I Was a Swordsman in Ancient Japan

There are three main types of weddings in ancient Japan: weddings in front of gods, weddings in front of Buddhas, and weddings in front of people.

For these three types of weddings, you can roughly infer the difference between them just by looking at their names.

A shrine-style wedding, as the name suggests, is a wedding held in a shrine. It is the most complicated of the three types of wedding procedures.

The pre-Buddhist wedding is a wedding held in a Buddhist hall. It is the least used wedding among the three types of weddings.

Whether it is a wedding in front of the gods or a wedding in front of the Buddha, the links are quite complicated.

Take the most complicated pre-god wedding as an example - if you want to hold a pre-god wedding, it may take half a day just to go through the complicated procedures.

The first is to participate in the ceremony.

Accompanied by Gagaku, the priest and priestess who preside over the ceremony guide the bride and others into the main hall of the shrine.

Under the guidance of the maiden and the dowry, after entering the interior of the temple, the relatives of the groom sit on the right side facing the gods, while the bride himself sits on the left side facing the gods. Sit in order from the place closest to the worshiping god.

Then comes the ritual of doomsday. "Xiuying" means a ritual of removing taboos to cleanse the body and mind. The groom, bride and all attendees will receive the decontamination blessing performed by the Zhaizhu.

Then there is the Adhan of the Lord of Zhai, and the Lord of Zhai will perform the adhan at the beginning of the ceremony. All participants must bow to the gods together with the Lord of the Veterans, and then the Lord of the Vegetarians will open the ceremony of "Congratulations" and report to the Gods that the bride and groom are about to get married.

Until this time, the wedding ceremony officially begins, and then the bride and groom will hold a series of complicated activities such as three offerings, recitation of oaths, witches dancing blessing dances, and jade strings.

In terms of the complexity of the wedding, the pre-Buddha-style wedding is no different from the pre-God-style wedding.

Because there are quite a lot of links in the pre-shrine wedding and the pre-Buddhist wedding, and the battle is quite large, only those with a little extra money in their families have the ability to hold weddings in shrines and Buddhist halls.

Therefore, the weddings held by most commoners and some samurai are pre-personal weddings with simpler procedures and almost no cost.

The pre-personal wedding is basically held at the groom's home.

The groom takes the bride to his home, and then holds a three-offering ceremony and reads the oath under the witness of relatives and friends. After reading the vows, the wedding can be declared over.

If it is too troublesome, even the three dedication ceremonies can be omitted. After the bride is taken to her home, the oath will be read under the witness of relatives and friends, and then the wedding can be declared over.

Because there is almost no cost for a wedding in front of a person, most of the weddings held by common people are in front of a person.

No matter how poor you are, you still have the ability to take the bride to your home and invite all your relatives and friends over, right?

Because of the small number of links, it usually only takes 10-15 minutes for a pre-personal wedding to be held.

The wedding that Ogata and A-Machi held today is a pre-personal wedding.

Marriage here in Japan also pays attention to good days and auspicious days.

Although Ogata didn't pay much attention to this, after thinking about it for a while, he decided to do as the Romans do, trying to make the wedding ceremony more ceremonial.

After deciding to hold a wedding in Edo before the official departure to Ezo, Ogata and A-machi began to look for a suitable day to get married.

In the end - they chose today, November 11th.

Because the wedding was held in the afternoon, after the two of them got up this morning, they decided to take a stroll outside while there was still time in the morning.

That's why the two of them played on Ryogoku Hiroko Road this morning.

Then listen to talk and talk about books together.

The place where the two held their wedding was naturally held in this house they borrowed from Dongcheng House.

Host in the biggest room in the house.

At this moment, the relatives and friends invited by Ogata and Atachi have all gathered.

Uncle Qing, A-cho's only relative at present, and the Huluya team headed by Lin and Genichi were naturally present.

In addition to Uncle Qing and the Huluya party, Ogata also invited Kondo and Guasheng.

Uncle Kei, a group of Huluya, Kondo, and Guasheng, a total of 9 people—this is all the banquet guests who attended the wedding of Ogata and Atachi.

They were all dressed in formal attire, sitting on both sides of the room, quietly waiting for today's two protagonists to arrive.

Ogata had never directly mentioned his relationship with A-Machi to the whole group of Calabash House.

