By Jess Nevins
Stan Lee Presents : The greatest heroes of the post World War II era...Captain America, Sentinel of Liberty...The Whizzer, Fastest Man Alive...Miss America, Strong and Beautiful Heroine...Sub-Mariner, Prince of Atlantis...and the Human Torch, the fiery android...they are The All-Winners Squad!
What Has Come Before: In the wake of the All-Winners' battle with Future Man they were cast backwards in time. Captain America appeared in France during World War One and Miss America appeared in Nevada in 1882. Each time the All-Winner stopped a villain from succeeding at something that would have changed history for the worse, and each time the Golden Age Vision arrived, once the heroes had triumphed, to bring the heroes home.
One of the things most astounding to people of my generation is the fascination that Japan seems to hold for many people in Generations X & Y. During the Sixties, of course, there was a great vogue for Eastern philosophy--Zen and the like--and, looking backwards, such a desire for a non-Western philosophy is at least understandable, especially as a backlash to the repression of the Fifties.
But for those of us who grew up during the war years--and of course I mean the war, World War Two, The Big One--the Japanese were, with the Germans, the great enemy of all Americans. They stabbed us in the back at Pearl Harbor, they performed barbarous tortures on our prisoners, they killed themselves rather than surrender, and they went kamikaze on us. The Japs (slants, nips, termites, gooks) were less than human. How could anyone find their culture fascinating? How could our children find their culture at all interesting? Didn't they know what we'd sacrificed fighting them?
Of course, these attitudes look foolish and bigoted now, with the Millennium right around the corner. But that was how we thought, back in the Seventies and even the Eighties (helped, of course, by a large dose of Reaganite jingoism and bigotry).
I asked some of the younger kids at the Daily Bugle about it, some years back. The answers I got were very interesting. The kids talked about the values that traditional Japanese culture espoused--bravery in the face of death, a very real and well-defined sense of honor, the many stories of courage from Japanese history. Hearing this, I began to understand, just a little, what the Gen-Xers saw in Japanese culture.
Why am I going on about this? Especially here, in a book that is supposed to be about the history of the world? A couple of reasons, really. The first, and most important, is that although there are relatively few accounts of Marvels in the history of Japan, there are some. Even better for historians, the historical records of Japan are quite thorough, and go back for many centuries. And with the Stark-Fujiwara translation programs, many documents which were previously unavailable in the United States or to anybody who didn't read Japanese are finally available. So we can now read accounts of Marvels, from centuries ago, in Japan.
No, there weren't that many; certainly nothing to match the number in the relatively short history of America. There were a few individuals who stand out in various stories, and they were, I think, what we today call mutants. But with a few exceptions--just before and during the Tokugawa Shogunate, and of course the War years (and, again, I refer to WW2, The Big One), where the Japanese had over a hundred Marvels in their armed forces--such individuals are few and far between, and their lives, while absorbing reading, had little or no effect on the long-term development of Japan as a nation and as a culture.
"Year Four of the Ieharu Shogunate. A Year
of No Consequence." - Nihon Shoki
"Meiwa 1. The Flowers Of Edo blossomed shortly but
spectacularly." - Tokugawa jikki
Along these alleys
no cicadas chirp
just angry peasants
- haiku from so-called "Nameless Peasant Poet" (173?-1787)
On 6 Taisho, as the Hour of the Tortoise gave way to the Hour of the Dog, five sets of eyes gazed down on Edo from the heights of the Castle. >From the edge of the hommaru, the main enclosure of the Castle, Tokugawa Ieharu, the Shogun of the Divine Empire, looked to the east, seeing the hundreds of fires, both big and small, dancing and illuminating the cramped streets of the capital and the crowds thronging in those streets. To his left, two paces away, stood Ooka Tadayoshi, the representative of the wakadoshiyori, the Shogun's Junior Councillors. To the Shogun's right, a pace away, stood Tanuma Okitsugu, the Shogun's sobayonin. Occasionally Ieharu would grunt with displeasure. Tadayoshi said nothing, but his face was drawn in a deep scowl. Okitsugu occasionally clucked his tongue, and sometimes a hint of a smile played upon the edges of his mouth and then disappeared. Nothing else was said, and the two guards at the door, and the serving girl, kneeling fifteen paces behind the Shogun, held their poses, waiting for orders.
