With Lou at a loose end, Nickie being somewhat tied up, we forced her back onto a bicycle (with a lot of oooohing and ahhhing from her bruised rump) and took her to the bamboo forests growing on the slopes around Saga. Where once a golden dragon erupted from the broiling River Oi, snarling and spitting and terrorising the neighbourhood, we walked the twilight paths in amongst the eery swaying of the bamboo. Some say the dragon was real, others believe it to be the dream of Ashikaga Tadayoshi, younger brother to the shogun Takauji. Whatever the truth of the matter, Takauji renamed his newly constructed temple after the dragon, believing that the beast was the angry spirit of the dead Emperor Go-Daigo whom he had betrayed. If you look closely in the hallowed halls, you will see it smiling its menacing smile still.
