KATANAGATARI 1
“No?”
“No,” Togame confirmed. “Let’s just say I didn’t have a standing invitation, Nanami.”
Behind the polite welcome Nanami had extended was a detectable backdrop of nervousness and caution─but Togame repaid her courtesy with brusque arrogance. The Schemer’s bearing suggested not even the slightest shame at arriving unannounced. As towards Shichika, she addressed Nanami without formality.35 But for someone who had eaten dirt and earned herself a fat bump on her forehead, such airs were nothing if not comical. Or were they? Up until she took her fall, the woman had been searching in vain for this very hut─her destination─and lost her way…for her to maintain such composure after such a misstep was perhaps less comical than admirable. But regardless of whether Nanami saw the humor in it, she didn’t let it hurt her feelings.
She had approached this situation from the first without concern for how Togame held herself. Her sole interest was why Togame had arrived. Shichika may have been the Seventh Master of the Kyotoryu, but with their father gone, Nanami was head of the house.
“Your sword is in safekeeping─I believe my brother has already informed you, but on this island, carrying or using any kind of blade is not allowed.”
“I suppose I have the Kyotoryu to thank for that.”
“Yes…but why attack my brother?”
“I merely hoped to spur him to reveal the school’s secrets. But I’m afraid my skills are not so sharp as his. I’m the Schemer─not a swordsman.”
“Still,” Shichika inserted himself into the exchange, “you sure know how to draw a sword.”
Too bad she couldn’t do more.
“Hah.” Togame laughed defiantly. “That much I’ve practiced.”
“…”
Why not go all the way?
Shichika did not approve.
“Your method was crude─I cannot say I’m much impressed.”
“Far be it from me to try to convince you otherwise, but I had my reasons. I knew Mutsue Yasuri of the Kyotoryu by name, but not by face. I’d hate to go after the wrong guy. What better way of confirming his identity than to force his hand and make him show36 the power of the Kyotoryu?”
“In which case,” deduced Nanami, “either Mutsue or Shichika would do.” She nodded comprehendingly.
But what was there to comprehend?
“How about you have another go?” Nanami glanced at the doorway, where leaned the blade. “Though I can’t say that I recommend it─the Kyotoryu may make him look unarmed, but Shichika is a sword, meant for killing.37 Not halfway. All the way. Consider yourself lucky for tripping on that rock. If your sword had so much as grazed him, you would have more than a bump on the forehead.”
Nanami’s words were keen enough to chill the room.
While her face said otherwise─she was angry that a blade had been turned against her brother.
Togame swallowed her breath, but not before Shichika could swallow his. He wanted to counter that he could in fact control his strength─how else could he train?─but his swallowed breath blocked any protest.
“I’ll take that as sufficient evidence I’ve come to the right place. I need this life of mine. Today is not my day to die.”
“Well, then.”
We are ready to hear you out, invited Nanami.
She was clearly holding court, and Togame was her subject. Between them, Shichika felt vaguely excluded, but he was not sensitive enough to interpret their exclusion as offensive. He merely figured it was best to let his sister handle things from here.
Togame tried to pique his interest.38
“Seventh Master of the Kyotoryu. Don’t you desire the world?”
“Nah.”
“Indeed. Who doesn’t? To be born into this world is to vie for its dominion. Don’t shy from your ambition. The Rebellion is fresh in our memories, but who could deny the determination of the rebels? Even the current shogunate had to seize their power first. No one has any reason to hold back in desiring such an office─wait, did you say ‘Nah’?!”
Fool me once.
Shame on you.
“Yeah. I mean, not ‘Nah’ as in ‘No’…”
Shichika searched for the right words.
Suddenly put on the spot, he had refuted her by reflex, without so much as understanding her question. Try as he might to take heed now, he couldn’t see what he was supposed to take. That was it─he should tell her that he didn’t get it. What was he to think when she came at him asking about the world? The only one he knew was Haphazard Island. How could he desire what was his?
This confounding, unenthused reaction made Togame roll her eyes. Nanami felt the need to intervene.39
“Please remember. This island is the only world we know. If you start from the end and explain things backwards or beat around the bush, you may as well assume you’ve lost him.”
“Thanks for clarifying.” Togame nodded. “Now, if it’s all the same, I hope you won’t mind if I ask for you to leave. I don’t want any little birds─”
“That’s out of the question,” Shichika cut her off before she could finish, and not by reflex. “Two reasons. First, the Kyotoryu is shared across our bloodline. If our father was alive, he would have both of us here beside him. Second…I’m not so good at thinking. I can’t understand difficult things. If you have something important that you want to say, it’s in your best interest for sis to be here.”
“Understood.”
Faced with Shichika’s response, Togame retreated, her arrogance intact. The first part was well and good, but the second was just embarrassing.
“Right you are─well then, so long as you can keep this strictly confidential, I’ll get started.”
“As simply as you can, please.”
“Have you ever heard of Kiki Shikizaki?40 The swordsmith.”41
“Nope.”
