PART ONE

_“The policeman must oft follow the precept of the ‘bakadori’—those fool-birds who, though they know disaster awaits them at the hands and clubs of the beach-combers, brave ignominious death to bury their eggs in the sandy shore.... So the policeman. All Nippon should not deter him from hatching the egg of thoroughness.”_

—_From_ A Thousand Leaves, _By_ Tamaka Hiero.