I was a swordsman in ancient Japan

"This kind of trivial matter is nothing." Guasheng said, "I just pasted the portrait of Ogata Isai Tosai on the wall, so the shogunate won't trouble me for such a trivial matter."

"What's more, many officials of the shogunate also have a high opinion of Ogata Yidao Zhai."

"Oh?" Ogata's face flashed a bit of curiosity.

Many officials in the shogunate also spoke highly of him as a lord killer. This is the first time Ogata has heard of it.

The only official of the shogunate that Ogata had contacted before was the chief of Huofu Bandit Gai: Hasegawa Heizo.

Therefore, Ogata did not know much about the secrets of the shogunate.

"I actually heard this from Shirobei-sama." Gua Sheng said slowly, "It is said that many officials in the shogunate spoke highly of Ogata Ittosai's swordsmanship and bravery."

"However, after Ogata Ittosai captured Nijo Castle in Kyoto a few months ago, his reputation in the shogunate seems to have deteriorated a lot."

"Some officials who praised Ogata Isai in the past all thought that Ogata Isai was someone with a brain problem."

After hearing Guasheng's words, Ogata couldn't help but smile.

"Can Ogata Isaitosai be praised by many officials in the shogunate? But it's no wonder. Akaho 47 righteous men can be praised by the shogunate. That is also Ogata Isaito who wields his sword for revenge. There is no reason not to Received praise from shogunate officials”

Some officials of the shogunate still admired him for committing the crime of killing the lord. Ogata was actually not too surprised by this fact.

Japan has always had this strange culture.

There is still praise for some people who have done things that are hard to describe.

The most typical example is the "Akho Martyr Incident" almost 90 years ago.

The incident 90 years ago, to put it simply, was that on a certain day, the emperor sent two imperial envoys and court envoys to Edo, and the shogun at that time sent the lord of the Ako domain to entertain these people. Asano served as the receptionist.

At the same time, an old man named Yoshio Kira was sent to assist Asano.

However, Kira, who has always looked down on Asano, not only did not help Asano, but also made Asano embarrassing in public.

Asano, who was full of grief and indignation, hacked Kira in public, but did not kill him, but even alarmed the shogun.

The shogun felt that Asano was bold and unforgivable, so he ordered Asano to harakiri and at the same time withdrew Asano's Ako clan.

The lord was forced to commit seppuku, and Asano's retainers put the blame on Kira.

In order to take revenge, Ishinei Zangsuke, the boss of the Yi family, secretly summoned a group of people to Edo to chop Kira into meat paste, and then surrendered to the shogunate. Only one person survived, and the rest all committed seppuku under the order of the shogunate.

Because a total of 47 people participated in this assassination operation, this incident is also known as the "Ako 47 Martyrs Incident".

According to the government's judgment, Asano is a sinner and Kira is an innocent person. These 47 people brutally killed the innocent old man Kira. From the government's point of view, these 47 people should be as unforgivable as Ogata. The person who deserves to be criticized heavily is right.

However, since the "Ako incident", both the government and the people have praised these 47 heroes.

Those kabuki playwrights also created the immortal Chuchenzo based on this incident.

And this kabuki based on the "Ako incident" was staged in a grand manner across the country, and the shogunate did not control it much.

Chuchen Zang has been rehearsed over and over again by those Kabuki actors until modern Japan.

Because Japan has such a peculiar culture, Ogata is not surprised that a thief like himself is still appreciated by many officials in the shogunate.

Maybe Ogata will be like Ako 47 in the future. His deeds were adapted into Kabuki plays by Kabuki playwrights, and then staged all over the country. Some senior officials of the shogunate happily took the whole family to watch .

Thinking of this, Ogata felt a chill spread all over his body.

He didn't mind his story being adapted into a kabuki play.

He is only afraid that his deeds will be changed by magic

Just when Ogata was silently fantasizing about whether his deeds would be changed so that even he, the righteous master, would not recognize him, Guasheng said in her usual hearty voice:

"Although those officials in the shogunate's evaluation of Ogata Isai has dropped after Ogata Isai broke Nijo Castle, but my respect for Ogata Isai who dared to break even Nijo Castle has grown deeper!"

"It's a pity that I didn't get to see Ogata Ittosai's majestic figure who captured Nijo Castle by himself in Kyoto!"

After finishing speaking, Gua Sheng drank the glass of water on the table in one gulp.

"Unconsciously, it seems that we have talked for too long. It's time to take you to get acquainted with Yoshihara."

