Grass for His Pillow

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

 

GRASS FOR HIS PILLOW

 

A
Riverhead
Book / published by arrangement with the author

 

All rights reserved.

Copyright ©
2003
by
Lian Hearn

This book may not be reproduced in whole or part, by mimeograph or any other means, without permission. Making or distributing electronic copies of this book constitutes copyright infringement and could subject the infringer to criminal and civil liability.

For information address:

The Berkley Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Putnam Inc.,

375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014.

 

The Penguin Putnam Inc. World Wide Web site address is
http://www.penguinputnam.com

 

ISBN:
978-1-1012-1724-5

 

A
RIVERHEAD
BOOK®

Riverhead
Books first published by The Riverhead Publishing Group, a member of Penguin Putnam Inc.,

375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014.

RIVERHEAD
and the “
R
” design are trademarks belonging to Penguin Putnam Inc.

 

Electronic edition: May, 2004

 

 

ALSO BY LIAN HEARN
Across the Nightingale Floor

 

 

For D.

These events took place in the year following the death of Otori Shigeru in the Tohan stronghold of Inuyama. The leader of the Tohan clan, Iida Sadamu, was killed in revenge by Shigeru's adopted son, Otori Takeo, or so it was widely believed, and the Tohan overthrown by Arai Daiichi, one of the Seishuu clan from Kumamoto, who took advantage of the chaos following the fall of Inuyama to seize control of the Three Countries. Arai had hoped to form an alliance with Takeo and arrange his marriage to Shirakawa Kaede, now the heir to the Maruyama and Shirakawa domains.

However, torn between Shigeru's last commands and the demands of his real father's family, the Kikuta of the Tribe, Takeo gave up his inheritance and marriage with Kaede, with whom he was deeply in love, to go with the Tribe, feeling himself bound to them by blood and by oath.

Otori Shigeru was buried at Terayama, a remote mountain temple in the heart of the Middle Country. After the battles of Inuyama and Kushimoto, Arai visited the temple to pay his respects to his fallen ally and to confirm the new alliances. Here Takeo and Kaede met for the last time.

TALES OF THE OTORI

CHARACTERS

(Middle Country; castle town: Hagi)

 

Otori Shigeru
: rightful heir to the clan
(1)

Otori Takeshi: his younger brother, murdered by the Tohan clan
(d.)

Otori Takeo
: (born Tomasu) his adopted son
(1)

Otori Shigemori: Shigeru's father, killed at the battle of Yaegahara
(d.)

Otori Ichiro: a distant relative, Shigeru and Takeo's teacher
(1)

 

Chiyo
(1)

Haruka: maids in the household
(1)

 

Shiro: a carpenter
(1)

 

Otori Shoichi: Shigeru's uncle, now lord of the clan
(1)

Otori Masahiro: Shoichi's younger brother
(1)

Otori Yoshitomi: Masahiro's son
(1)

 

Miyoshi Kahei: brothers, friends of Takeo
(1)

Miyoshi Gemba
(1)

 

Miyoshi Satoru: their father, captain of the guard in Hagi castle
(3)

 

Endo Chikara: a senior retainer
(3)

 

Terada Fumifusa: a pirate
(3)

Terada Fumio: his son, friend of Takeo
(1)

 

Ryoma: a fisherman, Masahiro's illegitimate son
(3)

(The East; castle town: Inuyama)

Iida Sadamu
: lord of the clan
(1)

Iida Nariaki: Sadamu's cousin
(3)

 

Ando, Abe: Iida's retainers
(1)

 

Lord Noguchi: an ally
(1)

Lady Noguchi: his wife
(1)

Junko: a servant in Noguchi castle
(1)

(An alliance of several ancient families in the West; main castle towns:

Kumamoto and Maruyama)

Arai Daiichi
: a warlord
(1)

 

Niwa Satoru: a retainer
(2)

Akita Tsutomu: a retainer
(2)

Sonoda Mitsuru: Akita's nephew
(2)

Maruyama Naomi
: head of the Maruyama domain, Shigeru's lover
(1)

Mariko: her daughter
(1)

Sachie: her maid
(1)

 

Sugita Haruki: a retainer
(1)

Sugita Hiroshi: his nephew
(3)

Sakai Masaki: Hiroshi's cousin
(3)

 

Lord Shirakawa (1)

Kaede
: Shirakawa's eldest daughter, Lady Maruyama's cousin
(1)

Ai, Hana: Shirakawa's daughters
(2)

 

Ayame
(2)

Manami
(2)

Akane: maids in the household
(3)

 

Amano Tenzo: a Shirakawa retainer
(1)

 

Shoji Kiyoshi: senior retainer to Lord Shirakawa
(1)

Muto Kenji
: Takeo's teacher, the Master
(1)

Muto Shizuka
: Kenji's niece, Arai's mistress, and Kaede's companion
(1)

Zenko, Taku: her sons
(3)

Muto Seiko: Kenji's wife
(2)

Muto Yuki
: their daughter
(1)

Muto Yuzuru: a cousin
(2)

 

Kana
(3)

Miyabi: maids
(3)

Kikuta Isamu: Takeo's real father
(d.)

Kikuta Kotaro
: his cousin, the Master
(1)

Kikuta Gosaburo: Kotaro's younger brother
(2)

Kikuta Akio
: their nephew
(1)

Kikuta Hajime: a wrestler
(2)

Sadako: a maid
(2)

Kuroda Shintaro: a famous assassin
(1)

Kondo Kiichi (2)

Imai Kazuo
(2)

Kudo Keiko
(2)

Lord Fujiware
: a nobleman, exiled from the capital
(2)

Mamoru: his protégé and companion
(2)

Ono Rieko: his cousin
(3)

Murita: a retainer
(3)

 

Matsuda Shingen
: the abbot at Terayama
(2)

Kubo Makoto
: a monk, Takeo's closest friend
(1)

 

Jin-emon: a bandit
(3)

 

Jiro: a farmer's son
(3)

 

Jo-An
: an outcast
(1)

Raku: gray with black mane and tail, Takeo's first horse, given by him to Kaede

Kyu: black, Shigeru's horse, disappeared in Inuyama

Aoi: black, half brother to Kyu

Ki: Amano's chestnut

Shun: Takeo's bay, a very clever horse

 

 

 

 

 

 

bold
= main characters

(1, 2, 3)
= character's first appearance in Book 1, 2, or 3

(d.)
= character died before the start of Book 1