Chapter 35 - Jōkyō 3 (1686), Part Six

Two days later, at the sixth hour of dawn.

Dressed like a townsman on a journey, with arm guards, leggings, and a sedge hat, Tomonobu stepped out through the gate of the estate together with a servant dressed in similar traveling clothes, and just as promised, Kohiru was waiting for him. Today she wore a dark green hood, arm guards and leggings, and carried a small bundle wrapped in cloth on her back.

The servant had already been told that they had happened to meet a woman who was traveling to Kyoto to visit a grave, and that she would therefore be accompanying them.

The servant’s name was Kisuke, and he always accompanied Tomonobu whenever he traveled somewhere nearby. However, since it was dangerous in various ways for the young Tomonobu to travel with an attendant, they had decided to pretend to be father and son during the journey.

Tomonobu therefore explained this to Kohiru as well and obtained her agreement that, during the journey, she would be treated as Tomonobu’s elder sister.

“So during the journey, you’ll call me ‘Sis,’ won’t you! In that case, I’ll call him ‘Father,’ and I’ll call you ‘Tomo-san.’”

Kohiru said this happily, then quietly repeated, “Father, Tomo-san, Father, Tomo-san,” several times. Then—

“All right, I’ve got it! Now, Tomo-san, try calling me ‘Sis’ too.”

“Huh? S-Sis…”

“Yes, Tomo-san!”

Even though Tomonobu himself had suggested pretending to be siblings, he suddenly felt rather embarrassed and instinctively hid his face behind his hat. Kohiru answered him with a smile, then turned toward Kisuke.

“My name is Kohiru. Father, I look forward to traveling with you.”

With that, she bowed.

After Kisuke bowed in return and said, “Likewise,” he asked where she was going to visit the grave. When Kohiru answered that it was Shōjiji Temple, he confirmed that she meant Shōjiji of Oshioyama Daiharain, then nodded and said that crossing the Yodo River would probably be the quickest route before starting off as though to lead the way.

Tomonobu had also looked over a map the previous day, so he understood that they would first follow the Yamato Highway toward Kyoto, then leave it partway and take the road along the Kizu River. After that, they would cross by boat to Yamazaki and make their way toward the temple.

The sky was perfectly clear, and although it would probably become hot during the day, it was still early in the morning, and the rows of trees lining the highway made the breeze pleasantly cool. By walking a short distance behind Kisuke, Tomonobu and Kohiru were able to speak freely without restraint.

Tomonobu spoke of his own misfortunes, beginning with his father’s sudden death four years earlier, and of his dissatisfaction at being treated merely as an ordinary prospective trainee despite being the next head of his family. Kohiru sympathized with every word and lamented the unfair treatment he had suffered. It was the same when he voiced his resentment toward Princess Kana.

“There’s a princess who was granted divine messengers even though she can’t even become an onmyōji. And on top of that, she parades them around the estate as if showing them off…”

“How awful… Divine messengers are not pets. Is there truly such a princess?”

Encouraged by her agreement, his words poured out without stopping.

“Yes. Worse than that, she makes her divine messengers perform tricks, then watches them together with her ladies-in-waiting. When I think that someone like that can be granted divine messengers merely because she belongs to the Tsuchimikado family, it’s infuriating…”

“So that is what things have come to… In the past, only young masters who studied diligently in order to become onmyōji became masters of divine messengers. Ah, could it be that this princess is the current family head’s only child?”

Apparently assuming that this would explain why even someone like her had been granted divine messengers, Kohiru received a shake of the head from Tomonobu.

“She has an elder brother and a younger brother. I’ve also heard that there will be another sibling next year.”

Kohiru’s eyes widened in surprise at those words.

“Then, despite already having three children, only that princess was granted divine messengers?”

“No. Her elder brother, who is to become the next head, was granted some last year as well. Though his are colored ones. Apparently the princess is a favorite of Lady Kuzuha…”

“Ah, I see…”

That explanation apparently satisfied her. After that, as though deliberately changing the subject, Kohiru began recounting her own experiences as a divine messenger: her training in the Immortal Realm, the naming ceremony, and her former master, Akitaka.

Whenever she spoke about Akitaka in particular, Kohiru’s voice grew animated and she became remarkably talkative.

Kohiru and Hayate had apparently been given their names when Akitaka was ten years old.

“At the time, Lord Akitaka was still called Lord Fukujumaru, but even though he was so young, he was a splendid master.”

She must have been remembering those days, for an enraptured expression came over her face. Seeing it sent a faint, prickling ache through Tomonobu’s chest. Even so, he had no desire to interrupt her when she was speaking so happily, and urged her to continue.

“After he was adopted into the Kadenokōji family at thirteen, he spent his days studying while traveling back and forth between Kyoto and Yamato. In those days there was fighting everywhere you looked, so traveling was terribly difficult. We deliberately traveled in a large group so that everyone could tell it was a court noble’s procession. We even used an ox carriage.”

“Traveling now is so carefree.”

Kohiru said with a laugh. Hearing that, Tomonobu suddenly felt a little self-conscious about their shabby journey disguised as townspeople.

“That must have been… far more splendid than anything today.”

“Those things only looked splendid. Tomo-san, did you know? Riding in an ox carriage makes your bottom hurt almost immediately. Besides, by the time Master was fifteen, Hayate had become able to carry him while running across the ground, so traveling back and forth became much easier after that.”

She cheerfully told him about the time they had raced past the encampment of a famous warlord in the middle of the night, causing a tremendous uproar because the soldiers had mistaken them for supernatural monsters.

