet hall.

All guilt rests with Lord Echizen-no-kami.

About an hour later,

Within the grounds of Gotō San'emon’s same villa—in a specially constructed detached room—Magistrate Torii Kai-no-kami and the geisha O-Toyo sat facing each other without attendants.
A single hand warmer sat between them; lit sideways by a silk lantern, they might have appeared to unknowing eyes as lovers sharing secrets.

“In that case, Your Lordship—you claim you didn’t willingly deign to assist these government policies?”

“Precisely—who would choose such cruelty? We’ve all become reluctant limbs of authority under orders from above. When hearing the common folk’s grievances, I marvel this chest hasn’t split from anguish.”

Torii Kai-no-kami let out a sigh of relief.

“…………”

“I am neither demon nor snake—when your sister died, how many times did I think to bow my head and go make amends? Consider the torment of being unable to do so because of my position. In return, I’ll support you however I can hereafter. Even if restoring Masudaya’s former glory proves impossible, I’ll see you properly settled.”

“In that case, who should I resent?”

In O-Toyo’s heart surfaced the image of Yōjirō—the one who had tried to blame everything on heaven and proposed a lovers’ suicide.

“This isn’t something to be said aloud—the true architect of these reforms is Senior Councillor Lord Mizuno Echizen-no-kami.”
“I am just like a puppet that moves according to those instructions.”

“…………”

In O-Toyo’s eyes burned the vivid heat of vengeance once more.

“In truth, Lord Echizen-no-kami’s ambitions were too grand—even his request to transfer domains from Hizen Karatsu to Enshū Hamamatsu stemmed solely from wanting to become a Senior Councillor. Once attaining that post, he sought to achieve great deeds and rise like Yanagisawa Dewa-no-kami of old—to become a great daimyo commanding tens of thousands of *koku*. Such boundless greed! He conceived reckless reforms without regard for the common folk’s suffering, deeming them achievements. Now he proposes impossible schemes—the Inba-numa reclamation and seizing lands ten *ri* around Edo—astonishing the Senior Councillors, Junior Elders, even the Three Tokugawa Houses themselves.”

What a silver tongue he had—Kai-no-kami! Having forgotten that the most lawless acts committed by Lord Echizen-no-kami were entirely his own initiatives and instigations, it was none other than Kai-no-kami who now sought to betray Lord Echizen-no-kami, whose support from both high and low had finally begun to crumble.

“Your Lordship—who serves under such a wicked person?”
“Why not resolutely resign from your post as magistrate?”

O-Toyo pressed him fiercely.

"I do not fail to consider that, but with Lord Echizen-no-kami as Senior Councillor, no matter how many magistrates change posts, nothing will come of it. Precisely because it is I who hold this position, there is both mercy and restraint—I have acted far more leniently than Lord Echizen-no-kami's intentions dictated. But what if a magistrate ruthless beyond compare were installed in my place and tormented the townspeople further?"

Magistrate Kai-no-kami was so intoxicated by his own lies that tears welled up in both eyes.

"I understand now, Your Lordship."

“Do you understand—this anguish of mine?”

“The villain here is that Echizen bastard alone.”

Once O-Toyo—true daughter of Edo—had steeled her resolve, not an atom of hatred for Kai-no-kami lingered in her heart.

“Your voice carries too far—but each day delayed spreads more poison—ah, if only I were younger… If only I bore no family name I dare not destroy…”

Magistrate Torii Kai-no-kami heaved sigh after ponderous sigh.

“Your Lordship—might I yet be of service? I’ve no family name to preserve, no mother, no sister left.”

“If these reform policies were to change, there might yet be hope for your father—imprisoned all this time—to be saved.”

“Lord Torii—please use me.”

O-Toyo’s beautiful face glowed with intense emotion.

“Wait—”

Magistrate Kai-no-kami stood up, slid open the karakami paper door, and returned to his original seat.
Even his cheeks stiffened, and for some time he worked to calm his ragged breathing.

The spring night in Mukōjima, deepening with profound stillness.

It was March 1843, exactly one year after O-Fuji’s death.

One Who Poisons Echizen-no-kami

At Nishinomaru-shita, in the mansion of Mizuno Echizen-no-kami, a new maid had recently been added.

