Publisher's Synopsis
Set in fifteenth century Japan, Asayi, a nobly-born autistic teenager, copies legal scrolls for her elderly father, Oktani, the Shogun Ashikaga's chief scribe. Asayi is autistic and presents as mute. No one knows of her disability except the Oktani household. The two travel then travel to the Shogun's palace in Kyoto to deliver completed texts.
Upon returning home, old Oktani collapses from heart failure and dies. Asayi is taken back to the palace where Yoshinori Ashikaga quickly marries her off to Nabui, the new chief scribe, as his third wife. Nabui finds the girl sexually inept then is outraged when he finds she is unable to speak. Nabui and family beat Asayi to get her to talk, have an exorcism performed, then finally call for a physician.
Later Nabui accuses Asayi of adultery and immediately takes Senji and Asayi to the palace.
Nabui presents Asayi's "infidelity" to the Shogun who has Senji severely beaten.Asayi is branded (between her thighs) in view of the court. Her limp body is dumped in the countryside. Everyone at the palace believes she is dead.
A ronin-monk notices Asayi working at a forge and asks the blacksmith if he may speak to her. The blacksmith permits the monk, Kanemura, to take Asayi to the home of a Buddhist nun, Suri. Here Asayi sketches for the two what has befallen her. Another ronin-monk, Hatano approaches Suri and Kanemura with a plan to use the Yurei (ghost of Asayi) to destroy Nabui and the Shogun. Asayi haunts Nabui and leads him to a fatal fall. Her next target is the Shogun who had brutalized her. But a tantalizing twist occurs at the end...
