Ingrid Parker - Rashomon Gate – A Mystery of Ancient Japan

That night Akitada lay awake for a long time thinking about the Yoakira case. His decision to visit the temple had been intuitive rather than rational. Even now he had no idea what he was looking for in a place which must have been scrutinized over and over again after the event. He only knew he must go.

"Thou must search the truth within, for thou shalt not find it without," the prince's scroll had advised. He remembered the strange sense that a voice had spoken the words aloud as he was reading them. They referred to introspection, but could they not also be applied to the mystery? He had spent all his time looking for answers to the prince's fate "without," talking to the man's grandson and brother, and visiting his servants and friends. Now it was time to penetrate to the center of things, to the place where Prince Yoakira had ceased to exist as six men sat outside watching the door and listening to his voice.

Well before dawn Akitada and Tora got ready for the trip into the hilly countryside northwest of the capital. Since it was a workday, Akitada wrote a note to Hirata, excusing himself from his duties for one day and reassuring him about the Oe case. He gave it to Hitomaro to deliver at the university before the start of classes, feeling guilty about postponing further a visit with Tamako's father, but the danger to young Sadamu urged him to lose no more time in getting evidence against Sakanoue.

They left the capital on horseback. It was still dark, for which Akitada in his glum mood was thankful. The air was already warm and musty, and a faint stench of smoky cooking fires hung over the streets west of the palace. But as soon as they left the buildings behind, the smoke cleared and a light breeze sprang up, bringing the scent of warm summer grasses and the wildflowers which grew unseen by the side of the dirt road. They made good time, keeping their horses at an easy pace. The night was clear so that they could see the narrow band of road stretching gray before them. A breeze cooled their faces, and up ahead rose the black ridge of pine-covered headlands which lay between them and their destination. Now and then they passed another horseman, or a farmer with his cart, out before dawn; vague shapes in the darkness, or points of moving yellow lights if they carried lanterns. The carts did, as a rule, but men on foot or on a surefooted horse relied on the faint light of the sky.

"You've got to admit," said Tora, coming up beside Akitada and breaking the long silence, "that Hitomaro and Genba are good fellows and have done exactly as you told them."

Akitada had been pondering Yoakira's journey to the temple and brought his thoughts back to the present with difficulty. "Fortunately they have not been put to the test," he said. "We have not had a single suspicious character show his face for the past two nights. But I intend to return to the city as quickly as possible."

"What do you really think of Hitomaro, sir?" Tora persisted.

"He does have some of the mannerisms of a military man. But I think he has a better education than the average warrior, though he tries to hide it. An interesting character."

"Yes, he acts funny sometimes. I offered him a stick-fighting match, but he said he'd never used them. Like he was above that sort of thing. And he wouldn't practice sword-fighting with me either."Tora sounded aggrieved.

"Never mind," remarked Akitada with a smile. "Your skills are much more appreciated by the young lord."

Tora grinned. "The boy's a quick learner. He got really good at walking on his stilts, but when I was about to show him a few simple stick-fighting moves, Lady Sugawara called me away to do some chores."

A vision of his mother's outraged face amused Akitada only for a moment. There were more important matters on his mind. "If Yoakira's journey was anything like this, I expect neither the driver nor the prince's friends would have been able to see each other clearly until they reached the temple," he suggested to Tora.

Tora glanced up the road, where an oxcart labored up the hill. "Not a chance," he said. "The riders probably passed the carriage and went ahead. Not much point in staying together. They'd all meet at the temple anyway."

"I seem to remember that the driver said those on horseback were sometimes in front and sometimes behind. I don't suppose Kinsue would have paid much attention even if he could see them."

"It doesn't matter. Nothing happened on the way. Now that we've solved the murders of Omaki and Umakai, what are you going to do about the university?"

"I am waiting to hear what Ishikawa has to say when Kobe finds him."

"You think he did it?"

"No, not really, even if Nishioka says so. There is another possibility, someone who has escaped scrutiny so far, but I cannot spare the time because it is more urgent to help young Minamoto. I am convinced Sakanoue murdered Prince Yoakira in order to gain control of the estates. He has already married the granddaughter and now only the boy prevents his owning all of it. He must have killed the prince at the temple, but all the witnesses say he did not. It would have been so much simpler if Yoakira had disappeared in his mansion in the capital."

The road began to climb, and soon they passed into the cool darkness of the forest. Above the branches of the pines and cryptomerias the sky gradually changed to inky blue and then a pale luminescent gray. When they reached the ridge, the sun was coming up over the eastern mountains, casting golden glints over the treetops and meadow grasses. A fox crossed the narrow road and disappeared in the brush, and the trees were filled with the song of birds.

Finally the view opened and they saw below them a broad valley. A river meandered through it, separating a small hamlet of thatched farmhouses from a vast complex of halls and pagodas that seemed to stretch all the way into the next mountain range.

The temple's proximity to the capital had made it the preferred choice of retirement for a number of emperors, most of whom had built their own palaces and shrines here. The site was picturesque, with religious buildings scattered amongst groves of trees and small hills.

Akitada and Tora covered the downhill stretch at a light gallop, easily forded the river, shallow in this dry season, and dismounted at the main gate.

Inside the gatehouse sat a monk who received them with little interest even at this early hour. Visitors were commonplace here, especially since the "miracle." Akitada signed the visitors' book and asked for directions to Prince Yoakira's hall. The monk gave him a rough map, asking that he return it on his way back.

Prince Yoakira's family shrine was at the far end of the temple grounds. As they rode slowly along the narrow road, they saw few monks and even fewer visitors. But when they passed an enormous lecture hall, its great roof thatched, its wooden supports, eaves and railings painted a brilliant red, they found the latticed doors thrown wide to the morning air, and inside they could see rows upon rows of seated monks listening to the sonorous voice of a reader. Groves of pines hid the temple halls and service buildings from each other, and narrow, pebble-filled canals carried bubbling mountain streams through the temple grounds. Everywhere there was a pleasant coolness and the scent of pine and incense.

When they reached the walled Minamoto shrine, Akitada peered through the rustic gateway. A single building, plain and square, was almost hidden behind the tall whitewashed mud wall. Built of heavy timbers blackened by time, the hall was roofed with cypress bark and surrounded by a small courtyard. They dismounted outside the gate and tied their horses to the wooden posts provided for that purpose. As he and Tora walked towards the gate, Akitada explained that the prince's companions would have done the same and that Kinsue would have brought the empty carriage back here after the prince had entered the hall.