Tokyo Bay (3 page)

PART I
The Black Ships Arrive
8 July 1853

The necklet of green, mounta
ino
us islands known today as Japan was in 1853 the most mysterious major country in the world. An isolated nation of some thirty million people
-
who believed themselves and their emperor to be divine descendants of heaven
-
had deliberately sealed itse
l
f off from all other countries for well over two hundred years. Separated from the mainland of Asia by a hundred miles of sea, historically the Japanese had always been fierce defenders of their independence and racial purity. They had traded guardedly during the Middle Ages with near neighbours in India, China and South-East Asia, but otherwise had largely kept themselves apart. Consequently the arrival of European traders on their shores in the sixteenth century had set alarm bells ringing in the minds of the shoguns, the hereditary military dictators who then ruled the nation. Zealous Christian
m
issionaries quickly followed the trail-blazing Portuguese and Spanish traders, and subsequently made hundreds of thousands of
Japanese converts. Feeling their authority menaced, the shoguns publicly crucified many foreign priests and, In a bloody climax to a forty-year campaign of persecution, thirty thousand Japanese Christians were finally slaughtered in their castle stronghold. Strict laws were immediately enforced, forbidding all Japanese to travel abroad, and it even became a crime to build any large seaworthy vessel. Simultaneously all foreigners were barred from the country, and an edict was issued instructing, ‘In future as long as the sun shines on the earth, let no one sail towards Japan, not even an ambassador.’ The edict added, even
m
ore ominously, ‘This declaration will never be revoked and will be maintained on pain of death.’ During this era
f
orei
g
n sailors unfortunate enough to be shipwrecked on Japan
c
shores were sometimes exhibited in public in cages like animals.
These draconian laws turned Japan into one of the world’s most isolated nations, and preserved its late medieval society intact until the middle of the nineteenth century. From 1192 onwards the shoguns had relegated the emperors to a role of purely theoretical
supremacy
. They ruled with the support of regional feudal lords known as
daimyo,
who sallied grandly forth from mighty castles in this s4f-imposed vacuum and exercised supreme control over the lives of their peasant-farmer vassals. These
daimyo
maintained large standing armies of loyal samurai warriors to fight their causes, and between 1638 and 1853 the turbulent currents of world history passed Japan by. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries the French Revol
u
tion rang the death- knell of feudal privilege in Europe, George Washington led Americans into a new era of modern democracy in the United States, and British inventors and engineers fomented the movement destined to change the whole world from ancient to modern
-
the Industrial Revolution. With steam-driven ships, railways, the telegraph, and superior weapons of war, the trade-hungry Europeans and, to a lesser extent, the Americans began
exercising
an ever-widening influence which led to the colonization of many weaker nations. Treaty ports and foreign concessions were snatched from China by both Americans and Europeans
-
Britain seizing Hong Kong in the first Opiu
m
War
-
and trade and territorial
aggrandizement
went hand in hand in Africa, Latin America, India and many other parts of Asia.
News of these historical tides sweeping ever nearer to Japan was conveyed to its rulers by a tiny, unique group of foreigners. Although British, Spanish and Portuguese merchants had finally submitted to the xenophobic exclusion laws and departed from Japan in the early seventeenth century, a few tenacious Dutch merchants had hung on determinedly by their fingertips. Because the Japanese believed that their land was exclusively sacred to them
-
Nippon,
or
Nihon,
the country
’
s indigenous name, means ‘land begotten by the Sun’
-
the Dutch traders were humiliatingly confined throughout tw
o
centuries to an art
i
ficial, man-made island in the southernmost port of Nagasaki. Closely watched and supervised without let-up, they left this virtual prison only once a year, under escort, to attend an audience granted by the S
h
ogun in his capital, Yedo
-
now called Tokyo. During their journey, great canvas curtains and screens were often hung along the route in towns and villages, to deny their
foreign eyes any genuine glimpse of
Japanese life. To retain their exclusive position, these Dutchmen, among other indignities, had to perform like circus bears before the Shogun, demonstrating European dances for his amusement.
