Taka-san led him back to his room, closing the shoji door behind Jack.

Jack settled down on his futon, but he couldn’t sleep. His head whirled with Japanese words and turbulent emotions. As he lay there in the darkness, looking at the soft glow of the night lanterns through the walls, he allowed a sliver of hope to enter his heart. If he could learn the language, then perhaps he could survive in this strange land. Maybe gain work with a Japanese crew, get to a port where his fellow countrymen were and, from there, work his way back to England. Perhaps Akiko was the key. Maybe she could help him get home!

A shadow shifted on the other side of the paper wall and Jack realized Taka-san still stood outside, guarding him.

Jack was completing his early morning walk in the garden the following day, when Jiro came flying round the corner of the veranda.

‘Kinasai!’ he shouted, dragging Jack to the front entrance of the house.

Jack could barely keep up.

Outside, Akiko and Taka-san were waiting. Akiko wore a shimmering ivory kimono, embroidered with the image of a crane in flight. She held a crimson-coloured parasol over her head to keep off the sun.

‘Ohayō gozaimasu, Jack,’ she said, bowing.

‘Ohayō gozaimasu, Akiko,’ echoed Jack, wishing her a good morning.

She seemed pleased at his response and they set off down the dirt track towards the harbour.

At the jetty, they climbed into the boat of Akiko’s pearl fisherman, who rowed them across to the island in the middle of the harbour. As they drew closer, Jack was astonished to see a huge crowd had gathered along a wide stretch of the beach in front of the red wooden gateway.

‘Ise Jingu Torii,’ Akiko said, pointing at the structure.

Jack nodded his understanding. The torii was the colour of evening fire and the height of a double-storey house. It was constructed from two upright pillars cut across by two large horizontal beams, the uppermost of which had a narrow roof of jade-green tiles.

Their small craft landed on the southern tip of the island and they joined the thronging mass of villagers, women in brightly coloured kimonos and sword-bearing samurai. The crowd had formed an ordered semi-circle, but the villagers all bowed and gave way as Akiko and her entourage moved towards the front, joining a large group of samurai.

The warriors immediately acknowledged Akiko’s arrival with a low bow. Returning their greeting, Akiko then began to converse with a young samurai boy, who appeared to be of Jack’s age, with chestnut-brown eyes and black spiky hair. The boy threw Jack a disdainful look, before ignoring him completely.

The villagers, however, were astonished by Jack’s presence. They gave him a wide berth, whispering to one another behind their hands, but Jack didn’t mind since this allowed him a clear view of the makeshift arena.

A lone samurai stood, like an ancient god, under the torii.

The warrior was dressed in a black-and-gold kimono decorated on the chest, sleeves and back with a circular symbol of four crossed bolts of lightning. His hairstyle was fashioned in the traditional samurai manner with a topknot of black hair pulled forward over a shaved pate. This samurai, though, had tied a thick band of white cloth round his head. Stocky and powerful, with menacing eyes, the samurai warrior reminded Jack of a large bulldog, bred for fighting.