Kiku's Prayer Part 22

"But since the magistrate's office shut down, they've let up on following us.... I think the officials don't really know how to deal with us. After all, I hear that the magistrate himself has gone missing." Seikichi seemed pleased with himself at the final comment and grinned as he spoke, showing his white teeth. He was br.i.m.m.i.n.g with the confidence and feelings of victory that came from belonging to a group of impoverished farmers who had won out over the magistrate.

"Padre, everybody's waiting for you to come. We want to receive the Ma.s.s. And some children have been born, so they want you to baptize them."

"Tell them I'll come by night as soon as I can," Laucaigne agreed.

As they conversed, the priest sensed someone behind them. When he turned to look, he saw Kiku standing a bit away from them, watching them intently. No-Laucaigne quickly realized she was not watching "them"-only Seikichi.

How much she must love him. Laucaigne and Pet.i.tjean were well aware of what was going on. They noticed that Kiku hadn't missed a word they'd said about the Kiris.h.i.+tans who were in prison, and they knew that Kiku was secretly praying for Seikichi's safety to the statue of the Blessed Mother in the chapel.

"Kiku." Laucaigne beckoned to her. "Come here. Seikichi, Kiku has been continuously concerned about your welfare."

Kiku stiffened, lowered her eyes, and did not move.

"Kiku, why don't you go out to the garden and have a good talk with Seikichi?" Laucaigne tactfully signaled the other priests with his eyes, indicating that they should leave the young lovers to themselves. The French priest thought it would be best for Seikichi and Kiku to talk together alone, just as young people in France would do.

But- Once the priests in their display of tactfulness disappeared, Seikichi and Kiku felt even more constrained and embarra.s.sed and said nothing to each other.

Kiku could have talked freely with him if he were just the Seikichi who came peddling in front of the rear door of the Gotya. And Seikichi would have been able to speak to her without reservation if he could have thought of her simply as a young woman who, like him, was from Urakami.

But their mind-set now was quite different. The letter he had received from Kiku while he was in prison had given him a sense of her single-minded ardor. And even before her expulsion from the Gotya, Kiku had realized just how completely he consumed her thoughts.

Fully cognizant of their own feelings, they looked away from each other with an almost angry look on their faces.

"So I understand you work here." Seikichi sullenly asked the obvious.

"Uh-huh."

"I imagine the padres are kind to you."

"Uh-huh."

They lapsed into silence again.

Suddenly Kiku spoke. "The prison ... I guess it was pretty difficult."

"Hmm. It wasn't all that bad, I wasn't there by myself. And the magistrate didn't treat us so badly."

"But I heard you were tortured terribly."

"Yeah, it took its toll. But I was able to bear it by thinking about the sufferings of the Inferno."

"But, Seikichi, are you sure you won't be punished for coming like this to the Nambanji?" Kiku looked up worriedly at Seikichi. She did not mention to him that every day she had been pet.i.tioning, pleading, cursing, railing at, and complaining to the statue of the Blessed Mother Mary in the chapel. It was, after all, too embarra.s.sing for her to confess....

"There's nothing to worry about." Seikichi became suddenly spirited. "I'm sure you've already heard the news. There's no more magistrate's office, the magistrate himself has vanished, and now the emperor is in charge. Everybody's been saying that Kiris.h.i.+tan countries like America and France can now start letting people know that what we believe is true, so we won't have to practice our Kiris.h.i.+tan teachings in hiding anymore. They say we'll be able to march right up to His Majesty and declare in a loud voice that we're Kiris.h.i.+tans!"

"Oh!" Kiku had no interest in what those Kiris.h.i.+tan teachings were. But it thrilled her to think that the time had come when the people running the country would recognize something that Seikichi believed in so fervently. "That's wonderful, Seikichi!" She smiled like a girl sharing in the joy of her older siblings.

Everything seemed like a dream to Kiku.

Complex matters were beyond her grasp. But even if she didn't understand everything, as she listened to what Seikichi was saying, she felt that the days ahead would be joyful and free. In any case, the magistrate's office that had been so frightening until now had lost all its power. And Seikichi and the others from Nakano could live from now on without reproach.

Perhaps now the people of Magome could get rid of some of their antipathy toward the residents of Nakano, who would no longer bear the mark of blame on their shoulders. And surely her cousin Ichijir and Granny and her parents would stop calling the Nakano people Kuros and not consider them weird anymore.

When that happens- Her heart puffed up like a balloon.

When that happens, maybe I can become Seikichi's wife. Realizing what she was daydreaming about, Kiku unwittingly blushed.

"You still have it, don't you?" Seikichi suddenly asked.

"What?"

"What I gave you. The Santa Maria ..."

"I take special care of it," Kiku nodded happily. "I talk to her every day."

"Talk?" Seikichi was startled. "How do you talk to her?"

"Well, not talking, really.... I blamed her. I hated her, knowing that it was because you wors.h.i.+pped her that you were suffering so much. So I kept telling her how much I disliked her.... But it's all right now. Cause you're out of prison now."