“Indeed. Even out here on this godforsaken island, anyone who calls himself a swordsman would know that name─no, for the Swordless Swordsmen of the Kyotoryu in particular, Kiki Shikizaki is a natural enemy. The same goes for you as for your ancestor Kazune. I’m sure he would agree that─wait, did you say ‘Nope’?!”
Fool me twice.
Shame on me.
“Come on, Shichika. You know who she’s talking about. Dad taught us about this. Kiki Shikizaki…the famous swordsmith from the war. Right, Miss Togame?”
“Huh? Is that really all you know?”
Togame wasn’t razzing Nanami. She was really asking. She didn’t even bother asking Shichika─and rightfully so. It sounded like their father had told them about the swordsmith, but Shichika, who skipped over any words that were too hard, seemed to have remembered nothing. It was his special move, and wholly unrelated to the Kyotoryu.
“What are you talking about? Is this Shikizaki, uh─what you said before…oh right, one of the guys from Mt. Fuji?”
“Not exactly─that’s hardly it… Nanami, how much did your father tell you about Kiki Shikizaki?”
“Just what you mentioned─that he’s the ultimate rival of the Kyotoryu, and that he had some deep connection42 to the founder of our school.”
“Anything else?”
“I’m afraid that’s all. I don’t even know what the connection was.”
Togame was silent, her face fixed in thought. These two knew almost nothing of the celebrated swordsmith. She could see if only Shichika was in the dark, but since Nanami didn’t know much either, Togame could safely guess that Mutsue had been stingy with the details. Why might that have been, she might have pondered.
Shichika, however, could not care less43─if Togame was going to tell them about the swordsmith, she could just get down off her high horse.
Not like it mattered to him if she told them.
“In the Age of Warring States, more than any other era in this country’s history, swordsmen were supreme─the power brokers of the battlefield were not the lords or the captains, but the swordsmen.”
Thus Togame began her story from the first─no, from zero.
“Kazune Yasuri was one among them─but the light of glory was cast forth by the swordsmiths. The forges.44 The craftsmen.45 If the swordsmen were the players, the smithies were the crew─nay, the stage directors. Needless to say, without a sword, the swordplay would be curtains. Kyotoryu being the exception.”
“Obviously.”
Shichika was onboard. This level of discussion was well within his grasp. He almost wished that she would stop right there, but she was only getting started.
“Those thirty-six great swordsmiths represented one camp, but the most heretical of heretics was Kiki Shikizaki. He pledged allegiance to no school, and manned his forge alone, aloof to the world, and yet his swords reigned over the warring states like none before or since.”
“Reigned how?” asked Nanami. “Over the warring states?”
“Quite literally. Unlike the Kyotoryu, who as you know swore its allegiance to the Tetsubi, Kiki Shikizaki swore fealty to no state or house. He allowed his swords to infiltrate the various powers. All told, they landed in twenty-five different states─a thousand swords.”
“Wait, a thousand?” asked Shichika.
“Just a thousand?” questioned Nanami.
The siblings clashed heads. They looked each other in the eye.
“I guess it’s not that many,” Shichika gave in.
Their dynamic was clear.
“A thousand swords across twenty-five states,” Nanami said. “Did each have forty?”
“No, each had a different number. In fact, that was the problem. Trust me, if I showed you a map, you would see how brutal the imbalance was─the states with the swords were the states with the power. The more Shikizaki blades a state possessed, the greater their dominance in battle.”
“Isn’t it the opposite?” asked Nanami, somewhat tentatively. “As in, The better the state fought its battles, the greater it became, the more Shikizaki blades they were able to collect?”
“No doubt, that’s the historical reality,” Togame agreed, “but the illusion I described was no less a reality. Those who possessed Shikizaki’s swords held the power. The only ones free from this illusion were the Tetsubi, who retained the Kyotoryu. Maybe that was why your father never told you about Kiki Shikizaki─”
Out of his pride for the Kyotoryu.
Could that be?
Shichika wanted to interrupt and say his father wasn’t like that, but kept quiet. Not because it was a pain, but because he was starting to get just a little curious about this Kiki Shikizaki character. He didn’t want to change the subject.
This swordsmith truly was the opposite of the Kyotoryu.
The swordsman who forsook his sword.
Against.
The thousand blades that reigned over the warring states.
“There is an emblematic episode. Were you aware that, at the close of the war, well before today’s Owari46 Bakufu was established, one man unified the nation, albeit only for a short time?”
“Yep.”
“Ha, even you know that much─wait, you do?!”
“Yeah.”
“Unreal.”
Togame didn’t like this.
Fool me three times?
She was pissed.
“Where was it,” muttered Shichika. “Oh yeah. Tosa in Shikoku. They joined forces with the other domains on the island─Awa, Sanuki, and Iyo─and planned to reign over the nation from Shikoku. They called him the Old Shogun, right?”
He couldn’t claim to know much more. Their father had tried to provide them with a proper education, a part of which was history, but Shichika remembered only isolated facts.
The Old Shogun.
The daimyo responsible for putting an end to two hundred and fifty years of war. But by the time he had seized power and unified the nation, he was old, without an heir, and unable to control what would happen to the nation he had unified. Though he may have been shogun, he had no family to succeed him. Nevertheless, the Old Shogun was a mighty force, and the Owari Bakufu had merely picked up where he left off─or that’s what Mutsue had taught.
