The Chrysanthemum and the Rose
by DJ Clawson
This is story 9 in the series that started with "A Bit of Advice." You might want to click on my author profile and start with the first one at this point. Otherwise, enjoy!
I've put up a Flickr set of photos and artwork to illustrate Japanese life at this time and some of the locations mentioned. Check it out through the link on my forums, or here:
www . flickr . com / photos / 25734638 at symbol N03 / sets / 72157605063518073 /
Chapter 14 - Journey to the End of the World
What I have suffered! You ought to take one moment to consider my nerves over the past weeks and months, or however long it takes this letter to arrive in your hands. Your sister is in tears, Frederick is worried, and your father is in despair. I beg you to consider the destruction you have wrought on your own family –
"It goes on like that for a while," Danny said with a grimace as he handed the letter to his uncle.
Another letter was waiting for them in Capetown, this one from his father (in his steward's handwriting). The letter was mailed directly while they stopped briefly in Holland, so it arrived in Africa ahead of them.
Dear Son,
No doubt you are in some despair over your mother's letter, which I did not have read to me but have no doubt of its contents. While her sentiments for her lost son are not false, they are a bit bombastic.
I have thought long and hard about how to form a persuasive argument as to why you should immediately return and abandon your apparent pilgrimage, but after much meditation I have found little to offer aside from my normal concerns for your safety. There comes a time for a man to decide his own path, and hopefully he makes it wisely, and with concern to his loved ones, which I believe you did by explaining yourself in letter form before departing. Not every man makes good decisions, and certainly no one does it all the time (myself and all present company upon penning this letter included), but I am out of my element in weighing yours. I will instead offer you two comments of my own.
Comment the first: There is nothing so terrible as taking a life, no matter how unavoidable or necessary it was. As someone who has killed, unintentionally, many a patient, I can testify to that. Do not do anything that would haunt you in the dark hours of the night.
Comment the second: Despite or in sake of your actions, I will always love and respect you, as a man as well as my son, and I look forward to the day when you choose to return, and can only hope it will be soon.
Your Loving Father,
Dr. Daniel Maddox
"Wow," Brian said. "He's more level-headed than I've been about this. But that's my little brother for you."
Geoffrey smiled, but offered no comment. He was enjoying being on solid ground again after almost two months at sea, sipping wine at the colony dining facilities and watching Alison play with the other children, mostly local Brits who were the children of colonists. Even after they got to know the Dutch crew of their vessel, she still had limited allowances of freedom. There were no green fields on the ship, no matter how interesting she found it and how much she liked trying to imitate the Dutch sailors, unaware of what she was saying. To her Brian and Nadezhda spoke exclusively Japanese, and as she strung words together in an attempt to form fragments of a sentence, they were more often in the Oriental language than not.
The locals were curious about their trip, but Geoffrey was more interested in resting than making conversation for the day it would take to restock the ship. While he was not seasick in the traditional sense, the ceaseless rocking upset his head, leaving him dizzy and often cranky as a result. Danny Maddox did prove an invaluable resource so Georgie could spend more time in their cabin, tending to her husband. There were certainly moments – conjugal or otherwise – when she could make the trip worthwhile.
The Darcys received their own letters in Capetown, apparently mailed before their departure from England to ensure the missives' arrival on time. Both their parents sent wishes for their health and safety, and begged them to write upon reception of the letters, which they did, assuring them that everyone was well (including Danny Maddox), Alison was enjoying herself, and Geoffrey was managing the journey despite his headsickness. His only relief upon returning to the ship, however, was that they would only be two weeks to India if they had good weather, and he would be ashore again.
Aside from speaking French and some English to the Dutchmen, their conversations were carried out almost entirely in Japanese, to the amusement of the crew. There was not much else to do, as the rocking of the ship and the size of the deck did not lend itself to martial practice. Geoffrey spent most of his time in the cabin, where it was darker, doing his meditation exercises. Because it made the rocking worse to close his eyes, he focused instead on a spot on the wall where Georgie had put up some fabric for him to concentrate on. He could not have imagined how difficult it was to concentrate on something, and all the effort he put into it caused him to frequently lose track of time, to the point where Georgiana was giving him strange looks.
