#you know you're approaching the finale of a JDC novel when the Wordplay Hell Explanation shows up

[sparklyjojos]

THE SAIMON FAMILY CASE recaps [11/13]

In which Ajiro finally tells us what’s going on via a long Wordplay Hell, we learn many things about Tensui and the Saimon family, and the author won’t let you forget how much he loves Maijo Otaro. [tw: talk of anti-Korean violence]

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On September 1st, the detectives are in the middle of their usual work in the Club (though Ajiro for some reason seems to be paying more attention to a TV documentary looking back on the Great Kanto Earthquake). They learn from a phone call that Hyousen’s wife, Shima, died of heart failure. It seems that she grew sick from exhaustion while helping his husband manage the entire Fujita-gumi after Kyuuzou’s passing. It’s worth repeating that her death did not happen on the 19th.

After the funeral, Ajiro heads alone to Hiroshima Prefecture where he was born. Kirigirisu learns from more knowledgeable Arito Tarou that Ajiro actually pays regular visits there, checking on a child that was orphaned during the Ajiro Family Murder Case. Arito doesn’t intend to share any more details.

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“You know, Kirigirisu,” Ajiro says once he comes back on September 5th, “there’s a lot of people around me who have the kanji for “horse” (馬) in their names.”

Ajiro’s father, who died during that mysterious Murder Case, was called Souma (壮馬). Incidentally, the Tsukumo family member who took care of the hammer sharks was also called Souma (蒼馬), and he had brothers Tsushima (対馬) and Ranma (乱馬). That orphan that Ajiro regularly checks on also has some sort of a name ending in -ma (Kirigirisu isn’t told the exact name, as the Ajiro Family Murder Case is still a confidential L Crime). Even the building where Nihon Tantei Club is located is called Madano (馬多野).

Ajiro doesn’t say what he actually means by pointing this out. Instead he makes a phone call to the journalist Uyama Hideo. Uyama has been investigating the Shiroyasha Case closely and confirms that it’s still going on. He acknowledges with his usual sighing that (oh…) it might be dangerous for him to investigate any further, but (oh, oh…) he’s determined to get to the bottom of this.

After the call, Ajiro says that Uyama would make a fine detective, as his words hid an important hint.

“What word leaves the deepest impression when you listen to Uyama?” he asks Kirigirisu.

“Do you mean… all that oh he’s doing?”

“That’s right. That oh is the key to the case. Or rather, the fact that it’s a repeating oh, oh. Not only that, Uyama’s presence itself hints at the secret behind the case.” Ajiro makes sure they won’t be heard by others in the office before continuing.

First, he explains the Rising Flag Card, the illusion in which a spectator had to choose one of the flags. The truth is, the spectator assisting in the illusion was cooperating with Koyomi—but in a different way than one may expect. He wasn’t a planted assistant, but a so-called impromptu stooge. First, he was chosen from the audience using a quiz that would require a certain level of adult intelligence. The spectator would get on the stage, be asked to select a card, and choose the exact card Koyomi wanted once he saw the magic words written on the table.

The magic words were simply “Please choose the flag of Japan!” and a promise of getting a cool souvenir if he cooperated. Secrets really are that simple sometimes.

For his next explanation, Ajiro pulls out that 500 yen coin gimmick out of his pocket—but wait, why does he have it? Gensui made the coin disappear at the end of his last lecture!

“Kirigirisu, do you still not understand the method even after I’ve just explained it? I was the impromptu stooge in Gensui’s illusion.”

Ajiro performs Change The World: he puts the coin on top of his open left palm, moves his right hand above it, the coin disappears in an instant… and just a moment later falls on the table from above.

The method is once again simple. Ajiro first threw the coin up into his right hand using a sleight called the Muscle Pass. Then, when Kirigirisu was paying attention to the magically empty left hand, Ajiro simply threw the coin in the air.

When Gensui performed Change The World for them, he threw the coin to Ajiro, who hid it in his pocket. As we remember, Ajiro was also an impromptu stooge in the sponge ball multiplication illusion. The magician making someone their accomplice just by giving them a right look is a very fun aspect of magic.

It stops being fun when a similar technique is used by a murderer.

“When we were given the investigation request, in a sense we became assistants chosen from the audience to participate in the illusion. I can’t ignore the possibility that we unwittingly became impromptu stooges, helping the magician do exactly what he wanted.”