"How could you have done something so evil?" Seikichi cried, seemingly horrified. "Our Lady Santa Maria is the mother of Lord Jezusu. To say hateful things to His mother ... It's terrible!"

"Who is Lord Jezusu? The strange words you Kiris.h.i.+tans use sound like Chinese gibberish...."

"Lord Jezusu is the Son of Deus. And Mary is Lord Jezusu's mother."

"So Deus and Mary are husband and wife?"

Seikichi rolled his eyes. "Husband and wife?! No, they're not husband and wife! Deus doesn't have a wife!"

"That's ridiculous! How was this Jezusu born if they weren't husband and wife?"

"Mary got pregnant when she was a virgin."

Stunned, Kiku opened her eyes wide and then flushed crimson. Even she knew that there wasn't any way a virgin could be with child. What kind of foolish stories did Seikichi believe in, anyway!?

Seikichi did his best to recite for Kiku the stories he knew from the Bible.

The Virgin Mary conceived a child and gave birth to Jezusu. Mary, though she remained a virgin throughout her life, was the wife of the carpenter Joseph and the mother of Jezusu. Jezusu was killed by evil men who hated him, but before long he came back to life and appeared before his disciples....

The more he talked, the more disenchanted Kiku became, and with a look in her eyes that indicated that she thought he was making fun of her, she muttered, "I'm amazed you believe such nonsense!"

"What can't you believe about it?"

"There's no way I can believe that this virgin married a carpenter and stayed a virgin until she died."

"You have to admire a man who can be that kind of husband."

"So, if you got married you wouldn't do anything with your wife, huh? And you honestly think she could have a baby while still a virgin, do you?"

At this point, Kiku lost all sympathy for Seikichi, even though she loved him. As a child she had been so precociously adept at winning arguments that even Ichijir couldn't get in the last word. She did not lose any of her glibness after she matured into a young woman.

"What are you saying?!" Seikichi was angry. "I can't believe I'm hearing something so shameful coming from a woman's mouth!"

"Stupid things are stupid whether they come from a woman or a man. I suppose if you got married, you'd be a husband just like that carpenter and never lay a finger on your wife!" As she spoke, she suddenly pictured herself as Seikichi's bride. Would he really never touch her? Kiku turned bright red at the thought. "I don't get it! I just don't understand it."

Seikichi, unable to grasp the workings of a woman's mind, said nervously, "Are you mocking us Kiris.h.i.+tans?"

"No, I'm not mocking you. But it all sounds so strange. That a dead man could come back to life-what kind of person would tell you something that's so obviously made up?"

"It's exactly what the padre said."

"Lord Pet.i.tjean did? I don't suppose Lord Pet.i.tjean actually saw all this happen? Talking about things you've never seen, and then believing in it-you Kiris.h.i.+tans really are strange people."

"Shut up! I hate people who mock us Kiris.h.i.+tans the way you are!" Seikichi shouted as Kiku kept firing away at him like a machine gun. Their voices echoed so loudly that even Father Laucaigne and the others could hear them inside their house.

"Qu'est-ce qu'il y a?" Father Laucaigne stood up in surprise. He had hoped to give the two lovers some time alone. And now they were apparently engaged in a ferocious argument.

When Laucaigne rushed out into the garden, Seikichi had just stomped away.

"Kiku, what has happened?"

"I hate him! I hate men like that!" she shouted. And then she began to wail....

This was the first time Kiku had ever been in love. And because Seikichi was the object of her love, she had been utterly captivated by him and had been completely forthright in expressing her affection for him. During his incarceration, she had experienced his sufferings as though the tortures were being inflicted on her own body.

And yet, he understood nothing of how she felt, and had gone so far as to lash out at her with "I hate people who mock us Kiris.h.i.+tans like you are!"

I'm not going to see him again. I'll never speak to a man like that again. She had made up her mind. Father Laucaigne and his comrades tried to elicit the details of their argument from her, but no matter how they tried to pacify her, she kept stubbornly repeating, "I'm done with him. I don't ever want to see his face again!"

Laucaigne was as tenderhearted as Pet.i.tjean, so he tried to a.s.suage her anger, but he ended up only fl.u.s.tered. Having been educated at a seminary where women were off-limits, after all, he knew nothing of the subtle workings of a woman's heart.

As she had done so often before, Kiku went into the chapel, stood in front of the statue of that woman, and spilled out the feelings of her heart that she could reveal to no one else.

"All of this, everything is your fault. Seikichi's going around telling lies about how you gave birth to a child when you were still a virgin. He believes nonsense about you having a husband but living out your whole life as a virgin. And he even argued with me about it. This is all your fault!"

As always, the Blessed Mother Mary peered back at Kiku. But her face resembled that of an exasperated woman who has just been argued into silence by her younger sister. It was also reminiscent of the face of a frustrated young mother whose child has just thrown a tantrum.

