aries, and the first novel anywhere. In the other social classes,
398
H i s t o r i c a l N o t e
education probably ranged from illiteracy to the partial acquisi-
tion of useful skills, especially that of writing with ink and
brush not only in Chinese characters but also in Japanese script.
Akitada, with his university training, would have been adept
at both, in addition to having a very good knowledge of the
Chinese language, while the shijo Yutaka would associate characters only with their Japanese meaning. The emphasis of edu-
cation was on supporting an efficient bureaucracy run by the
“good people.”
A brief reference to the Ezo (modern Ainu), a people distinct
in origin and custom from the Japanese, may explain the very
real danger of Okisada and Kumo’s plan. Considered barbaric by
the Japanese, the Ezo had been pushed northward for centuries
until, by the tenth century, they were more or less pacified in
Dewa and Mutsu, the northernmost provinces of Honshu. The
pacification process had been achieved by allowing Ezo chief-
tains to become Japanese lords, often with the title of high con-
stable of their territory. But in 939 the Dewa Ezo rebelled and in
1056 the Nine-Years War erupted when the Abe family, who
had Ezo origins, rose against the governor of Mutsu. Thus the
warrior lords in the unstable northern provinces close to Echigo
and Sadoshima would have been obvious allies for Kumo and
Okisada.
Finally, the story of the fake silver bars was suggested by an
early Chinese legal case (# 9A) in Robert van Gulik’s translation
of the ‘Tang-Yin-Pi-Shi.
Document Outline
Cover Page
About the Author
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication Page
Acknowledgments
Characters and Places
Prologue
Chapter One: Visitors
Chapter Two: The Prisoner
Chapter Three: A Candle in the Wind
Chapter Four: The Nun
Chapter Five: The Unpolished Jewel
Chapter Six: Twisting a Straw Rope
Chapter Seven: The Ugly Buddha
Chapter Eight: Flute Music from another Life
Chapter Nine: Minato
Chapter Ten: The Professor
Chapter Eleven: The Lake
Chapter Twelve: The Mandala
Chapter Thirteen: Lieutenant Wada
Chapter Fourteen: Tora
Chapter Fifteen: The Mine
Chapter Sixteen: Little Flower
Chapter Seventeen: The Dark Tunnel
Chapter Eighteen: The Golden Phoenix
Chapter Nineteen: Escape
Chapter Twenty: Kumo
Chapter Twenty-One: Fugu Fish
Epilogue
Historical Note