Demon Sword Dance
Book 2 of the Dororo Novel Series
Toriumi Jinzō
Part 5 - Hell on Earth
Chapter 1
Jukai sat on the Flower Hill in a meditation pose, praying for Hyakkimaru's continued safety. What he was doing was similar to what he'd taught Hyakkimaru long ago. He gathered his psychokinetic energy within his mind and directed it toward a purpose. Psychokinetic energy was visible in the air to everyone who had the potential to use it. Hyakkimaru was naturally gifted and had grasped the use of this energy within months, but it had taken Jukai eight long years to attain full mastery of it.
Jukai had also resumed training in Shōrin-ryū1 and hand fighting after settling in the ruined temple. By the time he finished his prayers and his training, it was growing dark. Dororo and the other children would probably be eating dinner by now.
Jukai noticed dark storm clouds unfurling overhead as he came down from the Flower Hill. The clouds looked just like the ones he'd seen on Mount Hyōtankuzure before the Hall of Hell demons had attacked the infant Hyakkimaru. The demons had broken through his defenses then. Hamara Genyōhiken2 was used to defend against evil spirits and demons, but the Hall of Hell demons had been too strong for him to fight.
"God of Iwakura Shrine, worker of miracles..."
A high-pitched sound like a scream echoed in the air. Lightning flashed twice, but made no sound. The third time lightning struck, it was directly over Jukai's head. He fled from the lightning, but he wasn't fast enough.
A shaft of bright light broke through the clouds from the north. The lightning vanished before it could touch Jukai. The clouds overhead dissipated slowly, revealing the clear evening sky. Hamara Genyōhiken had worked this time; he felt no more demonic presence in the air.
The next morning, a messenger arrived at the ruined temple from Hino Village. Dororo eyed the villager with wary suspicion. No one ever came to this temple. Dororo was the only one outside the temple at this hour, so he approached the villager slowly.
"Are you Dororo?" the villager asked. "It's an odd name, but..."
"Stay back!" Dororo said. "I don't trust you. Or like you. Go away." He removed his darts from his sleeve.
"Well, you match the description I was given. Can you pass this to Lord Jukai?" the man asked, pulling a roll of paper from his breast pocket.
"Maybe," Dororo said. "What's your name, asshole?"
The man laughed. "You talk like a pint-sized samurai. I'm Yosaku. I come from Hino Village to the north."
"You talk like a country bumpkin," Dororo said dismissively. "And I've never heard of this Heno Village."
"It's Hino Village," Yosaku said. His expression showed his irritation plainly. "I was hoping to find Lord Jukai. I have a message for him from Hyakkimaru."
"What? From aniki?" Dororo's entire demeanor changed in an instant. He laughed. "I see. So Hyakkimaru's in Hino Village, then? Where is that?"
"At the foot of Mount Hino," Yosaku said. "But I'm in a hurry. Hyakkimaru said this message was urgent."
Jukai heard Dororo and Yosaku talking from inside and came out of the temple. "So you're a messenger?" Jukai asked.
"Yes," Yosaku said. "I hope you're Lord Jukai. My name is Yosaku, and I have a message for him from Hyakkimaru in Hino Village."
"I'm Jukai," he said. "Show me this message."
Jukai invited Yosaku into the temple's repaired main hall, then unfurled the message and read it. Dororo stayed at Jukai's side, looking back and forth between him and Yosaku. He was still wary of this stranger.
Jukai's expression softened in relief as he read about Hyakkimaru's experiences on Mount Monju. Hyakkimaru's psychokinetic energy was restored. Yōda had revealed himself as an incarnation of the Bodhisattva Manjushri. All of that was good news.
But when Jukai read the next part of Hyakkimaru's message, he frowned severely.
"What's wrong?" Dororo asked. "Did something happen to aniki?"
"Hyakkimaru is fighting an onryō," Jukai said. He explained the message to Dororo as best he could. At the end of the explanation, Dororo nodded.
"But he got his powers back on Mount Monju, right? There's no way he'll lose to something like that."
"Perhaps," Jukai said, "but the Hall of Hell demons are always tracking him and lying in wait. They might be using this onryō to lure him into a trap."
Yosaku overheard their conversation. He appeared stunned. Hyakkimaru hadn't told him much, but it seemed that Hyakkimaru really did have experience fighting demons. "Did you teach Hyakkimaru how to fight, Lord Jukai? Would you go back to the village with me and help us defend it? The message must ask for your help, right?"
Jukai scanned through the rest of the message. "It doesn't," he said.
"What?!" Yosaku's mouth fell open in disbelief.
"Hyakkimaru never runs from a fight," Jukai said. "He's determined to fight his demon without my help."
Yosaku kept staring at Jukai. Dororo snorted. "Why send a message, then, if he wants to fight by himself?"
"He thinks that the only way to protect the village is by using concentrated weapons of fire—bombs and explosives, basically."
"Bombs? Explosives? Don't those come from China?" Yosaku looked confused, though he lived close enough to the Sea of Japan to know that pirates and the shogunate traded with China for gunpowder all the time. It wasn't too difficult to make, but required saltpeter; Hyakkimaru had lifted some from Korikuma's bandit fortress.
Hyakkimaru didn't ask for help in his message, but Jukai felt the urgent need to be at his side before he went to battle the demon. "Dororo," he said. "Protect the temple while I'm gone."
"No," Dororo said flatly. "If you're going, then so am I."
"You're not," Jukai said harshly. "This is a yōkai that has the accumulated rage of all the gypsy moths on that mountain as well as the cursed energy of an onryō. It's too dangerous."
