JAPANESE DICTIONARY AT THE BOTTOM OF EVERY CHAPTER FOR UNKNOWN JAPANESE WORDS - Author
( * )
The long trek from Kyoto to Nagoya by the Tokaido highway left Judge Tamotsu tired, so much so that when he had arrived, his feet had yearned the touch of the ground and his mind the want for the graces of a made bed. It was some time after dusk had ended when he had so arrived at the castle's foot. However, unbeknownst to the docking, Judge Tamotsu; he would not feel the graces of such a bed as early as he would want it to.
"Judge Tamotsu!" The samurai bowed. "Your presence is needed... Urgently!"
"Why? What happpened!?" He questioned, too bowing to the samurai.
"There has been a murder in the Nagoya Castle!"
"A murder!?" The samurai started to run towards the castle gates before he could've heard Judge Tamotsu's question. Seeing as the samurai stopped and looked back at him, Judge Tamotsu followed suit and ran.
The castle's outside was full of many samurai armed with the Naginata. To the right one could see bows and guns, to the left one could see the houses being checked and civilians questioned and detained.
"For such a commotion to happen because of a murder. Must it be..."
From a swift run, upwards the castle's steps. They found themselves being held by many stationed samurai with dagger-like eyes. Questioning the two of their being, their presence to be allowed in. However, when the samurai (the one who bowed to Judge Tamotsu) said; "Let us in! He is Judge Tamotsu, he shall lead, and has been the one assigned to lead the investigation of the murder!"
Hearing such, they paved way for the judge upwards and into the indoors of the castle. It was his first time inside the castle and took some minutes observing the intricate surroundings. It was beautiful indeed, however, the scene hid the grim murder that took.
The samurai led Judge Tamotsu inside one of the many rooms of the castle, to which when he had entered before bowing as low as he could at the front of the Fosuma, a foul odor greeted him. It was rotten, the many samurai surrounding and inside the room were wearing white masks with herbs inside of them to hinder the rotten smell from entering their noses, yet even that did not work as well as one would think it would.
"Judge Tamotsu..." The samurai glanced at the nigh-rotting body, his eyes hiding guilt, so were the samurai surrounding the room.
"It seems that daimayo Naritakana, has died." Judge Tamotsu said, his face took a stark upset. "When was the lord's body discovered?"
"This day, by dusk."
"The emperor's order to be in the presence of this castle, is it coincidental that I had recieved such an order or does it; the emperor knows more than what his isolated life may bring to the naked robed man."
"Yet, our lord; had rottened many days before he was... Discovered, like this..." His face saddened, yet apparent guilt was rampant in his expression.
"We shall find whoever had done this to the lord, and that man shall have justice brought down upon to him!" Judge Tamotsu had shouted, the samurai's apparent guilt lifting.
By Tamotsu's order. The samurai inside the room were expelled and put outside to guard the room from unexpected intruders.
"What is your name?" Judge Tamotsu asked at the only samurai kept inside the room (the one who he had talked to before).
"I am Minamoto. Jin Minamoto, Tamotsu." He answered.
"Who had discovered the lord's body?"
"One of the samurai tasked with patrolling the castle interior."
"Can I see him?"
"Yes, however..." A brief pause. "The samurai is a woman."
"An onna-bugeisha. A woman would not have had commited such a murder, but for she is a woman, her eyes must be sharp for the details."
( * )
Walking towards the door at the end of the hallway, Judge Tamotsu and Minamoto beside him were walking with the stride of a proper samurai. Taking lead, Minamoto took the opportunity to knock on the Fosuma before Judge Tamotsu could ever. He stood back. After a few seconds, and also a few pounds determined as footsteps approaching the door; the woman samurai opened and stood straight. She bowed low before them.
"Judge Tamotsu, I am pleased to meet your acquaintance. I am Hanako Masako."
"I am too." Judge Tamotsu bowed, trying to match, nigh even going lower than Masako's bow. Minamoto matched Tamotsu's bowing. "Unfortunately, because of the current grave predicament with our lord, Naritakana, I shall need to take attendance about your presence during or before you had found the lord in such a... Unpleasing event."
