Ryūshin Ninpō Chō II

Author: (Japanese) Yamada Kazutaro
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-07-01
Features: Even at the cost of life, he would not hesitate! Seven—this number, once bringing infinite glory to the Aizu clan, has now become a cursed and inauspicious phrase. Like a curse, two more Serpent Eyes were eliminated, causing the always arrogant Meisho to fear greatly. The identity of Togame remains entangled like a nightmare, and innocent girls are still relentlessly tortured. Can the terrible secret that haunts everyone be revealed? An unexpected turn of events makes all the plans fail, and the Zen priest Zosan becomes insane overnight. At this critical moment, Tenbei encounters something even more terrifying than a life-or-death struggle.
What was Aizu Wakamatsu called "Wakamatsu" from when? It has become unclear. Some say it was renamed by the local lord Yonezu Kazumasa of the Yonezu clan before the Kato family, to commemorate the Wakamatsu Forest in Omi Province, his hometown. Others say that as early as the period when the Date clan occupied this land, there were already documents and books referring to it as Wakamatsu. In any case, this place was once called Kurokawa. The Kurokawa Castle was built here, and the Arima clan ruled the Aizu region. From the Kamakura period to the 17th year of the Tenbun era (1589), when Date Masamune attacked, this land was ruled by the Arima clan for about four hundred years. After the Date clan was demoted to the position of Hidetaro, Yonezu Kazumasa was enfeoffed here. Kazumasa rebuilt Kurokawa Castle and built an extremely magnificent seven-story tenshu, but in the end, after the Uesugi clan, when Kato Sadayasu Kameaki became the castle lord, it was changed to five stories. The wise Kato was cautious not to provoke the Tokugawa clan by being too ostentatious. Kameaki, famous for his Shigekuni Pass, had a son named Meisho, the Minor Assistant of the Shikibu, who had little martial or literary talent. If he had even one percent of his father's strategy, in the Kanto era, the population had already reached sixty thousand. Even now, Wakamatsu has a population of one hundred thousand, showing how prosperous it was back then.
In the basin area, samurai houses, commercial streets, and temples were stacked like waves, this being the southern side of Wakamatsu—in the red glow of late autumn, the Crane Castle stood tall. Although it was changed to five stories, its grandeur was still preserved. It is said that the Arima clan also called this Wakamatsu Castle the Crane Castle. In one room of the tenshu, as soon as Kato Meisho stepped in, he froze. Following him, Maruo, Hikogoro, Urado Koushirou, and Kaoru were also stunned, their mouths agape. The Arima Togame and Tae, who had entered first, knelt on the ground and looked up. Tae smiled seductively: "Your Excellency, the Flower Hell you built in Edo is just like this—a place of entertainment. Knowing you returned to Aizu with great difficulty, Tae understands."
In a room measuring over twenty tatami mats in size, the bed, walls, and even the ceiling were all made of living human bodies. The bed was covered with women, the walls had several shelves, and three rows of naked bodies stood vertically up to the ceiling. Not only that, but on the ceiling, young women and men were tied up with metal rings and ropes, just like the walls, covered with almost no empty space. There were definitely over two or three hundred people. At a glance, each was a beautiful young woman or boy. The snow-white female bodies and the slightly bronze-toned skin of the young men cleverly formed a pattern. The colors were adorned with black eyes, black hair, red lips, and the colorful ribbons and metal rings tied around them—this was a rare giant ivory box in the world, a gold-trimmed lacquered cabinet filled with sensual and magnificent human bodies. Moreover, on the arms of the young men extending from the walls, there were small stands with silver candles flickering. The light and the fragrance exhaled by the bodies made the room feel like it was burning.
"The Flower Hell of Edo," Meisho murmured. Compared to the panic and confusion Tae had already learned about, he was even more intoxicated by the grand and splendid welcome so meticulously prepared before his eyes. In the secret room of his Edo residence, he had once slept on a mattress made of women's bodies, but there were only five or six people then.
"Hah, this can't compare to this!"
"Your Excellency, this is different from Edo. You have returned to Aizu Castle. Everything in Aizu, this four hundred thousand square kilometers of territory, all the people here belong to Your Excellency. Please, from now on, enjoy yourself as the true governor, as you please!"