I Was a Swordsman in Ancient Japan

After leaving the Quanbingkan, Ogata first went back to the hotel where he, A-cho and Azuki were staying - as Ogata expected, they were completely absent from the hotel.

As for where the two of them are going to play now, and when they will come back, Ogata naturally has no clue.

How should I spend this time alone without the company of A-Ming and the others?

Staying in a hotel, staring at the ceiling in a daze, this kind of thing is definitely not done emotionally.

After thinking about it, I couldn't think of any place I wanted to go very much now, so I walked out of the hotel in a big way.

——Just go outside for a walk, take a walk.

He bought a few strings of glutinous rice dumplings from a tea house near the hotel, and took these sticks of glutinous rice dumplings for lunch, and while walking aimlessly on the streets of Osaka, he leisurely gnawed on the glutinous rice dumplings in his hand.

In Ogata's impression, since he left Edo last fall, he hasn't walked alone in the bustling metropolis like this for a long time.

The long-lost "walking alone" made Ogata feel a special freshness in his heart, and his steps became a little lighter.

Ogata's walk this time has no destination, and he can go wherever he wants to go.

Before I knew it, I entered a commercial street.

——Osaka really deserves to be called the "capital of commerce" and "the largest economic city in the country"...

Ogata couldn't help feeling so emotional.

The density of commercial streets in Osaka is far better than that of Kyoto, and slightly better than that of Edo. No matter where you go, you can encounter commercial streets and vendors who keep shouting.

The glutinous rice dumpling in Ogata's hand has just been eaten up now, he crossed his hands into the wide haori sleeves, walked slowly in the middle of this commercial street, and carefully looked at the people on the street. Every shop.

This is a comprehensive commercial street. There are all kinds of shops on both sides of the street, selling everything.

Porcelain, clothes, miscellaneous goods, tatami mats...

Maybe it's because this place is the western suburb of Osaka, so the flow of people is not very large.

Just when Ogata reached almost the middle of the commercial street, his feet suddenly stopped.

With bright eyes, he looked at a store on his left.

On his left is a rather impressive bookstore.

——A bookstore...

Reading is one of Ogata's great hobbies.

Back then, he was just reading in his own study, and because he was tired from reading, he squinted his eyes and slept for a while, but when he opened his eyes again, he had already changed into Ogata Yishi.

Since I came to the Edo period, because I didn't have time, and the books of this era were basically not suitable for Ogata's taste, so I seldom read books anymore.

Because he likes to read, one of Ogata's favorite places to visit in his previous life was the bookstore.

I am idle now, and it is rare to come across a store that I am interested in, so Ogata stepped into this bookstore without thinking too much.

As soon as I entered the bookstore, I was greeted with a strong smell of ink and paper.

A Tedai (the merchant's clerk) greeted Ogata quickly like a cat smelling fish.

"Guest officer, what do you need?" The young Tedai asked Ogata politely.

"I just came here to see if there are any interesting books." Ogata said.

"In that case, please go ahead, guest officer." Tedai maintained a bowed posture, stood aside, and made a "please" gesture to Ogata.

There are quite a lot of books in this magnificent bookstore, which are dazzling.

But after Ogata took a cursory look, a hint of disappointment slowly emerged from his eyes—the collection of books in this bookstore was not as he expected, and they were basically books that he was not very interested in.

They are basically history books, or some Han classics, and some Chinese novels.

Such as Romance of the Three Kingdoms and Outlaws of the Marsh.

Romance of the Three Kingdoms and Outlaws of the Marsh were undoubted bestsellers in the Edo period, and they have been on the bestseller list for a long time.

Ogata moved inch by inch,

Scanning every book on the bookshelf little by little, looking for books that interest me.

Before I knew it, I had already walked to the side of the counter.

Behind the counter sat an old man with thinning hair.

The old man was looking at a book in his hand with relish. On the cover of the book in his hand are neatly arranged 4 Chinese characters - The Romance of the Three Kingdoms.

At this time, the old man found Ogata who was standing not far from him, looking for books.

"...My lord." The old man grinned, "What book do you want?"

"Ah, I just looked around casually." Ogata said, "Just to see if there are any books I'm interested in."

"Interesting book..." A meaningful smile appeared on the old man's face, "Then I wonder if you are not interested in this kind of book?"

After all, the old man reached out his hand and looked under the counter——and took out a book with a yellow cover.

Looking at the book with a yellow cover in the old man's hand, Ogata couldn't help but stare, and let out a low exclamation: "Yellow paper?"

"That's right." The old man nodded with a kind face, "It's the yellow paper."

Yellow table paper - a book that can make countless men in this era "smile knowingly" after hearing it.