“Did the Old Shogun have swords from Shikizaki too?” asked Nanami. “Based on what you’ve said, he must have owned more Shikizaki swords than anyone.”
“True,” affirmed Togame. “When he overtook the nation, the Old Shogun possessed five hundred and seven Shikizaki blades─a majority of them. With that many, it would have been stranger if he had failed to rule the land. Given the…illusion we discussed.”
“A majority─sounds obsessed with collecting. Like some kid.”
“He was insatiable. But this is how he seized the throne so swiftly. Listen─I had planned to touch upon this later, but now is actually perfect. In the short time the Old Shogun was in power, his government barely had a chance to govern─with one important exception. And I don’t mean important to me. Important to history. Do you know what it was?”
“Nope.”
“Oh, um…”
Togame was wary of a fourth back and forth with Shichika. Now she didn’t know what to say. Things were not proceeding as planned.
“From what you’ve said so far, you must mean the Sword Hunt,” Nanami chimed in, more than accustomed to her brother’s curtness.
“The Great Sword Hunt,”47 she elaborated. “Among the most ignoble acts of legislation in our nation’s history─some say, it was the reason that the Old Shogun’s bloodline did not rule after him.”
“Oh yeah,” said Shichika. “I remember now.”
He wasn’t simply faking after having heard the answer. He actually did remember. He must have learned about it from his father. The Great Sword Hunt─a stupid law requiring every person in Japan, without exception, to hand over their blades, supposedly to amass enough metal to cast a giant buddha.
“But that was just a front, right? Weren’t they really hunting swordsmen? The way I remember it, the Old Shogun was trying to smoke out all the warriors and rid their kind from Japan. They may as well have called it what it was: a swordsman hunt.”
“That motive was there, to be sure,” said Togame. “The Old Shogun started from the bottom as a foot soldier, brandishing a single sword, but he made it to the top. He knew as well as anyone how far and fast a swordsman could climb. He must have deemed the world had room for no swordsman but himself. But what you termed a front was no lie, either. On Mt. Sayabashiri in Tosa, on the grounds of Seiryoin Gokenji Temple, a statue of Gautama, known affectionately as Katana Buddha, was cast from melted swords collected in the hunt. Today, Mt. Sayabashiri is renowned as a tourist destination, especially among swordsmen, who view it as a holy site and journey there as pilgrims.”
Togame shot Nanami a sidelong glance, no doubt to see if the sister guessed what was coming. It seemed that she had caught the gist.
“But neither the surface nor the underlying reason was the truth of the story, right?” Nanami picked up the thread. “He just wanted to collect all of the Shikizaki swords.”
“Precisely!” Togame slapped her knee with the satisfaction of a storyteller. “The Old Shogun was trying to collect all thousand Shikizaki swords. After relieving the daimyos of their portions, he scoured the land for every sword that had landed in private hands─this was the true purpose of the hunt. He was convinced the Shikizaki blades were the reason he’d been able to claim power─an illusion? Perhaps. A delusion? Maybe so. But he was a believer. Those swords were his true purpose, and their truth was sacrosanct. Which was all the more reason for him to seek out the remaining four hundred and ninety-three. To clad his regime in steel.”
“Stupid law.” Shichika was fed up. “Some guys can handle power, and some guys can’t. It would’ve made more sense if he were actually trying to hunt swordsmen.”
“In a sense,” Togame said. “But in the three years before the hunt was curtailed, the Old Shogun came nowhere near eradicating all the warriors,48 although he did deliver on his buddha, and amass well over a hundred thousand swords.”
“Hundred thousand─that’s all?”
“Hundred thousand─that’s a lot!”
Here we go again.
Shichika and Nanami locked horns.
You know who gave in.
“I’ll admit that hoarding a hundred thousand swords to find five hundred may have been overkill,” Togame agreed, “but by and large, what they found was nothing special. Run of the mill. Nevertheless, they managed to collect the vast majority of the Shikizaki blades. Most were already in the hands of the daimyos, who by then were sitting ducks, but it took no small amount of strategy to track down the hermit swordsmen who held the others.”
“Vast majority? You mean they didn’t get them all?”
“Not all of them. They found another four hundred and eighty-one. In the end, the Old Shogun possessed a grand total of nine hundred and eighty-eight Shikizaki blades.”
“Wait, what? How come they ended the Great Sword Hunt after three years, before they found them all? Oh, I get it. The rest must have been busted in the war.”
“Wrong─the Old Shogun gave up.”
“Why?”
What would make the ruler of a country give up?
“Flawed as the Great Sword Hunt may have been, it was the law of the land. They managed to trace the whereabouts of all one thousand swords. But for some, only the whereabouts.”
“But if they knew where they were, they should have grabbed them. We call him the Old Shogun now, but back then, he was the Shogun. So what was he afraid of? Even if the swords had rightful owners, he had the power, and might was right─right?”
“If he were only so lucky.49 Remember, Shikizaki didn’t create normal weapons─frankly, I’m not even sure it’s accurate to call those things katana. They were forged under the premise that people don’t use swords─swords make them who they are. Some call his swords the Mutant Blades,50 which I think is closer to the point.”
