I Was a Swordsman in Ancient Japan

"Then throwing Scherichia chinensis into it at this time can greatly enhance the umami taste of the meat and remove the fishy smell of the meat."

"Scherichia chinensis is a very useful seasoning, it can be regarded as omnipotent. Basically every meat dish of our Ainu people will be seasoned with Scherichia chinensis."

Aizan, who was sitting in front of Ogata and A-Machi, carefully took care of the pot in front of him, while explaining to Ogata and A-Machi how this "venison pot" was cooked.

It's lunch time.

The team composed of the villagers of Qina Village and Ogata has now stopped, set up a pot, and started lunch.

Ogata, Atachi, and Aizan sat around a pot.

What was contained in the pot was the venison that Ogata and the others ate most often during this time.

The Ainu people who are still in the tribal civilization that basically rely on gods for medical treatment, their average life expectancy is naturally not too long.

Aizan is only 35 years old this year, but in Ainu society, he is already a middle-aged person.

There are only a very small number of people like Village Chief Chepke who have gray hair but are still in good spirits.

Although Aizan is already a middle-aged man, at such an advanced age, he still has a studious heart.

After they started doing business with Heshang in China Village, he, who was interested in Japanese, took the initiative to learn Japanese from Heshangs.

Although somewhat non-standard, it is very fluent.

He can be regarded as one of the official Japanese translators of the head of Chepke Village.

When Ogata communicated with the village chief Chepke before, he basically relied on Aizan as the interpreter between the two.

After Ogata and Ating decided to go to the Red Moon Fortress with the villagers of Kina Village, Aizan was sent by Chepke to serve as Ogata's personal interpreter and life steward.

During this period of time, Aizan will always personally cook the Ainu specialties for Ogata and Atachi.

I have to say - Aizan, who looks like a rough guy, has a very high level of cooking.

And Aizan is a very talkative person. When cooking, Aizan will often give Ogata and the others popular science about their Ainu food culture.

At present, the pot where the venison is cooking in front of the three people has begun to emit aroma continuously.

After Aizan threw Scherichia chinensis into the country, the fragrance emitted became more fresh.

"After putting the Scherichia chinensis, put the matsutake and white mouth mushrooms in."

Aizan grabbed a handful of matsutake and white mouth mushrooms from the small cloth bag beside him and threw them into the pot.

"After that, you just need to wait for the meat and mushrooms to cook thoroughly."

After finishing speaking, Aizan picked up the lid next to it and covered the big pot.

"How long will it take?" Machi asked.

"Well... it still takes quite a long time."

"That's it..." Ah-Ming muttered, "It seems that this pot of food will take a long time to cook...but it does smell quite delicious."

This waiting time for the food to be cooked is very boring.

Although I have had frequent contact with Aizan during this period, I am not very familiar with him yet.

Moreover, Ogata and the others and Aizan were too different in terms of culture and age, even if they wanted to chat, they didn't know what to talk about.

After the Ogata three were silent for a moment in this slightly awkward atmosphere, Aizan took the initiative to break the silence.

"Anyway, it will take some time before the meat is cooked. Why don't I tell you about the heroic epic that has been passed down from generation to generation among us Ainu?"

"Heroic epic?" A-Ming raised his eyebrows suddenly, his pupils sparkled with intense interest, "What is this?"

"Well...you can understand it as a story about heroes."

"Probably...similar to stories like "Momotaro", "One Inch Master", and "Ritaro" among you and others."

"We Ainu are not literate like you and people."

"So we recite and remember our history by word of mouth."

"Some of these heroic epics that have been passed down from generation to generation among us Ainu are fictional, but some are real things that have existed in history."

Speaking of this, Aizan's eyes showed a hint of reminiscence.

"In the past, when I was a child, my favorite thing to do was to surround the knees of the old people in the village with other children in the village and listen to the old people tell these heroic epics."

"Listening to these heroic epics was one of the happiest pastimes in childhood for us Ainu people."

After Aizan's words fell, the interest in A-Ming's eyes became more intense.

"Okay, okay! Then tell us about your heroic epic!"

Machi likes listening to stories the most.