“Then… we, who represent the audience, were intentionally shown Yumeji’s murder, were shown that we could be together with the suspects all day and a case would still happen, all so their alibi would be demonstrated to the rest of the audience—the rest of the world…”

“The reason why I reveal the impromptu stooge secret to you today is because I finally decided to confront Gensui. He has to either be the culprit, or at least be involved with them in some way. Uyama’s words inspired me. You see, one time when he said his usual oh, oh, I heard it as houou.”

Houou… and what on earth does that mean? A phoenix? A pope? An emperor turned monk? Kirigirisu can’t guess.

Ajiro doesn’t explain it yet, but adds that Uyama used other hints as well. For example, one time when talking to Ajiro, he mentioned this “Maya” author that he wanted to help debut—not an actual person, rather his concept of an ideal writer. In fact, he dreamed of two writers like that and even already created pen names for them.

One writer’s name would be inspired by the name Uyama Hideo, an anagram of which was maya-o-dehiu, so basically Maya wo debiu— (“let’s have Maya debut”).

The other dream writer, the true personification of Uyama’s ideals and concepts, a writer-y ultimate weapon of sorts, would get Uyama’s oh put in front of the common first name Tarou. Uyama would want for that writer to evoke strong feelings about concepts he loves beyond anything else, ma (“evil influence” or “devil”, also "magic") and ijou (“strangeness”). It would be a bit difficult to make a coherent writer nickname out of all that, but Uyama still longs to find that Outarou of Mai and jou.

...but we’re getting off-topic here. As for this ideal “Maya” writer, Uyama once told Ajiro what seemed like drunken nonsense at the time:

“Oh… I’d like to meet that Maya soon. He’s like a prince for me. Oh... oh, Maya the prince...”

Ajiro still refuses to explain just what on earth could this mean. Instead, he talks about another illusion Gensui showed them, the one with the gimmick pen seemingly penetrating a bill. It seemed like it would work with any place on any normal bill, which leaves two questions. One, why was Gensui so against using a 1000 yen bill? Two, when he did perform the illusion with the 10,000 yen bill from Ajiro, was it just an accident that he aimed the pen between the portrait and the watermark, instead of just having it go through the portrait for a better effect?

As for that second question... maybe there’s a reason why Gensui wouldn’t be able to pierce the portrait. Ajiro shows Kirigirisu two bills, 5,000 yen and 10,000 yen. Both look normal, both with Prince Shoutoku on them as usual, nothing strange.

“I don’t know if Gensui was even aware of what he was doing,” Ajiro says, “but the reason why he couldn’t pierce through the portrait was because he would be stabbing an image of himself. The true identity of Soga Tensui is Shoutoku Taishi.”

Which sounds completely nuts.

But Ajiro seems completely serious, so Kirigirisu has to accept it for now.

“So when you jumped to the occasion to lend Gensui the bill, you were aiming to test this theory?”

“Precisely. The other bill also has its own meaning.” Ajiro points to the 1,000 yen bill that Gensui and his family didn’t want to use, the one with the politician Itou Hirobumi.

Kirigirisu once again has no idea what this means. However, he now realizes that those strange words Ajiro once said about “ambassadors” (taishi) and having “ambition” (also taishi) may have been him dropping clues.

Ajiro starts a lengthy explanation of his reasoning.

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Shoutoku Taishi is famous for introducing Buddhism to Japan and thus becoming a religious leader of sorts—the word for such a religious leader would be houou.

Uyama’s words about “Oh, oh, Maya the prince” were a hint about “Oh, U-maya-do prince”. Prince Shoutoku’s actual name was Prince Umayado (or Umayato)—Umayado no Ouji or Umayado no Miko (lit. “the Stable Door Prince”).

As for Ajiro’s claim that Uyama’s existence in itself pointed to the solution, the name Uyama Hideo is an anagram of umaya (w)o hide, “came from the stable”. Legend has it that Prince Shoutoku was born in front of a stable, which is where his name Umayado no Ouji came from.

Also, Uyama had that other nickname, Hideomi (日出臣), the kanji possibly referring to “the (land of) rising sun” (日出処) and “minister, subject” (臣). Prince Shoutoku famously wrote in a letter to the Emperor of China: From the sovereign of the land of the rising sun to the sovereign of the land of the setting sun.

Okay, but all those wordplays just link Prince Shoutoku to Uyama. Where's the relation between Shoutoku and Soga Tensui?

