Teito Monogatari:
The Tale of the Imperial Capital
Part 1: Great Spirit of Tokyo
Author: Hiroshi Aramata
Part 1: Night of the Divine Possession
Chapter 1: Doman Seiman
On a day in April of 1908, the cherry blossoms bloomed while the chill of winter still lingered in the air. The usual bustle of Ueno Hill was uncharacteristically subdued on that spring day, and the night was cold and cruel. The solar calendar indicated that the weather should be clear and bright, but the city of Tokyo's storm shutters were firmly closed.1
A little after 2:00 AM, a single animal crouched near moss-covered stone steps that ran up a hill. Concealed in the shadows of a towering fir tree, the animal twitched and then started to move.
This ominous creature kept its sharp eyes fixed on the top of the hill, moving its limbs awkwardly as if they belonged to a completely different animal. It crawled up the steps toward the summit like an automaton, never taking its eyes off its prize.
"Ugh." A young man's groan echoed from the top of the hill.
A white-gloved hand reached out and covered the young man's mouth. The young man twisted and looked up, trying to get free. The whites of his eyes glinted in the darkness.
The white-gloved hand belonged to a young military officer. He had his arms around the other young man to prevent him from moving. To the officer, age did not matter. Being an officer conferred responsibility and authority upon him, regardless of his age. He had the courage and the power to challenge the whole world on his own if that was required of him.
The young man that the officer was restraining did not appear to be much younger, but he was as helpless as a little child. He struggled uselessly in the darkness of the night.
The officer glared at the approaching creature with eyes like embers. He knew instinctively that looking away from this small monster would mean his own death. He pressed down on the mouth of the other man--the civilian. He kept him restrained and still, depriving him of all freedom of movement.
The civilian man had no idea what was happening. He could scarcely breathe. He writhed in the steel-like embrace of the officer, trembling in terror like a virgin. The officer smelled strange to him. He inhaled, trying to place the scent, and found himself weakening at the knees. It was like he was under an enchantment not to move. He stopped struggling briefly as the strange odor washed over him.
Then the civilian caught sight of the monster reflected in the officer's eyes. The hideous black creature crept ever closer up the stone steps.
The monster was close now. It shot out its foul tongue as if it desired to wrap the soldier and the civilian in it. As if it wished to devour them whole.
Cold sweat beaded on the officer's brow. He couldn't even catch his breath. The civilian twisted his neck and writhed.
"Don't make a sound!" the officer hissed.
The civilian was intimidated into silence.
After a moment, the officer finally relaxed his grip. He kept his focus on the monster. He removed his white gloves with careful precision. The white fabric seemed to float in the surrounding darkness as the gloves were tucked away. All of his movements were slow and controlled so that the monster would not react.
The back of the soldier's hand was tattooed with a strange symbol. A family crest, perhaps? But it didn't look like any normal family crest. The tattoo was shaped like a pentagram.
The monster had reached the top of the hill. It jumped up and then leaped between the two men, crouching down to make itself a smaller target. Jumping twice in fast succession briefly stunned the monster.
The officer moved while the monster was frozen. He threw down one white glove on the monster's head. The monstrous toad let out a blood-curdling shriek and then collapsed belly-up. Its long legs convulsed a few times, and then the monster lay still.
"It came," the officer said tonelessly. "And it's dead."
"What is that thing?" the civilian asked.
"A demon," the officer said sharply. "Someone sent a shikigami at us."2 He seemed irritated by the civilian's trembling voice. “There’s no time to explain. It’s a dangerous familiar.”
“Like an inugami or osaki?3 In other words, someone cursed us?”
“Don’t worry. I struck down the shikigami and finished off the demon possessing it.”
The officer picked up his white glove, which had fallen beside the monster. "Let's retreat for the evening. The enemy is more formidable than I thought."
“Enemy?” the civilian asked.
“There is a force here working against us.”
"Then what should we do? Lieutenant, how am I supposed to report what happened tonight?" The young man wiped cold sweat from his brow. His lips trembled.
"Tonight’s incident is strictly confidential. I’ll report this to the higher-ups myself. Understood?"
The officer’s gaze did not soften in the slightest. He lifted the young man up by the arm and started going down the stone steps. The hill was about twenty feet high. There was a stagnant pond at the bottom of the stairs. The officer circled the pond, walking toward a gate that was visible to the north. He stopped dead in his tracks when he noticed a flickering light on the surface of the pond. His expression stiffened.
