Teito Monogatari:
The Tale of the Imperial Capital
Part 2: Supernatural Babylon
Author: Hiroshi Aramata
Part 4: Recapturing Yukari
Chapter 18: A Sister’s Wish
In the dark room, a small orange light suddenly flickered on. Yukari appeared in the mottled illumination, her hair disheveled. She wore a pale pink dress. Several strands of hair were trapped in her closed mouth. Her eyes were half-open.
A sharp, cold voice commanded her attention. “Yukari. Tatsumiya Yukari.” It was a man’s voice, but it was so melodious and soft that she briefly mistook it for a woman’s.
Yukari jolted upright in response to her name. Her forehead tilted upward. Her eyes shone with keen intelligence.
“Yukari!”
“Ah…” She could only answer with a gasp.
“It seems this hideout has been discovered. Before long, pursuers will force their way in. There is no need to cast spells to hinder their intrusion. Our plans in Tōkyō are nearly accomplished, and there is no longer any need to trouble you regarding those matters. I have a personal request, however. I do not give you permission to refuse this request.
“I’ll tell you about it. The most important part of the request was already placed into your body three months ago. Because this is a troublesome request, I repeated the procedure again two months ago. Today, I obtained proof that this request is bearing fruit within you. You will notice it yourself very soon.
“What I am about to say may be taken as words of farewell. This is important. An extremely important secret that all of the Japanese people have deliberately consigned to oblivion. Yukari, I want you to listen to me carefully.”
Yukari smiled. She’d recognized Lieutenant Katō’s voice at last. She appeared openly relieved.
“First, imagine the continental port city of Dalian. You have never actually seen it. But you have heard of it, haven’t you? The Russian Tsar Nicholas II occupied this city and built a port there. He intended to make it into a grand city without any equal in Europe. Dalian is the unfreezing port that the northern empire, Russia—which has long yearned to possess an ice-free harbor—finally acquired after many years of effort. Tsar Nicholas II modeled its radial streets on those of Paris and constructed a magnificent seventeenth-century-style city.
“Afterward, Dalian came under Japanese administration, and those who had once dreamed of building European-style radial roads and a triumphal arch in Tōkyō saw Dalian. They realized that the dream they could not fulfill there had been realized in Dalian already.
“Gotō Shinpei, in particular, rejoiced after his appointment as president of the South Manchuria Railway. He pushed for the completion of the dream city whose construction had been started by Russia. Dalian is destined to become a second divinely protected capital city. It will be even more perfect than Tōkyō: a fortress port defended by the gods themselves.
“But that does not matter right now. Yukari, what you must picture in your mind is Dairen before that. A nameless, cold village. About fifteen hundred years ago, in ancient times when the continental peninsula was governed by the China. Back then, Dairen was a lonely little port town. There was a woman there holding a helpless infant in her arms, gazing fixedly at the sea.”Not at the sea itself, but rather at the islands beyond it. The islands of Japan.
“At that time, Japan—then called Yamato — had established the Mimana Nihon-fu in between Silla and Baekje in Korea, making it their base of operations there.1 Yet fortune did not favor them. Mimana Nihon-fu allied with Baekje and became hostile to Silla. In response to pleas for aid, Japan sent large armies to continental China.
“It was the reign of Emperor Yūryaku. The emperor appointed a man named Tasa, a hero of the land of Kibi, as governor of Mimana Nihon-fu, and ordered him to engage in battle against Silla. It is said that Tasa crossed over to the continent with many soldiers from Kibi.
“But the story does not end there. Emperor Yūryaku was a master strategist. He was captivated by the allure and beauty of Tasa’s wife, the lady Wakahime, and secretly devised a plan to make this woman his own.
“Kibi was originally a land that did not submit to Yamato. Used to independence, there was a risk that Kibi might revolt at any time. Emperor Yūryaku, seeking to sever the lifeline of this dangerous former power and gain possession of a beautiful woman in one fell swoop, chose to send Tasa of Kibi away. In this way, Emperor Yūryaku successfully made Wakahime his own.
“This accursed fact reached the ears of Tasa, engaged in warfare in Mimana Nihon-fu. He flew into a rage, cursed Yamato, and cursed Emperor Yūryaku. To take revenge on Yamato, which had subjugated the people of Kibi, he defected to Silla, which was attempting to destroy Mimana Nihon-fu, and planned a shocking rebellion. He joined forces with them and plotted to invade the Japanese mainland.