To put it simply, it is a literary work with illustrations in the Edo period. Because the cover is basically yellow, it is called "yellow watch paper".

Seeing the old man showing Ogata the yellow paper in his hand so carelessly, Ogata couldn't help but subconsciously looked around.

After confirming that there were no other people around, Ogata lowered his volume and asked the old man:

"Boss, why do you dare to sell this kind of thing? I remember that this kind of thing has been banned long ago?"

Since Sadanobu Matsudaira came to power, in order to reverse the corrupt trend of advocating consumption and pleasure in society, and to make the increasingly degenerate samurai class more like a samurai, Matsudaira Sadanobu issued a series of rectification measures.

For example, the prohibition of mixed bathing of men and women.

Another example is the ban on the sale of pornographic publications such as pornographic papers.

Anyone who sells these items will be punished severely.

Before Matsudaira Sadanobu issued this ban, this kind of reading materials could be placed on the shelves for sale in a grand manner, and they were extremely popular.

In Ogata's eyes, the old man who was holding up the yellow paper was like holding a bomb.

"My lord, from your accent, you should not be a native of Osaka, right? You don't know much about Osaka!"

"In Osaka, this is the most important thing."

The old man compared money to Xu Fang.

"In front of this, whether it's the general or the emperor, they all have to stand aside."

"As long as you have this, you can have access, and with access, you can do anything."

"Don't worry, if I'm worried about being caught because of this, I won't show this to you."

After finishing speaking, the old man stuffed the yellow paper in his hand into Ogata's arms.

"Take it and have a look. If you are interested, I will sell it to you at a lower price."

A person who had just been reading the Romance of the Three Kingdoms in a serious manner suddenly took out a yellow paper and stuffed it in - for some reason, this made Ogata feel strange and inexplicable.

He lowered his head and looked at the yellow paper in his arms.

Ogata's brain said loudly to Ogata: No! What's so good about this kind of depraved will!

Obviously the brain has already said so.

But a weird thing just happened!

Ogata found himself unable to control his fingers.

His fingers flipped the yellow paper in his hand uncontrollably.

After the yellow paper was opened, he was surprised to find that not only his fingers were out of control, but his eyes were also out of control.

The eyes couldn't control the lines on the book.

Since traveling to the Edo period, I have never read this type of book, just take a look - Ogata felt that his fingers and eyes seemed to be saying this to him.

Ogata's reading speed is already very fast, and he can read ten lines at a glance and accurately memorize the contents of books.

The yellow paper is generally very thin, and the thickest will not be thicker than a finger.

After a while, only two-thirds of the contents of the yellow form in Ogata's hand remained.

In terms of content, the content of this yellow form is very simple, it just talks about the detailed process of a ronin and the daughter of a dojo master getting acquainted, falling in love, and getting connected.

There are still a few illustrations in this book—however, Ogata has always been unable to appreciate the art style of the Edo period, so these few illustrations are better than none for Ogata, and he will "calm down" after reading them.

This is Ogata's first contact with literary works of the Edo period. He obviously only intended to take a casual look and taste something new, but gradually... his whole body and mind became uncontrollably immersed in the plot of this book among.

at this time--

"Mr. Sheng, long time no see."

"Oh! It's you! It's been a long time!"

"I'm here to give my mother something she forgot. Is my mother here?"

"Oh! There, there! Your mother is chatting with my wife upstairs!"

A very familiar female voice came into Ogata's ears.

This sudden female voice brought Ogata's mind back from the plot in the book to reality.

Ogata, with a dazed expression, slowly turned his neck, and followed the female voice that caught his ear just now - a beautiful goose yellow appeared in Ogata's eyes...

Isshiki, who was talking with the old man behind the counter, noticed that someone seemed to be watching her.

So she turned her face away following the sight she felt in her body.

Her eyes collided with Ogata's in mid-air.

Yishihua froze in place.

She stared blankly at Ogata.

Then... She slowly moved her gaze, looking at the yellow form in Ogata's hand...

...

...

Valley\u0026lt;/span\u0026gt;At this moment——

Takano Town——

"Is this Koya Town..." The newcomer that Hasegawa focused on training recently: Yamauchi, with his eyes wide open, looked around curiously, "There are indeed a lot of monks..."

"If Osaka is an 'economic city' serving the economy..." Hasegawa, who was walking in front of the inner side of the mountain, with himself and his subordinates all dressed in casual clothes, said with a smile, "Then Koya Town should be the monk dedicated to Mount Koya. The 'religious city' where people serve."

Although Koyasan is called a "mountain", it is not a lonely mountain.

Koyasan is a vast expanse of mountains.

More than 120 temples headed by King Kong Temple are scattered among these layers of mountains.

Koya Town is a town located in the mountains.

