I Was a Swordsman in Ancient Japan

"That's it...it's a pity, I want to hear more stories about the sword master..."

After hearing the exact reply of "I don't know the stories of other swordsmen" from Ogata's mouth, a faint disappointment appeared on Nishino Jiro's face.

"Wow..." At this moment, A-Machi, who was looking back, let out a low exclamation, "The seats are almost full..."

Hearing Ah-Machi's exclamation, Ogata turned his head and looked back.

When I was telling the story of the unclean fast to Jiro Nishino, only 30% of the seats were occupied.

Unexpectedly, in the blink of an eye, 90% of the seats were already filled.

Everyone's chatter formed a series of chattering noises.

"By the way." Ogata turned his gaze from behind, and casually asked Nishino Jiro beside him, "Nishino-kun, didn't your father, elder brother, and other family members come to watch the show with you?"

Only then did Ogata suddenly realize that Nishino Erlang was alone, without any family members to accompany him.

All those friends from Treasure Island House had to go on stage.

If Ogata and A-Machi were not there to accompany him, then he would have to watch the show alone tonight.

"Mom, she just has something to do tonight."

"Father and eldest brother also happen to be busy tonight."

Speaking of this, Nishino Jiro suddenly showed a wry smile.

"But—even if father and elder brother have nothing to do tonight, I probably wouldn't invite them to the show."

"Both of them have no interest in kabuki at all."

"If you invite them to watch the show, it's up to them whether they are willing or not. Even if they come, they may fall asleep before watching half of it."

"Did your father and your eldest brother not be interested in kabuki?" Ou revealed surprise.

"Yeah." Nishino Jiro nodded, "When I told my father that I wanted to become a kabuki playwright, my father who didn't like kabuki very much opposed it."

"But in the end, my father decided to support my ambition."

A complicated smile appeared on Nishino's face.

"Mashima-sama, why do you think my father decided to support my ambition to become a Kabuki playwright?"

"...Is it because you are the second son in the family?" Ogata asked softly.

"That's right." The complicated smile on Nishino Jiro's face was a little more helpless, "The family property is destined to be inherited by the elder brother."

"As the second son, I can only rely on myself."

"My father decided to support me in becoming a Kabuki playwright so that I could be self-reliant in the future."

"So 'Kabuki playwright' is my ambition, and I have to work hard in order to make a living in the future."

"If I can't make it in this industry, then I will have to do some boring jobs that my father found for me."

In this era, all classes and walks of life in Japan followed the eldest son inheritance system.

Samurai is also good,

Whether it is a commoner, the family business is basically inherited by the eldest son.

Except for the eldest son, the other sons are either raised at home like rice worms, or are required to be independent and self-reliant.

In Gongqing and samurai families, sons other than the eldest son are often used as political tools to marry other families.

Nishino Erlang belongs to the kind of lucky second son - his father will help him find a way out and develop the ability to make a living.

Some families are basically indifferent to the children except the eldest son, which has caused many tragedies.

"However, my elder brother told me this morning that he is very interested in this kabuki based on the executioner Yidaosai, and he will take time to watch it later."

"But if it's true or not, I don't know..."

ding ding...

Before Jiro Nishino could finish his sentence, a crisp shamisen music sounded like water drops dripping into the lake.

Hearing the music of the shamisen, Nishino Jiro was stunned for a while, and then immediately said excitedly:

"Ah, it's started!"

After finishing speaking, he turned his eyes away from Ogata, and stared at the stage in front of him expectantly.

No one in this world knows more about the storyline of "Yi Dao Zhai" than the author, Nishino Jiro.

Jiro Nishino has also watched the rehearsal of Takarajima House hundreds of times.

But watching a rehearsal is a completely different experience than watching a formal performance.

Just the atmosphere is different.

When watching rehearsals, watch alone.

While watching the official performance, there are countless people as companions. They all stared at the stage expectantly.

Ogata, who was sitting in the front row, turned his head and glanced behind him—it was pitch black, and the seats were all filled.

——It seems that Nishino-kun didn't lie just now... The tickets are really sold out...

After sighing with emotion, Ogata retracted his gaze, folded his arms around his chest, and followed the people around him to focus on the stage in front of him.

On the left side facing the stage, there is a path connecting the stage and leading to the auditorium.

This path is at the same height as the stage and is called "Flower Road". It is an important channel for the main characters in the play to enter and exit.

The music of the shamisen that is reverberating at the scene is actually informing the audience in a disguised form that the performance is about to begin.

After the music sounded, the originally noisy scene gradually quieted down.