"You missed dinner."
"Was it fish? I'm not hungry."
"Of course it was fish. We're at sea." She unwrapped a napkin to reveal an orange. "Eat this. We can't have you getting sicker than you already are." She kissed him as he took the orange, and sat down on the bed beside him. "Alison is with Nadi-sama. She'll be here in a little bit, unless you want her earlier."
He looked out the window. It was dark, and it hadn't been when he sat down. "Anything that makes the time pass."
She kissed him again, a bit more eagerly. "My lovable grump of a husband. What would I do without you?"
"You would be in prison for something by now."
A few days later, when the mist cleared, they saw the land that her father was so obsessed with for the first time. They could see the beach, then the hills, and even the stone temples to the gods shaped like animals, or so they were told. While Georgiana was disappointed not to see the Taj Mahal, having had her father's sketch of it on her wall for many years, it did not come as a surprise. It was many miles inland and upriver from the colony they docked in, and those pathways were full of wild animals and disease. For health reasons, they stayed mainly within British areas during their brief stay, venturing out only with Brian and Nadezhda as guides. The absurdity of being served British tea from a brass set overlooking the Indian wilds was not lost on Geoffrey. Danny, who had brought no normal clothing, looked as outcast as Brian.
Every dog was "Gawan" to Alison, and Geoffrey had to keep her back from the more ferocious ones. Georgie did venture out to the monkey vendors, and played with them for quite a bit before disappointing the salesman by not buying one. They did purchase gifts for their relatives, to be sent out with their letters. For once, they were the senders, and not the receivers, and Brian did his best to make sure they were not completely stolen from in terms of price.
"The captain says we have to make a stop in Batavia," Brian explained when it was time to re-board. They could make their stop in India longer on the return, but they had to move with the ship. "It should only be a few days out of the trip."
Georgie groaned; she was getting anxious. Danny penned yet another apology letter to his parents at Brian's insistence, but refused an offer from a British soldier of a return trip to England. Brian briefly proposed throwing him on the boat and being done with it, but Geoffrey intervened.
There was a stop in Hong Kong, but there was yellow fever at port and the stop was literally only a few hours, most of them spent on the ship. They stayed below deck, looking out at the thousands of tiny sailboats through the porthole until they disappeared from view. Geoffrey was managing the rocking better and better, and by the time they reached the island of Java, he was not racing to dry land. In Batavia it was more British food and clothing and buildings, with the natives kept at bay by walls and guns. After many hours of begging, Alison finally got her chance to swim in the ocean, which seemed an impossibly beautiful blue, shaming Ireland in comparison. Georgie waded in while holding her, her wooden shoes protecting her from the rocks, so Alison could splash around a little bit and be in the water without any danger.
"You'll appreciate this," Brian said as he approached Geoffrey, who was lounging with his feet in the sand on a beach chair, "when we're stuck in a wooden house in Dejima."
"If we even get that lucky."
"Yes."
A passing local man in a bright skirt offered them unfamiliar fruit, which they passed on, eating only colony food. So far they had avoided disaster at sea and illness. They were lucky.
Geoffrey wrote his parents a final time. Tonight we leave for Japan. Keep us in your prayers.
The morning mist taunted them, keeping from their long-awaited goal as they stood on the deck. It was Alison who shouted "Yama!" ("Mountain!") and pointed to the grey peak in the distance.
"I told you Japan will put the Peak District to shame," Brian said, and Geoffrey was forced to agree with him. He had never seen anything so tall in his life.
When Brian had emerged from below deck he was wearing his black kimono, and the front of his head was carefully shaven and the back tied up in a little topknot. With his frizzy hair, it looked positively bizarre, because his hair would not cooperate with his strange ideas for it, but Geoffrey bit his tongue.
They saw little specs on the water – fishing boats with men in them, all with black hair and shaved heads like Brian. The boats were barely more than canoes, and the men carried nets and spears, but they stopped their activity to wave at the people on the boat. "Oi! You want to buy some fish?"
