reported directly to the Shogun.
Although such messengers were not of exalted rank, this privileged
access to the summit of power meant that Toshiro and his colleagues
enjoyed the favour of senior and sometimes envious - court officials.
It also meant they were accorded similar treatment in the houses of the
powerful domain-lords, whose hospitality was often designed to loosen
tongues.
Heralds of the Inner Court were the Shogun's eyes and ears and spoke
with his voice, carrying his innermost thoughts to the furthest corners
of his realm. Because of their highly public role they were not
officially viewed as being part of the Shogun's network of spies and
informers but, amongst the schemers and the power-hungry, they were
known to act as a conduit for sensitive information gleaned by
important government agents; men (and women) who played many roles and
assumed many guises.
If an imaginary line were to be drawn through the Shogun's fish-island
from tip to tail and the island then divided into three equal parts
along the line, Yedo would be found close to the line dividing the
second section of the body from the tail. Situated on high ground,
almost equidistant from both shores, the multistoreyed summer palace
stood aloof from the neat clusters of low-lying dwellings that had been
built near by. Under an edict issued by the bakufu, no dwelling place
could be erected within a league of its walls, and no home within ten
leagues could be inhabited by any family unless one or more member of
the household was in the direct employ of the Shogun or his court
officials.
Built from mortared blocks of stone from the quarries of Baru-karina,
the sloping walls of the Yedo palace rose from a huge square moat.
Perched atop the walls, fifty feet above the surface of the water, was
the first layer of its wood, stone and tile-roofed superstructure. The
towers at each corner rose another sixty feet into the air and these
were joined together by an intricate maze of screened galleries, with
ornate cross-beams and curving rooflines. The feeling it conveyed to
an approaching visitor was one of wealth, solidity and power; the
precise qualities that its first owner - Yoritomo's grandfather had
demanded of his architects.
The entrance, with its wide, gently arched bridge, was guarded by two
keeps; one at the end of the approach road, the other set on a stone
island halfway across the moat. This palace, with its pleasure gardens
and artfully sculptured rock pools and waterfalls, was also a fortress
with secret stairways, exits and entrances.
Toshiro had no need to show his papers at the outer keep. The
