Teito Monogatari:
The Tale of the Imperial Capital
Author: Hiroshi Aramata
DRAMATIS PERSONAE
Characters Based on Historical Figures:
Taira no Masakado: A great hero of the Kanto region during the Heian period. He led an
uprising against the government, but was defeated. He dedicated his life
to making the Kanto region a paradise on earth. His tomb still stands in a
corner of a building in Otemachi. It has guarded the heart of Tokyo for a
thousand years.
Satō Nobuhiro: Satō
Nobuhiro was a businessman, mining engineer, and military strategist in
the late Edo period. He sought to improve productivity in industry by
draining the entire inland sea, including Lake Inban, in order to create
the Inban Pier. Lake Inban was closely associated with Taira no Masakado,
so this was an irreverent proposition at best and sacrilege at worst. His
book, A Secret Plan for the Unification of the World, is lengthy
and confusing. It draws on the strange Japanophilia of Shinto scholar
Hirata Atsutane and others to create a blueprint for conquering the whole
world, starting with invading China via Manchuria. The name "Tokyo" may
have been used for the first time in this book, though this is in dispute.
Torahiko Terada: The favored pupil of Natsume Soseki,
Japan's leading supernaturalist. He inherited his father's depression; his
father killed his younger brother in a sudden accident at the end of the
Edo period. Torahiko Terada trained as a natural physicist, but he
possessed an endless interest in the supernatural throughout his life. In
this novel, he is a young scholar who desperately tries to stop the
impending destruction of Tokyo.
Shibusawa Eiichi:
A leading businessman in Tokyo during the Meiji period and a leader in the
construction of a free competitive economy. He was one of the members of
the Shogunate's delegation to the Paris World's Fair and played an
influential role in establishing Japan's current financial system,
including serving as president of the First National Bank. As a man of
Confucian ethics, he maintained an anti-supernatural stance in public and
followed the Confucian standard of "not speaking of supernatural powers or
mysteries."
Oda Kanshi: Oda Kanshi was born into a
wealthy farming family in Mikawa Province and joined the pro-imperial
faction of the government as an adult. He was friends with Katsura Kogoro
and Takasugi Shinsaku. After the Meiji Restoration he was placed in charge
of agriculture and the Lake Inban reclamation project for the Meiji
government. He was particularly active in planning and implementing the
flood control project for Lake Inban. He retired in 1892 and founded the
Historical Memorial Association. After that, he devoted himself to the
ideas of Ninomiya Sontoku, an agriculturalist, and Satō Nobuhiro.
Koda Shigeyuki: Pen name Kōda Rohan,
Koda Shigeyuki was one of the greatest researchers of oriental mysticism during the
Meiji period. Some of his more unusual works include "The Practice of
Magic" and "The Theory of the Brain." His fateful critical biography of
Taira no Masakado is a must-read for readers of
The Tale of the Imperial Capital. He was also an ardent fan of
The Eight Dog Chronicles. He wrote a lengthy treatise on reforming
Tokyo entitled "The Capital of a Nation," and in his later years he formed
a friendship with Torahiko Terada and wrote a biography of Shibusawa
Eiichi.
Karl Haushofer: Born in Munich, he traveled to
India, East Asia and Siberia as an army officer in 1887, and was appointed
as a sergeant in India in 1911. He stayed in Japan for about two years
starting in 1890. He may have joined a secret society called Green Dragon
in Japan. He treated geopolitics as a science and became a spy who
promoted early Nazi ideas wrapped in mystical packaging. In his later
years, he served as professor and president of the University of
Munich.
Morita Masatake: A Japanese psychiatrist and
therapist. Born in Kochi, where Torahiko Terada spent his early years, he
studied spiritual phenomena such as dog spirit possession. Later, he
established an original method of treating mental illness known as "Morita
Therapy."