After a while, the actors of Treasure Island House, with makeup on their faces and costumes, stepped onto the stage one by one along the flower path.

Looking at the actors stepping onto the stage step by step, the corners of Ogata's mouth involuntarily raised slightly, revealing a weird smile.

Although he was mentally prepared, Ogata still felt very complicated when he saw the kabuki performance based on his own personal experience performed in front of his own eyes.

He couldn't help thinking about the future.

——People in later generations should never have imagined it... This kabuki is based on the personal experience of "The Executioner Iktosai", and Iktosai himself participated in the creation of the script.

—and one of the first people to tune in to the show.

Thinking of this, Xu Fang couldn't help laughing.

...

...

Ezo, Matsumae Domain, Matsumae Castle——

"Kinoshita Genichi?"

Matsudaira Sadanobu repeated the slightly unfamiliar name in a low voice.

He felt that the name was familiar, as if he had heard it before.

"As far as I know." Inamori interjected at this time, "This Genichi Kinoshita seems to be a well-known swordsman among the people."

Hearing Inamori's words, Matsudaira Sadanobu suddenly remembered - he had indeed heard of it before.

I can't remember how long ago, Matsudaira Sadanobu heard the name "Kinoshita Genichi".

As Inamori said just now, he is a swordsman.

As far as Matsudaira Sadanobu knows, this person's swordsmanship is extremely superb, and he seems to be honored as the "Sword Master". His name began to be known more than 40 years ago, so if this person is still alive now, he must be old. Already big.

But he didn't seem to have done any earth-shattering things, so he is only famous among those martial arts people, and few people know about him among the common people.

If a warrior wants to be famous, the easiest way is to do something earth-shattering.

Ogata Itsue is a good example.

The following conquers the top, kills the lord with one blow, and becomes famous in one fell swoop.

After that, what Ogata Ittosai did in Kyoto further expanded his reputation.

Although the reputation of Ogata Yidao Zhai is not a household name, there are already a large number of Limin people who know the name of "Executioner Yidao Zhai".

In this era of underdeveloped information transmission, it is quite rare for a warrior to let many ordinary people know of his existence.

Two hundred years after the opening of the Edo Shogunate, few pure warriors could do this.

This is the only impression that Matsudaira Sadanobu has about Genichi Kinoshita.

After digesting the new information that Inamori just provided, Matsudaira Sadanobu said softly:

"It is indeed a very strange piece of information... Did Genichi Kinoshita provoke those Lucians, and then the Lucians came to seek revenge?"

"Forget it, I'm too lazy to think about it."

"Whether Kinoshita Genichi is dead or alive, it has nothing to do with our shogunate."

After simply digesting the information that Inamori just provided, Matsudaira Sadanobu decided that this information was of no use to them.

I just know that there are helpers from Lucia looking for Genichi Kinoshita.

Matsudaira Sadanobu didn't care whether Kinoshita Genichi was dead or alive.

Inamori has already told him all the information related to the Lucians that he has known recently.

Seeing that there was nothing left to ask, Matsudaira Sadanobu changed to a new question.

"Inamori, tell me about the current situation of the Northern Army."

"Especially in terms of luggage, let me focus on it."

"How long can the current supply reserves in the battalion last for our army?"

When he received the order from Matsudaira Sadanobu to meet Matsudaira Sadanobu, Inamori was already prepared that he would not be able to go back in a few hours.

Inamori, who had been mentally prepared for a "protracted war" long ago, heard Matsudaira's question, cleared his throat again, organized his words, and then explained the situation of the army.

...

...

"One Knife Studio" begins with the protagonist Yuyu I practicing sword in the sword hall, and ends with killing the lord, and then walking chicly on the road to escape from the feudal domain.

Under Ogata's guidance, this "Yitao Zhai" can actually be read as a history book.

The cause, process, and result of deciding to kill the tyrant are basically in line with the real situation.

The only fly in the ointment is-there is a rule in the Kabuki world that "real names cannot appear in Kabuki scripts", so all names in the play are fictional names.

The protagonist's name was changed to "Hayu I", which is similar to "Ogata Itsei" only in the pronunciation of the name.

The true story of Ogata's murder of Matsudaira Gennai has both the beginning and the end, and the story of wielding a sword for righteousness is very suitable for the three views of people of this era. People of this era love to read such stories.

So as long as the writing skills are not too bad, no matter how you write, the script will not be bad.

Coupled with the guidance of Ogata, the real protagonist of the story, this "One Knife Studio" is very realistic.

Although the actors and musicians of Treasure Island House are not professionals who rely on kabuki to make a living, their level is not bad.

