I Was a Swordsman in Ancient Japan

After promising Baosheng that he would be a diner of their sword gym for the remaining month or so, Ogata's remaining days became more regular.

In the morning, I went to Yuan Tachibana House to finish his kabuki script with Jiro Nishino.

In the afternoon, Nishino Jiro went to help the family, and Ogata went to the Baosheng Sword Gym to gain experience... Ah, no, it was to guide the apprentices of the Hosho Sword Gym, and along the way to gain experience.

In addition to teaching Katori Shinto-style swordsmanship, Baosheng Kenkan also teaches Katori Shinto-style jujitsu.

Therefore, the apprentices of Baosheng Sword Academy can be regarded as both swordsmanship and jujitsu.

Some apprentices majored in fencing, and some apprentices majored in jujitsu.

Therefore, in addition to teaching them swordsmanship, Ogata also taught them jujitsu by the way.

Although Ogata is not very good at preaching and teaching karma to solve doubts, it is more than enough to teach them some of the experience he has learned and accumulated in fighting the enemy one after another.

This kind of teaching of fighting experience cannot be done by mouth.

It would be better to say that swordsmanship is a skill that cannot be mastered by oral instruction.

The best way to pass on the actual combat experience you have accumulated is undoubtedly through actual combat.

Through actual combat, the apprentices of Baosheng Sword Academy can personally understand and learn the experience of fighting to the death, which is very precious in peaceful times.

While imparting his own experience against the enemy through actual combat, Ogata can also earn a lot of experience by relying on this field of battles with the apprentices.

Although the strength of everyone in the Baosheng Sword Gym is not very good, the experience points that can be obtained after each battle are not much

The one with the weakest strength, after Ogata defeated him, he only gained 10 experience points in the experience bar of his personal level.

But fortunately, there are enough apprentices in Baosheng Sword Academy.

With this considerable amount as a base, Ogata's various experience bars are steadily increasing.

The owner of the Baosheng Sword Gym not only has a broad mind enough to invite Ogata, a kicker, to be the swordsmanship instructor of the sword gym, but also has a humble heart.

These days, the owner of the Hosho Pavilion often accepts Ogata's guidance with an open mind.

The owner's modesty and receptivity also led the apprentices in the museum to ask Ogata for advice more actively.

Even the owner of the museum is so humble, and still not ashamed to ask at such an age, how can we students lag behind the master?

This is the voice of many students in the library.

In the process of instructing the masters and apprentices of the Baosheng Sword Gym, Ogata unknowingly got a nickname - "One Sword Samurai".

This nickname was given to him by the apprentices of Baosheng Sword Gym.

Because no matter who Ogata fights with, he always kills him instantly.

No one can take Ogata's knife, and no one can dodge Ogata's knife-not even their master can stop or dodge Ogata's knife.

On the first day after Ogata officially became a diner of their Hosho Sword Gym, the owner of the Hosho Gym also asked Ogata for advice because of his itchy hands.

And his result was the same as that of his apprentices - he was killed by Ogata in a single blow.

Gradually, the apprentices of Baosheng Sword Gym began to call Ogata "One Sword Samurai".

Baosheng Jianguan will be closed after dark.

Therefore, after dark, Ogata would leave the sword gym, return to the hotel and start learning "Einu language" with A-Machi.

Before leaving Edo, Ogata bought a copy of "Teaching Common Phrases in Ezo" at a very low price from the owner of the Hokazeya where Kondo was working part-time.

Some time ago, because I was busy on the road, I didn't have much time to study.

Therefore, Ogata and A-machi planned to study the common language of Ezo while living in Nishino-cho temporarily.

After learning the language of Ezo, it may be of some unexpected use after arriving in Ezo.

After studying late at night, Owen will start to do what he will do with A-cho every day after his body's injuries are almost healed.

Ogata is 21 years old this year, and Machi is 18 years old this year.

They are all at the age of "eat the marrow to know the taste" and will be hungry.

The two explore each other's physical limits every day.

Whether it is day or night, he is practicing swords - this sentence is perfect to describe Ogata's life these days.

...

...

In the second year of Kanzheng (1790 AD), on November 29, at night——

As a town with a population of nearly 100,000, Nishino Town naturally has no shortage of bathhouses.

In the cities and towns of the Edo period, only those big families had bathrooms in their homes.

