Several other islands lay between Aron-Giren and the mainland; Sta-tana
and Mana-tana were the largest; others, like Govo-nasa and Eris-iren,
were very small.
These too formed part of Yoritomo's domain and, depending on their
size, had one fortified harbour or more, garrisoned by sea-soldiers.
Day or night, no vessel, be it sea-going junk or one-oared dory,
escaped inspection by the everpresent watchboats that patrolled the
surrounding waterways, and no one was allowed to dock on Aron-giren
when Yoritomo was in residence without a special pass. The vigilance
of the sea-soldiers prevented his island retreat from being invaded by
what were politely termed 'foreign bodies', and ensured safe passage
for Yoritomo, his family and their high-ranking entourage on their
journeys to and from his vast estates on the mainland.
The Toh-Yota, who had emerged as one of the leading samurai families in
the previous century, had held the reins of power for the last
eighty-two years. Yoritomo, its present head, was the sixth successive
member of the family to assume the title of Shogun, supreme ruler of
Ne-Issan, Land of the Rising Sun. The Toh-Yota had gained their
pre-eminence by the matchless skill of their warriors and with the help
of their allies - other domain-lords who had risked the heads of their
entire families by placing their banners alongside those of Yoritomo's
great-great-grandfather.
In the old days, the task of ruling Ne-Issan had been easier. In that
first period of rapid conquest, after the landing of the boat-people
the historic 'Seventh Wave' - there had only been a handful of
domain-lords but, over the succeeding centuries, new warrior families
had emerged in the border regions, planting their banners on the
Western Hills and in lands to the south of Awashi-tana. Now, there
were seventeen powerful domain-lords; seventeen warrior families backed
by their own armies of samurai, each one bound to him by sacred oaths
of fealty; some bound closer still by ties of blood.
Since the basic structure remained unchanged, the governing of Ne-Issan
should, in theory, have presented no problem. As Shogun, Yoritomo
could command the instant obedience of his subjects, from the most
powerful domain-lord to the lowest peasant farmer or fisherman.
He held the power of life and death, and his decisions in such matters
were unchallenged. With a simple, dismissive gesture, and without any
explanation, he could order a samurai to commit seppuku, ritual
disembowelling - an appallingly painful self-inflicted death reserved
exclusively for samurai and to which they readily submitted with the
most admirable fortitude.
In practice, things were not that simple. If they were, the Shogunate
would have no hidden enemies and the shores of Aron-Giren would not
