I Was a Swordsman in Ancient Japan

"I was a swordsman in ancient Japan ()"

The inn where Edo, Ogata and others lived.

call--!

Back at the hotel, Mucun and Asai pulled open the paper sliding door of the big room where their group of men lived.

After opening the door, the two suddenly saw Asai sitting on the tatami mat, and Mamiya was missing.

"Asai." Mucun asked, "Where's Mamiya?"

"Gamiya just went to have a pee." Asai said calmly.

"What about my lord and brother Ogata?"

"They haven't come back yet."

"Does that mean that only the four of us are going back to the hotel now..." Mucun muttered, and found a place to sit cross-legged casually.

"Ah... so tired..." After Shimada complained in a low voice, he also sat down on the tatami mat carelessly.

As soon as Shimada's butt touched the tatami under his feet, Asai who was sitting in front of Shimada suddenly raised his eyebrows:

"Huh? Shimada, why do you have an extra wakizashi around your waist? What's the matter with your extra wakizasa?"

At this moment, Shimada actually had three knives stuck in his left waist—one shovel and two wakizashis.

"Huh? Oh, this one."

Shimada untied one of the wakizashis from his waist.

"I bought it today."

"Bought it today?"

Shimada told Asai about the origin of the knife.

According to Shimada - this Wakizashi was bought by a pawnshop by chance when he went out with Mucun today to collect information.

This wakizashi was placed on the counter of the pawn shop at that time, and Shimada fell in love with this wakizashi at a glance, and the price was not very expensive. The stem should be smaller.

But Shimada, after weighing it over and over again, felt that the incompatibility of the sword and the blade was just a small problem that could not conceal the merits, so he bought the wakizashi back.

Asai just happened to be in a state of having nothing to do and being in a hurry.

After learning that the Wakizashi on Shimada's waist was his new knife, Asai became very interested and asked Shimada to take out the new knife he bought, and let everyone taste it together.

Shimada, who also didn't know what to do next, readily agreed to Asai's suggestion, and handed Wakizashi to Asai.

And just as Asai took over the wakizasa from Shimada's hand, the door of the room was opened again.

The one who opened the door this time was Jiangong who had returned from Xiaojie.

Seeing Mamiya came back, Asai immediately said:

"Jamiya, it's just in time for you to come back. You have to do things like appraising knives."

"What appraiser?" Jiangong was at a loss.

Asai and others explained to Gamiya what happened in as simple a sentence as possible.

"Oh! Shimada bought a new knife?" Mamiya raised his eyebrows, and a faint look of interest appeared on his face, "Then let's take a look together, just to kill some time."

After all, Mamiya sat cross-legged in front of Asai.

After Mamiya sat down on the tatami, Asai handed Shimada's wakizashi to Mamiya.

As soon as Mamiya took over Shimada's wakicha, Shimada on the side was puzzled and said:

"Huh? Senior Mamiya, do you know how to appreciate knives?"

When Mamiya was about to open his lips to say something, Mucun took the lead and said in a joking tone:

"Shimada, you just joined us last year, so you are not as familiar with all aspects of Calabash House as we are."

"After you stay in the gourd house for a long time, you will find that it is very difficult to encounter things that Gamiya does not know."

Mamiya laughed off Mu Cun's joke.

After receiving the wakizasa from Asai's hand, Mamiya did not pull out the sword in a hurry, but placed the sword on the tatami in front of his knees, and then pulled out a handkerchief from his bosom.

"Is there anyone with a handkerchief or paper?" Jiangong asked the three Mucun people in front of him, "Lend me."

"I have a handkerchief." As soon as Mamiya finished speaking, Asai nodded, then took out a handkerchief from his pocket,

Pass it to the palace.

"Thank you. Remember not to talk later, and breathe lightly, so as not to spray your saliva on the blade."

Since he had already returned to the hotel, he no longer needed to disguise himself, and before he returned to the room, Mamiya had put his glasses back on the bridge of his nose.

After instructing the three people in Mucun in this way, Jiangong first supported the glasses on the bridge of his nose, then folded his own handkerchief into a square shape, put it under his lips, and bit it with his teeth .

After covering his mouth with a handkerchief, Gamiya pulled Wakizashi out of the sheath, and then used skillful techniques to take the pin used to fix the handle and blade of the knife.

Then all the parts of the knife handle, knife tan, and knife strip are separated.

Because the size of the sword was not suitable, Mamiya took a lot of effort to remove the sword.

