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Volume 3 Chapter 1 Part 11

「Are you dumb, Saru? Sanuki and Kyoto are two different places. 」

「I’m sick and tired of having that miso udon all the time! I want to eat an ordinary udon with soup! 」

「Soup…? What soup? 」

「You don’t know about soup? Can you be counted as someone from Nagoya? 」

「Of course I can. Anyway, putting the matter of that soup that I don’t really care about aside, the real problem on our hands that we should be taking care of is that Kampaku Konoe Sakihisa who simply won’t budge from not letting Imagawa Yoshimoto become the Shogun. However, besides the appointment of Yoshimoto, I have many more issues I wish to address while we are here in the capital. Given the situation we’re in now, It’s practically impossible for that Takeda Shingen to not do anything, and him making his move is more of a matter of ‘when’ rather than ‘if’. But what’s the most important right now is… 」

Nobuna bit her lip and made a brief pause. During that short moment of respite, Yoshiharu thought that the Kyoto of this timeline is more than a little terrifying.

「… The most important thing here is that I keep having a bad feeling about our situation. I can’t really say what’s going on, but it feels like all my energy is being sucked away out of me for some inexplicable reason… and about this place, this castle… my gut feeling is vaguely telling me that some terrifying thing is hiding in here, it’s just that we cannot see it. 」

「Huh? Now there’s something that you wouldn’t normally say. This sounds way too supernatural, especially for a realist like you. 」

「I know, but there’s no helping it. Even if I’m a realist influenced heavily by culture of the barbarians from the west, I can still more or less feel that things are now how they are supposed to be in here. 」

「That’s because you are the leader of the Buke – warriors – Nobuna-sama. Ever since ancient times, there are stories about how all of the warriors who conquered Kyoto ended up suffering from different kinds of disasters, or became plagued by great misfortune. For example, the Taira clan had been instantly destroyed at the command of nobles of the Imperial Palace, and the ones who chased them out, Minamoto no Yoshinaka and Minamoto no Yoshitsune had also been killed. As a result, Minamoto no Yoritomo, the guardian of the entire Kanto region has become last man standing in the conflict between the Taira and Minamoto clans and was the one who started the era of the Katakura Shogunate… but that’s not all. Even after those events, the Ashikaga clan that started the Muromachi Shogunate at Kyoto had been going downhill too ever since Ashikaga Yoshimitsu-sama had died. And now, as you all are perfectly aware, they have been utterly destroyed as well. 」

While taking small bites of Hatsubashi so as not to hurt her stomach, Takenaka Hanbei delivered her explanation in a timid voice.

「So… what are you implying here? That all the warriors who enter Kyoto with ill intentions are going to have supernatural disasters befall them until they’re all going to be wiped out? Now that’s too unreasonable! 」

Hanbei’s actual job is not serving as a military strategist, but being an Onmyouji. Unlike Mitsuhide, who is skilled in tea ceremonies and negotiations, or the nobles’ culture and shrine proceedings, Hanbei’s knowledge is about the other side of Kyoto… The dark side that regular people normally don’t know, and those who know prefer to not speak about it at all.

「This city of Kyoto was actually built in order to suppress the evil spirits and guard the rest of Japan from them by using a whole city as a seal. Kyoto does not just have huge dragon veins coursing through the ground beneath it, it’s the gathering place of all 4 Guardian Deities: Seiryuu the Azure Dragon, Suzaku the Vermillion Bird, Byakko the White Tiger and Genbu the Black Tortoise. With such a foundation, the Imperial Palace is also guarded with lots of seals that have been created specifically to handle the evil spirits. It is the same for Mount Hiei, where a Demon gate is supposed to be located. To make sure that the demons won’t invade Japan by coming out of it, the Enryaku-ji has been build there by the members of the Tendai sect of Buddhism. It can therefore be said that it’s because of Enryaku-ji temple that Kyoto had been guarded from evil spirits. But… 」

