Warring States Survival Guide

Chapter 6 The Wonderful One

"Amu, I'm back."

Yayoi brought the leftovers into the side room, which had the same layout as the main room, but was slightly smaller, and the doma was not as clean, tidy, and exquisite as the main room. This was actually where Jikuro's family lived, while the main room was used more to entertain retainers and important people from all over the country, otherwise at least the doma would have a pillar-style spinning wheel like this one.

There was no oil lamp in the house, only a fire was burning in the fire pit. Yayoi's mother, Ah Ping, was sitting nearby, picking out weeds by the light of the fire - rice weeds, which in modern times would be a kind of paddy field weed. The seeds are black or purple-green and are edible, but the taste is not good. Eating too much can easily cause indigestion, and it is very painful to be unable to defecate.

Although Japanese farmers in the Middle Ages grew rice for most of the year, they hardly ate rice themselves. Rice was mainly used to pay annual tribute, pay for cattle and rice, and exchange for money to buy daily necessities such as salt, ironware, and pottery. Their daily diet consisted mainly of buckwheat, various beans, radishes and turnips, wild vegetables, and dried fruits mixed with rice bran and barnyard grass.

Wheat and millet are also grown in a few areas, but due to climate, seeds, related agricultural technology and other reasons, the planting area is not large and the yield is not good.

Ah Ping was rubbing barnyard grass in his hands. He was actually in a trance. He was awakened by his daughter's voice. He quickly got up to greet her and asked with concern, "How are you, my dear lady?"

"Everything is fine." Yayoi answered and looked at the dark earth seat, "Where's father? Is he feeling better?"

"Much better. No fever anymore. He's been sleeping all the time. He should be better soon." Ah Ping said with relief and glanced at the dark earthen seat where her husband was sleeping soundly with his clothes covered on. He was probably out of danger.

"That's good, that's good." Yasaka breathed a sigh of relief. If her father passed away and she and her daughter were the only ones left at home, their lives would change drastically in the blink of an eye - her mother would probably remarry, and she would probably be sent to the whale house in the city to be a maid or hostess, unless her stepfather was willing to support an extra person.

Generally speaking, in rural areas of medieval Japan, few stepfathers would be willing to do this. After all, even if they raised their children, they would not be able to work as laborers, and they would not receive any dowry when they married them off, so it would be a pure loss.

Feeling relaxed, Yayoi quickly raised the leftovers and said excitedly to her mother, "Mom, Mr. Nohara has left a lot of rice, please eat some!"

"How come there are so many left?!" Ah Ping was surprised. He had only eaten a small half of the brown rice, the meat on the fish belly was gone, and the kelp and radish soup and sauce were hardly touched.

She began to worry again, "Does he dislike the food being too simple?"

Yayoi quickly comforted her: "No, Amu, Lord Nohara has always been gentle and not angry."

"It's good that you're not angry, it's good that you're not angry." Ah Ping felt relieved, but she was still a little worried. The main issue was the money for the medicine. She saw with her own eyes that her husband was dying of illness, but he only took a little medicine and got better in a blink of an eye. She thought that the medicine must be very precious. If Yuanye asked her for the money for the medicine, she might not be able to pay even if she sold her whole family.

As for the fact that she didn't say she wanted to buy...

If a samurai talks about reason, is he still a samurai? Who has ever seen a nobleman talk about reason with a commoner?
If she wants to default on her debt, a "noble warrior" like Yuanye doesn't have to do anything. He just needs to write a letter to Huang Zicheng to seek justice, and then shout and curse him everywhere. Even if Huang Zicheng considers his reputation, he will definitely hand over their entire family - their family is insignificant, and it is only natural for them to pay for the medicine, and no one will speak for them.

Therefore, now she could only hope that Yuanye was in a good mood and would be kind enough not to mention the money for the medicine.

Although Yayoi was precocious, she was still young after all. She had also chatted with Yuanye and had a pleasant chat. She felt that he was not a harsh person and did not think as much as her mother. She raised the leftovers again and said happily, "Amu, you should eat some!"

In the Middle Ages, Japanese farmers, houseboys, and some lower-level samurai usually only ate two meals a day, that is, breakfast and lunch. This was because they had to do physical labor in the morning and afternoon, and they would not have the strength to work without eating. However, they had nothing to do at night, so they could endure hunger and would not be hungry when they fell asleep, so there was no need to eat dinner.

If this is the case for men, let alone women and children. Their rations will be even less than men's. Even before the strong laborers have finished eating, women and children cannot sit at the table or touch their bowls.

