Shogun_ A Novel of Japan Part 35

"Those dates and names. You're not mistaken? He said them exactly like that?"

"No, Eminence. The names were written on a piece of paper. He showed it to me."

"Blackthorne's writing?"

"No. The names were written phonetically in j.a.panese, in hiragana." hiragana."

"We've got to find out who's interpreting for Toranaga. He must be astonis.h.i.+ngly good. Surely not one of ours? It can't be Brother Manuel, can it?" he asked bitterly, using Masamanu Jiro's baptismal name. Jiro was the son of a Christian samurai who had been educated by the Jesuits since childhood and, being intelligent and devout, had been selected to enter the seminary to be trained to be a full priest of the four vows, of which there were none from the j.a.panese yet. Jiro had been with the Society for twenty years, then, incredibly, he left before being ordained and he was now a violent antagonist of the Church.

"No. Manuel's still in Kyushu, may he burn in h.e.l.l forever. He's still a violent enemy of Toranaga's, he'd never help him. Fortunately, he was never party to any political secrets. The interpreter was the Lady Maria," Alvito said, using Toda Mariko's baptismal name.

"Toranaga told you that?"

"No, your Eminence. But I happen to know that she's been visiting the castle, and she was seen with the Ingeles."

"You're sure?"

"Our information is completely accurate."

"Good," dell'Aqua said. "Perhaps G.o.d is helping us in His inscrutable fas.h.i.+on. Send for her at once."

"I've already seen her. I made it my business to meet her by chance. She was delightful as always, deferential, pious as always, but she said pointedly before I had an opportunity to question her, 'Of course, the Empire is a very private land, Father, and some things, by custom, have to stay very private. Is it the same in Portugal, and within the Society of Jesus?'"

"You're her confessor."

"Yes. But she won't say anything."

"Why?"

"Clearly she's been forewarned and forbidden to discuss what happened and what was said. I know them too well. In this, Toranaga's influence would be greater than ours."

"Is her faith so small? Has our training of her been so inept? Surely not. She's as devout and as good a Christian as any woman I've ever met. One day she'll become a nun-perhaps even the first j.a.panese abbess."

"Yes. But she will say nothing now."

"The Church is in jeopardy. This is important, perhaps too important," dell'Aqua said. "She would understand that. She's far too intelligent not to realize it."

"I beg you, do not put her faith to the test in this. We must lose. She warned me. That's what she was saying as clearly as if it were written down."

"Perhaps it would be good to put her to the test. For her own salvation."

"That's up to you to order or not to order. But I'm afraid that she must obey Toranaga, Eminence, and not us."

"I will think about Maria. Yes," dell'Aqua said. He let his eyes drift to the fire, the weight of his office crus.h.i.+ng him. Poor Maria. That cursed heretic! How do we avoid the trap? How do we conceal the truth about the guns? How could a Father Superior and Vice-Provincial like da Cunha, who was so well trained, so experienced, with seven years' practical knowledge in Macao and j.a.pan-how could he make such a hideous mistake?

"How?" he asked the flames.

I can answer, he told himself. It's too easy. You panic or you forget the glory of G.o.d or become pride-filled or arrogant or petrified. Who wouldn't have, perhaps, under the same circ.u.mstances? To be received by the Taik at sunset with favor, a triumphal meeting with pomp and ceremony-almost like an act of contrition by the Taik, who was seemingly on the point of converting. And then to be awakened in the middle of the same night with the Taik's Expulsion Edicts decreeing that all religious orders were to be out of j.a.pan within twenty days on pain of death, never to return, and worse, that all j.a.panese converts throughout the land were ordered to recant at once or they would immediately be exiled or put to death.

Driven to despair, the Superior had wildly advised the Kyushu Christian daimyos daimyos-Onos.h.i.+, Misaki, Kiyama and Harima of Nagasaki among them-to rebel to save the Church and had written frantically for conquistadores to stiffen the revolt.