“We served Master while occasionally returning to the Immortal Realm for further training. I mainly practiced transformation arts, while Hayate trained in levitation. He said that someday he would be able to carry Master through the sky, and Master said he was looking forward to it. But then, one summer, Master suddenly fell ill… He developed a high fever and terribly itchy blisters all over his body, and then… it was over before we knew it…”

Kohiru’s face, which had been so animated only moments before, twisted with sorrow.

“There was nothing we could do. Even though we were divine messengers, we were completely useless.”

She gave a lonely smile as she added that she had desperately prayed to Bhaiṣajyaguru in the hope of doing something, while Hayate had run all the way to the Waterfall of Medicinal Power to draw water.

“Couldn’t you have asked Lady Akomachi to give you medicine from the Immortal Realm?”

“To divine messengers, the Immortal Realm is strictly a place of training. So although we may receive the teachings of Bhaiṣajyaguru and learn how to make medicine ourselves, we are forbidden from taking things out of the Immortal Realm.”

Naturally, the members of the Kadenokōji family had apparently done everything they could as well. In the end, however, they had been unable to save him.

There were several mantras among the arts of Onmyōdō that could heal wounds or purify poison and similar afflictions. In fact, even Tomonobu at his current level could somehow manage to heal something as minor as a scrape. However, very few people could use mantras effective against disease.

(A mantra does not work simply because one chants it. One must properly understand the god or Buddha being invoked, bring that being’s existence into resonance and harmony with one’s own divine power, and draw out the power contained within the words. Otherwise, it has no effect. Among present-day onmyōji, probably only Lord Yasutomi, the family head, can do such a thing.)

“After that, just as I told you before, I wandered aimlessly through the places that held memories of Master. Until I met you, Tomo-san.”

Those words made Tomonobu remember the first time they had met. Kohiru had mistaken him for Akitaka. She had said it was because the two of them had similar spiritual presences. And even now—

“When I’m with you, Tomo-san, I feel strangely at peace. And the fact that Master has not answered me through the Soul-Calling Art for more than ten years now must surely mean…”

Although she let the end of the sentence trail off, the wistful expression on Kohiru’s face seemed to reveal her hope and expectation that perhaps Tomonobu was Akitaka’s reincarnation—that she desperately wanted it to be true.

Given the duties of his family, Tomonobu had heard several stories concerning reincarnation. Yet never before had he wanted so badly for such a thing to truly exist.

Because if he really was Akitaka’s reincarnation, then his chances of being recognized by Lady Akomachi as Kohiru’s new master would surely increase.

(If that happens, I’ll be the master of a marked divine messenger. Then I’ll make every last one of those people who treated me like dirt regret it!)

Their journey proceeded smoothly, and that day they decided to take lodging in Hashimoto.

Hashimoto-juku was an intermediate post station between Hirakata-juku and Yodo-juku, but because there was a ferry crossing nearby and many pilgrims traveling to Iwashimizu Hachimangū Shrine made use of it, it had developed into a bustling post town.

There were pleasure quarters as well, and as dusk fell, numerous women soliciting customers filled the streets with their brightly colored allure.

Kohiru insisted that she would stay at a cheap lodging house, but Tomonobu refused to yield, reminding her that they had agreed to pretend to be a family. In the end, they settled on staying at an ordinary inn in a room with adjoining chambers.

After dinner, Tomonobu gave Kisuke money for drinks and snacks and sent him out of the room, then decided to ask Kohiru something he had wanted to know for some time.

“You’ve mentioned the Soul-Calling Art several times. Tell me what kind of technique it is. Surely it isn’t a forbidden art like the Soul-Restoration Art…”

The Soul-Restoration Art was a technique for bringing the dead back to life and was classified as forbidden.

“No, it is nothing so grand. It merely calls the soul of someone deceased who resides in the underworld into a vessel so that one may speak with them. You might think of it as something closer to the spirit-medium techniques practiced by shrine maidens…”

Those words gave Tomonobu the courage he needed. He voiced the wish he had carried for so long.

“Would you use that technique for me? I want to speak with my father.”

But Kohiru slowly shook her head sadly.

“It is not something that may be used for just anyone. And when the technique is performed, both parties consume a considerable amount of divine power. If you were my master, Tomonobu-sama, there would be no problem, but…”

When a master-servant bond was formed, the divine powers of the two became compatible with one another, reducing the amount consumed to less than half.

“…Is there some way I could become your master? Perhaps by inheriting the position of your previous master…”

“I cannot say… I have never heard of a divine messenger who served two different masters. But if I could somehow return the name my former master gave me, then perhaps…”

Receiving a name was a kind of contract, and also a binding spell. Perhaps because of that, more than half of all divine messengers whose masters died were said to depart for the underworld together with them. Those who remained returned to the Inari deity, after which they lived quietly while caring for and instructing newly born divine messengers.

“Is it possible to return a name?”

“If I could somehow obtain an audience with Lady Akomachi, I could ask her. But I have acted on my own for such a long time that I do not even know whether she would agree to meet me…”

“But that means it may be possible, doesn’t it? Then you should go to Fushimi after all. I’ve heard that many divine attendants come and go from the sacred mountain there. Perhaps among them there might be someone willing to help you!”

Tomonobu insisted that, whatever the case, they ought to try anything they possibly could. Perhaps overwhelmed by his enthusiasm, Kohiru lowered her gaze in thought for a while, but eventually raised her face.

“You’re right. If I do nothing, I’ll never move forward. Thank you, Tomo-san. Once I’ve finished visiting the grave, I’ll go to the sacred mountain.”

Kohiru’s face flushed as though she had made up her mind, and her eyes shone golden.