Kiku's Prayer Part 26

"You're a devil of a woman!"

Yet, for a devilish woman, the statue of the Immaculata merely stared back at Kiku mournfully.

"I won't be asking the likes of you for any more help. I'm going to find Seikichi myself!" she said spitefully.

Then one day in the ninth month, Father Laucaigne came to her beaming with news.

"Kiku. Kiku! We've found out where Seikichi and the others are! They're in Tsuwano of Iwami Province. Do you know it? Tsuwano?"

Kiku listened to the words in utter amazement.

Tsuwano of Iwami Province.

Raised in the sleepy village of Urakami, she had no idea where Tsuwano might be. It certainly sounded like a place far, far away.

But now it was affirmed that however far away, Seikichi was alive and living there. What was he doing that very moment? What was he thinking about? Was he thinking of me?

What if they weren't giving him anything to eat, and what if he were ill? What if he were being beaten by guards at the prison?

With thoughts such as these, not even brandished weapons could hold Kiku back. "I have to see him!"

A few days later she walked out of the church and down to the beach that skirted the bay. With a leaf clenched between her teeth, she closed her eyes and tried to let the sound of the waves calm her surging emotions.

But the ardent desire to rush to Seikichi drove her to walk along the beach toward Nagasaki. Though there was no likelihood of meeting up with Seikichi in Nagasaki, she could not sit still.

The streets of Nagasaki were bustling that afternoon. She continued walking aimlessly until she came to the Dza-machi district where many Chinese people lived.

When she reached Dza, she saw Chinese men and women standing in front of their houses conversing. One of the houses was a butcher shop where pigs' heads hung from the rafters, while another was a Chinese ceramics store stocked with vases and plates. In the street some men were stretched out on wooden platforms where they were being poked with acupuncture needles.

Kiku swallowed hard as she studied the unfamiliar surroundings and started up a hill toward Maruyama, walking along a street that smelled of cooking oil.

"Young lady!" Someone abruptly called out to her. A man with yellowed teeth stood there alone. "Young lady!" he called. "Young lady ... do you by chance work at the Gotya? ... I feel like I've seen you somewhere near the Gotya."

"Yes, I worked there," Kiku nodded cautiously.

"That's what I thought.... So you're out on an errand today?"

"No ... I'm not at the Gotya anymore." She spoke quickly and tried to walk away.

"Is that right? You quit, did you? What are you doing now?"

"Sorry, I'm in a hurry." She gave a slight bow and picked up her pace. But the man seemed headed in the same direction, and he followed her.

"Where do you work now?" he had the nerve to inquire.

"Me? I'm at the Nambanji in ura."

"Where the foreigners live?" The man's eyes flashed with curiosity. "You're a Kiris.h.i.tan, are you?"

"No." Kiku was becoming uneasy at this man's familiarity, and with an aloof look she headed into the entertainment quarters at Maruyama.

"Young lady, I can get you a job a lot better than working at the Nambanji," he called unexpectedly from behind her. "Why don't you come with me, young lady? You don't need to be afraid of me. Why, I've helped out those foreigners at the Nambanji where you work."

Kiku was trying to ignore the man and his words, but his last remark p.r.i.c.ked her curiosity.

"No, you haven't!"

"I wouldn't lie to you. Those foreigners spent a lot of time searching for Kiris.h.i.tans hidden here in Nagasaki.... And I helped them."

Kiku had heard from the other priests how Pet.i.tjean had walked the streets of Nagasaki until he found Kiris.h.i.tans.

"You really did?"

"I really did. That's why I'm telling you that I can get you a good job."

"What kind of job?" Kiku stopped walking and peered into the man's face. Truth be told, she was desperate for some money. Enough money to travel to be near Seikichi. The money to go to a place called Tsuwano ... She was provided with food and a place to sleep at the Nambanji, but they didn't give her enough money to do that....

"Will you wait here for a minute?" The man left Kiku standing there and disappeared into the Maruyama throng.

What should I do?

Confused, she remained at the side of the road.

To abandon the Nambanji-she felt it wasn't fair to Pet.i.tjean and Laucaigne, who had always treated her with kindness. But she couldn't remain there forever. Nothing would change if she stayed there. Seikichi had been shuffled from Urakami to some distant place. And the foreigners at the Nambanji hadn't been able to do anything about it.

"Well, you've waited here patiently!" The man came scrambling down the hill, and once he determined that Kiku was still there, he looked behind him and called to someone, "Ma'am?"

