Demon Sword Dance
Book 2 of the Dororo Novel Series
Toriumi Jinzō
Part 2 - Nihil, the Demon Sword
Chapter 1
The wandering samurai that Hyakkimaru met on the Hokuriku Road crossed the Kinome Pass and reached a village at the foot of Mount Hino. He was very close to Takefu. His name was Sabame Nuinosuke, and he was from Shinano Province to the northeast.
Mount Hino was sometimes called the Mount Fuji of Ezichen. Its peak was covered in white snow. In January of the year 996 of the Chōtoku Era, the father of the famed poetess Murasaki Shikibu1, Fujiwara no Tametoki, assumed the role of the governor of Ezichen Province. He did so after writing a poem about the snow melting on Mount Hino that moved the Emperor to tears. In more recent history, such a genteel transfer of power seemed like a far-fetched and fanciful notion.
Sabame Nuinosuke made no move to enter Takefu when he reached it. He hadn't visited Tsuruga, either. He tended to avoid places with lots of people and powerful samurai lords as a rule.
It was finally spring on Mount Hino, but Nuinosuke didn't notice the new green leaves or fresh water flowing in streams down the mountain. In his heart, it was always the same dead, dry season that never changed.
Nuinosuke was on the road to the main Judicial Office for the region, so there were checkpoints along the road manned by armed guards. Nuinosuke went off the road to avoid them.
That man...he was pretty strange, wasn't he? Nuinosuke thought.
The young man he'd met didn't seem very used to war, but he carried a Muramasa sword that was very similar to Nuinosuke's own. Nuinosuke couldn't help but be a little interested in him. The moment their swords had crossed, Nuinosuke had felt something go out of his own sword, Nihil, and get absorbed into the other sword—or was it the other way around?
It was strange, but Nuinosuke had felt something like animosity between the two Muramasa swords. But that was ridiculous: swords didn't have minds of their own. The young man had seemed just as confused as Nuinosuke at the swords' odd exchange.
He must have come from the capital, too. He seemed to be looking for something...
The strangest thing of all to Nuinosuke was that Nihil had expressed no desire for the young man's blood at all. That had never happened before. Nihil was always thirsty for blood.
Nuinosuke felt a vague sense of unease. He rested his hand on the hilt of his sword for reassurance.
It wasn't my place to kill him. I can't go against Nihil's will.
He smiled a cruel and bitter kind of smile and kept walking.
Nuinosuke was from the province of Shinano, which was governed by the Ogasawara Clan.2 He was one of the Ogasawara Clan's retainers. The founder of the Ogasawara Clan was Kagami Mitōmitsu's younger son, Kagami Nagakiyo, who was born in Kai Province. His father Tōmitsu served Emperor Takakura as an Inner Palace guard. Nagakiyo's older brother served the Taira Clan, but Nagakiyo served Minamoto no Yoritomo and founded the Ogasawara Clan.
At the end of the Northern and Southern Courts Period (1337–92), when the Imperial Court was split over which Emperor should rule, Shinano Province's Murakami Clan became locked in a struggle with the Ogasawara Clan. This struggle didn't end until thirty-second year of the Ōei Period, 1425, when the Ogasawara Clan were declared the official winners and made military governors of Shinano Province.
But in the third year of the Bun'an Era, 1446, internal strife broke out between members of the Ogasawara Clan. Many other powerful families in the region got caught up in their troubles. This was partially a result of the start of the Ōnin War (1467-77), which began just after the Ogasawara Clan's petty conflicts turned violent.
The shōgun desired the province to be brought under lawful order again, but instead of supporting the Ogasawara Clan directly, the shogunate gave incentives to those lords who were able to pacify the region. This strategy pitted samurai lords against one another as they sought for favor and titles. Other samurai families decided to discard loyalty to the shōgun altogether. In nearby Kaga Province, the military governor Togashi Norie fought with his younger brother Yasutaka over who would rule the province. The brothers were split along shogunate and anti-shogunate lines, with Norie supporting the Eastern Army and the shōgun and Yasutaka supporting the Western Army and a new order of succession through the shōgun's infant son.