A hundred and fifty feet above them, on the very uppermost roof of the highest tower of the Castle, two other figures stood, looking down on the capital. One stood eight feet tall; he wore neither a kosode nor a haori, the basic garments of every day dress. And although he seemed to wear purple armor, it was neither the iron helmet nor lacquered armor usual to samurai ready for war. The figure's armor seemed almost to be a part of him, rather than something worn, and he carried his muscular bulk with an athletic ease. Arms crossed, he glowered down at the streets of Edo, no trace of a smile or contentment crossing his face.
Beside him crouched another man, wearing a beaten and dirty kosode. His expression was more impassive than the other's, and he, too, looked down on the capital without moving. In certain sections his clothes bulged outward slightly, in ways a trained samurai would have recognized.
The figure in purple finally rumbled, "The fires of change...they warm me. But they are not enough. Never enough. Speak to me, my Horseman; tell me of the great blaze you have built, the better to burn away the dross, so that the fitter, stronger, greener things may grow from the ashes?"
The other said, slowly, "As I told you before...my lord...tomorrow night is when we will act. All will be in readiness then...as you have commanded."
The figure in purple said, in his deep bass, "Excellent. The world is too large for even my hands to grasp fully; I will practice on this small island of yours, until my fingers have grown large enough to take hold of all nations and all peoples. And then...then I shall squeeze."
Down below, in the alleys and streets of Edo, the pounding of peasants' feet across the cobbles and stones of the streets sent up a drumming that seemed to echo into the heavens themselves. The heat and humidity seemed to increase and not decrease with the departure of the sun, and the air in the city seemed to smell and taste of chaos and death. The chonin huddled within their shops and stores, or joined the crowds in the streets so as to spare their own shops and carts. North, west, and south of Edo Castle the daimyo and samurai huddled within their houses or held their weapons and made ready to deal with the rioters.
And in the Asakusa district, by the Sumidogawa river, the crowds swelled with every passing minute and the chants grew louder and louder as they gathered in the street and on the banks of the river.
"RICE! RICE! WE WANT RICE!"
With every chant they thrust their bamboo spears into the air. A figure stood at the head of the crowd, on the rocks next to the river, wearing only the loincloth and sandals of a rendai man. He led the chants, waving a long pole in time to the crowd's cries. Finally he raised both hands, and the crowd fell silent.
He looked at the sweating, angry, red faces in front of him, and said, in a loud voice that echoed off the walls of the houses behind the crowd, "We have delivered our petitions to the magistrates. And they have refused to lower the price of rice. We have asked, humbly and respectfully, the shogunate to allow milled rice to be imported into Edo. And they have refused. We have asked the shogun to give us charity rice, for our wives and daughters starve, their throats so parched that they cannot even make water, and we can do nothing. And still the government will do nothing. What, now, is left for us to do?"
A voice cried out from the back of the crowd, "Take the rice!" Others took up the cry, until the entire crowd, now 5,000 strong, was chanting, "TAKE THE RICE! TAKE THE RICE!"
The rendai bearer raised his hands again, and after the peasants and poor in front of him stopped yelling, he said, "The rice merchants tell us they have no rice to sell. They tell us that the famine has meant poor harvests for everyone. They tell us that forcible petitioning has been outlawed, and remind us of the punishments for the Chichibu. And yet we know that the merchants stuff their warehouses and temples full of rice, and raise the prices more and more and still more, every day, and when the inspectors come they bribe them to look away. What, now, is left for us to do?"
The crowd roared back, "TAKE THE RICE! TAKE THE RICE!"
The rendai let the chant continue for some seconds, then raised his arms again. He said, "The old people still tell of the events of 1733, and what they did to the corrupt merchant Denbei - but the shogun did nothing then except punish Denbei. No action was taken to help us, and we were told that those in the west were much worse off than us, and much closer to starvation, so we should have been able to survive. We are not even told that now; we are just ignored. What, now, is left for us to do?"
The crowd shouted again, "TAKE THE RICE!"
The rendai, a squat, middle-aged man with the scars that came from a lifetime of wading through treacherous waters, said, "Yes! Take the rice! Let us go, and--"
A voice boomed across the crowd, "NO."
