The Fall of Daigo
Book 3 of the Dororo Novel Series
Toriumi Jinzō
Part 3 - Cursed Family
Chapter 1
Genkai Namitarō completed his voyage in the southern Sea of Japan and returned to Karatsu at the beginning of April. He’d received Jukai’s letter and had rushed home as soon as possible.
Jukai and Namitarō had known one another for a very long time. When Jukai’s father Hisamaro found himself hunted by the shogunate in 1409, he’d sailed to Karatsu with Genkai Nadaemon, Namitarō’s father. Jukai and Namitarō were close in age and became as close as brothers during the long months Jukai and his father had spent in Karatsu.
Hisamaro had defied the shogunate because of the shōgun’s refusal to investigate his wife’s brutal murder. A mysterious band had hunted Hisamaro until they’d finally killed him. Jukai still didn’t know who’d done it, but his father’s dying wish had put him on his life’s path.
Jukai had sailed to China with Nadaemon and Namitarō to learn medicine from Gōshō, a Chinese physician. He and Namitarō had become sworn brothers before he’d left. Jukai had spent many years learning how to craft prosthetic limbs from Gōshō. Then, he’d traveled around the world with Zheng He, the famous Chinese diplomat and explorer. It was during those years that Jukai had gained most of his practical experience with surgery.
After that, Jukai had studied with Yōda on Mount Wutai for twelve years to unlock the secrets of creating prosthetic limbs that would move like real ones. This was the foundational ability of psychokinesis.
All told, Jukai had studied medicine in China for thirty-eight years. He finally returned home to Japan on Namitarō’s pirate ship. Namitarō had become captain of the ship after his father’s death.
After Jukai’s return to Japan, Namitarō had arranged for him to live on an old estate on Mount Kurama. He’d also assisted Jukai by providing supplies to raise Hyakkimaru and, when Hyakkimaru was older, to equip him with weapons. He’d given Hyakkimaru the Muramasa sword as a gift just before Hyakkimaru had left Mount Kurama to go searching for his birth father. Hyakkimaru had learned to use the sword in both the traditional way and psychokinetically. The sword could channel energy at demons and evil spirits.
Namitarō was stunned by what he read in Jukai’s letter. It was incredibly dangerous for Jukai and Hyakkimaru to travel through Kaga Province, which was an active warzone, to find Lord Daigo Kagemitsu. What was worse, Namitarō had exhausted his supplies of gunpowder and shot, through battles of his own and because he’d sold some as cargo. He knew that fire was a very effective weapon against demons, but he didn’t have time to gather more gunpowder if he wanted to intercept Jukai and Hyakkimaru before they left for Kaga.
Namitarō decided to sail north to China to buy gunpowder, then sail south again and land in a port in Ezichen or Kaga Province. He was the captain, but his crew was exhausted from their previous long journey and didn’t want to go along with the plan. Namitarō wanted to compromise as he usually did with his crew, but Jukai was his sworn brother. He couldn’t sit idly by and not help him.
He also understood Hyakkimaru’s eagerness to find what he was looking for. Namitarō was a sailor through and through, as his father Nadaemon had been. That meant he’d been raised on the sea to be strong, brave, and to follow his heart.
Namitarō stood on the deck of the ship that had once been his father’s. It was comforting and familiar. The estate on Mount Kurama had easy access to the Genkai Sea to the north. It had also been his father’s property and had passed to Namitarō after his death. He and his crew lived in a village on Karatsu, but it was good to have multiple properties for smuggling purposes. It was also easier to coordinate voyages and buy supplies in familiar areas.
Namitarō called his officers together on the main deck of his ship before they disembarked. His tense expression made many of the officers glance at one another in confusion or alarm.
When the officers were all assembled, he said, “I know you’re all exhausted after the long voyage, but we must set out again, not to foreign seas, but to Kaga Province. Don’t try to argue with me because I won’t hear it. This is my command, and I will see it carried out.”
“Captain, who’s our enemy? The Eastern Army or the Western Army?” one of the officers asked.
Some of the other officers shouted the same question.
In a voice pitched to carry, Namitarō said, “Our enemy is demons.”
“Demons?”
The officers laughed. “So we’re going to kill demons, now?”
“Never seen ‘em before. Do we know they exist?”