Middle and lower-level samurai and ordinary people in the city generally do not have a bathroom in their homes. If they want to take a bath, they have to take a bath in the large bathhouse in the city.

Therefore, the large bathhouse is one of the most essential facilities in every town.

The inn where Ogata and Acho stayed did not provide bathroom services, which made Ogata very regretful.

But there is a bathhouse not far from the hotel.

These days, both Amachi and Amachi bathe in this public bath.

After going to the wild and smoky place like Ezo, there may be no chance to take a bath again.

That's why Ogata and A-Machi have taken a shower very frequently recently, and they want to take a shower more comfortably while they still have the conditions.

Tonight, after dinner, Ogata and A-Machi came to this bathhouse to take a bath again as usual.

Since Sadanobu Matsudaira, who was determined to revitalize the shogunate, took office as a senior middle school, he has carried out reforms to varying degrees in many fields such as economy and culture.

In terms of people's livelihood, Matsudaira Sadanobu also issued many reform orders.

For example, Matsudaira Sadanobu restructured bathhouses across the country.

In the past, many bathhouses were mixed baths for men and women, regardless of men's and women's baths.

So at that time, the happiest time of the day for many old color critics was when they went to the bathhouse to take a bath.

Soak in the warm pool water, staring at the mouth of the pomegranate together with the "like-minded" comrades around, expecting that the next person to enter the bath will be a beautiful young girl.

After Sadanobu Matsudaira took office as an old middle school and took control of the state power, he believed that the bathhouse does not distinguish between men and women, which is really indecent, corrupting the atmosphere, and depressing the spirit of the people.

So with a stroke of the pen - all bathhouses across the country must be divided into men's baths and women's baths, and there should be no more bathhouses where men and women bathe together.

Since this order was issued, those bathhouses where men and women bathe together have quickly begun to decorate and rectify.

Now, there are basically no bathhouses in the country where men and women can bathe together.

As far as Ogata knows—since Matsudaira Sadanobu launched this "bathhouse reform", from the samurai to the ordinary civilians, it seems that quite a few people hate Matsudaira Sadanobu to the bone, and hope that Matsudaira Sadanobu can quickly step down .

At the same time, I also heard that since there were no mixed-sex bathhouses, the business of many bathhouses that were originally mixed-sex baths has suddenly deteriorated.

The reason for this is not difficult to guess-many old sex critics have lost the motivation to take a bath again.

There is no way to look at a woman's body anymore. What's the point of taking a bath in the rest of my life?

So after the "Bathhouse Reform" was released, many old-fashioned critics who had lost their dreams "destroyed after a setback".

Ogata did not dislike Matsudaira Sadanobu's "bathhouse reform".

Not only are they not disgusted, but they also think it is a rare benevolent and good governance.

Just as he still can’t appreciate Tsukiyoto, Ogata still can’t understand why people in this era can accept mixed bathing, and they think it’s not a strange thing for men and women to bathe together.

After saying goodbye to A-Machi at the entrance of the bathhouse, Okai entered the men's bath on the left, and A-Machi entered the women's bath on the right.

The layout of this bathhouse where Ogata and A-machi often come to take a bath recently belongs to the layout of bathhouses that are very common at present.

There are two floors, the first floor is the bathing area, and the second floor is the rest room. After taking a bath, guests can go to the second floor to rest, but only men can go up to the second floor to rest.

There are two entrances and exits on the first floor, and cloth noren curtains are hung on both entrances and exits.

These two curtains are hung at different entrances and exits, one of which has the inscription "Male soup" and the other has the inscription "Female soup".

"Soup" in Japanese has many meanings, one of which is "bath".

There is no doubt that the "male soup" and the "female soup" are separated by a thick wooden wall. The old color batch can't do anything except hear some voices coming from the "female soup". Can't see it.

Whether it is a "men's soup" or a "female soup", the layout inside is similar. After paying the money at the counter, you first go to the dressing room to undress, and then go to the shower room to wash your body.

Behind the shower room is the bathtub for bathing.

The mouth connecting the shower room and the bathtub is commonly known as the "pomegranate mouth".

Only after washing your body in the shower room can you go through the "pomegranate mouth" and take a bath in the bathtub.

Quickly took off the clothes on his body, and after simply washing his body in the shower room, Xu conveniently passed through the pomegranate mouth, ready to enter the bathtub for a bath.

