The Great Bodhisattva Pass, Volume 6: Ai-no-yama

Between the Inner and Outer Shrines of Ise lies Ai-no-yama, where pilgrims meet singers, entertainers, and beggars. Otama earns her living there with a shamisen and a song whose words about death reach a woman preparing to leave the world. Entrusted with a farewell letter and money, Otama soon finds herself accused of a theft she did not commit.

Yonetomo, the small but formidable catcher of pilgrims’ coins, comes to her defense. A confrontation with Utsugi Hyōma reveals the unexpected power of his bamboo pole, while a flight across mountain paths brings the letter’s troubling contents into the open. Its recipient is a blind swordsman whose cold response tests Otama’s sympathy.

In this sixth installment of Nakazato Kaizan’s historical epic, pilgrimage roads and shipyards become places of accusation, rescue, and uneasy reunion. A shaggy dog, an uncanny traveler, and the irrepressible eighteen-mon doctor complicate the movements of the fugitives. This complete English translation preserves all nineteen sections and the songs that bind their stories together.