There are three main types of weddings in ancient Japan: weddings before Shinto, weddings before Buddha, and weddings before people.
You can roughly infer the differences between these three types of weddings just by looking at their names.
A Shinto wedding ceremony, as the name suggests, is a wedding held inside a shrine. It is the most complicated of the three types of weddings.
The Buddhist wedding is held in a Buddhist temple and is the least popular of the three types of weddings.
Whether it is a wedding in front of a deity or a wedding in front of a Buddha, the procedures are quite complicated.
Take the most complicated Shinto-style wedding as an example - if you want to hold a Shinto-style wedding, it may take half a day just to go through the complicated procedures.
The first step is the participation ceremony.
Accompanied by the music of Gagaku, the host and the shrine maiden who preside over the ceremony lead the bride and others into the main hall of the shrine.
Under the guidance of the shrine maidens and the bride's bridegroom, after entering the temple, the groom's relatives sit on the right side facing the god, while the bride's relatives sit on the left side facing the god. Relatives take their seats in order of the closeness of their blood relationship, starting from the place closest to the god.
Next comes the Xiufu ceremony, which means a cleansing ceremony for the body and mind. The bride, groom and all the attendees will receive a blessing from the master of the ceremony.
Then comes the call to action by the host, who announces the start of the ceremony. All participants must bow to the gods together with the host, and then the host begins the "blessing" ceremony to report to the gods that the bride and groom are going to get married.
Only at this time does the wedding officially begin, and the bride and groom will then hold a series of complex activities such as three offerings, reciting vows, the witches performing a blessing dance, and offering jade beads...
In terms of the complexity of the wedding, the Buddhist wedding and the Shinto wedding are not much different.
Because Shinto and Buddhist weddings involve many steps and are a grand affair, only families with a little extra money can afford to hold weddings in shrines or Buddhist temples.
Therefore, the weddings held by the vast majority of civilians and some warriors were public weddings with simpler procedures and almost no cost.
The wedding ceremony is basically held in the groom's home.
The groom takes the bride to his home, and then holds a three-offering ceremony and reads the oath in the presence of relatives and friends. After reading the oath, the wedding can be declared over.
If it is too troublesome, even the three offerings ceremony can be omitted. After welcoming the bride to your home, the oath can be read in the presence of relatives and friends, and then the wedding can be declared over.
Because a public wedding costs almost nothing, most common people hold public weddings.
No matter how poor you are, you should be able to bring the bride to your home and invite all your relatives and friends over, right?
Because there are fewer steps, a public wedding usually only takes 10-15 minutes.
The wedding that Ogata and Atachi held today was a public wedding.
In Japan, people also pay attention to auspicious days when getting married.
Although Ogata didn't care much about this, after some consideration, he decided to follow the local customs and make the wedding as ceremonial as possible.
After deciding to hold their wedding in Edo before officially leaving for Ezo, Ogata and Omachi began looking for a suitable wedding date.
Finally - they chose today, November 11th.
Because the wedding was held in the afternoon, after getting up this morning, the two of them decided to take advantage of the time they still had in the morning to take a walk outside.
So, the two of them went to Ryogoku Hirokoji this morning and listened to storytelling together there.
The place where they held their wedding was naturally the house they borrowed from Dongchengwu.
It was held in the most spacious room in the house.
At this moment, all the relatives and friends invited by Ogata, Atachi and others have gathered.
Uncle Qing, the only relative of A-Machi at present, and the group of people from Huluwu, led by Lin and Genichi, were naturally present.
In addition to Uncle Qing and the people from Huluwu, Ogata also invited Kondo and Uesugi.
Uncle Qing, the people from Huluwu, Kondo, and Ueo, a total of 9 people - these were all the guests attending the wedding of Ogata and Atachi.
All of them were dressed in formal attire and sat on both sides of the room, quietly waiting for the two protagonists of today to arrive.
Ogata had never directly told the people from Huluya about his relationship with Atachi before.
But it doesn’t really matter whether Ogata says it or not.
Lin and the others are not stupid. They had long realized that the relationship between Ogata and Atachi was not ordinary.
Therefore, the fact that "Ogata and Atachi have a close relationship" has always been a tacit understanding in the minds of Huluya and others.
Therefore, when Ogata and A-machi announced to the group from Hyūgata a few days ago that they were planning to hold their 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 Atachi, he directly allocated a sum of money to Mamiya and others and asked them to buy dresses immediately.
A few days ago, after receiving Ogata's invitation, Kondo and Uesugi said without hesitation that they must go.
