The Golden Naginata Read Online Free PDF Page A

toward her, his expression earnest, but seeming to mean no harm. He said, “By trickery my bodyguards were drugged. Fifty samurai attacked my house this very night, stabbing all the guards in their beds or slumbering at their posts. Against so many, I was helpless.”
    â€œFifty to kill one!” said Tomoe. “They had no honor!”
    The ghost of Okio continued, “They probably thought that I would be as good at fighting with swords as making them. But I have never liked to see swords dented. I was unpracticed in fencing. Not one of the fifty was injured; I’m ashamed to confess it. At this very moment they are on their way to Isso to complete their commission. They intend to kill my wife and children! Those clever men placed an amulet against ghosts in my body’s mouth, thinking it would keep me from pursuing them in death. Yet a part of me lives in the swords I have forged. A part of me is carried in your own scabbard; and that part cannot be arrested by amulets. If my enemies have their way, even these remnants of myself, of my contribution to Naipon, will be wrecked. For all that, I worry more about my family than posterity. You must go to Isso, Tomoe Gozen! You must rush to my family’s defense!” The ghost wrung his hands in despair, hovering nearer and saying, “Save them, Tomoe! Save them!”

    â€œI will try,” said Tomoe, bowing a little from her standing position, still holding her sword in front of her vertically lest the ghost press too near.
    After her promise, the ghost withdrew a short ways and looked somewhat relieved. He said, “Of the fifty men, I can give you ten names. I will etch them on your memory so that you cannot forget.” So saying, he began to recite the names of a fifth of his assassins: “Matsu Emura, Ryoichi Nomoto, Shintaro Shimokashi, Fusakuni Sumikawa …” As the ghost gave her the names, their heads moved before her as if carried on poles. Their features, with their names, burned into her brain. She would know them anywhere! The deep, sad voice of Okio continued: “Kajutoshi Saitoh, Hitoshi Nakazaki and his brother Tatsuo Nakazaki, Kenji Hachimura, Fudo Kuji, and Kozo Ono.”
    The last of the ten men’s heads passed before her vision. The specter which had once been the Imperial Swordsmith grew faint, weakened by the spell he had weaved. A cold, cold wind swept through the pines as it had done when Okio first came. He became mist once more. Amaterasu’s shining face peered up from below the world, banishing him and all hungry ghosts into the Land of Gloom for another day.
    Tomoe raised her sword horizontally and held it from each end. She bowed to the sword in her outstretched hands while facing the place where the ghost had been. She gave her oath.
    â€œ Bushi no-ichi gon ,” she said, the word of a samurai binding unto death. “The task will be done!”
    It was more than two days by relay-palanquin to Isso. The men who bore the transport on their shoulders shouted, “Pardon us! Emergency!” to clear the road, running from palanquin-station to palanquin-station, keeping Tomoe fast upon the route day and night. At the last station there were no palanquins to be had, because Tana-bata or Star Festival had created extra business. Tomoe hurried the last few miles afoot, arriving amidst gentle merriment. She didn’t think the fifty assassins coming from Kyoto could have closed the distance in better time. It would be hard to find out, however, since any number of men could arrive unnoticed during a celebration.
    As Tana-bata was observed mainly by young women and girls, it was one of the least rowdy festivals of the year. Yet it did provide a few excuses for men to enjoy themselves, or to take advantage of sentimental girls. Tana-bata was the seventh lunar month’s holiday, in praise of the High Plain of Heaven and in particular two constellations: the Herdsman, and the Weaver Maid,