Demon Sword Dance
Book 2 of the Dororo Novel Series
Toriumi Jinzō
Part 2 - Nihil, the Demon Sword
Chapter 4
Jukai and Hōichi found a narrow animal trail heading into the mountains and started to climb. Hōichi was a strong walker and didn't stumble, even when the path became rocky. Jukai was reminded of his strange ability to see things that most couldn't see.
It's like he can sense the natural world around him, even though he can't physically see it. Where does such an ability come from?
There was a person standing in the shadow of a tree just ahead. Jukai squinted, then gasped. "Dororo? Is that you?"
"Taifu1 Jukai!" Dororo rushed out from under the tree and hugged Jukai around the legs.
Jukai picked up Dororo and wrapped his arms around him in a gentle hug.
"H-how did you know we were here?" Dororo asked.
"We'll talk about that later. You seem healthy. Are you hurt?" Jukai asked.
Dororo wiped hot tears out of his eyes.
Hōichi reached out and patted Dororo on the head. "You pretend to be a little demon, but you are truly an adorable child. You'd be even more adorable with new red clothes,"2 he said speculatively.
"Don't touch me," Dororo snarled, batting Hōichi's hands away. He glared threateningly.
"You're blushing like a little girl," Hōichi said, chuckling. "You shouldn't be so rude to someone you just met."
Dororo had seen Hōichi before when he'd crossed swords with Hyakkimaru, just before they'd reached the ruined temple. From Dororo's perspective, this wasn't their first meeting at all. Hōichi was Hyakkimaru's enemy.
Hyakkimaru himself walked down the path from above, then stood still.
Hōichi smiled. "Greetings, Lord Tengu. You're famous around here."
Hyakkimaru ignored Hōichi. "Father..." There were so many things he wanted to say, but his words died in his throat.
Jukai climbed the path up to Hyakkimaru. "This monk helped lead me to you. I wouldn't have found you without his help."
"I could say the same thing about you, Lord Jukai," Hōichi said graciously. "But you should probably take a look at that left leg before we talk much more."
Jukai frowned. How did Hōichi know that Hyakkimaru's left leg, in particular, needed repair?
"Huh?" Dororo asked.
Hōichi didn't say anything else.
Dororo and Hyakkimaru led Jukai and Hōichi up to the ruined temple, which was barely standing. They'd scavenged food from Korikuma's fortress and brought it here. Hyakkimaru had also managed to capture one of the fleeing horses. It was tethered to a tree.
The orphaned children were still distraught over Mio's death. Dororo had taken over as their caretaker over the past few days, since Hyakkimaru was just about as incapacitated as the children.
Hyakkimaru sat with his back to an evergreen oak tree while Jukai retrieved his surgical tools from his pack. He removed Hyakkimaru's damaged prosthetic leg and started repairs immediately. Jukai had brought a variety of different supplies with him: medical herbs, tools, gunpowder for Hyakkimaru's hand cannon, and more. He'd set out on this journey to watch over Hyakkimaru and help him where he could, so he'd packed everything that he thought might be useful.
Hyakkimaru told Jukai everything that had happened since he and Dororo arrived at the ruined temple.
Jukai nodded firmly. "When your leg is fixed, bring me to the girl's grave."
Hōichi nodded in agreement. "She was brave. I would also like to pay my respects."
***
Jukai and Hōichi followed Hyakkimaru up to the Flower Hill in the evening. Hōichi sang a song at the grave, sad and soothing.
Hyakkimaru's attachment to Mio was stronger than Jukai had guessed after first hearing of her. He had never met her in life, but her behavior was like that of Kannon, the goddess of mercy. He understood clearly that Hyakkimaru had fallen in love for the first time—and that love had been cruelly yanked away by the demons.
"Hōichi," Jukai said, "Mio believed in Myōkichi, who seemed to be an expression of the Bodhisattva Manjushri. Do you know anything about Myōkichi?" he asked.
"Some," Hōichi said. He took his cane and set it carefully over the grave.
Seeing the cane, Hyakkimaru was shocked into sudden recognition. Hōichi was the monk who he'd met on the road. His Muramasa sword had been temperamental ever since their meeting. He had no will to fight, but felt a strange sort of caution that urged him to put as much distance between himself and Hōichi as possible.