The fire spluttered and danced in the iron grate. Yes, all true, dell'Aqua thought. If only I'd known, if only da Cunha had consulted me first. But how could he? It takes six months to send a letter to Goa and perhaps another six months for one to return and da Cunha did write immediately but he was the Superior and on his own and had to cope at once with the disaster.

Though dell'Aqua had sailed immediately on receiving the letter, with hastily arranged credentials as Amba.s.sador from the Viceroy of Goa, it had taken months to arrive at Macao, only to learn that da Cunha was dead, and that he and all Fathers were forbidden to enter j.a.pan on pain of death.

But the guns had already gone.

Then, after ten weeks, came the news that the Church was not obliterated in j.a.pan, that the Taik was not enforcing his new laws. Only half a hundred churches had been burned. Only Takayama had been smashed. And word seeped back that though the Edicts would remain officially in force, the Taik was now prepared to allow things to be as they were, provided that the Fathers were much more discreet in their conversions, their converts more discreet and well behaved, and that there were no more blatant public wors.h.i.+p or demonstrations and no burning of Buddhist churches by zealots.

Then, when the ordeal seemed at an end, dell'Aqua had remembered that the guns had gone weeks before, under Father Superior da Cunha's seal, that they still lay in the Jesuit Nagasaki warehouses.

More weeks of agony ensued until the guns were secretly smuggled back to Macao-yes, under my seal this time, dell'Aqua reminded himself, hopefully the secret buried forever. But those secrets never leave you in peace, however much you wish or pray.

How much does the heretic know?

For more than an hour his Eminence sat motionless in his high-backed leather chair, staring sightlessly at the fire. Alvito waited patiently near the bookcase, his hands in his lap. Shafted sunlight danced off the silver crucifix on the wall behind the Father-Visitor. On one side wall was a small oil by the Venetian painter t.i.tian that dell'Aqua had bought in his youth in Padua, where he had been sent by his father to study law. The other wall was lined with his Bibles and his books, in Latin, Portuguese, Italian, and Spanish. And, from the Society's own movable-type press at Nagasaki that he had ordered and brought at so much cost from Goa ten years ago, two shelves of j.a.panese books and pamphlets: devotional books and catechisms of all sorts, translated with painstaking labor into j.a.panese by Jesuits; works adapted from j.a.panese into Latin to try to help j.a.panese acolytes learn that language; and last, two small books that were beyond price, the first Portuguese-j.a.panese grammar, Father Sancho Alvarez's life's work, printed six years ago, and its companion, the incredible Portuguese-Latin-j.a.panese dictionary printed last year in Roman letters as well as hiragana hiragana script. It had been begun at his order twenty years ago, the first dictionary of j.a.panese words ever compiled. script. It had been begun at his order twenty years ago, the first dictionary of j.a.panese words ever compiled.

Father Alvito picked up the book and caressed it lovingly. He knew that it was a unique work of art. For eighteen years her himself had been compiling such a work and it was still nowhere near finished.

But his was to be a dictionary with explanatory supplements and far more detailed-almost an introduction to j.a.pan and the j.a.panese, and he knew without vanity that if he managed to finish it, it would be a masterpiece compared to Father Alvarez's work, that if his name was ever to be remembered, it would be because of his book and the Father-Visitor, who was the only father he had ever known.

"You want to leave Portugal, my son, and join the service of G.o.d?" the giant Jesuit had said the first day he had met him.

"Oh, yes, please, Father," he had replied, craning up at him with desperate longing.

"How old are you, my son?"

"I don't know, Father, perhaps ten, perhaps eleven, but I can read and write, the priest taught me, and I'm alone, I've no one of my own, I belong to no one...."