After separating the various parts of the Wakizashi, Gamiya grabbed the stem at the bottom of the blade with the handkerchief that Asai lent him, lifted the Wakizashi blade, and began to carefully examine the various parts of the blade up and down. .

The blade of a katana can be roughly divided into two parts: the lower stem in the sheath, and the upper blade.

Some well-known swordsmiths will engrave their names on the stem of the knife.

Only swordsmiths with top strength are qualified to carve their names on the stems of the swords they make.

Therefore, the kind of knife with the name of the knife maker engraved on the stem is basically an excellent treasure knife.

The kind of knives that do not have the name of the knife maker engraved on the stem are collectively referred to as "no inscription knives".

Mamiya first took a look at the stem of the Wakizashi knife, and after confirming that the swordsmith's life was not engraved on the stem, he began to check the blade.

Gamiya sometimes raised the blade upright, sometimes turned it horizontally, and scanned every corner of the blade with serious eyes.

Mamiya's extremely serious look made the surrounding air serious.

After inspecting the blade, Mamiya assembled the blade, handle and other parts one by one, and reassembled the original scattered parts into a complete Wakizashi.

"It's a good knife." The moment he put the knife back into its sheath, Kamiya took off the handkerchief he was biting into his mouth and said with a smile.

Gamiya spoke in his usual gentle tone, breaking the serious atmosphere around him in one fell swoop.

"The radian of the blade is shallow, the boiling point pattern is tight, and the texture of the blade is a fine intermesh pattern."

"The common mistake of knifesmiths who are not skilled enough is to pursue hardness or sharpness blindly, so that the core iron of the blade is less and the skin iron is thicker."

"As a result, the blade has hardness and sharpness, but lacks flexibility."

"A knife without flexibility is tight. This kind of knife is no different from a waste knife. It will break after a few cuts."

"But this Hawakizashi doesn't have such a problem."

"The flexible core iron is sufficient, and the quenching range of the blade is small. The flexibility, hardness, and sharpness of the blade have reached a good balance."

"Although the person who made this knife is not a famous craftsman, he must be a very experienced veteran."

"Not only that, but the blade is also engraved with the dark lines of Yae Sakura."

"Although the engraving technique of this dark pattern is not very good, it still looks good."

"As an unmarked saber, this is already a rare good product."

"According to my visual observation, this knife should be able to easily cut through the body."

"If you let someone with good swordsmanship do it, you might be able to barely cut it in half."

"It's a pity that the iron used in this knife is not the best iron."

"If you use high-quality iron to cast this knife, the quality should improve a lot."

"Shimada, how much did you pay for this knife?"

"5 taels." Shimada stretched out 5 fingers.

"5 taels?" Mamiya exclaimed in a low voice, "then you have made a lot of money, Shimada. You can buy such a good quality knife for 5 taels."

"The fly in the ointment of this knife is that the size of the knife is wrong."

"The blade is a bit smaller, so it takes a lot of effort to put it on or take it off."

"In the future, you should go to a pawnshop and buy a knife that matches your blade."

"As long as you replace it with a matching knife, it will be a good knife."

After all, Mamiya held the wakizashi with both hands and returned it to Shimada.

After accepting the wakizai returned by Mamiya with a dazed look, Shimada said to Mamiya in a surprised tone with a bit of surprise:

"Senior Mamiya, you are amazing!"

"Your movements and comments just now are so professional, just like a real sword master!"

If anyone who knows a little bit about sword-appreciation watches Gamiya's sword-appreciating movements just now, he can see how professional the movements used by Gamiya just now are.

Before pulling out the knife, bite something with your teeth to prevent your saliva from spraying on the blade.

When taking out the blade for appreciation, he also holds the blade with a handkerchief to prevent his fingers from touching the metal blade directly.

The movements used by Mamiya to stand up the knife and horizontally to watch it are also extremely standard, and can be used as a reference for the movement model when appraising the knife.

Regarding Shimada's praise, Mamiya only smiled slightly:

"It's no big deal. I'm still far behind those real sword masters."

"Senior Mamiya, where must you have learned your skill of appreciating swords?" Shimada's tone was slightly teasing.

Although it is an interrogative sentence, the tone is that of an affirmative sentence.

"...Mmm." After being silent for a while, Mamiya nodded, "My skill of appraising swords... I learned it in Edo."

"Did you learn from a very good sword appraiser in Edo?" Shimada asked.

"...That's right. Although that person's main job is not appraising knives, he is indeed a very professional knives appraising master."