The performance of the members of Treasure Island House has exceeded Ogata's expectations.

When the performance just started, the spectators at the scene were all attracted by the wonderful stories performed by the actors.

The most typical example is A Machi.

A Machimoto is the kind of person who likes to listen to and read stories.

A-cho, who likes to listen to books, also has a great interest in Kabuki.

At the beginning, when he learned that Ogata was going to assist Jiro Nishino in writing the script, Amachi specifically asked Ogata not to tell her anything related to the content of the script.

When the members of Takarajima House began to rehearse, A-Machi also asked Ogata not to tell her any rehearsal content and rehearsal progress.

So A-cho is actually no different from the ordinary spectators present - he doesn't know anything about "Yitao Zhai", and he doesn't know what kind of performance will be performed afterwards.

Although Ogata had established a relationship with A-cho long ago, he had told A-cho in detail about his past in the Hirose domain. A-machi may be the one who knows the most about what Ogata experienced in the Hirose Clan, except for Ogata himself, but she still sees it with gusto.

The performance of "One Knife Studio" is about one and a half hours when converted into the time unit of modern Earth.

One and a half hours later, Hanyu I, who successfully killed the tyrant in the play, performed the last scene of the play: holding the saber at his waist, he walked gracefully along the flower path for performers to enter and exit.

Afterwards, all the members of Treasure Island House—actors and musicians, all stepped onto the stage and bowed to the audience.

And when the members of Takarajima House bowed to express their gratitude, the audience erupted into cheers that seemed to lift the roof of Chiyoza.

Hearing the cheers and cheers from around, a smile slowly appeared on the face of Ogata who was embracing his arms.

...

...

"Everyone's response is quite enthusiastic!" Jiro Nishino's expression and tone were quite excited.

Nishino Jiro was walking home with Ogata and Atachi at this time.

Jiro Nishino, who was going back to his home Tachibana House, and Ogata and Machi, who were going back to the inn where they were staying, happened to be on the same road for a certain part.

So it was a matter of course to walk together.

As soon as he followed the crowd out of the Chiyoza, Nishino Jiro excitedly described how enthusiastic the spectators' response was just now.

"This "One Knife Studio" is indeed very good." A-Ming, who was smiling, responded in a tone without any flattery, "I feel that there is hope that it will become nationally famous and a household name like "Zhongchen Cang" Kabuki is booming."

"Whether it can become popular all over the country depends not only on the quality of Kabuki scripts." Jiro Nishino smiled wryly, "It also depends on luck."

"Whether a kabuki show will become popular all over the country depends on luck."

"If you're lucky enough, it might become popular all over the country in an instant."

"For example, a certain family's ministers and nobles like this "One Knife Studio" very much, and if they spread it among the ministers and nobles, there is a great chance that it will become popular all over the country in one go."

Speaking of this, Nishino Jiro paused, then shrugged with a smile.

"Although I really hope that "One Knife Studio" will become popular all over the country like "Loyal Minister Cang", but no one can tell what will happen in the future."

"We can only take one step at a time."

"But overall, it's a good start."

"Judging from the audience's reaction, today's performance was quite successful."

"Yes." Ogata answered with a smile, "To be honest, today's performance was beyond my expectation."

"This is all thanks to the excellent performance of everyone at Takarajima House, as well as Mashima-sama, who gave me advice at the beginning." Nishino Erlang cast a respectful look at Ogata, "If there is no Mashima-sama, you gave me advice. , I will definitely not be able to complete a script of this quality."

"Nishino-kun, don't underestimate yourself." Ogata raised his hand and patted Nishino Jiro on the shoulder, "What I have done is actually very limited. Thanks to your excellent writing skills, this excellent script was born."

"Although I don't know much about kabuki, I can feel that the script you wrote is very good."

"The reason why today's performance was a great success is also due to you."

"Thank you." Hearing Ogata's praise, Nishino Jiro seemed a little shy, "But I'm still young, and I still have a long way to go before I become an excellent kabuki playwright."

...

...

On the first day of the third year of Kanzheng (1791 AD), Ozuo drove A-cho in the early morning, and was driven by A-cho, slept in the morning, went to Jinrong Shrine in the afternoon to pay New Year's worship, and went to Chiyoza to watch "Ichidao Zhai" in the evening Spent. Quite substantial.

In the next few days, because all the activities that could be done were done, Ogata’s life returned to the rhythm of the few days before the new year-he just stayed in the hotel room every day with nothing to do.

It was not until January 4th, when the Baosheng Sword Gym reopened, that Ogata finally bid farewell to this extremely leisurely life.