"Sit here for a while, I'll change clothes, there is water here, if you feel thirsty, drink it!"

After finishing speaking, Gua Sheng sprang out of the living room like a butterfly.

Then came back not long after.

Gua Sheng said it was a change of clothes, but in fact he just put on a light blue hakama on his lower body, a pair of black tabi socks, and a wooden knife that was slightly shorter than ordinary swords on his left waist.

"Let's go, Mashima-kun." Guasheng put his hands on his hips, "Let's try to finish shopping in Yoshiwara before lunch!"

Mashima maintained a distance of half a body behind Guasheng, and while following closely behind Guasheng, he turned his head and observed the surroundings.

The two are currently shuttling through the residential area of ​​Yoshihara.

"It turns out that there are such a large residential area in Yoshihara," Ogata murmured, "I always thought there were only women's houses in Yoshihara."

Gua Sheng, who was walking in front, said:

"The people who live in Yoshiwara are mainly those who work in the Shirobei Clubhouse, such as me, and those who work as handymen in various girls' houses."

"Of course there are some people who don't work in Yoshihara at all. They leave Yoshihara to work outside during the day, and then go back to Yoshihara's home to rest at night."

"It's just that there are fewer such people."

"Ordinary teahouses, vegetable markets, and confectionery shops, which are outside the buildings, can be found inside Yoshiwara."

"So you can understand Yoshiwara as a small city wall."

"Mashima-kun, did you see that thing?"

Gua Sheng suddenly stopped and pointed to a large black bucket on the side of the street not far away, with two big Chinese characters written on it: water.

Ogata was quite familiar with this bucket.

After entering Yoshihara, Ogata found this large black bucket in many places.

"This is called a water bucket." Guasheng Asaogata introduced, "It is specially used to prevent fire."

"One of our normal jobs is to make sure that these buckets are intact and full of water."

"This job is very important, so if you see a bucket that is broken or empty, remember to report it in time."

"The tragedy of the Furisode Fire incident more than 100 years ago cannot be repeated no matter what. With these buckets filled with water, when the fire comes, it may save many lives."

"Yes." Ogata nodded seriously, "I will."

The word "fire" has always been a topic of dismay for people of this era.

Buildings in ancient Japan were made of wood and paper, and once a fire broke out, the destructive power was often quite astonishing.

Ogata had previously learned from chatting with Makimura and others that there had been a big fire in Edo that was comparable in power to the "Tianming Fire" in Kyoto.

Although the fire was more than 100 years ago.

This big fire is the "Fushou fire incident" that Gua Sheng just mentioned.

In the third year of the Ming Dynasty (1657 AD), Edo Honmyoji Temple was performing rituals for a girl who died of a serious illness.When the body was cremated after the ceremony, strong winds blew away a burning sleeve from the body and ignited the building fire.

Then the fire got out of control, and the fire directly swept across the entire Edo.

Two-thirds of the buildings in Edo were consumed by the fire.

Because the fire started with one sleeve, the fire is also known as the "Furisode Fire Incident" or "Long-sleeved Kimono Disaster".

The fire also burned Yoshihara at that time, and Yoshihara was completely burned by the fire. After the flames finally subsided, under the order of the shogun, Yoshihara was rebuilt on the Japanese embankment and cast into the current Yoshihara.

Because there was only one entrance and exit in Yoshihara, and the clothes on the girls' bodies were not convenient for them to escape, countless girls were burned to death or choked to death by thick smoke because they had no time to escape.

Ogata also knows what a terrible disaster fire is in this era, so when he nodded to indicate that he would pay attention to the bucket, he was not perfunctory, but took a very serious attitude.

This is what the "water barrels" placed in various places in Yoshiwara look like

I briefly introduced the fire protection system in the Edo period in the "Writer's Words" in this chapter, and I will post a few pictures here for your understanding.

This is the military flag of the fire brigade in the Edo period. It comes from the ninth episode of the first season of the Japanese drama Renyi. It looks a bit like a white mop. People can judge the current wind direction according to this military flag, and then make a judgment based on it In which direction should the building be demolished?

In that era, the only way to control the fire was to "demolish", demolish those places that were not yet burned by the fire, and prevent the fire from spreading. The picture of the sick clinic, the houses around the clinic were all demolished

By the way, the readers on the reading side can’t see the pictures I posted, because the reading section comment does not support posting pictures, if you want to see the pictures, you can only go to the starting point

Finally, I strongly recommend the Japanese TV drama Renyi. This is a Japanese TV drama that is very good at serving the Tao. A story of the end of the era.