A middle-aged woman nodded at his words and followed him down the hill.

"Ma'am, this is the girl I told you about. With just a little polishing, she'll be a real prize. You don't see many girls this pretty these days."

The woman studied Kiku and smiled affably at her. Then somewhat forcefully she said to the man, "Why don't you leave?"

"Me? Why?"

"You've introduced me now, so just leave."

Grudgingly the man disappeared.

"Now, dear," the woman spoke gently to Kiku. "You look so very sad.... Have you had some troubles?"

"No, no troubles." Bewildered, Kiku shook her head.

"Well, that's fine, then.... But if you walk around the streets in Dza or Maruyama with such a gloomy face, you'll have lowlifes like that fellow who brought me here calling out to you. You'll be all right now that I'm here, but if one of those bad men got hold of you, they'd sell you off."

"Sell me off? Really?!"

"Really. The slave traffic has picked up lately." The woman smiled and nodded. "I understand you've been working at the Nambanji."

"Yes."

"And why were you with those foreigners?"

This level-headed woman did not seem like a bad type to Kiku, but she still did not respond to the question.

The woman peered at Kiku and said, "Why don't you come with me for a bit? Have a cup of tea and then you can go back to ura."

Kiku was escorted to the Yamazaki Teahouse in Maruyama.

"Ma'am, what is this place?" Kiku was taken and seated in front of a rectangular hibachi brazier, and her eyes opened wide in wonderment at the delicious flavor of the steamed cakes she was served. Having never in her life eaten anything sweet other than dried persimmons in Urakami, this was a new taste experience for her.

"It's a Chinese pastry called xiang bing." As the woman poured tea for Kiku, she kept carefully examining the girl's face. The almond eyes. The tiny lips. There was no doubt she would make money for them once they shined her up a bit.

"Now, why did you say you were working at the Nambanji?"

Kiku could no longer avoid giving a response. As Kiku explained her situation, the woman listened carefully, nodding along the way.

"You've had some painful experiences, too, haven't you? The man you love being a Kuro ... and then being taken off somewhere far away."

"Ma'am, what kind of place is Tsuwano?"

"Tsuwano is the domain of Lord Kamei. Just think of it as being between Yamaguchi and Matsue."

That still gave Kiku no idea where Tsuwano was. She narrowed her eyes and seemed to be gazing at something far in the distance.

"And you're sure this Seikichi of yours is in Tsuwano?"

"Yes. That's what the foreigners at the Nambanji said."

"Kiku ... It was Kiku, wasn't it? Why don't you work here for a while? Some very important men from the Nishi Bureau in Nagasaki come here for entertainment. We often see such men as Lord Inoue and Lord Matsukata. You could get to know them and then plead with them for Seikichi's life."

In spite of what this woman said, Kiku's mind was in commotion. She felt as though working here would be a slap in the face to Pet.i.tjean or Laucaigne. But since it was all for Seikichi ...

TSUWANO.

TSUWANO, IN THE province of Iwami.

Unlike Nagasaki, there was no blue ocean anywhere in sight. It didn't matter which way you looked: there were mountains to the east, mountains to the west, and mountains to the south. Among them were Tokusaga Peak, Mount Aono, and Shiroyama, which was crowned by a castle.1 It was summer, and the mountains were still blanketed in green when Seikichi and the other men were brought here from Shimonoseki, accompanied and guarded by It Seizaemon from the Nagasaki government office. Pure white c.u.mulonimbus clouds drifted up from the shadows of the green mountains. In a tiny basin surrounded by these mountains squatted a village as serene as a napping pet.

Here was none of the liveliness found in the bay of Nagasaki, where boats were always coming and going. There was not a single Westerner with strangely colored hair and eyes, or even a Chinese person to be spotted. Instead of the bustling traffic, this village was subdued and still, and irrigation ca.n.a.ls reflecting the sun's rays traversed it in all directions. The villagers washed their clothes and themselves in these ca.n.a.ls, and throngs of carp swam in them, the sounds of their splashing deepening the silence of the town.

Lord Kamei, who had been daimyo of this province until the end of the shogunal reign, worked to foster men of talent through an emphasis on education and training, and as a result Tsuwano produced a succession of scholars and literati. It is well known that such men as Nishi Amane and Mori gai2 were brought up here.

