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 4:The Vision Seen at the New Waterway
Junichi was worried about Yukari’s condition and insisted on escorting her home, but Yukari herself was so apologetic that she firmly declined. In the end, the task of seeing her home was left to the Ministry of Finance's nurse.
It was near dusk. Yukari had recovered enough to walk about an hour earlier. Her brother had sent her home in a rickshaw with the nurse. Yoichiro and Junichi chose a route that made a wide detour around Ukai, heading for the Ushigome Association.
They arrived at the Ukigome Association well past four in the afternoon. When they asked to see the director, Mr. Oda, a middle-aged woman came out to meet them.
"Mr. Oda has just gone to Shimōsa Province in Chiba Prefecture for a lecture. Unfortunately, there is no one here who can assist you at the moment. Could you please visit us again in a few days?”
With that message conveyed, the two immediately left the association and decided to stroll back toward Miyagi.
Even though it was spring, dusk came early. The twilight hour was the source of many superstitions. Some called it the witching hour, when demons could be sighted. Tokyo was on the verge of rebirth. A mysterious aura hung over the city at sunset.
The two walked on in silence for a while. At each intersection they passed, newly developed land created by filling in old moats and swamps spread before them. New waterworks and canals were being built. The Imperial Capital Renovation Plan had been created in 1906 (Meiji 39), but had run into many setbacks. This year, new construction projects were moving forward at an unprecedented pace.
The rapid acceleration of these projects was largely spurred on by fires. The great Ginza-Tsukiji fire of 1872 (Meiji 5) and the great Kanda-Nihonbashi fire of 1873 (Meiji 6) wiped out downtown areas that had been fixtures in ancient Edo. In 1881 (Meiji 14), the fire in Matsueda destroyed an area that was then a slum, burning for more than sixteen hours and causing widespread devastation.
Tokyo shed its Edo-era remnants through fire. Shigenobu Ōkuma, Kaoru Inoue, Shibusawa Eiichi, and others proposed their plans to modernize the city. For example, the Ginza Brick Street Project served as the starting point for the rapid Westernization of Tokyo. The construction of firebreaks meant that rows of black-walled storehouses now lined the main streets of the Nihonbashi, Kyobashi, and Kanda districts. And although it was never formally legislated, in 1879 (Meiji 11), there was a plan to introduce a compulsory fire insurance system in Tokyo’s central districts.
It was April of 1907 (Meiji 40). These projects were all nearing completion. The Tatsunokuchi moat, which had separated Marunouchi from Otemachi, was being filled in. One of Tokyo’s largest roads was about to open: it was thirty-six meters wide and made of premium materials.1 Two years later, Nihonbashi Avenue would be widened to twenty-seven meters, and two years after that, a masterpiece of stone-arched bridges, the new Nihonbashi, was expected to be completed.2
Yoichiro and Junichi went out to a shallow river in Iidabashi as they usually did. The road along the river was just beginning to fill with the evening crowds. As they listened to the sound of cars passing through the city, Junichi suddenly spoke. “It was a strange day, really. I hate to ask, but do you think that Yukari really saw Taira no Masakado’s blood-soaked head?”
"No," Yoichiro said sharply. "She said she saw skyscrapers like the ones in New York jutting upward from the pond. Then people were rising from the water. They were covered in blood and very pale. Oh, and they wore military uniforms. They must have been imperial soldiers."
"Did Yukari scream when she saw the bodies of those soldiers?"
"No. That's part of it, but what scared her even more was the sight of an unbelievably huge, bright red sun sinking behind the skyscrapers. It was like she was witnessing the end of the world."
"She saw a the end of the world?"
"Who knows. She's been sensitive since she was little. There was even a commotion once when people said she was possessed by a fox. I hope it's not some kind of ill omen. She kept repeating that she saw something strange above the pond, and I'm now I'm worried about her." He kicked a pebble into a ditch. The pebble plopped pleasantly to the muddy ground in sharp contrast to the marked unpleasantness of the conversation.
"Let me ask you something, Yoichiro. You said you spent the night on top of the burial mound with a soldier last night, right? What were you doing?"
