1.

Emperor Kammu, the 50th emperor of Japan, transferred the capital from Heijō-kyō (located in today's Nara prefecture) to Nagaoka-kyō (located in today's Kyoto prefecture) in 784, three years after he ascended to the throne in 781. The hidden aim of this decision was to distance himself from temple and shrine powers which had been thriving within Heijō-kyō. There existed a lot of temples and shrines in it, including Todai-ji Temple, which Emperor Shomu (the 45th emperor) had built in 728 by mobilizing the manpower throughout the nation, and they had come to possess political influence and contribute to internal conflicts within the Imperial Family. Emperor Kammu, who had been witnessing such bloody internal conflicts since he was young, attempted to eradicate corruption in the past and renew politics by physically separating the Imperial Court from the temples and shrines within Heijō-kyō.

Nagaoka-kyō, which exceled at water transportation, was located near the area where three rivers, the Uji-gawa River, the Yodo River, and the Katsura River, joined. This may not sound to you like a plausible reason why the capital was relocated there but imagine that it was more than 1,000 years ago, when there were neither cars nor trains. The convenience in water transportation which utilized the flows of rivers was an important factor for considering distribution of goods to maintain the capital where nearly 100,000 people lived. Also, the fact is often cited as another reason why Emperor Kammu chose this district that it was near the hometown of Fujiwara no Tanetsugu, Kammu's chief advisor who proposed to him the relocation of the capital, and the sphere of influence of Hata clan, a powerful immigrant clan who had a large influence on the Imperial Court. Anyway, Emperor Kammu, who tried to distance himself from Heijō-kyō, where the remaining traces of the bloody power struggles still existed, and make a fresh start at a new place, was destined to be involved in many troubles even after transferring the capital.

First of all, in 785, the year after the relocation of the capital, a serious incident happened where Fujiwara no Tanetsugu, the emperor's reliable advisor who had been responsible for the relocation, was shot dead with an arrow at night. This incident had as large an impact at that time as if the shrewd chief cabinet secretary were suddenly assassinated today, so naturally, Nagaoka-kyō, the new capital, was thrown into an uproar as if heaven and earth were turned upside down. Emperor Kammu, who lost his temper because of losing his right-hand man this way, made a thorough investigation of the suspects who might have had connection with the assassination, and executed or banished them one after another to remote islands. Among them, many people from renown noble families and members of the Imperial Family were also included.

However, the evil in Emperor Kammu's heart might have led himself to wish to consolidate his own power at that moment. Since Fujiwara no Tanetsugu was the person in charge of the relocation, there was no denying that people who had been holding grudge against him was also dissatisfied with policies taken by the Imperial Court, and furthermore, had hostile feelings against none other than Emperor Kammu himself. So, perhaps intending to turn the adversity where his right-hand man had been murdered into an advantage by rooting out opposing forces then, without enough investigations, he seemed to punish those who had had poor relations with himself in the approach of "guilty until proven innocent."

Maybe, Imperial Prince Sawara, Emperor Kammu's younger brother, had the most terrible experience among them. Imperial Prince Sawara was the crown prince at that time and was the next in line for the throne. Some of you may think that Emperor Kammu was out of his mind to throw suspicion on and punish his own younger brother who was the next in line for the throne. However, Emperor Kammu had a son, and since he wanted his son to succeed the throne, the existence of Imperial Prince Sawara, who was the crown prince then, must have been an obstacle from his point of view. Furthermore, Imperial Prince Sawara had once lived in Todai-ji Temple, and was a high-ranking monk who had even gained trust of Roben Sojo (priest), the founder of the temple, so there seemed to be enough reasons why Emperor Kammu wished to eliminate him.

Though he seemed not to be certain whether Imperial Prince Sawara was involved in the assassination of Fujiwara no Tanetsugu, Emperor Kammu threw suspicion on him anyway, and decided to banish him to Awaji Island after confining him in Otokuni-ji Temple near Nagaoka-kyō, whether it was because a doubt had gnawed at Emperor Kammu or because as mentioned before, the evil in his heart had led him to do so. Imperial Prince Sawara claimed,

"I have nothing to do with it as I have been saying! Until you admit your mistake, I won't eat anything at all!"