"So sorry, our boat is not allowed to stop!" Brian shouted back.
The strangest thing to Geoffrey was he was mainly able to understand that. I can understand Japanese!
There was visible excitement and tension for the sailors, even the seasoned ones who knew what to expect as they approached a massive city of wooden homes in front of the mountain region. Upon closer inspection, the houses were built on wooden docks above the water, not the land itself. "Look, Alison. Dejima!" Georgie cheered.
His wife was smiling; that was all Geoffrey truly needed to know.
The city of Nagasaki proper was on the mountainside, and its houses more beautiful and covered in unfamiliar paints and materials. The water was filled with tiny fishing and shipping vessels, but nothing the size of their ship or carrying the Dutch flags.
There were people gathered as they approached. The captain of the ship was in full regimentals, and called out to another Dutchman on dock for what Geoffrey assumed was permission to approach.
Brian pointed to the European surrounded by Japanese with swords and a few with archaic rifles. "That's the Opperhoofden, Meijlan."
"Do you know him?
"Not as well as I knew Doeff, but well enough. He should know we're coming. Oi!" He called out to the Opperhoofden (or "commissioner") and waved. Meijlan waved back.
Words in Dutch were exchanged, and the sailors ordered to lower the plank so the Opperhoofden and the Japanese officials could board. All of the Japanese men were very neat and clean, and their outfits and swords in perfect order. Geoffrey suddenly felt very hairy and disgusting, having been aboard a boat for months where his vertigo prevented him from using his razor. The last time he had shaved was in Batavia, and despite Brian's recommendation, he refused to shave his wide sideburns or his chest like Danny did; some British pride remained intact. His coat was looking worn, his necktie not done properly or even remotely starched, and he probably smelled. He unconsciously shrunk back, and not just because everyone else seemed so heavily armed. Georgiana was in a beautiful kimono given to her by Nadezhda, saying her own clothes were too filthy from the journey, and she covered her hair with a handkerchief. Geoffrey could not help but note that they were in the one place in the world where she could wear her geta shoes and not look at all strange.
After the captain and the Opperhoofden spoke, Brian came forward and they all bowed to each other and exchanged greetings in Dutch and Japanese.
"Opperhoofden Meijlan," Brian said, gesturing for the rest of his family to come over and speaking in Japanese. "This is my nephew Jeffrey-san and his wife Jorgi-san, and their daughter, Alison. And may I introduce my other nephew, my brother's son, Dani-san?"
"Welcome to Japan, Mr. Jeffrey. And your full name?"
He bowed and said in English, "Mr. Geoffrey Darcy, of Pemberley, Lancashire, and Derbyshire. And this is my wife, Mrs. Georgiana Darcy, and my cousin, Mr. Daniel Maddox the Second."
Meijlan spoke something quietly to the Japanese man to his right, and then turned to Brian. "It is a larger crowd than we expected. Is there a nurse for the child as well?"
"There is not."
"And Mr. Darcy will be delivering the gift from England to the shogun by himself?"
"He intends to take his family, if possible."
"We will have to apply to the magistrate for them to stay here. It may take months to appeal to Edo."
"We understand that."
"Do you have weapons?"
"Only swords," Brian lied. "My own, my wife's, and two others."
"Do you have books?"
"Only the medical one."
The Opperhoofden nodded and spoke more with the Japanese man, then announced, "The magistrate will allow them to be inspected and enter Dejima as normal until he has a reply from Edo."
"I have a letter for the shogun, if you would permit it, to accompany his request."
"Of course, Mr. Maddox."
"Thank you, sir."
There was a lot of bowing all around, and the Japanese officials began to board. A translator was fetched who spoke English, who separated them. "So sorry, but we will inspect all of your items, now, before you can enter Dejima."
"We speak Japanese, sir," Georgiana said.
"It does not matter," he insisted in English, then bowed very politely, and they showed him to their cabin. Two more men accompanied him, who began to go through all of their things, and asked him to present any books or religious items they might have. Geoffrey presented some blank journal books, and the medical book, which they took.