Dell'Aqua had taken him to Goa and thence to Nagasaki, where he had joined the seminary of the Society of Jesus, the youngest European in Asia, at long last belonging. Then came the miracle of the gift of tongues and the positions of trust as interpreter and trade adviser, first to Harima Tadao, daimyo daimyo of the fief of Hizen in Kyushu where Nagasaki lay, and then in time to the Taik himself. He was ordained, and later even attained the privilege of the fourth vow. This was the special vow over and above the normal vows of poverty, chast.i.ty, and obedience, given only to the elite of Jesuits, the vow of obedience to the Pope personally-to be his personal tool for the work of G.o.d, to go where the Pope personally ordered and do what he personally wanted; to become, as the founder of the Society, the Basque soldier Loyola, designed, one of the Regimini Militantis Ecclesiae, one of the professed, the special private soldiers of G.o.d for His elected general on earth, the Vicar of Christ. of the fief of Hizen in Kyushu where Nagasaki lay, and then in time to the Taik himself. He was ordained, and later even attained the privilege of the fourth vow. This was the special vow over and above the normal vows of poverty, chast.i.ty, and obedience, given only to the elite of Jesuits, the vow of obedience to the Pope personally-to be his personal tool for the work of G.o.d, to go where the Pope personally ordered and do what he personally wanted; to become, as the founder of the Society, the Basque soldier Loyola, designed, one of the Regimini Militantis Ecclesiae, one of the professed, the special private soldiers of G.o.d for His elected general on earth, the Vicar of Christ.

I've been so very lucky, Alvito thought. Oh, G.o.d, help me to help.

At last dell'Aqua got up and stretched and went to the window. Sun sparkled off the gilded tiles of the soaring central castle donjon, the sheer elegance of the structure belying its ma.s.sive strength. Tower of evil, he thought. How long will it stand there to remind each one of us? Is it only fifteen-no, it was seventeen years ago that the Taik put four hundred thousand men to building and excavating, and bled the country to pay for this, his monument, and then, in two short years, Osaka Castle was finished. Incredible man! Incredible people! Yes. And there it stands, indestructible. Except to the Finger of G.o.d. He can humble it in an instant, if He wishes. Oh, G.o.d, help me to do Thy will.

"Well, Martin, it seems we have work to do." Dell'Aqua began to walk up and down, his voice now as firm as his step. "About the English pilot: If we don't protect him he'll be killed and we risk Toranaga's disfavor. If we manage to protect him he'll soon hang himself. But dare we wait? His presence is a threat to us and there is no telling how much further damage he can do before that happy date. Or we can help Toranaga to remove him. Or, last, we can convert him."

Alvito blinked. "What?"

"He's intelligent, very knowledgeable about Catholicism. Aren't most Englishmen really Catholic at heart? The answer is yes if their king or queen is Catholic, and no if he or she is Protestant. The English are careless about religion. They're fanatic against us at the moment, but isn't that because of the Armada? Perhaps Blackthorne can be converted. That would be the perfect solution-to the Glory of G.o.d, and save his heretic soul from a d.a.m.nation he's certainly going to.

"Next, Toranaga: We'll give him the maps he wants. Explain about 'spheres of influence.' Isn't that really what the lines of demarcation were for, to separate the influence of the Portuguese and our Spanish friends? S, e vero! S, e vero! Tell him that on the other important matters I will personally be honored to prepare them for him and will give them to him as soon as possible. Because I'll have to check the facts in Macao, could he please grant a reasonable delay? And in the same breath say that you are delighted to inform him that the Black s.h.i.+p will sail three weeks early, with the biggest cargo of silks and gold ever, that all our a.s.signments of goods and our portion of the cargo and ..." he thought a moment-"and at least thirty percent of the whole cargo will be sold through Toranaga's personally appointed broker." Tell him that on the other important matters I will personally be honored to prepare them for him and will give them to him as soon as possible. Because I'll have to check the facts in Macao, could he please grant a reasonable delay? And in the same breath say that you are delighted to inform him that the Black s.h.i.+p will sail three weeks early, with the biggest cargo of silks and gold ever, that all our a.s.signments of goods and our portion of the cargo and ..." he thought a moment-"and at least thirty percent of the whole cargo will be sold through Toranaga's personally appointed broker."