Although Kondo is a bit honest, he is also a thoughtful person. He would never attend someone else's wedding in a sloppy manner - and it is the wedding of his own master.
So, Kondo went around asking his friends who lived in Edo for help these days and successfully borrowed a set of formal clothes.
Uesugi had lived in Edo for so many years that she had attended countless friends' weddings, so naturally she had formal attire for formal occasions.
Although Lin, Makimura, and Asai's injuries were still a long way from being healed, they were still able to put on formal clothes and sit down to attend the wedding.
Not long after everyone had taken their seats, the two protagonists finally arrived.
The first person to enter the room was Ogata.
The upper body is covered with a long-sleeved and long-hem black haori, with gentian patterns embroidered on the back and five other places. The base garment under the haori is also black. The lower body is wearing a black and white striped hakama, the belt is tied in a cross knot, and the feet are wearing white socks - this is Ogata's current outfit.
Ogata's current outfit is a very standard "Montsuke Haori Hakama".
The so-called "Montsuke Haori Hakama" was the highest level of formal attire for men during the Edo period, and was generally only worn on special occasions such as weddings.
Originally, family crests were only used by nobles, but in the Warring States Period, family crests began to be widely used by the children of samurai families.
In the Edo period today, even many commoners have family crests.
Although Ogata was born into a poor samurai family in the Hirose domain, he was still a descendant of a samurai family, so naturally he also had a family crest.
The Platycodon emblem is the family crest of the Ogata family.
As for why his family's crest is the gentian crest, Ogata is not quite sure.
Maybe it was just because his ancestors thought the gentian crest was very handsome, so they chose the gentian crest as the Ogata family crest.
Many families choose their family crest casually.
After family crests became popular, except for the chrysanthemum crest representing the imperial family and the sunflower crest representing the shogun, which cannot be used indiscriminately, other family crests tended to be abused.
Many samurai and civilian families would choose a family crest that looked the most handsome as their own.
After deciding to hold the wedding with Atachi, Obunaga immediately found a clothing store that could make custom clothes and asked the store to help prepare a set of hakama with his Ogata family crest embroidered on it.
Ogata ordered the clothes on the same day and received them the next day.
Because it is very easy to prepare haori hakama with monzuki - prepare a large number of haori hakama without family crests in advance, and you can embroider whatever family crest the customer requests.
If you are quick, you may be able to prepare the "Montsuke Haori Hakama" that meets the customer's requirements in just 1 or 2 hours.
The clothing store where Ogata ordered clothes was very conscientious.
When Ogata came to pick up his clothes, he was given a small gift - a fan with the Ogata family's gentian pattern engraved on the handle.
In Ogata's memory, this seemed to be the first time he wore clothes embroidered with his family crest.
The person who followed Ogata into the room was naturally Atachi.
A-Machi lowered her head slightly, folded her hands in front of her, followed Ogata, and walked slowly into the room.
Her hair is combed into a bun in a bun-like style. Her kimono, katakashimada topknot, her kimono, obi, and cloth socks are all as white as snow. The sword on her chest, the lace, the accessories such as Suehiro are also all white. She wears a headdress called "Kakugakushi" on her head - this is how Atachi dresses now.
The outfit that Atachi is wearing is, of course, the wedding dress that girls wear when they get married – the white wedding dress.
There are generally two types of headwear for Shiromuku: white cotton hat and horn-in.
The "white cotton hat" is a large oval hat. Wearing a "white cotton hat" means not letting anyone except the groom see the bride's face before the end of the wedding. It also means not bringing the "spiritual power" hidden in the bride's hair to the groom's family, thus avoiding disasters.
As for "Jiaoyin", it is to wrap a circle of white silk around the bride's bun and then wear a coral or silver hairpin as decoration. It has the meaning of "reducing the edges and corners, being gentle and submissive", and contains the hope for the bride to be virtuous.
When choosing the white wedding dress, Atachi thought the "white cotton hat" was too ugly and it felt like a helmet when she wore it, so she chose the "Kakuin" as the headdress for her white wedding dress.
The two who finally arrived walked to the northernmost end of the room at an unhurried pace and sat down side by side.
Sitting on Ogata's right, in descending order, were Genichi, Makimura, Kondo, and Ueu.
Sitting on Atachi's left, in order, were Keiichi, Lin, Mamiya, Asai, and Shimada.
Generally speaking, the people closest to the bride and groom are their parents.
Both Ogata and Ating's parents are no longer alive. Although Uncle Qing and Ating are not related by blood, they are as close as uncle and nephew. Ating has always regarded Uncle Qing as half a father, so there is no problem at all for Uncle Qing to sit in the seat closest to Ating.
