Laura Rowland - The Concubine’s Tattoo

The lieutenant frowned, as though angry at himself for speaking too freely. Hunching over, arms folded upon his knees, he stared at the ground and said, “I sent Harume a letter, saying how much I admired her. But she never answered, and she began avoiding me. I was afraid I’d made her angry, so I wrote another letter, apologizing for the first one and begging to be her friend.” Kushida’s voice tightened; his fingers dug into his arms. “Well, she didn’t answer that one, either. I hardly ever saw her anymore; she stopped speaking to me.

“I was so desperate, I cast aside discipline and wisdom. I wrote her another letter, saying I loved her. I begged her to run away with me so we could be with each other as man and wife for a night, then die together and spend eternity in paradise. Then I waited for her reply- for five whole, miserable days! I thought I would go mad.” A high, shaky laugh burst from Kushida. “Then, while I was patrolling the corridor, I happened to run into Harume. I grabbed her shoulders and demanded to know why she hadn’t answered my letters. She yelled at me to let go. I was past caring who saw or heard. I said I loved her and wanted her and couldn’t live without her. Then-”

Kushida rested his forehead upon his arms. Palpable waves of unhappiness emanated from him. “She said I should have guessed from her behavior that she didn’t share my feelings. She ordered me to leave her alone.” The lieutenant raised his face, a mask of bleak misery. “After all my dreams, she rejected me! I became so angry my vision turned black. For that ungrateful whore I’d sacrificed discipline, risked my position and my honor!

“I started shaking her. I heard my own voice saying, ‘I’ll kill you, I’ll kill you’. Then she broke free and ran away. Somehow I managed to pull myself together and resume my duties. Eventually my commander told me Harume had reported everything that had happened. The guards threw me out. I never saw Lady Harume again.” Kushida exhaled forcefully and looked out on the busy street. “End of story.”

But was it, Sano wondered. A forbidden love, nurtured over a period of eight months, didn’t just suddenly die, even after official censure. Deprived of all hope, it could fester into an equally obsessive hatred.

“How much time passed between that encounter with Lady Harume and your expulsion from Edo Castle?” Sano asked.

“Two days. Long enough for Madam Chizuru to hear Lady Harume’s complaint and notify my superiors so they could punish me.”

And long enough for Lieutenant Kushida to exact revenge on the woman who had rejected him. “Have you ever seen this before?” From his pouch Sano removed the ink jar-now empty and rinsed-and gave it to Kushida.

“I heard that it was a poisoned bottle of ink that killed her. So this is it?” Lieutenant Kushida cradled the jar in his palm, bending his head so that Sano couldn’t see his expression. His fingertip traced the gilt characters of Harume’s name. Then he handed the jar back to Sano, grimacing with impatience. “I know what you’re thinking: that I killed Harume. Weren’t you paying attention when I told you what happened between us? She despised me. She would never have tattooed herself for me. And no, I’ve never seen that jar before.” He added bitterly, “Harume didn’t make a habit of showing me gifts from lovers.”

Sano wondered if Kushida had lied about his relations with Harume. What if she had really welcomed his advances, and they’d become lovers? In spite of the disparaging reference to him in her diary, it wasn’t impossible that the lonely, bored concubine would have accepted an unattractive suitor if he was the only diversion available. Maybe she’d agreed to tattoo herself as proof of her love for Kushida, and he’d brought the ink. Then, afraid they would be discovered and punished, had she tried to break with him? When Lieutenant Kushida objected, Harume might have reported him in hopes of saving herself. But Sano still planned to question the lord of Tosa Province, of whom he believed Harume had written in her diary. And the lieutenant’s last remark offered another possible motive.

“You knew Harume had a lover, then?” Sano said.

“I’m only assuming now that she must have, because of the way she died.” Rising, Kushida leaned on the veranda railing, his face averted from Sano. “How could I have known before? She didn’t confide in me.”

“But you watched her, followed her, eavesdropped on her conversations,” Sano said, standing beside Kushida. “You might have guessed what was going on. Were you jealous because she not only rejected you, but had another man? Did you see them together when you escorted her away from the castle? Did you poison the ink he gave her?”

“I didn’t kill her!” Kushida snatched up his spear and brandished it menacingly. “I didn’t know about the ink. The rules forbid palace guards to go into the concubines’ rooms except during emergencies, and never alone.” Emphasizing his words by jabbing his spear in the direction of Sano’s face, Kushida said, “I did not kill Harume. I loved her. I would never have really hurt her. And I still love her now. If she had lived, she might have come to love me. I had no reason to wish her dead.”

“Except that her death resulted in the charges against you being dropped, and your reinstatement to your post,” Sano reminded him.

“Do you think I care about that?” Kushida shouted, his face livid with rage. Curious pedestrians stared. “What do position, money, or even honor mean to me now that Harume is gone?”

Sano backed away, hands raised palms outward. “Calm down, " he said, realizing how dangerously love, grief, and anger had unbalanced the lieutenant’s mind.

“Without her, my life is over!” Kushida yelled. “Arrest me, convict me, execute me if you will-it doesn’t matter to me. But for the last time: I did not kill Harume!”

Kushida forced the last words through bared teeth, spacing them with hissing breaths as if pumping himself up with ire. His face took on the ferocious expression he’d worn during the practice match. He lunged at Sano, spear thrusting. Sano grabbed the spear’s haft. As they grappled for control of the weapon, Kushida spat curses.

“No, Kushida-san. Stop!” Koemon and the other teachers rushed out the door. They grabbed the lieutenant, pulled him away from Sano, and seized his weapon. As Kushida howled and thrashed, they wrestled him to the veranda floor. It took five men to pin him down. Students watched in dismay. Bystanders hooted and cheered. Kushida burst into loud, hysterical laughter.

“Harume, Harume,” he wailed. Sobs wracked his body.

A castle messenger hurried up to the academy. A flag bearing the Tokugawa crest waved from a pole attached to his back. Bowing to Sano, he said, “A message for you, sōsakan-sama,” and proffered a lacquer scroll case.

Sano opened the case and read the enclosed letter, which had been sent to his house earlier that morning and forwarded to him. It was from Dr. Ito. Lady Harume’s corpse had arrived at Edo Morgue. Ito would perform the examination at Sano’s convenience.

“See that Kushida gets home safely,” Sano told Koemon. Later he would order the Edo Castle guard commander to delay Kushida’s reinstatement: Innocent or guilty, the lieutenant was in no shape for active duty.

After stopping to see his mother, Sano rode toward Edo Morgue while mulling over his interview with Kushida. How easily hurt and jealousy could have turned the disturbed lieutenant’s love for Harume to hatred. Yet there was one critical factor that argued against Kushida’s guilt. From what Sano had observed, his temper manifested itself in sudden, violent outbursts. The spear was Kushida’s favored weapon- if he wanted to kill, wouldn’t he use it? Lady Harume’s murder had required cold, devious forethought. To Sano, poisoning seemed more like a woman’s crime. He wondered how Hirata was doing on his interview with Harume’s rival concubine, Lady Ichiteru.