"Gypsy moths?" Dororo asked. "They're bugs. We can crush them all. I haven't been able to do anything for aniki for all this time. Let me help. I know what's needed to make gunpowder, too."
Jukai frowned at Dororo, who planted his feet directly in front of Jukai. Dororo extended his arms in front of him in supplication and said, "I'll never ask you for anything else in my life, taifu Jukai. Let me go with you." There were tears in his eyes.
Some of the children were playing around the temple. When they saw Dororo, they rushed up to ask him what was wrong, but he didn't answer.
"You don't have to be quite so dramatic." Jukai's eyes crinkled at the corners; he was looking at Dororo like a loving but exasperated parent. "Hyakkimaru sent Yosaku in secret. I have to assume that this is some kind of emergency. He asked me not to come, but he needs all the help he can get."
Dororo lifted his head. "So that means...I can go?"
"You can," Jukai said. He had a hard time denying Dororo anything. He would stay to protect the temple, but there was no reason why Dororo couldn't return to Hino Village with Yosaku.
Dororo composed his features and went back to playing with the children, though he was unusually quiet for the rest of the day. He was relieved that he'd gotten what he wanted.
***
Jukai started searching for components to make gunpowder along the riverbank with Dororo's assistance. They needed saltpeter, coal and sulfur. Jukai gathered wormseed and leaves from pagoda trees to replenish his medical supplies. Before long, he and Dororo had more than enough materials to start making gunpowder.
The formula that Jukai knew for gunpowder came from Sun Simiao's Essential Formulas for Emergencies Worth a Thousand Pieces of Gold. The formula was very old; Sun Simiao died in 682. He was still renowned as the King of Medicine in China. Most people believed that gunpowder was invented on accident when Chinese physicians were researching medicines to make people immortal.
When his gathering and preparations were done, Jukai passed his letter for Hyakkimaru to Dororo.
"Remember, now," Jukai said. "You must tell him not to waste his life foolishly. It doesn't belong only to him, no matter what he thinks."
"I'll remember," Dororo said.
Jukai called out to Yosaku. "By next year, there won't be a single gypsy moth left on that mountain," he said. "I swear it."
"Really?" Yosaku asked.
Jukai had learned to make medicine and gunpowder in China; he was also well-versed in making insecticides of various types. He had learned most of what he knew in that regard from Gōshō, the Chinese physician that he'd apprenticed under for many years.
There were many effective insecticides that the Chinese had used for over a thousand years. The Classics of Herbal Medicine, attributed to the monk Shennong, was written in the second century and contained three hundred and sixty-five recipes for medicines and poisons. Roughly a hundred could be used to kill insects as well as humans.
Jukai knew of many insecticidal plants that grew on Mount Kurama, as did Hyakkimaru; he had learned all about them from Jukai while he was growing up. Stemona, chickweed, and shrubby sophora were the most common in this area, but they were by no means the only options at Jukai's disposal. He placed the gunpowder and insecticidal herbs in Yosaku's saddlebags and helped him and Dororo prepare for departure.
Dororo changed out of his usual attire and wore a long-sleeved kimono like most farmers did. He concealed his darts and blowgun inside one of the sleeves.
Jukai saw off Dororo and Yosaku's horse, then climbed the Flower Hill and prayed once more for Hyakkimaru's safety while facing the far-off Mount Monju. He remembered his long years spent studying with Yōda on Mount Wutai, so long ago now. It seemed that Yōda had not simply died, but ascended and transformed into a Bodhisattva of compassion and wisdom.
Jukai should have guessed that something of the sort had happened long before. He had heard Yōda's voice the day he'd discovered Hyakkimaru, and now, Yōda had worked to restore Hyakkimaru's psychokinetic powers. A part of Yōda was alive in Hyakkimaru.
Jukai had become a doctor to alleviate human suffering. By borrowing the wisdom of the gods and the teachings of doctors and physicians, people could live better lives despite the hardships they were forced to endure. Why else had Jukai taught Hyakkimaru how to awaken his psychokinetic potential, or given him eyes and ears?
But Hyakkimaru no longer suffered from his many disabilities and deformities. He could do anything that anyone else could, and considerably more in some cases. Despite this, he was focused less on function than on revenge. He hated the parents who had cast him out, and would do anything to track them down.
Why did they throw him away? What purpose could that have served? And even if they had a reason, can Hyakkimaru ever forgive them?
Conflicts were swirling around Hyakkimaru. Jukai hoped that he wouldn't be sucked into anything fatal. In Hyakkimaru's eyes, Daigo Kagemitsu and the Hall of Hell demons were one and the same. Jukai's best hope was that the vision Hyakkimaru had seen of his birth father at the Hall of Hell had been some kind of trick or delusion.
His parents must have loved him. They must have.
Jukai didn't often wonder if it was wrong to have raised Hyakkimaru the way he had, but now he did. He could never have simply abandoned him, but if the result of his long and patient care was that Hyakkimaru would hunt down and kill or punish his birth parents...
Jukai would always love Hyakkimaru, but he wasn't sure that his son was on the right path.
Translator's Notes
1 Shōrin-ryū is the Okinawan school of
karate.s It is a Japanese martial art considered to be a modified version of
Shaolin Kung Fu. Shōrin-ryū is a holistic system whose training methods are
divided into three parts: self-defense training, mental training and, health
training. The basis are the concepts that spirit and body are not separable
and that it is integral to train both the body and mind as one.↩
2 Hamara Genyōhiken translates, roughly, to
"monster and spirit exorcism." It is a magical discipline taught to Jukai by
his master, Yōda. He uses it to repel and exorcise demons and evil
spirits.↩
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