Tsuwano was chosen as the place of exile for twenty-eight of the Urakami Kiris.h.i.tans because Kamei Koremi, the former lord of the domain, had expressed to the Meiji government his opinion that "the Kiris.h.i.tans should be converted through the use of reason," and it was determined that this approach should in fact be attempted here in Tsuwano, enclosed by mountains.

Sen'emon, Seikichi, and twenty-six other prisoners were sent to the Krinji Temple, a vacant Buddhist temple on the outskirts of town.

Initially they were treated so well that it felt almost eerie. One of the exiles, Kanzabur, recorded in his notes: Our lodgings at the temple were surrounded by a bamboo fence. Tatami mats cover the floor of the great room, there is a hibachi brazier, and the cook was extremely polite and greeted us by saying, "I look forward to serving you."

The quality of the food was also good for prisoner fare. Even the rice was served in small individual wood containers. This was all part of the strategy of the authorities, probably a manifestation of their desire to "persuade through the use of reason."

Despite the favorable treatment, however, the peasants of Urakami had absolutely no intention of abandoning their Kiris.h.i.tan faith.

This isn't going to continue forever, It Seizaemon, in his role as their guard, chuckled to himself at the magnanimous treatment. It won't be long before we see just how stubborn the Kuros of Urakami really are. One day soon things will get rough.

The Tsuwano authorities paid them no heed for about a month, but eventually the officers began their attempts at persuasion. Even a Shinto priest was brought in to a.s.sist.

It seemed to the Kiris.h.i.tans that they were endlessly asked the same questions they had been asked at the Nagasaki government office and harangued with sermons of the same gist as before. But the twenty-eight Kiris.h.i.tans by now were veterans at refuting the lectures and throwing the questions back at their interrogators.

The officers based their admonitions to apostasy in the logic of National Learning3 and Confucianism, but not one of the prisoners was swayed by this approach.

The green of the Tsuwano mountain range gradually began to change into autumnal colors. The mornings and evenings became increasingly chilly.

"Right about now, they should be starting to harvest the rice," Seikichi mumbled, and everyone listened wordlessly to his comment. The faces of the relatives they had left behind floated before each individual pair of eyes.

The manner in which they were treated changed overnight. The officials switched to the mode of persuasion preferred by It Seizaemon.

One morning, just as the prisoners were finishing breakfast, It Seizaemon suddenly appeared, and with a thin smile on his lips said, "Everyone listen carefully. It's been decided that I will return to Nagasaki, so you won't be seeing me for a while. Every single day I've been waiting patiently here in Tsuwano for you men to change your minds, but since you continue to be headstrong, even I can't protect you from the officials here any longer."

The men listened quietly, but none of them believed that he had been protecting them from the rulers of Tsuwano.

"Once I'm gone, things are going to get rough for you. Soon you'll be tortured. Take my advice: you'd better hurry and have a change of heart...." With a smirk and those parting words of counsel, It departed.

"What a pest! Him and his snooty sermons!" the men mocked.

"Yeah, but somehow when I see him I feel sorry for him. Why would that be?"

All the men shared Seikichi's opinion. Spineless and cowardly though he was, and though he strutted about acting like some important administrator, It was still somehow laughable, and they couldn't bring themselves to despise him.

But there was nothing untrue in his words.

Two days later, several men swarmed into the temple, and without a word they began removing the tatami mats from the main building.

"What are you doing?" When Sen'emon, the presumed leader of the men, asked in surprise, one man responded, "We're under orders from Lord Kanamori. Starting tonight, you won't be using any bedding. You're to sleep on these thin little woven rugs." He pointed at a stack of straw rugs they had brought.

After their tatami mats were removed and their original bedding was carted away, the five cups of rice they had been receiving each day were reduced to two. Their soup became water with a little salt and no trace of even a vegetable leaf. The treatment they had received up to this point was completely overturned.

The interrogations, which until now had been gentle, suddenly turned fierce. If they talked back, they were beaten mercilessly. And they were beaten if they remained silent.

During the interrogations, two of the three attending officers employed violence and one showed sympathy. Once the two officers had finished punching and kicking the prisoners, the third would offer tender words of comfort. "Listen, we don't want to have to do this to you. If you'll just give up your heresies, we'll have them release you from this temple, and we'll even give you money to return home." At other times, he would prey on their longing for their families in their attempts to sway them: "Wouldn't you like to see your mothers and your wives back home? You can't imagine how they worry about you. It's time to stop shirking your duty to your parents."