All heads turned to look at the source of the voice. Standing on top of the house directly across the street from the rendai was a samurai. He wore the kataginu and hakama of a warrior dressed for court, his jacket and robe dyed a deep purple, with a subtle floral design, and bearing the hayabusa falcon crest of the Mizoguchi clan. His left arm hung loose by his side, his right hand rested on the hilt of his long sword, and with a scowl he looked down at the crowd, and at the rendai. He waited until he had the attention of everyone in the crowd, and then he said, "You are rebelling against the orders of the Shogun and the will of the Divine Empress. You disobey Tokugawa Ieharu and Go-Sakuramachi. You are traitors. If you leave now, you will not be killed."
A few in the crowd shouted catcalls at the samurai, but when he glared in their direction they lowered their heads. Finally the rendai shouted back, "Ieharu and Sakuramachi don't fill our stomachs! They don't feed our children! If we follow your orders' we will starve to death!"
The samurai locked glares with the rendai. "It is the duty of all subjects of the Empress to die for her."
The rendai maintained the duel of stares as he said, "Fine for you samurai, but we're just peasants."
The samurai said, "I know what you are, Grub." And with that he unsheathed his blade slightly, exposing two inches of gleaming steel.
The crowd, seeing this, scattered, trampling each other in their haste. Within thirty seconds the street was empty, save for the rendai, the samurai, and the groaning bodies of those who'd been stepped on by the rest of the crowd. Those in the houses looking into the street crowded by their shuttered windows and looked down at the rendai. The rendai man continued to glare at the samurai, finally shrugging and saying, "Until tomorrow night, then...samurai." He turned and leapt from the rocks into the river. The samurai looked after him, finally nodding his head once and sheathing his blade, and then he disappeared into the darkness.
The following day, at noon, Tokugawa Ieharu met again with Tanuma Okitsugu and Ooka Tadayoshi.
After the initial formalities Ooka Tadayoshi said, "Sir, the Junior Councillors request that you meet with them regarding the--"
"No." The response was curt and final.
Ooka Tadayoshi hesitated, and then said, "But...sir...the Hyojoshu is having difficulty following your orders of--"
Tanuma Okitsugu purred, "My lord the Shogun has spoken, Tadayoshi. The Council of State has been aware of the Shogun's edict for three years; if they are incapable of following his orders and taking care of all cases before them, then they should let my lord know so that they may be replaced."
Ooka Tadayoshi visibly bristled. "I'm sorry, my lord, surely you did not mean to imply that the Junior Councillors and the Council of State were somehow incompetent or unwilling to follow my lord the Shogun's orders?"
Tanuma Okitsugu smiled and said, in a soothing voice, "Of course not, Tadayoshi. And your loyalty to them is commendable. I merely meant that if there are difficulties in following my lord the Shogun's orders, then they should say so."
Tokugawa Ieharu said, "Enough," and both men closed their mouths and bowed their heads. The Shogun waited a moment, and then said, "I do not wish to meet with anyone this morning."
The corners of Tanuma Okitsugu's mouth turned up in a small but confident smile, and he said, "Shall we then discuss the ikki, my lord?"
Tokugawa Ieharu snapped, "No!" After a moment he went on. "I don't want to talk about it. You take care of it. I...am going hawking." In anyone else his tone of voice would have been described as petulant.
Ooka Tadayoshi opened his mouth to speak, but Tanuma Okitsugu overrode him. "But of course, my lord. I shall see to it personally."
Tokugawa Ieharu said, "See that you do." And with that he stalked out of his chambers, shouting for his attendants.
As the sound of his yells faded away Ooka Tadayoshi turned an angry expression on Tanuma Okitsugu, whose expression grew more amused and benign the longer that Ooka Tadayoshi glared at him. Finally Ooka Tadayoshi said, "May I inquire, my lord, how you intend to handle the rioters?"
Tanuma Okitsugu smiled placidly and said, "The forces of the roju, and of the Tanuma clan, will suffice to quell the rioters. They are only peasants, of course, and will pose no difficulty for samurai."
Ooka Tadayoshi's brow furrowed, and for a moment he said nothing, although his expression reflected the many thoughts and suspicions flashing across his mind. He finally said, "Might I ask, my lord, why those forces were not dispatched last night? Forty-four shops and houses were looted and burnt down, and the hikeshi were involved in both."
Tanuma Okitsugu stroked his mustache and said, unconcernedly, "My forces were busy, Tadayoshi. They prevented the riots from becoming worse."
Ooka Tadayoshi kept his skepticism off his face with only a supreme effort. "And the reports of the tengu, my lord? The samurai who dispersed the Asakusa rioters?"