It's about 8 o'clock in the evening. In the Edo period, this was the best time for bathhouse business.

After passing through the pomegranate entrance and entering the steamy bathing room, Xu Bian saw that 60% of the bathhouse was already full of people.

I tried the water temperature with my fingers - it was a little hot, but in the winter, the water temperature was just right.

After immersing the parts from the neck down into the hot water, Ogata swam to a place where there were not so many people, and quietly enjoyed the feeling of being surrounded by the warm bath water.

The quality of the human skin mask on Ogata's face is really high, it's fine if it can be confused with the real one, and it's not afraid of being wet by water vapor.

Thanks to the high quality of the human skin mask, Ogata was able to take a bath in the bathhouse so openly these days.

Ogata got up from the bath after soaking until the skin of his fingers was slightly wrinkled.

After wiping his body clean, he went to the undressing room and put on the change of clothes he brought.

Ah-Machi's bath time is longer than that of Ogata.

So after changing his clothes, Obi went up to the second floor of the bathhouse, preparing to rest on the second floor of the bathhouse while waiting for A-cho to get out of the bath.

The second floor of the bathhouse was one of the most important social places in the Edo period.

Basically all bathhouses have a second floor for male guests to rest after taking a bath.

Some male guests who are more free will go to the second floor to rest and play after taking a shower.

Before going up to the second floor, and just walking on the stairs, Xu Bian heard the noise coming from the top.

After stepping on the last step, Xu Fang saw people of different ages spending their time in different places and in different ways.

Or get together to discuss all kinds of weird topics.

Or take the entertainment equipment such as shogi and go that are specially provided for guests in the bathhouse.

On the second floor of this bathhouse, some staff set up a small stall to sell snacks and tea, so some people bought steamed buns, yokan and other snacks, and drank the free tea while eating snacks, so happy.

Because the second floor of all bathhouses is closed to women, there are no women here at all.

Among all the people present, there was no acquaintance of Ogata, so Ogata walked to the window silently, watching the scenery outside the window boredly to pass the time.

At this moment, Ogata suddenly noticed a loud voice from his side:

"Okay! Anyone who wants to hear my hunting stories back then, please sit down!"

This voice is a bit old, but very energetic.

Because the voice was very loud, it directly attracted Ogata's attention.

Ogata followed the voice - the owner of this voice was an old man.

The old man looked about 50 years old, and his hair was more than half gray.

Although he is old, he is hale and hearty, with piercing eyes.

After the words he just said fell, the six young people who were probably only in their teens sitting in front of him immediately sat down around the old man with bright eyes.

"Master Dao!" one of the young men asked, "What are you going to talk about today?"

"Today... Today I will tell you the story of hunting giant bears in Ezo when I was young!"

——Ezodi?

Hearing this word, Ogata frowned slightly.

"That was also a very thrilling hunt... huh? Your Excellency, do you want to come and listen to it?"

The old man noticed Ogata who had been looking at him from just now, so he extended an invitation to Ogata.

Ogata pointed to himself: "Can I come to listen too?"

"Of course!" the old man said briskly, "I hope that the more people come to listen to my story, the happier I will be! Let's listen to it together! My story won't be very long."

Listen to the story of the old man hunting in Ezo, maybe you can collect some information related to Ezo - so Ogata is also willing to listen to the old man's bear hunting in Ezo while he has nothing to do now story.

Following the 6 young people and sitting behind the old man, the old man looked Ogata up and down several times with his eyes moved, and then asked:

"I haven't seen you before, are you a foreigner?"

"Yeah." Ogata nodded, "Because of some things, I traveled here."

"Since the outbreak of the 'Tianming Famine', the number of bandits in our Northeast has increased, and it has become very rare for foreigners to pass by us." The old man smiled bitterly, "Anyway—let me introduce myself first. .”

"My name is Shimasuke, and I used to be a Mataki of the Matsumae clan who lived in Ezo. Now that I am old, I can't draw a bow or hunt, so I moved here to live with my daughter and son-in-law in Nishikino Town. "

"Ghost again?" Ogata's eyes showed a bit of surprise, and he couldn't help but look at the old man in front of him several times again.

"Outsider, do you know what 'You Ghost' is?"