But it doesn't matter whether Ogata said it or not.

Lin and the others are not stupid, they have long seen that the relationship between Ogata and A-cho is not ordinary.

Therefore, the fact that "Ogata and Atachi have a very close relationship" has always been tacit in the hearts of Huluya and others.

Therefore—when Ogata and A-Machi announced to the Huluya group a few days ago that they were planning to hold a wedding before leaving Edo, Lin and the others were not surprised at all.

Lin is quite generous.

After Ogata announced that he was going to hold a wedding with A-Machi, he directly allocated a sum of money to Mamiya and the others to buy dresses immediately.

A few days ago, after receiving the invitation from Ogata, Kondo and Guasheng said without hesitation that they would definitely go.

Although Kondo is a bit simple and honest, he is also a rough and delicate person. He attends other people's weddings sloppily - and it is his own master's wedding. Kondo can't do this kind of thing.

Therefore, Kondo went around to ask his friends who lived in Edo for the past few days, and successfully borrowed a set of formal clothes.

And Guasheng has lived in Edo for so many years, and has attended countless weddings of friends, so she naturally has formal attire for formal occasions.

Although Lin, Makimura, and Asai are still a long time away from recovering from their injuries, they can still do things like wearing formal clothes and sitting to attend a wedding.

Not long after everyone took their seats, the two protagonists finally arrived.

Ogata was the first to enter the room.

The upper body is covered with a black haori with long sleeves and a long hem, and the pattern of bellflowers is embroidered in 5 places including the back of the haori. The undershirt under the haori is also black. The lower body is wearing a black and white striped hakama, the belt is tied into a cross knot, and the feet are wearing white socks - this is Ogata's current attire.

Ogata's current outfit is a very standard "Monfu Haori Hakama".

The so-called "monzuki hakama" is the highest-level male dress in the Edo period, and it is generally only worn on special and important occasions such as weddings.

Originally, family crests could only be used by officials and nobles. During the Warring States period, family crests began to be widely used by the children of the samurai family.

In the current Edo period, even many commoners have family crests.

Although Ogata came from a poor samurai family in the Hirose domain, he was also a child of the samurai family, so Ogata naturally also had a family crest.

Kikyo is the family crest of the Ogata family.

As for why the family crest of his own family is Kikyo, Ogata is not quite sure.

Perhaps it was just because his ancestors thought the Kikyo pattern was handsome, so he chose the Kikyo pattern as the family crest of the Ogata family.

Many families choose the family pattern so casually.

After the family crest became popular, except for the chrysanthemum pattern representing the royal family and the sunflower pattern representing the shogun, other family crests tended to be abused.

Many samurai and commoner families decided on which family crest was more handsome, and decided on this family crest as their own family crest.

After deciding to hold a wedding with Ogata, Ogata immediately found a clothing store that could customize clothes, and asked the store to help prepare a set of Monsuke hakama embroidered with his Ogata family crest.

Ogata made the order on the same day and received the clothes the next day.

Because Monfu hakama is very easy to prepare—prepare a large number of hakamas without family crests in advance, and customers can embroider what family crests they want, and embroider them immediately.

If you are quick, you may be able to prepare a "Montsuki haori hakama" that meets the customer's requirements in just one or two hours.

The clothing store where Ogata ordered clothes was very conscientious.

When Ogata came to pick up the clothes, he also gave Ogata a small gift—a fan with their Ogata family's bellflower pattern engraved on the handle.

In Ogata's impression, this seemed to be the first time he wore clothes embroidered with his own family crest.

The one who followed Ogata into the room was naturally Atachi.

A-Machi lowered his head slightly, folded his hands in front of him, followed Ogata, and walked slowly into the room.

The hair is combed into Wenjin Takashimada bun, and the kimono, gown, gown, belt, and cloth socks are all white as snow. The chest sword, lace, Suehiro and other accessories are also white. The famous headgear called "Kakugakure" - this is what A-cho is wearing now.

The outfit on Ah Ding's body is naturally the wedding dress that girls would wear when they get married - Bai Wugou.

There are generally two types of headgear for Bai Wugou: white cotton cap and horn hidden.

"White cotton hat" is a large oval hat. Wearing a "white cotton hat" means that no one but the groom can see the bride's face until the wedding is over. The "spiritual power" hidden in the book means to eliminate disasters.

