Chapter 34 - Jōkyō 3 (1686), Part Five

Jōkyō 3, Seventh Month

Chino sat alone in seiza in the dance practice hall. Today happened to be one of the days off from lessons that came once every three days, but in truth, she simply wanted some time alone to think.

Although the Beginning of Autumn had already passed, the sunlight remained strong, and the heat seemed likely to continue for some time. Yet a cool breeze flowed through the practice hall.

Sensing within that breeze the presence that continued to indulge her just as it always had, Chino’s expression softened.

(Even now that I have become a wife and the mother of three children, you still spoil me this way, just as you did when I was little…)

Thinking this, she looked up at the household shrine on the north side of the practice hall. The only sacred talisman enshrined there belonged to Tenman Daijizai Tenjin, the deified Sugawara no Michizane.

When the shrine had first been installed, it had also contained talismans from Ise Grand Shrine and the local tutelary deity, but they had quickly been reduced to ash and dropped onto the floor, so things had remained this way ever since.

Even in something like that, Chino could sense his attachment and possessiveness, but she did not particularly dislike it.

《You resemble Kurenai…》

Those were the words Lord Michizane had spoken to her when he first addressed her as a kannagi at the age of six. She had immediately understood that Kurenai meant his daughter, Princess Kurenai.

Princess Kurenai and her younger brother Kumamaro had loved their father Lord Michizane so deeply that they were said to have accompanied him even to the place of his exile. After his death, however, Princess Kurenai had been entrusted with a secret letter intended for her eldest brother, Sugawara no Takami, in Shikoku, and had met a tragic death at the hands of assassins sent by the Fujiwara clan.

And Chino had been told that she resembled that Princess Kurenai. She did not know whether it was truly so, but she knew Lord Michizane saw some trace of his daughter in her. After all, he had told her, 《From now on, call me Father.》

By the time Chino was old enough to remember anything, she had already been training to become a kannagi. She did not know her parents’ faces. Whenever she asked those around her about her origins, she was told only that the Tenmangū shrine had taken her in because of her strong divine power.

But since no one ever came to visit her, nor did even a single letter arrive from anywhere, at some point she had come to believe that she had been abandoned.

(Most likely, I was the child of some court noble’s son and a shirabyōshi dancer. I was inconvenient, so they gladly foisted me off on the Tenmangū when the opportunity arose.)

That was what she had believed. So when Lord Michizane told her to call him Father, she had been surprised, but at the same time something deep in her chest had felt pleasantly ticklish. She had been happy.

From then on, she resolved to serve him with all her strength, both as his kannagi and as his daughter, and devoted herself to training and practice. As a result, whenever rites for Lord Michizane were conducted in Kyoto, Chino was summoned to participate. Even now, after retiring from her position as a kannagi, that had never changed.

When Yasutomi proposed marriage to Chino, everyone firmly believed the Tsuchimikado family had incurred Lord Michizane’s wrath. Yet contrary to all expectations, he approved the proposal, albeit with conditions, leading to the life she had now.

Chino, however, knew that the marriage had been permitted precisely because the Tsuchimikado family had strong ties to Inari.

Lord Michizane and Inari had long been deeply connected.

There was a famous story that Lord Michizane’s mother’s spirit, worried about her exiled son, sent an Inari deity from Fushimi Inari Taisha to Ishiana Shrine in Dazaifu. That Inari was said to have carried ears of rice to Michizane’s place of exile and saved him from hunger.

Princess Kurenai, who had also died tragically, was likewise enshrined at Kurenaihime Inari Shrine as an Inari deity known as Kurenaihime Tennō.

Perhaps that was why, when Yasutomi formally submitted his marriage proposal to the Tenmangū, Chino remembered Lord Michizane murmuring,

《I owe that one quite a few favors…》

Though apparently lightning had fallen around the Tsuchimikado estate like rain at the time, even that had only made Chino happy. To her, it had simply been proof that he cared about her.

And now that she herself was a parent, there were many things she had come to understand. Most striking of all was just how powerful her feelings for her children were. They were simply adorable and precious to her. Even as they grew old enough to talk back, that never changed.

At the same time, however, she felt an urgent need to teach them the strength necessary to survive in a world that could hardly be called gentle. Recently, Chino had begun to think that perhaps motherhood meant constantly being pulled between those contradictory feelings of joy and worry.

Even so—

She slowly bowed her head toward the household shrine.

“It seems I am with child. I wished Father to be the very first to know.”

Some distance away, thunder rumbled.

A letter had arrived saying that his mother had fallen ill and taken to bed, so Tomonobu had returned several days earlier to his family home in Takabatake Kōnomura, Yamato Province. Here, as the future head of the family, Tomonobu was addressed as Young Master and treated with the utmost deference, and he felt that some of the resentment that had accumulated within him recently had eased.

His mother’s condition was not as serious as he had feared, and she was recovering, so he knew that he ought to return to Kyoto in another few days.

That morning, wishing to pay his respects at his father’s grave before leaving, he went alone to the family temple. It happened on his way back.

(I have to return there. And once again, I will have that shoved in my face…)

Tomonobu was walking along, brooding over such thoughts, when—

“Master!”