“The most heretical of heretics,” said Nanami.
“Exactly. And the twelve remaining swords were the most peculiar of the lot. Some today maintain that the nine hundred and eighty-eight swords the Old Shogun managed to collect were merely prototypes for the remaining twelve.”
“Made a thousand…just for twelve?”
“Even loopier than hoarding a hundred thousand for five hundred,” sneered Togame.
She pulled a folded piece of paper from her kimono.
It bore the following markings in red ink:
Zetto the Leveler
Zanto the Razor
Sento the Legion
Hakuto the Whisper
Zokuto the Armor
Soto the Twin
Akuto the Eel
Bito the Sundial
Oto the Cured
Seito the Garland
Dokuto the Basilisk
Ento the Bead
Nanami was the first to offer her opinion.
“That’s a funny bunch of names. Are these swords famous?”
“Less so than you might think. But their power is more awful than the most legendary enchanted blade.51 Allow me to put things in perspective. Take, for example, this fifth one on the list.”
Zokuto the Armor.
“This sword was located shortly after the Old Shogun launched the Great Sword Hunt─at the time, it was being held by the captain of a band of pirates marauding the Inland Sea. When the pirates proved resistant to negotiation and unprepared to bow to his authority, the Shogun issued a new law dubbed the Pirate Ban.52 Ostensibly intent on maintaining the peace, the handy pretext aimed to help them seize the Shikizaki blades and drub the pirates in one go.”
“A lot of work for a single sword.”
“Indeed. And that was only the beginning. The Pirate Ban was one of the more orthodox decrees. Nevertheless─it was a failure. That one sword managed to defeat every last bruiser in the Shogun’s army.”
“You mean it beat them?”
“Creamed them. But don’t expect to read that in any history book─that was the Old Shogun’s first encounter with the horrors of the Twelve Possessed, Shikizaki’s masterpieces. And over the ensuing three years, he met the same fate twelve times over.”
“…”
Silence reigned over the scene. The madness53 that Togame told of wasn’t lost on the two siblings, however sheltered and unworldly they were─and yet.
“Being so powerful may have allowed them to collect so many Shikizaki blades─and yet, from the sound of it, that might be a blithe interpretation.”
“I’m not sure if the same goes for Kyotoryu, but most schools have a saying: ‘A sword will choose its owner.’ The sense is usually positive, though not always. It may sound close to Shikizaki’s line about how ‘People don’t use swords─swords make them who they are,’ but it’s a world apart… We know each sword was brandished by an individual of uncommon skill. Turning this around, we could say these individuals only came to possess the swords because their skill was so exemplary. That goes for the pirate, too. But I’m afraid that leaves much unexplained.”
Togame paused. “There’s that illusion again. No─more than an illusion.”
“And more than a delusion?”
“I’m not saying every word of this is true.”
“So that’s why they’re legendary, enchanted swords…”
“That is why they are more─Nanami, you said the reason for the Old Shogun losing power was the fallout of the Great Sword Hunt, but the deciding factor was unquestionably these twelve defeats, lost as they may be to history. The Old Shogun was in no position to appoint a successor from outside his bloodline. In the end, his fiefdom was worth no more than fifty thousand koku54 of rice.”
“I had no idea. That’s nothing like what I’ve heard.”
“Reality is not for civilians, and history is writ by the victorious. Why would the winning side sully their journal with details they’d rather forget?”
With an air of finality, Togame folded up the piece of paper and drank the cup of steaming water Nanami had offered her. Instead of stowing the piece of paper at her breast, however, she passed it to Shichika.
“Which brings us back to why I am here today on your island, Shichika Yasuri, Master of the Kyotoryu. I need your help retrieving the Twelve Possessed of Kiki Shikizaki─I have come here to enlist you.”
“…”
Silence. Thick enough to slice.
Shichika was not so socially inept to refuse her outright─though Togame, after so many surprises, had likely braced herself for such a disappointment─in actuality, he was slow to answer half because Togame’s words had captured his imagination, and half because her account was too grand for his brains to comprehend.
He turned to Nanami for help. When in doubt, ask sis. But Nanami─had closed her eyes. It appeared that she was brooding over Togame’s words. Heavily─she sighed.
“Is this what you meant by desire the world?”
She opened her eyes. Glaring at Togame, who appeared to wince. The Schemer caught herself, but before she could respond, Nanami continued.
“Maybe things were different during the Age of Warring States, but at this point, those twelve swords would never be enough to take over the country. It doesn’t matter whether your story is a fantasy, or a delusion, or the truth─or anything else. The current bakufu is secure. Even during the Rebellion, they had enough power to─”
“Enough power─exactly.” Togame welcomed the assist. “The nine hundred and eighty-eight swords reclaimed by the Old Shogun are now in the possession of the present bakufu. Supposing the illusion is a reality, it may be precisely why the bakufu is secure.”
“But in that case, what made the Old Shogun fall from grace?”