"Eminence, the Captain-General won't like sailing eariy and won't like-"

"It will be your responsibility to get Toranaga's immediate sailing clearance for Ferriera. Go and see him at once with my reply. Let him be impressed with our efficiency, isn't that one of the things he admires? With immediate clearances, Ferriera will concede the minor point of arriving early in the season, and as to the broker, what's the difference to the Captain-General between one native or another? He will still get his percentage."

"But Lords Onos.h.i.+ and Kiyama and Harima usually split the brokerage of the cargo between them. I don't know if they'd agree."

"Then solve the problem. Toranaga will agree to the delay for a concession. The only concessions he needs are power, influence, and money. What can we give him? We cannot deliver the Christian daimyos daimyos to him. We-" to him. We-"

"Yet," Alvito said.

"Even if we could, I don't know yet if we should or if we will. Onos.h.i.+ and Kiyama are bitter enemies, but they've joined against Toranaga because they're sure he'd obliterate the Church-and them-if he ever got control of the Council."

"Toranaga will support the Church. Is.h.i.+do's our real enemy."

"I don't share your confidence, Martin. We mustn't forget that because Onos.h.i.+ and Kiyama are Christians, all their followers are Christians in their tens of thousands. We cannot offend them. The only concession we can give to Toranaga is something to do with trade. He's fanatic about trade but has never managed to partic.i.p.ate personally. So the concession I suggest might tempt him to grant a delay which perhaps we can extend into a permanent one. You know how the j.a.panese like this form of solution-the big stick poised, which both sides pretend does not exist, eh?"

"In my opinion it's politically unwise for Lord Onos.h.i.+ and Lord Kiyama to turn against Toranaga at this time. They should follow the old proverb about keeping a line of retreat open, no? I could suggest to them that an offer to Toranaga of twenty-five percent-so each has an equal share, Onos.h.i.+, Kiyama, Harima, and Toranaga-would be a small consideration to soften the impact of their 'temporary' siding with Is.h.i.+do against him."

"Then Is.h.i.+do will distrust them and hate us even more when he finds out."

"Is.h.i.+do hates us immeasurably now. Is.h.i.+do doesn't trust them any more than they trust him and we don't know yet why they've taken his side. With Onos.h.i.+ and Kiyama's agreement, we would formally put the proposal as though it was merely our our idea to maintain impartiality between Is.h.i.+do and Toranaga. Privately we can inform Toranaga of their generosity." idea to maintain impartiality between Is.h.i.+do and Toranaga. Privately we can inform Toranaga of their generosity."

Dell'Aqua considered the virtues and defects of the plan. "Excellent," he said at length. "Put it into effect. Now, about the heretic. Give his rutters to Toranaga today. Go back to Toranaga at once. Tell him that the rutters were sent to us secretly."

"How do I explain the delay in giving them to him?"

"You don't. Just tell the truth: they were brought by Rodrigues but that neither of us realized the sealed package contained the missing rutters. Indeed, we did not open them for two days. They were in truth forgotten in the excitement about the heretic. The rutters prove Blackthorne to be pirate, thief, and traitor. His own words will dispose of him once and for all, which is surely divine justice. Tell Toranaga the truth-that Mura gave them to Father Sebastio, as indeed happened, who sent them to us knowing we would know what to do with them. That clears Mura, Father Sebastio, everyone. We should tell Mura by carrier pigeon what has been done. I'm sure Toranaga will realize that we have had his interests at heart over Yabu's. Does he know that Yabu's made an arrangement with Is.h.i.+do?"

"I would say certainly, Eminence. But rumor has it that Toranaga and Yabu are friends now."

"I wouldn't trust that Satan's whelp."

"I'm sure Toranaga doesn't. Any more than Yabu has really made any commitment to him."