"It's a question I'd rather not answer, and I've been told to keep it secret, but I guess I can tell you a little. Don't think I'm a loose-lipped official. There's a reason I'm telling you this."
"What do you mean?"
"Last night, we performed a ritual to summon a spirit there."
"Huh?"
"It’s no wonder you’re surprised. Even I can hardly believe it. Of course, I don’t know all the details. I don’t, but I was summoned by the bureau chief and ordered to assist an officer named Kato. But this officer turned out to be a sorcerer—a practitioner of yin-yang magic. He used me as a spirit vessel. The fire last night broke out in the middle of that ritual. According to the officer, it was the work of the spirit in the burial mound.”
Junichi glanced sideways at Yoichiro with a look of disdain. "What kinds of rumors are you people trying to start, anyway? You'll cause an uproar spreading stories like that."
"It's not a story," Yoichiro said. "The Imperial Capital Renovation Plan is entering its final stages. We’re now at the phase where we're sealing all the old spirits into the new city, dispelling all inauspicious influences and enhancing the auspicious ones. The final project to investigate and improve the city’s spiritual feng shui using Qimen Dunjia and geomancy has begun.3 This secret project is being carried out under the leadership of Mr. Shibusawa, with the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and the military all cooperating. The public knows nothing of this.”
“Wait a minute,” Junichi interrupted. “What is ‘feng shui’?”
Yoichiro gave him a cold laugh. “It’s a geomantic divination art brought over from China. Ancient Kyoto, Japan's former capital, was constructed using those techniques. They've been handed down through the generations, passing from one yin-yang sorcerer to the next. That knowledge hasn't been shared with me, of course."
"So you're building the new capital using the same methods used for the old capital a thousand years ago," Junichi said. "You base stuff off of the compass directions, pacify restless spirits, and use things like feng shui to help Tokyo be prosperous and lucky or something?"
'That's right. You could even call it the spiritual phase of Tokyo's reconstruction. We are going to create an eternal, indestructible sacred capital, protected by auspicious geomancy and spiritual power. However, this project has now run aground on a terrifying reef! The incident with the burial mound is not just some ghost story. That’s why I need to borrow your scientific wisdom. Yours, and your mentor’s as well."
"Mine? What does this have to do with Professor Nagaoka Hantarō?"
"You'll find out soon enough anyway, so I'll just tell you. I sent him a letter last week on behalf of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. They're asking for his participation in a secret project."
"To think that they'd ask him personally..."
Yoichiro shrugged. "Tokyo's spiritual health requires scientific input. I've heard that Professor Nagaoka is so absorbed in his research that he didn't hear about the Russo-Japanese war until it was over."
"Why would Professor Nagaoka agree to participate in such a thing?" Narutaki asked, perplexed.
"It's only natural for you to be suspicious... All right, let me show you some proof. We're past the solar term of seimei.4 Look over there. There's a small boat floating in the ditch. Can you jump on it?"
Narutaki looked at the boat He shrugged, then pulled in the rope that moored the boat to a wooden dock. He jumped onto the boat; the recoil from the landing made the boat sway.
Yoichiro jumped onto the boat next.
“How about we make a little trip of it and go to Nihonbashi Canal?”
The two of them headed toward Otemachi by boat. They turned left when they saw the Ministry of Finance building and then entered the Nihonbashi Canal. It was full dark and there were few streetlamps here. The city lights shimmered on the water's surface. Passing over those ghostly reflections, the boat continued sailing toward Tokyo Bay.
They rowed downstream for perhaps ten minutes before Yoichiro put up his oar. "This spot should be good. According to the city's astrological forecast, this month marks the 41st year of the Chinese zodiac calendar. Southeast corresponds to the element of wood and southwest is associated with death. Both directions are considered unlucky. 5 The Nihonbashi Canal leads to the Imperial Palace and comes from the southeast. It's bad luck to enter the Imperial Palace from that direction. If you tie the star chart into things, it gets even worse: the direction that the canal flows in is associated with the Tianhu constellation. 6 This combination is bad. Quite bad. So, hey, try looking behind you.”