While adding a single maid to the mansion of the Senior Councillor who governed the realm would normally raise no eyebrows, Lord Echizen-no-kami—driven by a warrior’s zeal to lead by example in fully implementing the spirit of the reforms—maintained a lifestyle more austere than that of hatamoto with 2,000 to 3,000 koku, despite being a formidable daimyo with an official stipend of 60,000 koku and actual revenues of 150,000 koku.

Therefore, the addition of a single young, beautiful maid with brisk and efficient movements must have brightened and enlivened the Edo upper mansion, which had been lacking in feminine presence, to an extraordinary degree.

Her name was Toyo, age nineteen—hired on Magistrate Torii Kai-no-kami’s recommendation—truly a flower-like girl.
Raised in the downtown district, her speech carried a rough edge, yet with a natural radiance to her beauty and charm that overflowed; within less than a month, she had come to be fondly called “Toyo” by all in the mansion.

Senior Councillor Mizuno Echizen-no-kami’s debilitating illness began shortly thereafter.
They had him examined by numerous doctors, yet could ascertain nothing definitive beyond declaring it exhaustion of the internal organs.
It was likely born from the mental strain of his long devotion to administrative duties.

“I humbly beg your pardon, but I must ask you to refrain from partaking of the meal.”

Retainer Sakai Tōbei prostrated himself at the threshold.
Evidently in a great panic, he was gasping for breath and found it difficult to continue his next words.

“What is the matter?”

Lord Echizen-no-kami, chopsticks in hand, raised his face.
By his side was his favored maid Toyo, waiting at a slight distance.

“Official Food Tester Takeda Ikunosuke is suffering from sudden abdominal pain.”

“What?”

“I believe someone may have placed something harmful in the meal.”

“Nonsense!”

“For some time now, Your Lordship’s illness has been cause for suspicion.”

“Do not speak of trifles—Ikunosuke’s stomachache is likely a seasonal ailment. You must not pursue a deep investigation and implicate innocent meal staff.”

Mizuno Echizen-no-kami did indeed discard his chopsticks, but showed no inclination to pursue the matter further.

“If by any chance there exists someone with ill intent within your mansion—not only would Your Lordship’s person be endangered, but it would bring calamity upon the entire household, and ultimately constitute a grave matter for the realm.”

Sakai Tōbei glared fixedly at the suspicious meal, refusing to yield an inch.

“There can be none in this mansion who would seek my life—though governing the realm inevitably risks incurring the people’s resentment through subordinates’ excesses—but even temporarily, there must be no retainer who would shorten their lord’s days. I value honor above life itself—a Senior Councillor cannot be poisoned by his own vassals.”

“Hah!”

“Even in the remotest possibility that such a miscreant exists—owing to my own moral failings—no precautions could spare me from their deadly hand. Better to let it lie.”

“But even so—”

“Should a careless investigation occur, you must not make innocent staff members slit their bellies.”
“So long as Ikunosuke survives, no further inquiry is needed. Do not raise this again. Instruct the meal staff thoroughly—permit no outsiders near.”
“Not even women and children—never lower your guard around them, I say.”

“Hah!”

Sakai Tōbei had no choice but to withdraw as he was.

Unlike his original aspirations, even Senior Councillor Mizuno Echizen-no-kami—now a focal point of resentment—could not bear to let a regicide emerge from within his own mansion.

The maid O-Toyo pressed her forehead against the tatami mats and remained waiting endlessly and endlessly.

Before long, the meal was quietly inspected by the staff in charge.
While the exact details of that time remain unclear, it was said that a white powder resembling arsenic had been faintly seen mixed into the rice.
Official Food Tester Takeda Ikunosuke recovered without major complications, whether due to the small quantity of poison or his robust constitution.

Scissors in the treetops, a sword beneath the trees.

With that matter settled, Lord Echizen-no-kami’s health recovered day by day.

“The garden on this autumn day would be particularly scenic—Toyo, accompany me.”

“Hah!”

“The rest of you may withdraw.”

Mizuno Echizen-no-kami had O-Toyo carry his sword, circled the garden pond, crossed over the artificial hill, and entered into a grove of towering trees far from the mansion.

The brilliant autumn sun filtering through the trees fell from the sword held alongside her long-sleeved kimono onto O-Toyo’s rounded nape—an indescribable allure.

“What fine weather we’re having—the azure sky stretches clear through and through—still too early for autumn foliage, yet—the small birds sing so joyfully.”