Tanuma Okitsugu laughed and waved his hand. "Oh, come now, Tadayoshi, you don't believe that story, do you? They're peasants - they'll say anything!"
Ooka Tadayoshi said, "The Junior Councillors heard the story from a samurai, my lord."
Tanuma Okitsugu's smile did not falter, but some of the amusement left his eyes. "Oh? And who is this samurai?"
Ooka Tadayoshi said, "Abe Fumio, my lord. From Mutsu province. He is of noble lineage, descended from Abe no Sadato, who--"
Tanuma Okitsugu could hold in his guffaws no longer. "Ha ha ha - and you believed him? Some country samurai new to Edo, bewitched by a little confusion and unrest? Ha ha ha...is that the only witness? I might as well ask a geisha to tell me how to perform the iai!"
Ooka Tadayoshi's expression became resentful. "Abe Fumio has served the Junior Councillors with distinction for thirty years, my lord, as personal bodyguard. He is--"
Tanuma Okitsugu waved his hands again. "Do not bother me with bumpkins who don't know their swords from their Pestles, Tadayoshi. If you find a credible witness, tell me. Until then, don't waste my time with fantastic rumors of mythical beings."
Ooka Tadayoshi said, through clenched teeth, "Yes...my...lord."
Tanuma Okitsugu nodded with obvious self-satisfaction. "Good. Now then, about the rioters; they will clearly return tonight. I will personally see to their defeat. Besides the forces of the roju and my clan, I will be taking the Castle guards with me. No peasant will stand up to archers and musketeers."
Ooka Tadayoshi's expression changed to one of shock. "But...my lord...the entrance gates to the Castle? Who will guard them?"
Tanuma Okitsugu said, "The Shogun need not worry, Tadayoshi; there will be many other guards. This has been done before, you know, during the 33 riots - the Castle guards were used then to stop the rioters, and no harm came to the Castle then. Besides, you will personally see to the Shogun's safety, so I'm certain I need not worry about it."
Ooka Tadayoshi said, "I...but...thank you, my lord, but I must insist--"
Tanuma Okitsugu said, "I would think, Tadayoshi, that the safety of the Shogun tonight is so critical that you should go now to see to it."
Ooka Tadayoshi hesitated and said, "But...my lord..."
Tanuma Okitsugu's smile grew smaller and he turned an unamused face on Ooka Tadayoshi. "Is there a problem, Ooka Tadayoshi?"
Ooka Tadayoshi bowed his head and swallowed. "No, my lord."
Tanuma Okitsugu smiled and said, "Good. You may depart now and see to the Shogun's safety. I would advise that he be back within the hommaru by the Hour of the Tortoise."
Ooka Tadayoshi said, "Yes, my lord," and stood and left the room.
Tanuma Okitsugu watched Ooka Tadayoshi depart. After he left, and Tanuma was alone in the room (except for the servant woman, but of course Tanuma Okitsugu paid no attention to her) Tanuma's smile grew extremely wide, and he chuckled softly to himself for over a minute.
That night, in the Kyobashi district, by one of the outer moats of the Castle, the rioters gathered again. They met at the square of the statue of the laughing Buddha, converging there from five separate streets and alleys, leaving a trail of smashed and broken and burning houses and shops and guardposts. The crowd, now ten thousand strong, waved its weapons - bamboo spears and sickles and staves, and some swords, jitte, sai, halberds, and other weapons taken from samurai who'd surrendered and from the bodies of those who'd refused to surrender - and shouted a series of almost incoherent chants. Their faces lit by the fires around them, sweaty in the heat of the fires and the summer's night, they stood in the square and chanted, seeming to wait for something or someone, the giant bronze laughing Buddha gazing down benignly upon them.
After a few minutes the rendai bearer appeared in front of the flaming ruins of what had been a tofu shop. The rendai man was wearing a dirty and soiled kosode, and held a long bamboo staff in his right hand. He raised it, to the cheers of the crowd.
He waited until the yells of approval died down, and then said, "We have sent our petitions to the Shogun and the Empress, and they have been ignored. Now we have sent another message to them, one they cannot ignore!"
The crowd roared its approval. He raised his arms and as the crowd quieted he shouted, "We have one more petition to deliver to the Shogun, in letters of fire and blood!"