"Look. There’s a fire in the Ministry of Finance's dormitory!"
The young man glanced down at the pond and saw the fire reflected there. Red flames licked at the windows of the Ministry of Finance building.
"Fire," the young man gasped. "It’s a fire!"
"Damn it. The enemy has changed their tactics again. We can’t afford to get caught up in the commotion. We have to escape," the officer said curtly.
The two of them started running. They circled the pond, dashed through the courtyard, and slipped out the north gate in no time. As they passed through the main gate that led into the of the Ministry of Finance building, they heard raised voices coming from inside.
"Fire!"
Outside the gate, it was dark. Not even a stray dog was in sight.
The officer and the young man ran flat out toward Nihonbashi.4 They fled past the earthen walls that surrounded the Ministry of Finance building, running down a long street lined with Western-style brick buildings. The street was covered by a long stone archway. The officer pulled the young man into the shadow of a stone column so that they would be concealed from view. He looked back at Ōtemachi and saw no red glow of fire in the sky.5 A single column of smoke rose up into the darkness, wispy and barely visible.
It seemed that the fire in the Ministry of Finance building had been extinguished. That particular building was no stranger to fire. The current Printing Bureau, once called the Mint, was within that building. There were tales among Ministry officials of the heroic staff who risked their lives by lying atop piles of bills to protect newly printed banknotes from fire.
The Ministry of Finance’s troubles with fire were not due to ordinary reasons like staff negligence or carelessness with flames. The building itself was cursed. The curse was a dreadful one that cut completely contrary to modern ideas about civilization and enlightenment.
“It looks like the fire is out. Thank goodness.”
“Good. But let me be clear, I’ll report to the bureau director myself. You mustn’t tell anyone else. Take these white gloves just in case you run into any more trouble.”
The young man--a civil servant, not a military man at all--nodded once and then accepted the gloves.
“Look closely at them," the officer said.
The civil servant examined the gloves, going so far as to put them on and take them off. The same pentagram tattoo that he'd seen on the officer's hand appeared on his own hand, drawn in ink.
"The pentagram?" the civil servant asked.
"It will protect you," the officer said.
"Really? Why would you have such a gloves with you, Lieutenant?"
"You should understand why, after what you've seen," the officer said darkly. "You are member of the Ministry of Finance. You can consider our excursion tonight to be part of our official duties."
The civil servant raised one skeptical eyebrow. "So you hugging me on top of a hill in the middle of the night is official business, is it? What does this have to do with the Imperial Capital Renovation Plan?”
"It has everything to do with it," the officer snapped. "Issuing foreign bonds to overcome financial difficulties cannot be your only trick. There are bigger problems to solve."
"Bigger problems? The main reason we issue foreign bonds is because of the expenses incurred in the Russo-Japanese war--"6
"--Do not bore me," the officer said. "I don't have time to argue with you. My duty is to eliminate any threats that would hinder our project. I used you as a spirit vessel tonight, intending to summon the troublesome evil spirit on the hill. That hill is haunted by vengeful spirits that bring calamity to the Ministry of Finance."
"What's a spirit vessel?"
"You can think of it like being a shrine maiden. You are a member of the Ministry of Finance, and thus you are cursed. I tried to make the haunted spirit possessing you leave your body."
The young man flinched at those words.
The officer kept speaking, not seeming to care about the civil servant's reactions. "But our enemy was too powerful. They sent the toad in an attempt to curse me as well. That is why I sealed the shikigami inside the glove, subduing the malevolent spirit possessing the toad."
The civil servant's eyes widened. "Lieutenant, are you some kind of sorcerer?"7
“Ridiculous! I am Army Lieutenant Katō Yasunori, nothing more and nothing less. You are far too weak to help me exorcise the kind of demon we encountered. I realized you would not be able to fulfill the purpose when I saw the toad. I must find someone with stronger spiritual power.”
“So, this white glove is a charm against evil spirits?”
The officer shrugged. "You may think of it that way if that pleases you. In my hometown, the gloves are a powerful talisman called Doman Seiman.”
“Doman Seiman?”8
“When morning comes, you should forget about all of this,” the officer said.
The civil servant from the Ministry of Finance went white. "No way! You’re a demon! A demon! To drag someone like me, who knows nothing, into such a dangerous divine possession ritual! You must be!"
“A demon, huh? Hm, perhaps,” the officer said with a sneer.