“How much’ll we get paid?”
“Everyone knows demons are just old wives’ tales.”
Namitarō grinned wolfishly. As expected, he would have to explain himself. “Listen. My older brother’s in Kaga Province right now. He does a lot of good for the world, healing the sick and helping those in need. He hates samurai as much as we do and is traveling through Kaga with his son. His son is my only nephew. I can’t let them go off and fight demons without me. I ain’t no coward, and they need our firepower if they’re gonna win. Demons are weak against fire.”
Namitarō’s officers raised their hands.
“We’re with you,” one said, “like we always are.”
“We swore to follow you to the end and die on the sea,” said another.
Namitarō felt hot tears stinging the backs of his eyes. “We might have to fight on land,” he said. “I don’t like it any more than you do, but there it is.”
“Land means loot,” an officer said.
“Your family is our family, captain. None of us is staying behind.”
The other officers clapped in approval at this sentiment. Namitarō looked out at all of them proudly. They’d never seen a demon before, but they weren’t afraid to fight them at his order. And they were all brave, strong men and experienced fighters. Jukai and Hyakkimaru could definitely use their help.
“Well, thanks,” he said brusquely, but it was obvious that he was almost crying. These men had been with him for years or decades. None of them had ever disobeyed an order before.
Namitarō sent out Takenōchi Tokuzō, along with the other messengers, to intercept Jukai and let him know that he was coming before his fleet left for China.
***
The next day, Namitarō raised sail and prepared his three ships for departure from Karatsu. His crew numbered something like eighty men, all battle-hardened sea veterans. They were armored with tub-sided samurai cuirasses1 and armed with longswords hanging from their hips.
The Genkai Sea was rough at this time of year. Namitarō and his men had to go around some bad weather, which took a few extra days. All told, it took Namitarō’s ships nine days to reach the mouth of the Yangtze River, sailing west against the current to land at port. Namitarō sought out his black market supplier, Ryo Botto, to buy gunpowder. Ryo specialized in goods pertaining to armor and warfare. He had acquired most of the swords that Namitarō and his crew carried. He’d also sold large quantities of saltpeter and gunpowder to Namitarō before, which Namitarō had then passed on to Jukai.
Emperor Zhu Jianshen currently ruled China. During the early part of his administration, he’d carried out new government policies to reduce taxes and promote peace. He was generally hands-off as a ruler, leaving governmental affairs in the hands of eunuchs. Peasant uprisings were occurring throughout the country that were violently suppressed, largely without his interference.
Emperor Zhu Jianshen’s reign was also more autocratic than his predecessors' had been. Freedom was sharply curtailed. The Emperor established the Western Depot, which monitored all citizens' actions and words. The Western Depot punished people they suspected of treason, which included pirates. Namitarō hadn’t been in port for two days before the Emperor’s spies came sniffing around.
Namitarō didn’t want to get in a fight with them; his only enemies were samurai and the shōgun. Namitarō usually traded for goods like food and medicine in China, which he gave away free to the poor, as his father had done. He could fight, but he was not a warlike man and he despised men who attacked the innocent.
Unfortunately, Ryo didn’t have any gunpowder to sell. “A lot of it gets directed my way, but it goes out the door as soon as it comes in,” he said. “I don’t have any at the moment.”
“I can wait for ten days,” Namitarō said. “Give me everything you can acquire by then.” He wanted—no, needed—gunpowder more than anything. Jukai wanted it, and Namitarō wouldn’t go to him without it.
“Understood,” Ryo said. “I’ll get as much as I can in that time.”
Ryo was a reliable supplier. Namitarō hoped that he’d be able to get him what he needed in that time.
Most gunpowder was manufactured in Musashi Province. There was a popular new formula for it that was used for new weapons like hand cannons. Most of Namitarō’s crew had never seen hand cannons before, so Ryo demonstrated their use on the deck of Namitarō’s ship after he made his delivery.
“Amazing! The enemy will never see it coming,” one of his officers said.
In ten days, Ryo managed to acquire forty guns, three thousand six hundred bullets, a hundred and sixty wide-mouthed cannons, six hundred and twenty hand cannons, approximately three hundred bombs, and nine tons of gunpowder. Namitarō was stunned when he listed off his inventory. China really was the place to go for firearms.
