Kosenya

I

The Battle of Kashii took place on April 29, 1615. Among the Osaka forces, several renowned warriors—including Ban Dan’emon Naoyuki and Tannowa Rokurōbei Shigemasa—were killed in the fighting. Ban Dan’emon Naoyuki in particular fought beneath a golden gohei standard, brandishing a cross-shaped spear until its shaft broke, and finally died in the town of Kashii.

At about two in the afternoon on April 30, Asano Tajima-no-kami Nagaakira, who had defeated their army, reported his victory to the retired shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu and presented Naoyuki’s severed head. (Ieyasu had remained at Nijō Castle since April 17. He intended to wait for Shogun Hidetada to arrive from Edo before attacking Osaka Castle.) Nagaakira’s retainers Seki Sōbei and Terakawa Samanosuke served as his messengers.

Ieyasu ordered Honda Sado-no-kami Masazumi to inspect Naoyuki’s head. Masazumi withdrew into the adjoining room, quietly removed the lid of the head-box, and examined it privately. He then drew a swastika on the lid and laid an arrowhead facedown upon it before returning to Ieyasu with this reply:

“Because of the summer heat, Naoyuki’s head has begun to sag at the cheeks. The stench is consequently very strong. Might Your Lordship perhaps dispense with viewing it?”

Ieyasu, however, would not agree.

“Everyone is the same once dead. Bring it here, in any case.”

Masazumi withdrew once more into the adjoining room and sat motionless for a long time before the head-box, which was covered with a ceremonial cloth.

“Why are you taking so long?”

Ieyasu called into the next room. Ban Dan’emon Naoyuki, once a foot soldier from Yokosuka in Enshū, had come to be counted among the most celebrated military commanders in the realm. Moreover, Ieyasu’s concubine Lady Oman had for a time given him two hundred ryō each year in support, for the sake of her son Yorinobu. Finally, in addition to his martial training, Naoyuki had studied under the Zen priest Dairyū and cultivated the way that stands beyond the written word. It was therefore no mere accident that Ieyasu wished to inspect the head of such a man…

But Masazumi made no reply. Instead, he began speaking, ostensibly to no one in particular, to Naruse Hayato-no-shō Masanari and Doi Ōi-no-kami Toshikatsu, who were also waiting in the adjoining room.

“I have heard that as men grow older, it is only their stubbornness that grows stronger. Even a warrior as great as the retired shogun is no different in this respect from the commonest man. I, Masazumi, flatter myself that I know something of the ancient customs of war. Naoyuki’s is a solitary head, and its eyes remain wide open; that is precisely why I advised His Lordship not to inspect it. Yet he insists that I bring it before him. Could there be clearer proof of what I have just said?”

After hearing Masazumi’s words through the painted sliding doors, Ieyasu naturally said no more about inspecting Naoyuki’s head.

II

That same night, however, a woman employed at the encampment of Ii Kamon-no-kami Naotaka suddenly began shrieking as though she had gone mad. She was a woman just past thirty named Kosenya.

“Is the head of a warrior as great as Ban Dan’emon unworthy of inspection by the retired shogun? I too commanded a whole division! Having suffered such humiliation, I shall not rest until I have brought a curse upon you…”

As Kosenya cried out again and again, she repeatedly tried to leap into the air. Even the combined strength of the men and women around her could scarcely restrain her. Her terrifying cries were bad enough, but the commotion as they struggled to pin her down must have been extraordinary as well.

The uproar in Ii’s encampment could hardly fail to reach Tokugawa Ieyasu’s ears. Moreover, Naotaka appeared before Ieyasu and told him that everyone was terrified because Naoyuki’s vengeful spirit had possessed Kosenya.

“It is no wonder that Naoyuki should bear a grudge. Very well, I shall inspect the head at once.”

Ieyasu pronounced his decision firmly in the light of the great candles.

The inspection of Naoyuki’s head late that night in Ieyasu’s chamber at Nijō Castle was, if anything, more solemn and imposing than it would have been by day. Still dressed in a brown haori and trousers gathered at the ankles, Ieyasu examined the head according to the prescribed forms. On either side stood an armored bannerman, each with a hand upon the hilt of his sword, his gaze fixed on the head throughout the inspection. Naoyuki’s cheeks had not sagged. His face, however, had taken on a dark reddish-bronze hue, and, just as Honda Masazumi had said, both eyes stood wide open.

“Ban Dan’emon’s dearest wish must surely be satisfied now.”

One of the bannermen, Yokota Jin’emon, said this and bowed to Ieyasu.

Ieyasu merely nodded and gave no answer. Then he summoned Naotaka, brought his mouth close to the man’s ear, and quietly ordered, “Make sure you investigate that woman’s background.”

III

The news that Ieyasu had completed his inspection naturally reached Ii’s encampment. When Kosenya heard it, she cried, “My wish is fulfilled! My wish is fulfilled!” and smiled for a while. Then, as though utterly exhausted, she sank into a deep sleep. The men and women in the encampment were at last relieved. It had certainly been unnerving to hear Kosenya railing in a voice as deep as a man’s.

In time, dawn came. Naotaka promptly summoned Kosenya and questioned her about her origins. She was far too frail a woman to belong in a military encampment. Her drooping shoulders in particular seemed not merely melancholy but almost painful to behold.

“Where were you born?”

“In the castle town of Hiroshima, in Aki Province.”

Naotaka stared intently at her. After continuing this exchange for some time, he slowly put his final question.

“You have some connection with Ban, do you not?”

Kosenya appeared startled. But after a brief hesitation, she answered with unexpected clarity.

“Yes. I am ashamed to admit it, but…”

According to Kosenya, Naoyuki had fathered a child by her.

“Perhaps that was why. Last night, when I heard that His Lordship would not inspect the head, even though I am only a woman, I felt it was an unbearable injustice. It seems that at some point I lost my senses, and I am told that I began shouting various things. Naturally, I myself remember none of it…”

Kosenya remained bowed with both hands on the floor, visibly agitated. In her wasted figure that agitation produced something like the look of thin ice glittering in the morning sun.

“Enough, enough. You may go and rest.”

After dismissing Kosenya, Naotaka once more appeared before Ieyasu and recounted every detail of her history.

“She did indeed have a connection with Ban Dan’emon.”

For the first time, Ieyasu smiled. To him, human life was as clear as a map of the Tōkaidō. Even in Kosenya’s frenzy, he could not help perceiving a truth that life had long since taught him: everything has both a face and an underside. Once again, his conjecture agreed with the experience he had accumulated over more than seventy years…

“I thought as much.”

“What shall be done with the woman?”

“Nothing. Keep her in your service.”

Naotaka seemed somewhat irritated.

“But she committed the crime of deceiving her superiors…”

Ieyasu remained silent for a while. His mind’s eye, however, was turned toward the darkness at the bottom of human life—and toward the various monsters dwelling within that darkness.

“May I deal with her as I see fit?”

“Yes, she deceived her superiors…”

To Naotaka, at least, there was not the slightest room for doubt. But Ieyasu, his exceptionally large eyes now wide open, answered with majestic assurance, as though confronting an enemy army:

“No. I was not deceived.”

(May 7, 1927)