Like this, it seemed that Imperial Prince Sawara was quite dissatisfied with the treatment of himself he received from Emperor Kammu, and he didn't eat anything at all for more than ten days during which he was confined in Otokuni-ji Temple and taken to Awaji Island after being made to leave the temple. As a result, he starved to death in Kawachi Province (located in today's Osaka prefecture) while heading for Awaji Island.

Everything might have ended well for Emperor Kammu since he was able to safely eliminate the hindrance by taking advantage of the mess, but ominous things happened around him one after another after that. First, Fujiwara no Tabiko, one of his wives, died young, and Takano no Niigasa, his mother, and Empress Fujiwara no Otomuro became ill and also passed away. Furthermore, even Ateno miko, his son who had been appointed as the crown prince after Imperial Prince Sawara, became ill and bedridden. That was not all. During a few years after that, people in Nagaoka-kyō had a terrible time, suffering from numerous floods and an epidemic outbreak.

2.

After so many calamities struck the capital one after another, Emperor Kammu came to feel a sense of crisis that the legitimacy of his emperorship might be in peril, so he ordered Onmyoji (yin and yang masters) to divine the cause of these calamities. Then, their divination indicated that the calamities were attributable to the curse caused by Imperial Prince Sawara as expected. Immediately, the ceremony for the repose of his soul was held, but despite this, Nagaoka-kyō was struck by floods, which caused heavy damage, soon after the ceremony and two months after it.

Needless to say, the relocation of the capital was so large a project that it wasn't comparable to individual moving. It is said that even at that time around 100,000 people lived in the capital, which helps you imagine how tough it was. Furthermore, Nagaoka-kyō was a new capital and it had been less than ten years since it was built, so it must not have been easy to make a decision to transfer the capital once again. However, assuming that the repeated misfortunes was attributable to the curse caused by Imperial Prince Sawara, he couldn't just sit back and do nothing.

Emperor Kammu summoned Wake no Kiyomaro, one of his aides the day after the second flood after the ceremony for the repose of Imperial Sawara's soul in 792. He was an old vassal of the Imperial Court who was already older than 60 and is known to have protected the Japanese Imperial line from the conspiracy framed by the mad monk Dokyo.

"Kiyomaro, as you, who have been involved in flood control projects, must be well aware, this capital has already reached its limit. Imperial Prince Sawara often had a quarrel with the late Tanetsugu (Fujiwara no Tanetsugu), and even after his death, he continues to trouble us like this. He is utterly unforgivable. However, now that he is dead, he is inaccessible from us, assuming that even Onmyoji's prayer has ended up in vain. The only means left to us now, I guess, is to build the new capital in the area which is protected by so strong a spiritual barrier that it repels the vengeful spirit, but I'm wondering whether such a convenient area really exists."

Emperor Kammu bewailed his plight in front of Kiyomaro as if crying for help. Hearing this, Kiyomaro, stroking thick grey beard, showed an appearance of thinking about the issue for a while, and then he said, appearing to have come up with some idea,

"... In this case, I believe the area around Uta village in Kadono in Yamashiro Province is the most suitable. This area is surrounded by Mt. Funaoka in the north, Sanin-do road in the west, the Ogura-ike Pond (a pond which once existed in the southern Kyoto but has disappeared because of landfill work) in the south and the Kamo river in the east, which makes it suitable location to create a spiritual barrier. It is probable that by making Mt. Funaoka represent Black Tortoise, Sanin-do road White Tiger, Ogura-ike Pond Vermilion Bird, and the Kamo river Azure Dragon, and by having the new capital protected by these four symbols, we will be able to keep away even the vengeful spirit of Imperial Prince Sawara."

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Soon after hearing this, the emperor decided to inspect the area himself on the pretense of going hunting. When he visited the area, it satisfied both him and Onmyoji who accompanied him, and after a while, he returned to Nagaoka-kyō with high spirits.

"Kiyomaro, we appoint you Zōei no daibu (the person in charge of the construction of the new capital). Cooperating with Onmyoji throughout the nation, construct the capital protected by a powerful spiritual barrier!"

Thus, the capital called Heian-kyō was built this way. It may be no exaggeration to say that it was the capital created out of the fear against the curse of Imperial Prince Sawara.

