The event proved that Minamoto Iyeyoshi was far other than a typical tyrant. His dark eyes lighted and he expressed his opinion of me with royal conciseness: “The American tojin is brave.”
I bowed in acknowledgment. “Your Highness is pleased to be gracious! Permit me to speak for one who is my friend,—a man who, for the sake of his country, laid aside riches and rank, and, at the risk of life and honor, crossed the seas to search out the secrets of tojin power. Your Highness, do the records of Nippon’s heroes tell of any nobler deed of courage and devotion?”
“The Legacy of Iyeyasu may not be altered,” he replied.
“Your Highness,” I said, “since the days of your august ancestor Iyeyasu Sama, Dai Nippon has stood still among the nations of the earth while all the tojin world has rolled forward. Even China stirs from the sleep of cycles. The time has come for the people of Nippon to learn that the tojins are neither beasts nor demons nor even barbarians. Your Highness, the son of the wise Prince of Owari honored me with his friendship. For the sake of that friendship I have come with him to Nippon to advise the altering of the laws of Iyeyasu.”
“A tojin counsellor in the Shogunate!”
“Your Highness may recall one precedent,” I replied. “Iyeyasu Sama listened to the counsel of Anjin Sama, my ancestor.”
The curiosity in the Shogun’s eyes deepened without a trace of change in his impassive face. He glanced inquiringly at my companion, who responded in a tone of calm conviction: “Anjin Sama, the favorite and most trusted counsellor of our august ancestor, has returned in a new birth to advise Minamoto Iyeyoshi regarding the tojin peoples.”
“Does the tojin himself make claim that he is a reincarnation of Anjin?” demanded the Shogun.
“No claim is made by myself, Your Highness,” I answered. “I am not conscious that my soul is the soul of Anjin. But I know that I am lineally descended from Anjin through his English son, and Owari dono honors me with an acknowledgment of kinship.”
The Prince bowed in confirmation.