"Mio believed in Myōkichi, did she?" Hōichi muttered. "We should have a funeral and offer sake for her repose in the grave, but that might be impossible here."
"We brought sake back from the bandit fortress," Dororo said.
Jukai looked at Dororo suspiciously. "Why did you bring back sake, of all things? You didn't drink any, did you?"
"Maybe I did and maybe I didn't. My dad taught me all about it."
"Did he now?" Jukai said. He shook his head a little in exasperation.
That night, Hōichi and Jukai prepared a funereal feast, aided by Dororo, who cooked fresh fish from the river, waterfowl, and a stew of wild vegetables. The orphaned children didn't forget their grief, but their eyes brightened at seeing so much food.
Hyakkimaru put the emphasis of the evening on being reunited with Jukai. He didn't want to think that the feast was for a funeral. He drank and tried to forget.
Hyakkimaru had joined the Eastern Army at the beginning of the Ōnin War to get information about his birth father, Daigo Kagemitsu. Hōichi had been in the capital at the same time, right in the thick of the fighting.
"I witnessed many battles, but the worst I saw was between Asakura Takakage and Hosokawa Shigeyuki. Hosokawa was reinforced by Takeda Nobutada. The fighting went on for forty days without a break. The victors made the skulls of their enemies into feasting cups. I've never seen such brutality before in all my life."
"I've heard that Asakura Takakage is one of the lords of this province," Hyakkimaru said.
"Yes, he is. He controls the fortresses of Ichijōdani and Daikuromaru. The lord of the entire province is Shiba Yoshikado. Asakura Takakage is his right-hand man. I've heard that Hosokawa Katsumoto, the leader of the Eastern Army, wants Asakura Takakage's head more than anyone else's."
Hōichi laughed, then drank his sake. "But Asakura Takakage is a hard man to find, much less kill. I don't think the fighting in the capital is going to stop anytime soon. Lord Shiba went back to the capital last May, and his forces are keeping the Eastern Army off-balance, but his absence is destabilizing this province. He has no heir. If the worst should happen in the capital, Asakura Takakage might see himself rising in the world, and quickly."
Hōichi had learned much of samurai history in his travels, and he was fascinated by Asakura Takakage in particular. Hyakkimaru found it easy to understand Hōichi's fixation on him; people rarely gained such a bloodthirsty and unscrupulous reputation as what he was hearing. Hyakkimaru wondered how many of the horrific rumors about Asakura Takakage were actually true, though he was inclined to believe all of them. Asakura Takakage had killed Honekawa Dōken, the man Hyakkimaru had served under in the Eastern Army. If Honekawa Dōken hadn't sent Hyakkimaru away before that battle, he would be dead now, so Hyakkimaru owed Lord Honekawa his life.
Truthfully, Honekawa Dōken had been just as brutal and ruthless in life as Asakura Takakage, but perspective warped Hyakkimaru's view of things.
Hyakkimaru wanted to meet Asakura Takakage now. He wanted to avenge Honekawa Dōken. If his motives were more complicated than that, he didn't examine them.
Hōichi smacked his lips together, then frowned. "About when we met before," he said.
Hyakkimaru remembered, but grief had long since consumed his anger. The monk had asked Manjushri to guide Hyakkimaru's way.
"Hatred has power," Hōichi said. "It can make you strong, but it has a cost. It transforms you into something else. When you met me, you mistook me for a monster and attacked."
Jukai looked at Hyakkimaru in alarm. Hyakkimaru hung his head.
"You only focused on fighting a monster and didn't look any deeper," Hōichi said.
Hyakkimaru nodded. "I know. I did that when the demon attacked the temple, too. If I'd focused on getting Mio out first before facing the demon, she might still be alive."
"Her death is worthy of a Bodhisattva," Hōichi said. "She sacrificed all she was—her body, her innocence, her life—to protect and raise those children. She never considered the cost. That was an act worthy of Kannon, the goddess of mercy herself."