As for "jiaoyin", it is to wrap a circle of white silk around the bride's hair, and then wear coral hairpins or silver hairpins for decoration, which means "tighten its edges and corners, be gentle and obedient", and imply that the bride is virtuous and gracious. moral hope.

When he was shopping for Bai Wugou, A-Ming thought the "white cotton cap" was too ugly, it looked like he was wearing a helmet, so he chose "Kuoyin" as his headgear.

The two who finally arrived at the scene walked to the northernmost end of the room at a leisurely pace, and then sat down side by side.

Genichi, Mucun, Kondo, and Guasheng were sitting on Ogata's right hand.

On the left hand side of Machi are Kei-shu, Rin, Makimura, Asai, and Shimada.

Generally speaking, the parents who are closest to the bride and groom are the parents of the bride and groom.

Ogata and Atachi's parents are no longer alive. Although Uncle Qing and Atachi are not related by blood, the relationship between the two is as close as uncle and nephew. Atachi has always regarded Uncle Qing as his half father, so Uncle Qing Sitting in the seat closest to Machi, there was no problem at all.

But who should sit closest to Ogata? That's where it gets tricky.

After discussions with Lin and others, it was finally decided that Yuan Yi would take this seat.

Genichi can also be regarded as Ogata's master.

A while ago, under the guidance of Genichi, Ogata just developed two new tricks, "Dragon Tail Flash" and "Water Drop Erlian".

So Yuanyi is undoubtedly the most suitable person for this position.

After the two protagonists, Ogata and Atachi, arrived, the wedding officially began.

The first is the three dedication ceremony.

A small table was placed in front of Ogata and A-Machi, on which there were red shallow-bottomed wine glasses in three sizes: small, medium, and large, and a jug of wine.

Ogata picked up the smallest size wine glass first, poured almost half a glass of wine, and then held the small wine glass to his lips.

There are rules on how to drink these wines.

You can't be bored in one mouthful, you have to drink it three times first.

In the first 2 sips, I only let my lips sip the wine, and it was not until the third sip that I completely drank the wine in the glass.

After drinking the wine in the glass, Ogata handed the small wine glass in his hand to A-Machi beside him.

After refilling the small wine glass with half a glass of wine, A-Machi repeated the steps Ogata had just done, drinking the wine in the glass three times.

After both of them drank from the small wine glass, Machi put down the small wine glass in his hand and picked up the medium-sized wine glass.

This time, it was Machi who drank first.

After A-Machi poured half a glass of wine into this medium wine glass, he drank it three times as before, then handed this medium wine glass to Ogata, and poured another half glass of wine into this medium wine glass, and then Ogata also divided it into three times Drink the wine in the medium wine glass.

After drinking the wine in the medium wine glass, Ogata put down the medium wine glass, picked up the largest wine glass, and then repeated the drinking steps just now.

He first drank the wine in the glass in three sips, and then handed the big wine glass to A-Ming beside him to drink.

This is the "Three Offering Ceremony", which is also known as "Three Three Nine Degrees", which is a bit similar to the Chinese "Cream of Wine".

Three wine glasses of different sizes symbolize heaven, earth and man.

"Three" is an auspicious yang number in Japanese culture, so the drinks in the three wine glasses are worth drinking three times.

The three wine glasses are divided into three drinks, so both the bride and groom have to drink nine sips of wine, and "nine" is a very positive number in Japanese culture, representing supreme joy and auspiciousness.

After the "Three Dedication Ceremony", the next link is "Oath Reading".

The oath is recited by the groom, and the bride only needs to say her own name when she recites the name of the person who made the oath at the end.

By the way - Mamiya was responsible for writing the oath of Ogata and the others.

When Ogata was planning to find a professional to help transcribe the oath, Mamiya who happened to be beside Ogata said quietly:

"I've been to a lot of weddings before, so I can write vows."

So Xu Bianyi asked Gamiya to help write the oath with the attitude of giving it a try.

And the oath written by Mamiya is really very formal...

How formal is it?

Formal to the entire oath is written in ancient Japanese thousands of years ago...

Of course Ogata doesn’t know how to read ancient Japanese, it’s better to say that few people can read ancient Japanese, and only those who have received a very high level of education can understand ancient Japanese.