With the reopening of the Baosheng Sword Gym, Ogata's life has gradually returned to the previous tight state.

Since watching the first performance of "Yi Dao Zhai" on the night of January 1, Xu Fangfang has been following the performance of "Yi Dao Zhai".

Overall, the performance of "One Knife Studio" can be said to be a great success.

Originally, the people of Treasure Island House only planned to perform "Yi Dao Zhai" for 7 days, from January 1st to January 7th.

However, the popularity is too hot, and the venue is full.

Under the strong request of the residents of Nishino Town, Treasure Island House had to increase the number of performances, and the number of performance days was extended to the 11th.

After the performance ended on the 11th, the residents of Nishino Town asked for another performance.

The members of Treasure Island House have been performing "One Knife Studio" for 11 consecutive days, and they are already exhausted.

So I can only express helplessly: I will continue to perform "One Knife Studio" again, but I have to wait for a short period of time to let them take a break.

And with the passage of time, one of the things that Ogata was most concerned about—the time when Yuan Tachibana sent a merchant ship to Ezo was finally determined.

January 15th.

The owner of Yuanjuya, the father of Nishino Jiro, decided to start the first dispatch of merchant ships this year on January 15th.

...

...

In the third year of Kanzheng (1791 AD), on January 14, at night——

Nishinocho, inside a certain bathhouse, on the second floor——

"Oh! Mashima-kun! We meet again!"

Shimasuke warmly greeted Ogata who was slowly walking towards him.

"Good evening, Mr. Shimasuke." Ogata also responded with a smile.

Shimasuke—that is, the one who met on the second floor of this bathhouse before, and then told a group of young people, including Ogata, the story of his previous hunting of giant bears, and taught them how to deal with bears in the wild The "original hunter" of the method.

Shimasuke often comes to this bathhouse.

After taking a bath every time, he will rest for a while on the second floor of the bathhouse, and at the same time tell people about his previous hunting stories.

And because this bathhouse is adjacent to the hotel where Ogata lived, Ogata only came to this bathhouse to take a bath.

Because Machi took a longer bath than Ogata, after taking a bath, Ogata would go to the rest area on the second floor to pass the time.

So I often meet Shimasuke by chance.

Every time I met Shimasuke, Shimasuke was telling people about his previous hunting experience, or was about to tell people about his hunting experience.

Shimasuke used to be an "ex-hunter" living in Ezo, so listening to his previous hunting experience might gather some useful information.

So whenever I ran into Shimasuke on the second floor, Ogata would go up to listen to his hunting stories.

After listening to Shimasuke's hunting stories for more than a month, I didn't collect much useful information. Instead, I learned a lot of various hunting skills and survival skills in the wild.

Ogata wants to know more about Ezo.

Ogata knew almost nothing about Ezo.

The only thing Ogata knows about Ezo is that they still live a very primitive settlement life and live by fishing and hunting.

He also took the initiative to ask Shimasuke if he knew Ezo.

Unfortunately, only negative answers were received.

Shimasuke used to live a closed life with the villagers in the same village, and rarely communicated with the outside world.

According to Shimasuke, their village has basically never had contact with Ezo. He also knew very little about Ezo. I only heard about some strange customs of Ezo from the elders - such as calling the bear that ate human flesh "Unkamuyi", and a few simple Ezo dialects.

Ogata, who still had some heat from the shower, sat cross-legged beside Shimasuke, and said to Shimasuke:

"Mr. Shimasuke, today may be the last time I come to hear your story."

"Oh?" Shimasuke's eyes flashed with surprise, "Are you leaving here?"

"Yeah." Ogata nodded, "My wife and I will leave Nishinocho tomorrow morning. Tonight is my last night in Nishinocho."

"Is that so..." Shimasuke grinned, showing a kind smile, "Then I wish you and your wife a smooth journey in advance!"

"Since tonight is your last night in Nishino Town, then listen to my story tonight."

"After all, it's the last time."

"That's what I mean." Ogata smiled, "But don't tell your story tonight too long. If you tell too long, I might not be able to hear the end."

Although I couldn't get any useful information from Shimasuke, his hunting stories were very interesting.

Listening to Shimasuke tell stories has also become one of Ogata's important pastimes during this time.

It's a pity that sometimes Shimasuke's stories are too long, and before the story is finished, because Machi has already taken a bath, he has to put down the half-heard story and leave the bathhouse.

"Okay." Shimasuke laughed a few times, "Then I will try to pick a shorter story to tell today!"

At this time, people who usually like to listen to Shimasuke's stories have gathered around Shimasuke.