Lord Echizen-no-kami sat down on a Chinese-made ceramic bench and leisurely surveyed his surroundings.
When one looked at his refined face—free of base thoughts, as if he had mislaid the discretion proper to a middle-aged man—it proved impossible to reconcile this visage with that of the Senior Councillor, that shrewd operator who had upended all Japan as mastermind of the Tenpō Reforms.

“Your Lordship.”

Toyo timidly called out.

“What is it? There’s no one else here—speak without hesitation.”

“The sky is beautifully clear, and the birds are chirping merrily, but people—”

O-Toyo gulped and held her breath.

“…………”

As if not hearing this, upon Mizuno Echizen-no-kami’s vacant face, the crimson sun shone through the gaps in the trees.

“The men and women of Edo’s eight hundred and eight neighborhoods—all the people of Japan—since the year before last, have not known clear skies, have not heard the songs of small birds, and live in constant fear of what tomorrow may bring.”

“…………”

“Even if the prohibition of luxuries is well-intentioned, when people’s spirits sink and laughter and joy vanish, who would strive in their livelihoods?”
“—Who could have possibly made this world so sorrowful?”

O-Toyo, who had moved behind Lord Echizen-no-kami, placed her hand on the sword’s hilt and had already drawn the blade from its scabbard.

At that very moment, on the branch directly above Echizen-no-kami was a huge, monstrous bird—no, rather, a gardener who appeared like a monstrous bird—holding his breath and peering down below.
Hiding his face in the foliage, he held large tiger pruning shears in his hands—their blades resembling a monstrous bird’s beak pointed downward—aiming at Echizen-no-kami’s head.

O-Toyo’s finger moved—in the very instant the tiger pruning shears were about to leave the gardener’s hand,

“You fools!”

A low but powerful bark escaped Lord Echizen-no-kami’s lips.
Struck by this inherent authority perhaps, both the sword and tiger pruning shears indifferently withdrew their gleaming blades.

But Lord Echizen-no-kami likely had no intention of scolding the two—the man and the woman.
Like a father instructing his foolish daughter, he continued while casting a fleeting glance at O-Toyo with eyes filled with sorrowful compassion.

“How long will the people of this world continue to dream of peace—unaware that the very ground they tread is crumbling—”

“…………”

“I sought to unravel Edo’s rotten customs with these hands and rebuild a new Great Edo—this Echizen struck a bell to warn the world, let its toll resound to every corner of Japan—! Do you all curse the warning bell, hating the bell-ringer, while ignorant of the terrible flames that will consume you?”

Tears glistened in Lord Echizen-no-kami’s eyes.

“Your Lordship.”

O-Toyo trembled as if shaking off a possessing spirit.

“In the face of this great national crisis, can one afford to dwell on the sacrifices of one or two people? Foolishness!”

Having declared this, Lord Echizen-no-kami looked up—and at that moment, a giant pair of tiger pruning shears came swooping down toward his head.

“Agh!”

Lord Echizen-no-kami, who had barely managed to dodge that, had failed to notice that O-Toyo’s hand had drawn the sword behind him.

“Sister’s enemy!”

There was gratitude, but no resentment.

“Ah, wait!”

The old man who burst through the garden gate swiftly threw his own body onto the sword in O-Toyo’s hand.

“Father.”

“Toyo.”

Was this not Masudaya Sōbei’s unchanged, vigorous figure—he whom all had believed to be imprisoned until now?

“Preposterous! You must not bear resentment toward Lord Echizen-no-kami.”

“…………”

“The reforms themselves aren’t to blame—it was the subordinates’ heavy-handed enforcement, particularly Magistrate Torii Kai-no-kami—”

“…………”

Having quietly stepped away from beneath the tree, Lord Mizuno Echizen-no-kami regarded Sōbei with a reproachful look.

"His Lordship acted for Edo's sake, for the shogun's sake, for the sake of the common people! Even I—targeted by Magistrate Torii Kai-no-kami-sama for my substantial profits—was thrown into prison. Though my innocence was recognized, I wasn't easily pardoned—I wept daily, resenting the authorities! Yet through Lord Mizuno's intercession—to whom I owe daily debts of gratitude—I received clemency. Today, by his special decree, I was permitted to meet you secretly in this inner garden. O-Toyo—His Lordship knows everything about your background and what you've done. Not only that—"

“…………”

Sōbei snatched the sword from his astonished daughter’s hand and, while sheathing it, continued desperately like this.