The weapon that impressed Namitarō’s crew most was known as the General’s Cannon,2 an enormously heavy gun that had to be attached to the side of the ship for it to function. The General’s Cannon could fire large projectiles at targets up to two miles away. More than three hundred cannons of this kind had been manufactured in the year 1465 alone.
Ryo was obviously proud of his restocking efforts. “These bullets have a range of eight hundred strides,” he said. “The General’s Cannon uses ammunition that explodes on impact, so it can take out up to two hundred enemies at once. It’s really a shame that I was only able to acquire one.”
Namitarō purchased the General’s Cannon immediately. He had it mounted to wheels so that it could be easily maneuvered aboard ship and on land. Even demons should fear such a terrifying weapon. He’d heard from Jukai that demons were weak to fire, including explosives and gunfire.
Namitarō also purchased gunpowder and most of the small bombs Ryo had in stock. These bombs were similar to the ones Hyakkimaru and Dororo had used before. The sound of them alone was enough to spook most warriors on horseback and scatter enemies on a battlefield. They were also convenient for him and his crew to carry. For the same reason, Namitarō bought each of his men a smaller hand cannon and enough ammunition to keep them all supplied for quite some time.
Namitarō bought flares from Ryo as well, in case any of his ships got lost at sea or ran into a problem and needed to signal for help. He bought fireworks to use as a distraction in battle, since not every situation required bombs and he wanted to make his fleet’s firepower last. Fireworks could easily be mistaken for gunfire and demoralize and enemy. There were legends that an invading Mongol army had been chased away from Korea in 1231 by a small army that set off fireworks. The kind of bomb that Dororo had made and used to set fire to the bandit Korikuma’s hut was a modified firework. Jukai had learned to make them in China.
Namitarō and his crew were all familiar with explosives and firearms, but the hand cannons and the General’s Cannon were completely new to them. Ryo grinned as he helped them load up the ships, demonstrating each new feature or function of the weapons they’d bought. When most of the cargo was loaded, Ryo brought over another type of firework for Namitarō’s inspection. “I’m curious to see what you’ll think of this,” Ryo said.
The firework was a hollow bamboo tube with a carved wooden dragon head and a tail about five feet long. “I’ve heard that dragons can fly, but I thought they breathed water, not fire,” Namitarō said.
“This one breathes fire,” Ryo said, still smiling. “It’s called huolongchushui3, ‘fire dragon issuing from the water.’ With this, you can eliminate many enemies at once from a distance without using arrows.”
One of Namitarō’s officers appeared skeptical. “How can it kill many men at once without using arrows or bullets?” he asked.
“The front and rear of the dragon have four rockets packed with gunpowder that will allow the dragon to fly,” Ryo explained. “These four fuses are linked with the ones inside the dragon's belly. Just before the four rockets on the outside burn out, they will light the fuses of much smaller arrow rockets hidden inside the rear of the dragon. There are hundreds of these arrow rockets inside. They will shoot out of the dragon’s mouth like a rain of fire arrows.”
The officer’s eyebrows rose. “Hundreds of arrows? Really?”
“Nothing can stand against it,” Ryo said. “Not soldiers, and not demons.”
“Assuming demons even exist,” the officer muttered.
Namitarō smiled. Most of his crew didn’t believe in demons, but Namitarō believed what Jukai had written in his letter. Jukai seemed genuinely afraid of what he called the Hall of Hell demons. Namitarō purchased as much firepower as he could in the hope that something he brought to Kaga would be effective against Jukai’s enemies.
By the time the gunpowder, firearms and fireworks were all loaded onto Namitarō’s ships, it was the end of April. His fleet set sail for Japan a few days later.
I’m coming, Jukai and Hyakkimaru. Stay safe until I get there.
Namitarō prayed for Jukai’s safety every night during the voyage. The fleet made good time because the wind blew from the east, pushing the ships easily toward their destination. Noto Province’s peninsula came into view late on the fifth day after the fleet’s departure from China. Namitarō docked his ships on the banks of the Tedori River and came to shore with his men.
The anchors were scarcely secure when the sunset sky clouded over. Lightning flashed in the clouds overhead. Thunderstorms weren’t exactly rare in Noto Province at this time of year, but this didn’t have the feel of a typical winter storm.
