The Samurai Strategy Part 58

"Problem?" I turned to Ken.

"He says Matsuo Noda has given strict orders that the sword is never to be viewed by the public when disa.s.sembled." He shrugged. "Noda-sama, he says, has declared it to be sacred and therefore it must be displayed with the proper ceremonial reverence always. Of course we'll still be able to see it, but only after the _tsuba_ is replaced. Perhaps later on this afternoon."

We'd come all this way, and now we were going to be stymied by some middle-management lab technician?

"Of course"--I bowed back, hoping to bluff--"weren't you informed why we are here? I have the honor to be Matsuo Noda's senior American corporate counsel. Noda-sama has ordered me to check and make certain the hilt remains in place while the _tsuba_ is undergoing repair. So if you'll kindly open the case, I'll verify that and the matter will be ended." I bowed again.

"_So desu_." He turned pale. Obviously the grip had been removed.

Whoops. I'd just bungled, creating a problem worse than the one I wanted to circ.u.mvent.

"On the other hand," I continued quickly, trying to recoup, "as long as it's locked in the case, I'm sure there'll be no problem."

Again he bowed, looking relieved. Noda had these guys scared.

"However, it will be necessary to actually see the sword, so I can report to Noda-sama that I have carried out his instructions. Otherwise Noda-sama may be upset, and I will be deeply dishonored."

Couching the ploy in personal terms seemed to tip the scale. He bowed again, hesitantly, then led us over to the box. Throughout my little white lie, Ken hadn't said one word. Guess he was as curious as I was to take a look.

"Do you realize what you are about to witness?" The senior staff man stood before us, his dark eyes haughty and grave. Time to put the barbarian gaijin in his place. "Physical proof of the divinity of His Imperial Highness, the Emperor of j.a.pan. This sword is the most sacred object in the world."

I nodded reverently and moved to the side to let the head technician begin. He slipped a magnetic card into the handle of the steel case, punched in some electronic numbers on a pad there next to the latch, and slowly raised the lid.

Since photographs of the sword had been officially forbidden by the Imperial Household, I'd not seen even so much as a snapshot. Ken and I were literally holding our breath.

The interior of the coffin had been part.i.tioned into a front and rear section, both draped with satin. First he lifted away the back shroud-- to reveal a long gold box. That, I figured, must be the watertight case Noda's scientists had originally detected. Ken emitted a low hum as we looked at it. Gleaming, the purest of the pure, it had to be 24-karat, like something you'd find in the tomb of a pharaoh. Along the sides were some elegant, playful Heian-style reliefs. Birds, musical instruments, s.h.i.+nto G.o.ddesses. Breathtaking, that's the only word I can find.

"It's beautiful." I was staring, dazzled. "And the sword?"

The technician hesitated. Guess we still had him worried.

"I'm sure Noda-sama will be pleased to know of your cooperation," I said soothingly. "There should be no difficulty."

He got the message. We weren't going to rock the boat. _Wa_. Harmony.

He nodded again, rea.s.sured, then reached down and lifted away the satin cloth covering the front section. Underneath was a bolster of deep purple velvet, and nestled in the middle was . . . the Imperial Sword.

Ken emitted a quiet, reverent exclamation, the hissed j.a.panese "_Saaaa_" that denotes pensive regard, and for a second we both just stood there. Dr. Kenji Asano was clearly awestruck. I was too.

As well we should have been. For one thing, it was a superbly well- preserved piece. The blade was delicately curved, and its edge could probably still do damage. A few flecks of rust were visible here and there, but overall it was in mint condition, just as Noda had claimed.

Even more interesting was that, sure enough, the grip had been removed while they worked on the _tsuba_. So we were being treated to a glimpse of the Sacred Sword the way Noda had specified it should never be viewed--except by a few crew-cut technicians there in the lab--with the _nakago_, the steel beneath the grip, exposed. We were seeing it all.

It's gratifying to report that his publicity people had told the truth: there was indeed no signature on the _nakago_. (I guess if you're swordsmith for G.o.d, you just naturally go easy on the ego.) That omission notwithstanding, it was definitely a first-cla.s.s _katana_.

Looked to be some kind of off-alloy, heavy on copper. If you had to guess what the early swords were like, say at a time in between the late-bronze and early-iron ages, this would be a knowledgeable estimate for appearance. The alloy was plausible; it was clearly very old; and with an antique hilt such as the one lying there, the overall look was very reasonable. I was impressed. Put the handle back on the way you normally see a sword and everything about it clicked.

Sorry, but out of habit I have to do something now. What follows is a technical description of the Imperial Sword, including the part usually hidden by the grip--which n.o.body else has been able to supply because n.o.body else had seen it disa.s.sembled as it was there in the lab. There may be some collectors who'd feel cheated by anything less. This was, as the senior staff man had sternly brought to our attention, a once- in-a-lifetime moment.