First of all, that shrine in which Tensui loves to hide is called Shouryouin (聖霊院). That’s suspiciously similar to Shouryoue (聖霊会), a ceremony held on the anniversary of Prince Shoutoku’s death in Shitennou-ji, a temple built on Shoutoku’s own request.

Oh, and another temple connected to him, Houryuu-ji, has a part actually called Shouryouin—a hall dedicated to Prince Shoutoku’s soul. Another part of Houryuu-ji is Yumedono, the Hall of Dreams that looks highly similar to Tensui’s Shouyrouin and is associated with—you guessed it—Prince Shoutoku.

Shitennou-ji and Houryuu-ji have one Sword of Seven Stars each in their collections, both weapons allegedly having belonged to Prince Shoutoku centuries ago. Shiroyasha’s sword looks awfully similar to them.

As for that entire spiel about names that have a “horse” in them—it also fits the name of Shoutoku’s associate Soga no Umako (蘇我馬子). The historic Soga clan was probably where the name Soga Tensui came from (although it uses different kanji). Considering that Prince Shoutoku had some blood connections to the historic Soga family, he would be a Soga himself.

Kirigirisu can’t help but notice the entire theory is flimsy. What next, are we going to claim that the Club’s own four Young Shitennou are a hint about Shitennou-ji?

Ajiro seems to think that is the case. In fact, if we look at those four, we have two whose names resemble temple names (Raiou-ji and Yakushi-ji), Mikuruma whose first name is read Noritaka, but spelt just like Houryuu(-ji) (法隆), and then Gotou, whose real name is Gojuunotou, “five-storied pagoda”, just like one of the buildings of Horyuu-ji.

“Kirigirisu, meaningful coincidences—messages from God, you could call them—are scattered all throughout this world. It's an undeniable fact that Uyama and our detectives all really exist and are named the way they are. Obviously it's not because some writer came and gave all characters of his novel convenient names. Yes, I know that my grandfather’s reasoning method, mushindenshin, is defined by being able to access “godly knowledge” by freeing oneself from obstructive thoughts, but the phrase doesn’t refer to any actual god. Just to detecting those coincidences—those godsend messages.”

[Mushin can mean both the Buddhist concept of becoming free of obstructive thoughts, as well as simply innocence; I feel like the first definition fits Soujin better, but the second one may fit the book more, considering how much we talked about the relation of childhood innocence and magic.]

Ajiro agrees that even though all the coincidences point to there being a connection between Prince Shoutoku and Soga Tensui, it’s a weak proof. However—

“Kirigirisu, all of this doesn't mean that Soga Tensui actually is Prince Shoutoku. I myself don’t believe that’s the case. What matters is whether or not Soga Tensui himself believes it.”

If Soga Tensui really is convinced he’s Shoutoku, then surely it's not just a coincidence that the Sword of Seven Stars was used as a murder weapon.

When Ajiro talked with Ryuuguu Jounosuke, the boy didn’t want to answer the questions about whether the name Shakuya was related to the Big Dipper, and whether the word shaku had another important meaning. His silence proved that it was indeed a part of yossha no ojisan’s secret. Ajiro explains that aside from a dipper, the word shaku can also mean a ritual baton often seen in portraits of noblemen… for example, held by Prince Shoutoku in his portrait on the bill.

Another hint is that when they met all the children that one day in the winter, Tousen Matoki was pretending to be Prince Shoutoku, as if he got that idea from somewhere. Ajiro thinks it highly possible that Soga Tensui, for whatever reason, told only the children about his “real” identity being Prince Shoutoku. It’s likely that adult members of the family like Taishi have no idea about his belief.

Speaking of whom, Taishi’s first name is of course yet another coincidence leading to Shoutoku Taishi.

But back to what Jounosuke told them, the phrase yossha no ojisan was also a clue: ojisan is similar to ouji-san, “prince”. The young wordician could definitely mix those two meanings together as a form of wordplay.

Then what does the yossha part mean? Ajiro thinks that it was the result of young Jounosuke substituting a better known word for an unusual name: Yoshua…. also known as Jesus.

“Oh my god!” Kirigirisu shouts when he realizes just what that means.

“God indeed,” Ajiro gives him a wry smile. “Jesus Christ himself. Soga Tensui believes himself to be not only Prince Shoutoku, but also Jesus.”