“Fall is a strong word. He simply lacked a successor─though a shogun without one sounds like some fairy tale. Anyway, Nanami, you’re basically correct. In these times of peace and order,55 discovering the twelve lost swords would matter little. When I asked if Shichika desired the world, that was a rhetorical question and merely a way of launching my explanation of the Shikizaki blades. It’s not like the world’s mine to offer.”
“Okay.”
Okay─but was it?
Shichika saw no use keeping up if even simple questions had no answer.
And yet.
“While I can’t believe you’d never heard about the Shikizaki blades, that’s not what I came here to say─”
“Wait a second, do you work for the bakufu?”
Bullseye. The way he said it cut through the conversation.
“I guess you could be working for one of their enemies─if they weren’t wiped out in the Rebellion. Not likely, huh?”
“I would have preferred not to tell you just yet.”
Togame was flustered. Shichika had ruined her story. And still she sat there, looking silly, holding out the folded piece of paper, playbill of the Twelve Possessed─for him to take.
“You’re right─but how’d you figure me out?”
“I didn’t. It’s not like I gave it any real thought. But you seem to know things, inside out─like about what’s his face the swordsmith, and even the Kyotoryu. That line about enlisting me didn’t help. I got to wondering if you wanted these twelve swords to give the bakufu an even thousand.”
“You didn’t think a whitehaired lady in a crazy outfit couldn’t possibly be working for the government?”
“Huh? No. Why?”
“…”
There’s no running from stray fire.
Togame should have known, but she glared unpleasantly at Shichika.
“No matter… For your information, this is not a costume…but I guess the truth is out. Allow me to introduce myself formally. I am Togame the Schemer, Grand Commander of Arms of the Yanari Shogunate Military Directorate, Owari Bakufu.”
“Grand Commander of Arms, you say.”
Having gathered that Togame was not some nobody, Nanami must have been waiting for the other boot to drop. Perhaps she even guessed a moment before her brother that Togame was affiliated with the shogunate. But their guest’s official title was far longer than she could have imagined. She was stunned. Nanami wasn’t one to show it, but the waver in her voice was hard to miss.
Meanwhile, Shichika was unfazed. He knew the shogunate was called by that name, but nothing about its structure, and had no idea how high up a Grand Commander was. It sounded important, to be sure, but he didn’t know why. The concept of rank was beyond him.
Nanami would know.
“Hey, sis. So she doesn’t command his legs?”
“Arms as in an army, Shichika. It’s a directorate consisting entirely of strategists. Thanks to lessons learned during the Age of Warring States, it came into being concurrently with the current bakufu. In fact, during the Rebellion, Dad wielded the Kyotoryu under them.”
“So…my dad worked for your dad, Togame?”
“…”
She was at a loss to answer. Better put, she was about to lose it.
“What’d I say?”
“Nothing. You’re just so innocent, I could kill you. Let’s make this clear. I didn’t inherit my title from my father. The office of Grand Commander is nothing like the Kyotoryu. It isn’t passed down.56 Where I come from, ability is all that counts. If you have what it takes, the world can be yours─even if you’re a woman or a child.”
“Even if you can’t swing a sword?”
“I use my head. As a Schemer, I take pride in my eschewal of armaments. My inability to wield a sword makes me a perfect arbiter of swordplay.”
She spoke down to Shichika, not expecting a blockhead martial artist to understand, but what really puzzled him was her suggestion that any world where ability didn’t count existed. Maybe he’d implied that she was some princess sitting on her daddy’s fortune, but it wasn’t worth getting riled up about. She was wrong to spout, “nothing like the Kyotoryu.” And if she shooed armaments, why did she end up swinging a sword, he wanted to nitpick.
Parley as Shichika might with Togame, they seemed to be talking past each other.
“Much of our work happens behind the scenes, alongside the Onmitsu.57 Though by now ‘alongside’ may be a bit misleading. Our organization probably won’t be in future history textbooks. And it’s not like we carry badges. You’ll just have to trust that I’m not an imposter.”
“I trust you,” Shichika answered readily. “Your high-fluting attitude is proof enough.”
Togame took an overly deep breath, trying to push through this affrontery, but she seemed to reconsider and acknowledge that his trust was the best thing she could ask for.
She turned away from Shichika, toward his sister.
“And you, Nanami?”
“You’ve asked the Master of the Kyotoryu. If Shichika trusts you, I trust you. Now that I understand your affiliation and who you really are, most of what had been confusing me makes sense.”
“I can see how that would clear things up. But I’m afraid from where I sit this is not the most advantageous of developments. If knowing that I work for the government causes you to hold back, I should not be so transparent.”
“Why would we hold back?” asked Shichika.
The frankness of the question baffled Togame. “Because─”
“If it’s about our father, don’t worry,” Nanami interjected. Her words were candid and unvarnished. “Our father taught us to come to terms with─his banishment. We harbor no ill will for the bakufu.”
“That’s reassuring.”
“But really, go on. If you’re working for the bakufu, they must have ordered you to find the twelve remaining swords─but why now? Other than allowing them to gloat over amassing all thousand of the Shikizaki blades, what good does it do? The Owari Bakufu has been in power over a hundred and fifty years─and in all that time, the only threat to their regime was the Rebellion. And it’s over.”