3.

Time went by, and it was now in Los Alamos County, New Mexico, the United States on May 10th in 1945. There was a district where office buildings stood close together unnaturally among the magnificent nature of the huge forest in the Rocky Mountains. The district is known as the Los Alamos National Laboratory, which was especially built to design the latest weapon at that time, an atomic bomb.

That day, in a room of one of the offices, a significant project which could determine the fate of Japan, which was the hostile country for the US at that time, and even change history of humanity was progressing. The discussion to choose the cities on which atomic bombs would be dropped was ongoing at that very moment.

The meeting brought together prominent members, most of whom were scientists and military personnels, including General Leslie Groves, who directed the Manhattan Project, and Robert Oppenheimer, a genius physicist who led the development of an atomic bomb as the director of the Los Alamos National Laboratory. Among them, one Air Force officer opened the debate.

"As we discussed at the last Target Committee Meeting, the target cities on which the gadgets (atomic bombs were called so by those who were on the Manhattan Project) will be dropped should possess the following qualifications: first, they be important targets in a large urban area of more than three miles in diameter, second, they be capable of being damaged effectively by the blast, and third, they be kept intact until next August. Taking these points into account, we the Air Force believe the Emperor's palace, Yokohama, Niigata, Kyoto, Hiroshima, Kokura are suitable candidates."

Hearing this, those attending the meeting became a bit restless. Especially, John von Neuman, a physicist nicknamed as "a man who has the devil's brain," expressed discontent. After a little pause, he argued back intensely with irony, wrinkling his sleek forehead,

"I'm absolutely set against dropping the gadget on the Emperor's palace. Were we to do such a thing, we would lose the window of negotiation with Jap, so that this war would be bogged down furthermore. We are trying to drop the gadgets on Japanese cities not only for experimenting our new weapon but also for leaving Jap emotionally devastated and making them realize there is no use resisting our force, aren't we? Haven't you Air Force officers forgotten the original purpose of ours?"

Overwhelmed by the strong tone of Neuman's voice, the Air Force officer appeared to flinch a bit, and asked,

"Then, which city do you think is the suitable target, doctor?"

To this, Neuman immediately answered,

"Kyoto."

And appearing not to care about the restless atmosphere of the place at all, he preached even with a smile on his lips,

"Kyoto is Japan's ancient capital with a population of 1,000,000 and is Japan's cultural and spiritual symbol. If we literally crush the city using the gadget, it will have an immeasurable psychological impact on them."

Leslie Groves, who had been listening to what Neuman said sometimes nodding in approval with his arms folded, also mentioned, siding with Neuman,

"I agree with the opinion of Dr. Neuman. One of this project's purposes is to swiftly end the war. In this sense, no other city is as effective a target as Kyoto."

After that, each person began to state their own opinion arbitrarily, so that the site became totally messed up. While Groves was trying to calm them down saying "Quiet!",

"I am firmly opposed to dropping it on Kyoto!"

It was the Secretary of War Henry Stimson who said so in a ringing voice which echoed throughout the site. When people there regained their calmness, he stated, in a tranquil and didactic tone of voice,

"Kyoto has a long history and is home to numerous cultural properties. If we should destroy it, we will be subjected to such criticism as we would face if we destroyed Rome or Athens from the international community after the war. We Americans should be aware that we are in a position where we will take over the leadership of the global community after the war and shouldn't consider only how to bring the war to a rapid conclusion near-sightedly."

Even hearing this, Neuman showed no sign of compromise, saying,

"Kyoto is all the more suitable target for its historic and cultural value."

After all, despite Stimson's opposition, as a result of the Target Committee Meeting that day, Kyoto and Hiroshima were classified as the highest priority "AA" Targets, and Yokohama and Kokura were classified as the second highest priority "A" Targets.

At the next Target Committee Meeting held on May 28th, Yokohama and Kokura were removed from the list of the targets, and the potential drop points of the atomic bombs in Kyoto, Hiroshima, and Niigata were discussed in detail. At this meeting too, Kyoto was rated as the most likely target. As unbelievable as it may sound, it is no exaggeration to say that the dropping of the atomic bomb on Kyoto was already in the countdown phase then.

4.

