The Secret Library of Ishikawa

 

Fuyuko Tanaka looked at the ancient manuscript with unbelievable excitement and anxiety. It had taken him more than seven months to decipher the ancient codes that were written on the manuscript. The manuscript was one of the many that was discovered by Fuyuko’s archaeological explorers while they were in search of an ancient Buddhist site that according to the legends existed at the site, but what the explorers had got were a box of ancient manuscripts that had no value to them but had caught the interest of their head, Fuyuko. 

Fuyuko Tanaka had always wanted to become an archaeological explorer. He believed that humans were sent to the world to discover unknown truths which were left behind by the previous generations. Neither did his parents stop him nor did his friends. By the age of twenty-seven Fuyuko was ready to join a team of explorers who were planning to visit an ancient quarry near the ancient town of Osaka. Japan as a country had had a rich history which Fuyuko felt consisted of a lot of geographical and environmental secrets hidden from the world. Though the profession of an archaeological explorer was not of much prominence in Japan during the seventeenth century, Fuyuko and his team believed in what they were up to. They had always believed many years later their discoveries and research would change the outlook of the world towards the history of human civilisation. The year was 1705, when Fuyuko had finally at the age of forty become a head of an exploring party.

Fuyuko had grown up with his family in the Japanese city of Kyoto, which was also the capital of Japan. For Fuyuko, it was very important that he moved out of the city to explore the unseen world. Destiny surely had a different plan when Fuyuko got his majority of explorations within the province of Kyoto. It was during one of such explorations when Fuyuko’s team had found those ancient manuscripts. For Fuyuko, those manuscripts had actually been a bigger discovery than their actual plan of Buddhist sites. Something hinted to Fuyuko that the manuscripts had something important hidden in them.

Post the manuscripts were found, it took Fuyuko seven months to decipher the ancient Japanese languages and code. Astonishment had hit Fuyuko. He had actually come across a description about an escape of ancient Japanese king who once had ruled many provinces in the ancient city of Kyoto. For weeks, he revised his entire process of breaking the ancient Japanese language to be sure that what he interpreted was true. What Fuyuko was not sure was whether to share his discovery of the contents of the ancient manuscripts with his team mates who had actually forgotten about the discovery. After days of thinking, Fuyuko had different plans. He would share his discovery with his childhood friend and who was also a geographical navigator who loved discovering new places in Japan. Kaito Nakamura would surely be an excited fellow after learning his discovery, Fuyuko thought, as he packed his belongings to travel to his friend.

Kaito Nakamura was forty-three years old in 1705. Happily married with two children, Kaito spent more than six months in a year travelling around the country. His discoveries had won him accolades from the Empire.  Though Kaito had imagined for some rest at home for the rest of year, little did he have any idea that his friend Fuyuko Tanaka would appear at his house with a discovery that would change his plans for the rest of the year.  It took more than two days for Fuyuko to make Kaito understand the entire information stated in the manuscripts. Kaito observed that the manuscripts were old but still intact due to the quality of cloth used. The entire manuscript was written on cloths which survived the test of time. Though the browning of the cloth made Fuyuko take more time to interpret things from it, both had observed that at the end of all the cloth pieces an inscription of ancient Japanese language appeared which both of them interpreted as Hina Ito. Probably the writer of the manuscript, they had concluded finally. Both had never heard that name before, but they surely had heard the name of the Japanese king that had been mentioned in the manuscripts.

Atsuko Ishikawa was a fifteenth century Japanese king who had ruled many of the provinces in and around Kyoto.  He had also been a great scholar and a collector of ancient books and manuscripts from all over the world.  Rarely people had come across such a great king who was equally a learned person. Atsuko hardly relied on any advisor or his friends for any decision making with regard to his provinces. What intrigued both Fuyuko and Kaito was the fact that being a conqueror, Atsuko was also a great reader of ancient books and manuscripts. The manuscripts which Kaito held also described about the loot which Atsuko had acquired from his conquest. Jewels, diamonds, metals and gold, everything was stored in an underground house in his palace which was located on the eastern border of Kyoto. Both wondered that they had passed by that famous palace on numerous occasions which was in isolation now, but little did they know that the same broken palace was once a store house of rich jewels, diamonds and metals. But what interested both of them was the fact that the king also had an underground safe house where he kept the collection of his books and manuscripts. It was mentioned in the manuscript which Fuyuko had brought that Atsuko had a secret safe house under the palace for books which could also be referred to as a secret library. During his recreation time, Atsuko would often spend hours reading the books and manuscripts. Some years later, one of the rebel warriors by the name of Mayo had attacked the province of Atsuko. His prime aim was to loot the jewels, diamonds and metals which Atsuko had plundered from all over.  There were attacks before, but rarely did Atsuko allow any of them of get any hold. But when Mayo attacked, Atsuko and his army had been defeated. Atsuko had been taken hostage in his own palace. Mayo and his group searched the entire palace for the treasure but couldn’t get anything. Finally in frustration Mayo killed Atsuko and left the palace in anger for other loots. The library of books which Atsuko had made did not interest Mayo. He had entered the library in search of the treasure but seeing only books he left the library with a huge grunt. As time passed by, the palace become an isolated place. The people of the province had many a times gone into the palace in search of the treasure but came out disappointed. Over the years, the palace weakened and in one of storms broke down. For Fuyuko and Kaito, it was a simple conclusion. They wanted the books which perhaps were still there under the palace in the underground safe house.