“The Rebellion isn’t over. Not exactly. Yes, the Owari Bakufu has lasted for a hundred and fifty years─long enough for anyone who understood the meaning of the Age of Warring States to die away. These Shikizaki blades have become little more than talismans─but we’d do well to take another look. What if the ringleaders of the Rebellion had all been wielders of the Possessed?”
Nine hundred and eighty-eight swords─versus twelve. It was no match in numerical terms. But if it took nine hundred and eighty-eight experiments to attain the twelve─
“In retrospect, it would be an open question whether they could have been crushed by force. The Old Shogun was powerless against the Twelve Possessed─and remember, he was on the offense. His foes did nothing more than respond in kind. Imagine what would have happened, how far he would have fallen, if they paid him back and then some.”
“We’re talking a hundred fifty years ago. The swords must have changed hands by now.”
“Certainly, but the owners are none of our concern. These swords, as Kiki Shikizaki made them, do the owning. And if the Possessed have found new homes, that’s not exactly bad news for the bakufu. We live in a peaceful world. There’s no way the dozen who have them now could be as tough as those stalwarts.”
“Are you saying the bakufu is scared of another Rebellion?” asked Shichika. He was thinking─indisposed to thinking as his brains may be.
It seemed to him the bakufu, or at least its upper ranks, had taken the Rebellion as a cue to round up the remaining Shikizaki blades before someone beat them to it. If the Old Shogun really had failed twelve times standing, he could see where they were coming from. What if the twelve swords, each so menacing alone, were used in concert, in the spirit of the late Rebellion? That would terrorize the bakufu. Which made collecting the last swords a matter of national security.
But this reasoning left much to be desired. Their strategy must have another side. What if they ended up aggravating whoever owned the swords?
“That’s where the Schemer comes in.” Having read his mind, Togame spoke decisively. “Someone like me, who works behind the scenes.”
“Um, I’ve been meaning to ask…” Nanami said. “What exactly does a Schemer…do? Is it some new rank the bakufu created in the last twenty years?”
“No. I made it up.”58
Not a whiff of shame. Made up? She made it up?
“The Great Sword Hunt is history. At this point we need to proceed with the utmost caution. While I have my own opinions on the matter, I’m in no position to quibble over the particulars of an order from on high. If my liege charges me with gathering the Shikizaki blades, I’ll set to work hatching a scheme.”
“Hatch─”
“Just as a tactician deals in tactics, the Schemer deals in schemes─to the extreme. The most exceptional tasks are reserved for my most exceptional office.” Togame struck a pose59─like she was on stage. “Which brings me to you, Master of the Kyotoryu. Let’s join forces. As a Swordless Swordsman, you must be curious about how the other half lives─and about these Shikizaki blades and the ultimate dozen.”
“I won’t say no…but why me? Why the Kyotoryu? Earlier, I wondered if you might be an enemy of the bakufu because who else would bother coming here─right? So why are you here? You originally came for my father.”
“Not necessarily. I knew, by now, your father would be at least two decades past his prime─too far along to head off on a wild sword chase. My plan, should he refuse, was to ask for his permission to borrow the son he raised here, on this island. Just for a while.”
“Borrow…” growled Nanami. She wasn’t happy.
Shichika could tell. This could be bad.
If this Togame lady was rubbing Shichika the wrong way, she might feel downright abrasive to Nanami. Perhaps the dynamic between the women only seemed different because they were both smart.
“If this son of his proved capable, that is.”
“First of all,” Shichika took the wheel before Togame could continue with her provocations. A rare moment of engagement from someone so averse to action. “You don’t need any help─not from me or from my father’s school─not if you’re working for the bakufu. The Kyotoryu may be unrivaled in its strength, but it’s also the school of a banished criminal. The bakufu has money. You can hire proper help.”
“No. My help can’t work for money. I tried that already, thank you very much. Or should I say, I followed standard policy, which is to contract work to ninjas.”
“Ninjas?”60
“The Maniwa Clan, to be precise. But I suppose you haven’t heard of them, either. For future reference, theirs is among the oldest orders, up there with the Iga and the Koga.61 We’ve hired them for countless other jobs. Worked with them for years. But suddenly they stab us in the back.”
What was Togame saying? Stabbed in the back─by ninjas? This was not the world Shichika knew. The clans were known for their unflagging allegiance. You would sooner find the sea gone dry than suffer their betrayal.
“Why did they do it?”
“Why wouldn’t they? A single Shikizaki blade is worth more than the finest piece of art. Enough to buy a country.62 Anyone who works for money will stab your back for money.” Togame cast her eyes upon the piece of paper sitting on the floor. “Once they had Zetto the Leveler63 in their grasp, they made off like bandits. And I don’t mean the ninja that we hired. I mean the whole Maniwa Clan.”
“The whole…”
“The entire clan went rogue. And thanks to them, all ninjas have lost the better graces of the bakufu. Almost makes me sorry for their brethren, the Onmitsu, humiliated by association.”