"This will be inspected, and returned to you. Do you have any religious artifacts?"
"No."
"Do you have any crosses?"
"No."
"Are you Protestant or Catholic?"
"Protestant." They were prepared for all of these questions by Brian and Nadezhda. The Japanese were very suspicious of Catholics, who had once brought many missionaries to Japan.
"Is your wife Protestant?"
"She is."
"We will have to inspect your wife and your daughter. You may be present."
It was not as gruesome as it sounded. Brian said that merchants had once attempted to sneak things in by wearing baggy clothing, so the officials merely squeezed her sleeves to make sure there was nothing hidden in there. Still, he would have preferred if a couple of random men were not pawing his wife, but Georgie just rolled her eyes at him when they did. Alison was merely amused, and they let her go, and she ran behind her father's legs as they opened their trunks.
"You have many walking sticks," said one of the inspectors in Japanese, which the translator uselessly repeated in English.
"I collect them. Some are gifts for the shogun," he said in Japanese, which the inspectors pretended not to understand until the translator parroted it. This much was true – one of them was made with silver tips and intended as a gift, but two of them concealed gun parts inside them, locked too tight to be noticed. He was relieved when they set them down and went through their clothing, and letters.
"Who is this?" asked the translator, holding up a portraiture.
"It is my mother and father," he said. It was a small drawing of his parents, when they were young.
"It is religious?"
"No."
Georgie had another one, of her own parents and siblings when they were children. "They are my family."
The process bordered on tedious, especially with the translator repeating everything they said in Japanese. Aside from the hidden guns and equipment they did not find, the only notable item was Mugen's sword, which was an object of much curiosity. One of the inspectors held it up and the translator asked in English, "Where did you get this?"
"It is my wife's."
"It was a gift to me when I was a little girl," Georgie said.
The inspector removed the blade from the sheath, and inspected it carefully with the cabin candle. "This is a very expensive blade."
"I don't know the difference," Georgie said before the translator could repeat it.
"It is very strange. Can you open it?"
Georgiana removed the little metal hammer from her bag, and pushed out the pin that held the various furnishings together. The handle came off, and she carefully slid off the strange white section of the handle that would have been a simple circle if it was a normal sword, revealing the naked blade end beneath. It was not rusty, but it did not shine like the rest of the blade, and had a hole in it from where the pin had been.
The inspector squinted and read the name on the blade. "Masume Hitoichi. This is a five-body blade! It must be worth thousands of ryo!"
But the translator only said to them, "It is a very fine and expensive blade that you own."
"I understood them," Georgie said, and Geoffrey knew she was choking down her pride.
"Where did you get it?"
"It was a gift."
"From a samurai?"
"From a guard," she said, avoiding the word 'convict.' "He visited England and gave it to me." That was technically true.
"Did he say how he got it?"
"No. It was his. He used it to guard people."
He used it to kill people is more accurate, Geoffrey thought.
"Why did he give it you?"
She said, "I don't know."
"Why did you bring it here?"
"In case I see him. He might need it again."
After some deliberation, they accepted this answer and let her reconstruct the blade and return it to its scabbard. "You will remain here until we call for you, upon which you will take all of your possessions and bring them to Dejima. We will send porters."
They bowed. "Thank you."
They left, and Georgie had the blade in her hand, held so tightly her knuckles were white. Geoffrey took her other hand and kissed it. "What is a five-body blade?"
"A masterwork blade."
"I mean, why do they call it that?"
She answered, "Because it can go through five armored bodies without being nicked."
Next Chapter - Ladies of the Night
Notes:
- Most of the description in this chapter and the next few are based on the written accounts of Charles MacFarlane, who visited Japan in the 1840's, and wrote about their security protocol.
- Germain Felix Meijlan was the Governer (Opperhoofden) of Dejima for the Dutch East India Company from 1826 to 1830. His main responsibility was to coordinate trade relations between the company and the magistrate of Nagasaki.