on Okisada’s ship? Akitada had identified them in the provincial

jail and brought murder charges against them, based on Haseo’s

account. Ironically, they, like Akitada, had been in the stockade

under false pretenses. They were there to deal with Jisei if he

decided to make trouble about the gold. And, of course, he

had done just that, hoping to buy himself freedom with his

knowledge.

“I wished to thank you,” the thin man continued more

cordially, “for your help and your loyalty. Without your brilliant

exposure of the prince’s clever sham, all of our efforts would

have been in vain. You have certainly confirmed the high opin-

ion your friends have of you. If it had not been for your deter-

mination and courage, we would be involved in a major war

by now.”

Akitada bowed. “I have done nothing,” he murmured. It was

the polite response to a compliment, but he knew it was

painfully true. There was little to be proud of in the way he had

handled his assignment, and he had almost paid with his life

for his careless mistakes.

The thin gentleman said, “I do not need to tell you that you

have made enemies in the capital. Your requests to return to

your former position in the ministry have been blocked by your

superior, for example.”

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I . J . P a r k e r

Akitada glanced at the other man’s profile. Soga’s dislike

was no news to him, but he had not known that the minister

hated him so much that he would condemn him and his young

family to permanent misery in Echigo. He turned his eyes back

to the approaching land. Green and golden, the shoreline

stretched before him until it faded into a misty horizon. Those

waiting on shore were waving now. And there, in front, he now

saw a slender figure of a young woman holding a child. Tamako

and Yori. He raised his arm to wave, and saw Tamako lift up Yori

in response. Warm, joyous gratitude flooded over him. What-

ever the hardship, he still had his work and his small family.

Injustice flourished everywhere, in Sadoshima, Echigo, the cap-

ital, and also in the place where Haseo had lived. Akitada had

survived, and that was all that mattered.

But his companion still waited for a comment. “Thank you

for telling me,” Akitada said. “I shall have to be patient and work harder to win the regard of my superiors, that’s all.”

The thin man smiled and put his hand on Akitada’s shoul-

der. “Courage! You may have enemies in the capital,” he said,

“but you also have a new friend.”

H I S TO R I C A L N OT E

During the Heian Period (794–1185) the Japanese govern-

ment loosely followed the Tang China pattern of an elaborate

and powerful bureaucracy. The junior official Sugawara Akitada

is a fictional character, but his ancestor, Sugawara Michizane

(845–903), was very real. His life exemplified the dangers faced

by even the most brilliant and dedicated officials who made

enemies at court. Michizane, a superb administrator and great

poet, rose to preside over the sovereign’s private office but

ended his life in miserable exile.

By the time of the present novel, two hundred years after

Michizane, the administrative power is almost exclusively in the

hands of the Fujiwara family, whose daughters had consistently

been empresses. The Fujiwara women had borne emperors who

tried to rule briefly before resigning under pressure from their

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H i s t o r i c a l N o t e

in-laws in favor of sons who were often too young to interfere

in Fujiwara policy. The tale of the Second Prince illustrates the

political uncertainties inherent in the imperial succession and

the numerous incidents of rebellion by claimants to the throne

or to the position of prime minister. The real power, the prime

minister, was almost always a senior Fujiwara and he headed,

assisted by brothers, cousins, and uncles, an enormous central

government located in Heian-kyo (Kyoto). They controlled

more or less successfully the rest of the country through provin-

cial governors, men of rank and birth with university training

and Fujiwara support. A governor’s duties encompassed over-

seeing tax collection, law enforcement, and civic improvements

in his province. He normally served four years but might

choose to serve longer or absent himself altogether while his

duties were carried out by a junior official. Akitada is such a

substitute, while Mutobe has taken permanent residence. Their

provinces, Echigo and Sadoshima, are so remote from the capi-

tal, and life there is so dangerous for officials that more favored individuals considered such assignments not only undesirable

but punitive.

Sadoshima, or Sado Island, is located in the Sea of Japan,

about thirty-five kilometers from Echigo (modern Niigata)

Province. In the eleventh century, it was an independent

province with provincial headquarters, several towns, and

Buddhist temples. It was also a place where people were sent

into exile for serious offenses, and where gold was discovered

fairly early. Though there was no government mining of gold

until 1601, panning for gold in rivers and streams had been

known for centuries. Kumo’s secret mining operation described

in the novel is fictional. The descriptions are based on other

early gold mining practices and on the pictures of the Sado

mine in a contemporary scroll ( Sado Kozan Emaki). According to the scroll, both silver and gold were taken from the same

H i s t o r i c a l N o t e

397

mine. In the absence of Japanese historical sources, I am

indebted to Angus Waycott’s Sado: Japan’s Island in Exile, a charming journal of his eight-day hike around the island, in

which he describes the local geography, flora, and fauna, and

gives brief accounts of the island’s history.

Provincial law enforcement was carried out by three distinct

authorities: the local imperial police—present in Sadoshima

since 878; a high constable, usually a local landowner with man-

power at his disposal, who was appointed or confirmed by

the central government; and the governor, who appointed and

supervised local judges. Because of Buddhist opposition to the

taking of life, the death penalty was rarely imposed. Exile, often

with extreme deprivation and hard labor, was the punishment

of choice for serious offenses. This was, as in the case of Haseo,

commonly accompanied by confiscation of property and

dispersal of the rest of the family.

In addition to the practice of Buddhism, the other state

religion recognized in Heian Japan was Shinto. Shinto is native

to the Japanese islands and involves Japanese gods and agricul-

tural rituals. Buddhism, which entered Japan from China via

Korea, exerted a powerful influence over the aristocracy and the

government. It was common for emperors and their relatives to

shave their heads and become monks and nuns in their later

lives. The Buddhist prohibition against taking a life accounts for

Kumo’s strange behavior. The shrines mentioned in the novel,

along with the tengu sculpture, belong to the animistic Shinto faith which was more closely tied to peasant life.

Intellectual life reached a high point during the eleventh

century. The sons of upper-class families (the “good people”)

were trained in Chinese and Japanese studies at local schools

and at the universities in the capital. Their sisters wrote gener-

ally only in Japanese, but they produced exquisite poetry, di-