What kind of a ridiculous sect thing did they stumble into?! Prince Shoutoku and Jesus at once…

Ajiro explains that the concept of Shoutoku and Jesus possibly being connected isn’t that new. There’s even a fringe hypothesis that they were one and the same person. After all, there is no definite proof of Shoutoku even being a real historical figure, so maybe all those legends about him were created later. As for Jesus, there’s so many theories about him that some Japanese people insist that he avoided crucifixion by switching places with his younger brother, escaped to Japan, and was buried in the quiet village Shingo. Soga Tensui no doubt made use of that vagueness of history to prop up his belief.

And here’s where another part of their conversation with Jounosuke comes into play. Ajiro asked him about the word juuku, then about Golgo 13. Both these names actually mean the same thing. Golgo 13 references Golgotha, the place of Jesus’s crucifixion. With juuku, you have to imagine both its kanji written vertically, 十 on top of 九... which, if you squint, may look like a cross on top of a hill—Golgotha.

What’s more, nineteen (十九) refers to when all the deaths of the Case happen: the 19th day of every month.

The Saimons live in Shimane Prefecture, the location of the legendary Izumo known as the Land of Gods. According to legends, it's the place where gods would gather (though they were much different gods than Jesus). Their exact gathering place is said to be the shrine Izumo-taisha, more specifically a part of it called Juukusha (十九社)—yet another juuku.

Ajiro at first thought Juukusha could be the only inspiration behind Saimon Juku’s name, but the Golgotha hypothesis was more likely. After all, the phrase juujika no kyuu (“the hill of the Cross”) could be shortened to juu-kyuu, which can be written down as 十九.

There's still one other hidden meaning that Ajiro discovered in words.

The “Land of Gods” (神の国) that Fujita Daisen so passionately spoke about might mean something other than Izumo. When using alternate readings for the kanji of that phrase, kan for “god” (神) and koku for “land” (国), together it would make kan(no)koku = kankoku. The land Daisen wanted to see before his death was kankoku, South Korea (or maybe Korea in general).

“But why would Daisen want to see Korea so much?” Kirigirisu asks.

“Because Korea is where his family is from.”

“Do you mean that Fujita-gumi had a lot of Koreans in it and Daisen’s father Kyuuzou married one of them?”

“No. The Fujitas aren’t of Korean descent. I meant that many people from the other side of Daisen’s family, the Saimons and their relatives, are Zainichi Korean.”

Kirigirisu is utterly baffled by this statement. Didn’t Ajiro himself tell him about how the Saimons had been living in Tsuwano for seven centuries?

Well, Ajiro himself didn’t know the entire truth back then, and what he told Kirigirisu wasn’t technically a lie: the Saimon lineage does reach that far.

However, all three Tamakos are Korean.

As Kirigirisu forgot a lot of basic history due to his amnesia, Ajiro gives him a much needed lecture. [This is told in the same way Ajiro tells it; possible biases are on him and the author.]

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First, we have to take a look at how the relations between Korea and Japan looked like over the last hundred years. After the incident of 1875 when Japanese soldiers attacked Korean Ganghwa Island, Japan pressed Korea to sign the unequal Japan-Korea Treaty of 1876.

Near the end of the 19th century, a lot of Koreans moved to work in Japan. Among them were namsadang, groups of travelling entertainers performing various circus acts. The three Tamakos were a part of one such group. They did a lot of shows in Japan’s coal mine towns, and it happened that two owners of these mines—a Tsukumo and a Tousen—along with their Saimon friend set their eyes on the three Tamakos, and then essentially bought them for marriage. The love-struck men used their riches to establish the Soga Tenju Troupe for their wives.

Soon, things started getting worse for Korea, until finally Japan annexed it with the Japan-Korea Treaty of 1910.

Korean people faced many human rights violations at that time. Japanese police killed thousands of Korean protesters during the March 1st Movement in 1919. Thousands more were massacred in the aftermath of the Great Kanto Earthquake in 1923, when false rumors claimed that Korean residents would poison wells or commit arson.

During World War II, huge numbers of Koreans were forcibly relocated to Japan to serve as laborers and soldiers, and at least a hundred thousand Korean women were brought into sex slavery as “comfort women”. The policy called soushi-kaimei came into effect, pushing Korean citizens to change their names to Japanese ones in order to facilitate assimilation. Teaching the Korean language and history in schools was eventually prohibited, and visits to Shinto shrines were compulsory no matter the faith.