After leaving Kyoto, Hasegawa led his men and horses to Koyasan non-stop, and finally arrived in Koyacho smoothly today.

Koya Town can be regarded as a transit point for the outside world to enter Koya Mountain.

Hasegawa plans to rest in Koya Town for half a day, and then set off into the mountains tomorrow morning to go to Xianyuan Temple, where a large number of Buddhist supplies were stolen.

Hasegawa is quite unfamiliar with Koya Town. It is also his first time to visit Koya Town. Before that, he only heard that Koya Town is a city with a strong Buddhist atmosphere.

Now see it for yourself – it really is.

After leading his men and horses into Koya Town, Hasegawa found monks from Mount Koya with shaved heads everywhere.

Mount Koya is the home of the Shingon sect of Buddhism, and the Shingon sect has very strict precepts.

The precepts are so strict that the monks of the Shingon sect are very similar to the Chinese monks, both of whom have shaved heads and do not touch meat.

Koya Town is not only a transit point for the outside world to enter Koyasan, but also the first channel for Koyasan monks to contact the outside world.

Monks also need to eat, drink, and drink. The basic necessities of Koyasan monks will go to Koya Town to buy basic necessities.

Therefore, it is not an exaggeration to call Koya Town "the town that is responsible for providing services to the monks of Mount Koya".

The vast majority of the townspeople living in Koya Town also make a living by earning money from the monks of Koya Mountain.

Because it is close to Mount Koya, the air in Koya Town is also filled with a very strong Buddhist atmosphere.

As soon as he entered Koya Town, Hasegawa could smell the faint smell of burning incense in the air.

Hasegawa had heard that almost all the residents of Koya Town believed in Buddhism, but Hasegawa didn't know if it was true or not.

"Master Hasegawa." Yamauchi, who also came to Koya Town for the first time, asked Hasegawa while continuing to look at everything around him, "Should we go and say hello to the town chief of Koya Town first?"

Hasegawa came to Koya Town this time, because of the sudden incident, he didn’t take the lead in saying hello to Koya Town’s magistrate. The Koya Town’s magistrate should not know that the famous “Onihira” came to their Koya Town.

"...No rush." ​​Hasegawa said, "Say hello to Machiho, let's go after lunch."

Hasegawa smiled wryly and touched his stomach.

"Since I left Kyoto and rushed to this place, I haven't eaten anything warm, but I'm so hungry."

Hasegawa's subordinates also have empty stomachs now. Hearing Hasegawa say that they should go to eat first, everyone immediately voted unanimously in favor of filling their stomachs first.

Koyacho is a small town.

Although the sparrow is small, it has all internal organs. After a while, Hasegawa found a restaurant that was constantly emitting a strong aroma.

Hasegawa was about to lead people in, when he saw a young monk coming out of the restaurant and bumped into Hasegawa.

"Ah, sorry, sorry." Hasegawa took the lead in apologizing to the young monk.

"I am the one who should apologize." The young monk also apologized to Hasegawa very politely.

The two apologized to each other, and the atmosphere was very harmonious.

But at this moment—the young monk who was politely apologizing to Hasegawa just now, his eyes suddenly widened:

"You...are Hasegawa-sama?"

Before Hasegawa could say anything, the young monk frowned, and continued:

"Master Hasegawa, I never expected to meet you here, and I am so honored to meet you here again."

"Meng Rong, please have the courage to ask you a question—how is the case at Nara Honzoji Temple going? Have you found the whereabouts of the Buddhist enemy who stole the treasure of our Honzoji Temple?"

Hearing the young monk's words, Hasegawa's face changed suddenly: "Are you... a monk from Honzoji Temple?"

"Exactly. The monk's name is Faru."

"When my lord rushed to collect clues from the burnt-out Honzoji Temple, the young monk was also there. It's just that my lord was focused on collecting clues, so I didn't pay attention to the young monk."

"Since the destruction of Honzoji Temple, I moved to Koyasan to continue my practice."

Facing this little monk who called himself Faru, Hasegawa forced a stiff smile.

"This...the Honzoji case...we have been actively investigating."

"But there are too few clues, so our tracing work is progressing quite difficult."

Hasegawa chattered.

Although he talked a lot, a brief summary of the central idea of ​​his remarks is that we have been working hard to solve the case, but due to various reasons, until now we have not been able to get rid of the Buddha who burned the temple and stole the treasure. The enemy was caught.

"Master Hasegawa, I can understand that you, as the chief officer of Huofu Thief Kai, are busy with a lot of work every day."

"But I still hope that you can arrest and bring to justice the Buddhist enemies who burned down my Honjangji Temple and stole my Honjangji Temple's treasure as soon as possible."