She took a low stance, and her face saddened. "Ah, our lord. Without he, our pride as the samurai of the Owari Tokugawa clan has, in bitter terms, ceased. His state, for his body to become that disgraced, brought me... Tears when first I saw his state..." She took notice that they were standing in the hallway and thus said; "Forgive me, Judge Tamotsu; please, both of you, enter."
"Forgive my interupting," Said Miyamoto. "However I find it rather distasteful to enter the quarters of a woman's without being the woman's husband."
"Then if you find it unsavoury, why shall we not just sit at the doorway? A perfect equilibrium of tastefullness." Said Judge Tamotsu in jest.
Finding the sarcasm in the judge's words, he gave in.
"I shall make tea, please sit." Masako said.
"The room itself is not extravagant, however it is quaint and rather elegant." He took more time to closely observe the room's surroundings. Finding his eyes meeting up at the corners and shadowed areas. "There seems to be not even one minor blemish done to the walls, even the floor is smooth."
She came from behind the shoji with a tray of three cups with tea inside of them. The scent it eluded was serene even at such a medium distance. She placed the tray and the subsequent cups onto the kotatsu, each cup directed towards each person. As she finished and sat down with them, Judge Tamotsu said; "Thank you."
"You are welcome."
Taking a sip, Judge Tamotsu's eyes widened in the tea's rather rehabilitating, calming aroma in comparison to the green tea he'd normally taste and sip. "What tea is this?" He asked.
"It is from beyond our country." She answered. "However Its name, I think is... Jassimin Tee?" Her japanese accent shadowed the real word's pronounciation of 'Jasmine Tea.'
"It is good tea." Remarked Minamoto.
"I would like to start questioning you Masako."
"Please, go ahead."
"Then." He took a deep breath. "What were you doing before and after you had found the lord's body?"
"I was assigned, like any samurai; to patrol the castle. I however was assigned to it's interior--"
"When were you assigned to patrol the interior?" Judge Tamotsu interupted.
She gulped, looking up and looked to be trying to remember. "It was two days ago, but..." She hesitated in continuing. "I hadn't noticed a single scent of rotting."
Judge Tamotsu's eyes sharpened.
"Then there should have been other samurai who were assigned to attend the castle interior?" He cutted his words to interpose yet another remark; "Surely those samurai would have had some chance of detecting a scent as foul as what unfortunately the lord omitting in his begotten death."
A sweat dropped onto her hand. "Well... Must I insist that even I could not smell such an odor even if my routine patrols had covered the hallway twixt the room of the lord." She stopped and added; "I do not think my nose fails me, for I am a samurai and have used my sense of smell in battle."
Her hand twitched.
"Then we have nothing to talk about regarding such a thing?" Judge Tamotsu said.
"Maybe so." She remarked.
"What of after you had discovered the lord's body?" He sipped his tea, and so did Miyamoto whom was minding his one business.
"I was frightened by... The lord's disagreeing state, I found... Guilt? In myself, seeing that the lord's body was in such a state and I didn't have even the slightest clue that the lord was in a that state of rotting..." She took a deep breath, her once 'agitated' mood dropped to a low mood. "I feel I have disgraced the lord, for not noticing any sooner or even before he had ever."
"I am sorry." He reasured her. "I will find whoever has done this."
He finished his last sip of the tea and so did Minamoto whilst she hadn't sipped the tea for but three times. "Then," he added, "I thank you for answering my questions and hope that we were hadn't obstructed." He stood up, Miyamoto and too her followed; he bowed first them after.
He opened the Fosuma back again, Minamoto stole the spot for outside the hallway, Judge Tamotsu after.
"What did you think of Masako, Judge Tamotsu?" Minamoto said.
"I think that Masako...
Is plotting with the murderer."
( * )
They came back to the scene of the crime. The lord's body was still there however Judge Tamotsu had informed the samurai outside the room to respectfully carry out the lord in way for a peaceful burial (this was after the samurai had noted of the lord's physical feature). The stench was not favorable however the room looked to be in 'pristine' condition. There was no scratch nor was there any signs of struggle. The lord's bed seemed done with pillows untouched. The tatami mats were not damaged, no scuffle could be evident from the scene.
However, Judge Tamotsu had cought a glimsp of a certain shoji with one of the panels of paper having been punctured.
"From this side."
He opened the shoji to further confirm that yes, the puncture was from the segment of room the lord's body was it. The paper's flaps extruded onto the other segment of the bigger room. "Meaning, there was a scuffle. And a blade was used. However, the room doesn't even look to have even a single scratch to its polished walls."