Her biggest hobby is listening to books, listening to rakugo... listening to everything related to storytelling.

Ogata had never heard of the heroic epics of the Ainu people before, so his interest was slightly aroused now.

Aizan cleared his throat.

"Then let me tell you about one of the most popular epics——"Zhu Lun."

"Ah, let me remind you first that many of our heroic epics don't tell people what 'who and who' did."

"It's about what 'I' did. Use 'I' as the perspective to tell the story."

Because there are no such terms as "first person" and "third person" in this era, it makes Aizan's words a little difficult to understand.

Ogata made a summary of what Aizan said just now—meaning that most of their heroic epics are told in the first person, not in the third person.

After clearing his throat again, Aizan said slowly:

"In this big family, my adoptive sister has a big heart and treats me perfectly. It has always been like this and has never changed. The beams in the house, the full of beautiful objects, the yellow thorny wooden lunch boxes and boxes, and the treasures that complement each other Below, the first floor is splendid. Oh, what a beautiful house I live in!"

...

The story Aizan told was not very long.

Ogata was interested at first.

But after hearing half of it, I felt a little sleepy...

On the contrary, Ah-Machi was in high spirits from beginning to end.

The outline of the heroic epic called "Zhu Lun" mentioned by Aizan is roughly as follows——

A long time ago, a boy was adopted by a family. Both his adoptive parents and adoptive sister are very kind to him, his family background is also very good, and his life is happy.

After the boy became a teenager, the adoptive parents told the teenager about his biological parents.

It turned out that the boy's father was a human being with an appearance and courage far surpassing that of a god.

The boy's mother is a god, the goddess of the wolf.

The boy's father was envied by others because of his extraordinary courage and beauty. He fought day and night, and finally accidentally drank poisoned wine at the banquet.

After the father died, the mother who was a god took her younger sister to the God Realm where their god lived, leaving only the boy.

After learning the truth, the hero decided to avenge his biological father and embarked on the road of revenge.

After one battle after another, the revenge finally succeeded.

The ending of the story is that the boy became husband and wife with a beautiful girl named Ouya Lulu, and they returned to their hometown together and lived a happy life.

Such a story might be considered interesting for someone like A-Machi who hasn't heard many interesting stories.

But for Ogata, such a story really makes him unmotivated...

In his previous life, Ogata had read some books that recorded Greek mythology and Nordic epics.

Ogata has seen this kind of story of "the protagonist is the product of a hybrid between man and god, and then for some reason, starts to take risks, and finally succeeds in embracing treasures or beauties, and leads a happy life" in his previous life...

Ogata found that the routines of these heroic epics are very similar.

The protagonist will always be the product of a hybrid between man and god. Then the protagonist often sacrifices his parents to heaven at the beginning.

Then the protagonist will embark on adventures due to various reasons, and finally successfully marry a beautiful woman, retreat somewhere with her, and reach the pinnacle of life.

Ogata is already tired of such routine stories.

But for the sake of being polite, Ogata still held on, trying to pretend to be interested, and heard the last.

On the contrary, A-Machi, who has never been exposed to this type of story before, has genuine interest in his eyes.

After finishing the heroic epic, Aizan paused, and then said slowly:

"Zhu Lun is one of the epics with a long history."

"Maybe no one remembers when "Zhu Lun" began to be handed down."

"Some people think "Zhu Lun" is a real thing."

"And some people think "Zhu Lun" is fiction."

"Many of our heroic epics are like this, because they have been passed down for so long that our descendants can't remember whether these stories are real or fictional."

"I personally tend to agree that "Zhu Lun" is real."

At this time, Aizan suddenly grinned.

"Speaking of which—Mashima, you have the hope of becoming the protagonist of a new epic that will be passed down from generation to generation in our nation."

"Me?" Ogata pointed at himself, raising his eyebrows.

"The fact that you saved our village, Mashima, is enough to be compiled into an epic, and then passed down from generation to generation among our nation."

"I don't know what other people think. Anyway, when I get old, I will definitely tell the story of Mashima to the young children in the village."

"Tell the young people in the village that a Kazuto named Goro Mashima stepped forward and saved us who were almost wiped out."

