TAIKO: AN EPIC NOVEL OF WAR AND GLORY IN FEUDAL JAPAN

“I screamed at him at the top of my lungs, but all of His Lordship's retainers were eating their noonday meal. I couldn't find anyone around, and unfortunately he was too fast for me.'

Shingen had not even glanced at the monk and had listened silently, but when his eyes met Kaisen's glance, he spoke quietly. 'Amakasu Sanpei is among my attendants today. Let's have him run the man down. Call him here.'

Sanpei prostrated himself in the garden and, looking up at Shingen, who was still seated in the teahouse, asked what his mission might be.

'A number of years ago, there was a man under your command by the name of Watanabe Tenzo, I believe.'

Sanpei thought for a moment, then said, 'I remember. He was born in Hachisuka in Owari. His uncle Koroku had had a gun made, but Tenzo stole it and fled here. He presented the gun to you and was given a stipend for a number of years.'

'I recollect that business about the gun, but it seems that a man from Owari will always be just exactly that—a man from Owari—and now he's working for the Oda clan. Run the man down and cut off his head.'

'Run him down?'

' Go after you've heard the details from that monk. You're going to have to chase after him quickly so he won't get away.'

West from Nirasaki, a narrow path follows the foot of the mountains around Komagatake and Senjo, crossing over Takato in Ina.

'Heeyyy!'

The sound of a human voice was rare in these mountains. The lone monk stopped and turned around, but was there nothing but an echo, so he hurried on up the road over the mountain pass.

'Heeyyy! You there, monk!' The second time the voice was closer. And, as it was clearly calling him, the monk stopped for a moment, holding the brim of his hat. Very soon another man climbed up to him, breathing hard. Approaching the monk, the man shot him an ironic smile.

'This is a surprise, Tenzo. When did you come to Kai?'

The monk looked surprised, but he quickly recovered his composure and let out a snicker under his hat.

'Sanpei! I was wondering who it was. Well, it's been quite a while. You look to be in good health, as usual.'

Irony was returned with irony. Both were men whose duties had taken them into enemy territory as spies. Without this kind of audacity and composure they would not have been equal to their work.

'That's quite a compliment.' Sanpei seemed very relaxed, too. To have made a fuss because an enemy spy had been found on his home ground would have been the act of a heedless, common man. But looking at it through the eyes of a thief, he knew that there were thieves about even in broad daylight, and so it was hardly a surprise.

'Two nights ago you stopped at the Eirin Temple, and yesterday you eavesdropped on secret conversation between Abbot Kaisen and Lord Shingen. When you were discovered by one of the monks, you ran away as fast as you could go. This is correct, isn't it, Tenzo?'

'Yes, were you there too?'

'Unfortunately.'

'That's the only thing I didn't know.'

'For you, that's a piece of bad luck.'

Tenzo feigned indifference, as though this were someone else's affair. 'I had thought that Amakasu Sanpei, the Takeda ninja, was still spying on the Oda in Ise or Gifu, but you had already come back. You should be praised, Sanpei, you're always so fast.'

'Don't waste your breath. You can flatter me as much as you like, but now that I've found you, I can't let you return alive. Did you intend to cross the border as one of the living?'

'I don't have the least intention of dying. But, Sanpei, the shadow of death is drifting across your face. Surely you didn't come chasing after me because you wanted to die.'

'I came to take your head, on orders from my lord. And upon my life, I'll have it.'

'Whose head?'

'Yours!'

The instant Sanpei drew his long sword, Watanabe Tenzo stood ready with his staff. There was some distance between the two men. As they continued to glare at each other, their breathing quickened and their faces took on the pallor of people on the verge of death. Then something must have crossed Sanpei's mind, for he sheathed his sword.

'Tenzo, put down your staff.'

'Why? Are you scared?'

'No, I'm not scared, but isn't it a fact that we both have the same duties? It's all right for a man to die for his mission, but to kill each other in this fight would serve no pur­pose at all. Why don't you take off that monk's robe and give it to me? If you will, I'll take it back and say I killed you.'

Ninja had a particular faith among themselves that was not common to other war­riors. It was a different view of life naturally brought about by the singularity of their du­ties. To the ordinary samurai, there could be no higher duty than to die for his lord. The ninja, however, thought quite differently. They held life dear. They had to return alive, re­gardless of the shame or hardships they had to suffer. For even if a man was able to enter into enemy territory and collect some valuable information, it did no good at all if he did not return to his home province alive. Therefore, if a ninja died in enemy territory, it was a dog's death, no matter how glorious the circumstances might have been. No matter how steeped in the samurai code the individual may have been, if his death was of no value to his lord, it was a dog's death. Thus, even though the ninja might be called a depraved samurai whose sole aim was to keep himself alive, it was his mission and responsibility to do so at all costs.

Both men held to these principles, right to the marrow of their bones. So, when San­pei had reasoned with his opponent that killing each other would do no one any good and had sheathed his blade, Tenzo immediately drew back his weapon as well.

“I didn't like the idea of becoming your opponent and gambling with my head. If we can finish this thing with a monk's robe, let's do it.' He ripped off a piece of the robe he was wearing and threw it at Sanpei's feet. Sanpei picked it up.

“This is enough. If I bring this back as proof, and announce that I've cut down Watanabe Tenzo, the matter will be over and done with. His Lordship certainly won't demand to see the head of a mere ninja.'

“This works well for the both of us. Well, then, Sanpei, I'll be going. I'd like to say that I’ll see you again, but I'd better pray that it'll never happen, because I know it would be the last time.”  With these parting words, Watanabe Tenzo walked away quickly, as though he had suddenly become afraid of his opponent and was happy to have saved his own skin.

As Tenzo began to descend the slope of the pass, Sanpei picked up the gun and fuse that he had previously hidden in a clump of grass, and followed him.

The report of the gun could be heard echoing through the mountains. Immediately, Sanpei tossed the weapon aside and leaped down the slope like a deer, intending to deal the finishing blow to his fallen enemy.

Watanabe Tenzo had fallen on his back in a clump of weeds on the road. But at the moment Sanpei stood over him and aimed the tip of his sword at his breast, Tenzo grabbed Sanpei's legs and pulled them from under him, bringing him to the ground with terrific force.

Now Tenzo's wild nature came to the fore. While Sanpei lay stunned, he jumped up like a wolf, seized a nearby rock in both hands, and smashed it down onto Sanpei's face. The impact made a sound like a splitting pomegranate.

Then Tenzo was gone.

*    *    *

Hideyoshi, now commander of Yokoyama Castle, had spent the summer in the cool mountains of northern Omi. Soldiers say that for a fighting man, inactivity is more trying than the battlefield. Discipline cannot be neglected for a day. Hideyoshi's troops had been at rest for one hundred days.