Silla was the most powerful of the Three Hans, so the emperor was forced to take this threat seriously.2 Yamato fell into utter turmoil.
“If, by some remote chance, a joint army of Silla and Tasa were to invade the mainland, Kibi would surely rise up. Should that happen, Katsuragi, the homeland of Wakahime, might lend a hand in the destruction of Yamato. Emperor Yūryaku had also pacified Katsuragi and reduced the indigenous people called Tsuchigumo to slavery during his reign.
“Beset by enemies on all sides, Emperor Yūryaku devised a superb countermeasure. He summoned Otokimi, Tasa’s son, and Akao of Kibi. He commanded them to cross over to the continent and attack Silla. He turned Tasa’s own kinsmen into a suppression force.
“Otokimi went to Baekje, readying himself to go to war against his own father.
“The kunitsukami of Kibi, having learned of Kibi’s peril and Emperor Yūryaku’s scheme, transformed into an old woman and flew to the continent, hiding herself along the road through which Otokimi’s forces would pass. The kunitsukami waited there for their arrival.3
“Otokimi reached the place where the old woman was and asked her the way, saying: ‘We seek to destroy the Silla army. Where is it?’
“Thereupon the kunitsukami, disguised as the old woman, answered: ‘From here, if you go on another day, you will reach Wakahime’s land. Beyond that lies the enemy army.”
Tasa’s son realized how long and hard the road would be and judged that it would be better to return to Baekje and set out again from there.
During the long stay that resulted, with preparations still incomplete, Tasa learned that his own son had come to subjugate Silla and secretly sent an envoy to Baekje. He said, ‘My son, why do you try to take your father’s head? I hear that your mother was taken from you by the emperor. This is a devious plot designed to exterminate father and son alike. I will strike at Yamato. Do not side with them. You should also remain in Mimana Nihon-fu and cut all ties with that accursed land.’
“However, there was an unexpected fool who could be called a worm in a lion’s body, and this fool disturbed all of Tasa’s well-laid plans. This was Otokimi’s wife, Kusuhime, who had followed him all the way to the continent. This woman was a patriot of Yamato and considered her vows of loyalty to her homeland to be absolute. She could not tolerate her own husband becoming a rebel.
“So Kusuhime conceived a scheme of unparalleled horror. Her plan was to kill Otokimi with her own hands, bury him secretly, and remain quietly in Baekje until she could obtain an imperial decree from the emperor. At last this plan was carried out, and the rebellion of Kibi no Tasa ended before it began.
“On that day fifteen hundred years ago, the woman who stood in the lonely port town of Dairen gazing out across the sea was pregnant with Tasa’s child. She was a princess, and shortly after that, she gave birth.
“Fate is cyclical. What happens once will always happen again. As months and years went by, China gained power and Japan sent more and more diplomats and emissaries. Among these emissaries were two men bound together by mysterious shared circumstances. They were members of the eighth official mission to the Tang dynasty. One was Abe no Nakamaro, who was only sixteen and quite ambitious. The other was a government-sponsored student, Kibi no Makibi, a junior official of the eighth rank.
“Let us begin with Kibi no Makibi. This man was a born sorcerer. As he wandered about the capital as a young man, he met a woman who did dream divination. One day, he overheard a young nobleman consulting her. This nobleman had experienced a prophetic dream that he would achieve considerable success in life. He asked the diviner if the dream was true. She said that it was, and the nobleman left her with a smile on his face.
“Having secretly listened to the whole exchange, Makibi said to the diviner, ‘I, too, wish to rise in the world. Will you sell me the prophecy from the nobleman’s dream?’
The diviner agreed. She said, ‘You must say to me exactly what that nobleman said.’
He repeated the conversation just as he had overheard it.
At the end the diviner replied, ‘You may certainly believe that this dream is true.’ Thus the ritual of selling the dream was completed. Makibi bought another man’s dream prophecy—or rather, he stole it.
“Yet this man was also a great scholar with similar capabilities to Sugawara no Michizane, who became Tenjin, a god of knowledge. After nineteen years spent studying in Tang dynasty China, he was proficient in many sorcerous arts, particularly the techniques of Qimen Dunjia.
