“Hagi cannot be taken by siege,” Shigeru exclaimed.

His uncles exchanged glances. “But we could be starved out, especially since it is early summer and the rice harvest is still weeks away,” Shoichi said.

“Shigeru should take his own life,” Masahiro remarked dispassionately. “Surely that would answer Iida’s requirements, and be honorable.”

“My father’s command was that I should live,” Shigeru replied. “Especially since Jato came to me.”

Ichiro said from behind them, “If I am permitted to speak-Lord Shigeru’s death would plunge the whole of the Middle Country into turmoil. If the Tohan had defeated the Otori in a fair battle, it would be an acceptable outcome. But when treachery is involved, the rights of the defeated are stronger. The battle was fought in the Middle Country: Lord Iida was the aggressor. All these considerations must be carefully weighed before we reach settlement.”

“The threat to lay siege to Hagi is an empty one,” Shigeru added. “For the Seishuu will come to our aid. Tell Sadamu that. Anyway, our reports suggest he suffered too many losses to embark on a new campaign, especially during the rainy season.”

“All these contentions may have weight,” Kitano replied, “but there is no point in discussing them, unless you accept that from this day on you are neither the head nor the heir of the Otori clan.”

“It is not something I can divest myself of, like a robe or a hat,” Shigeru replied. “It is what I am.”

“In that case, my presence here is futile,” Kitano remarked.

There was a short silence. Then Shoichi and Masahiro both began to speak at once.

“It’s ridiculous…”

“Lord Shigeru must step aside…”

“Your brother is at Terayama?” Kitano said. “I must tell you that the temple is surrounded by my men, under orders from Lord Iida and myself to attack it, kill everyone in it, and burn it to the ground unless matters are settled satisfactorily within the week. The town of Yamagata will also be razed.”

“That would be an act of unsurpassed evil, even for you,” Shigeru replied angrily.

“I can think of a few apt descriptions of you, too, Shigeru,” Kitano retorted. “However, I don’t think insulting each other is constructive. We have to come to an agreement.”

There was a sudden rush of rain on the roof, and the smell of wet earth drifted into the room.

“We must put the good of the clan first,” Shoichi said piously. “Lord Iida allows you to live, Shigeru. It’s a huge concession. And your brother’s life will be spared too.”

“You were defeated in battle: you must expect to pay some price for that,” Kitano added. “Of course, if you insist on taking your own life, we cannot prevent it. But I agree with Master Ichiro-it would cause turmoil among the people, and for that reason, with considerable mercy, and because you once saved his life, Lord Iida will not insist on it.”

Their voices reached him as if from a great distance, and the room seemed full of mist. All he could think of was, Yet Jato came to me. I must not die before I have sought revenge. It is impossible for me to cease to be the head of the clan. Jato came to me.

Then he remembered how the sword had come to him, and the words of the man who had brought it to him. Discernment, deviousness, and above all patience. These were the qualities he needed to exploit to survive. He would start practicing them now.

“Very well,” he said. “I will step aside, for all the reasons you have mentioned and above all for the good of the clan.”

“Lord Iida expects written assurances that you will retire from political life and never take up arms against him again.”

Deviousness. Shigeru inclined his head. “In return, my brother must receive a safe conduct to Hagi, and both Terayama and Yamagata be spared.”

Kitano said, “They will be spared from attack but must be ceded to the Tohan, as well as Chigawa and the Yaegahara plain. I am also making sacrifices,” he added. “I am to forfeit nearly half of my domain. I refrained from attacking you as Iida had requested I should. Noguchi, on the other hand, is being rewarded with the whole of the South.”

The negotiations went on for the rest of the day. The borders of the Three Countries were redrawn. The Otori territory was reduced to the mountainous area between Hagi and Tsuwano and a narrow strip along the northern coast. They lost Chigawa and its silver mines, Kushimoto, Yamagata, and the rich southern city of Hofu. Two-thirds of the Middle Country passed into the hands of Iida’s warriors. But Hagi was not attacked, and a sort of peace resulted that lasted for over ten years.

Too weakened by Yaegahara to attack them outright over the next few years, Iida also made demands of the Seishuu, for their alliance with the Otori. Arai Daiichi was ordered to serve Noguchi Masayoshi; Lord Shirakawa’s eldest daughter, Kaede, was sent to Noguchi castle as a hostage as soon as she was old enough; and Maruyama Naomi’s daughter Mariko was subjected to the same fate in Inuyama itself. Huge castles were built at Yamagata and Noguchi and carefully guarded border posts set up on the high roads.

But all that lay in the future.

34

For the next few days, Shigeru was fully occupied with the details of the surrender agreement, the exact placement of the boundaries, a revised system through which tax would be directed to the new rulers. Most of the time he found it easy to act calmly, as if it were all a dream from which he would sooner or later awake, and everything would be as it used to be. He moved with indifference through the unreality, doing what had to be done, meticulously and with as much justice as possible. He met endless groups of people-warriors, merchants, village headmen-explained the surrender terms as best he could to them, remaining as unmoved by their anger and lack of comprehension as by their frequent tears.

Gradually his seeming imperturbability had an effect on the frantic behavior in the town. The dancing crowds dispersed, and people began wearing their ordinary clothes again as life returned to normal. He would not allow them to descend into self-pity and victimhood. That led only to impotence and a festering resentment, which would do the Tohan’s work for them and destroy the clan from within.

But from time to time Shigeru would find himself in the grip of uncontrollable rage. It came from nowhere, as if it were some demon assailing him. He usually rushed from whatever room he was in, for he feared above all killing someone without intending to; his right hand was often bruised from punching it against a wooden pillar or a stone wall once he was alone. Sometimes he slapped his own face, thinking he was surely going mad; then he would suddenly become conscious of the world around him again-a bush warbler calling from the garden, the scent of irises, the soft pattern of rainfall-and the rage abated.

Occasionally, when alone, he was visited in a similar way by demons of overwhelming grief, for all the dead and for Akane, whom he missed with physical pain. The place of her death, the volcano’s crater, had become a center of worship for the women from the pleasure houses and for young girls in love. Shigeru occasionally visited it himself, and he often went to her father’s grave on the stone bridge, made offerings, and read the inscription he had had engraved there:

Let the unjust and disloyal beware.

Rage and grief were equally unbearable, and he struggled to keep them both at bay, but painful as they were, they made him feel real. Yet he could not allow himself to succumb to either.

Chiyo had told him what she had gleaned of the circumstances of Akane’s death. He suspected his uncle Masahiro of more than lechery-the man had been actively conspiring against him. But Akane herself had been indiscreet, had not been completely faithful to him, had been swayed by Hayato’s plight. Thoughts of revenge often came to him, but revenge would keep. He would be patient, like the heron that came every evening to fish in the streams and pools of the garden of the house by the river.