"Hey~" A-Machi, who was sitting on the left of Ogata, snickered, and drilled Ogata's left abdomen with his right elbow, "So, my husband hopes to be passed down from generation to generation like the protagonists of those heroic epics. Pass it on?"

"In theory—that's the way it is. But it's quite difficult to keep an epic alive and become an immortal chapter that will never be forgotten."

"When Mashima's deeds are widely spread, there is hope that Mashima's epic will be passed down forever."

Ogata listened quietly.

From just now, his expression became very strange.

A while ago, he was just in the Ou area, and he came across a plan to write a kabuki script that would be handed down forever based on his story of Ogata Itsei.

And now in the ice and snow land of Ezo, he unexpectedly encountered a similar incident again.

With luck, the epic based on the story of his pseudonym Mashima Goro may be passed down from generation to generation among the Ainu people—at least in Kina Village for a long time.

Ogata didn't mind others telling his story.

Just don't change it.

"Aizan, if you want to tell the story of me to the young children in the village in the future, I have no objection."

"But remember not to talk nonsense. If you say that I am some kind of samurai with a beautiful Tsukiyo head, or if you say that I am some kind of beautiful 'Ji Samurai', I will be very troubled."

Aizan laughed a few times.

"Don't worry. I've seen what happened to you Mashima with my own eyes, so I won't talk nonsense."

"Aizan!" Ah Ding said at this time, "Tell us more about your heroic epic!"

"I'll tell you later! Now—let's eat first. The meat is already cooked."

After finishing speaking, Aizan lifted the lid of the cauldron in front of him.

The moment the lid was lifted, a seductive aroma rushed towards Ogata and the others.

Ogata and the others took out their respective bowls, and each put a large piece of venison into their own bowls.

He picked up the venison in the bowl with chopsticks and handed it to his mouth. With just a light bite, he easily bit off the meat.

The venison was cooked just right, even an old man with bad teeth might be able to bite the meat easily.

Because the meat is boiled with the mushrooms, the taste of the meat and the umami of the mushrooms will spread in the mouth after the meat is bitten open.

The unique flavor of the mushrooms is wrapped and integrated by the fat of the meat, making the tongue feel a pleasure that cannot be explained by any words.

After getting along with the Ainu people for this period of time, Ogata has deeply realized that although the Ainu people are still in a backward tribal civilization until now, their food culture should not be underestimated.

Ah-cho, who has only recently started to eat meat, is now gradually able to experience the beauty of meat-although her stomach has not been completely used to meat until now, so she can't eat too much meat at every meal .

...

...

After finishing his lunch quickly, Ogata took off the saber from his waist, held the knife in his arms, and leaned against a big tree next to him.

After lunch, there will be a short break.

Many people choose to take a nap during this time.

Ogata also likes to take a nap.

So after lunch, Xu conveniently hugged his knife carelessly, leaned against a big tree, and planned to take a nap.

By the way—at this time when Ogata was about to take a nap, A-Machi was washing her and Ogata's dishes and pots not far away.

Just as Ogata was holding his knife, leaning against the tree trunk and sitting on the ground, closing his eyes, he suddenly heard a series of footsteps approaching him at a fast pace, quite unfamiliar to Ogata.

Ogata remembered the sound of A-Machi's footsteps very clearly.

The people who were approaching him were not Machi, and they were not the right number.

Ogata opened his eyes and looked forward.

Walking towards him were 4 girls.

And these four girls are no strangers to Ogata—they are the four girls with different colored headbands on their heads.

After the Cossacks who attacked the village were beaten back, although Ogata could occasionally see these four people in the village, he never had a chance to communicate with them again.

Ogata does not remember the name of the girl with the red, purple, and blue headbands, but the name of the girl with the orange headband - Ogata remembers that her name is "Ahili".

These 4 girls with an average age of less than 15 walked quickly to Ogata, and then lined up.

"What's wrong?" Ogata asked in Ainu.

Ogata had relied on the "Ainu Commonly Used Guide" to lay the foundation of the Ainu language.