“Makibi returned to Japan. The Kamo family are descendants of this man.
“According to one theory, Makibi was the child of a powerful family of Kibi, born to a woman who had been a shrine maiden from Katsuragi. Doesn’t he sound similar to Tasa?
“One day a mysterious woman came to visit him. Her name was Waka. She was a descendant of Kibi no Tasa, who had once plotted an ill-fated rebellion. Some people from Kibi remained in China after those events, including the family of this woman. For generations, her family had made inquiries into the history of their illustrious relatives.
“The woman wept bitterly and begged him to tell her the history of her distant blood relatives in Japan.
“Makibi told this strange relative of Kibi and of Japan. The woman who called herself Waka sobbed all the more. ‘Then the rebellion that Tasa plotted never succeeded?’ she asked.
“Makibi realized that this woman was clinging to a forgotten conspiracy from the distant past. He shuddered as he recognized the depth of Tasa’s resentment.
“Abe no Nakamaro sympathized deeply with the poor woman. He formed a bond with Waka and began a new life in China.
“Ah…” Yukari had been listening to the story for some time. She shook her head, covered her ears, and breathed heavily. At last, when her feelings calmed, her half‑open eyes clouded again and she stared fixedly at the black silhouette before her. The black figure kept his mouth shut, waiting for a chance to continue the tale. When he confirmed that the girl’s condition had settled, he opened his mouth once more.
“After about twenty years had passed, it was time for the expedition to return to Japan. Makibi hesitated. After much agonizing, he decided to have Waka, who had chosen to remain on the continent with Abe no Nakamaro, assassinated. Why? Because he didn’t know how he should respond if Waka, who desired to overthrow Japan, were to rise in great strength with the support of Abe no Nakamaro, one of Japan’s powerful warriors.
“Although he belonged to the powerful Kibi family, Makibi held a position among the lower officials of Japan’s Imperial Court. He dreamed that when he returned home armed with the magical military arts he had acquired in Tang dynasty China, he would make himself important at court as a strategist. He sought sure ways to secure his own advancement. He decided that he would sever all connections between him and the woman named Waka.
“And so, immediately after the expedition returned to Japan, ruffians whom Makibi had bribed took Waka’s life. Abe no Nakamaro grieved so bitterly he could not bear to live. Vowing revenge against Makibi, he shut himself in a Taoist temple for one hundred and seven days to study sorcery. Then he set out resolutely for the port town of Dairen.
“I forgot to mention that three children had been born between Abe no Nakamaro and Waka during their marriage. When Waka was killed, the youngest boy was still a nursing infant. He was named Yasuna, but I do not know what the other children were named.
“Standing at the harbor, Abe no Nakamaro lifted Yasuna high in both hands toward Yamato, far beyond the sea.4 Then he uttered a curse.
“This is what he said: ‘Be cursed, Yamato and Kibi no Makibi. Here and now, I shall send this little child to the realm of the gods. Hitokotonushi, receive this child, take him up! Convey him the longing embrace of his young mother. Yamato shall be subjugated and destroyed. I swear it.’
“And then, lifting the little child high, he placed him in a small vermilion-lacquered boat and pushed it out into the great sea. He chanted every spell he knew in the effort to send the boat all the way to Japan.
“Yukari, imagine it. The sight of a little child bearing the full embodiment of his parents’ curse, advancing out to sea all alone in a lacquered boat. You would see nothing but hatred in that innocent child’s eyes. Hatred for Yamato and everything and everyone in it. Imagine that little child, who lived more than a thousand years ago now, fixing his gaze upon you.
“Do not forget this story told to you by Lieutenant Katō Yasunori. Yamato—Japan—shall at last perish by that curse. I am Abe no Nakamaro, and you are Waka. We are a new Nakamaro and Waka. Here and now, let us pour our curse into the world and send a second Yasuna out upon the great sea. That is my request. The last and greatest request that I shall make of you.”
The feverish heat suddenly vanished from Lieutenant Katō’s red eyes, which had resembled nothing so much as burning flames. A cold light returned to them. His habitual sneer was back in place, and his gaze was as cold and cruel as a tiger’s.
Yukari writhed.
“Ah!” She imagined an infant floating over an endless sea in a small boat stained crimson by the rising sun. That infant bore a curse that it would bring to Japan. The child was the curse’s incarnation.