Namitarō glared up at the sky. It looked frightening, but it wasn’t raining. The gray clouds dissipated, revealing an enormous black cloud behind them that blotted out all light. It was as dark as midnight. Namitarō’s crew didn’t understand what was happening and started running back and forth on the ship decks.
“What is this,” Namitarō muttered, “some kind of natural disaster? An act of god?”
Lightning struck the shore close to Namitarō’s ships. It was followed by a loud boom of thunder that shook the ground. Namitarō and his crew were accustomed to weathering storms at sea, but Namitarō couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something distinctly unnatural about this storm. Jukai had written that the Hall of Hell demons could use lightning in his letter.
The black cloud overhead formed into the face of a gleefully laughing demon.
“Aaaah!” Namitarō’s officers screamed. Some of them fainted at the sight of such a terrifying apparition. None of them had ever seen a demon before, and this one was hideous and obviously powerful. But Namitarō’s crew were sailors on the Genkai Sea: tough and disciplined. The men who hadn’t fainted drew their weapons and prepared to fight.
“Captain,” an officer called out, “is that a demon?”
Namitarō squinted up at the demon. “Bad luck,” he shouted. “Looks like the boss demon’s interested in us, boys.”
Namitarō showed no fear, which made his men steadier. They hadn’t expected this kind of attack, but they were familiar with fighting in general. If Namitarō didn’t call a retreat, they would stand their ground.
“We do not tolerate interference,” the demon said pompously in a voice that echoed across the surface of the Tedori River. “Turn back now, and we may let you live.”
“How polite of you to come to greet us, Mr. Demon,” Namitarō said. “We’ve been expecting you.”
The pirates lit the fuses on their hand cannons, shooting fire into the sky. The demon remained calm, showing no sign of distress. “Hahahahaha... If this is how you choose to die, so be it.”
The demon’s face disappeared from the clouds. An enormous pillar of water rose out of the ocean and traveled up the Tedori River to where Namitarō’s ships were docked. The ships tipped all the way over before the pirates could even react. Men clung to the rigging or were tossed overboard by the force of the water. Many of the hand cannons flew overboard, too, sinking to the bottom of the river.
Namitarō gripped his sail for dear life and shouted, “All men who can, shoot!”
The hand cannons broke up the water pillar into a cresting wave. The demon came into view: a gargantuan sea creature with the beaked head of an octopus and the body of a soft-shelled turtle. Hard white barnacles encrusted the turtle shell. The sea monster’s limbs were lithe and long for swimming. It approached Namitarō’s ship with surprising speed.
This Hall of Hell demon had begun its existence as a yōkai or onryō of rage, sleeping on the sea floor until it was called to do its duty to protect its own kind. It had attacked many humans voyaging over the sea before, including pirates.
The sea monster spat water from its mouth, drenching the sails of two ships and breaking their main masts. More pirates were pushed overboard by the violent stream of water.
“Fire!” Namitarō shouted.
The sky was streaked with red as the remaining pirates shot their hand cannons at the sea monster. The sea monster dove underwater to avoid the worst of the attack, then glided toward Namitarō’s ship. It sent another pillar of water at Namitarō’s ship to batter it, causing several more men to fall overboard.
“Shit, it’s got us right where it wants us,” Namitarō muttered.
The sea monster rose out of the water and into the sky, floating in midair as it shot another stream of water directly at Namitarō’s ship. The wood splintered as the force of the water crushed the deck and split the ship in half.
The gunpowder in the hull of the ship was agitated by the attack and blew up, sending a geyser of water sky-high. The pirates screamed.
“If you have time to scream, you have time to shoot,” Namitarō roared. “Fire!”
By the time the pirates fired again, the sea monster had retreated underwater. The monster’s head vanished beneath the waves near one of Namitarō’s remaining ships.
Namitarō wanted to save the ships that were still more or less seaworthy, but there was no time to move them out of the way of the monster. The sea monster surfaced, spouting another geyser of water with enough force to splinter and sink another ship. The crew swam in the river away from the wreckage as the ship sank.
Namitarō’s ship was the only one that remained. He knew the ship had no chance, but he still sailed it away from the sea monster as fast as possible. The pirates frantically adjusted rigging, calling out to one another to hurry.