Then during this period of time, I also frequently contacted and communicated with the Ainu people, so before I knew it, the Ainu language of Ogata had advanced by leaps and bounds, and I was able to use the Ainu language to communicate with the Ainu people. exchange.

The four girls lined up in front of Ogata looked at each other for a while.

Then, as if he had rehearsed in advance, he bowed nearly 90 degrees to Ogata.

Akiri, who was wearing an orange headband, stuttered in very non-standard Japanese: "Thank you very much... um!"

However, just halfway through her words, she accidentally bit her tongue, let out a low cry of pain, and raised her hand to cover her mouth, showing a painful expression.

Ogata felt pain just looking at it.

When he was about to ask "Are you okay", Ashley resisted the pain of biting his tongue, and continued to speak in very non-standard Japanese:

"Thank you so much for saving us."

As soon as Ahili finished speaking, the other three girls with red, purple, and blue headbands followed closely behind, thanking Ogata in the same non-standard Japanese.

After all four of them thanked Ogata in Japanese, they bowed deeply to Ogata again, and finally ran away in a hurry, and quickly disappeared from Ogata's field of vision.

When Ashley and the others left, A-Ming just came back after washing the dishes and pots, and happened to see the back of Ashley and the others.

"I remember that girl's name is Ashley." A-Ming asked Chao Ogata, holding the freshly washed dishes and pots, "What are they here for?"

"Nothing." Ogata said, "I just came to thank me."

Speaking of which, Ogata showed a helpless smile.

"Maybe it's because their Japanese is still poor, they left immediately after saying a word of thanks."

...

...

at this time--

"I finally thank that Kazuto." said the girl with the red headband walking in front.

"Finally, I don't have to learn the language of Japanese people anymore." The girl with the blue headband stuck out her tongue, "I don't want to learn any more words of Japanese language in my life..."

"Ahili, you seem to have bitten your tongue just now." The girl with the purple headband cast a worried look at Aheli, "Are you all right?"

"It's okay..." Ashley protruded her little tongue, and gently stroked the place where she bit it with her fingers, "There is no bleeding..."

"It feels so embarrassing..." Ashley blushed slightly, "I have practiced many times, but I still bite my tongue..."

On the night when the Cossacks attacked, Ogata rescued Ashley who wanted to die with a certain Cossack.

If you don't even say thank you to others for this kind of life-saving grace, it is really unreasonable.

So since the Cossacks were beaten back, Ashley has been thinking about thanking Ogata.

To this end, Ahili found a Japanese-speaking villager in the village and asked him to teach her how to thank people in Japanese.

And her three close friends-the three wearing red, blue, and purple headbands are learning Japanese with Ashley, and plan to go with Ashley to thank Ogata later.

These three people and Ashley are close friends, and their best friend was rescued by someone, and they also want to thank the person who saved their best friend.

In addition, there is another very important reason why these three people intend to thank Ogata - to alleviate some of the guilt in their hearts.

The three of them thought that Ogata looked mediocre, maybe not as powerful as those extremely strong men in their village-but it was this mediocre-looking Kazuto who saved their village .

This sense of guilt drove them to thank Ogata as well.

Since the Cossacks were repulsed, they devoted themselves to learning Japanese.

The four of them thought that Japanese was easy to learn. After they learned Japanese, they thanked Ogata cracklingly.

But after they really started to study, they found out——I don’t know if it’s their lack of talent, or it’s because Japanese is so difficult.

Since the Cossacks were repulsed to the present, they have practiced for such a long time, and they can speak standard Japanese, just saying "Thank you very much for saving us".

They really couldn't learn the rest of the words, so they had no choice but to thank Ogata with the only Japanese sentence they only learned.

Fortunately, the thank you to Ogata went smoothly—there was only a small accident where Ashley, who was in charge of the beginning, accidentally bit his tongue.

"It's okay!" The red-headed girl comforted Ashley, "It was just a little accident, didn't you finally thank him smoothly?"

After the girl with the red headband finished speaking, the girl with the purple headband and the blue headband also comforted Ashley.

"Ahili! Finally found you!"

At this time, Ahili's grandmother's voice suddenly sounded from their side.