The crowd's reaction, for the first time, was mixed; many shouted agreement, but others looked surprised and even nervous. The Grub did not wait for further reaction but continued, speaking almost immediately. "Brothers - how long have we starved? How long have the Shogun and the samurai and the merchants and the jinushi eaten well while our wives' bellies shrank and our children died? How long have we labored and died for them while they grow fat? You, inn-keeper, how many times have the Tajima or Mikami samurai wrecked your inn when drunk or bored?"
The inn-keeper, a burly, pot-bellied man with wide arms and a scowl, shouted, "Three times this year! And each time they refuse to pay, or toss me a handful of ryo!"
The Grub's arm whirled around and pointed at a thin, worried-looking man in a cheap-looking kosode. "Money-lender - how many times have you had to make gifts' to samurai from Mino or Harima who refused to pay you what they owed you?"
The money-lender wrung his hands and said wretchedly, "Suh-six times this year."
The Grub pointed at one of the many men in the uniform of the hikeshi. "How many times have the doshin stopped you from doing your job?"
The hikeshi, a muscular, fierce-looking man with several scars and faded burn wounds on his bare head and arms, angrily shouted, "More times than I want to remember! They make us let certain houses burn - if they're owned by enemies of the Shogunate!"
The Grub said, "And yet still we sit here, down here, as Ieharu looks down on us from the Castle and laughs! And we never think to do anything more than burn some shops! I say it is time we did more than that"
A silence spread over the crowd as the implications of what the rendai bearer was saying sunk in. Many heads were nodding, but many faces looked dubious. The Grub held the silence for a short moment, as if judging the effect on the crowd of his words, and then said, "We all know that the Empress is not, truly, to blame for what happens to us! She wishes us the best - and no true subject of hers would wish her ill. But she is misled by Tokugawa Ieharu who with the wakadoshiyori and the traitor Ooka Tadayoshi plot to overthrow her and take control of Nihon!"
Those in the crowd who agreed with what the rendai bearer was saying nodded more vigorously, and began shouting encouragement to him. The rest, for the most part becoming increasingly nervous and uneasy as the true meaning of the Grub's words became clear, said and did nothing, their faces frozen in nervous smiles. The Grub looked at the faces of several of the latter; they all averted their eyes from him. The rendai bearer said, "The Empress relies upon us, her faithful servants, to support her, to make sure that the Divine Empire runs smoothly. She does not truly need the parasite Tokugawas and Tajimas and Mikamis! She needs us - and while we are under the heels of the bakufu she is not giving her what she needs!
"Luckily for us, there is a wise man who has seen the corrupt and weak Ieharu for what he is, and has pledged his support to us, to help the Empress regain control and to banish the traitors to the hell they deserve!"
The crowd slowly became aware that, from many of the houses and from the rooftops around them, and from the rear of the square and the streets leading into the square, armed and armored samurai, many bearing the feared muskets of the Edo Castle guards, were appearing. They all wore the crest of the Tanuma clan, a stylized and somewhat modified version of the character for "determination." The crowd began to back away from them, starting to shrink into a crowded knot, but the rendai bearer thrust both arms into the air and shouted, "STOP!" The crowd, hearing a note of command in his voice that hadn't been there before, froze, and the Grub went on. "The brave warriors of the Tanuma clan are here to help us! They agree with our goal - agree that the traitors must be slain! They agree that a new order must be established, one full of men who will serve the Empress and not themselves, and one that will bring food and justice to us!
"All we have to do is march on the castle and take back from the evil Ieharu and Ooka Tadayoshi what is the Empress'! Now, who is with me?"
The crowd, obviously emboldened by the sight of so many samurai so visibly ready for battle, and to support them in their fight, roared, its cries seeming to reach to the heavens. Then, from the rooftop nearest the rendai bearer, a Tanuma samurai suddenly pitched forward, down into the crowd, and a tall man stepped forward to where the crowd could see him. It was the Mizoguchi samurai from the previous night, now wearing a gleaming set of battle armor. He said, "You preach treachery, Grub. Your life is now forfeit." He looked at the rest of the crowd and said, "The rest of you - disperse. You are--"
Arrows flew from the crowd and from the Tanuma samurai, directly at the Mizoguchi. Faster than the eye could follow his swords leapt from their scabbards and cut down the arrows heading towards him; he shot a glare at the crowd and then leapt down, landing lightly in front of the rendai bearer. The crowd scattered, eager to remove themselves from the reach of his swords, but the Grub hissed and brought his staff up into a defensive position.