The Ogasawara Clan was similarly split. The family itself was divided into three branches. The original Ogasawara Clan was the descended from Ogasawara Mochinaga. His family split into the Fuchu-Ogasawara Clan and the Ina-Ogasawara Clan. Mochinaga remained the head of the Fuchu-Ogasawara Clan, but the Ina-Ogasawara Clan was led by Ogasawara Mitsuyasu. Hosokawa Katsumoto, leader of the Eastern Army, put his support behind Mitsuyasu, while the Hatakeyama Clan, staunch supporters of the Western Army, threw their support behind Mochinaga. The situation in Shinano was unstable and had been for quite a while.
The lord that Nuinosuke served was Ogasawara Arimune, who was part of the Ina-Ogasawara Clan. He lived near the upper shores of the Tenryū River near the Ina Basin. Arimune was greatly versed in the martial arts and took every precaution possible to protect his territory. Nuinosuke learned archery, horsemanship, and court etiquette while under the aegis of the Ogasawara Clan. The Ogasawara Clan was renowned for archery and horsemanship in particular. Ogasawara Nagakiyo, who'd lived in Kyōto, had apparently learned the secrets of both arts from Minamoto no Yoritomo. Nagakiyo's grandson Nasanaga taught both archery and horsemanship to Ashikaga Takauji, the founder of the Ashikaga shogunate. This began a long tradition of the Osogawara Clan teaching both disciplines to the Ashikaga shōguns.
The Osogawara Clan made their name and reputation on teaching horsemanship, archery, and etiquette. They were nationally renowned for all three. People flocked from the surrounding provinces to Shinano to learn them.
Nuinosuke had been recruited by Arimune because of his skills as a swordsman. He had been trained in the sword and spear using a style invented by Ōhashi Kageyuzaemon. His teacher was Ōhashi Seigen. When Lord Arimune was out surveying his lands, he caught sight of Nuinosuke practicing with the sword.
"Well, look at that. You're an expert swordsman. The shōgun would be fortunate to have you in his service," Lord Arimune said. He hired Nuinosuke as a retainer on the spot.
From there, Nuinosuke's ambitions to rise in the world only grew. Arimune was well-versed in culture and military arts, and he provided Nuinosuke a well-rounded education in both. Nuinosuke put his all into his sword practice to honor his teacher and the sword school he'd chosen.
But Nuinosuke's dreams were crushed by the chaos and violence of the times. In 1461, the samurai lord Hatakeyama Yoshinari succeeded his father as the head of his clan. He disputed with his son-in-law over who had the right to lead the clan. The shōgun sided with his son-in-law, so Yoshinari secluded himself inside Gakusan Fortress to the north of the capital. This conflict provoked war on a wide scale and led to Osogawara Arimune retreating from the world and fortifying his position in Shinano Province. There was conflict within the Osogawara Clan: weaker lords jockeyed for position, seeking to improve their place. Arimune wanted to be ready for any disaster that might befall.
Arimune employed forty-two expert carpenters and builders to create new fortresses all over Shinano Province. In the autumn of 1466, these fortresses were completed. Arimune distributed his armies evenly between them.
The carpenters had done their work well and expected to be rewarded for all their hard labor over the past five years. They hadn't seen their families for most of that time. They smiled and laughed together, happy at the idea of receiving their reward and going back to their homes. Some of them speculated about what they would get: money? Treasures? Personal gifts from the lord himself?
The looks on the carpenters' faces all changed completely when they found themselves surrounded by an army of ashigaru. Lord Arimune appeared before them flanked by armed guards, including Nuinosuke.
"Nuinosuke, come here," Lord Arimune said.
Nuinosuke moved in front of his lord and knelt down, bowing his head. "Yes, sir."
"Get rid of these carpenters for me," Lord Arimune said curtly.
"What?" Nuinosuke looked up at his lord. He was completely confused by his command.
"I am telling you to kill them all and leave no survivors," Lord Arimune said. His tone was cold and without compassion.