Around that time, occasionally, Stimson came to have an unexplained gut feeling that something wasn't right. Incidentally, as the exchange at the Target Committee Meeting on May 10th shows, he was firmly standing against dropping the atomic bomb on Kyoto. This was out of his sense of mission which he felt beyond logic: he didn't know why, but he strongly felt that Kyoto must never be destroyed.

In fact, it wasn't that he had had no relation to Kyoto. In 1926 and 1929, he traveled to Kyoto with his wife. He paid a visit to Kiyomizu-dera Temple and Gion, had dinner at Miyako Hotel, and was just amazed by the beauty of the city.

Perhaps, the pleasant memory of his trip with his wife had romanticized the city of Kyoto, which had driven him to his action, he thought himself. However, it seemed the pleasant memory of his alone couldn't explain why he had been defying the opinion that the atomic bomb should be dropped on Kyoto on his own at the Target Committee Meeting: though he was a high-ranking official who even could directly give advice to President Truman, other prominent members on the project such as Groves, who was in charge of the project, and Neuman, who calculated the optimum detonation height where the damage caused by the bomb would be maximized and was trusted by other members on the project, were strongly supporting the opinion. Even he himself couldn't find a reasonable explanation for his persistence which could be expressed even as an obsession, but anyway, each time he thought about the fact that Kyoto was on the verge of destruction, he couldn't help feeling a heart-wrenching uneasiness.

One such day, while he was falling into a doze with the ceiling in his view after getting into bed that night, he felt like having seen something like sparks there. It gradually grew into a mass of light, which began to spin with great momentum scattering something like brilliant sparks.

He couldn't believe what was happening before his eyes, and though he attempted to get up, he couldn't move his body or utter a voice at all as if he had sleep paralysis. Meanwhile, out of the quickly spinning mass of light, Vermilion Bird surrounded with flames appeared downward, White Tiger leftward, a creature like a tortoise upward, a blue dragon rightward, at much the same time. On appearing, these four monsters stared at Stimson as if to take aim at a target, and furiously swooped down on him.

"Argh!"

When Stimson woke up, it was already in the morning, and he was lying in bed huffing and puffing in a cold sweat. It was such a dreadful and realistic dream that he couldn't dismiss it as just a dream. Come to think of it, he remembered hearing that Heian-kyō, based on which the city of Kyoto had been built, had been the capital protected by a spiritual barrier formed by four symbols surrounding the city which represented Black Tortoise, White Tiger, Vermilion Bird, and Azure Dragon. He had been oblivious of this story for decades, but he couldn't help but feel the fact had some meaning that it had come back to him in that manner then. He racked his brain so that he could somehow share his sense of danger with the president in a logical way.

And then, he headed for the president's office to have an audience with President Truman. While Truman was wondering what on earth had brought him there so suddenly, Stimson nonchalantly walked up to the desk at which Truman was sitting and said,

"President. I've come here to deliver my opinion as to dropping the atomic bomb on Kyoto, which was discussed at the previous Target Committee Meetings over and over."

After the president nodded hearing this, Stimson continued,

"As I mentioned at the previous meetings, I'm firmly against dropping the atomic bomb on Kyoto. There live a lot of civilians in the city, so if we resort to a reckless deed of ruining it with the atomic bomb, it will eliminate the possibility of the reconciliation with Japan after the war and Japanese people may even hold anti-American resentment forever. I don't want you president to be a leader who committed such an act of foolishness."

Though these words of his were uttered in a quiet tone, not only did it sound logical but also Stimson's strong resolution and obsession were put into them. The president, who was listening to him without uttering a word seeming to have been moved by his spirit, answered,

"I agree with you. The plan to drop the atomic bomb on Kyoto shall be rejected immediately."

Like this, it was decided that the beautiful cityscape of Kyoto would be protected until today. We Japanese have a mission to pass it down to the next generation with the fact in mind that it managed to escape the crisis where it might have been burnt to the ground if some mistake had been made, don't we? Or, perhaps the prayer offered by Emperor Kammu and Onmyoji will drive people of the next generation, so that the city of Kyoto will continue to be protected from now on too. As Americans in the era of WW2 thought, Kyoto may be a sacred and special place for both the nation and the people of Japan.

End