Pathway to Japanese Literature

The entourage ascending to Kyoto numbered about twenty; even from afar, the figure of the woman on horseback, veiled in gauzy silk against insects, appeared exquisitely beautiful in the morning cool. Ten rough men with Kamuno no Maro at their center stood silently observing the procession ascending the mountain pass. On a stump slightly removed from these rough men of the mountain cave, a young woman sat with her provocatively exposed legs crossed, likewise keeping slow watch over the procession making its way along the foothills.

“Nobushi, you take the lead.” The young man nicknamed Nobushi no Masaru had already brought out the horse. The rest formed the full contingent, but Kamuno no Maro declared he need not go himself. Then the woman on the stump said she would go too and stood up. “You cannot go, Sute.” “Why can’t I go?” Sutehime flared up, but Kamuno gave no reply; the prepared men entered the dense forest and vanished in an instant. Kamuno kept his eyes glued to the hand telescope. “Why won’t you join them? You’re just circling around with Nobushi because you’re together,” Sute said amidst the mountain stillness where not a leaf stirred in the dense forest. The strange rawness of a woman’s voice ringing through these mountains—Kamuno offered Sute no answer. Drawing near, he took her hand and shook her shoulder. “You’re being too jealous—not even going out for work anymore, just clinging to me all day.” “That can’t be helped—you grow more womanly by the day while I chase after that youthfulness. Every man here but me is young—Nobushi most of all. Nobushi wants to hover near you, yet you make sure to sit across from him even at the fireside.” When I see your meticulous attentiveness like this, each day feels long and painful—Kamuno tried to lead Sutehime into the cave by the hand, but she showed no resistance at all. For had he not acquiesced thus, there would have been no way to temper Sutehime’s overflowing vitality. The long caresses ended. When Sute finally stood in the bright clearing before the cave, her body lay soft and vulnerable, slackened into languor from being kneaded.

“Now’s the time for your bath.” “You won’t even let me bathe when everyone’s around.” “Because everyone wants to see it. I don’t want them to see it...” “How am I supposed to hide my body from all those men’s eyes? If I walk, my legs show.” “If it’s hot, my chest shows.” Kamuno did not respond to that and again kept his eyes fixed on the travelers through his hand telescope. Strangely, in the opposite gorge, what appeared to be dark human figures suddenly moved—a procession no larger than sesame seeds—seemingly following the travelers. It was Kai no Umazuke’s pursuit party—fellow mountain bandits from the opposing peak. Even if things settled peacefully, the treasure was bound to either be split between two mountain factions or, worse, lead to a scuffle. Kamuno muttered that he had failed, but

“Sute, look at that.” “Kai no Umazuke, huh? They say Kai’s a samurai, don’t they?” “Originally, they were all samurai. Kai is after you.” Kamuno suddenly began putting on his attire, and Sute assisted him. At fifty-two years old, when Kamuno donned his mountain bandit garb, his gaze and stance alike began to reveal a different vigor. Yet Sute’s concern had been voiced in earnest. “Is it proper for you to go out with a body that’s touched a woman?” “Hmm, but what I’ve received from you will rarely make me falter.”

There was weariness in his eyes. There was also something welling up to mask it—hmm, take care—Kamuno no Maro thought there was no falsehood lurking in those words. The mountain stronghold stood completely empty—Kamuno could return ahead of the others, and the unburdened relief of leaving Sute alone there surpassed any other form of solace.

Before descending to the valley, Sutehime took out Kamuno’s undergarments—then suddenly mixed Nobushi’s with them and gathered them into a bundle against her chest. Sitting on a sunlit rock in the valley, she spread out Nobushi’s undergarments, inhaled their pungent scent, and pressed the fabric to her cheek to test its texture. From breasts to lower abdomen, that familiar tingling surged; she pulled the garment close and clung to it as she sniffed again. Then boldly stripping naked, she plunged into the stream’s edge. After swimming, she rinsed each undergarment and hung them on young tree branches—yet the fierce sunlight dried them faster than her washed hair could. When she took them down and returned to the stronghold, she thrust Nobushi’s undergarments into his belongings and stowed Kamuno’s in the partitioned area within the stronghold’s depths.

