Laughing Under the Clouds

曇天に笑う

In the early Meiji era, the three Kumō brothers — eldest Tenka, middle son Soramaru, and young Chūtarō — run a shrine on the shore of Lake Biwa and ferry convicts to Gokumonjō, a prison built on an island in the lake. The new government can no longer carry swords openly, but the brothers escort the worst offenders across the water all the same. Beneath the routine lies an older threat: the serpent-god Orochi, said to revive every three centuries, and a vessel meant to hold it.