After the War, Soviet Union occupied the north of Korea, while USA occupied the south. In 1950, North Korea invaded South Korea attempting to unify the country under its rule. The Korean War reached a stalemate in 1953, leaving the two Koreas still separate. 

(The narration, which unlike our detectives knows the future, adds that this armistice is still in effect in the early 2000s, but efforts are being made to officially end the Korean War, for example with the 2000 Inter-Korean Summit.)

[And we, the readers from 2020, may add that even more efforts to resolve the conflict are being made lately, many summits between the leaders of both Koreas and US going on since 2018.]

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“Then… boss, could the motive behind the Saimon Family Case have something to do with the past events between Japan and Korea?” Kirigirisu asks, moved to tears by all the bloody history he just heard about for the first time (or at least for the first time since his amnesia).

“I can’t say for sure, but the possibility is high.”

Then… If we assume Soga Tensui really is the culprit, what exactly is the motive? It's true that both Gensui and Tensui are Japanese by descent [as in, none of the Tamakos and presumably no other Korean person can be found among their close ancestors, see the family tree]. Then again, Tensui’s closest ones are descended from one of the Tamakos; his wife Miku could count as being third generation Zainichi, and his son Juku as fourth generation. [I'm not sure if the term Zainichi would actually apply here, but this is how Ajiro uses it. Note that by his definition, Nemu and Yomiko are also fourth generation.]

Out of the twelve victims of the Case so far, nine were of Korean descent (the remaining three being Daisen, Daisetsu and Kyuuzou).

The question is once again: who is targeting who?

In Kirigirisu's mind, it looks more and more like Soga Tensui isn’t actually the culprit, but one of the targets. Someone from outside may be trying to destroy the entire giant family.

However, Ajiro still seems certain that Soga Tensui is involved in the Case.

Ajiro continues his explanations. Everyone from the family except for the three Tamakos is by law considered Japanese in the family register, and the entries for each Tamako were apparently lost after the war. Basically, there is no easy way for an outsider to learn about their roots. As a part of a marginalized and often persecuted group, the Saimons prefer to keep their identity a secret from everyone, even from close friends like Ajiro.

Ajiro only learned about the family’s roots after Shiranui's detective friend dug out the information, but he had already suspected it based on multiple clues.

For example, the reason why the Circus received a warm welcome touring between coal mine towns could be in part because a lot of mine workers were Korean.

All those posters in the local bar portrayed celebrities of Korean descent, and the bar owner was Zainichi himself—in fact, all of the members of the hiking club except Daisen were. The word for that hiking club, sengakukai (山岳会), could even be a pun on “Korean mountain association” (鮮岳会).

Nagasaki-kai, the group that was once friendly towards Fujita-gumi, had a lot of Koreans in their midst, and their name could also be either a pun or a coincidence. “Nagasaki” wasn't written the same way as the city, but used another spelling (長先) that could also be read as chousen, “Korea”. As Ajiro explains, many Koreans in Japan enter yakuza because of their life circumstances. Many work in places such as pachinko parlors or yakiniku restaurants, and it’s very possible that it was the good relations with Nagasaki-kai that allowed non-Koreans Hyousen and Daisen to be granted supervision of respectively the parlors and the restaurants.

Another clue is related to the Saimon family’s two dogs, Koma and Ria. The name Koma comes  from komainu, the stone guardian lion-dogs at Shinto shrines. While the spelling changed over time, the term komainu originally translated to just “Korean dog”. The wordplay behind the name Ria is harder to guess: one word for a dog is wanko, and this particular wanko is named Ria. It’s therefore wanko Ria, or should we say: “One Korea”, something precious that was lost to time.

Other, maybe less probable details about the family also come to mind. For example, Ajiro thinks their unusual beauty could have been inherited from Korean ancestors, and Miku’s unusually tasting dishes were not the product of her inability to cook, but of her having a different palate than most Japanese people.

Even the magic show provided clues about the family's past: the Rising Flag Card changing from the Korean one to the Japanese one wasn’t a random choice.

The reason why the Saimons never use the 1,000 yen bill is because it portrays the first Resident-General of Korea, Itou Hirobumi, who approved the Korean annexation in 1909.

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And so we have arrived at the following conclusions: the three Tamakos are Korean, many of the Saimons and their relatives are Korean-Japanese… and oh, right, Soga Tensui is convinced that he’s Prince Shoutoku and Jesus at the same time.

The question is, what on earth does all that mean for the Case?

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[>>>NEXT PART>>>]