But did this child really make it to Japan? No; that could not be. No child could survive such a journey.
Yukari’s mind grew clouded and confused. Her thoughts raged like a storm. Spheres of light, casting strange red and blue light, spun around and around before her eyes, erasing the vision of the child tossed by the waves.
When the spinning grew faster still, only a gray disk remained with all the colors faded. Yukari sat up and cried out, “Brother! Where is my brother?!”
“Yukari!”
Katō’s arms shot out like arrows and shook her violently by the shoulders.
Yukari remembered her brother when he was still young—about fifteen or sixteen. He’d been frail, shabby, and effeminate. He had put his arms around her neck as a joke once, and Yukari had enjoyed it, even when he’d increased the force of the choke little by little. The young Yukari had opened her mouth wide and shut her eyes tightly, imagining his hands as divine. She’d thought of him like a child attendant guiding her to Nirvana.
Why had that ecstasy come back to her at a moment like this? Yukari trembled with joy. The hands shaking her violently were like Yōichirō’s. She swiftly lost consciousness, falling into blissful oblivion.
The black shadow drew the limp girl close and gently laid her down on the floor. Yellow candlelight wavered once or twice as it touched the shadowed presence of Katō Yasunori. Then he leaned forward so that the light revealed his face.
Katō watched Yukari for a while. Strange, the soldier thought. Why does this girl seek protection from a weak civil servant like Tatsumiya Yōichirō?
Yukari was a spiritual medium; her mental faculties far surpassed the strength of her body. In earlier times, she would probably have become a shamaness or a sorceress—a woman who served as a vessel for a spirit so that the spirit could exert some influence upon the world. Human beings who possessed such spiritual power were rare. In ancient times, very powerful sorcerers and sorceresses could even separate their spirits from their bodies, projecting their astral form out into the world.
People with this ability sometimes displayed spiritual powers far greater than those of an ordinary sorceress. They did not merely repel spirits that came from outside to posses them; their own spirits went forth to a transcendent plane of existence that was invisible to most people. For them, the world after death, the realm of the gods, and the underworld were simply regions contiguous with the mortal world. Such travelers of the soul wandered freely through other realms.
The ancients called this phenomenon soul-separation sickness.
Yukari is afflicted with soul-separation sickness, Katō thought. “This girl may perhaps have been killed by that brother of hers,” he muttered. Then he laughed. A younger sister killed by her brother. How fitting for his purposes.
The candlelight flickered and then flashed out as he laughed. Katō and Yukari were left in the dark: a darkness as vast and pitiless as the sea. Katō thought of Yukari. He felt emotions that he had never experienced before.
He understood at last why he continued to keep this girl captive and alive for so long. For him, Yukari was Maitreya Buddha. She was Miroku, the Bodhisattva of Compassion who would appear in this world to save and lead all suffering people to Buddhahood and enlightenment 5.6 billion years after Shakyamuni Buddha’s entry into Nirvana.
Katō felt like fate had drawn him to Yukari.
He stood, picked up a military cloak that rested near him, and then draped it over her.
The soldier smiled cruelly and then left the dark room.
1 Mimana Nihon-fu (also called Imna Nihon-fu) is a highly
controversial and largely discredited concept from ancient East Asian
history. Described primarily in the 8th-century Japanese text
Chronicles of Japan, it purportedly refers to a military or
administrative outpost established by the Yamato court of Japan on the
southern Korean peninsula..↩
2 Samhan, or Three Hans, is the collective name of the three confederacies: Byeonhan, Jinhan, and Mahan that emerged in the first century BCE during the Proto-Three Kingdoms period of Korea. Located in the central and southern regions of the Korean Peninsula, the Samhan confederacies eventually merged and developed into the Baekjae and Silla kingdoms and Kaya confederacy. The name “Samhan” also refers to the Three Kingdoms of Korea..
3 Kunitsukami are a class of
minor Japanese gods who inhabit specific places. They are specifically earth
gods. In mythology, they are opposed by amatsukami, gods of the
sky. ↩
4 The spelling for Yamato changes in this
passage. There is an ancient kanji that only means “Yamato,” but this
changed to the kanji for “big” and the kanji for “peace,” presumably because
it was easier to spell." ↩
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