"But...why? For what reason?" Nuinosuke asked, determined to understand Lord Arimune's will before he did something rash and irreversible.
"You would question me?" Lord Arimune asked. He sounded angry. Nuinosuke had never heard him sound like that before. They had always been on friendly terms.
Nuinosuke's instructor in archery and horsemanship, Tanaka Jūnai, approached Lord Arimune. "Do you really intend to disobey our lord's order?" Jūnai hissed at Nuinosuke.
Nuinosuke stared at Jūnai with a deadly serious expression. "I would never disobey an order, but I cannot comprehend why our just and generous lord would command the slaughter of so many innocent people."
"You should obey no matter what, without needing a reason," Jūnai said.
"But it's so cruel—"
"Cease, Nuinosuke," Lord Arimune cut in. "Kill them."
It was pointless to argue. Nuinosuke bowed his head. Jūnai looked at him with an expression of pain. Nuinosuke was his student and had just shamed him in front of their lord. Nuinosuke would not be permitted to shirk this duty.
The carpenters fled in fear, but they couldn't get very far: they were enclosed by ashigaru. They understood that their lives were in danger.
Lord Arimune passed Nuinosuke a longsword in a red scabbard. "Kill them with this sword. They must die. They've built the new fortresses and could tell the secrets of their design to the enemy. I am trying to protect the people who will seek shelter in these fortresses in the future. Must I say more for you to understand?"
Nuinosuke still hesitated. He owed his lord everything, but he had a kind heart and couldn't bear to do something so despicable. He warred internally with himself, trapped between opposing horrors.
"Nuinosuke, kill them!" Jūnai scolded him sharply.
"Very well." Nuinosuke drew the sword out of the red scabbard, then threw the scabbard to the ground. He had to force himself to go against his essential nature.
The carpenters and builders cried out and tried to run, but they were hemmed in by the ashigaru and their spears. Their faces were pale, but no more so than Nuinosuke's. He felt like his spirit had left his body and was floating above him.
Wordlessly, almost silently, Nuinosuke cut down the terrified carpenters and builders one by one. They could do nothing but scream. Heads rolled, separated from bloody torsos. Nuinosuke gave them all quick and painless deaths, cutting each of them down in a single blow. He felt like some kind of wrathful demon or god as he killed them all.
Nuinosuke's face was red with blood that wasn't his own. Only his eyes gleamed bright and clean on his face. Faster than anyone anticipated, all forty-two of the innocent carpenters and builders lay dead on the ground.
Nuinosuke placed the sword next to him and fell to his knees. He felt
like he'd lost his soul.
Jūnai came closer to Nuinosuke, smiling encouragingly. "Amazing! You killed them all with a single blow!"
Nuinosuke surveyed the corpses around him in complete silence.
Lord Arimune was no longer angry. He held out the red scabbard to Nuinosuke.
"That sword is called Nihil. You did well. I shall give the sword to you."
Nuinosuke bowed his head, but he remained silent. He had betrayed his own heart. When he accepted the red scabbard from his lord, he became a slave to sword he held.
***
When Nuinosuke returned home, he was so weak that he could barely stand. He came through the door and collapsed. His younger sister Osushi lay him out comfortably on the floor. Nuinosuke's mother was worried. She boiled medicinal herbs in a pot to make a tea.
"It's hard work to advance in the world as a warrior," Nuinosuke's mother said. "I'm sure he's just tired. He'll be back to normal as soon as he's had some sleep." She tried to get Nuinosuke to speak, but he wouldn't say a word.
Nuinosuke's father had died young, so it was only him, his mother and his sister in the house. Nuinosuke accepted his mother's medicines and concoctions, but his health did not improve. He refused to go outside and preferred to be left completely alone.
One night, Nuinosuke awoke to a strange sound. He didn't know how long he'd been asleep. The sound he heard became louder by degrees. He couldn't tell where it was coming from.
After he listened for a moment, he realized that the sound was a voice—a male voice. Or was it voices? It was difficult to tell.