Suddenly they were distracted by an altercation outside. The door opened and a cowled monk came barefooted into the room, shaking off Father Soldi. "The blessings of Jesus Christ upon you," he said, his voice rasping with hostility. "May He forgive you your sins."

"Friar Perez-what are you doing here?" dell'Aqua burst out.

"I've come back to this cesspit of a land to proclaim the word of G.o.d to the heathen again."

"But you're under Edict never to return on pain of immediate death for inciting to riot. You escaped the Nagasaki martyrdom by a miracle and you were ordered-"

"That was G.o.d's will, and a filthy heathen Edict of a dead maniac has nothing to do with me," the monk said. He was a short, lean Spaniard with a long unkempt beard. "I'm here to continue G.o.d's work." He glanced at Father Alvito. "How's trade, Father?"

"Fortunately for Spain, very good," Alvito replied icily.

"I don't spend time in the counting house, Father. I spend it with my flock."

"That's commendable," dell'Aqua said sharply. "But spend it where the Pope ordered-outside of j.a.pan. This is our our exclusive province. And it's also Portuguese territory, not Spanish. Do I have to remind you that three Popes have ordered all denominations out of j.a.pan except us? King Philip also ordered the same." exclusive province. And it's also Portuguese territory, not Spanish. Do I have to remind you that three Popes have ordered all denominations out of j.a.pan except us? King Philip also ordered the same."

"Save your breath, Eminence. The work of G.o.d surpa.s.ses earthly orders. I'm back and I'll throw open the doors of the churches and beseech the mult.i.tudes to rise up against the unG.o.dly."

"How many times must you be warned? You can't treat j.a.pan like an Inca protectorate peopled with jungle savages who have neither history nor culture. I forbid you to preach and insist you obey Holy orders."

"We will convert the heathen. Listen, Eminence, there's another hundred of my brothers in Manila waiting for s.h.i.+ps here, good Spaniards all, and lots of our glorious conquistadores to protect us if need be. We'll preach openly and we'll wear our robes openly, not skulk about in idolatrous silken s.h.i.+rts like Jesuits!"

"You must not agitate the authorities or you'll reduce Mother Church to ashes!"

"I tell you to your face we're coming back to j.a.pan and we'll stay in j.a.pan. We'll preach the Word in spite of you-in spite of any prelate, bishop, king, or even any pope, for the glory of G.o.d!" The monk slammed the door behind him.

Flushed with rage, dell'Aqua poured a gla.s.s of Madeira. A little of the wine slopped onto the polished surface of his desk. "Those Spaniards will destroy us all." Dell'Aqua drank slowly, trying to calm himself. At length he said, "Martin, send some of our people to watch him. And you'd better warn Kiyama and Onos.h.i.+ at once. There's no telling what'll happen if that fool flaunts himself in public."

"Yes, Eminence." At the door Alvito hesitated. "First Blackthorne and now Perez. It's almost too much of a coincidence. Perhaps the Spaniards in Manila knew about Blackthorne and let him come here just to bedevil us."

"Perhaps, but probably not." Dell'Aqua finished his gla.s.s and set it down carefully. "In any event, with the help of G.o.d and due diligence, neither of them will be permitted to harm the Holy Mother Church-whatever the cost."

CHAPTER 20.

"I'll be a G.o.d-cursed Spaniard if this isn't the life!"

Blackthorne lay seraphically on his stomach on thick futons, wrapped partially in a cotton kimono, his head propped on his arms. The girl was running her hands over his back, probing his muscles occasionally, soothing his skin and his spirit, making him almost want to purr with pleasure. Another girl was pouring sake into a tiny porcelain cup. A third waited in reserve, holding a lacquer tray with a heaping bamboo basket of deep-fried fish in Portuguese style, another flask of sake and some chopsticks.

"Nan desu ka, Anjin-san?" What is it, Honorable Pilot-what did you say?

"I can't say that in Nihon-go Nihon-go, Rako-san." He smiled at the girl who offered the sake. Instead he pointed at the cup. "What's this called? Namae ka?" Namae ka?"