Chapter 367 A family full of dead bodies [6000 words]

After all, Yoshiwara is not a real city outline. Although there are indeed residential areas for ordinary people and small-scale markets, they do not occupy a large area.

Occupying most of the land in Yoshiwara is still the densely packed houses of traveling girls.

"The avenue in the center of Yoshihara is called 'Nakanomachi'. It is the most spacious street in Yoshihara. Almost all important events will be held in Nakanomachi."

After taking Ogata for a brief stroll around Yoshiwara's residential areas and markets, Guasheng led Ogata back to the avenue that neatly cut Yoshiwara Plain into two halves—Nakano-machi.

I plan to take Ogata to take a brief tour of the large area of ​​women's houses centered on Nakamachi.

"The closer the girl's house to Nakamachi is, the higher the level is, and on the other hand - the farther away from Nakamachi, the lower the level of the girl's house."

"The 'Rashomon Riverbank' where sick and elderly wandering girls gathered together that I told you about last night is located in the westernmost part of Yoshiwara."

"The 'Rashomon Riverbank' is also the key supervision area of ​​our Shirobei Clubhouse."

"That place is the messiest place in our Yoshihara."

"Because the wandering girls living on the 'Rashomon Riverbank' are basically sick or old."

"That's why there are always some beasts who see that the wandering girls in that place are basically weak, and run to the 'Rashomon River Bank' to rob money and sex."

Guasheng is very eloquent and good at preaching. Ogata thinks that she might be a teacher.

After leaving Guasheng's house, Guasheng's mouth never stopped, and he kept introducing various details about Yoshihara to Ogata.

But Gua Sheng can always use the shortest and most interesting words to sum up these supposedly complicated knowledge.

Thanks to Guasheng's continuous popularization of all kinds of knowledge about Yoshiwara, Ogata did not feel bored when touring around Yoshiwara.

Before they knew it, the two returned to the avenue in the center of Yoshihara - Naka no Machi.

The current time is probably around 9 o'clock in the morning.

Since it was already past the early morning when the sun had just risen, the number of people walking around the streets of Yoshiwara gradually increased.

The way of life of the wandering girls is the opposite of that of ordinary people.

Ordinary people work during the day and sleep and rest at night.

The girls sleep and rest during the day, and start working at night.

At this time, many traveling girls are still sleeping and resting in bed.

Of course, there are also some very energetic wandering girls who slipped out of their respective wandering girls' houses and wandered around.

After returning to Nakazhicho, Oo conveniently found that compared with when he arrived in Yoshiwara just now, there were many more wandering girls in Nakazhicho who slipped out to play.

However, because there are not many entertainment activities in this era, and they cannot leave Yoshihara freely, the only way for these wandering girls who slip out to play is to get together and chat.

Some of these wandering girls who slipped out to play still neatly combed their hair and put on makeup.

Some are very casual, not only without makeup, but also without combing their hair, with long hair dragging.

Just as Ogata and Guasheng showed up in Nakazhicho, Ogata saw three wandering girls chatting not far away and suddenly waved to them.

After seeing the three wandering girls waving to them, Guasheng immediately walked towards the three wandering girls holding the wooden knife at his waist.

Although he didn't know why the three wandering girls suddenly waved at them, Ogata hurriedly followed.

Among the three wandering girls, two wore well-formed Shimada buns, and only one had her hair loose, leaving her long, straight black hair hanging behind her.

After Guasheng saw the three of them waving and walking quickly, the only girl without a bun smiled and said to Guasheng:

"Yoshihara Satoshi! Did you start patrolling so early?"

"Well... it can be regarded as patrolling." Guasheng smiled and said, "I am taking this newcomer who just joined our clubhouse today to get acquainted with Yoshihara. By the way, I will just patrol Yoshihara."

After finishing speaking, Guasheng turned sideways and introduced to Ogata standing behind him:

"This is the newcomer who joined our clubhouse today—Goro Mashima."

"Your peace." Ogata bowed to the three wandering girls in front of him, "I'm Mashima Goro."

"Hey~~" The long-haired wandering girl sized Ogata several times with curious eyes, "He looks like a very reliable samurai! The security of Yoshiwara is entrusted to you!"

"I will hang my life in the next meeting."

"The number of foreigners flocking to Edo has increased a lot recently." Another petite wanderer standing next to this hairless wanderer suddenly sighed softly at this moment, "It makes us Yoshihara now It’s also much more chaotic than before, it’s really unbearable6”