It was decided that it would only be Fuyuko and Kaito who would be involved in this activity. Involving anyone else would increase the risk of the information getting leaked. They would start for the palace three nights later. Fuyuko in the meantime gifted Kaito two new Kimonos which he had brought for him. Kaito always loved this traditional dress. Kimonos had always been his favourite since childhood. Although Fuyuko had always loved to wear Yukata, which was a type of summer Kimono, but often on festivals Fuyuko could be seen in full-fledged Kimono. For the next few days, Kaito and Fuyuko planned all the details about the visit to the palace. They had decided that it would be better to visit the palace in the night when the entire province would be asleep.

Once they had started for the journey, both in their own heads were full of anxiety and excitement. They were thinking about the books, the kind of literature which they would be introduced to. Fuyuko, who wanted to travel the world, thought, reading those books would surely give him a glimpse of the unseen world. It took them more than three nights to reach the palace. They had walked all from Kaito’s house to the eastern border where the palace was situated.

Both had seen the palace after a considerable gap of time. Though they had passed the area many a times before, they never gave a serious look at the old isolated palace. As they stood in front of it in the silver light of the night moon, the broken palace seemed haunted and dangerous. There was no evidence of life around apart from two of them. Kaito started to walk towards the palace while Fuyuko looked on.

“Don’t worry. I have got a statue of our god with us. No evil can come near us and here take these two lockets. It has some verses of our local prayer written on it.” Fuyuko took hold of the two lockets.

They both walked in silence.  Though the area nearby was covered by weeping willows and Japanese maples, the front of the palace was full of broken bricks and scattered mud. As they entered the palace building which was half broken, a ray of the silver moon light helped them walk the way inside.  Neither did they have any map nor did they have any clue as to the location of the rooms in the palace. Only thing that they knew was that they had to somehow get into the underground safe house. To Kaito, it seemed as if this building hadn’t been inhabited since decades. There was no trace of any human survival or presence and use.  Candles were used to trace the way. Both of them moved slowly, looking at every corner for any way or path to get into the underground area. Though they knew that they would not get anything on first floor, they climbed it with the help of a tree that had grown inside the palace. Using the trunks and branches, they climbed on to the first floor. They entered a big room which had been full of mud and dust and looked around.

“Must have been the sleeping room for Atsuko,” Fuyuko said looking all around.

The bed still was there but was tarnished completely by rodents and insects. They looked all around but could not find any secret chamber or stair. Tired, Fuyuko rested against the bed, an act which pushed the bed. As the bed moved ahead, the flooring below the bed opened up with a rash sound. Surprised, both looked below the bed. They went near to the open floor and looked below. It was completely dark for the human eye to observe anything. They lit two more candles and went down one by one. Both held the candle in their hands as they walked.

Kaito looked around. “So, the way to the underground was through the bed on which the king slept.”

“The king surely trusted none of his companions or soldiers.” Fuyuko said as he looked all around in astonishment.

Within the shades of the lights of candles, they could see an earth of books and manuscripts kept on wooden shelves covered in dust, mud and rodents. Fuyuko could wait no longer. He fixed one of the bigger candles on the ground and walked near the book shelves.  Kaito too walked towards the opposite shelve. Both got one of the books from the respective shelves, dusted the mud and rodents and opened up the book to see the contents.  As they simultaneously opened up, they saw something that they had never expected. In between the book, a space was created by tearing out the pages of the book with the back kept intact. In the gap there were small jewels and diamonds. Both looked around to see each other.

They looked at each other in silence.

“Oh my!” Uttered Fuyuko.

Over the next one hour, both of them opened up at least a hundred books. All the books had jewels, diamonds, and gold pieces hidden inside the space created within them. In the light of the candles, Fuyuko and Kaito were sitting in front of a mountain of jewels, diamonds and metals along with gold. Fuyuko looked at Kaito with a grin.

“Now you know why Mayo never found any treasure in this palace. The king hid them in all these books. He had guessed that someday there will be an attack. He also knew that books would be the least thing that an attacker would be interested in.” Fuyuko and Kaito looked at each other with a smile. They both knew that, now they could travel the whole world with this fortune.