Speaking of this, Jian Gong suddenly paused.

After listening carefully to the movement outside the room, Mamiya smiled and said:

"My lord is back."

As soon as Jian Gong's words fell, Mu Cun on the side also smiled and echoed:

"Well, I heard that too."

Almost the moment Mucun's voice fell, the paper sliding door of the room was pulled open.

It was Lin who opened the door and stood outside the room.

Yuan Yi stood behind Lin.

As soon as Lin and Yuan entered the room, they first glanced at the scene in the room, and then asked:

"Where are Ogata Ittosai and Miss Atachi?"

"The two of them haven't come back yet." Jian Gong replied.

"That's it..." Lin muttered, and closed the door, "Huh? Shimada, what's the matter with that wakizashi in your hand?"

"I bought it from a pawn shop today." Shimada replied, "We just let Senior Mamiya appreciate this knife."

Shimada gave Lin an overview of the two things he bought during the day today, and the Jian Gong sword just now.

"Sheng Liulang, you are lucky." Lin said lightly, "You can buy such a good quality knife with only 5 taels."

Although there was a trace of tiredness on Lin's face, she still sat on her knees on the ground in an orderly manner, instead of sitting cross-legged like Mucun and the others.

"This is the steamed bun I just bought."

As Lin spoke, she untied the small package on her back, placed it on the tatami and untied it, revealing more than twenty steamed buns inside.

"I thought the steamed buns smelled delicious, so I bought some."

"Whoever wants to eat, eat."

"Oh! Thank you, my lord! Then I will not be polite!"

Mucun, who was the most informal among the crowd, was the first to grab the steamed buns and start chewing them.

It's getting late.

Converted to the time unit of modern Earth, it is now around 22 o'clock in the middle of the night.

At this point in time, Mamiya and the others also felt a little hungry.

Seeing that Mucun had already made a move, Jiangong and the others no longer hesitated. After thanking Lin, they picked up steamed buns and began to chew.

Looking at Jiangong and the others who were feasting in front of her, Lin's mouth curved upwards in a small, imperceptible arc.

"Did you all go to gather information properly today?" Lin asked casually.

"Of course." Mucun said in a vague voice with his mouth full of steamed buns.

"Anyway, let's wait for Ogata Isai and Ms. Atachi to come back first." Lin said softly, "When the two of them come back, we can share and integrate the information we have collected... Ah, they are back Woolen cloth."

After all, Lin turned her gaze to the closed door behind her.

Outside the door, there were two footsteps coming from far and near.

One footstep is heavier, the other footstep is softer.

call--!

The paper sliding door that had not been closed for too long was reopened.

"Sorry." After opening the door, Obi apologized to everyone in the room, "Amachi and I came back too late?"

After saying goodbye to Guasheng and leaving Yoshiwara, Ogata and Atachi first returned to the tea house called "Shiya".

After returning the furoshiki used to wrap the steamed bun box and the paper to the tea house, they hurried back to the inn where they were staying.

The father and daughter in that tea house wanted to make a few cups of good tea to thank Ogata and the others for their kindness in helping them deliver the steamed buns, but Ogata and the others declined.

"Nothing." It was Yuan Yi who answered, "Xiaolin and I just came back not long ago. Come in, both of you."

...

...

After Ogata and A-Machi returned, their little alliance was finally fully assembled.

After all the staff arrived, everyone immediately began to share and integrate the information they collected today.

The information collected by Mamiya, Mucun and the others about the "Imperial Trial Match" is exactly the same as that collected by Ogata.

The literary test and the military test are divided, the literary test is conducted first and then the military test, only those who pass the literary test can participate in the military test, and the first place in the two competitions can get a reward of 100 taels of gold... These contents are exactly the same.

After sharing the information they collected about the "Imperial Trial", Mamiya made a concluding speech:

"According to the information collected so far, this 'imperial test match' is just an ordinary event organized by the shogunate."

"It's an event that has absolutely nothing to do with our crusade against Shiranui. I think we can ignore it later."

As soon as Mamiya finished speaking, Asai nodded and echoed:

"I agree."

Lin did not respond to Mamiya's summary, but immediately asked:

"So—besides the 'Imperial Trial', have you found out whether any major events worth mentioning have happened in Edo recently?"

As soon as Lin finished speaking, Jiangong and the others shook their heads.

"We asked a lot of people." Shimada smiled bitterly, "Everyone said that nothing major happened recently."

"Edo has been very peaceful recently." Mu Cun responded.