After seeing that the audience was almost here, Shimasuke cleared his throat, and when he was about to start today's story——

"Mr. Shimasuke! It is said that there are gold mines everywhere in Ezo. Is this true?"

The owner of this question was one of the audience surrounding Shimasuke - a young man in his early teens.

Ogata had some impression of this boy, he was an old listener of Shimasuke.

Hearing the boy's rhetorical question, Shimasuke was stunned for a moment, and then asked:

"What are you asking this for?"

"I heard what the samurai who patronized our izakaya said today." The young man said, "Those drunk samurai said that there are gold mines everywhere in Ezo, and they said they want to go there to find gold and get rich."

"Oh." Shimasuke showed a sneer of unknown meaning, "Ezo is not likely to be full of gold mines. If Ezo is really full of gold mines, the shogunate would have sent troops to occupy the entire land of Ezo."

"There are gold mines everywhere in Ezo, it's just that everyone spread rumors."

Speaking of this, Shimasuke picked up the teacup on the side, took a sip of tea, moistened his throat, and then said:

"But there is indeed gold in Ezodi."

"I heard from my father before that when the Edo Shogunate first opened two hundred years ago, someone panned for gold dust in the rivers of Ezo."

"As soon as this news came out, tens of thousands of speculators flocked to Ezo, intending to seek gold and get rich."

"However, gold is not so easy to find. These speculators who flock to the Ezo to seek gold basically lose their money."

"And their rough gold panning behavior that crowded the rivers also annoyed the Ezos."

"Although the Eizu still live a very primitive and barbaric life, if they make trouble, it will be a troublesome thing."

"In order to calm the emotions of the Ezo, the Matsumae Domain, which is located in the northernmost part of our country and is responsible for monitoring the Ezo, with the help of the shogunate, ordered that it is strictly forbidden to go to the Ezo to pan for gold."

"If you catch a gold digger, you will be executed immediately on the spot."

"Under the 'gold rush ban' imposed by the shogunate and the Matsumae clan, the land of Ezo, which had been tormented by those gold diggers, has finally returned to peace."

"However, to this day, there are still some people who want money and don't care about their lives. In order to get rich, they decide to take risks and come here to pan for gold in Ezodi despite the government's ban."

"When I was young, I encountered a group of gold diggers passing through our village."

"The current gold diggers are basically a bunch of lawless desperadoes who have regarded the law and morality as nothing."

"The group of gold diggers passing through our village actually planned to rob our village of money and food."

"Oh, those gold diggers are also stupid."

"I came to Ezo to pan for gold, and I didn't know much about Ezo."

"They didn't realize that our village is a 'ghost village' where hunting is a living. Even women can draw bows and shoot arrows."

"Compared with bears and wolves, those gold diggers are nothing."

"Under the volley of our bows and arrows, the group of gold diggers who planned to rob us of our money and food were shot into hedgehogs by us."

"I will remember the funny faces of those gold diggers when they saw the whole village taking out their bows and arrows. Hahahaha."

Shimasuke's words directly aroused the interest of many people present.

"Mr. Shimasuke! Can you tell us how your village fought those gold diggers? I want to hear it!"

"Yeah yeah, we want to hear it!"

Shimasuke looked embarrassed: "How to fight those gold diggers... This story is not very exciting."

"It's okay, just tell us!"

Seeing that the vast majority of the audience expressed their desire to hear the whole story of their village's fight against those gold diggers, they could only sigh helplessly, and then said:

"Alright then, let's change today's story to how our village dealt with those gold diggers."

"I remember that should have been 35 years ago..."

Shimasuke began to tell the story.

However, Ogata's mind is still immersed in the "gold rush in Ezo" that Shimasuke just mentioned.

There is a lot of gold in Ezo, and until today there are still desperadoes going to Ezo to pan for gold-this is the first time Ogata has heard of such a thing.

No one had ever told Ogata about this before.

Because Ezo is too remote, in this era of extremely underdeveloped information transmission, there are too few people who know about Ezo.

Ogata didn't expect that after listening to Shimasuke's story for so long, he didn't collect any useful information.

Unexpectedly, on the night before leaving Nishino Town, there was an unexpected joy, and a piece of valuable information was harvested.

—A gold digger...

Ogata silently chewed the word "gold digger" in his heart.

According to what Shimasuke said just now, there are still many desperadoes who want money but not life go to Ezo to seek gold.

These people who came to pan for gold have long regarded the authority and laws of the shogunate as nothing, so it is not surprising that they did anything.

Ogata silently labeled the group of "gold diggers" as "need attention".

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