A district with many merchants and pleasure houses.
Komachi's Travel Guide
The Higshikawa District comprises the sections of Otosan Uchi’s Outer City along the northern banks of the River of the Sun where it pours out into the bay. Higshikawa is not a large district, but it is well maintained, and its many merchants and pleasure houses play a vital role in the city’s economy. The roads of the district are neat (though small), and have unique hooks arranged throughout the area to hold lanterns above the street, so that weary travelers can easily make out their path through even the worst fog. The roads here are often wet, and have therefore been paved with large stones.
The river occasionally overflows, so many of the buildings by the bank have been built on stilts to prevent damage in times of rainy weather. The district floods during heavy rains, and the houses nearest the river are often inaccessible. Many boats and rafts are moored on the river banks for use in such cases, or to escape when the rains come.
Few samurai live here, even though the district serves a crucial niche in the city’s infrastructure.
Editor’s Note: Contrary to tradition, this district retains the name of its former governor. When Shosuro Mukai assumed his position, he demanded that the name remain the same, as he “lacked the experience for such an honor.”
Sadako's Otosan Uchi
No one else seems to think it suspicious that in a district known for flooding, for the constant invasion of water, that the life of the governor himself should be claimed by a fire. Especially when you consider that the governor himself, Bayushi Higshikawa, spurned the beautiful estate that had been the traditional home of the governor and instead claimed this location next to the port.
A fire.
I’m from Otosan Uchi. I lived through the nights of fire during the opium wars. Fire is a weapon of the Scorpion. I know better than to trust it.
They built a warehouse in this space, and I’ve asked Soshi Kupo, the new dock master, over and over again for permission to search around for any evidence of what was clearly an assassination, but he turns me away time and again.
What, dear readers, is he trying to hide?
Places:
- Graveyard of Shrines (Bochi Seido)
People:
- Shosuro Mukai, District Governor
- Shinjo Arimako, betrothed to Shosuro Mukai
- Shinjo Shineba, mother of Shinjo Arimako
- Ienja, famous swordsmith