When Sute stood once more before the stronghold and surveyed the scene with hands folded in her customary manner, there on the distant mountain plateau Kamuno no Maro and Kai no Umazuke appeared engaged in verbal exchange, with the Kyoto noblewoman positioned between them. The Kyoto woman still wore her woven hat and traveling attire when suddenly Kai no Umazuke drew near and stripped away her gauze silk—not roughly but with deliberate care. The face of that noblewoman from somewhere lay exposed to sunlight—a white never before seen. Sute’s face flushed crimson; her lips quivered. Kamuno and Kai were locked in dispute over seizing the woman. When Sute learned there was now a horse readied at the stronghold, she raced single-mindedly through the dense forest’s hidden path.

When Sute appeared on horseback, Kamuno’s band of ten—preempted by Kai no Umazuke’s ten—looked up at her vigorous approach. She first discerned no remnant of Kamuno’s earlier fury in his face, then detected in Kai no Umazuke’s furrowed brow an agitation so acute she could nearly see the sweat pooling on his palms where they gripped the reins. The Kyoto woman seemed unable to hide a twofold shock at Sute’s arrival. Sute addressed Kamuno.

“Why aren’t you withdrawing?” “The matter’s grown thorny; stay back there.” “No—aren’t you haggling over capturing this lady? Lord Kai, that’s how it stands, isn’t it?” “I propose offering all treasure to Kamuno no Maro instead of this woman—that’s what I’m laying out here. But Kamuno insists we split the loot between mountains and return her to the capital.”

Kamuno said. “If I were to return this woman to the capital alone, you would have objections. But if we were to escort her together to the outskirts of the capital, we could reach an agreement.”

“So you’d have me killed in some thicket with that brute strength of yours? I’m no child to be coddled with such tales.” “Kai—do I strike you as that sort of liar?” “Killing’s done when it comes to it. Say you’ll forbid it all you like—when the moment arrives, we kill or get killed.” “Then how do we settle this now?” “Leave it to me. Listen well, Kamuno—follow my lead. Haven’t laid a finger on Lady Sute all this time, have I?” “Sute has me here. What drunken nonsense spews from your mouth? *I’ll* return this woman to the capital.”

“And if the woman files a complaint?” “She wouldn’t be one to mistreat those escorted to the capital outskirts. Your Highness—might you exercise proper discernment?”

“I would never do such a thing.”

That gentle voice like a koto alone made everyone’s heads tighten. At that moment, Sutehime said: “Then if I escort her to the capital outskirts, there should be no grievances from either side. Lord Kai—why don’t we split the treasure and part ways for today?” After a brief pause, Kai no Umazuke surprisingly nodded in agreement. Kamuno understood that Kai’s brusque withdrawal stemmed from Sutehime’s intervention—because of this, Kamuno made a displeased face—but in this situation, there was no other way to settle matters. Even in how Sute had ostensibly inquired about Kai’s affairs with a seductive air, Kamuno felt compelled by the conviction that he must someday kill this man. Sutehime told Kai she was pleased he had been so reasonable; Kai replied that given Lady Sute’s mediation, he could hardly have done otherwise.

“Then, Your Highness, I will escort you to the capital outskirts.” The woman with elegantly shaped eyelids had regained her composure and said there was no proper way to express gratitude for these arrangements. The luster of her delicate hands still lingered in Kai no Umazuke’s vision like an afterimage upon his chest. For years after returning this woman, there lingered a regret at being unable to know women within these mountains. Yet if one were to force possession of her, not only would comrades divide—Kamuno would turn his blade against them. For those of the mountain stronghold, acquiring a single woman meant making enemies of all allies; the forbidden female body hung balanced on the razor’s edge between life and death.

Suddenly, Nobushi from Kamuno’s faction stood up.