"Since this is all your fault, I won't forgive you unless you put everything back the way it was before. I'll be really mad at you if you do something to ruin my relations.h.i.+p with Seikichi!" Kiku pointed a finger as though to threaten the Blessed Mother. "But if you help me to marry Seikichi ..." She became conscious of the look of bliss on her own face and blushed. "... I'll do anything you want. I'll bring you gifts of pretty flowers and rice cakes.... I'll even become a Kiris.h.i.+tan. I don't like the Kiris.h.i.+tans. But if you help me become Seikichi's wife, I don't mind becoming Kiris.h.i.+tan."

The statue of the Blessed Mother to which Kiku made this promise still stands in the ura Catholic Church in Nagasaki. Her cherubic, unsullied face seems to change expressions depending on the angle from which she is viewed, the intensity of the light s.h.i.+ning on her, or the feelings in the heart of the pet.i.tioner offering prayers to her.

Kiku was able to converse with her like a little girl talking with her doll, even though she did not believe even slightly in the Kiris.h.i.+tan faith....

The emperor dispatched a governor-general from the new administration to a.s.sist with the pacification of Kyushu. His name was Sawa n.o.buyos.h.i.+, and he would later become the Minister of Foreign Affairs.4 His a.s.sistant was Inoue Monta, later known as Inoue Kaoru.5 Matsukata Masayos.h.i.+, Machida Minbu, and Sasaki Sans.h.i.+r had already taken over the vacated offices of the magistrate and functioned as the leaders of the city government, and they were joined by Inoue Monta. Inoue was informed by Matsukata and the others that Nagasaki, like Yokohama, was a foreign concession, leading to an incident that had involved the Kiris.h.i.+tans hidden in Urakami Village.

"j.a.pan has no other G.o.ds beside His Imperial Highness. Lord Sawa has been very clear on that point," Inoue explained to his fellow officers.

Matsukata and his allies were also well aware that Sawa was a prominent exponent of expelling the foreigners from j.a.pan.

Sawa gave firm directions to Inoue and the others: "For a variety of reasons, the shogunate sought aid from France, and so they were unable to come out strongly against the Kiris.h.i.+tans. But we have an obligation to teach the citizens and the peasants that they must rely solely upon His Imperial Highness." The officers immediately set about to implement them.

Notices were posted in every prominent location throughout the city of Nagasaki under the signature of the Grand Council of State:

1. The people are to properly observe the five filial relations.h.i.+ps of Confucianism.6

2. The organizing of factions to make direct pet.i.tion to the daimyo or to lead others from the villages is prohibited.

3. Acts of violence against foreigners are prohibited.

4. Fleeing from the village is prohibited.

5. The Kiris.h.i.+tan faith, as in the past, is strictly prohibited.

These new bulletin boards, still smelling of freshly cut wood, were placed where in earlier days the notices from the magistrate's office had been posted, and people gathered round to read them.

"What's this about 'fleeing from the village'?"

"It means you can't leave Nagasaki without permission and go to live somewhere else."

"I suppose the folks in Urakami are really upset that they're still treating the Kiris.h.i.+tan faith as a heretical religion."

The citizens of Nagasaki actually gloated a bit among themselves when they read the notice reaffirming the ban on the Kiris.h.i.+tan faith. A majority of the residents did not have positive feelings toward the peasants who were followers of a nonsensical cult that made trouble for the magistrate's office.

"Don't worry about it." On the other hand, when the Kiris.h.i.+tans of Nakano and Motohara and Ieno read the notice, they paid it little heed. They believed that just as had been the case with the magistrate, the new officials sent by His Majesty would be restrained by the views of foreigners and would not make a move against them. And the upshot of recent events gave them the courage to believe that Deus would not leave them to be slaughtered.

Their calculations proved correct. Several foreign attaches were quick to launch complaints against the new government. Of particular significance was the fact that Harry Smith Parkes, the amba.s.sador from Great Britain, was among the protestors, since his government had thrown its support behind the new j.a.panese administration.

The new government was thoroughly fl.u.s.tered by Great Britain's partic.i.p.ation in the protest against the Kiris.h.i.+tan suppression. But the Meiji leaders had made up their minds that they would maintain the shogunate's posture toward Christianity as part of their new regime's religious policy.

In March, orders unexpectedly came from the local government office for twenty-four of the leading Kiris.h.i.+tans in Urakami to surrender themselves to the police.

The name of the Nagasaki magistrate's office had been changed to the "government office." The name change, however, did not signify that the new administration was planning to change the shogunate's policy of prohibiting Christianity.

Included among the twenty-four was, of course, Sen'emon, who had clung to his beliefs to the bitter end, as well as others such as Seikichi who had initially apostatized but then returned to their faith.

This time we won't get away with just a beating as we did before. Maybe they'll kill us.

When the village head notified them of the surrender order, the faces of those whose names were read out turned pale. The blood similarly drained from the faces of their family members.

"Lord Deus, Lord Jezusu, and Santa Maria will be with us!" Sen'emon was qualified to encourage the others because he alone had endured the previous round of tortures. Everyone had been showing respect to this una.s.suming man because of his courage.