Samurai Stars and Stripes
"Is this beast truly larger than a locomotive running on rails?"
"Yes, I have had the illustrations examined, so it must be true. In East America, they say it is a pastime to hunt them from trains with rifles."
"I see. In the East, then."
My blood ran cold.
Sitting in the seat of honor, examining my manuscript, was Yoshida Masaaki, known by the name Toyo.
Toyo-sama is the greatest intellectual in the Tosa domain, but the aura he exudes is that of a martial artist. He mastered the Itto-ryu style, and there is no one in the domain who does not know of the time he killed a servant for an act of disrespect and was confined to his home.
Therefore, every time I turned a page, the image of my own head flying off crossed my mind.
Though, since this is a book to be presented to the domain lord, Lord Yamauchi Toyonori, if it does not pass Toyo-sama's inspection, my death would be inevitable regardless.
I wrote down what I heard from Manjiro, and I was especially careful to confirm the illustrations many times over.
In the first place, Manjiro had made up his mind and had already spoken to Toyo-sama about America in detail, hiding nothing. Why would Manjiro, who risked his life, lie now?
It is just that people cannot easily imagine things they have never seen. Moreover, Manjiro had no talent for drawing. And so, the lot fell to me, Kawada Zuiryu, who studied under the Kano school.
By order of Toyo-sama, I was entrusted with Manjiro to hear his stories of foreign lands.
They were tales of experience that sounded like fairy tales, hard to believe at first.
But the more I came to know Manjiro's character, the more I became convinced that even these fantastic stories were true.
"Then, how do they hunt those buffalo in the West..."
Toyo-sama turned the page.
Sweat trickled down my cheek.
This is the end.
"Ho? They cut them down with a sword? And this person... she appears to be a woman. It is hard to believe."
He would not believe it.
"Begging your pardon, but..."
"Hard to believe, yet it is the truth. West America, the land of California. A land where gold springs forth. Descendants of those who sought a new world so that the samurai who fought after Sekigahara would not vanish."
"As you say."
"The Shogunate must also know and keep it hidden. Zuiryu, this female warrior's attire is different from armor."
"What she wears is a cowboy hat... a 'cowboy' hat, and the short trousers are made of canvas dyed indigo... 'hop-pants,' and the chest covering painted with stars and stripes is a beautiful maiden's garment... a 'bikini,' with golden hair and skills like a demon god, so it is said."
Next to that, a note: 'Alas, the status of the samurai of Japan is low.'
[To be continued]