But the commercial advantages gained by these traders from Holland were nevertheless considerable, and in return they acted as a channel of information from the outside world. At the Shogun’s command they prepared regular reports describing political developments in Europe, America, and other parts of the Far East. This information made Japan’s rulers uneasy
-
and greatly increased their determination to maintain the country’s inviolability. During the first ha
l
f of the nineteenth century a
few isolated foreign ships tried without success to put into Japanese ports. One tentative visit to Yedo Bay by American Navy men- of-war in 1846 ended abruptly when guard sampans rowed furiously by brawny samurai attached ropes to the two US sailing ships and dragged them back out to sea. Other
foreigners
who tried to land were denied entry with similar warnings and threats until, in 1853, a determined United States Navy squadron under the co
mm
and of Commodore Matthew Ca
l
braith Perry hove in sight. Because of what had happened to their sailing ships seven years earlier, the Americans arrived this time in more powe
r
ful steam-driven warships. They also carried the latest cannon and a strong force of marines to back up their demand for trade and port facilities for all American shipping. During the long centuries of seclusion and ignorance, the Japanese people had been encouraged by their rulers to think of all other races in the world as ‘hideous barbarians’. Therefore many
frightening images of foreigners abounded in the uninformed popular mind. En route to Japan, this US Navy squadron had called at the Ryukyus, tributary islands hundreds of miles to the south-west, the largest of which is Okinawa.
As a result, fast courier junks had raced ahead to the southern regions of
Japan to warn of the imminent arrival of
foreign
barbarians travelling in fearsome, smoke-belching mac
hines, the like of which had nev
er been seen before in Japanese waters. As rumours abo
u
t these approaching newcomers spread northward towards the city known today as Tokyo, the ordinary people of
Japan panicked en masse. In their fevered minds they were convi
n
ced they were about to be invaded by hordes of ape-like giants as monstrous and
terrifying
as alien creatures from another planet.

1

MATSUMURA
TOKIWA was stepping naked from her bath at the instant when a great commotion began in the city beyond her
shoji
screens. She was lost in a reverie, gazing reflectively at the tiny pearls of condensation that shimmered on her bare arms and shoulders. In the gentle lantern light, she thought, they glowed like miniature teardrops against her golden skin. Looking absently down at her youthfully pointed breasts, her shadowed flanks and the flattened curve of her belly, she noticed other such beads of tear-like moisture. Could it be, she wondered, that her soul was always silently weeping within her? Was her spirit sobbing soundlessly and invisibly all the time she smiled her bright, professional smiles, recited
haiku
verses, or played her plangent three- stringed
samisen?
Thinking these melancholy thoughts she moved
gracefully
across the soft tatami
f
lo
or mats
to where she had laid out her favourite kimono of midnight blue silk. Worn only on special nights, this kimono was decorated with silver stars that glistened luminously amongst its silken folds. Although not yet ready to put the garment on, she reached out a hand towards its shimmering fabric, anticipating the familiar sensual pleasure of close contact with its smooth richness. It was in that moment that she first registered fully the frantic sounds of raised voices and running feet from beyond the wood and rice paper
shoji
that separated the room from a balcony overlooking the narrow, flagstoned street outside.
The excited night-time murmur and bustle of the Yoshiwara
-
the walled-in entertainment and pleasure district of Yedo
-
was not in any way strange to her ears, despite the fresh bloom of youth on her cheeks. Although not yet twenty; she had already spent three years delighting the high-ranking clientele of the Golden Pavilion geisha house. The distaste she felt for her current role in the Yoshiwara had always been successfully masked behind her smiling professional poise; for she had entered the Golden Pavilion reluctantly, to gain for her ruined father the high lump-sum payment that beauty such as hers commanded. A former samurai who had turned merchant, he had recklessly gambled away a fortune in the Yoshiwara’s gaming houses, and Tokiwa’s reluctant sacrifice had been made solely to help ward off the total impoverishment of her family. She had long since learned to close her ears to the harsh and boisterous sounds which nightly filled the street outside
-
but never before had she heard anything like the hysterical din now rising towards her balcony.
Still naked, she carefully drew back the nearest
shoji
and peered discreetly down into the street. Amidst the seething crowd her eye fell first on a man who was stumbling under the weight of a frail, white-haired woman clinging to his back. Fear was etched deep in the face of the woman, who Tokiwa guessed was his mother, and, as he staggered along, she peered constantly backward, as though fearing pursuit by all the demons of hell. Tokiwa also saw younger women casting terrified glances over their shoulders as they hurried past with babies clasped in their arms. Weeping children clung to their fathers, and several families were frantically trying to push handcarts piled high with their meagre belongings through the milling throng.
From all over the city temple bells were beginning to toll with an unfamiliar urgency, and men and women called out panicky warnings to one another as they ran. In an effort to hear what they were saying, Tokiwa clasped her arms about her naked breasts and took half a pace out onto the balcony.
‘The barbarians are sending floating volcanoes to destroy us!’ shrieked one man to another as they passed beneath her. ‘They’ve been seen from Cape Idzu. .. belching great clouds of black smoke!’
‘Twenty thousand brave samurai are already manning the cliffs!’ yelled another. ‘But they’re all doomed.’
‘Hundreds of hairy barbarian giants are following the volcanoes called another male voice desperately.
‘They’ll burn and rape all Yedo screamed a despairing female. ‘Nothing can save us!’
