The Ronin’s Mistress

two men from the Council of Elders-Sano’s friend Ohgami and enemy Ihara-knelt around the shogun, twisting into awkward postures, trying to read the broadsheet. Yoritomo read aloud, “A hundred savage ronin broke into the estate of the shogun’s master of ceremonies. They cut off his head and massacred everybody else.”

Yanagisawa and the elders listened with concern. The shogun exclaimed, “This is even worse than I feared! Can it be true?”

Yanagisawa noticed Sano standing at the threshold. His eyes narrowed. “Here’s the man who should be able to tell us.”

“There were forty-seven ronin, not a hundred,” Sano said. “They spared the women, children, and servants.”

“How nice of them.” Sarcasm didn’t improve the looks of Elder Ihara’s monkey face.

Yoritomo started reading a gory description of the murder. The shogun said, “Stop right there, or I’ll be sick!” and flung away the broadsheet.

The physician lit a candle and waved the flame inside several bamboo cups, which he placed upside down on the shogun’s stomach. This was an ancient Chinese medical treatment that promoted the flow of life energy through the body. The vacuum inside the cups drew blood to the areas underneath. The suction penetrated the tissues and released poisons. The position of the cups told Sano that the shogun was suffering from constipation again. The shogun was always suffering from something, always threatening to die. So far so good, but he had gotten frail. Maybe he would die soon, without a son or designated heir. And then would follow the battle over the succession.

“What are you doing back so soon?” Yanagisawa asked Sano. “Shouldn’t you be out chasing the forty-seven ronin?”

“I’ve already captured them,” Sano said.

“Oh.” Yanagisawa looked unpleasantly surprised.

Sano described what had happened after he’d tracked the ronin to Sengaku Temple. Everyone was nonplussed.

“That’s certainly peculiar,” said Elder Ohgami, Sano’s quiet, white-haired friend.

“So the forty-seven ronin surrendered. All you had to do was scoop them up,” Yanagisawa concluded.

“Nevertheless, the crime is solved,” Sano said, controlling his temper. Trust Yanagisawa to minimize his accomplishments. “The forty-seven ronin are under house arrest.”

“Is it all over, then?” the shogun said with cautious hope. The cups attached to him looked like the nubs on a caterpillar.

Swiftly, before Sano could say that it was and parlay his success into a pardon for past offenses, Yanagisawa shot down that hope. “No. It’s certainly not over.”

“Why not?” Anxiety crinkled the shogun’s face. The physician slid the bamboo cups around on his pale, droopy stomach, massaging the organs beneath.

“There’s still the matter of what to do with the forty-seven ronin,” Yanagisawa said.

“That’s easy. They should be convicted of murder and condemned to death,” Ihara declared. “They sought revenge against Kira after His Excellency ruled that Kira wasn’t at fault in the incident between him and Lord Asano and he shouldn’t be punished. They not only killed a helpless old man in cold blood; they defied His Excellency. It’s standard procedure that anyone who does that automatically pays with his life.”

“This isn’t a standard case,” Ohgami pointed out. “The forty-seven ronin followed the Way of the Warrior. They avenged their lord’s death. Bushido trumps the law in this case.”

“No, it doesn’t,” Yoritomo hastened to protest. “Their ultimate duty is to the shogun. And they went against his orders.”

Sano sensed emotions rising fast among his colleagues. The case had touched a place deep inside them, where their samurai spirit lived. The forty-seven ronin’s vendetta had raised questions about their own worth as samurai, as it had done for Sano.

Exasperation showed on Ohgami’s face. “Lord Asano was their hereditary master. They were compelled by honor to avenge him, no matter what.”

“Not everyone thinks so,” Ihara said. “Some people are already calling the forty-seven ronin heroes, but others think they’re criminals.”

Sano suspected that those who called the ronin criminals felt guilty about the short shrift that they themselves gave to Bushido. They wanted to punish anyone who made them look neglectful of their own duties. The people who lauded the forty-seven as heroes took a vicarious pride in the deed which they would probably never have the courage to perform themselves. Sano felt torn because he could see both sides of the argument.

On one hand, Bushido was the foundation of his life. His father had raised him to believe that nothing was more important than a samurai’s duty to his master. His samurai blood told him that the forty-seven ronin had done right to murder Kira.

On the other hand, he had a duty to his own lord, the shogun. The forty-seven ronin had defied the shogun’s orders, and Sano must uphold the law. And they’d killed many innocent people who hadn’t deserved to die for whatever Kira had done to Lord Asano-if in fact Kira had done anything to Lord Asano. To complicate matters, Sano had a personal code of honor that often conflicted with Bushido, that compelled him to seek the truth before he took action, that valued justice above blind obedience. There were too many questions in this case, and he needed answers before he made up his mind about the forty- seven ronin.

The shogun sighed. “Ahh, this is a complicated issue.”

“Yes, it is complicated.” Yanagisawa refrained from declaring his position. “If you set the forty-seven ronin free, you’ll look weak because you let them get away with disregarding your orders. If you put them to death, you’ll send a message that loyalty doesn’t matter, and thousands of other samurai may decide that they have better things to do than serving you.”

Those were good points, but Sano figured that Yanagisawa wanted to see which way the wind blew hardest before he took a stand. Although Yanagisawa didn’t like rogues who disrupted order, and he would probably like to see the forty-seven ronin dead before sundown, an example to anyone else who was thinking of misbehaving, he had to consider the effect that the case would have on his quest for power.

“There will be trouble, mark my words,” Yanagisawa said, “and Your Excellency has Sano- san to thank for it.”

“You!” the shogun exclaimed, recoiling as if Sano had hit him.

Incredulity struck Sano. “This isn’t my fault, Your Excellency,” he said, then turned to Yanagisawa. “What are you talking about?”

“You arrested the forty-seven ronin,” Yanagisawa said. “You dumped them in His Excellency’s lap.”

“I was following orders to capture Kira’s killers,” Sano defended himself.

“I ordered you to, ahh, get to the bottom of things,” the shogun retorted. “I didn’t say, ‘Cause more problems for me.’ But that’s ahh, exactly what you’ve done.”

“There you go.” Yanagisawa shrugged at Sano. Yoritomo smiled triumphantly.

Trust Yanagisawa to twist things around so that I look bad, Sano thought. Everyone else looked impressed with Yanagisawa’s deft play.

“Since Sano-san created this situation, he should be the one to settle it,” Yanagisawa said.

“A good idea,” the shogun said. The physician began pulling the cups off his stomach. Each made a loud, sucking sound as it came up, leaving a bright red circle on his skin, like a comical rash. “Well, Sano- san? Shall we rule that the forty-seven ronin are innocent according to Bushido and pardon them? Or that they’re guilty of, ahh, treason and murder, and order them to commit seppuku?”

“This needs to be settled quickly,” Yanagisawa added.