These days, Ogata has been secretly practicing reciting this oath, until his tongue is almost tied up, and then he can barely read this oath, which is all in ancient Japanese.

After the "Three Dedication Ceremony", Ogata took out the oath that Mamiya had written for him early in the morning, and began to recite it aloud:

"Choose this auspicious day for the wedding."

"From now on, we will respect and love each other, form a family, share joys and sorrows, and live forever."

"May the two of us be happy forever, and I would like to swear on this together."

"Kanzheng two years, November eleventh."

"Husband: Ogata Yishi."

After Ogata's voice fell, A-Machi followed up and said loudly:

"Wife: Machi."

The oath is generally very short, but because this oath is written in complex ancient Japanese, Ogata took nearly half a minute to finish this short oath.

After Ogata and A-Machi read the oath, the wedding came to an end.

It took less than 10 minutes from the time when Ogata and Atachi entered the venue to the completion of the wedding ceremony—the wedding ceremony in front of people is so short.

Some poorer families may omit the "three offering ceremony" when holding a pre-personal wedding. If the "three offering ceremony" is omitted, the time can be shortened, and it is enough to read the oath. If you are fast enough, you can hold a wedding in just 2 minutes.

The wedding is over, and then, of course, comes the banquet.

A-Ming stepped back for the time being, and changed out of Bai Wugou's body, and put on a color jacket with red and yellow as the main colors.

The so-called "playing gown" is actually a dress for women, which is only worn on various formal occasions.

Bai Wugou is also known as "white coat".

And "se da gua" is a colorful da gua.

According to the rules, when the bride finishes her wedding ceremony and starts the banquet, she has to change Bai Wugou and put on a colored gown.

And the seda jacket must have the family crest of the husband's family, which means that it has been infected by the family style of the husband's family and will be reborn in the new family.

The red-and-yellow colored gown that A-Machi is wearing now is embroidered with the family crest of the Ogata family: Kikyo.

A-machi's colored jacket is naturally a new one, and the people in the clothing store embroidered Ogata's bellflower pattern on it.

After A-Machi changed his clothes, the banquet could be officially announced, and the originally solemn room gradually became lively.

...

...

"Speaking of which, I didn't know that brother Ogata's family crest is platycodon flower until a few days ago when brother Ogata went to order a hakama for Monfu." Mucun poured wine into his mouth while sitting still. Ogata on the main seat said so.

Mucun has the kind of physique that heals quickly from wounds. Although he is still far away from being fully recovered, he can barely move around and drink heavily.

"After all, I've never said it before." Ogata continued while sipping the wine in his glass, "To be honest, I personally forgot the last time I wore clothes embroidered with family crests, or used clothes engraved with What is the time for Iamon's utensils?"

In Ogata's impression, this was the first time he wore clothes embroidered with the bellflower pattern of their Ogata family after traveling to the Edo period.

On weekdays, there are very few opportunities to wear clothes with your own family crest or use utensils engraved with your own family crest.

"Blooming platycodon flower..." Mamiya said half-jokingly, "I didn't expect Ogata-kun that your family uses the 'flower-shaped family crest' that is famous for its beauty."

"Is the 'Green Flower' the family crest given to you by your ancestors, or the one chosen by your ancestors?"

As soon as Jian Gong's words fell, Xu Fang smiled wryly and shrugged, saying:

"I don't know. I think my ancestors thought the platycodon pattern was very handsome, so they took the platycodon pattern as the family crest."

Indiscriminate use of family crests was actually very common in the Edo period. Many samurai and civilians see what kind of family crest looks good, so they use it as their own family crest.

Because of the abuse of family crests, according to the statistics of later generations of Japan, there were more than 12,000 family crests in Japan in the Edo period.

"The platycodon pattern is pretty pretty." Mucun carefully looked at the platycodon pattern that would be embroidered on Ogata's haori, and said with a grin, "It looks very elegant. After Ogata put on the clothes with the platycodon pattern, the whole body People have become more refined."

"I think so too." A-cho, who was sitting next to Ogata, echoed with a smile.

Ogata still agrees with what Mucun said just now, and he himself thinks that the platycodon pattern is pretty.

It would be better to say - "Flower-shaped family pattern" is not ugly.

Each "flower-shaped family pattern" has a very high appearance.

...

...

Both Makimura and Kondo are that kind of live treasure type characters.