Hearing Hōichi compare Mio to a god touched something within Jukai, though he didn't quite understand why. He wished that he could have met Mio. He wished she could have lived.
"But samurai are encouraged to act on their ambitions and desires these days, instead of helping others," Hōichi said. "That sword of yours doesn't help matters. I wanted to free you from your hatred, so when I crossed my sword with yours, I tried to make it an ordinary sword, free of the vengeful compulsion of the spirit within it. But it seems that went wrong somehow."
Hyakkimaru nodded. "I met a samurai on the road with a Muramasa sword like mine. He was—terrifying. He killed twenty men, all in a single hit. When he asked to see my sword, something went out of his blade and into mine. His sword's name was—"
"—Nihil," Hōichi said.
"How do you know that?" Hyakkimaru said.
"I, also, have felt Nihil's strong desire for blood," Hōichi said.
"You met the same man?" Hyakkimaru asked.
"Nihil is a demonic sword. So is your Muramasa sword. It absorbed your energy as you trained with it. Nihil decided to take that energy from your sword instead of shedding your blood."
"Is that why the Muramasa sword doesn't do what I say anymore?"
Hōichi nodded. "Psychokinesis won't help you control that sword now. Not anymore."
"Then what will?" Hyakkimaru asked.
"First, you must recover," Hōichi said.
Hyakkimaru bit back what he wanted to say next. He didn't understand what Hōichi wanted or expected him to do. Physically, he was fine now.
Noticing Hyakkimaru's confusion, Jukai took a stab at explaining what Hōichi meant. "It's possible that psychokinesis was never enough in the first place," he said. "When you encountered the demon woman at the Hall of Hell, she broke past your defenses and destroyed your limbs. Korikuma and the demon you faced afterward also caused damage. At first, I thought that this happened because the powers of the Hall of Hell demons are mature while yours are not, but now I wonder if using psychokinesis wasn't the right way to fight the demons to start with."
"But psychokinesis is obviously good for something," Hyakkimaru said. "My limbs move. I can see and hear and smell. Why wouldn't I be able to use it to fight the demons?"
"It's true that the knowledge I gained from Yōda restored your ability to function—in some ways, you've gotten back what the demons stole from you already. And you were born with an incredibly strong will to live. You've surpassed the capabilities of most ordinary people." Jukai thought for a moment. "You've stalled in development before. Remember? When Sakuzō and I didn't know how to help you, you were stuck not being able to see. It took some other force on the mountain interfering to push you forward. There may be another force at work here—something more powerful than psychokinesis."
"More powerful than psychokinesis?" Hyakkimaru asked. "Is it something I can acquire? What do I have to do? And what if you're wrong?"
"I might be," Jukai said. "I don't know. But I do think you need to rest to recover your psychokinetic energy. It's possible that Hōichi knows how to encourage or guide you to this other power."
Hyakkimaru's acquisition of psychokinesis had been as hard-fought as the rest of his abilities. If hard work was required for what came next, then he would work as he'd always done.
Jukai remembered finding Hyakkimaru floating in a basin in the reeds on the shore of the Takano River. Both he and Hyakkimaru had been attacked by strange lightning. Jukai had dispersed the lightning that attacked him with his own psychokinesis and a Buddhist prayer gesture, but Hyakkimaru had been protected by the mountain looming overhead: Hyōtankuzure. Jukai had always believed that the god of Iwakura Shrine had saved baby Hyakkimaru from danger, since the shrine was at the foot of Mount Hyōtankuzure.
In Jukai's estimation, Hyakkimaru had put in more than enough effort to become whole and functional. It was time for the god who had saved him to reveal its reason for doing so.
Hyakkimaru seemed to be thinking much the same thing as Jukai. "I've prayed to the god of Iwakura Shrine for my entire life. The god has helped me whenever I've been in trouble with demons, but I can't go back to Mount Kurama now."
Jukai nodded in understanding. "Hm. Maybe recovering your psychokinetic energy and training with the sword will be enough. We don't know unless you try."
Hōichi nodded. "Mount Monju to the north has an Iwakura Shrine. It was blessed by Manjushri and is protected by his power. You should go there."
"I've heard of a mountain sacred to Manjushri in China, but not one in Japan," Jukai said.