"This kind of villain, if I don't see him brought to justice with my own eyes, I really don't want to be reconciled."

"If you can't catch him, please be sure to find back the most important treasure of our temple that was stolen - the treasured sword Yan Mo."

"This sword used to be one of Taiko Hideyoshi's sabers. This sword has a history of more than 200 years. It is a precious sword that cuts iron like mud. It is also a precious cultural relic. No matter what, it must not fall into the hands of thieves."

Fa Ru chattered.

There is a lot of talk, but the meaning conveyed is only one: quickly bring to justice the thieves who burned temples and stole treasures.

Hasegawa assured Faru in a sonorous and forceful tone that one day he would catch the Buddha's enemy and give an explanation to the monks of Honzoji Temple.

After arguing with this faru for a long time, Hasegawa finally sent this faru away.

"There are monks from Honzoji here..." Hasegawa scratched his hair and sighed helplessly, then turned his head and said to the subordinates behind him, "Okay, let's go in and eat."

This is a restaurant with private rooms.

Hasegawa opened a large private room large enough to accommodate him and his subordinates—a total of 24 people.

After ordering the meal and sitting in the private room waiting for the meal to be served, Yamauchi quietly asked Hasegawa:

"Master Hasegawa, Honzoji... is the temple that was burned and stolen in Nara three years ago?"

Hasegawa nodded: "Yes, that's the one. At that time, you were not a member of Huofu Thief Kai, so you probably don't have any impression of this case."

"On the day when Honzoji Temple was attacked by Buddhist enemies, not only was the entire temple burned to pieces, the treasured sword Yanmo in the temple was stolen, but the 13 monks headed by the abbot Lian Ye were also killed by Buddhist enemies."

"After the destruction of Honzo-ji Temple, the surviving monks built a temple in the eastern suburbs of Nara."

"I didn't expect to meet monks from Honzoji Temple in Koyasan... I really don't want to meet monks from Honzoji Temple..."

"If we let them know that we don't have any clue about the case of 'the destruction of Honzoji Temple', then their spittle will drown us..."

"Just now that Faru said that the Yan Mo Dao was the Saber of Taiko Hideyoshi with a history of more than 200 years. Is this true?"

"Who knows." Hasegawa shrugged, "A big man like Taiko Hideyoshi owns countless precious sabers. Who knows whether that sword is really Taiko Hideyoshi's saber."

"In short, we don't have the energy to deal with the Honzoji case right now. We'll put the case on hold for now and postpone it. We'll deal with the case when we have clues about the Buddha's enemy again."

"Let's focus on the current 'Xianyuan Temple Buddhist Supplies Theft Case'."

While they were talking, the pile of dishes that Hasegawa ordered had been served one after another.

Hasegawa and the others, who were already starving, immediately began to feast.

The food in this restaurant was already cooked well, and because of the empty stomach, Hasegawa's meal was even more delicious.

After eating three large bowls of rice in one go, Hasegawa burped in satisfaction.

After hiccupping, Hasegawa immediately yawned again.

——It’s really getting old... When I was young, I could still be full of energy even if I didn’t sleep for a day or two. And now I feel sleepy every time I finish a meal...

After Hasegawa rubbed his eyes hard, he was surprised to find that all the subordinates in front of him looked very sleepy now.

Immediately afterwards... a stronger drowsiness hit Hasegawa's brain.

Hasegawa's pupils suddenly shrank.

--Could it be that? !

A terrible idea popped up in Hasegawa's mind.

He subconsciously grabbed the saber by his side.

However, his finger touched the handle of the saber, and the drowsiness that struck Hasegawa's brain became several times stronger in an instant.

Even though he tried his best to open his eyes and keep the eyelids from closing, his control over the eyelids was getting weaker and weaker...

The strength also flowed from Hasegawa's body at an astonishing speed, and Hasegawa didn't even have the strength to speak now.

The moment before he closed his eyelids and completely lost consciousness, Hasegawa saw his subordinates all staggered and collapsed on the ground...

...

...

After Hasegawa and others all passed out, nearly 10 young men in black opened the door and entered the private room of Hasegawa and others.

"These medicines from Xiyang are really powerful. After the effects of the medicine took effect, I immediately lost the strength to speak."

"Stop gossiping, and hurry up and transport them all to Xianyuan Temple. When moving 'Ghost Flat', remember to be gentle. He is a distinguished guest appointed by Lord Toyotomi to meet in person."

"yes!"

*****

*****

I recommend a documentary to everyone. Search for "New Japanese Fengdoji Koyasan" at Station B. This documentary introduces Koya Town and Koyasan in detail. Those who are interested can go and watch it. In modern times, there are still old shops in Koya Town that have served the monks of Koya Mountain for hundreds of years.