Especially Kondo.

In this wedding, in addition to Uncle Qing, Huluya and his party, Ogata also invited Kondo and Guasheng.

Guasheng is not bad, he and Uncle Qing worked together to save the "stain" in Shiranui before, so he is very familiar with Uncle Qing. I also had a brief relationship with the Huluwu group before.

As for Kondo, he doesn't know anyone except Ogata and Acho.

If it were someone else who wasn't very good at communicating with people, participating in this kind of wedding where they basically didn't know anyone would definitely be embarrassing, and they wouldn't know who to talk to.

But that doesn't happen with Kondo.

Kondo, who was familiar with himself, was familiar with everyone present at a surprising speed...

While getting acquainted with everyone present, he did not forget to promote the place where he is currently working - Beifeng House.

It was also thanks to Kondo, who was acquainted with Kondo, and Mucun, who was also acquainted with Kondo, that the banquet with a small number of people gradually became lively.

At first, everyone was still sitting properly.

After the atmosphere of the banquet gradually became lively, everyone gradually stopped sitting in their original positions.

Ogata and A-Ming stepped down from the main seat, and sat with Lin and the others to drink and chat.

Lin and the others no longer sat neatly in two rows, and everyone sat where they wanted to sit.

The wedding of Ogata and A-Machi started at around 15:00.

It's autumn now, and it gets dark quickly, so before you know it, the sky is slowly getting dark.

Ogata couldn't remember how much wine he had drunk.

Today is my happy event, the happiest day since this year, and my injury has healed by nearly 70%, so it doesn't matter if I drink a little more, so Ogata indulged himself a little.

For the toasts of Genichi, Makimura, and Kondo, Ogata never refused.

And Yuanyi, Mucun and the others were also very rude, pouring wine on Ogata round after round.

Although Ogata's capacity for drinking is not bad, but such a drinking method is really a bit overwhelming.

When night fell, Ogata already felt his head start to ache.

On the other hand, Yuanyi, Mucun and the others are still very energetic.

They are all the kind of alcoholics, especially Yuan Yi, Yuan Yi is usually the kind of fierce person who drinks wine like water and can drink for a whole day.

To them, such a small amount of wine is just enough to make them slightly drunk.

In order to cheer himself up a bit, Ogata temporarily left the table in the name of going to the toilet, intending to go outside to blow some air to boost his spirits.

There happened to be a window in one of the corridors of the house.

Ogata, who left the table temporarily, walked quickly to this corridor, opened the window of this corridor, and then stuck his head out of the window.

The cold night wind blows in.

Because he had drunk a lot of wine, Ogata's face was now slightly blush, and felt a little hot to the touch.

The slightly hot face was indescribably comfortable when it touched the cold night wind.

It made Ogata recall the feeling of returning to the air-conditioned room from the hot outdoors in the summer of the previous life.

Under the blowing of the cold night wind, the pain in the head also slightly eased.

Just as Ogata was quietly enjoying the blowing of the night wind and silently recovering his spirits, a female voice with a bit of surprise in his tone sounded beside Ogata:

"Master Ogata, are you also here to blow the air?"

It was Gua Sheng's voice.

Ogata turned his head to look, and saw Gua Sheng, who was also flushed, walking slowly towards him.

Gua Sheng brought his life back on track some time ago.

Continue to work in Yoshihara as always, and continue to defend Yoshihara under the title of "Yoshihara Concentric" given to her by the girls.

In order to attend Ogata's wedding, Guasheng took a day off today.

"Yeah..." Ogata smiled wryly, "Master Gen and the others can drink too much, so I came out to take a break."

"I also came out to rest." Gua Sheng also smiled wryly, "I don't drink very well. I drank a little more just now, so I don't feel very comfortable now, so I want to come out to get some air..."

Ogata will stand aside to give up some space to Guasheng.

Guasheng walked slowly to the part of the seat that Ogata had just vacated, and stood side by side with Ogata by the open window.

After blowing the night breeze together in silence, a smile slowly appeared on Gua Sheng's face.

After this smile appeared, Gua Sheng broke the silence between the two of them:

"This time feels like a dream."

"Yitao Zhai, whom I have always respected and admired, suddenly appeared in front of me."

"Worked in Yoshiwara for a while with the admired Ittosai."