Ogata nodded: "I've heard of it. It's the kind of person who both farms and hunts, right?"

Japan's Tohoku region and Ezo have always been the "Kingdom of Wildlife".

Deer, wolves, bears and all kinds of wildlife are abundant.

Bears are not only numerous, but also extremely destructive, so the number of bears poses the greatest threat to humans.

So a special group of people was born in the Northeast and Ezo.

They are engaged in agricultural cultivation in spring and summer. In winter and early spring, they hunt in groups in the forest, mainly hunting bears and deer.

People in the Tohoku region and the Ezo land who are engaged in both farming and hunting are called "Matagi".

"Yougui" is actually an Ainu language, meaning "winter hunter".

Although there are people who have heard of Mataki before, this is the first time Ogata has seen Mataki with his own eyes.

"Since you know what you mean, it's easy to handle." Shimasuke grinned, "I don't need to explain."

"Where did I just say that? Ah, yes. I used to be a Mataki of a certain 'Matagami Village' in the Matsumae Clan in Ezo."

"We farm in spring and summer, and take up bows and arrows to hunt in the mountains after winter."

"I'm not bragging, I was the number one hunter in the village when I was young."

While talking, Shimasuke assumed the posture of drawing a bow and shooting an arrow.

"Let's not talk about deer, which can be hunted by ten-year-old children. I have killed countless bears alone."

"But—though I'm an undoubted veteran of bear hunting, I never take it lightly when it comes to preparing for a bear hunt."

"Because a bear is a terrible animal."

Shimasuke's tone slowly became serious.

"Once a bear is running, it can easily overtake a human."

"In terms of running, humans can't outrun bears no matter what."

"An adult bear can break a tree with a trunk as thick as two bowls with just one paw."

"Humans are almost certain to die after being hit by a bear."

"Especially the bears in Ezo. The bears in Ezo are much scarier than the bears in the Northeast."

"I don't know if it's because the Ezo land is colder. The wolves and bears on the Ezo land are larger than the wolves and bears here in the northeast."

Shimasuke drew a big circle in the air in front of him with both hands.

"If the bears in Ezo and the bears in the Northeast are singled out, the bears in Ezo will definitely win. The difference in size is too great."

"The best weapon to use against bears is poison arrows."

"Whether it's our Oni or Ezo, we all use poisonous arrows to hunt bears."

"Although the formula of the poison used by Ezo and the others is different from that used by our Matagui, the effect is similar."

"After the bear is hit by our poisoned arrow, it only takes 10 breaths to be poisoned to death."

"I've hunted countless bears in my life."

"But if you want to talk about the most dangerous hunt in my life, it is without a doubt the battle with that giant man-eating bear when I was 36 years old."

Shimasuke is eloquent.

The cadence is well handled, making it very comfortable to listen to.

I don't know if this eloquence has been tempered by telling the hunting stories of my youth with the people around me for a long time.

Ogata was also fascinated by listening unconsciously.

The real hunting stories taught by real hunters—whether in the previous life or in the present, Ogata seldom heard of it, so Ogata's curiosity was also aroused at this time.

"Bears are very strange animals."

"They usually don't treat humans as food."

"But if they eat humans, they won't be able to eat anything other than human flesh until they die."

"Even if there are many delicacies such as wild berries, fish, and venison, I will never touch them again."

"Why?" asked a young man sitting next to Ogata.

"There is a saying in our village that human flesh is far more delicious than other foods, and it is so delicious that bears are completely obsessed with this food and can no longer eat other foods."

Shimasuke shrugged.

"And Ezo's argument is that this is the punishment given to the bear by the gods."

"Once a bear eats a human being, as punishment, the gods will punish the bear to eat human beings for the rest of its life."

"The Ezo call the bear who ate human flesh 'Unkamuyi'."

"Unkamuyi?" asked another young man.

"It's Ainu language. It means 'evil god'."

"As for why it is called a bear that ate human flesh, I don't know much about it. Our village doesn't have much contact with Ezo, so I don't know much about Ezo."

"Because after a bear eats a human, it can no longer eat food other than human flesh, so we have a rule in Yougui—once we encounter a bear that eats human flesh, we must hunt it down as soon as possible."

"Because once a bear eats the first person, it will definitely eat the second, the third... until it dies."

"At the age of 36, I had my first and so far only encounter with a bear that ate human flesh."