“I worry about Lady Sute traveling alone.” “If left as she is, the Kyoto noblewoman would be at risk of peasants’ mischief.”

He entreated Kamuno to send him as an escort. Kamuno shook his head without hesitation. He could see the self-serving intention behind this—trying to deftly exploit the situation to make even Kamuno agree without resistance. “Sute alone is sufficient. However, let us have two men each from both sides accompany her—but Nobushi will not be among them.”

Nobushi withdrew bitterly, while Sute’s brows and eyes remained utterly still on the surface. There was no way Kamuno would permit this, yet when Sute imagined—just in case—that he might have agreed, she felt a pulsing leap in her thighs.

In the end, with two men each from both factions accompanying them, it was decided that Sute would escort the Kyoto noblewoman, and Nobushi no Masaru remained behind. The sun was still high, and the two could avoid the heat on horseback. Sute, who hadn’t spoken to anyone called a woman in years, found her heart drawn to the brocade patterns of the Kyoto noblewoman’s traveling robes and the sheer fabrics. And Sute asked what the current trends were for robes in the capital these days—whether all noblewomen still rode in palanquins; if comic plays were performed; if men all wore swords with crowns upon their heads. She had not walked the streets of the capital since she was thirteen—all her garments were things seized from others—some too short, others too long—she remarked with a laugh.

The noblewoman, atop her horse, untied her gauze silk head covering and brocade sash and gave them to Sute.

“I am the daughter of Fujiwara no Yoshimichi of Shijō-in. Should time pass and you ever seek me out, I shall surely grant you shelter. You need only say you are Yoshimichi’s daughter…” “No—to seek Your Ladyship’s aid in establishing my station would be unthinkable. For us mountain bandits—particularly a woman—tomorrow’s ownership remains uncertain.” “Are you under that elderly lord’s protection?” “Kamuno raised me from thirteen winters onward, and now I am his wife.” “He serves as both father and husband to me.”

“And your honorable name—” “Sute—people have been calling me Princess Sute.” Sute gradually came to realize that as time passed, she was using language befitting a woman on equal terms with the capital noblewoman, and that a feminine appearance was seeping into her very heart. Something that seemed to dissolve into refinement was shaping Sute into something softer. The Kyoto noblewoman praised the masculine features in Sute’s countenance as beautiful; Sute in turn complimented the noblewoman’s slender neck—something all women ought to possess—directing her words toward the woman from the capital.

At Senjō no Yabu-mae, viewing the capital’s scenery tinged with approaching dusk, they prepared to part ways. The Kyoto noblewoman took Sutehime’s hand and bowed her head in gratitude. “You who safeguarded both my life and body did so because you are a woman,” she said, fluttering her eyelids as before. “Should circumstances ever bring you fleeing to the capital, you must come to me without fail.” Having clearly perceived this peculiar friendship, Sutehime felt a woman’s emotions—unfamiliar after so long—churn greedily in her breast. She urged her horse back along the path she had come, her face still veiled with gauze silk. This gossamer veil filled her with irrepressible delight.

On this day, Kamuno and his men had all left at once, leaving not a single living creature loitering within the mountain stronghold. Sutehime washed her hair and dried it on a rock when she began dwelling—somehow—on being the only woman among their mountain banditry. Ever since rescuing that Kyoto noblewoman some time back, she had wanted to know how the capital's streets looked and to walk its main roads under night's concealment. The smoke-like wisps from the capital visible atop this rock swayed joyously today too, as though yearning to unfurl. She thought of Nobushi no Masaru. Yet no matter what she tried, she could never escape Kamuno's eyes—whenever she imagined his gaze glinting among rock crevices or forest thickets, there those watchful eyes would invariably appear. Had Kamuno not taken her in—who knows what sort of woman Sute might have become? Her whole devotion lay here now; serving him had become unavoidable, yet genuine feelings too had mingled within. At that moment, she heard her own name called in an exceedingly cautious whisper—nearly disbelieving her ears. In this critical instant, Sutehime spotted Kai no Umazuke's formidable figure at the mountain stronghold's entrance. This intrusion naturally came knowing Kamuno was absent—yet breaching an enemy fortress demanded such resolve that one must presume its execution premeditated.