“My father Sōgorō served the previous Lord Mizuno when his family resided in Hizen Karatsu—to Lord Mizuno, we owe debts as vast as the seas and mountains, not an ounce of resentment! This time too, I was nearly beheaded on Magistrate Torii Kai-no-kami’s orders, only to be saved by His Lordship’s single word—! You must not resent Lord Echizen-no-kami, not even in your dreams—your sister’s enemy is Magistrate Torii Kai-no-kami-sama—!”

“Father.”

“O-Toyo, apologize! Yōjirō, come down here! What outrageous things you’re doing!”

The old man pressed O-Toyo’s head to the ground and barked a reprimand at Yōjirō in the tree.

Lord Echizen-no-kami, who had been tearfully watching this scene, took two or three steps forward as if wanting to say something.

But just at that moment, an unforeseen major incident unfolded at the front of the Mizuno residence.

Shouting voices and the sound of thrown objects—it all approached like a gust of wind.

"What is that?"

Even Lord Echizen-no-kami's complexion changed.

"My lord! A crisis!"

Sakai Tōbei came running through the trees and threw himself prostrate before Lord Echizen-no-kami.

"What has happened?"

"My lord—having heard leaked word of the Senior Councillor's dismissal—the mob has stormed in as you see!"

“What?”

Lord Echizen-no-kami suppressed his astonishment, then looked up to the heavens and let out a deep sigh.
Outside, voices shouted and clamored like a tsunami.
Pressing through the grove of trees, they came resonating all the way here.

In the midst of curses and stones,

Although he had told no one, Mizuno Echizen-no-kami Tadakuni was dismissed from his position as Senior Councillor on this day, the thirteenth of the intercalary ninth month of Tenpō 14.

The cause?
This was due to Torii Kai-no-kami—whom he had relied upon as his right-hand man—suddenly switching sides when his own misconduct risked exposure, combined with discontented women in the Ōoku mobilizing against the austerity edicts; these forces ultimately drew in everyone from great daimyō to the shogun’s household, took advantage of Lord Echizen-no-kami’s seclusion during illness, and finally dragged him down from his position as Senior Councillor.

The Edo townspeople, unaware of the circumstances, utterly resented Lord Echizen-no-kami.
Upon hearing of the Senior Councillor's dismissal, they immediately jumped to the conclusion that he would vacate his Nishinomaru-shita residence at once; thousands of gawkers rained down curses and stones, smashed the police box to smithereens, and pressed toward the front gate of the Mizuno mansion.

“Open up! Open up!”

“Show us the Lord’s face!”

With such a commotion, if left unchecked, there was no telling what kind of violence they might truly commit.

“You wretched townspeople—we’ll make you see reason!”
“How dare you treat this mansion!”
“Let’s cut our way out!”
“Yeah!”

Overwhelmed by the humiliation, the young retainers of the household indignantly rose up.
Two became four, four became eight, eight became sixteen—their fury whirled through the mansion like a tempest—and twenty or thirty reckless samurai, swords hastily drawn and heedless of their lives, came dashing toward the barely secured front gate.

“Open the gate!”

“We’ll charge out all at once!”

Someone placed their hand on the latch.

“Wait, wait! I won’t permit such lawlessness! If you cut down the townspeople and make this chaos worse, it’ll bring shame upon His Lordship himself—!”

Sakai Tōbei spread his arms wide and stood blocking,

"What’s this, old fool? Move aside! Have you no shame?"

“No—I won’t move! If something should happen, it won’t end with just the Senior Councillor’s dismissal—it’ll spell disaster for the clan!”

Even Sakai Tōbei, shouting desperately, could not resist the force of the many young samurai.

“Now!”

When they removed the latch, the gate doors swung open—but before the young samurai could rush out, their lord Mizuno Echizen-no-kami Tadakuni, appearing from nowhere, stood before the widely opened doors,

“It must not be—you must not shed the townspeople’s blood! Be still!”

His dignified voice and piercing gaze—the young samurai of the household, who ordinarily revered their lord, all at once snapped out of their frenzy as if cold water had been splashed over them and bowed their heads.

“I myself shall meet them directly.”