The rendai bearer said, "Come down to see how we live, eh, Mizoguchi?"
The samurai's mouth curled into a contemptuous sneer. "Come down to see you die, Grub."
The rendai bearer slowly shifted the staff into a neutral position, vertical at his side, from which he could strike or block; the samurai quickly responded by sliding his swords into the ready position of his school, the Fueru Nami (Gathering Wave) school. The rendai bearer said, "I know what you are, samurai.' And soon everyone here will, too."
The samurai's snarl did not change. He said, "I know what you are as well, Grub. I'm surprised, though. I did not think ninja had the Spheres to display themselves so boldly."
Something almost indecipherable flickered across the rendai bearer's expression, and then was gone. He said, in a loud voice, so that everyone around him could hear, "I'm no more ninja than you are a samurai...Eternal. I am Nana Sataro; tell me your name, so I will know who to hold a hantsuya for."
The samurai said, "I am Mizoguchi Sukeshige Kojiro, ninja, and when you are ready to greet your ancestors, I will accommodate you."
The crowd followed the exchange with intense interest, but to the samurai's irritation the word "ninja" did not provoke any reaction. Then the rendai bearer leapt forward, the staff whirling at Mizoguchi's sword arm in a rapid feint, then coming around to a vicious strike at the samurai's temple.
Mizoguchi's body did not move, and he ignored the feint; his left arm twitched upward slightly, the tip of his blade catching the staff in its midsection and shattering the bamboo. The rendai instantly shook the broken, open end of the staff in his left hand at Mizoguchi's face while pressing a hidden stud in the section in his right hand. A hidden blade shot forward, while from the left section a cloud of black particles shot forward into Mizoguchi's face, covering his eyes.
Mizoguchi's head reflexively jerked away and he shifted to his left and cried out in pain as the black powder stung his eyes, and the rendai bearer spun forward, thrusting with the blade in his right hand. Mizoguchi, half-turned away from the Grub and eyes slammed shut, swung his right arm in a circle, catching the rendai's right arm at the elbow and severing it. Before the arm, still clenching the blade, hit the ground Mizoguchi's arm continued in its circle and came up from below, disemboweling the rendai bearer, who dropped in a wet heap onto the street.
There was a moment of shocked silence in the crowd, and then Mizoguchi, still blinking and trying to clear his eyes, heard several in the crowd shout out, "HE KILLED NANA! GET HIM!" Mizoguchi sighed heavily and opened his eyes; beams of yellow energy flew out from the and raked across those rushing at him, the beams igniting those particles of black powder on his face, so that it seemed that Mizoguchi's entire head was flaming and exploding.
Those close to Mizoguchi in the crowd ducked away, some screaming, "IT'S A TENGU!" The crowd made the motions all crowds do before they break and turn into a fleeing mob when a voice from one of the rooftops stopped them. The speaker was hidden in the shadows, but his voice was that of a man used to being obeyed, and it held a tone that the crowd almost instinctively reacted obediantly to. He said, "FORGET HIM! WE MUST SAVE THE EMPRESS! TO THE CASTLE, ALL OF YOU! DO YOUR DUTY!"
The mood of the crowd instantly shifted, its panic and fear forgotten as it began to obey the voice without thinking, and then remembered what the rendai bearer had told them. The crowd began moving, first slowly and then very quickly, screaming, "Go-Sakuramachi" and "Tanuma" and "No more hunger" as it ran up Mongaku Boulevard, in the direction of Edo Castle, followed and in some cases subtly herded forward by the Tanuma samurai. The inn-keeper, money-lender, and fireman that Nana had spoken to shot covert, venomous glances at Mizoguchi, the money-lender suddenly looking not at all nervous; Mizoguchi sighed and then leapt to the air, flying forward at a rapid rate of speed to the Castle.