“Lady Sute, Umazuke has come.”

In that instant, Kai no Umazuke spoke in a voice as careless as a child’s. “What business brings you here?” “I came to take you away by force.” “Don’t spout nonsense.” “Since I’ve come this far, you should know the extent of my resolve. Close your eyes and accept this man’s staked life—don’t cast it aside so thoughtlessly.”

“I refuse.”

“Do not speak like that, I beg you—I’ve endured these ten years.”

“…………” “Just once is enough—only once.”

“I refuse.” “I beg you on my hands and knees.” “No matter how you plead, I won’t consent.” “Will you refuse me no matter what?” “I beg you, leave.” “I won’t leave.” “What will you do if you don’t leave?” “I will have my way with you.” “Even I am a woman—I won’t make this easy for you.” Sutehime demonstratively scratched her itchy hair. Her plump upper arms swelled so temptingly they begged to be bitten, their pallor spilling forth. Sutehime’s complexion showed neither surprise nor fear, remaining raw and sensual under Kai no Umazuke’s unwavering gaze. Kai no Umazuke approached closely and suddenly took her hand, pulling her near. “Lady Sute, you’ve prepared yourself,” Kai said gently, uncharacteristically so. “No, I haven’t decided yet—I’m ascertaining what manner Lord Kai would reveal himself,” she said. Kai tried to take hold of Sutehime’s robe and lift it, but she sharply brushed him away in one swift motion. When he tried again, she struck the back of his hand. Kai obediently withdrew his hand, then attempted to grab her shoulder—but that too was given momentum by Sutehime and foiled. “Lady Sute, please understand—don’t brand me a wolf,” Kai said with pleading eyes, but she replied, “Then don’t disgrace me either—just take what you came for and leave. This concerns your very life, Lord Kai.”

“Won’t you consent no matter what I do?” “It’s already time for Kamuno to return.”

With her long body flowing from the shoulders, Sutehime smoothly stood up.

Kai no Umazuke could no longer control himself—he had reached the moment to cast aside all future considerations. He pressed down on Sute’s shoulders from above and told her to sit. Sute obediently plopped down into a seated position. Her slumping body indeed remained seated as it was. Sute could not even consider escaping from Kai—there was nothing for her but to submit completely. She could neither escape completely if she fled nor withstand him if she fought; the only way for everything to end safely was to cleverly deceive Kai and send him back unchanged. But Sute found surrendering herself repulsive. The act of surrendering her body to another man—something she'd never even fleetingly considered—was so repulsive she could hardly bear it. She tried to resign herself—why not just pretend not to notice?—but in the end, what was repulsive remained repulsive. Kamuno naturally had no dignity left to face Nobushi either, and as he brooded over this inexplicable inability—this shame that could not be shown—his expression grew stern. However, Kai pinned both her shoulders and lunged.

“Lady Sute, close your eyes and forgive me.” “I refuse.” Kai no Umazuke completely enveloped Sutehime’s form within his large warrior’s attire with deliberate calm, while she fell silent to an eerie degree. He no longer spoke a word. Two terrifyingly silent people remained there abandoned. The mass endlessly crushed time within that voiceless void, unable to break free. “Lord Kai, show restraint,” came a low voice. After this plea repeated countless times, it finally erupted from Sutehime’s throat as a scream—a voice of defiance. Kai maintained his relentless silence. At that moment, when Sutehime’s complexion suddenly turned purple and her lips split apart, Kai pressed a prolonged kiss there—but in that instant, she nearly unconsciously clamped down on something. With this impact, Kai suddenly emitted a guttural roar—a sound wrung from his entire being—and collapsed face-first into the grass, the cry spilling out repeatedly. In that moment, with startling fluidity, Sutehime sprang up and brought her hand to her mouth, spat a glutinous mouthful of blood into the grass with a wet smack, then wiped her still-slimed lips before hastening down to the valley. There she repeatedly scooped water and gushed it through her mouth. Bluish-white spots like blemishes first speckled Sutehime’s complexion before gradually dissolving together to shroud her entire face. She became a woman with skin pale as bared flesh—not beautiful in any conventional sense, but radiant in how the placid fullness of her complexion revealed an utter flatness of remorse for her actions.