"For some unknown reason, a bear suddenly attacked the 'Yougui Village' next door."

"Because there are very few bears who attack human villages on their own initiative. Therefore, the people in that village were not expecting the attack of the giant bear."

"That giant bear rushed into the village in the middle of the night and attacked a family of three. All three members of that family were killed by the bear in their sleep."

"After killing all of this family, the giant bear immediately began to feast on it."

"The bear hadn't eaten a few bites, and the villagers who saw the bear attack rushed over and began to encircle and suppress this giant man-eating bear."

"It's a pity that the villagers' encirclement and suppression failed. This giant man-eating bear is not only big, but also extremely fast. It escaped from the village like a gust of wind and fled back into the mountain."

"In order to avoid any more victims, people from that village came to our village, hoping that our village would also come to help."

"There is a man-eating bear, and people in our village may also be killed, so we agreed to cooperate without hesitation. All the men in the two villages joined forces and worked together to destroy the giant bear."

"After three days of hunting, we finally found the giant man-eating bear in a forest."

"And the first person who discovered this giant man-eating bear..."

Shimasuke smiled wryly and pointed at himself.

"it is me."

"That giant man-eating bear is really big..."

"If it stands up, it should be as tall as two of me."

Ogata looked at Shimojimasuke's height.

Shimasuke is about 1.5 meters tall.

If the bear was really as tall as two Shimasukes, then the bear would be 3 meters tall when standing up.

"Not only tall but also very strong."

Shimasuke raised his hands in comparison.

"Its waist should be four times as wide as mine."

"I was hiding in a big tree. Waiting for the best shot."

"There's a trick to shooting bears, too."

Shimasuke raised his hand and nodded his head.

"To fight a bear, you just need to remember one thing."

"That means you can't hit the bear's head."

"The bear's skull is extremely hard, almost like steel. Even an iron cannon may not be able to penetrate the bear's head."

"Although the bear's head is big, its brain is very small. Therefore, when attacking the bear's head, it is difficult to hit the bear's brain accurately. If you can't hit the bear's brain directly, the bear will not die."

"So when fighting a bear, never attack the bear's head."

"The best place to attack is the bear's soft belly."

"After waiting for the best opportunity to shoot, I shot the poisonous arrow into the belly of the giant man-eating bear."

"My shooting positions are carefully chosen by me."

"It took about 13 breaths to run from the man-eating bear to the big tree where I was hiding."

"That's enough time for the poison to take effect and kill the bear."

"But I didn't expect..."

A bitter look appeared on Shimasuke's face.

"That giant man-eating bear is so tenacious..."

"After I shot the poisonous arrow into the body of that giant man-eating bear, it took 15 breaths before it died..."

"Bears can not only swim but also climb trees."

"It was almost climbing up the trunk of the tree where I was hiding ... I could smell the bear's breath at that time."

"Fortunately, when it was about to climb up to me, the poison finally broke out, and it fell from the tree."

"If it lasted two more breaths, my head might have been crushed by it..."

"Although this happened twenty years ago, when I think back to the scene where the bear's face was so close at hand, I still feel uncontrollable cold sweat on my back..."

After all, Shimasuke touched his back and showed it to Ogata and the others—his palms were really wet.

"Although it was thrilling, I finally succeeded in killing that giant man-eating bear."

"Since then, I have become even more convinced of the title of 'the number one hunter in the village'."

"Bear hunting..." A young man sitting farthest from Ogata showed longing, "I really want to try bear hunting..."

"You may think that hunting is very interesting and fun after listening to my story." Shimasuke shook his head with a wry smile, "But in fact, hunting is much more boring and dangerous than you imagined."

"Don't even think about hunting bears."

"An inexperienced person can't hunt a bear at all."

"If you come across a bear in the wild, run away if you can."

"Don't be so hot that you want to fight a bear close to hand."

"That's all for the cubs. You might have a chance of winning in a close fight with a cub, but you definitely have no chance of winning in a close fight with an adult bear."

"If you really can't escape... let me teach you a way to escape from the bear."

"Play dead?" a young man asked, "I heard from my father that if you encounter a bear in the wild, you should play dead. Bears don't eat dead people."

"That's death!" Shimasuke said angrily, "I really don't know why the fallacy of 'bears don't eat dead people' can spread so widely...it's really misleading people."