Tokiwa shuddered with apprehension and lifted her eyes above the rooftops, seeking a glimpse of the smoke rising from these terrible floating volcanoes. But only the silent stars were visible above the city, shining bright and unobscured, as always in the July night. There was no visible trace of danger anywhere and in the immensity of the heavens the stars seemed to sparkle like magical gemstones. The sight of them reminded Tokiwa suddenly why she had laid out her favoured kimono just half an hour earlier, after receiving a secret written message that Prince Tanaka Yoshio of the southern Kago clan had arrived unexpectedly from Kyoto.
The same note explained that he had ridden nonstop to Yedo from the imperial capital, and would pay a discreet visit to the Golden Pavilion some time that night. Looking down again at the panic-stricken crowds below her, she wondered whether he would come after all, now that the city was in such an uproar. And should she even bother to wait for him? Shouldn’t she perhaps take to her heels and join the rest of the crowds in their headlong dash to escape the clutches of the invading barbarians?
Caught in an agony of indecision, she turned her head and listened carefully. Behind her the interior of the Golden Pavilion was still and silent. With a sudden stab of fear she realized that the other geishas and maids must have all fled from the house while she bathed. Looking down agitatedly into the street, she searched for the familiar, proud
-
striding figure of Prince Tanaka, with his twin samurai swords jutting from his hip. But amongst the confused mêlée there was no sign of him. Nobody, she noticed, even paused now before the inviting, lantern-lit doors of the Golden Pavilion
-
except the hunched figure of a mendicant monk in muddied brown robes. Something unnatural in his demeanour caused her glance to linger on him, and in that same instant the beggar lifted his cowled head to stare directly up at the balcony.
Stifling a murmur of alarm, Tokiwa hurried back into the room and quickly covered her nakedness with a full-length under-kimono of translucent white gauze. She began hurriedly to dress her loose hair before a mirror, snatching up pins and tortoiseshell combs to hold the elaborate chignon in place. But before she had half finished the task, the
shoji
screens behind her slid silently apart and the ominous figure of the hooded beggar appeared in her mirror.
A cry of fear escaped her lips, but she did not move. Slipping one small hand into the bodice of the under-kimono, she withdrew it in the moment of turning, and faced the beggar with a short, glittering dagger held determinedly in front of her. For several seconds he remained motionless too, his face almost invisible beneath the cowl. Then suddenly his right hand emerged from beneath the mud-stained robe, holding out a long curved sword. After flourishing it once, the beggar lifted the weapon in front of his face, as if in an elaborate formal salute. With his other hand he swept aside the hood, and she found herself staring in astonishment into the unsmiling face of Prince Tanaka Yoshio. His stern, handsome features remained expressionless as he studied Tokiwa
-
then he bowed and lowered his sword.
‘Your remarkable courage
m
atches your rare beauty,
O
Tokiwa-san he said approvingly. ‘I have already learned to admire your
haiku
and your playing of the
samisen.
But this new aspect of you I have never seen before.’
Tokiwa put aside her dagger in turn, and sank to a kneeling position. ‘My lord is not the only one to be surprised,’ she said quietly, bowing her head respectfully in his direction. ‘Beneath that beggar’s hood I did not recognize you.’
After studying her further in silence, Tanaka took a pace forward, the shimmering sword still unsheathed at his side. Aware of this, Tokiwa kept her head bent.
‘Perhaps I should arrive in disguise more often he said quietly, trying to hide the tremor of excitement in his voice. ‘To find you unprepared in this way is not unwelcome to my eyes.’
Beneath the filmy under-kimono her golden body was effectively naked, and neither of them moved as he gazed down at her. Her back was narrow and long, but her haunches, although slender, were generously rounded, and her dark-tipped breasts pressed full and youthfully ripe against the revealing garment. His eyes lingered for a long moment on the indistinct shadow at the apex of her loins, then returned to the exposed curve of her gracef
u
l neck.
‘Is it safe to remain here?’ asked Tokiwa in an anxious voice, still without raising her head. ‘Or will the floating volcanoes of the barbarians destroy the city tonight?’
Instead of replying, Tanaka used his long sword to flick her dagger expertly into a corner, putting
it
well beyond her reach. Then he raised his blade slowly to the nape of her bared neck and rested its tip gently against her glossy black hair. With only a slight movement of his wrist he removed an ivory comb and two silver pins, which tumbled noiselessly to the tata
mi
at her side. He watched her long hair cascade down over her shoulders, then manoeuvred the weapon into the loosely tied sash of the undergarment, and unfastened it. Using the sword-tip with great delicacy, he drew open the front of the kimono to unveil her breasts fully to his gaze.