For Yayoi, dinner and brown rice were rare enjoyments. Before, Yuanye gave her dinner, which was regular brown rice with fish, eggs, sauce and kelp. She forced herself not to swallow it in big gulps because she wanted to save some for her mother.

Ah Ping hesitated for a moment, took the leftovers but didn't eat them, turned around and put them away, "No, keep them for your father, he needs to take care of his health now."

Yayoi licked her lips. She was still hungry, but she also knew that the family would fall apart without her father (only men could rent land, and women in ancient times had very low farming efficiency. It was also difficult for them to resist attacks from wild animals while farming, and they could only run away when thieves came to rob them). She didn't say anything else.

Ah Ping put away his things, took his daughter to sit down by the fire to keep warm, rubbed her hands and asked, "Did you call him Lord Nohara just now?"

"Yes." Yayoi replied, "Nohara Saburo Ieto-sama, the other sama has not woken up yet, and his name is unknown."

"The Nohara family?" Ah Ping frowned and thought for a moment. He couldn't remember which important person's family name was Nohara, but he changed his mind and stopped forcing himself to recall. After all, it was enough to know that he was of noble status. The affairs of the nobles and samurai would never be clear to the common people.

She then asked, "What else?"

Yayoi thought for a moment and said, "They seem to have come from far away and are not very familiar with Owari Province."

Maybe he came from Suga, Omi, or Iga, or maybe he was on his way to Atsuta Shrine after visiting Ise Shrine. Ah Ping saw Yuanye coming out of the forest with his own eyes. His accent was strange, so he must be an outsider who forced his way over the mountains to Owari Province. I think his martial arts must be very good - there are wild boars, bears and wolves in the Ise mountains (Japanese wolves were not extinct at that time). If you don't have the courage, you will most likely die in the process of climbing the mountains. Those who dare to climb the mountains in this era are not good people. What's more, Yuanye was able to carry a person over the mountains and ridges when his companion was injured, and he carried the person out. He is definitely an extraordinary warrior.

Theoretically, if a companion is seriously injured in the mountains, the most survivable strategy is to abandon his companion and leave immediately. Otherwise, the physical strength wasted alone can cause an ordinary person to die together.

Ah Ping thought about it and looked at his daughter again, asking questions with his eyes. Yayoi thought about it again and shook her head and said, "There is nothing else. Lord Nohara's clothes are very good, very smooth and very thick, very comfortable and warm to the touch, and there are gold threads and small ornaments on them, which are very delicate and beautiful."

In fact, they were copper alloy zippers and buttons, which she didn't recognize.

"Maybe it's Ming silk?" Aping guessed casually.

She had heard that Maeda Toshiharu had a silk belt that was said to be very gorgeous, shiny and slightly reflective in the sunlight. However, as a servant, she had never seen one. She thought the material should be the same as Yuanye's clothes - a fabric that was so fine that it was shiny and slightly reflective. She could only think of the gorgeous silk of the Ming Dynasty.

Yayoi was fascinated. She also wanted to have a piece of clothing as beautiful and warm as that, even if it would shorten her life by a few years. She couldn't help but murmured, "It's just that the style is not very good, too weird, it's a pity."

Ah Ping didn't take it seriously: "Lord Nohara must be a curious person, so it's nothing for him to dress strangely."

"A person who is curious?" Yayoi was very curious when she heard a new word.

As a former servant who had worked in a samurai's house, Ping was quite knowledgeable and had always paid attention to cultivating his daughter's knowledge, manners and conversation. He hoped that in the future he would have the opportunity to send her to work in Araki Castle. It would be best if she could marry someone local. After all, life in a Japanese farm was too hard. If she was trapped in Hibitsu Village and married a farmer, she would probably have to endure hunger all her life. She was still lucky, at least she married a "low-level magistrate (a person who acts on orders)", a "service man" who was responsible for managing rural labor. She was already the envy of all the women in the village and could occasionally eat her fill. The simple farm women were even worse. They were really hungry all year round and were all skin and bones.

She patiently imparted knowledge to her daughter: "A person who is eccentric is someone whose words, actions, manners, and clothing etiquette are beyond the ordinary. Generally, the more eccentric their clothing, the more noble their status. You must pay attention to this in the future and don't offend these noble people. They usually have bad tempers."

The "strange people" she mentioned developed from people like "Basara".

The word "Basara" originally referred to one of the twelve generals under the seat of Medicine Buddha, who had a strange appearance and luxurious clothes. Later, during the Northern and Southern Dynasties period in Japan, the word was extended to refer to those overly luxurious clothes, behaviors and people.

For example, the "Kenmu Shimu" records: Recently, a person called Basara is fond of luxury. Silk, satin, and fine silver swords are very eye-catching. He can be said to be a madman.