“Oh, those guys. Right… But if the ninjas betrayed you, the unthinkable came true. That sucks. You have a point about money, though. Makes sense. How about honor? You need someone who works for pride, whom money can’t buy. Honor makes a swordsman. That’s what my dad always said.”
“Swordsmen are useless to me. The Shikizaki blades─poison them.”
“Really?”
“Trust me, samurai were the obvious next choice. I found some good ones, too. And from the strongest and most loyal warriors, I cherry-picked one swordsman. A fine young buck of barely twenty named Hakuhei Sabi.”
“Sabi?64 Sounds weak to me. And twenty? That’s even younger than me.”
“I take your point. But his skill was genuine. He was an incomparable artist with a sword. By now, a hundred fifty years after the Great Sword Hunt, there are only six swords, including the Leveler, whose whereabouts and owner are both known. But on his first day, Sabi tracked down the most evasive sword among them, Hakuto the Whisper.”
“Go, Sabi, go.”
“But once he had it in his grasp, he disappeared.”
“Whoa, Sabi.”
“Like I said. It poisoned him. To a man who works for honor, the honor of possessing a Shikizaki sword was irresistible. Since most of the bakufu’s upper ranks got their start as swordsmen, however, the profession didn’t lose credibility as a whole. Nay, it is I, Togame, who lost their trust.”
Which made perfect sense. Her lofty bearing made it hard to see, but she had failed outright, and twice. Adding insult to injury, both times her hired hands absconded with the swords. To put it cynically, she had done nothing but place the swords in stronger hands.
It only takes three strikes.65 The third time’s the charm, they also say.
In other words─it was the Schemer’s last chance.
“And now you want the Kyotoryu to save you,” Nanami said. “You need a swordsman who isn’t after money─a swordsman with no use for a sword. And no one else is qualified.”
“Precisely. The blades will not poison the Master of the Kyotoryu. And honestly, I don’t have time to wait─for all we know, the Maniwa and Sabi have set their sights on the remainder of the Twelve Possessed. That is the kind of men they are. Having turned traitor, they are now formidable foes, and they must be defeated. Shichika Yasuri, Master of the Kyotoryu─only you boast the skills to allow the Owari Bakufu to last a millennium. Will you fight for me?”
As if to try again─she picked up and offered him the folded piece of paper. Looked him in the eye. Nothing left to say.
“I get it.”
But Shichika would not accept the piece of paper.
Much as it seemed he had no other option.
“Listen. You’ve made it clear why you need the Kyotoryu, but that doesn’t explain why I need to find these swords for you. You’re right that I don’t care about money, and I need a sword like I need a thorn in my side, but frankly I couldn’t give a crap about the bakufu. I ain’t no samurai. I don’t consider it an honor to take orders from the government.”
“…”
“Like sis said, we’re not sore about what happened to Dad. Twenty years ago, when we were little kids, we blamed noble folk like you, but now it’s just a pain, nothing more─because here’s the thing. I’ve come to like living on the island. I’m not in any mood to sail over to the mainland and play66 samurai.”
“You’re scared.”
“Sure I’m scared…” Togame had tried to strike a nerve, but Shichika was not about to disagree. “Mostly, though, it’s a pain in the butt.”
“Shichika─”
“Come on, Nanami. You feel the same.”
Her interruption cut off, Nanami fell silent. Seeing this, Shichika faced back toward Togame and went on.
“I’m curious about this Shikizaki character. Making all these fancy swords. From what you say, it’s the complete opposite of my school. But I’m not curious enough to hop into a boat. And if he was born around the same time as our founder, he must have died ages ago. Sorry you had to come all the way out here. But don’t worry. You’ll find someone. Thanks for the story. Would have been even better as a bedtime story. Too bad it’s so early.”
“You’re unbelievable.”
Faced with Shichika Yasuri’s curt refusal, Togame couldn’t help but smile. She had him. In the palm of her hand. They may have strayed off-topic, even zigged and zagged, but she had led him down the route, as planned, and had him where she wanted him. Her smile said it all.
“You think that’s all I got? Please. I knew you’d say that. Word for word. After being burned twice, by those ninjas and that samurai, can you seriously see me─the Schemer─coming all the way out to this island without a surefire way of winning you over?”
Her voice was sticky with insinuation. Shichika looked puzzled.
“You think you have something? To make me move. Some reason I should help collect those twelve swords…”
“Yep.” You bet she did. “I can’t trust people who work for money, and I can’t trust people who work for honor. Beyond that, there’s only one thing anyone would work for─love.”
“L-Love?”
“I can trust a man who works for love.”
He had a decent body.
Handsome enough.
Maybe not so bright, but he would do.
“Shichika Yasuri. Go ahead and fall for me.”