"What was this evil spirit you fought against? You're obligated to tell me. Duty demands it."
A tic jumped near the officer's jaw. “That evil spirit will eventually smash the Ministry of Finance building to pieces and turn this whole area back into a wasteland. Because it is the spirit of Tokyo—Tokyo’s greatest vengeful ghost.”
“And its name?” the official pressed.
“Taira no Masakado!”9
The officer smiled enigmatically, and then hurried off toward Sukiyabashi with surprising speed.
The civil servant was left alone. He shivered even though it was spring and the cherry blossoms were blooming. The newly built brick buildings all around him felt like they'd been carved of ice.
Translator's Notes
1
節気: Japan is known for its dedicated observance of the four seasons, but
traditionally, the year was also divided up into 24 sekki, or solar terms.
The 24 sekki can be traced back to ancient Chinese civilization in the
Yellow River basin, over 2,500 years ago, and were introduced into Japan
around the sixth century. The 24 sekki are based on the sun’s movements. One
year is first marked by the winter and summer solstices, and the autumn and
spring equinoxes. Between these are four divisions marking the start of each
season. The eight segments are divided in three parts, each named after
seasonal characteristics. This creates 24 periods of about 15 days
each.
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2
Shikigami are spirits summoned by onmyōji, Japanese sorcerers whose powers
are rooted in yin and yang dualistic spiritual energy. Shikigami are used
for various purposes such as protection, curses, or good fortune. They can
be invisible or take various forms, often appearing as paper figures,
animals like chickens or dogs, or more monstrous beings.
↩
3 An inugami is a vengeful dog spirit in Japanese folklore, created through
a dark ritual to serve as a familiar or a curse. These spirits are bound to
their human masters, who can use them for protection, revenge, or to cause
misfortune to others. However, an inugami's rage can also turn on its
master, and families who own them are often ostracized by society. Osaki are
small, magical mammals with fluffy tails that split at the end. They
resemble weasels or mice, or very small foxes. Some accounts describe them
as a cross between a fox and an owl, a little bit larger than a house mouse.
Their fur is mottled and can be brown, gray, red, white, or orange. Their
noses are white at the tip. Their ears look like human ears. They sometimes
have a black stripe which runs from their nose to their tail.
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4
日本橋: Nihonbashi is a business district of Chūō, Tokyo, Japan, which
sprung up around the bridge of the same name that has linked two sides of
the Nihonbashi River at this site since the 17th century. The first wooden
bridge was completed in 1603. A new metal bridge would be built in 1911,
three years after this story is set.
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5
大手町: Ōtemachi is a district of Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. It is located
north of Tokyo Station and Marunouchi, east of the Imperial Palace, west of
Nihonbashi and south of Kanda. It is the location of the former site of the
village of Shibazaki, the most ancient part of Tokyo. The Tokyo Fire
Department is headquartered in Ōtemachi.
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6
The Russo-Japanese War (8 February 1904 – 5 September 1905) was fought
between the Russian Empire and the Empire of Japan over rival imperial
ambitions in Manchuria and the Korean Empire. Japan signed the
Anglo-Japanese Alliance in 1902, and began offering to recognize Russia's
dominance in Manchuria in exchange for recognition of Korea as part of
Japan's sphere of influence. However, this was rejected by Russia. After
negotiations broke down, Japan opened hostilities in a surprise attack on
the Russian Pacific Fleet at Port Arthur on 9 February [O.S. 27 January]
1904. The war was concluded with the Treaty of Portsmouth, mediated by US
President Theodore Roosevelt.
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7
The words used here are 山ぶし, yamabushi, an itinerant Buddhist
monk or practitioner of Buddhist and/or Shinto principles, and 陰陽師,
onmyouji, a diviner or a sorcerer.
↩
8
ドーマン セーマン: Seiman Doman or Doman Seiman is a
talisman worn by female divers in the Shima region of Mie Prefecture
(present-day Toba City and Shima City). There is no clear story behind this,
but it is believed to be a talisman to ward off evil spirits and frighten
away evil.
The star shape is drawn in one stroke and returns to its original
position with no beginning or end, leaving no room for evil spirits to
enter. According to oral tradition, the star shape returns to its original
place, which is said to represent a prayer for the diver to "return safely,"
and the grid is said to have many eyes watching out for evil spirits.
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9
Taira no Masakado was 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
Ōtemachi. It has guarded the heart of Tokyo for a thousand years.
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