Ashley's grandma walked towards Ashley slowly with her stooped back.

"I've been looking for you just now, where have you been?"

In the fierce battle with the Cossacks that night, Yashili's mother and grandmother were very lucky not to suffer any serious injuries.

Seeing grandma asking them why they went there just now, Ahili immediately answered.

After learning that they were going to thank Ogata, a slight look of regret appeared on Grandma's face.

"Look, I didn't say that, did I? That man is one in ten thousand good man."

"It's a pity that the man has already married."

"If he doesn't have a family, he can just use the title of 'repaying his life-saving grace' to let Ahili marry him."

"If we can make him a member of our family, no one will dare to offend our family in the future."

"Forget it. Since that Heren has nothing to do with our Ashley, then that's fine. I hope there will be an excellent man worthy of being my grandson-in-law on Heyezhe's side."

"Grandma, please don't say such nonsense." Ashley said angrily with a blushing face.

Since Ahili's age grew to 14 years old, Ahili's grandmother often talked about her marriage with Ahili.

Just when Ashley was about to continue preaching to her grandmother, a clear female voice suddenly sounded from behind her:

"Ahili!"

Ashley turned her head and looked back—it was Hippari, a well-known "huntress" in their village.

Hippari is one of the up-and-coming Huntresses since the appearance of "The Disappearance".

The relationship between her and Ashley is not bad. When Ashley was learning bow and arrow, he asked Hippari for advice, so Hippari was half of Ashley's teacher.

Hippari walked quickly to Ahili and said:

"Ahili, we're running out of food."

"I have just briefly surveyed the surrounding woods, and there are a lot of prey. I plan to hunt for tonight's dinner while I have time now. I am short of manpower now. Would you like to come with me?"

Hippari looked again at the three girls with red headbands, purple headbands, and blue headbands.

"Do you want to come together?"

"Okay!" The girl with the red headband immediately replied excitedly, "Let's go hunting!"

The girls with purple headbands and blue headbands nodded one after another, expressing their willingness to go together.

After hesitating for a while, Ashley finally nodded.

*****

PS: The "Zhulun" mentioned by Aizan in this chapter comes from the literature - "Ainu Narrative Poetry Collection 4" reprinted (first edition 1964), Sanseido, 1993, 37- 38 pages.

Because the story found by the author is an incomplete version, some stories may be wrong, so I would like to inform you.

*****

PS2: In order to write this chapter, the author has spent an unimaginable amount of time to search for information. Just the papers related to the Ainu people on China Knowledge Network have been read countless times. The money for buying the papers alone may have Hundreds of dollars...

After the automatic pen began to serialize the seventh volume, I checked HowNet more frequently than when I was writing my graduation thesis (Leopard headache and crying).

The author checked the information for a long time, and finally found a real Ainu heroic epic - "Zhu Lun".

And this hard-earned heroic epic is still incomplete.

The reason for this situation, on the one hand, is that it is extremely difficult to find relevant information even on the Internet because of this extremely unpopular knowledge.

Another reason is that the Ainu culture suffered a devastating blow.

Many people may not know that it was not until [2019] that Japan passed the new law "Ainu Nation Support Law", which recognized the Ainu as an "indigenous people" in law for the first time, and created a policy aimed at maintaining the Revitalize the subsidy system of its unique culture.

In other words, it was not until 2 years ago that the Japanese government officially recognized the existence of this nation in their country. They have never recognized this nation in their country before.

The Ainu people have long been at the low end of the chain of contempt in Japan. Anyone who has an Ainu face and speaks the Ainu language will be discriminated against and excluded.

In such an environment where the Ainu people were excluded by the whole country, the culture of the Ainu people was castrated and obliterated, and the whole nation was assimilated with people.

Today, there are not many Ainu who can speak Ainu fluently.

At the same time, because few people still remember the heroic epics that have been circulated in their nation for thousands of years, a large number of heroic epics have been lost now, and no one remembers them anymore.

To be honest, although there are still many Ainu people alive, the "Ainu" people are basically half of their bodies in the coffin.

I hope this nation will not just disappear in the long river of history.

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