"Early s.h.i.+nto _katana_. Very long and active _sunagas.h.i.+ _and _utsuri _extending into a _kaen bos.h.i.+_. Slender _nakago _with one _mekugi-ana_.

Shallow _kos.h.i.+-zori _with _chu-kissaki _and _bo-hi _along either _s.h.i.+nogi _extending into the _nakago _. . ."

Enough. Actually, that last part made me a little sad. Truthfully, I think Noda was absolutely right. n.o.body should sully the divinity of this piece by exhibiting it disa.s.sembled, with the grip removed. The problem is that anybody with the slightest experience might possibly have his faith shaken a trifle, since it's common knowledge that a tapered _nakago_, the sloping edge there extending back into the section normally covered by the hilt, didn't come into its own till around the mid fif--

"Mr. Walton, I hadn't expected you until later. You should have contacted me."

It was the voice of Matsuo Noda, directly behind me. I looked up to notice that the faces of all the technicians around the room now matched their bleached lab coats.

"Guess we need to coordinate better." I turned around and smiled.

Walton, I lectured myself, don't be a smarta.s.s, just this once. Be reverent. Who the h.e.l.l knows how the Sun G.o.ddess liked her _nakagos_ tapered?

Besides, the simple truth was the Imperial Sword of Emperor Antoku really knocked me over. Superb workmans.h.i.+p, excellent balance, elegant shape. And overall, surprisingly good condition . . . well, except for one thing.

"It's almost perfect." I revolved back to examine it. "Except for that little scratch on the _nakago_. Too bad."

"What scratch, Mr. Walton?" He stared down.

"It's actually on the other side as best I recall."

There followed a long pause as Noda's eyes gradually narrowed to slits.

Finally he said, "I wasn't aware you were so conversant with press descriptions of the sword, Mr. Walton."

We both knew the scratch on the _nakago_, on the side not showing, had never once been mentioned in the papers.

Which was as it should be. A minor blemish really. All the same I now felt very guilty about it. I do hope it was an unavoidable accident, like the metallurgy guys at the Princeton lab claimed in the apology that accompanied their bill after I s.h.i.+pped it down last summer for tests.

This was turning out to be quite a day. Seems New York's crime statistics were looking up; a theft had actually been solved. The son of a b.i.t.c.h was MINE.

"Ah, well, Mr. Walton, I trust you are suitably impressed all the same."

"Only you could appreciate how much." My head was swimming. Judging from the surrounding technicians' reverent gaze, I got the definite impression they had totally missed the significance of our exchange.

Kenji Asano was now wearing a pure poker face. What was he thinking?

My own concentration, however, was elsewhere at that particular instant. The new realization: Matthew Walton is a dead man. As of this moment. Noda would never let me live to tell what I knew.

Just then an official wearing some sort of formal-looking black kimono emblazoned with the _kiku_ crest of the Imperial Household Agency came walking briskly out of the office behind us. He was carrying a silver case, about cigar-box size, something etched across its filigreed lid.

He walked over to Noda, bowed deferentially, and settled it on the workbench next to Kenji Asano's briefcase.

n.o.body paid him much notice, however, since we were all still admiring the Sacred Sword. Finally my brain started to function. Dates? Right .

. . the night I met Noda . . . which got me out of the house ... his hirelings cleaned out my office . . . that was about, what, two weeks before the sword was "discovered." Perfect. Just enough time to salt the thing in the Inland Sea, let his high-tech research team fish it up. . . .

The technician bowed to us once more, then started spreading the satin cloths back over the two compartments. Down came the stainless steel lid. Click. History time was over.

That was when, finally, Ken looked over and noticed the silver case. He stared at it, puzzled, then glanced at Noda, for whom it obviously was intended, and inquired politely concerning what it might be.

Noda cleared his throat, mumbled something about official DNI business, and started thanking the Household rep who'd brought out the case.

However, the Household man showed his breeding. He picked up Ken's question, smiled and bowed, then proceeded to explain that it contained the only copies of DNI's original technical a.n.a.lyses of the sword--X-ray crystallography scans, nondestructive radiation tests, various scientific data he didn't actually understand but which had been used by Dai Nippon to establish the sword's alloy composition and therefore its Sacred authenticity. These data had been forwarded to the Imperial Household with instructions they be kept under lock and key. He'd understood all along that they had merely been on temporary loan to the Emperor, and thus he had no objection now that the honorable Noda-sama had requested their return for additional study by DNI scientists. All of j.a.pan was in the debt of the esteemed Matsuo . . .