Nuinosuke's sister had set a fire in the hearth, so he could see the inside of the room dimly. He stared at the flickering flames on the ceiling and didn't rise
The voices grew louder. They sounded like they were weeping. Nuinosuke's stomach churned painfully. The pale faces of the men he'd killed appeared above him, looking down.
Nuinosuke felt frozen through. "Forgive me," he said. "May your souls find peace." He tried to say more, but he made no sound.
The condemning faces of the men he'd killed passed before his eyes, one at a time. The weeping, screaming voices of their spirits were deafening.
Nuinosuke's terror changed to anger. "Shut up!" He kicked the floor violently as he rose to his feet.
He didn't remember anything that happened after that. When he returned to his senses, he was standing in the middle of the room. Wind blew through the open doorway, The fire was out. He saw no sign of the spirits who had tormented him the previous night.
"Was all that a dream?"
Nuinosuke wanted to believe it was just a dream, but he suspected that this was not the case. He was soaked in sweat from head to toe. He took a deep breath to calm himself, then looked down.
He held Nihil in his right hand. He had no memory of retrieving the sword or unsheathing it.
Nuinosuke's usual sword was in an alcove in the corner, still sheathed. Nihil should be there as well. How had it gotten into his hand? He stared at it in fascination.
There was no blood on the sword anywhere. It was sparkling clean. He had no memory of cleaning it so thoroughly after cutting down the carpenters and builders. The memory of his terrible crime wrung his heart. Had it only happened yesterday? He heard the agonized screams of his victims clearly, as if they were right in front of him.
Nuinosuke saw himself from the outside, a monstrous demon of murder and killing. His twisted and contorted reflection was visible in the blade of the sword. It was like there was something alive in the blade.
Nuinosuke's right hand shook. He returned Nihil to its scabbard and lay back down on his futon, barefoot and dressed in pajamas.
It was drizzling outside. The wind blew the rain through the windows. Nuinosuke got up and dressed himself with the rain beading on his skin. He unsheathed Nihil and headed to the estate of his archery and horsemanship instructor, Tanaka Jūnai. He was soaked through as he walked.
Lighting flashed far above in the sky. Nuinosuke's wet hair stuck to his face. His expression was grim, but his eyes were bright as he stalked down the road to the Tanaka estate. There was no trace of conscious will in his movements.
Nuinosuke sneaked into the Tanaka estate without being seen. The estate was familiar to him. He'd been here many times before, so it was very easy. Because of Nuinosuke's meritorious deeds, he'd been granted the hand of Tanaka Jūnai's daughter Sayo in marriage, though the ceremony hadn't actually taken place yet. Nuinosuke had liked Sayo from the first, They'd always gotten along, but even the memory of her face was not sufficient to return Nuinosuke to his senses.
Nuinosuke rounded the corner toward the back entrance of the house without announcing himself. He kicked through the shutters that kept out the rain and rushed down the corridor, directly to Jūnai's room.
He'd made too much noise. The house was in an uproar. Nuinosuke ignored the effect he'd had and kicked away the folding screen in front of Jūnai's bed.
Jūnai sprang up from his futon. "Nuinosuke, what the hell?" He said nothing else after that.
Nuinosuke brought Nihil down on the crown of Jūnai's head. Blood sprayed everywhere. Jūnai's body slumped to the floor as dead weight.
Blood from Jūnai's skull covered Nuinosuke's face. Jūnai's wife and his daughter Sayo ran out into the hallway to see what the commotion was. They wailed when they saw Jūnai's corpse.
"Nuinosuke!" Sayo screamed at him.
Nuinosuke killed her and her mother without a second thought.
When Nuinosuke left the house and entered the back garden, Jūnai's retainers followed him and enclosed him in a circle. All of their weapons were drawn.
"Nuinosuke, have you gone mad?"
Nuinosuke was familiar with all of Jūnai's retainers, including their fighting styles. He started cutting them down before they had a chance to cooperate in attacking him.