Mizuno Echizen-no-kami felt neither fear, nor shame, nor guilt. Having calmed his retainers with but a single word, he turned and fixed his steel-cold face toward the crowd.

Yet what the townspeople feared was not merely Lord Echizen-no-kami—now stripped of the Senior Councillor’s authority—but rather those reckless young samurai who had sought to charge forth. As the clamor momentarily stilled in uncertainty over what might transpire, Mizuno Echizen-no-kami Tadakuni—replacing those twenty-odd blades—quietly stepped beyond the gate and lifted his coldly elegant countenance.

“That’s the Edo Destroyer!”

“It’s Lord Mizuno!”

“Get him!”

Along with the rekindled fury of the townspeople, a rain of curses and stones poured down upon the face of Lord Mizuno Echizen-no-kami—who stood trying to reason with the crowd—with the gate doors at his back.

“Wait, everyone!”

The one who rushed out was Yōjirō.

“What’s this, cur? Stay back!”

“No—do you think I’ll back down?! The one at fault isn’t Lord Mizuno! If he were truly merciless, would he permit such violence? I beg you—stand down!”

Yōjirō's face floated palely amid the throng of people.

“What nonsense are you spouting? You’re one of Mizuno’s lackeys too! Take this!”

Stones came flying in a scattered hail; one struck Yōjirō’s forehead, trailing a thread of blood.

“Quiet! Quiet! This is an official dispatch from His Excellency the South Magistrate!”

Parting the sea of people and majestically appearing was Magistrate Torii Kai-no-kami Tadaaki of the South Magistrate’s Office—dispatched to suppress the rioters—astride a blue-maned horse, his gilt-edged war helmet glinting in the sunset as he raised his whip and barked commands.

“Quiet! Quiet!”

At that moment.
As if drawn by Magistrate Torii Kai-no-kami’s commanding voice, a woman surged up from the depths of the seething crowd like a burst of flame.

"That’s him! The villain’s that Kai!"

“How dare you!”

It was none other than O-Toyo—her raised finger thrust unerringly toward the face of Kai-no-kami astride his horse.

“The one who killed my sister, imprisoned my father, destroyed our home, deceived me, and tried to make me kill Lord Mizuno—that man is the true villain!”

O-Toyo's voice pierced through the hail of stones and torrent of curses.

“You insolent wretch!”

“You lunatic!”

The horse's hooves of Magistrate Torii Kai-no-kami, which had plunged into the crowd, trampled O-Toyo in the blink of an eye.
But in the next instant, O-Toyo—her hair disheveled, lip bitten through, robes in utter disarray, a ghastly figure with no trace of her former self—regained her posture through sheer willpower and, together with Yōjirō, spread themselves like two human大字 before the gate doors that Mizuno Echizen-no-kami had just entered moments ago after being admonished by his elder retainer Sakai Tōbei.

“The enemy of Edo! Japan’s number one arch-villain!”

The words scattered and flew; her quivering finger persistently pursued Magistrate Torii Kai-no-kami’s bitterly contorted face.

“You fool!”
“Kill him!”

Stones, sticks, rocks flew in a scattered hail—amidst them, the two of them, drenched head to toe in dark blood, fought desperately to guard the gate.
Had they let their guard down even for a moment—before they could secure the latch—the mob would have surged forward and stormed into the mansion in one fell swoop.
If that had happened, there would have been no telling what might have become of Lord Mizuno Echizen-no-kami’s life or the Hamamatsu Domain’s stipend.

“O-Toyo”

Yōjirō twisted his bloodied face.

“Yōjirō,”

“Let’s die.”

“Oh, it’s been exactly a year now.”

The day we talked about committing double suicide in Ryōgoku was September 13th of last year.

“O-Toyo, are you still going to call me spineless?”

A bitter smile grazed Yōjirō’s cheek.

“Oh, how noble—I’m happy.”

O-Toyo contorted her blood-stained cheek into a grin. But when she raised her face, she fixed a piercing glare once more at Kai-no-kami mounted on his horse,

“Dog! You won’t last much longer either!”

“Enemy of Edo!”

Even Yōjirō’s voice was drowned out by the stones, curses, and thunder of hooves.

A satirical poem that survives to this day tells of the horror of that time with these words:

Old stones and tiles fly into Mizuno’s house.