"Sabazuki." She said it three times and he repeated it and then the other girl, Asa, offered the fish and he shook his head. "Iye, domo." He did not know how to say "I'm full now" so he tried instead "not hungry now."

"Ah! Ima hara hette wa oranu," Asa explained, correcting him. He said the phrase several times and they all laughed at his p.r.o.nunciation, but eventually he made it sound right. Asa explained, correcting him. He said the phrase several times and they all laughed at his p.r.o.nunciation, but eventually he made it sound right.

I'll never learn this language, he thought. There's nothing to relate the sounds to in English, or even Latin or Portuguese.

"Anjin-san?" Asa offered the tray again.

He shook his head and put his hand on his stomach gravely. But he accepted the sake and drank it down. Sono, the girl who was ma.s.saging his back, had stopped, so he took her hand and put it on his neck and pretended to groan with pleasure. She understood at once and continued to ma.s.sage him.

Each time he finished the little cup it was immediately refilled. Better go easy, he thought, this is the third flask and I can feel the warmth into my toes.

The three girls, Asa, Sono, and Rako, had arrived with the dawn, bringing cha, which Friar Domingo had told him the Chinese sometimes called t'ee t'ee, and which was the national drink of China and j.a.pan. His sleep had been fitful after the encounter with the a.s.sa.s.sin but the hot piquant drink had begun to restore him. They had brought small rolled hot towels, slightly scented. When he did not know what they were used for, Rako, the chief of the girls, showed him how to use them on his face and hands.

Then they had escorted him with his four samurai guards to the steaming baths at the far side of this section of the castle and handed him over to the bath attendants. The four guards sweated stoically while he was bathed, his beard trimmed, his hair shampooed and ma.s.saged.

Afterwards, he felt miraculously renewed. They gave him another fresh, knee-length cotton kimono and more fresh tabi and the girls were waiting for him again. They led him to another room where Kiri and Mariko were. Mariko said that Lord Toranaga had decided to send the Anjin-san to one of his provinces in the next few days to recuperate and that Lord Toranaga was very pleased with him and there was no need for him to worry about anything for he was in Lord Toranaga's personal care now. Would Anjin-san please also begin to prepare the maps with material that she would provide. There would be other meetings with the Master soon, and the Master had promised that she would be made available soon to answer any questions the Anjin-san might have. Lord Toranaga was very anxious that Blackthorne should learn about the j.a.panese as he himself was anxious to learn about the outside world, and about navigation and ways of the sea. Then Blackthorne had been led to the doctor. Unlike samurai, doctors wore their hair close-cropped without a queue.

Blackthorne hated doctors and feared them. But this doctor was different. This doctor was gentle and unbelievably clean. European doctors were barbers mostly and uncouth, and as louse-ridden and filthy as everyone else. This doctor touched carefully and peered politely and held Blackthorne's wrist to feel his pulse, looked into his eyes and mouth and ears, and softly tapped his back and his knees and the soles of his feet, his touch and manner soothing. All a European doctor wanted was to look at your tongue and say "Where is the pain?" and bleed you to release the foulnesses from your blood and give you a violent emetic to clean away the foulnesses from your entrails.

Blackthorne hated being bled and purged and every time was worse than before. But this doctor had no scalpels or bleeding bowl nor the foul chemic smell that normally surrounded them, so his heart had begun to slow and he relaxed a little.

The doctor's fingers touched the scars on his thigh interrogatively. Blackthorne made the sound of a gun because a musket ball had pa.s.sed through his flesh there many years ago. The doctor said "Ah so desu" and nodded. More probes, deep but not painful, over his loins and stomach. At length, the doctor spoke to Rako, and she nodded and bowed and thanked him. and nodded. More probes, deep but not painful, over his loins and stomach. At length, the doctor spoke to Rako, and she nodded and bowed and thanked him.