"The only thing that can be regarded as a major event..." Mamiya murmured, "Probably only because the shogunate is going to hold an 'Imperial Trial', so many wanderers from other places are attracted to Edo, which leads to the deterioration of the law and order in Edo. A lot."

"...It's the same with A-Machi and I haven't heard from the passers-by what happened recently." Ogata suddenly interjected in a serious tone, "But the two of us have collected an important piece of information in Yoshiwara .”

"Yoshihara?" After hearing the term Yoshihara from Ogata's mouth, Genichi frowned, "That's really a coincidence, Xiaolin and I also went to Yoshihara tonight, but we didn't Going deep into Yoshihara, just turned around at the gate of Yoshihara and left."

"Brother Ogata." Mucun, who was sitting next to Ogata, showed a strange smile, "You went to Yoshihara to get information."

"Or went to Yoshihara for some other purpose, and then overheard some important information in Yoshihara?"

When saying the word "other purpose", Mucun especially emphasized his tone.

"Stop doing this." Ogata lightly patted Mucun's shoulder next to him, "I went to Yoshihara for a very serious reason."

After a little fight with Mucun, Ogata returned to a serious tone.

"My information is related to Shiranui."

"One of the Four Heavenly Kings in Shiranui - Ji Taro will go to Yoshiwara to have fun every night."

Hearing Ogata's words, the expressions of everyone present immediately became serious.

Even Makimura, who had joked with Ogata just now, was no longer smiling.

"Ogata Yidao Zhai." Lin said seriously, "tell us about this in detail."

...

...

From helping people to deliver steamed buns to Yoshihara, to finally meeting Jitaro while watching "Oiran Road"-Ogata explained in as few words as possible what happened to him and A-cho tonight.

After quietly listening to Ogata's explanation, Lin asked:

"Does that Jitaro really show up in Yoshiwara every night?"

"According to the 'Yoshihara Satoshi' I mentioned just now named Gua Shengxiu - Najitaro does come to Yoshihara to have fun every night." Ogata said.

"...Ogata Yidaosai." Lin, who had been keeping a straight face since she started sharing their respective information, finally showed a faint smile, "You really collected incredible information. .”

"This information is really useful to us."

"Now that we know where one of the Four Heavenly Kings in Shiranui will show up every night, it will be easy!" Shimada said suddenly, "Let's go and assassinate him! In this way, we can greatly weaken the The combat power in Shiranui..."

As soon as Shimada finished speaking, Ogata and Rin said in unison:

"No!"*2

His proposal was rejected by two people at the same time, and Shimada showed a dazed look:

"Why not? Wouldn't it be good to kill that Jitaro? It will make Shiranui lose one capable person."

"Shimada." Ogata said, "Do you know what our biggest advantage is when we face Calabash House?"

"Uh..." Shimada pondered for a while, "We are much richer than them?"

"This is just one of the advantages." Ogata said, "When we face Shiranui, the biggest advantage is that 'Shiranui is bright, we are dark'."

"The people in Shiranui don't know about Gourd House and the alliance with the executioner Yidao Zhai and one of their traitors to deal with them."

"At the same time, I don't know that we have already arrived in Edo, and we are already preparing to deal them a fatal blow."

"This is the biggest advantage we currently have in the face of Shiranui."

"With this advantage, we can slowly accumulate strength, and then take advantage of the unknown fire and unprepared to launch a thunderous blow against them."

"If you assassinate Ji Taro, one of the Four Heavenly Kings, think about how the top management in Shiranui will react."

"They will definitely increase their vigilance and strictly investigate who killed Ji Taro."

"Maybe Shiranui will find out that we came to Edo."

"That is to say, if we kill Ji Taro now, it will scare the enemy. It will make us lose the biggest advantage we currently have."

"The purpose of our coming here in Edo is to make Shiranui no longer able to pose any threat to your gourd house, me and A-machi."

"It's not a special trip to kill the Four Heavenly Kings."

"Don't lose the watermelon for a sesame seed."

As soon as Ogata finished speaking, Lin nodded:

"What Ogata Ittosai said just now is absolutely correct. Going to kill that Kyutaro now will do far more harm than good."

After listening to what Ogata and Rin said, and knowing that he seemed to have made a foolish plan with no vision, Shimada apologized with shame on his face:

"Sorry, I said something stupid just now."

"No need to apologize." Lin said softly, "You just said what you think, which is very good."