1 四里 YONRI four 里 RI = approx. 2.5 miles
2 不承島 FUSHŌJIMA “un-assented island” evokes 不精髭 BUSHŌHIGE, a lazy beard, and 不祥事 FUSHŌJI, a scandalous event
3 面倒 MENDŌ nuisance
4 鑢 七花 YASURI SHICHIKA “Seventh Flower of the File” seventh generation of the Kyotoryu his family name evokes a tool capable of honing or abrading other implements
5 鑢 七実 YASURI NANAMI “Seventh Fruit of the File”
6 羽織 HAORI short robe worn over kimono
7 ため息 TAMEIKI “pent-up breath”
8 島流し SHIMANAGASHI marooning
9 頓死 TONSHI “die a sudden death”
10 姉ちゃん NEHCHAN term of endearment for an older sister (or young woman)
11 刃物 HAMONO blades of any kind
12 生霊 IKIRYŌ “living ghost” the apparition of a living person
13 死霊 SHIRYŌ “dead ghost” a dead soul visiting from the afterlife
14 理屈 RIKUTSU logical arguments
15 割れ鍋に綴じ蓋 WARENABE NI TOJIBUTA complementary
16 方向音痴 HŌKŌ ONCHI “deaf to direction”
17 着崩す KIKUZUSU dressing down a formal outfit by loosening or shortening the fit
18 粋 IKI “cool” as an antonym of “obsessed”
19 つり目 TSURIME vs. たれ目 TAREME, eyes which lower at the corners
20 鑢 六枝 YASURI MUTSUE “Sixth Branch of the File”
21 不肖 FUSHŌ a humble way to introduce oneself echoes 不承島 FUSHŌJIMA, Haphazard Island
22 とがめ TOGAME an unlikely name, the word means blame or accusation
23 奇策士 KISAKUSHI neologism for an expert on surprise strategies
24 太刀 TACHI progenitor of the katana: meant for use on horseback
25 尺 SHAKU just under a foot
26 刃文 HAMON “blade pattern” line marking the tempered portion of the blade
27 直刃 SUGUHA straight HAMON
28 富岳 FUGAKU another name for Mt. Fuji
29 虚しい MUNASHII futile (when the word is inflected in this manner)
30 鑢 一根 YASURI KAZUNE “First Root of the File”
31 日本刀 NIHONTŌ Japanese swords in particular
32 無刀取り MUTŌDORI borrowing moves from swordplay to wield other objects, or even fight barehanded, against an armed opponent
33 門外不出 MONGAI FUSHUTSU “must not pass through the gates” hermetic secret
34 白湯 SAYU plain hot water
35 呼び捨て YOBISUTE speech omitting honorifics like さん SAN or さま SAMA
36 名札代わり NAFUDAGAWARI “as a nametag”
37 殺人剣 SATSUJINNKEN “the sword that takes life” concept in martial arts philosophy vs. 活人剣 KATSUJINKEN “the sword that gives life”
38 水を向ける MIZU WO MUKERU “to offer water” from the custom of doing so to summon spirits
39 助け舟を出す TASUKEBUNE WO DASU “send a lifeboat”
40 四季崎記紀 SHIKIZAKI KIKI SHIKIZAKI “Cape Four Seasons” KIKI shorthand for the two oldest Japanese chronicles: 古事記 KOJIKI “Record of Ancient Matters” and 日本書紀 NIHONSHOKI “The Chronicles of Japan”
41 刀鍛冶 KATANAKAJI blacksmith specializing in swords
42 因縁 IN’NEN a fated bond
43 露とも TSUYU TOMO “not a dewdrop”
44 刀工 TŌKŌ swordsmith (emphasis on production, manufacturing)
45 刀匠 TŌSHŌ swordsmith (emphasis on skill, mastery)
46 尾張 OWARI homophone with 終わり OWARI “The End” a genuine historical domain headquartered in present-day Nagoya
47 刀狩令 KATANAGARI REI federal seizure of civilian swords for governmental use occurred several times in Japanese history; this simulacrum represents Sword Hunt at its worst
48 武士 BUSHI samurai
49 問屋が卸さない TONYA GA OROSANAI “can’t buy that wholesale” no such luck
50 変体刀 HENTAITŌ “Odd Body Katana” vs. 変態 HENTAI pervert
51 名刀妖刀 MEITŌ YŌTŌ swords renowned for magical abilities
52 海賊取締令 KAIZOKU TORISHIMARI REI real law enacted in 1588 by Hideyoshi Toyotomi
53 荒唐無稽 KŌTŌMUKEI absurdity and nonsense
54 石 KOKU one koku = ten cubic shaku, enough rice for one person to eat for one year. Fifty thousand koku is barely high enough to qualify its owner as a daimyo.
55 天下泰平 TENKA TAIHEI halcyon days
56 世襲 SESHŪ to succeed the previous generation
57 隠密 ONMITSU ninja operatives active in Japan from the Nanboku era
58 自称 JISHŌ self-ordained
59 大見得 ŌMIE “big pose” moment in Kabuki when an actor postures for the audience
60 忍者 NINJA “those who hide/endure”
61 伊賀 甲賀 IGA KŌGA two legendary ninja enclaves, based in present-day Mie and Shiga, respectively
62 国 KUNI either province or nation, like the English word “state”
63 絶刀 鉋 ZETTŌ KANNA “The Absolute Katana: Plane” (as in the carpentry tool)
64 錆 SABI rust
65 仏の顔も三度 HOTOKE NO KAO MO SANDO “to test the patience of a buddha”
66 ちゃんばら CHANBARA sound of clashing swords