Kiku's Prayer Part 23

"No matter what happens, Santa Maria will protect us. We all just have to continue offering our oraci to her and put all our trust in her."

On the morning of their surrender, however, each of the twenty-four felt somber, as though they were bidding their final farewells to their families.

The mountains were wrapped in a spring haze, and the flowers were in bloom. For the Kiris.h.i.tans, this was the month that they would be celebrating the resurrection of Jezusu on Easter Sunday. But it was simultaneously a time of great sorrow-it was also the month when Jesus died.

They had no way of knowing whether their fate would lead them to death or restore them to life. When the twenty-four left their homes, their families followed behind, intoning prayers. Their numbers swelled from one hundred to two hundred, then from two hundred to three hundred.

"Go back to your homes now," the village head and the government officials ordered the crowd, but they shook their heads and formed into ranks that walked all the way to Nagasaki.

At the gate leading to the government office-the same gate through which they had earlier entered the magistrate's office-the twenty-four prisoners turned back to their families and called, "Don't worry! This time we won't reject Lord Jezusu and Santa Maria no matter what!" And then they disappeared through the gate that summoned up such painful memories for them.

Even then the families did not withdraw but crouched down quietly and waited. One, then two, of the curious onlookers went away, until finally all were gone. But the Kiris.h.i.tan men and women refused to budge from where they sat.

It was a peculiar scene beneath the warm spring sun. Many hours pa.s.sed.

Near nightfall, the gate opened once again, and the twenty-four Kiris.h.i.tans, with Sen'emon at their head, emerged with triumphant, joyful smiles on their faces.

"Not one of us apostatized! We told the officials there was no way we would abandon our Kiris.h.i.tan faith. Absolutely never abandon it!" Seikichi puffed out his chest and explained to the crowd.

Another summons came from the government office a month later. Unlike the previous summons of twenty-four individuals, this time the heads of every household were ordered to surrender to the police.

As a result, 180 Kiris.h.i.tan peasants from Nakano, Ieno, and Motohara set out for Nagasaki, once again in the early morning. Nearly four hundred family members followed behind, but on this day it was rainy and muggy.

The interrogating and admonishing dragged on for many hours in the presence of Governor-General Sawa n.o.buyoshi. Rain beat mercilessly down on the faces and bodies of the peasants as they sat on white gravel in the courtyard listening to the remonstrations. The rain reminded them of the night of the downpour when they all had been viciously beaten.

One by one, each of the officials-k.u.ma Hachitar, Matsukata Masayoshi, Machida Minbu, and Inoue Monta-took turns questioning and warning the prisoners to abandon their faith. They alternated between reproaching the prisoners for violating the laws of the land and insisting that they had been deceived by the missionaries, or else they would let their anger get the best of them and begin threatening the Kiris.h.i.tans with violence in their voices.

However- The peasants of Urakami stubbornly refused to give in. On this occasion they did not employ the silent resistance typical of farmers; instead they became defiant, openly contesting and arguing with their interrogators. If you're going to threaten us, go ahead and kill us, they responded. Even if you get all worked up, our way of life is just different from yours, they retorted.

One of the interrogators, k.u.ma Hachitar-later known as Count k.u.ma Shigen.o.bu7-would later report on these events as follows: "The firmness of their faith was like gold and iron. One young woman of a weak and mild countenance responded to the inspector's questions, his threats, and his admonitions with calm presence of mind and not a hint of fear." He went on to admit, "Of the interrogators, Inoue Kaoru was the one who was most zealously partic.i.p.ating in the inquiry, but he was at a loss for how to deal with the young woman's manner: he grew impatient with her, thundered at her, and was almost beside himself, but the more impa.s.sioned he became, the more serene she appeared. The logic of her responses was beyond dispute, and he couldn't do anything to attack her cogent rationality. He had quite a rough time of it!"

Thanks to their experiences in prison and then the interrogation in the third month, the Kiris.h.i.tan peasants of Urakami had a clear notion of the kinds of logic the officials would try to use to persuade them. They had probably already discussed among themselves how to answer when questioned in a particular manner and how to argue back when they were threatened in a certain way, and they had thought carefully through every single response they would give.

Consequently, it was only natural that they were able to outwit men like k.u.ma Shigen.o.bu and Inoue Kaoru, having seen through their ploys. Skilled as they were in political disputation, these officials underestimated these totally illiterate peasants, certain that they would be crushed by the power of their glibness. They were dead wrong.

Once again, the government office that had summoned the Urakami Kiris.h.i.tans was forced to send them back to their homes. Needless to say, the officials could not push them any harder owing to the tenacious protests from foreign legations in j.a.pan, who adopted the same att.i.tude toward them as they had toward the shogunate.