When she climbed back up from the valley, Kai no Umazuke—after thrashing about—had already ceased breathing from massive blood loss. Sutehime stood watching it for a short while, then covered her face with a tattered cloth and her body with leaves—her hands naturally came together in prayer. As she began to comprehend what she had done—the scene from which there was no escape but this—Sutehime once more envisioned it. And she remained sitting there on the grass, plucking blades of turf and wiping her sweat. The sweat now drenched her entire body. If things hadn’t turned out this way, I would have become Kai no Umazuke’s and ceased to be Kamuno no Maro’s—there had been nothing else I could do. She wiped away copious sweat again. Sute suddenly felt as if Kai no Umazuke’s corpse had moved. She took the tattered cloth and looked again at his face—softer than she had imagined, showing no trace of suffering. Sutehime gently closed his eyelids for him and remained there without moving, sitting on the grass as she wiped away cold sweat and blankly gazed at Kai no Umazuke’s corpse.

About half an hour later, Kamuno’s group returned, all carrying plunder from their mountain raid. When Kamuno no Maro saw Sute’s complexion, his own face immediately clouded with unforeseen shock. “Sute—what’s happened to your face?” Silently, Sute pointed with her index finger at a corpse wrapped in tattered cloth; her voice had vanished. Kamuno tore away the ragged covering and scrutinized the dead face—from him erupted a shrill cry resembling a death wail.

“Isn’t this Kai no Umazuke? Ah—the tongue—Sute, was this your doing?” “Yes.” “You’ve really done it now.” “There was no other way out for me.” Rather coldly, Sute stated as if it were someone else’s affair: “The tongue was bitten off by accident—I had no intention of it, not even when resisting.”

“I’ve only now come to truly see you, Sute,” he said. “That you cared so deeply for this Kamuno—I hadn’t realized until today.” “What nonsense,” she replied with a self-mocking smile that twisted bitter at the edges. “This outcome was merely chance—the circumstances of the moment,” she continued. “Though I’ve wronged Lord Kai terribly. To you, I only showed I wouldn’t treat this as another’s burden. My true intent held no noble resolve—only revulsion. Utter revulsion.”

“Your body?” “I was only touched.” “You’re a remarkable woman—apparently originally the bastard of a samurai.” “A samurai? What of it? Now I’m just a cast-off woman of the mountain bandits.” Kamuno thought Sute was speaking with forced bravado, but he found it hard to believe that she—now composed—could harbor such indifferent coldness. That Sute had defeated Kai no Umazuke—whom even Kamuno could not handle—with a single strike surpassed mere astonishment; in this Sute who possessed the source of such astonishment, he suddenly felt even wariness. There was no guarantee that the young Nobushi wouldn’t conspire and turn against him; today he sensed an unprecedented mysterious beauty radiating from Sute’s entire being. The slight emaciation—dried skin that had lost its color following the murderous intent—finally became starkly visible.

“Sute, from this day forth I shall cherish you.”

Sute offered no reply, continuing her self-mockery as before.

“I was too jealous—I never knew your true heart.” “Instead of that, bury Lord Kai with proper care.”

“Right.” “Please treat him as you would a noble.”

At that moment, as Kamuno had his underlings carry Kai’s corpse—incidentally—he followed behind and said.

"Sute, I too may meet such a fate someday—opponents are everywhere." "Mountain bandits can’t help it—left exposed in the wild. Even me." “You’re a woman—you can slip through and live long…” “It’s the same thing. No one can know tomorrow’s matters.”

