Teito Monogatari:
The Tale of the Imperial Capital
Part 3: The Book of Catastrophe
Author: Hiroshi Aramata
Dramatis Personae
Taira no Masakado: A great hero of the Kantō region during the Heian period. He led an uprising against the government, but was defeated. He dedicated his life to making the Kantō region a paradise on earth. His tomb still stands in a corner of a building in Ōtemachi. It has guarded the heart of Tōkyō for a thousand years.
Terada Torahiko: The favored pupil of Natsume Sōseki, 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. Terada Torahiko 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 Tōkyō.
Shibusawa Eiichi: A leading businessman in Tōkyō 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.”
Kōda Shigeyuki: Pen name Kōda Rohan, Kōda 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 Tōkyō entitled “The Capital of a Nation,” and in his later years he formed a friendship with Terada Torahiko and wrote a biography of Shibusawa Eiichi.
Narutaki Junichi: Narutaki Junichi has a Bachelor of Science degree. He is an old friend of Tatsumiya Yōichirō and is enrolled in the Faculty of Science program at Tōkyō Imperial University. He desperately tries to save Tatsumiya Yukari from a dangerous situation.
Tatsumiya Yōichirō: A young official in the Ministry of Finance. He participates in the Imperial Capital Renovation Plan and witnesses the rapid changes in urban development that have taken place in history since the end of the Ming Dynasty to the Taishō era.
Tatsumiya Keiko: Tatsumiya Yōichirō’s wife. Her maiden name was Mekata. The daughter of the head priest of a shrine dedicated to Taira no Masakado. Thanks to a prophetic dream, she marries into Yōichirō’s household as a guardian saint of the imperial capital.
Tatsumiya Yukari: Tatsumiya Yukari is Yōichirō’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.
Tatsumiya Yukiko: Tatsumiya Yukari’s daughter. She becomes the next target of the schemes of the demon, Katō Yasunori.
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 reason for kidnapping Tatsumiya Yukari? The fate of the imperial capital is in the hands of this mysterious character.
Klaus: A German doctor affiliated with the Salvation Army. He treats Yukari and her child.
Gotō Shinpei: After the earthquake, he demonstrates his abilities as president of the Greater Tōkyō Reconstruction Institute as Tōkyō’s mayor.
Hayakawa Noritsugu: He rebuilds the Mt. Kōya mountain-climbing railway and, following Britain’s example, devotes himself to laying the first underground subway in the East.
Kon Wajirō: An architect from Tohoku, he investigates trends among city people through a field called modernology. He inspires Hayakawa, Terada, and others. One of Ginza’s Three Eccentrics.
Shigemaru Kuroda: A member of the Sontoku Association. [Sontoku means “precious virtue.”] This association venerates Sontoku Ninomiya as its founder and promotes an economic theory called the Sontoku Method. He is skilled in geomantic divination and has the power to seek dragon veins. He is a feng shui master.
Nishimura Makoto: An inventor and researcher of artificial humans. He advocates the use of robots in subway construction. He adheres to the Eastern philosophy known as gakutensoku, which means “learning from the laws of nature.”
Izumi Kyōka: Spanning the three eras of Meiji, Taishō, and Shōwa, he created an aesthetic literary world and was praised as an unusual talent. Author of The Seven Wonders of Kagurazaka. He becomes a powerful supporter of Tatsumiya Keiko.
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