Chapter One
I have come into this impure and evil world
To preach the ultimate truth.
Hear, and you shall be released from suffering
And attain perfect enlightenment.
FROM THE BLACK LOTUS SUTRA
"There was lamp oil spilled along the path to the cottage and
on the ground around it." In the private audience chamber of Edo Castle,
Sano Ichiro addressed Shogun Tokugawa Tsunayoshi, Japan's supreme
military dictator. "The fire brigade found a ceramic jar containing a small
quantity of oil hidden in some bushes nearby. And a search of the garden
turned up what appeared to be a torch: a stump of pinewood with a
charred rag wrapped around the end. I've examined the scene and the
evidence. The fire was definitely the result of arson."
"Ahh, this is most serious." A frown crossed the shogun's mild,
aristocratic features. Dressed in an embroidered bronze satin kimono and
the cylindrical black cap of his rank, he stirred uncomfortably upon the
dais, where he sat with his back to a mural of blue rivers and silver
clouds, facing Sano, who knelt on the tatami floor below. Attendants
rearranged the ... read full excerpt from Black Lotus ebook