But who should sit in the seat closest to Ogata? This is a dilemma.
After discussion among Lin and others, it was finally decided that Yuan Yi would take this position.
Genichirō can also be considered as Ogata's master.
A while ago, Ogata developed two new moves, "Dragon Tail·Flash" and "Water Fall·Two Connects", under the guidance of Genichi.
So Genichi is undoubtedly the most suitable person to sit in this position.
After the two protagonists, Ogata and A-machi, arrived, the wedding officially began.
The first is the three offerings ceremony.
There was a small table in front of Ogata and Atachi, on which were prepared red shallow-bottomed wine glasses of three sizes, small, medium and large, and a pot of wine.
Ogata first picked up the smallest wine glass, poured almost half a glass of wine, and then held the small wine glass to his lips.
There are regulations on how to drink these wines.
Don't drink it in one gulp, you have to drink it in three times.
For the first two sips, he just sipped the wine with his lips, and only drank the entire glass of wine with the third sip.
After drinking all the wine in the glass, Ogata handed the small glass in his hand to Atachi beside him.
After refilling the small wine glass half full of wine, Atachi repeated Ogata's steps and drank the wine in the glass in three times.
After both of them finished drinking from the small wine glass, Ating put down the small wine glass in his hand and picked up the medium-sized wine glass.
This time it was Atachi's turn to drink first.
After Atachi poured half a cup of wine into the medium glass, he drank it in three times as before, then handed the medium glass to Ogata and poured half a cup of wine into it again. Ogata then drank the wine in the medium glass in three times.
After drinking the wine in the middle glass, Ogata put down the middle glass, picked up the largest glass, and repeated the drinking steps.
He drank the wine in the clean glass in three gulps, and then passed the large glass to Ating beside him to drink.
This is the "Three Offerings Ceremony", which is also called "Three Three Nine Degrees", which is somewhat similar to China's "Wedding Ceremony".
The three wine glasses of different sizes symbolize heaven, earth and man.
"Three" is an auspicious yang number in Japanese culture, so the wine in these three glasses must be drunk three times.
All three glasses of wine are drunk from three times, so the bride and groom have to drink nine sips of wine. "Nine" is an extremely yang number in Japanese culture, representing supreme joy and auspiciousness.
After the "Three Offerings Ceremony", the next step is "Reading the Oath".
The groom is responsible for reciting the oath, and the bride only needs to say her own name when the name of the person taking the oath is read at the end.
By the way, it was Mamiya who wrote the oath of Ogata and the others.
When Ogata was about to find a professional to help him transcribe the oath, Mamiya, who happened to be beside Ogata at the time, said quietly:
"I've been to a lot of people's weddings before, so I know how to write vows."
So, with the attitude of giving it a try, Obe asked Mamiya to help write the oath.
And the oath written by Mamiya turned out to be quite formal...
How formal is it?
It was so formal that the entire oath was written in the ancient Japanese language from thousands of years ago...
Of course, Ogata could not read ancient Japanese. It would be more accurate to say that few people could read ancient Japanese. Only those who had received extremely high education could understand ancient Japanese.
These days, Ogata has been secretly practicing reciting this oath. He read until his tongue was almost tied, and he could barely recite this oath which was written entirely in ancient Japanese.
After the "Three Offerings Ceremony", Ogata took out the oath that Mamiya had written for him early in the morning and began to read it aloud:
"Choose this auspicious day to hold the wedding."
"From now on, we must love each other, form a family, share joys and sorrows, and live forever."
"May we be happy forever, and we pledge this to each other."
"The second year of Kansei, November 11th."
"Husband: Ogata Yoshisei."
After Ogata finished speaking, Atachi followed up with a clear voice:
"Wife: Machi."
Oaths are usually very short, but because this oath was written in complex ancient Japanese, it took Ogata nearly half a minute to finish reading this short oath.
After Ogata and A-machi finished their vows, the wedding was declared over.
From the time Ogata and Atachi entered the venue to the end of the wedding, it took less than 10 minutes - a public wedding is just that short.
Some poorer families may omit the "three offerings ceremony" when holding a wedding in front of a public figure. If the "three offerings ceremony" is omitted, the time can be shorter and only the reading of the oath is enough. If the speed is fast enough, the wedding can be completed in just 2 minutes.
The wedding was over, and the banquet naturally followed.
A-Machi stepped down temporarily, changed out of her white wedding gown and put on a colored gown with red and yellow as the main colors.
The so-called "da gua" is actually a formal dress for women, which is only worn on various formal occasions.