Hōichi smiled. "Manjushri has a lot of followers, you know. Four of them crossed the sea to Japan and became gods: Utenō, Taisei Rōjin, Butsudahari, and Zenzai Dōji."
"Really? Disciples of Manjushri came all the way to Ezichen?" Jukai asked. He remembered his own long journey to Mount Wutai, where Yōda had lived. Mount Wutai was also sacred to Manjushri. Jukai hadn't expected to learn about a place that was so much like Mount Wutai so close to home.
"Manjushri was born on Mount Wutai, but as his power and influence grew, people gathered from all over to learn his teachings. After learning all they could, they carried back their knowledge to many lands. Manjushri still has a broad base of power no matter where you go, but Mount Monju is special." He turned toward Hyakkimaru. "If Manjushri truly is your protector, young man, then you should climb that mountain and perform Manjushri's mantra.3 Do this, and I'm sure he'll restore your psychokinetic powers to what they once were."
"What is Manjushri's mantra?" Hyakkimaru asked.
"On, ah, mi, ra, un, ka, sa, raku is how you spell it. Chanted out, it sounds like ‘on abira un kashal.' The mantra will open your mind to the god's wisdom."
Hyakkimaru nodded decisively. "Thank you for telling me. I'll do it."
Hōichi smiled as brightly as a sunrise. Jukai sighed openly in relief.
***
The next morning, Hyakkimaru stood on the Flower Hill alone.
"Mio. I'm leaving soon. I'm going to Mount Monju to look for Myōkichi, and then I have to track down the Hall of Hell demons. I promise that I'll kill them all and come back."
It could just be an auditory hallucination, or wishful thinking, but Hyakkimaru thought he could hear Mio's voice say, "I'll always be with you. I'm sure Myōkichi will heed your prayer and project you."
Hyakkimaru stood at the very edge of the hill and looked up at the northern sky. Mount Monju was there.
***
When Hyakkimaru left the ruined temple and got on the road, he heard Hōichi playing a lute song. The children sang along with cheerful voices. Hōichi was teaching them the song.
The song was a saibara song of the type that was very popular in the capital. Saibara songs used folk song melodies and themes in a more courtly style. Saibara songs became popular during the reign of Emperor Daigo in the late 800s. Though based in popular folk music, saibara were appropriated by the Imperial Court, especially Emperor Uda, and then popularized to the nobility by his son Prince Atsuzane. The grandson of Emperor Daigo, Minamoto no Hiromasa, was a famous musician who played saibara songs.
Hōichi could play the lute, fife, and reed-pipe as part of his training in the Todōza Guild. Hearing the children sing lifted Hyakkimaru's spirits. He hoped that the music would give them the courage to keep on living.
Jukai stood in the valley below the road, very close to the river. Hyakkimaru walked down into the valley and stood next to Jukai, who was staring at the surface of the water. The river was swollen with snowmelt and much deeper than Hyakkimaru remembered it being. Kingfishers darted up and and down the riverbank, appearing near the surface before disappearing deeper under the water.
Jukai and Hyakkimaru hadn't been alone as parent and child for a long time.
"Hyakkimaru," Jukai said. "I think I overestimated myself."
Hyakkimaru didn't understand.
"When I taught you to nurture the potential for psychokinesis within yourself, another power was nurtured, too. Negative energy. Hatred. I overestimated your ability to protect yourself. The demons pounced on you when your power was still immature and have made you suffer. I'm sorry."
Hyakkimaru didn't know what to say. Jukai was disparaging himself, though there was no need to.
"I don't think there's anything more that I can do for you," Jukai said. "I wish I could."
Jukai's words pierced Hyakkimaru's heart. Jukai had done so much for him. He shouldn't feel inadequate at all.
"I intend to stay at this temple for a while. It's close to Mount Monju, and you can send word or return here whenever your limbs need repair."
The song that Hōichi and the children were singing echoed faintly in the valley.
"It is a strange thing, being human," Jukai said. "The heart is soft in compassion, but strong in defense of others. Despite all my years, I still don't understand it."