Rain washed the blood from Nuinosuke's face. Nihil moved in his hand like a mad beast. Jūnai's retainers died like the carpenters and builders had died: in a single blow. Their bodies rolled over the ground. Nuinosuke stepped on them. There was a strange light in his eyes that looked like glee or delight at what he was doing.
Nuinosuke returned to his senses when all of Jūnai's retainers were dead. Nihil was still in his hand, clean of blood as if the rain had washed it completely away.
This wasn't something Lord Arimune would overlook. Nuinosuke knew the secrets of the fortress' construction just like the carpenters and builders did, and he had just performed a treasonous act. Nuinosuke expected that he would be hunted down and killed as soon as Lord Arimune learned of his actions here.
Nuinosuke fled along the line of the Achi River until he reached the Tenryū River, sometime around dawn. He reached the village of Shimojō and forced his way into the main hall of an old temple surrounded by trees. The monks gathered there took one look at Nuinosuke and fled. There was still blood on his face and all over his clothes.
Nuinosuke stole new clothes and money from the temple's collection box. He ate the mochi that had been left out as an offering, then ran away from the temple, finding the Achi River again and following it to the Misaka Pass. He was so exhausted by that time that he fell down. He decided to rest for a while. As he came back to himself, all trace of what he had done vanished from his mind. It was replaced with one compulsory, urgent thought: Run.
So Nuinosuke ran. He discarded his lord, his place in the world, and his home. He had killed so many people—but for what purpose? He had the haunted, terrified appearance of an escaped prisoner: in many ways, that was exactly what he was. A man on the run. A fugitive from justice.
***
The town of Achi was a major waypoint on the Tōsandō Road. The way to the town was steep and difficult for horses to traverse. Nuinosuke kept to the high cliffs near Achi as he ran and concealed himself in caves when he needed to sleep.
The cave he chose tonight was not large. The entrance was narrow and difficult to see at any great distance. It was just wide enough inside for Nuinosuke to lay completely flat. He was tired to the core of himself, but he was also too tightly wound up with nerves to sleep.
He remembered that he had killed Jūnai, and Sayo, and her mother.
No, no. That couldn't have been me.
Nuinosuke heard the voice of Jūnai in his mind: Nuinosuke, kill them!
Nuinosuke had been angry at Jūnai for pressuring him, but Nuinosuke had never wanted him dead. He had no reason for killing Sayo and her mother at all.
"Forgive me," Nuinosuke said in a tone of desperation. "I didn't mean it." Tears overflowed in his eyes.
Nuinosuke dropped his gaze to Nihil. He grabbed the sword by the scabbard and flung it away from him. Nihil made an awful sound as it rolled away from Nuinosuke.
Nuinosuke stared at the sword with an expression of horror. He was a terrible criminal. He couldn't go home. His mother and his sister would be blamed along with him, even though they'd done nothing. He would have to live on his own. If he went back to his village, his entire family would be slaughtered.
There's nothing else I can do.
Nuinosuke picked up Nihil. He'd thrown away his past. He had nothing but the sword to rely on now. He received a sense memory of cutting down Jūnai and his retainers, vivid and terrible. The longer he held Nihil, the more he felt his terrible guilt fading away.
Translator's Notes
1 Murasaki Shikibu (c. 973 or 978 – c. 1014
or 1031) was a Japanese novelist, poet and lady-in-waiting at the Imperial
court in the Heian period. She is best known as the author of The Tale of
Genji, widely considered to be one of the world's first novels, written in
Japanese between about 1000 and 1012. Murasaki Shikibu is a descriptive
name; her personal name is unknown, but she may have been Fujiwara no
Kaoriko (藤原 香子), who was mentioned in a 1007 court diary as an
Imperial lady-in-waiting. ↩
2 The war between the Taira Clan and the
Minamoto Clan is known as the Genpei War. It resulted in the downfall of
the Taira Clan and the establishment of the Kamakura shogunate under
Minamoto no Yoritomo, who appointed himself as shōgun in 1192, governing
Japan as a military dictator from the eastern city of Kamakura.↩
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