Mori Rintarō: Lieutenant-General Mori Rintarō, better known by his pen name
Mori Ōgai, was a Japanese Army Surgeon general officer, translator,
novelist, poet and father of famed author Mari Mori. He was one of the
greatest literary figures of the Meiji period and a military doctor for
many years. He also achieved many things as a government official. He
pursued both the path of a high-ranking official and a literary man, but
was ultimately most successful as a writer. He was close friends with Koda
Shigeyuki, and together with Ryokū Saito, they formed a stylish literary
group called "The Three Chatterers."
Ōkōchi Masatoshi: A
gifted man from the prestigious Ōkōchi family since the Edo period. At
Tokyo Imperial University, he was hailed as a genius greater than Torahiko
Terada, and they even conducted physics experiments together. He became
president of the Rikagaku Kenkyūsho Institute (abbreviated as RIKEN), the
headquarters of applied science research, which was established in 1917.
He was known as a handsome man, and his personality was generous,
befitting his birth from a distinguished family.
Abe no Seimei
was a Japanese onmyōji (a sorcerer, spiritualist, and practitioner
of divination). He lived during the middle of the Heian period. He gained
immense respect among the imperial family, nobles, and the general public
for his expertise. According to one story, he was the son of a fox. He
founded a magical art called Tsuchimikado Shinto, which fused
Shinto spiritualism with onmyōdo, the practice of magic and
divination that was based on yin and yang. Japan's greatest white
magician (in the sense that his magic was used for good and perceived as
such).
Other Characters:
Tatsumiya Yoichiro: A young official in the Ministry of Finance. He participates in the
Imperial Capital Remodeling Plan and witnesses the rapid changes in urban
development that have taken place in history since the end of the Ming
Dynasty to the Taisho Period.
Tatsumiya Yukari:
Tatsumiya is Yoichiro's younger sister. She has severe hysterical symptoms
and spiritual powers that cause her to become embroiled in many strange
occurrences. She becomes mentally ill and is treated by Dr. Morita.
The seeds of resentment and revenge that were sown in the imperial
capital's distant past bloom in her.
Narutaki Junichi:
Narutaki Junichi has a Bachelor of Science degree. He is an old friend of
Tatsumiya Yoichiro and is enrolled in the Faculty of Science program at
Tokyo Imperial University. He desperately tries to save Tatsumiya Yukari
from a dangerous situation, but is mysteriously murdered.
Hirai Yasumasa: A member of an old family that practiced traditional magic, including
divination and fortune-telling. He fought his sworn enemy with all his
secret arts, but committed suicide after Emperor Meiji passed away. There
was a warrior with the same name who served the demon-slaying hero
Minamoto no Yorimitsu. Coincidentally, he experienced the Meiji version of
the "Rashomon no Oni" incident. (After Minamoto no Yorimitsu an enemy, he
held a banquet. During the banquet, one of his guests mentioned that there
was an oni (or demon) at Rashōmon, one of the city gates. One of
Yorimitsu's other guests, Watanabe no Tsuna, said there was no logical
basis for an demon to dwell inside the imperial city, so he decided to go
check. He armed himself with armor, a helmet, and his ancestral blade and
rode out on a horse all by himself to Rashōmon without anyone accompanying
him.
As the gate came into view, there was a gust of sudden
wind, and the horse stopped moving. As Tsuna dismounted from his horse and
headed towards the gate, a demon appeared from behind him and caught his
helmet. Tsuna cut at it with his blade without delay, but his helmet was
stolen. Tsuna cut off one of the demon's arms in retaliation.)
Kōhō: A woman who believes in Cheondoism, an indigenous Korean religion that
combines elements of Confucianism, Buddhism, Taoism, shamanism, and Roman
Catholicism.
Inkaku: A young man who belongs to the
Triad, a secret Chinese society usually associated with organized
crime.
Katō Yasunori: Army Second Lieutenant, later
promoted to Lieutenant. He summoned vengeful spirits to the imperial
capital. He is well versed in ancient magic and sorcery and can manipulate
invisible demons called shikigami. His specialty lies in curses. What is
his true purpose in kidnapping Tatsumiya Yukari? The fate of the imperial
capital is in the hands of this mysterious character.
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