Kill the Shogun (20 page)

This book is the third volume in the Samurai Mystery Trilogy. Like the other books, it can be read as a stand-alone mystery. It was my goal, however, to have these three books meld into a single narrative, if anyone should choose to read all the books in the trilogy. The action in all three books spans a relatively short period, from late summer to early fall in 1603.

Like the other volumes in the trilogy, this book sprang from an experience of mine in Japan. The first time I went to Tokyo, in the winter of 1975, the streets were teeming with
monouri
, street vendors, every evening. Alas, they seem to be disappearing now, but there are still a few hardy souls who make a living in the same way street vendors did in the Tokugawa period. I’ve read that there are even records of street vendors going back to the Heian period (794–1185 of the modern era).

The vendors sold all sorts of food and provided entertainment. My favorite was the roasted-sweet-potato man. I never did get the hang of eating the steaming flesh of the potato without burning myself, but it was still a great treat on a cold winter’s night. Another favorite was the maker of fancy candy. He would take hot lumps of colored sugar and fashion them into dragons and unicorns. It was more show than confection, because the creations were too pretty to eat. I once even saw a kami-shibai, a paper-puppet storyteller.

During my early trips to Tokyo, the street vendors were so ubiquitous that they almost disappeared into the background. It occurred to me that a street vendor could wander the city and yet be relatively invisible. In this book, I have Kaze using that to his advantage.

In this book, I also write about Tokugawa Ieyasu. He’s by far the most important figure in Japanese history, although, in my opinion, not the most fascinating. Hideyoshi, Nobunaga, Takeda Shingen, and a host of others seem more colorful than Ieyasu to me, but because they were so colorful, their dynasties either didn’t last or didn’t triumph. Perhaps the tortoise does beat the hare, at least when it comes to establishing governments. The Tokugawa Shogunate lasted over 250 years!

Some readers may be surprised that this book contains no reference to Yoshiwara, the famous brothel section of ancient Edo. Yoshiwara was actually established decades after 1603, and at the time of this book it was a marshy swamp. Other readers may also be surprised at the references to tobacco in the book, because Edo Japanese were (and modern Japanese still are) heavy smokers. Ieyasu hated tobacco, and like King James I of England, he tried to ban it in the first years of his reign. Also like James I, he was utterly unsuccessful.

As always, I’ve tried to be as accurate as my research and talents allow me to be, but my intention with this series is to entertain. I apologize to the true experts on the Edo period for any liberties I’ve taken to tell my story and for any inadvertent errors.

—D
ALE
F
URUTANI

DALE FURUTANI
is the first Asian-American to win major mystery writing awards and his books have appeared on numerous bestseller lists. He has spoken at the US Library of Congress, the Japanese-American National Museum, The Pacific Asia Museum, and numerous conferences. The City of Los Angeles named him as one of its "Forty Faces of Diversity" and
Publisher's Weekly
called him "a master craftsman." He has lived in Japan and traveled there extensively. He now lives with his wife in the Pacific Northwest.

Website:
DALEFURUTANI.COM

BY DALE FURUTANI

Death in Little Tokyo

The Toyotomi Blades

Death at the Crossroads

Jade Palace Vendetta

Kill the Shogun

The Curious Adventures of Sherlock Holmes in Japan

"Dead Time,"
Shaken: Stories for Japan
(anthology written to aid victims of the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsumami)

"Extreme Prejudice,"
Murder on Sunset Boulevard
(anthology to benefit the L.A. chapter of Sisters in Crime)