The crowd, now swelled to fifteen thousand frenzied men, women, and teenagers, emotionally strengthened by the sight of so many armed samurai clearly willing to aid them against their oppressors, dashed up Yuryaku Way, reaching the gaikaku, the outer defensive perimeter of the Castle, and finding it unguarded ran through it. A few minutes later they reached the naikaku, the inner defensive walls of the Castle, and found it guarded by only a few dozing and very surprised samurai. The crowd swept them aside, the samurai's superior skill and training counting nothing against the great numbers of the mob. The crowd burst through into the hommaru and began rampaging through the rambling set of buildings that made up the inner section of the castle. Those male samurai and elders and servants they found, they rapidly killed; those female servants they found, they raped and then killed, in the way that mobs always do, acting with a crowd-mind that overrode their individual morals. Whatever they could find that was breakable, they broke; that which was not breakable they despoiled. A half-hour later they reached the Nakoku, the Middle Interior in the core of the castle buildings where the Shogun's personal chambers were. The crowd, their frenzy driven to a height by the thought that they might be able to achieve a goal that had been unthinkable only days earlier, a goal that they couldn't even have conceived of, did not notice that the Tanuma samurai had slowly melted to the back of the crowd.
Standing before the doors of the Shogun's personal quarters were two men, their swords drawn and held ready: Ooka Tadayoshi and Mizoguchi Sukeshige Kojiro. The sight of Ooka, the man they knew to be the cause of all their suffering, pitched their anger still higher, but Mizoguchi, standing slightly in front of Ooka with his swords in the killing strokes positions (left sword low in the Waves Flowing position and right sword high in the Stork Poised To Dive position) caused them a momentary hesitation. Ooka, his face a combination of anger and frustrated bafflement, said, "Go home, all of you. Please. Your complaints will be addressed, but not like this."
The faces of the crowd twisted into infuriated snarls, but before any of them could shout replies or leap forward Mizoguchi said, "The first among you to move loses their head. The second and third, too."
From somewhere in the back of the dozens filling the hallway leading to Tokugawa Ieharu's personal quarters a voice shouted, "KILL HIM! HE CAN'T GET US ALL!"
Then a light shimmered in front of the Ooka and Mizoguchi, between them and the spear points of the crowd; it seemed to consist of little points and globules of the light, which sparkled in the dim firelight of the hallway. The light became the outline of a man, which quickly formed itself into something solid - a gaijin in a garish yellow costume.
The gaijin blinked and looked confused, his emotions openly readable on his large, ugly, repulsively pale face.
Then the voice from the back of the crowd shouted, "KILL THEM!" and the crowd surged forward.
Author's Notes
"The Low Oppress The High" was one of the traditional Japanese phrases for the peasant riots, of which there were a great many during the centuries after the Tokugawas took control of Japan - 2,686 between 1590 and 1867. (There were 108 during the 1760s).
The Nihon Shoki are the more-or-less official annals & history of Japan. The Tokugawa jikki was a historical work compiled by the Tokugawa Shoguns about their reigns.
Most - well, almost all, to this point - of my historical work have used real events as a backdrop to my stories; that is, there really was a silver rush in Nevada territory in 1882, and of course Belleau Wood was a real battle that killed a lot of Americans. But this story is made up more-or-less out of whole cloth, which is to say that there was no peasant riot in Edo in 1764. Which isn't to say that everything else is made up, simply that, unlike my other stories, I played a little bit more fast and loose with things - the immediate backdrop of the story, among other things. But the conditions in Japan were as depicted here, and there were other, vicious peasant riots in Edo, most notably in 1787.
When possible, I've tried to be faithful to the personalities and positions of historical personages. Tokugawa Ieharu, for example, didn't like to see anyone he didn't know & was not a good shogun, being far too concerned with pomp & circumstance and with spending his time hawking & hunting, and Tanuma Okitsugu was as bad as shown (I can't resist quoting one source on him: "exceedingly well-read in the great book of human nature, and especially well acquainted with its most unclean pages"). Ooka Tadayoshi I could find nothing on that described his personality. Abe Fumio did not exist. Similarly, the clans named here as Tokugawa supporters - the Tajima & Mikami - were allies of the Tokugawa shogunate.
As far as I know, there is no "Fueru Nami" school of swordsmanship; of course, I don't think "Fueru Nami" is a direct or grammatical translation of "Gathering Wave," but oh well.
I hope y'all appreciate the effort & research I put in on this story.
Glossary
Bakufu - the ruling class of Japan; technically, it translates as "tent government" and means the military government of Japan, but in general use it included not just the government but the military class as well.
Chichibu - A range of mountains in the Musashi province of Japan, it was the site of a revolt in 1764; the entire county formed a camp and said they would defy the Daikwan, the provincial administrators. The Daikwan appealed to the local Daimyo, troops were summoned, and they stormed the peasants' encampment, with several hundred people dying on both sides. The captured peasants were sent to Edo, filling the Temma jail and the excess being sent to Asakusa, and their leaders were executed, with the rest of the peasants being sent back to their villages.
