Dororo: A Novel
Tsuji Masaki
Part One:
The Tale of the
Hall of Hell Demons
Chapter 4
A few months after Kagemitsu’s visit to the Hall of Hell, he was still scraping by in his government position, chasing the impossible dream of advancement. The words of the Hall of Hell demons echoed in his mind. They had tasked him with identifying something important to him—and not just important, but more important than everything else. The thing more important to him than his own life.
But what was it? Kagemitsu felt like if he could only identify what the demons meant, he could hand it over to them, and then he would be able to achieve all of his desires.
It makes sense that my aspirations require some kind of sacrifice. But what should that sacrifice be?
“Lord Daigo! Lord Daigo!”
Kagemitsu snapped out of his thoughts and back to awareness as a retainer rushed in, looking harried.
“There is a messenger from your wife outside,” the retainer said. “She begs you to come home as quickly as possible.”
Kagemitsu had a sudden flash of understanding that completely transformed his countenance. He hadn’t slept well—nightmares kept forcing him awake, his cheeks bloodless—but now, he seemed as vital and full of life as a much younger, well-rested man. His wife was heavily pregnant with their first child. That was one of the events weighing on Kagemitsu’s mind. She had gone into labor in the night, so the child would likely be born this morning.
Perhaps the messenger that had come was here to tell Kagemitsu that the child had been born. That would explain his retainer’s haste and concern. A new baby was a cause for joy. I bet they’re adorable, Kagemitsu thought as he went searching for the messenger. Though it’ll be difficult to raise them. It’s important to do it right…
As he considered his child, Kagemitsu realized that he cared about them so much that he would exchange his life for theirs. He hadn’t even met the child yet, but that was how he felt about them. The child was his future, and there was nothing more important than that.
For the moment, Kagemitsu completely forgot about his ambitions to control the world with the help of the Hall of Hell demons. He was thinking about being a father--just a normal one--to his first child, and those thoughts put him in an unusually good mood.
I pray that the child was born healthy and well, Kagemitsu thought. He dashed through the doors where his wife lay recovering. There was a doctor blocking his view. He seized the man’s arm and asked, “What is the meaning of this? Is something wrong?”
The doctor said nothing.
“Is the child born?”
“It... is,” the doctor said. He was very pale. He looked like he wanted to say more, but no words came out.
“Then what is the problem?” Kagemitsu asked brusquely, moving past the doctor.
“Husband.” His wife’s voice was quiet and hoarse. She lay on her futon, and next to her was a much smaller one. A wrapped-up bundle lay on the smaller futon. Kagemitsu fixed his gaze upon it, feeling his heartbeat quicken from excitement.
Kagemitsu moved to pick up the bundle, thinking, Our child... my child.
But then he unwrapped the child and saw it, and his world crashed down around him. The child had no limbs--no hands or feet-and no eyes. Not even a nose. As autumn sunlight spilled in through the room’s windows, Kagemitsu’s vision went dim as if he were trying to hide from himself the horror that he had seen.
The child was still alive.
Kagemitsu’s stomach twisted. He lost his balance, and nearly lost his grip on the baby.
My child... it... it’s this?
To say that Kagemitsu was shocked would be a severe understatement. He set the child down and only then realized that they hadn’t made a single sound. Babies were supposed to cry, but this child had no mouth to cry with.
It was a child in name only, having none of the pieces that would make it recognizable as one. The baby didn’t have even have hair--not even eyebrows. There were holes where the missing eyes and nose and ears should have been.
Kagemitsu stood stock still and took in the terrifying sight of this child and felt a cold wind blow into the room from the north.
Then he heard laughter. Quiet at first, then getting louder.
“Haha.”
“Hahahahahaha!”
“Hehehehe!”
The demons from the Hall of Hell were laughing. He couldn’t see them, but he could hear them as clearly as if he were standing in the Hall of Hell with them.
“You promised us the thing that was more important to you than anything,” a demon said.
“More important to you than your own life,” said another.
“Each of us took a piece,” another demon said. “All forty-eight of us.”
“Our desires are different from those of humans.”
“We don’t need much. Just a little piece for everyone.”
Kagemitsu went white as a sheet. “W-wait,” he stuttered out. He didn’t know what to say. His throat went dry; he broke into a cold sweat.
“In exchange, we will give you what you asked for,” a demon said.
“You will rule the world.”
“Rejoice, Kagemitsu!”
The laughter of the demons became even louder.
Even after the laughter faded, Kagemitsu stood fixed in place, staring vacantly at nothing as if he’d lost consciousness and forgotten to fall over.
The child... my child...
He had sacrificed his child for the sake of fulfilling his ambitions. He stood over the child, taking in the proof of what he’d done. Gradually, his horror turned outward and changed to hatred.
It’s not my child, he thought. He looked to his wife and said, “Take it to the river and abandon it.” His voice was cold. This was what it meant to rule the world. Terrible sacrifices and deeds were sometimes necessary. He couldn’t allow the child to live. No one must know that it was his. Its existence now could only harm him.
Kagemitsu was the lord of his castle, and his order was swiftly obeyed. The child was placed in a basin, then pushed out onto the river. The water flowed past the sides of the basin as it traveled downstream. The poor child’s mother watched the basin until it was out of sight, and kept standing on the shore long after she could no longer see it.
“Farewell, my son.” She believed this to be their last goodbye. When she could no longer even pretend to see the basin anymore, she covered her face with her hands.
The basin was eventually caught in a stand of reeds and remained stuck fast. But where was the unfortunate baby now? Far from home and abandoned, the child remained silently in the basin as a milk-white mist arose from the river. It was dusk in autumn and growing cold.
Kagemitsu gave no further thought to the baby. He was overjoyed the demons had decided to agree to his bargain. He believed he would become shōgun with the demons’ help, and eventually take over all of Japan. He laughed without regret or reserve, even when his wife collapsed at his feet, weeping. It was like he couldn’t stop laughing, even if he’d wanted to.
“Hahahaha! Hahahahaha!”
The son he’d discarded had no ears to hear his cruel laughter with. He traveled downstream in the basin, the river flowing all around him. Flowing...
Translator's Note
Since the Kamakura period of Japan (c.11oos) until the late 1800s, the shōgun was the military and governmental ruler of Japan, possessing more power and influence than Japan’s emperors and the imperial family. This is why Kagemitsu expresses a desire to be shōgun and not, say, the Emperor.
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