"Neither do I." Hyakkimaru thought for a moment. "Dad, do you think that monk is right? He just showed up unexpectedly. I'm not sure if I should trust his advice. I don't know how he can see through people the way he does, or if he's friendly or not."
"I believe that he is one of those rare people who was born with psychokinesis," Jukai said.
Hyakkimaru gaped at Jukai in shock. Hyakkimaru had been born with the potential for psychokinesis, but that potential had to be nurtured by Jukai using Yōda's techniques. Otherwise, he would never have been able to use it.
Jukai thought that Hōichi had been born blind, but with the ability to see into the truth of people's hearts. It was possible that the loss of his eyesight was linked to his strange abilities somehow. Jukai had never met anyone with an inborn talent for using psychokinesis before Hōichi. He wanted to do research. This was a rare opportunity to understand something entirely new. He'd be lying if he said he wasn't interested.
***
A mist covered the Flower Hill at dawn the next day. Hyakkimaru and Hōichi looked to the north, toward Mount Monju. They chanted prayers off of homa sticks, then prepared the sticks for burning.
"On abira un kashal," Hōichi chanted.
"On abira un kashal," Hyakkimaru repeated.
Hōichi taught Hyakkimaru the meaning of the chant as they prayed. "The ascetic practices you learned on Mount Kurama with Lord Jukai are now done and over," Hōichi said. "They can help you no further. From now on, you must devote yourself to uncovering the secrets of the body, the secrets contained in speech, and the secrets of thought.
"Control your hands with mudras.4 Control your speech with dharanis.5 Meditate and control your thoughts to enter the samādhi6 state. Do these things, and you will move the hearts of the gods."
There were many new prayers and practices for Hyakkimaru to learn, but both he and Hōichi emphasized learning Manjushri's mantra first and foremost.
"If you chant Manjushri's mantra while showing sincere reverence, he will banish any evil energies near you, be they spirits or demons," Hōichi said. "Eventually, if you keep up with your training, the spiritual energy that you radiate will prevent evil spirits from entering your immediate environment. Evil spirits put down roots in places of deep hatred or resentment, but the mantra can drive them away. The purpose of the training is to strengthen your mind and make it easier to focus on Manjushri while chanting the mantra."
Hyakkimaru had prayed to the god of Iwakura Shrine with complete sincerity since childhood. What Hōichi wanted him to do was a much more rigorous form of worship practice that required him to learn gestures, prayers, and complex forms of thought.
Hyakkimaru lacked the patience to take in all of this new information at once. He was used to trying out new methods to advance his own development, but he had no way of knowing how—or even if—these new practices would help him. He knew that Hōichi was able to see to the truth of a person's soul. He could likely learn to see demons and yōkai the same way. That would be a valuable skill, but it would almost certainly take time to acquire, and Hyakkimaru had delayed his quest for a long time already.
"You were able to see my true body and my true nature when we met," Hyakkimaru said. "Will I be able to do that if I follow all these practices?"
"I don't know for sure," Hōichi said. "I know that you must leave soon. It is best to focus on learning the mantra and praying to Manjushri for now." Hōichi laughed.
Hōichi's power was innate and had always been with him. He had never taught it to anyone else and wasn't certain that other people could acquire it. By contrast, Hyakkimaru's psychokinetic powers were not inborn, but learned and strengthened over the course of many years. He could move reflexively now, almost without thinking about it, but one encounter against a demon with power stronger than his own had left him significantly weakened.
Hyakkimaru decided to go north to Mount Monju as soon as possible. Dororo and Jukai would stay at the temple to take care of the orphaned children. Hyakkimaru wouldn't worry about the children's safety with Jukai taking care of them.
Jukai was reluctant to let Hyakkimaru go alone. If he got stranded in the north or attacked by the demons, there would be no easy way to send for help.
When Hōichi left the ruined temple, he gave Hyakkimaru a protective charm that he'd made himself. A Sanskrit mantra was written on it.
"The Hall of Hell demons are extremely powerful," Hōichi said. "But there are ways to disrupt or block that power. Be very careful when you travel, especially when you make camp. Always look for consecrated ground."
Hyakkimaru nodded. "I promise I'll be careful."