So, if they are crazy, how can they be good people?
These people often hold the idea that "everyone else is turbid, but I am clear", and want to "show the elegance of the Vajrasana", to be "different from others", and to "show their personal unrestrainedness". They are afraid that their clothes will not be exquisite, their armor will not be conspicuous, and their behavior will not be weird.

Specifically, they wore only half of their clothes (half-naked but not necessarily with the upper body naked), had all kinds of weird hairstyles, made swords inlaid with gold and silver, painted totemic symbols on their armor, installed strange decorations such as crescent moons, ox horns, tiger teeth, halos, and flower trees on their helmets, and even engaged in weird behaviors such as playing tricks on high-ranking officials, burning maple forests, throwing feces at temples, and riding horses and holding up whole flower trees in parade.

At one time, the atmosphere in Kyoto, Japan was extremely crazy. If you didn't do that, you couldn't become famous. If you didn't become famous, you couldn't be an official. If you didn't be an official, you couldn't become a governor in the local area. If you didn't become a governor in the local area, you couldn't levy heavy taxes. If you didn't levy heavy taxes, you couldn't get rich.

By the end of the Muromachi shogunate, the "Basara style" became more and more popular and became a "strange fashion".

For example, the styles of the uniforms became more and more bizarre, with many useless decorations added, the colors of the haori and mother's clothes became more vivid, and translucent things such as "aquamarine gauze haori" appeared, which made it unclear whether they should be considered military uniforms. There were even two-meter-tall crescent-shaped paper-made and silver-painted front stands on the pockets.

The helmet is taller than the person, which can no longer be described as strange.

The same goes for hairstyles, such as bald heads, cannon heads, reverse bangs, that is, hairstyles with only hair on the forehead and shaved everywhere else, and so on. They are all very weird and chaotic.

The same was true of social trends. For example, there was a shrine maiden named Akuni from the Izumo Shrine. In order to make money, she rebuilt the shrine. She used the "Nenbutsu Odori (a religious dance that chants sutras and prays for blessings)" as the basis, added a storyline, disguised herself as a man and took in a large number of prostitutes (similar to the prostitutes in later Japan) to perform and make money. She was known for her bold and flamboyant style - this was simply impossible before the Muromachi era, and traditional ethics could not accept it. Akuni would be beheaded immediately instead of being widely welcomed.

Aguo later even became the founder of Japanese Kabuki, but the development process of Kabuki was a bit tortuous:

"Yujo Kabuki" was banned because it involves large-scale pornography in public places (the performance of the shrine maiden Akuni is relatively serious, with a strong religious atmosphere, and mainly targets the high-end market, while the yujo take off their clothes on the town stage in the name of telling stories, and the women simulate married life) and organized prostitution in private, which has caused countless public security problems and resulted in many deaths.

Later it was forced to change to "Wakashu Kabuki", in which young boys performed in women's clothing. As a result, the young boys had handsome features and a unique charm after dressing up as women, making them more attractive than ordinary girls. This led to large-scale homosexuality and widespread sexual relations with the families of the samurai who stayed behind, which angered the public and the performance was banned again.

Finally, it was changed to "Yaro Kabuki", which only allowed adult men to be actors, and then put on masks, emphasizing acting skills while ignoring the actors themselves. This developed into Japan's modern Kabuki performance.

In short, no matter from which angle, folk life in Japan's Warring States Period was quite chaotic, bizarre and open. It was nothing for Yuan Ye to wear a hiking jacket and hiking boots and have short hair. How could it be weirder than a man with a pigtail, bare butt, riding a horse and carrying a tree?
Ah Ping told Yayoi some stories about "strange people" that she had heard. Her daughter had never seen one, but she had seen a few of them in Arashi City before and was deeply impressed. Yayoi was stunned, her pupils dilated, and her little heart was deeply shocked. She didn't expect that Yuanye, such a gentle and amiable nobleman, was actually a madman and had hypochondria. No wonder he was always in a daze.

When Ah Ping was exhausted from talking, he felt that he had improved his daughter's knowledge and it was getting late, so he urged her to go to bed: "Okay, no more talk. Go to sleep for a while. We will take turns to keep watch tonight."

Mi Sheng was still not satisfied and wanted to hear more strange and magical stories, but she was a very good and obedient person. She just responded and went to bed, leaving A Ping to continue picking weeds slowly by the fire, guarding the long night.

There is no other way. There is a noble person in the family. In order to prevent the noble person from suddenly needing something or making a request at night and not being able to find anyone, thus causing anger and leading to the bankruptcy of their family, it is better for one of them to stay awake all the time.

I hope these two noble people can leave soon!

(End of this chapter)