The peasants of Urakami were bursting with self-confidence. The rain had already stopped when they emerged in high spirits from the government office.

A blue sky was visible in the west, a sign that the weather was going to improve.

Just as before, the many families who had followed their loved ones from Urakami stood outside the gate, and when their relatives came out of the interrogation, they waved their hands and cheered loudly.

Seikichi was part of the procession that came through the gate as someone at the front of the line, most likely Sen'emon, began singing a hymn.

Let us go, let us go

Let us go to the temple of Paraiso!

As they filed out one after another, they all joined in the singing; the family members who followed behind them also began to sing.

Seikichi relished an indescribable feeling of joy as he sang while he walked along the rain-drenched road. He was proud of the other Kiris.h.i.tans who walked beside him. What they believed in was true. What they believed in had proven stronger than either the magistrate's office or the government office....

He strode forward, staring up at the blue sky visible between the gray clouds. It didn't matter that his legs and body were being splashed by mud. And he didn't even bother glancing at the spectators who stood on both sides of the road.

But then he caught sight of Laucaigne and the other priests from ura standing amid the crowd. At their side was Kiku.

People of every land, bless the holy name of the Lord

Forever and ever.

As he whispered the Latin prayer, Laucaigne gazed at the feet of the Kiris.h.i.tans; they were covered in mud from walking along the road after the rain.

Kiku, for her part, stared only at Seikichi.

Seikichi is so strong.... Seikichi, who had not despaired despite what he had experienced at the magistrate's office and the government office. Seikichi, who had not faltered. Kiku was even more powerfully drawn to Seikichi's strength.... If only he weren't a Kiris.h.i.tan!

Seikichi really is a man.

Let us go, let us go

Let us go to the temple of Paraiso!

The triumphant singing voices were of course audible in the government office. Their interrogators-Inoue Monta, Machida Minbu, and Matsukata Masayoshi-also heard their singing.

They each had a bitter look on their faces, but Governor-General Sawa n.o.buyoshi was in an especially foul mood.

"They've really gone too far," Machida Minbu sputtered. "For mere peasants, they seem to understand our weaknesses all too well. I'm sure that's because of what the Namban clerics have filled their ears with...."

Inoue Monta also shared his views with Sawa. "If we do nothing to them, they're bound to get c.o.c.ky. What have you decided?"

"Matsukata, what do you think?" Sawa asked.

After thinking for a few moments, Matsukata proposed, "It seems to me we can't really decide this here in the Nagasaki office. I think that Inoue and I should go to Osaka and seek the sanction of Lord Kido8 before we do anything...."

A man had been skulking in front of the Nambanji for nearly half an hour.

He stood stock-still, staring nervously at the church behind its fence. To avoid arousing suspicion he would leave for a while, then return to the same spot.

It was Kiku who discovered him; every day between ch.o.r.es she looked toward the door of the church, earnestly hoping that Seikichi would make an appearance.

Abruptly she cried out, "Ichijir!" It was her cousin she had not seen in a long while. She raced outside and called through the fence, "Isn't that you, Ichijir?"

"Ah!" In relief he wiped the sweat from his brow. "So you're here after all. Just like Mitsu said."

"Mitsu's still working hard at the Gotya, isn't she?"

"Working her heart out." Then abruptly Ichijir gave her a dour look. He was not happy with this cousin; unlike his hardworking sister Mitsu, Kiku had stolen away from the Gotya. "Why didn't you send word to Magome that you were here?" His voice was menacing. "Do you have any idea how worried your mom and dad and Granny have been since you disappeared ...? You probably haven't given that even a single thought."

"But I knew they'd all be really mad at me if I told them.... Mitsu's the only one I told that I'm working here."

She kept her eyes lowered as she tried to defend herself, but Ichijir kept pressing her. "Have you ... have you done something that would make everyone mad at you?"

Kiku said nothing.

"Why aren't you answering? How am I supposed to know what's going on if you won't talk to me?" But Ichijir knew full well the reason for her silence. He had heard everything from his sister.

Still Kiku had nothing to say.

"Are you still love struck with that boy from Nakano? That Kuro fellow?"

"Ichijir, what's so bad about being Kiris.h.i.tan?" Kiku suddenly raised her head defiantly and challenged him. "You probably don't know that the times have changed, and one day soon the Kiris.h.i.tans will be able to walk the streets freely. That's why even when the government people called them in, they just let them go."

It angered Ichijir to have his young cousin jabber at him like this, but he stifled his emotions. Kiku's parents and Granny had told him in no uncertain terms that he was to bring Kiku back to Magome.

"Even I know that much," he nodded reluctantly. Then, after a pause, he said, "But not a single woman from Magome has ever married a Kuro from Nakano or Ieno. If you did something like that, everyone would point fingers at you."