Junichi quietly turned around and looked up in the direction of the Imperial Palace. He gasped. Beyond the canal and the rows of houses to either side, he saw light flooding over the Imperial Palace like the aurora borealis. It was beautiful. The light swayed and moved like a living, breathing thing.
In a darker area of the night sky, he saw a bright red star shining down on the Imperial Palace. The star was an ominous color; he instinctively wanted to look away from it. He sensed that nothing good could come from that star.
"Did you see it? That is the spiritual aspect of Tokyo now. The red star is this year's unlucky one among the Nine Flying Stars.7 It's a phantom star, an illusory star, but it has the power to influence the fortune of all things. Those struck by this star's light cannot escape sorrow and the woes of war. It's been forty years since the Imperial Palace was moved to Tokyo. Hypothetically, if an enemy invaded the imperial capital under this star, the city could be overrun!"
"Why can I see it? Why does that star feel so ominous?"
"I can't really explain it, either," Yoichiro said. "This is the truth of geomantic divination. The real reason why the Tatsunokuchi moat is being filled in is not to make room for the road. That's just an excuse. They're trying to block the canal from flowing toward the Imperial Palace to the southeast. Call it feng shui, if you like. Our new enterprise is about inviting auspiciousness and good fortune to every part of the city."
Junichi listened absent-mindedly to his friend's explanations. He didn't take his eyes off the red star. "Interesting," he muttered.
"Indeed. It's an extraordinary enterprise. You and Professor Nagaoka are destined to be involved with it. Though in your case, you’re only being pulled in because you're a friend of mine."
Junichi stared at Yoichiro for awhile. Then he lowered his gaze. "There's something sticking out of your breast pocket," he said.
“Oh, this?”
Yoichiro took out the white glove embroidered with the pentagram that the officer had given him. He handed it to Junichi. "This is a protective talisman. I got it last night when I parted ways with Lieutenant Kato."
"A talisman? It's not familiar to me."
"The lieutenant called this 'Doman Seiman.'"
"Doman Seiman..." Junichi felt like he'd heard of that before, but he couldn't quite recall where or when.
They rowed the boat back in the direction they'd come. Nihonbashi receded into the distance. That bridge would, four years from now, be completely restored and stand as a symbol of the new imperial capital.
It was the spring of 1907 (Meiji 40). The remnants of old Edo were about to disappear forever.
Translator's Notes
1
The unit of measurement here is the ken, 軒. A ken is about 1.82 meters and the road is 20 ken wide.
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2
Nihonbashi means "Japan Bridge."
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3
Qi Men Dun Jia (奇門遁甲) is an ancient Chinese metaphysical system
for divination, strategic planning, and decision-making, initially used for
military strategy and now applied to areas like business, personal growth,
and feng shui. It works by analyzing a complex chart that integrates various
elements like the stars, deities, doors, and elements to provide insights
into future events and determine the most auspicious moments and strategies
for action. Geomancy is the art of placing or arranging buildings or other
sites auspiciously.
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4
清明:Seimei means "bright and clear" and refers specifically to April 5
in Japan's solar calendar.
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5
The words used here are 遁甲, tonkou, a type of astrology, 甲辰 koushin,
one name for the 60-year Chinese zodiac calendar, and 陰四局 inshikyoku,
which I haven't been able to find much information on. It means "secret
four bureau or "yin four bureau." In Japanese, the words "four" and
"death" are homophones.
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6
天孤星: Often translated as "Solitary Orphan Star," Tianhu
is a constellation in Chinese astrology associated with misfortune,
loneliness, and hardship.
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7
The nine flying stars are a system feng shui that uses numbers 1 through 9 to represent
shifting energies in a space. These numbers represent different types of
energy, or stars, that move in a grid based on a 20-year cycle known as a
period. The system is used to map out a home or office and identify which
sectors have auspicious or inauspicious energies, which change annually, to
allow for strategic enhancements or cures. The auspiciousness of a star
depends on its position within the grid and the current period. Some stars
are always auspicious (like 1, 6, and 8), while others change their luck
based on the period.
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