"If you come across an adult bear in the wild, never play dead - it won't help."

"And don't try to run away—you can't outrun a grown bear."

"And don't even think about climbing trees - bears are better at climbing trees than any human being."

"And don't even think about swimming—bears can swim, too."

"If you encounter an adult bear in the wild, the best way to deal with it is to stand still and not move."

"Keep calm and keep your ground motionless toward the bear."

"While facing the bear, talk to the bear, say hello to the bear, such as chatting with the bear about today's weather or something."

"People are afraid of bears, but bears are also afraid of people."

"In the eyes of bears, human beings are strange creatures."

"So in general, bears don't approach humans either."

"There are only two cases when a bear attacks a human being."

"One is to eat people."

"The other is to feel that the human beings in front of you are threatening you, and think that you are in danger, so you launch a counterattack."

"The reason why you have to keep calm and face the bear motionless is to prove to the bear that you have no malicious intentions and will not pose a threat to you, Mr. Xiong."

"The bear may come up to touch you with its big paw, or come to smell you - don't be afraid. Let it touch, let it smell, you can't resist anyway."

"The reason why it touches and smells you is just because it is curious about you."

"As long as you follow the steps I just described, the bear will most likely go away on its own."

"Of course—the method of dealing with bears in the wild that I just mentioned is only effective for those bears who have never eaten human flesh and do not know that human flesh is delicious."

"If you encounter a bear that has eaten people...you can only pray that the bear is full."

Shimasuke took the tea on the side, took a sip, moistened his dry lips and throat, laughed a few times, and then said:

"All in all—remember the method of escaping from bears I taught you just now, although you probably won't have much chance to use this method."

"As long as you don't go to those deep mountains and old forests, you generally won't meet bears."

...

...

at the same time--

Hirono Town, which is some distance away from Nishino Town——

"How?" A middle-aged man with an extremely vicissitudes of life asked a middle-aged man with half-bald hair in front of him.

The middle-aged man nodded lightly:

"I finally met a warrior who is willing to help us, but... that warrior doesn't seem to be very strong..."

After all, the middle-aged man let out a sigh of relief.

"There are so many samurai in Hirono Town, but only one samurai is willing to help us..."

As soon as the Xieding middle-aged man's voice fell, the vicissitudes of the middle-aged man smiled wryly and said:

"Our pay is too low...the only ones who are willing to take on this kind of hard work that may die for such a low pay...probably only the kind of samurai whose life is already extremely embarrassing."

"There should be no more samurai willing to help here in Hirono Town. Let's go to other towns to see."

"Which other cities and towns have we not visited?" asked the middle-aged Xieding.

"Hinno Town and Nishino Town."

"Jinye Town..." The middle-aged man with the top Xie muttered, "I heard that there is a sword gym in Jinye Town... Since there are swordsmen, then the people in that sword gym should have certain strength... "

"En." The vicissitudes of the middle-aged man nodded, "There is a sword gym named 'Baosheng' in Jinye Town. I hope the warriors in that sword gym will be willing to help us... In short, let's go to the nearest one Hayano Town, Nishino Town will be the last."

*****

*****

Yesterday, a famous book friend asked me about contraceptive methods in the Edo period. I originally wanted to give you a popular science today, but because today’s chapter involves bear hunting, I will save the scientific popularization of contraceptive methods until tomorrow, today Let me tell you about the Japanese bear hunting culture.

Please watch the popular science in the "Writer's Words" below.

By the way - for the writing of this volume, the author Jun specially bought a book on science about bears and what to do after encountering a bear in the wild: "What to do when encountering a bear?" "

This book is an interview with a professional bear hunter who started hunting at the age of 12, started hunting bears alone at the age of 22, hunted for 65 years, and killed a total of 60 bears. A popular science book of knowledge integration.

It is said that in this book, it also tells how to greet a bear, how to save yourself after being pushed down by a bear, how to use a plastic bottle to avoid a bear, and how to single out a bear with a hatchet.

Not only that, but this book also popularizes some Ainu people—that is, the cultural customs of Ezo.

I felt that this book would be very beneficial for my work on volume 7, so I placed an order just yesterday. I'll give you a drug test first.

I posted a picture of this book in the Easter Egg chapter later, everyone can turn to it →→→(Flip back)