‘The danger to our country is grave and very urgent,’ he murmured, and swished the sword suddenly across her body to throw open the lower half of the kimono. During another long silence he stared down at the nakedness of her lower belly and thighs; then he sucked in his breath fiercely. ‘Perhaps it has already come to your notice: you are in personal danger too, because of your liaison with me!’
For the first time she raised her head to look up at him, and her expression showed alarm. ‘Shouldn’t we then flee at once, my lord?’
Without replying he moved the sharp point of the sword until
it
touched the fullness of one of her breasts. After a moment’s pause he continued to draw
it
upwards, and she shivered as she felt its needle- sharp tip trace a fine line across her flesh. ‘When
it
encountered the collar of the kimono, he lifted part of the f
l
imsy garment to expose all of her arm and her right shoulder. His eyes were growing bright with desire, and he rested the blade of the sword on her shoulder to study his handiwork.
‘While the dangers are great: he said huskily, ‘they are not as simple as they seem. The fears of the people of Yedo are somewhat exaggerated ..‘
From outside in the street the sounds of panic were increasing. The clatter of feet and shouts of alarm grew louder and more confused. Still intensely aware of the sharp-edged blade on her shoulder, Tokiwa struggled to control her breathing. ‘But the sea-borne volcanoes will bring death to many people of Nippon! Surely it’s not foolish to be frightened.’
‘Those rumours are false. The barbarians have not sent floating volcanoes against us.’ With the blunt edge of his sword Tanaka caressed her hair, smoothing
it
downward along the curve of her spine. ‘The smoke comes out of their ships
-
which have iron machines on board. The machines can burn coal inside them and somehow help the ships sail against the wind. They are very powerful, and can tow other sailing ships easily behind them.’
Feeling the cold steel now against her back, Tokiwa shuddered involuntarily. ‘But what do they want here, my lord? Why have they come?’
‘They have come to humiliate our nation
-
perhaps to enslave and colonize us. At the very least they will try to force us to welcome their trading ships, against our will!’
Tanaka matched the fierceness of his words with another swift movement of the sword, which lifted the undergarment from her body and dropped it in a heap on the tatami beside her. Uncertain what to expect, Tokiwa kept her eyes averted from his face, and waited. Although she could not see his expression, she could sense that the sight of her entirely naked body had aroused his desire to a new pitch of intensity and she was not surprised when a moment later the sword reappeared in her range of vision. Its point descended very deliberately to rest on one of her bare knees, then probed down between her thighs until
it
touched the matting on which she knelt. The cutting edge of the blade was turned inward and she parted her legs with a sharp intake of breath as Tanaka began to move it with slow deliberation towards the most vulnerable point of her body.
“Why am I in danger because of our association, my lord?’ asked Tokiwa desperately, her eyes still fixed on the moving steel. ‘And how does the coming of the barbarians put you at risk?’
‘Because their arrival has caused great strife among our ruling factions. We are badly divided on how to respond!’
‘I don’t understand, my lord. .
‘Perhaps you understand more than you admit,
O
Tokiwa-san! And perhaps already you know my enemies! Perhaps they even paid you, and armed you with that dagger, to assassinate me
-
is that what happened?’
He continued to shift the sword steadily, forcing her to spread her thighs ever wider to avoid the blade’s lethal caress. Risking a quick glance at his face, she saw that his eyes were hot with a terrible mixture of suspicion and desire. She wondered desperately if she should try to rise to defend herself, but some deep instinct rooted her to the floor. The ancient Bushido code, she knew, i
m
pelled a samurai to act without hesitation on his first instinct to kill
-
and the law of the land gave him impunity to do so. Every geisha who entertained samurai was acutely aware of these facts, and therefore behaved with the greatest discretion in the company of warriors. Remembering this, Tokiwa lowered her head in the coy, submissive manner which her training and experience had taught her was erotically pleasing to all men of Nippon. Half turning from him, she slowly brushed her long hair aside with one hand, to reveal completely the vulnerable curve of her naked neck.
‘My lord, please believe me,’ she said softly, speaking over her shoulder. ‘I wished you no harm. I have been much honoured by your past visits. They have always brought me the greatest pleasure. Today I was merely preparing to defend my life against an unknown intruder. I know nothing of the danger to you or the disputes among the ruling factions.’
The sword had arrived within an inch of the fine whorls of dark hair that shadowed the naked arch of her thighs, and it was still moving. But although she wanted desperately to shrink away from it, she held to her decision not to show fear openly, and remained motionless on the tatami. Hardly daring to breathe, she watched the approaching blade with a calm, expressionless face.
In the absence of any spoken words, the noise from the street seemed to grow louder. Above the frenzied tolling of temple bells, the angry voices of several running men increased in volume as they drew nearer. The sword, now al