"Then Yidao Zhai avenged me and destroyed that hateful place in Shiranui."

Speaking of this, Gua Sheng paused.

Then he turned his head and cast serious eyes on Ogata.

"There is so much to thank you for. Thank you very much."

"I want to thank you too." As soon as Guasheng finished speaking, Xufang smiled, "Thanks to you, I also had a very happy time working in Yoshiwara."

"I just did what a senior should do." Gua Sheng smiled and responded in a joking tone.

After being silent for a while, Gua Sheng continued to ask:

"Now that the wedding with Ms. Atachi is over, are you planning to leave for Ezo too?"

"Yeah." Ogata's expression became a little more serious, "We're going to leave in a few days."

Gua Sheng's expression became a little more serious: "Although I don't know much about Ezo, I have heard that Ezo is a dangerous place."

"It is said that last year, there was just a riot among the Ezos."

"So—you must pay attention to safety."

"Well. Of course." Speaking of this, Ogata's serious expression gradually disappeared, and then he joked, "I went to Ezo with the intention of going to Longtan and Tiger's Den."

"When will you finish handling your own affairs, and you are welcome to return to Edo at any time."

The serious look on Gua Sheng's face also faded.

"When you come back, you can come to me at any time. I will do my best to treat you to a delicious meal."

"At that time, you can also tell me what you have seen and heard in Ezodi."

On Gua Sheng's cheeks, a smile grew stronger.

"Unless something happens, I will definitely be in Yoshiwara."

"Are you planning to continue working with Yoshihara?" Ogata asked.

"Of course." Guasheng replied without thinking, "Yoshihara is my home to me now."

"And, just like Ogata-sama, you have something you should do now."

"I also have... something I should accomplish."

Gua Sheng cast his eyes out of the window, looking into the distance.

"Although my strength is quite weak."

"Although my help to the Yoshihara girls is only a temporary solution, not a permanent cure."

"But I still want to do my best to help these disadvantaged girls."

"After all, someone just told me that a while ago."

Guasheng cast his smiling eyes back on Ogata.

“‘Send as much light as you can, even if the light is like a firefly, it can bring some light to the darkness. There is no need to wait for a torch to illuminate the darkness.’”

Guasheng softly recited the words Ogata told her earlier.

"I decided to stay in Yoshiwara."

"Live as much light as I can."

Ogata looked at Gua Sheng beside him, with a bit of surprise in his eyes.

This sentence was said to Guasheng when he and Guasheng were sent to support a certain tea house.

That night, I also encountered Takikawa who was making trouble at the teahouse—but that's all for a later story.

At that time, Guasheng met a certain "Yuan Younv" whom he had known before, and he was touched by the situation. He had doubts about the work he had been doing all along.

At that time, looking at the confused Guasheng, Ogata took advantage of the opportunity to say this famous quote from a great writer in his previous life.

The eyes of Gua Sheng now are completely different from those of Gua Sheng at that time.

Now Gua Sheng's eyes are full of firmness, without a trace of confusion.

Looking at Guasheng, who was completely different from before, a smile uncontrollably emerged from the depths of Ogata's pupils.

"It seems that you are no longer confused."

"Because I was inspired by someone."

Guasheng looked at Ogata.

"It doesn't matter whether it's the daimyo of Yifan, or the mighty Shiranui and the Shogunate, that person never backs down in the face of these behemoths."

"I decided to learn his courage."

"Go forward and go straight on the road you want to go."

There was a little surprise in the depths of Ogata's pupils.

After staring straight at Guasheng for a while, Ogata slowly restrained the surprise in the depths of his pupils.

Instead of "surprise", there is a touch of "relief".

"... Well said. Guasheng." Ogata nodded lightly with a bit of relief in his eyes and face, "When I am fighting in Ezo or other places, you should also work hard. .”

I will go back to Edo when everything is settled in the future. "

"At that time, you can treat us to something delicious."

"It would be great if it took us to eat at a delicious restaurant that only Edo locals know."

"I will." Gua Sheng laughed, "At that time, you can eat with confidence. I still have a lot of savings."

Hearing Guasheng's joke, Ogata and Guasheng laughed softly at the same time.

...

...

As the night darkens—

Edo, Kitamachi Magistrate's Office——

Because Edo implemented the "Yuefan Handover System", Nan and Beicho followed the "month" as a unit and took turns managing Kyoto.