As autumn passed into winter at the mountain stronghold, Sute’s complexion grew sallow, her chest felt constricted, and she increasingly spent days lying down without touching her food. Kamuno no Maro gathered roots and bark, boiled them, and offered them to her, but there was no effect. Wondering if it was due to ritual impurity or possession, Kamuno went out to the outskirts of the capital and walked about searching for an elderly woman knowledgeable in medicine.

Sutehime herself found her days oppressive as if haunted by some affliction. She went out onto the rocks by the mountain stream and let out a scream of violent retching and vomiting. It was pain that came in waves through her entire body. During that sudden vomiting fit, even the mountain ridges seemed to sway like waves before her eyes. One day Kamuno brought an aged old woman to examine Sutehime's condition. When Sutehime saw this old woman's face, she realized it was through gradual aging that humans developed such stern expressions. When the old woman saw Sutehime, she simply remarked. "Ah yes—it could only be this," she muttered. Then she whispered into Sutehime's ear.

“You’re pregnant.” “What do you mean by ‘pregnancy’?”

“It means there’s a human child stirring in your belly.” Sute, trying not to show her shock, inquired in a low voice of the old woman. “About when was it?” “It would be around the middle of the summer month.” The old woman stroked and examined her abdomen, then declared definitively. Sute’s eyes revealed astonishment for the first time, and she then seemed to immediately acknowledge it. The old woman showed her the month and approximate date when it would be born, said she would come whenever summoned, then descended the mountain and left. Sute knew without a doubt that she was carrying Kai no Umazuke’s child. She went down to the mountain stream and felt something indescribably sweet—a tender thing beyond words—stirring in her belly, her eyes glistening. The inscrutable mystery of events—that in those brief moments of that day, one human had died while another had been readied to be born—struck this woman.

Kamuno stood planted before her and roared in anger. "Whose child is this?"

Sute did not answer. From that day onward, Kamuno treated Sute—who lay perpetually abed—as a nuisance sulking in obstinacy, fixing his contemptuous gaze upon this solitary woman whose looks withered by the day. telling her to lie down in some far corner where she wouldn't be in the way.

When spring approached and the old woman climbed up to the mountain again，Kamuno took her outside the stronghold and pressed her with harsh questions；the old woman stated there was nothing unusual about the pregnancy．Kamuno meticulously ascertained the month of conception，then admonished her never to visit again． The old woman muttered，"It’s not my fault，"and left．Though Sutehime didn’t understand their exchange’s content，she realized why Kamuno wore that angry expression．Yet she coldly stared back at him as he entered． Kamuno said．

“If you can say whose child it is, then say it.” “It’s Lord Kai no Umazuke’s child—without a doubt.”

“Why did you get pregnant with that man’s child?”

“Who could’ve known such a thing at a time like that? Don’t spout nonsense.”

“You didn’t know?” “He was a man who came resolved to die—what could I have possibly done to stop him?” “That brat should be cooled with water and killed.” “I’ll keep him warm and let him live a long life.” “Bring all the stronghold’s rags—I’ll warm them and fatten him up.” “This child was born from Kai no Umazuke’s death.” Kamuno thought that compared to his own fury, Sute’s rage burned fiercer—an unyielding force he couldn’t oppose—and in her desperate composure, this woman had become someone entirely different. Ever since then, he had no desire to approach the stronghold where two eyes always glared day and night, but now he had finally come to overlook Nobushi no Masaru disposing of impurities. Nobushi no Masaru continued attending to Sute day and night, but Kamuno shouted in frustrated rage, “You can have that filthy little woman!” Masaru simply worked diligently in silence, tending to meals and waste. Deep within the stronghold, Sute’s two eyes alternated their radiance—sometimes burning with a beast’s piercing gaze, other times vacant and unblinking, or else trying to hide in the shadows like a wild rabbit.