"Point fingers? Why?"

"Because they'd say you married a Kuro."

"I don't care!" She spoke triumphantly, even proudly. "I don't care what anybody says. I'm not doing anything bad. Pointing fingers at someone who hasn't done anything wrong just means there's something wrong with their heads!"

"Listen, Kiku." Ichijir sensed that he was no match verbally for his cousin. "Doesn't it bother you that you're causing your parents and Granny to worry so much? Everybody is very concerned about you. There's all kinds of good places to work without having to serve at this foreign temple. Come back to Magome for a while...."

"I'm not coming back." She flung her refusal back at him. "If I come back to Magome, they won't let me marry a Kuro, so I'm not coming home."

"Kiku ..." Ichijir was stunned. "Do you really love him that much?"

"I do love him ..." I do love him. Kiku spoke the words forcefully, proudly.

"Why?"

"I don't know myself. But I know I love him."

"You won't give him up, no matter what happens?"

"I won't."

Ichijir involuntarily heaved a deep sigh. Since childhood it had been Kiku's nature to persist obdurately in having things her way once she had made up her mind. If she said she wasn't going to give Seikichi up, there was no way she ever would. If she announced she wasn't going back to Magome, she would not be going back.

"I see." In reality, Ichijir felt remorse in the depths of his heart. He had the distasteful memory of spying on the peasants of Nakano at the urging of the magistrate's officers and the chief priest of the Shtokuji. That regret now changed his att.i.tude toward Kiku somewhat. "I see.... If you're that determined, I'll pa.s.s the word along to your father."

"Then ..." Kiku looked happy for the first time. "Then you'll help me?"

"I'm not saying I'll help you. But ..."

But seeing the look on Ichijir's face, Kiku sensed that ultimately this cousin would become her ally. It was her woman's intuition.

Joy surged through her entire body.

Now I can become Seikichi's wife ... !

Kiku had no idea how Seikichi's parents would feel about this. But she was happy. She was truly happy....

1. Kawazu Sukekuni (d. 1868) served the shogunate in a variety of positions; his t.i.tle at this time was governor of Izu. In 1863 he sailed as deputy delegate to Europe to partic.i.p.ate in talks regarding the opening of the country. He was the last magistrate of Nagasaki, fleeing the city as described here when he received news of the defeat of the shogunal army.

2. Matsukata Masayoshi (18351934) served the Meiji government as finance minister, as founder of the Bank of j.a.pan, and as the sixth prime minister of the modern nation. In 1865 Machida Minbu (18381897) traveled to England with a group of fourteen other gifted young men to study for three years. He was the first director of the National Museum in Tokyo and, in later years, took Buddhist vows.

3. Both men, like Pet.i.tjean and Laucaigne, were priests of the Societe des Missions-etrangeres de Paris. Jules-Alphone Cousin (18421911) served as bishop of Nagasaki from 1891 until his death. Felix-Clair Ridel (18301884) did missionary work in Korea in the 1860s when the religion was still banned by the king. In 1866, when another missionary was executed along with around eight thousand Korean converts, Ridel fled to China and notified the French authorities about the ma.s.sacre. A retaliatory French fleet moved on Seoul but was defeated by Korean forces.

4. Sawa n.o.buyoshi (18361873) also served as governor of Nagasaki and was one of the most ardent persecutors of the Kiris.h.i.tans. He died of an illness at the age of thirty-seven.

5. Inoue Monta (18361915) was initially an antiforeign activist who joined with others to set fire to the British legation in 1863. A close ally of It Hirob.u.mi, the first Meiji prime minister, Inoue studied in London and later served the Meiji government as Minister of Foreign Affairs, Minister of Agriculture and Commerce, Home Minister, and Minister of Finance.

6. The five relationships are subject to ruler, child to father, wife to husband, younger siblings to elder sibling, and friend to friend.

7. k.u.ma Hachitar (18381922) was one of the most active and influential of the oligarchs who helped establish the Meiji government. Influenced by his reading of the New Testament and the American Declaration of Independence, he pushed for the shogun to cede power to the emperor, was elected to the first representative Diet of the new era, served as Minister of Finance and Minister of Foreign Affairs, and twice served as prime minister (for four months in 1898, and from 1914 to 1916). He also founded the forerunner of Waseda University and served as its president.

8. Kido Takayoshi (18331877) was an imperial loyalist who helped initiate many of the moves toward modernization under the Meiji government. He traveled with the Iwakura Mission (18711873) to the United States and Europe and pushed for the creation of a const.i.tutional government. As an adviser to the throne, he oversaw the young Emperor Meiji's education.