Last month, that is, in October, the Kitamachi Magistrate was in charge of managing Edo.

And now it was November, and the power and responsibility for managing Edo naturally fell to the Nancho Executive Office.

But—although the Kitamachi Magistrate's office is idle this month, it doesn't mean that the Kitamachi Magistrate's Office is empty now.

There are still a small number of official servants staying in the Beiding Enforcement Office to prevent outsiders from trespassing on the Enforcement Office.

Converted into the time unit of modern earth, it is almost 23 o'clock now.

In this day and age, it is quite late at night.

On the left and right sides of the gate of the Kitamachi Magistrate's Office, there are two officials holding thorns standing on each side.

Because of the late night, sleepiness surged up uncontrollably, causing the four officials to yawn frequently.

At the same time, because it was late at night, there were no pedestrians on the street in front of the four of them.

Apart from the "whoosh" sound of the night wind blowing, there was no other sound.

This too quiet environment aggravated the sleepiness of the four of them.

Just as they were concentrating on fighting against the sleepiness in their minds and waiting for the time for shift change, a burst of strange music suddenly entered their ears.

The strange music came from the end of the street on their left.

The music was getting louder—it was coming towards the four of them.

The four of them frowned, followed the sound and looked towards the street on the left.

The humidity is heavy tonight, and there is a thin fog everywhere.

A figure slowly emerged from the misty street entrance at an unhurried speed.

After seeing the appearance of this figure clearly, the brows of the four officials frowned even deeper.

The dress of this figure is not unreasonable.

Wearing a deep grass hat that can cover the whole head, this kind of deep grass hat is called "Tian Gai". Both hands are wearing gauntlets, cassocks are hanging around the neck, a pair of dirty white socks are covering the feet, the calves are tied with feet, and there is a knife without a knife hanging on the back of the waist. Holding a shakuhachi in both hands, he played it there.

This person's figure is extremely burly, it should be a male, and he is a particularly strong male.

Seeing this person's strange attire, an official raised his eyebrows, and muttered in a puzzled tone: "Nihing Monk?"

There are quite a few branches of Buddhism in Japan.

Among these many sects, there is a very famous sect: Puhua sect.

People used to call the monks of Puhua sect "the monks of nothingness".

The nihilistic monk can be said to be the most special monk.

The nihilistic monks all wear a deep grass hat called "Tian Gai" that can cover the entire head, and wear gauntlets on both hands. They are not shaved, do not wear monk clothes, and only hang cassocks around their necks.

They spend far more time traveling around than staying in Buddhist temples.

The Void Monk spends most of the year wandering around.

When traveling around, they often carry a musical instrument called "shakuhachi".

While playing the shakuhachi, he wandered aimlessly, basically relying on begging for food while wandering.

The nihilistic monks are special not just because of their weird attire.

What's special about them is that the shogunate gave them quite a lot of privileges.

Puhua Sect is not a sect that anyone can convert to.

Only the children of the Wu family can convert to Puhua sect.

That is to say, ordinary people cannot enter the Puhua sect and become nihilistic monks.

Because the Puhua sect only accepts the children of the Wu family, every nihilistic monk is a "former warrior".

The shogunate gave two great privileges to the nihilistic monks of Puhuazong.

The first privilege is the right to wield a sword, and every nihilistic monk can wield a sword.

The second privilege is the freedom to travel around Japan without any hindrance.

The reason why the shogunate gave these two privileges to the nihilistic monks is also very simple - the shogunate and the Puhua sect are in a cooperative relationship.

Since the birth of Puhua Sect, it has always had the ethos and culture of encouraging its monks to travel around.

So the Edo shogunate simply cooperated with Puhuazong-giving them these two major privileges, allowing them to travel around more conveniently.

Puhuazong only needs to do one thing to repay the shogunate.

That is to act as a secret agent of the shogunate to spy on the movements and people's sentiments of the daimyos.

In other words, many nihilistic monks are actually spies of the Edo shogunate.

Traveling around in the name of practicing, acting as a spy.

The Edo shogunate also specially helped Puhuazong build a new Buddhist temple, Lingfa Temple, which is located in Edo.

This nihilistic monk who suddenly appeared at the intersection of the misty street, blowing the shakuhachi in his hand, walked unhurriedly towards the four officials guarding the gate of the Kitamachi Magistrate's Office.