The season of green came to all mountains and the stronghold. The old woman climbed up, Nobushi no Masaru worked tirelessly like a white mouse, and at last Sutehime gave birth to a large baby. The baby grew and grew. From the moment she bore it, even the rough patches that had marked Sutehime's face were wiped away as smooth, beautiful skin took form. Drawn by Sutehime's transformation, Kamuno narrowed his eyes and tried to approach her—but with a scolding force, she repelled the aged beast in one motion. By then, even Nobushi no Masaru could no longer draw near her side. Sutehime holding the baby now stood as a vision brimming with raw sensuality. An enigmatic lullaby seeped faintly from the stronghold's depths outward, until even the underlings passed by wearing faint smiles that seemed to whisper, "Ah—so that's how it is."

Kamuno knew that unless he took the baby from Sute or killed it, she would never be his again. One day, while Sute was asleep, Kamuno tried to pick up the baby but was discovered by her keen ears. "What are you doing?!” Sutehime shouted, clutching the baby tightly to her chest. “It’s because of that brat that you hate me.” “Are you trying to kill this child? Tell me the truth.” “Leave it to me. I’ll make sure there’s no hardship.”

“Lord Kamuno, I’m a woman who bit off Kai’s tongue. Lay even a finger on this child, and I’ll…” Sutehime continued speaking, her gaze drifting like soot-darkened shadows: “…Not just your body—I’ll crunch every last throat bone to pieces. If you so much as lay a finger on this child, that’ll be your end. See? Even this is nothing…”

Suddenly, Sutehime grabbed the bamboo fire tongs stuck in the hearth, clamped them between her lips, and before one could blink, was crunching them to splinters with her upper and lower white front teeth. Fresh blood spurted and splattered from her teeth and lips. Kamuno rigidly visualized the blood-smeared face of Kai no Umazuke from that day—a face so bloodied it was beyond recognition. “See? Even Karakane.” The instant she took up the Karakane rod again and showed it, Kamuno could no longer endure it; feigning composure by suddenly pretending to have urgent business to attend to, he hurried out to the open area before the stronghold.

If left in that agitated state, she would keep crushing her teeth until not a single one remained—what a woman—what a woman she was! There was no telling what she might do to protect that baby. For the first time in his life, Kamuno felt something akin to fear emanating from Sute—this disheveled woman lying close by in bed. Kamuno tried to dismiss it as absurd—to reassure himself she was just bluffing—but absurdity was never merely its surface appearance.

Kamuno immediately encountered Nobushi no Masaru at the side of the stronghold. “Masaru—you’ve had trouble since then. Let’s go.” He yanked the mountain knife—its blade sheathed in wisteria vines—against a rock and severed the bindings. Then he thrust the bare blade before Masaru’s eyes. “Grab something too!” Kamuno roared. Masaru replied calmly, “Lord Kamuno—cut me down and the group fractures. Now’s no time for haste.” With that declaration, Nobushi no Masaru departed. “I acted rashly—my sight was clouded,” he thought. Returning to the stronghold, he tended Sute’s wounds—wiping her mouth and applying medicinal herbs. Apologizing—“Sute—I was wrong”—he kept repeating.

A few days later, Sutehime—holding her baby before everyone’s eyes with a bold, almost completely chilled expression—was on the verge of leaving the mountain stronghold. Kamuno spoke. “Where are you going?” she said. “I’ve made arrangements with Her Highness of Shijō-in—we agreed she would take custody of this child.” “And I won’t be coming back?” “That I cannot say—it depends on whether they’ll properly take custody of this child. I won’t disregard the kindness you showed me in raising me since I was thirteen.”

Nobushi no Masaru said in a strained voice. “Please do not come back.”

Kamuno said this gently yet with desperate earnestness. “You must return. A woman like you won’t last in the capital—this much is the truth.” “I don’t know whether I’ll return or not,” Nobushi no Masaru replied. At Kamuno’s command, a horse was prepared. Sutehime mounted it, clutching that gauze silk veil with insect patterns as proof, and departed the mountain stronghold for the capital where she had heard the Shijoin residence stood. Overwhelmed by the suddenness of an event he could not comprehend, Kamuno now felt Sute’s smooth body tingling across nearly his entire being as he watched her depart with longing.