"Minamoto!" He called out. "Come here."
He jolted in response and went forward to Judge Tamotsu. Standing beside him, "What is it, Judge Tamotsu?"
"Take a look at this. The paper's been punctured with a hole larger than what a katana could from its tip." Judge Tamotsu took time trying to figure out what weapon would've made such a slash.
"It must be then," Miyamoto said after seeing Judge Tamotsu having a bit of trouble. "A naginata?"
Judge Tamotsu examined it at a different answer and concluded that Minamoto was indeed right, the hole was far too big to be a katana's and far too small to be a Nodachi's. "The naginata is used by every samurai, too is the katana, only in grave conditions should one dare use a katana. But then again, the perpetrator must not be a samurai considering he had showed to their lord his blade." He said in jest towards the killer's unknown motives and, to Judge Tamotsu's thoughts, stupid ideas.
"The lord must have had samurai inside of his room at all times, no?" Questioned Judge Tamotsu, Minamoto coming with an immidiate 'No.'
"The lord never wanted anyone in his private quarters. For this to happen, must be certainly an intentional assasination, but the question remains... Who?"
"Then let us continue searching the lord's room."
Minamoto nodded, Judge Tamotsu continuing his previous search. He went into the second section of the room beyond the veil of the shoji's paper panels. It, unlike the first section was not lit-up with light. But inside featured a large tatami mat with a kotatsu at the middle of it all. It was not as crowded as the first section and was as clean as the first one. There were no obvious anomalies, and the interior was serene to the eyes and the artwork on the walls were the works of an amazing artist.
He walked around, finding his eyes only staring at the artwork on the wall. After some walking, he heard a creak on the floor on the tatami mat his foot had pounced on. This prompted Tamotsu to once again call for Minamoto. "Come here Minamoto! I have found something!"
He once again rushed towards Judge Tamotsu, stopping and kneeling on the ground and eyeing up his level to his kneel. As he saw Judge Tamotsu plundering his hands onto the tatami mat, with which when he had pushed his hand onto the tatami mat of which the Judge was removing, he felt it sink onto the ground as if there was no wood to support his hand, or the tatami mat even. "Yes, Minamoto, its a hatch!" Said Judge Tamotsu excitedly, "Help me peel off the layer of tatami mat."
With the two men's power they managed by some fit of energy, to peel the back the tatami, damaging it in the process. As they tore it back even more; a black pit, a hole that looked to house an abyss deep within. "Can you get me a candle, Minamoto?"
"Yes, wait." He swiftly ran back towards the first room where there were candles on the floor. To which, he came swiftly back with a candle on his hand. "Here."
Judge Tamotsu pushed ever-so-slowly the candle towards the black hole. Extending his arm, and then his whole entire body onto the hole, never reaching a just ending. And when he had looked inside, with the help of the candle's illuminance, he found that it was a dark room, less fancy than that of the Lord's room but housed, based on what Judge Tamotsu saw, nothing in particular. He pulled back after having seen enough.
"What did you see, Judge Tamotsu?" Asked Minamoto, hoping for delightful answers.
"It was a dark room, presumably at the bottom of this room, however I saw no noticeable detail. No furniture, not anything. How else could they enter this room if not for something to help with their climbing?" Judge Tamotsu rubbed his chin trying to piece together clues regarding the way someone would climb up to this room.
"Must they have had used a ladder?"
"It is most doubtfully obvious that one would use a ladder to climb up a higher spot, however using such a thing is not conspicous. The many samurai of Nagoya castle would have had able to catch someone using a ladder. Besides, there is no use for a ladder in the castle."
"I shall ask the samurai if they have seen anyone carrying a ladder with, or without permit. I shall be back, Judge Tamotsu." He said his salutations and too bowed before leaving the room.
"Even if the murderer had ever used this method of assasination, the lord, Naritakana, would have had heard the creaking and breaking of the tatami mat. And also, this floor is clean, there was no evidence that it had been pulled out like that. What happened here?"
JAPANESE DICTIONARY:
Naginata - Japanese Spear
Fosuma - Sliding door
Shoji - Sliding door with paper panels
Daimayo - Lord
Kotatsu - Small table