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ccessive

member of the family to assume the title of Shogun, supreme ruler of

Ne-Issan, Land of the Rising Sun. The Toh-Yota had gained their

pre-eminence by the matchless skill of their warriors and with the help

of their allies - other domain-lords who had risked the heads of their

entire families by placing their banners alongside those of Yoritomo's

great-great-grandfather.

In the old days, the task of ruling Ne-Issan had been easier. In that

first period of rapid conquest, after the landing of the boat-people

the historic 'Seventh Wave' - there had only been a handful of

domain-lords but, over the succeeding centuries, new warrior families

had emerged in the border regions, planting their banners on the

Western Hills and in lands to the south of Awashi-tana. Now, there

were seventeen powerful domain-lords; seventeen warrior families backed

by their own armies of samurai, each one bound to him by sacred oaths

of fealty; some bound closer still by ties of blood.

Since the basic structure remained unchanged, the governing of Ne-Issan

should, in theory, have presented no problem. As Shogun, Yoritomo

could command the instant obedience of his subjects, from the most

powerful domain-lord to the lowest peasant farmer or fisherman.

He held the power of life and death, and his decisions in such matters

were unchallenged. With a simple, dismissive gesture, and without any

explanation, he could order a samurai to commit seppuku, ritual

disembowelling - an appallingly painful self-inflicted death reserved

exclusively for samurai and to which they readily submitted with the

most admirable fortitude.

In practice, things were not that simple. If they were, the Shogunate

would have no hidden enemies and the shores of Aron-Giren would not

need to be guarded against 'foreign bodies'. The one-great Da-Tsuni

would still be in power, and the Toh-Yota would still be hewing timber

amid the lake-strewn hills on the northern marches. The supreme

authority of the Shogun could only be maintained if the holder of that

office displayed resolute, forceful leadership combined with an

unswerving regard for tradition and an iron will. But it was equally

true that those who did not pause to consider the possible consequences

of an irreversible decision did not, as a rule, remain in power for

long. Action begat reaction. It was a fundamental law. The stone in

the water. The Shogun might be revered as a figurehead by the mass of

his lower-ranking subjects but to his fellow domain-lords he was first

among equals, not an untouchable god-emperor. Despotic behaviour was

no longer tolerated. Nowadays, the art of government consisted in

striking the right balance. And despite the stark philosophy of

bushido, the choice, more often than not, was no longer simply between

right and wrong, but between the lesser of two evils.

As Shogun, Yoritomo's decisions were influenced by an unceasing flow of

information brought to his trusted advisers by a large network of

government spies. He knew that the outward calm imposed by the code of

bushido, the formal etiquette of court procedures and the restrictive

ordinances issued by the governing council of ministers formed a screen

that concealed a brooding pit of vipers, restless with dreams of power,

their forked tongues charged with venomous rumours, forever hatching

murderous conspiracies.

Once, loyalty had been given unstintingly, without question. But those

were the lean, hard days, when the survival of Ne-Issan was at stake.

The establishment of the first Shogunate by the Da-Tsuni, the leaders

of the 'Seventh Wave', was a model of purity. Their overthrow had been

followed by two centuries of turbulence; periods of uneasy peace

interspersed with bloody civil wars. The rise to power of the Toh-Yota

had restored the previous authority of the Shogunate, bringing firm

government and more than three-quarters of a century of relative peace

and prosperity.

But even peace had its dangers. It had enabled the domain-lords to

grow richer and ever more powerful.

The annual taxes they were required to pay into the coffers of the

Shogunate had also increased the already considerable wealth of the