Chonin - "townsmen;" the artisans and merchants in urban areas. Includes everyone from the very wealth financiers and wholesale merchants to the poor peddlers and laborers.
Doshin - the basic patrol and guard units of Edo - the standard police, in other words.
Edo - the capital of the Tokugawa shogunate; it later became Tokyo.
Edo Castle - the actual headquarters of the Tokugawa shogunate; where the shoguns lived and worked.
Flowers of Edo - the poetical phrase among the Japanese for the many fires that broke out in Edo during the Tokugawa Shogunate; as a town of paper and wood buildings, and many open flames, these fires were common and particularly damaging.
Forcible petitioning - the proper procedure for asking for change, in this era of Japanese history, was to give the village elder (or your direct superior) a petition and trust that it would be delivered to the right person. However, almost all of the time that did not work, and so what came to be called "forcible petitioning" developed; it involved essentially marching into the office of house of the official who could effect the change you wanted (giving out charity rice, making merchants lower prices, etc) and handing them the petition. This violation of social customs & protocols was something that the upper classes really didn't like, and so it was, naturally, outlawed.
Gaijin - the Japanese name for foreigners. Not a complimentary term.
Geisha - the "singing girls" that were a combination of entertainment, escort, and prostitute.
Hakama - loose trousers tied at the waist and worn over the kimono; an essential part of formal/ceremonial men's dress.
Hantsuya - the "half wake;" the brief form of the wake held after someone dies.
Haori - the outer coat that all middle- and upper-class Japanese men wore over the kosode.
Hikeshi - the fire fighters of Edo. Although they were formed by the shogunate, they were often not altruistic, more interested in extortion or looting the buildings that were burning, rather than in fighting the fires. But in a city of paper and closely-packed wooden buildings like Edo, the fire fighters were essential, and the shogunate, the daimyos, and the townsmen all formed their own firefighting units.
Hour of the Tortoise & Hour of the Dog - in the time system of pre-Meiji Japan, there were twelve "hours," each constituting two Western hours. So the Hour of the Tortoise was from 5-7 pm, and the Hour of the Dog was from 7-9 pm.
Hyojoshu - the Council of State. The place where administrative matters and legal disputes were discussed and settled. It consisted of 15 members, who were heads of offices, legal specialists, scholars, and warriors from vassal and aligned (with the reigning Shogun) houses.
Iai - the technique of drawing the sword at high-speed and cutting one's adversary, all done with one stroke. An essential skill for a samurai, but not an easy one to master.
Ikki - the word for peasant rebellions that bedeviled Japan up until the Meiji Restoration of 1868.
Jinushi - the landlords of Edo, who were given the right by the Shogunate to inhabit, rent, sell, and bequeath specific parcels of land in exchange for certain payments. As has always been the case with landlords, some jinushi were merciful, and some were not, but almost all of them were hated by those who rented from them.
Katagina - the waist-length jacket with out swept shoulder garments worn over the hakama and kosode.
Kosode - the robe worn over the kimono. The basic garment of the Edo period.
Nihon - the Japanese name for Japan.
Pestle - one of many names (aka Steaming Shaft, Turtle's Head, etc) the Japanese had for the penis.
Rendai - the litter that bearers carried across the rivers; along with boats, it was the only way that people could traverse rivers, as the shogunate had prohibited the construction of bridges.
River Grub - the common name for the rendai bearers.
Roju - the senior officers of the Shogunate; they were responsible for most officials and through them supervised everything from foreign affairs to religious establishments. In the times of weak Shoguns the roju were the real power in Japan.
Sobayonin - the grand chamberlain to the Shogun and liaison with the roju.
Taisho - the latter half of July in the Imperial calendar. "Taisho" meaning "the greater heat," it was when the summer's heat was the worst.
Tengu - a supernatural creature of Japanese myth; it was a flying birdman who sometimes interfered in the ways of humanity, and was a superb warrior. In an odd bit of symmetry, during the 1787 riots - the largest and most damaging during the 277 years of the Tokugawa Shogunate - there were reports - some from shogunal officials - of "an unshaven youth...of unusual strength," and there were many comments that it must have been a tengu.
Next issue: A Year Of No Consequence, Part 2: The Flowers Of Edo