Kasigi Mizuno

Kasigi Mizuno, Yabu’s younger brother and Omi’s father, is a slight, physically unimpressive man whose swords seem ill-suited to him and whose skill with them is poor; he fares little better with a bow. Yet his importance in the castle rests less on martial ability than on the information and secret arrangements he can bring to Yabu. His scenes set an awkward, eager-to-please figure beside the lethal calculations of his family’s political world.

Family and Position

Mizuno is connected to two generations of the Kasigi family: he is Yabu’s younger brother and Omi’s father. He approaches Yabu with deference, addressing him as lord and showing particular anxiety to please. That posture does not make him merely a bystander, however. He carries information gathered through Omi and has acted on a plan involving the covert removal of Ikawa Jikkyu.

Intelligence from Omi

Mizuno delivers a coded letter from Omi, along with its decoding, and explains that Yuriko thought he should give it to Yabu personally. The message reports that Buntaro travelled secretly to Mishima by way of Takato, stayed at Takato for three days, and met Lord Zataki twice and Zataki’s mother three times. It also relays Hiro-matsu’s private reassurance to his new consort, Lady Oko, that Toranaga would never leave the Kwanto while Hiro-matsu lived. Yabu immediately questions how Omi could have learned what Hiro-matsu said privately, noting that they have no spies in his household. The report therefore supplies politically consequential details while leaving their source uncertain; the message’s fourth point is cut off before it can be conveyed.

Covert Action and Yabu’s Regard

Mizuno also explains that, for months, they have pursued Yabu’s earlier suggestion for eliminating Ikawa Jikkyu. The arrangement leads through a chain of relatives connected to Mura, the headman of Anjiro, to a cook newly accepted into Jikkyu’s household in Suruga. The cook has received two hundred coins in advance, with a total payment of five hundred planned. When Yabu protests that he cannot raise the money because he is deeply in debt, Mizuno tells him the funds have already been set aside: a thousand coins disappeared from the strongbox before its contents were officially counted. Asked who ordered the arrangement, Mizuno takes responsibility and says he acted after seeking permission.

Yabu responds with gratitude to both Mizuno and Yuriko, warmly claps his brother on the shoulder, praises his work, and promises him bolts of silk from the treasury. He also asks after Mizuno’s wife and proposes that they share a meal. The exchange reveals a relationship in which Mizuno’s deferential manner meets genuine familial warmth, while his usefulness is measured by his capacity to turn an old suggestion into a funded, covert operation.