At the same moment he heard someone calling to him, somebody embraced him from behind.

(What?!)

Something soft pressed against both his shoulders, telling him that whoever had embraced him was a woman—and one older and taller than he was. A faintly sweet fragrance tickled his nose, making Tomonobu’s heartbeat suddenly accelerate.

Then he felt her chin settle atop his head. Whatever was pressing against his shoulders was pushed even more firmly against him, causing his heart to race faster still and his face to grow hot. However—

“Oh? Master, have you gotten smaller?”

Those words brought Tomonobu back to his senses, and he hurriedly shook her off.

“N-No! I am not your master!”

“Ah… But this aura is certainly…”

When Tomonobu turned around, he found a woman who appeared to be a little over twenty years old. She was pale-skinned, beautiful, and possessed a delicate air, but it was obvious she was not human. Her hair was black, but her yellow-brown eyes had narrow, catlike pupils, and above all, a pale-pink petal-shaped mark adorned her forehead.

“A mark-bearer? Who are you, and where do you come from?”

The woman appeared slightly surprised by Tomonobu’s suspicious question, but quickly smiled.

“Ah. At the very least, you are someone who understands what sort of being I am. If you are from around here, perhaps you have ties to the Kōtokui family? May I ask your name?”

“Tomonobu…”

“Then, Lord Tomonobu, please forgive my discourtesy. Your aura was simply so similar to my master’s. And as for who I am… let me see. I suppose you could say I am someone who was once called ‘Kohiru’…”

“Though it has been a very long time since I lost the one who would call me by that name,” she added with a lonely smile.

(A divine messenger who lost her master? But I have never heard of such a thing. Could some wild fox be deceiving me?)

Although the suspicion crossed his mind, Tomonobu did not voice it. Instead, as they walked toward the estate, he decided to listen to her story.

According to Kohiru, she had originally served a young master together with another being named Hayate. However, their master had suddenly fallen ill and died.

“I suppose I should have returned immediately to the Immortal Realm with Hayate at the time…”

But she had been unable to bring herself to leave the land where she had lived with her master, and while she lingered there alone, time simply continued to pass.

“From time to time, I used a soul-calling technique to speak with Master, and I spent many long years wandering aimlessly. But eventually, even when I called him, he stopped answering me… And now, I no longer even know how to return to the Immortal Realm…”

As she said this, she gazed intently at Tomonobu. Embarrassed by her stare, he turned his face away.

“What was your master’s name, Kohiru? Perhaps I could find the temple where his grave is located. If you wish to visit it, I could look into it for you.”

“Would you truly do that for me? Thank you very much.”

The name Kohiru then gave him was Kadenokōji Akitaka. Kadenokōji was the name borne by the main line of the Kamo clan.

At that point, some of Tomonobu’s suspicions about Kohiru began to fade. In the end, they parted at the gates of his estate after agreeing to meet at the same time the following day, but Tomonobu’s mind was overflowing with questions—and no small amount of expectation.

When he investigated, he indeed found the name recorded in the Kamo family genealogy. Akitaka had entered the Kadenokōji family through adoption, but had originally been born into the Tsuchimikado family, and the names of his divine messengers, “Kohiru” and “Hayate,” were recorded alongside his own.

(So he was originally a Tsuchimikado. Then it makes sense that he was granted divine messengers.)

Kohiru’s story now seemed even more credible. However, Akitaka had died in Tenshō 3 (1575) at the age of twenty-three, meaning more than a century had already passed since then.

(Then Kohiru has been wandering this land for a hundred years. Could such a thing truly be possible? But judging from this, there appears to be no falsehood in her story. And if she truly is a divine messenger who has lost her master, then perhaps I could simply become her new master…)

Becoming the master of a mark-bearing divine messenger.

For Tomonobu as he was now, the thought was irresistibly appealing. He was also intrigued by the “soul-calling technique.” From the way Kohiru had spoken of it, it sounded like a technique that allowed one to converse with the dead.

(If I used that, perhaps I could speak with Father…)

Once that thought entered his mind, he could no longer sit still. He found himself wanting to see Kohiru again as soon as possible. By that point, Tomonobu had completely abandoned the doubts he had initially harbored about her.

The next day, Tomonobu spent the morning researching the precise location of the temple where the grave was situated, yet remained restless throughout. When the appointed time finally arrived, he hurriedly ran to their meeting place. Upon seeing Kohiru waiting where they had parted the previous day, he finally calmed down and walked the rest of the way toward her.

“It seems the grave is at Shōjiji Temple in Kyoto. I will be returning to Kyoto in about two days. Would you like to come with me then? I can guide you there, if you wish.”

Tomonobu wanted her to agree so that he could place her in his debt while also finding out how one became her master, but he concealed those motives as he made the offer.

“Truly? Then please, I would be most grateful!”

“However, your eyes are somewhat conspicuous. If possible, you should wear a hood or something similar…”

“Then I shall wear a sleeve hood. I can prepare one immediately.”

“Very well. Wait in front of the estate at the Hour of the Rabbit two days from now.”

(Good! If I handle this properly…)