Dororo looked at Hyakkimaru with a sour expression. "You'd better. You won't be able to call me for help."
Hyakkimaru laughed a little. "You have something very important to do here," he said. "Without you, the children would be terribly lonely."
"I know, I know," Dororo muttered. He scratched his head.
"We'll rebuild the temple," Jukai said. "We'll repair the damage and make it larger so that we can all live here more comfortably."
Hyakkimaru bowed his head to Jukai in sincere thanks. He smiled. "How many times have we said goodbye? I'm sure this won't be the last time."
Jukai nodded. "What about you, Hōichi? Where are you headed now?"
"Hm," Hōichi said. "I'll go north to Kaga, and from there, far to the east to Mutsu Province. There are many famous mountains and temples along my route. I'm looking forward to visiting those places for the first time." He snorted through his nose, then scratched his bald head.
Jukai grinned. "Before you go, I have a request."
"From me?" Hōichi asked.
Jukai nodded. "If you encounter anyone else with psychokinesis on your travels, I'd love to hear about them."
"I would have returned here to tell you about them even if you hadn't asked. Your curiosity is predictable in that way, Lord Jukai. I may not encounter any. If geniuses born with mature psychokinetic powers were born under every hedgerow, your profession would be in trouble. But I promise that if I do encounter another person like myself, I'll come back to tell you about them first thing."
"Thank you," Jukai said.
Jukai had no idea how many people with psychokinetic potential existed, but if anyone could find at least one other, it would be Hōichi. Despite Hōichi's tongue-in-cheek comment about his profession, Jukai's desire to know more about psychokinetic people was connected to his desire to advance medical knowledge. Understanding psychokinesis could open the door to new treatments and better quality of life for people who had lost limbs.
***
A few days later, Hyakkimaru was traveling along the Hino River at dusk. Mount Hino loomed large overhead. Sabame Nuinosuke was staying at a mountain estate nearby, though Hyakkimaru had no way of knowing that. He continued on his way until the sun set, then looked for a place to camp.
Translator's Notes
1 Taifu is a Chinese title meaning honored doctor. Sakuzō, Jukais live-in helper, also calls him taifu; Dororo likely picked up this habit from him.↩
2 The red clothes that Hōichi describes uses a more childish and feminine term for clothing, obebe (おべべ）.↩
3 Manjushri's mantra is an eight-syllable meditation chant. In Japanese, it is called八字文殊鎮宅法, hachi-ji-mon-ju-chin-taku-hō. It is a chant to seek quietness and a way home on the Buddhist eight-fold path to enlightenment.
The kanji given for Manjushri's mantra are 俺(on), 阿(ah), 味(mi), 羅(ra), 吽(un), 怯(ka), 左(sa), and 落(raku). The kanji given for the ka syllable is obsolete; the one given here should have the person radical亻and not the heart radical忄.↩
4 A mudra is a symbolic or ritual gesture or pose in Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism. While some mudras involve the entire body, most are performed with the hands and fingers.↩
5 Dharanis are Buddhist chants, mnemonic codes, incantations, or recitations, usually the mantras consisting of Sanskrit or Pali phrases. Believed to be protective and with powers to generate merit for the Buddhist devotee, they constitute a major part of historic Buddhist literature. Many of these chants are in Sanskrit and Pali, transliterated into Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Sinhala, Thai and other regional scripts. Mahayana sutras—such as the Lotus Sutra and the Heart Sutra—include or conclude with dharanis. They are a part of the regular ritual prayers as well as considered to be an amulet and charm in themselves, whose recitation is believed to allay bad luck, diseases or other calamity.They were an essential part of the monastic training in Buddhisms history in East Asia. In some Buddhist regions, they served as texts upon which the Buddhist witness would swear to tell the truth.↩
6 samādhi (Sanskrit: समाधी) Samādhi is a state of meditative consciousness. In the yogic and Buddhist traditions, it is a meditative absorption or trance. In the oldest Buddhist sutras, on which several contemporary western teachers rely, it refers to the development of a luminous mind which is mindful and essentially fair. In Buddhism, samādhi is the last of the eight elements of the Noble Eightfold Path.↩
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