The strange music heard by the officials came from the shakuhachi in the hands of this nihilistic monk.

Seeing the nihilistic monk slowly walking towards them, the four officials frowned even deeper.

"Stop!" An officer swung the thorn in his hand again and pointed at the nihilistic monk, "If you are here to beg for food, please leave, we don't have any extra food on us right now."

"Leave immediately!"

When the official officer pointed the thorn in his hand at the nihilistic monk again, the other 3 officials hurriedly followed, and as if they were facing a big enemy, they swung the thorns in their hands again and pointed them at the ignorant monk again .

There is also a reason why these four officials are so nervous.

The Void Monk's reputation has been getting worse lately.

The reason is that there are many thieves pretending to be nihilistic monks, wandering around in the identity of nihilistic monks, and then committing crimes everywhere.

No one knows whether the nihilistic monk in front of him is a real monk or not.

It was late at night, and there was not even a dog on the street at this time, and this nihilistic monk suddenly walked towards them while blowing shakuhachi in such a late night-it was really suspicious no matter how you looked at it.

When the officer yelled "stop" just now, the nihilistic monk had already stopped in his tracks.

But—although he had already stopped, the movement of his hands did not stop.

He stood still and continued to play the shakuhachi in his hand.

Because the nihilistic monk was wearing a "canopy" that could cover his head, the officials couldn't even see the nihilistic monk's face clearly.

"Didn't you hear what we said?" The official just now shouted again in an impatient tone, "Stop bragging! Leave quickly! If you don't leave, we will regard you as a suspicious person! Let you eat for a while Prison food!"

After the officer's words fell, the nihilistic monk finally stopped playing the shakuhachi in his hand.

Then……

bass!

The sound of a sharp knife unsheathing suddenly exploded.

The Void Monk loosened his hands very quickly, let go of the shakuhachi in his hand, then stretched his hand behind his back, and pulled out the sword without a handle hanging on his waist.

His grip is very strange, not a pronated grip, but an inverted grip.

At the same moment when he pulled out the sword at the back with his backhand, the monk turned into an afterimage and rushed towards the four officials in front of him.

The sword flashed.

The Wuwu Monk swiped the knife 4 times in a row, spilling 4 handfuls of blood.

After swiping the fourth knife, Wu Wuseng jumped to the distance nimbly, avoiding the blood spurting from the bodies of the officials, at the same time, he swung the knife in his hand towards the ground vigorously, and the blood attached to the blade flowed smoothly. As the blade spilled out, the drops fell on the ground, turning into a dark red arc on the ground.

Snapped.

The shakuhachi fell to the ground.

After the nihilistic monk spilled the blood attached to his blade, the shakuhachi he had loosened just now fell to the ground.

When the nihilistic monk put his knife back into its sheath, a praise sounded from the place where he had just appeared:

"Lou Luo, your skills seem to be getting better."

As soon as this praise fell, a young man slowly emerged from the misty street entrance.

This young man had a handsome face, and he wore a beautiful sword with a purple handle on his waist.

A burly man whose stature was no less than that of the nihilistic monk followed closely behind the young man.

After the young man appeared, the nihilistic monk immediately bowed to salute the young man.

"Master Toyotomi. Thank you for your compliment."

The young man—that is, Toyotomi smiled, then changed into a somewhat helpless tone and continued:

"But do you have to blow your shakuhachi first every time you kill someone?"

"This is my habit." The nihilistic monk called "Lou Luo" by Toyotomi said in a calm tone, "If I don't play the mourning music I created before killing people, then when I kill people, I will feel Very uncomfortable."

"Forget it, as long as you like it." After finishing speaking, Toyotomi strode towards the gate of the North Prison Office in front of him, "Gao Qing, Lou Luo, come with me, let's give the shogunate a surprise together."

"Yes!"*2

The strong man who appeared with Toyotomi was Gao Qing.

After he and Lou Luo shouted "Yes" in unison, he followed Toyotomi and strode towards the gate of the Kitamachi Prison Office, which was no longer guarded by anyone.

*****

*****

In the comments of the corresponding paragraphs in this chapter, I have posted pictures of Monsuke Haori Hakama, Shiro Mugou, White Cotton Caps, etc. If you are interested, please click to have a look.