One officer had the presence of mind to ready the huolongchushui, ‘fire dragon issuing from the water.’
“It’s coming back!” Namitarō shouted. A pillar of water rose out of the river toward the ship. “Attack!”
The officer fired the huolongchushui directly at the sea monster’s head. The weapon exploded with a loud boom and a profusion of sparks, flying rapidly into the sky in the direction of the monster. When the larger rockets burnt out, hundreds of tiny rockets burst out of the mouth of the wooden dragon.
There was a sound like a thousand thunderclaps as the tiny rockets shot forward as straight and true as arrows. The blast force of the rockets sent Namitarō and his men flat on their backs on the deck.
The gray clouds overhead dissipated. The water pillar collapsed to the surface of the water with a terrific splash. Namitarō and his crew adjusted the sails to right the surviving ship, staring in shock at the empty space where the demon had been.
Namitarō heard the sound of thunder in the far distance. The wreckage of the two ships floated past, wet and woebegone.
The huolongchushui was a very dangerous weapon. It probably would have been better to test one before using it in battle, but using that weapon was the only thing that saved them.
“Well done!” Namitarō called out. “We got it!”
The crew cheered. The men who had fallen overboard clambered onto the deck. Out of eighty crew, forty survived the attack, and ten were injured. Two large-scale cannons, three normal cannons, three small cannons, five barrels of small ammunition, twenty-six cannonballs, and thirteen hand cannons remained, but most of the gunpowder and ammunition had been carried in the other ships. It was a terrible loss.
Namitarō grieved the loss of his men more than anything. He owed it to them to avenge their deaths. He’d never lost a challenge to anyone or anything in his life, and he wasn’t about to start now.
“I’ll remember this, Hall of Hell demon,” Namitarō muttered. “The next time I meet one of you, you won’t get off so easy.”
The sunset that night was the color of fire. Namitarō and his crew moved their remaining store of weapons and ammunition to shore. The real battle began now. Namitarō wondered if the Hall of Hell demons somehow knew that he intended to help Jukai and Hyakkimaru, and had acted before his ships landed in an effort to destroy him.
Sorry, Jukai.
Roughly an eighth of the gunpowder Namitarō had bought remained. Jukai and Hyakkimaru would almost certainly need more. He only hoped that what was left would be enough. Namitarō’s first battle with the Hall of Hell demons left him feeling hopeless about their chances.
One thought comforted Namitarō: Jukai and Hyakkimaru were still alive. If they weren’t, there would be no need for the Hall of Hell demons to attack his ships. Namitarō had a reason to fight as long as his brother and nephew drew breath.
Namitarō also had a reason to hate the Hall of Hell demons that was entirely his own. They had already taken a great deal from him. As he stood on the deck of his ship and looked up at the twinkling stars in the night sky, Namitarō swore vengeance upon all the demons that dared attack him, his crew or his family.
I’ll do whatever it takes to kill you. Every single one of you.
Translator's Notes:
1
A cuirass is armor
that protects the chest and back
. “Tub-sided” and refers to the obviously tub-like shape of the cuirass
and its construction. The most common variety of samurai cuirass is one
in which the plates are riveted in horizontal rows,
with
a single hinge under the left arm. Tub-sided samurai cuirasses are
one of the most common forms of samurai retainer armor.
↩
2
A General's Cannon is a large artillery weapon
that is
more than four meters long
. It w
eigh
s
2,000 pounds
and has
a range of one to two miles. The General
’
s Cannon can shoot hundreds of small projectiles or 50 larger
projectiles at once. Manufacturing of these weapons in mass amounts
began in October 1530.
At first, it was believed that the General's Cannon was too heavy to be
maneuverable. Later, it was attached to various vehicles (including
ships and carts) and became a weapon with more flexible uses.
↩
3
Huolongchushui were the earliest form of multistage rockets and ballistic
cruise missiles used in post-classical China. The name of the weapon was
used to strike fear into enemy troops. It acted as one of the world's
earliest multistage rockets and ballistic cruise missiles, fired at enemy
ships in naval battles. The huolongcushui could be used on both land and
sea. An illustration of the huolongchushui is found in the 14
th
century Chinese military treatise Huolongjing by Jiao Yu and Liu Bowen
during the early Ming dynasty.
↩
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