Back about 500 meters from the manor house, on a grassy knoll overlooking the furthest croquet court, I saw a white pavilion that was open on one side. Not only did it appear larger than the refreshment tents below, but two green heron standards stood at either corner of the open side. If I’d not remembered that design from the kimono I wore aboard the zeppelin, the presence of a Yakuza phalanx standing between the players and the oyabun would have clued me to our destination.