The Protagonist Speaks

Dear readers, tonight with us is a Samurai’s daughter from the 19th century Meiji era. She is here to speak about encountering ghosts, mysteries, and a kitsune who offers her help in exchange for confronting a demon.

Tell us a little about where you grew up. What was it like there?

I live in the most beautiful city in the world: Kyoto. The homes, teahouses, and shops are all made of wood slats or bamboo and shine in the sunlight, and we have smooth stone streets. I love the willows that drape themselves over the creeks and alleys that are lit by red lanterns. However, lately, Emperor Meiji has taken away from the beauty with his western inventions. There are these ugly…electricity wires running across our sky, and train tracks cutting through our city now. I worry for our future.

Did you have any favourite toys as a child? Any cherished memories?

This is a wonderful question! It takes me back to more blissful days, when my mother was alive and my father was around – at least, when he wasn’t saving lives on duty as a samurai. He had a lot of tasks back then, and so many relied on him for help. But when he was home we would play Hanetsuki, usually under the shade of the trees away from the hot summer sun. We each had a paddle – if we had paints, we’d decorate them – and a small ball with feathers stuck in it, that we would toss between us.

With my friends at school, we sometimes ran with kites to see if we could catch the wind. I loved their bright colors. We’d paint them with figures from folklore or kabuki!

My favorite memories were enjoying each of the seasons in the mountain paths with my parents. We’d bring fruit or rice balls on our walks, and watch the sunset or pick flowers or leaves along the way. Sometimes we’d press them in mother’s poetry books – which I need to find…

What do you do now?

Frankly, I hate my job. I couldn’t ever tell my father though, or I know he would be hurt. I should be grateful for it – being an assistant in a teahouse to a prestigious geisha. Many would kill for a job like mine, with that kind of exposure to her high-level clientele and work with such an esteemed teahouse. But it is a nightmare to me. I know it’s temporary, while my father is rebuilding our wealth as a merchant, ever since being a samurai was outlawed. So we need to make money somehow! But I hate serving the men who get drunk and just want to play games or tell silly stories. They reek, and can be so rude to us. Adakichi, the geisha who runs my teahouse, is so effortlessly patient, but behind closed doors, I sometimes wonder if she is possessed by a demon… she can be so cruel, so easily.

Someday I’d love to do something else, but my destiny is likely to marry and support my family clan. I don’t know what that looks like yet. If only something could change around here, or someone could offer me a chance to do something else; I’d love to be able to help others like my father did for so many years as a samurai… I am a samurai daughter, after all.

What can you tell us about your latest adventure?

I was at one of my favorite festivals, dancing with my friends and enjoying the night of music – it was magic, if I may. But after the festival, I had the strangest encounter. The festival is popular for chasing away demons and yokai, and yet – after the festival – I met a fox. AND IT TALKED! But now stranger things are happening. Emperor Meiji is changing Kyoto every day, and my father hasn’t bene in touch at all since leaving me behind. So I am feeling lonelier than usual, and quite impatient. The fox found me at a strange time in my life, and now I can’t stop seeing…other yokai.