「But what, Hanbei? 」

「The two of you should know that around 400 years ago, there was a Himiko who was forced out of her position, and subsequently retired: Sutokunokami Himiko-sama. After she was defeated in the Hogen Rebellion and was banished to Sanuki, where she made a cursed oath, saying that: 「With my final breath, I will turn into the Great Demon Lord of Japan! 」 and cursed all of the Imperial Palace as well as those who harbored genuine love for this country. I heard that because the grudge she held was too deep, Sutokunokami-sama became a tengu and even bit off her own tongue, writing down different curses with her own blood. 」

「What a scary story… 」

Imagawa Yoshimoto trembled furiously as tears streamed down from her eyes. She couldn’t help but hug tightly onto Yoshiharu’s arms, which prompted Nobuna to headbutt her without mercy.

「In short, the curse that she bestowed upon Kyoto, the one where 「The emperor becomes a commoner and a commoner will become an emperor」is the one in which the Nobles of the Imperial Palace will be stripped of the power they were holding up until this point and that the emperor of Japan is going to be chosen from among the commoners instead of from among the nobles. In fact, after Sutokunokami-sama died, Both the Imperial and the Fujiwara clan Palace and the Fujiwara clan started to degrade rapidly and their authority was snatched from them by the warriors who weren’t born as nobles. 」

「Isn’t that just a coincidence though? 」

「In the end, to chase away the pesky Taira clan, the Imperial Palace decided to invite the Minamoto clan into Kyoto. They didn’t expect, however, that when they defeated the Taira clan, the Minamoto would establish their own Katakura Shogunate in the Taira clan’s place. This country’s political power then, for the first time, fell into the hands of warriors rather than nobles. The Imperial Palace launched an offensive on the Katakura Shogunate in an attempt to bring things back to how they were before, but they were defeated in the event that came to be known as the Jokyu Disturbance, and it was after that event that Himiko-sama was banished from Kyoto to the islands, which was the worst result possible for her. Because of this, nobles of the Imperial Palace lost all of their authority, and everyone became terrified of the evil spirit of Sutokunokami-sama. After that, every hundred-year anniversary of Sutokunokami-sama’s death, Kyoto has been wrapped in some kind of chaos.

On the first century anniversary, the army of the Yuan dynasty attacked as they tried to invade Japan.

On the second century anniversary, Imperial Palace was split into two during the Nanboku-cho period.

On the third century anniversary, 100 years before now, the Onin War began, starting the current Sengoku era.

And now, this year, right at the 4th century anniversary, was supposed to be the unluckiest year…

「The Imperial Palace is afraid that the arrival of Nobuna-sama was caused by the doing of an evil spirit, even though she wishes to help Kyoto… but still, lots of nobles are terrified over the possibility that this might actually be the case. 」

「Hmph. What a bunch of superstitious fools. In the end, nothing happened in this year, right? The Ashikaga Shogunate has collapsed, but isn’t that a good thing for the Imperial Palace? Ahh, all that talking made me crave some chicken wings. 」

Looking at the grumbling Nobuna gulping down the Miso soup, Hanbei smiled and answered.

「Yes. I think so too. I’m hope that the Battle of Okehazama fought between Nobuna-sama and Yoshimoto-sama will be the first step to removing the curse that has been placed on this country. 」

「Ohhohohoho…! 」

Hanbei’s words make Yoshimoto break into laughter.

「Ara, ara, ara! So what you’re saying is that, due to my sacrifice, I have solved the curse of Sutokunokami-sama, right, Hanbei? 」

「It… It’s not like that… The reason why this country is so ridden with war is because ever since the era of Sutokunokami-sama, the people did not strive to change. Especially in this traditional Kyoto, they had not develop any new cultures or ideas. In these 400 years, the people of Kyoto had been cursed by Sutokunokami-sama… The never-ending war is also due to the curse, since everyone thinks it’s impossible to remove it with just the strength of men… This thinking is rooted deeply in the hearts of the people in Kyoto. 」