After briefly comforting Shimada, Lin sat up straight and said seriously:

"We still don't know much about Shiranui."

"How many ninjas they have left, how many ninjas have been dispatched to other places, and whether there have been any new changes after cooperating with the shogunate... We don't know anything about these things."

"Therefore, I think—instead of killing that Kyutaro now, it's better to use that Kyutaro. Try to get some useful information from that Kyutaro."

As soon as Lin finished speaking, Xu conveniently grinned:

"Miss Kinoshita, what a coincidence." Ogata said, "You and I thought about going together, and I thought so too."

"Instead of killing Ji Taro now, it is better to try to get some useful information from Ji Taro first."

"That's the problem." Mucun smiled helplessly, "How to get information from that Jitaro?"

"That's easy." Ogata said lightly, "Have you forgotten the extremely important information I just said? That Kyutaro goes to Yoshihara every night."

"So——just sneak into Yoshiwara."

Hearing Ogata's words, Mamiya, who was sitting opposite Ogata, showed a strange smile, and then asked in a half-joking tone:

"Ogata-kun, are you planning to sneak into Yoshihara and become a wandering girl?"

"What? Brother Ogata, are you going to be a wandering girl?" As soon as Mamiya's voice fell, Mucun immediately answered with a serious face, "Actually, Brother Ogata has a pretty face. If it's a woman, maybe it can become the top card."

"Are you two idiots?" Ogata said angrily, "Why did you two think of pretending to be a wandering girl when I said 'infiltrate Yoshihara'?"

After vehemently complaining about Mamiya and Mucun who made it clear that they were making fun of him, Ogata cleared his throat, and then said seriously:

"Because more people flooded into Edo, the number of guests in Yoshihara also increased a lot. The Shirobei clubhouse in charge of Yoshihara was seriously short of manpower, so we decided to hire someone to fill the vacancy."

Lin, who realized what Ogata meant by these words, raised her eyebrows:

"Ogata Ittosai, what do you mean...infiltrated Shirobei Clubhouse?"

"That's right."

Ogata nodded solemnly.

"That Jitaro goes to Yoshiwara every night to seek pleasure."

"And after sneaking into the Shirobei clubhouse, you will be able to shuttle through the streets of Yoshihara and the girls' houses with a more comfortable identity."

"As long as you wear the special haori for the Shirobei Clubhouse, even if you stand in the same place for half an hour, others will not think you are strange, they will only think you are standing guard."

"Sneak into the Shirobei clubhouse, shuttle around Yoshiwara as the manager of Yoshiwara, so as to get information from Jitaro... It's a good idea." The corners of Lin's mouth curled up.

"I also think it's a good idea." Mamiya agreed, "But who should we send to sneak into Shirobei's clubhouse?"

"Let me go." Ogata said without thinking.

"Huh?" Mamiya frowned slightly, "Ogata, are you going to take on this task by yourself?"

"Infiltrating into the Shirobei clubhouse - this is what I suggested." Ogata said indifferently, "And I met that 'Yoshihara-ri Tongxin' - Gua Shengxiu."

"Miss Guasheng's status in Shirobei Clubhouse is not low."

"That's why it's most suitable for me, who is acquainted with Ms. Guasheng, and maybe I can invite Ms. Guasheng to assist me, to sneak into the Shirobei clubhouse."

Ogata didn't explain all the reasons why he planned to infiltrate Yoshihara himself.

There is another very important reason for the self-recommendation - Ogata is sure to retreat when he accidentally conflicts with Ji Taro, or directly kill Ji Taro.

Of course, Ogata did not say the reason.

Lin stared at Ogata for a while, then said slowly:

"Ogata Ittosai, if you plan to infiltrate Shirobei Clubhouse yourself, I won't stop you."

"But before you sneak into the Shirobei clubhouse, I need to tell you something very important."

"During the time you stay in Edo, you'd better minimize the use of 'Nugo Two Swords Style'."

"If someone sees you using the 'Never-Self Dual-Sword Style', it may cause unnecessary trouble."

*****

*****

Let me share a still with you.

I posted this still photo in the "paragraph comment" of this passage. Just click on the right →

This still photo is from the Taiga drama "Shinsengumi! ", are the two bald men of Mrs. Miyuki in the play.

I have watched so many period Japanese TV dramas with oirans, and this one has the cutest bald and the most "oiran candidate" feeling.

In normal times, the bald people will wear the lovely long black straight hairstyle as in the picture, and they will only wear it in a bun on important occasions such as "Oiran Road".