A tour of Japan's Warring States Period

"Grass? Don't be kidding. Straw ropes can't be used as match ropes at all." Yamauchi Yoshiji felt that Xiaoping was joking when he heard this. Grass burns so fast. Even a one-meter-long straw rope can't burn for half an hour. There's simply not enough time to see.

The head accountant in the mountain was also shaking his head beside him. The price of grass was indeed so low that it was free of charge. A piece of straw rope was worth three yuan. Compared with a match rope that cost forty or fifty yuan a piece, the price was really different. It was completely different. Not a heavyweight.

"Of course it is grass, but not ordinary grass. I have my own way to make this grass rope better than his hemp rope!"

Little Pingtai didn't know that grass didn't burn at all and would be burned out in three or two strokes. If it hadn't been completely unsuitable for the battlefield, even if it was half as resistant to burning as hemp rope, it would have replaced hemp rope long ago based on its price. The world must be using straw rope instead of hemp rope.

But what Xiaopingtai used was not ordinary grass, but grass with added ingredients. A very special thing was added that could not be found anywhere else in the country.

"Your Highness, do you know about mountain burdock?" Xiao Pingtai slowly said the three words "mountain burdock" one by one.

"I know that during the spring famine, many people would pick its buds and cook them to eat. Like many wild vegetables in the mountains, they are a bit bitter but edible." Of course, Yamauchi Yoshiharu has never lived in poverty. He must have been reduced to the point where he had to eat wild vegetables to survive.

In the old society, even if the year was good, many people would not be willing to eat if they had a little food in their homes at the turn of spring and summer. They usually go up the mountains or dig in the woods to pick wild vegetables for consumption, not only because these wild vegetables are edible and reduce food consumption, but also because of the promotion and support of the lords.

In the Edo period, there was even a book called "Forty Good Herbs for Preparing for Disasters", which introduced in detail various wild vegetables that could be eaten as food. It was widely promoted by various lords and made known to the people. Life is not easy for ordinary people, and eating wild vegetables is just a matter of leisure.

Therefore, it is not strange for Yamauchi Yoshiharu to know about mountain burdock. If you ask him carefully, he may be able to name more than a dozen plants that can be collected in the wild. The adjective "unconventional" would not appear on such a famous person who had a shabby path and developed his family business.

"Your Highness, do you know what mountain burdock looks like?" Koheita asked casually, fearing that he would only hear its name. After all, Yamauchi Yoshiharu himself does not need to eat wild vegetables.

Yamauchi Yoshiharu thought for a while and then looked at his younger brother. Chief Yamauchi shook his head directly. He also came from a high-ranking martial arts family. Although he was not the young master who inherited the family business, he was still a spare son and never lacked food and clothing.

"It seems to be a plant with wide leaves, tall stems, a top like a thorn ball, and the whole body is covered with downy hairs." Yamauchi Yoshiharu thought about it carefully and recounted the shape in his memory.

"Your Highness is well-read and has a strong memory." When Taihe heard this, he knew that Yamauchi Yoshiharu must have seen the mountain burdock. Although the description was very superficial, it was not wrong.

Yamauchi Yoshiji blushed, shook his hand, and signaled Xiaoping to stop boasting and get down to business.

(The following is taken from Baidu)

Mountain burdock is a perennial herb with a height of 0.7-1.5 meters. Rhizome thick. The stem is upright, solitary, and strong, with a base diameter of up to 2 cm. The upper part may be branched or unbranched. All stems and branches are thick, ribbed, gray-white, covered with dense tomentose or the lower part may be hairless or hairless.

The base leaves and lower stem leaves have long petioles, the petiole is 34 cm long, with narrow wings. The leaves are heart-shaped, oval, broadly oval, oval triangular or halberd-shaped, undivided, 10-26 cm long and 12- wide. 20 cm, the base is heart-shaped or halberd-shaped, or truncated, with a triangular or oblique triangular shape on the edges. It is thickly serrated, but usually half-lobed or deeply-lobed. The upward leaves become smaller, ovate, elliptical, lanceolate or long. Oval-lanceolate, with serrated or needle-like edges, short petioles to no petioles.

All leaves are heterochromatic on both sides. The upper side is green, rough, and multi-celled, and the lower side is gray-white and covered with dense hairs. The flower head is large and drooping, growing on the top of the branches or the plant only contains one flower head and solitary on the top of the stem. The involucre is spherical, 3-6 cm in diameter, covered with dense and fluffy spider silk hairs or hairless to sparse hairs. The involucral bracts are multi-layered, usually 13-15 layers, gradually elongating towards the inner layer, sometimes turning purple, the outer and middle layers are lanceolate, 0.7-2.3 cm long, 3-4 mm wide; the inner layer is velvety-lanceolate. Shape, 2.3-2.5 cm long, 1.5-2 mm wide.

The upper part of all bracts is acuminate, the middle and outer layers are flat or downwardly curved, and the upper part of the inner layer has dense short hairs on the surface. The florets are all bisexual and tubular. The corolla is purplish red, 2.5 cm long, the tubules are 9 mm long, and the eaves are 1.4 cm long. The corolla lobes are unequal and triangular, up to 3 mm long. The achenes are oblong, light brown, 7 mm long and about 2 mm wide. The top is truncate and has a fruit edge. The edge of the fruit edge is finely serrated and has a raw surface on the side. The pappus is brown, multi-layered, unequal in length, gradually elongates toward the inner layer, 1.5-2 cm long, the base is connected into a ring, and the whole body falls off; the pappus is setose and hairy.

The flowering and fruiting period is from June to October. It grows on forest edges, understory or meadows on hillside, at an altitude of 550-2200 meters.

(End of excerpt)

Xiao Pingtai summarized it for everyone. First of all, due to the characteristics of the plant itself, its growing areas are mainly concentrated in a few mountainous areas in China, Inner and Inner Mongolia, North Korea and Japan.

Secondly, it is not tolerant to high temperatures and severe cold, so it does not grow in Kyushu and Shikoku even if there are high mountains when it is hot, and it does not grow when it is cold in Oshu and Yushu. The remaining areas where it can grow are mainly concentrated in the central areas of Shinano, Kai, Hida and Echigo, and other places can only stare. Currently, the most important growing area in Japan is the Nabekurayama area in Iiyama City, Nagano Prefecture. It is a local specialty.

Secondly, which part of burdock can be used? This originated from a Japanese program that Koheta once watched that introduced specialties along the Chuo Shinkansen line. When introducing the Iiyama area, in addition to introducing the famous Nozawa Hot Spring in the area, we also introduced udon, a local specialty.

The udon noodles here are chewy and very chewy. After several investigations, its production process was made public. During the production process of udon noodles, the fine fluff scraped from the back of the burdock branches and leaves is added. This fluff is collected, rinsed and pounded, and then added to the udon, making the udon extremely chewy and delicious.

And Xiaopingta is the one who only remembers eating noodles? He quickly became interested in this matter, and after a while, he was able to confirm something.

From the end of the Warring States Period to the Edo period, the Shinano-Iiyama area invented match ropes with burdock down, and it became one of the most important local products and was sold in various countries. Unfortunately, it happened at the wrong time. After the Tokugawa shogunate was established, it quickly implemented strict restrictions on armaments and took a severely suppressive attitude towards the increase in armaments of various vassals in the world.

So the mountain burdock matchstick rushed to the street!