Shiromuku is also known as "white coat".
The "Sedagua" is a colorful dagua.
According to the rules, the bride has to change out of her white wedding gown and put on a colored gown after the wedding ceremony and the beginning of the banquet.
The colored jacket must have the family crest of the husband's family, which means being influenced by the family traditions of the husband's family and being reborn in a new family.
The red and yellow-based jacket that Atachi is wearing now has the Ogata family crest embroidered on it: the platycodon pattern.
Naturally, Atachi's colorful jacket was also newly bought, and she asked the clothing store staff to embroider Ogata's gentian pattern on it.
After Atachi changed her clothes, the banquet could be officially announced to begin, and the originally solemn room gradually became lively.
…
…
"Come to think of it, I didn't know that your family crest was the gentian until a few days ago when you went to order a haori with emblems and haori." Makimura said this to Ogata, who was still sitting on the main seat, while guzzling wine.
Mucun had a physique that healed quickly from wounds, and although he was still far from fully recovered, he could still jump around and drink copiously.
"After all, I never said that before." Ogata sipped his wine and continued, "To be honest, I have forgotten the last time I wore clothes with the family crest embroidered on them, or used utensils engraved with the family crest."
In Ogata's memory, this was the first time he wore clothes embroidered with the Ogata family's gentian pattern after traveling to the Edo period.
On a daily basis, there are actually very few opportunities to wear clothes with your family crest or use utensils engraved with your family crest.
"Baldy flowers?" Mamiya said half-jokingly, "I didn't expect that your family, Ogata-kun, would use the 'flower-shaped family crest' which is famous for its beauty."
"Is the 'Baltha' a family crest bestowed upon your ancestors, or was it a family crest chosen by your ancestors themselves?"
As soon as Mamiya finished speaking, Obe shrugged with a wry smile and said:
"I don't know. I think my ancestors thought the gentian crest was very handsome, so they made it the family crest."
In the Edo period, the misuse of family crests was very common. Many samurai and commoners would use whatever family crest they saw as cool as their own.
Due to the misuse of family crests, according to statistics from later generations in Japan, there were more than 12,000 family crests in Japan during the Edo period.
"The cymbidium pattern is quite beautiful." Makimura carefully looked at the cymbidium pattern embroidered on Ogata's haori and grinned, "It looks very elegant. After Ogata put on clothes with the cymbidium pattern, he became more elegant."
"I think so too." Atachi, who was sitting next to Ogata, agreed with a smile.
Ogata agreed with what Makimura had just said, and he himself also thought that the gentian pattern was very beautiful.
It’s better to say that there is no ugly “flower-shaped family crest”.
Each type of "flower-shaped family crest" is very beautiful.
…
…
Makimura and Kondo are both funny characters.
Especially Kondo.
In addition to Uncle Qing and the people from Huluwu, Ogata also invited Kondo and Uesugi to the wedding.
Guasheng was fine, as he had worked with Uncle Qing to rescue the "dirt" in Shiranui before, so he was very familiar with Uncle Qing. He also had a brief time with the group from Huluwu before.
Kondo didn't know anyone except Ogata and Atachi.
If someone who is not good at communicating attends a wedding where they barely know anyone, they would be extremely embarrassed and would not know who to talk to.
But this will never happen to Kondo.
Kondo, who was always very outgoing, became familiar with everyone present at an astonishingly fast speed...
While getting acquainted with everyone present, he did not forget to promote the place where he was currently working - North Wind House.
It was thanks to the outgoing Kondo and the equally outgoing Makimura that this small party gradually became lively.
Everyone was sitting properly.
As the atmosphere at the banquet gradually became lively, everyone slowly stopped sitting in their original seats.
Ogata and Atachi walked down from the main seats and sat with Lin and the others to drink and chat.
Lin and the others no longer sat in two rows in an orderly manner. Everyone sat in the seats they wanted.
Ogata and Atachi's wedding started at around 15:00.
It is autumn now and it gets dark quickly, so before I knew it, the sky had slowly darkened.
Ogata could no longer remember how much he had drunk.
Today is his happy event, the happiest day since this year. In addition, his injuries have healed by nearly 70%, so it doesn't matter if he drinks a little more, so Ogata indulged himself a little.
Ogata accepted all the toasts from Genichirō, Makimura, Kondo and others.
Genichirō, Makimura and the others were also very rude and kept forcing Ogata to drink round after round.
Although Ogata could drink quite a bit, he still couldn't handle the way he drank.
By nightfall, Ogata could already feel his head starting to hurt.
On the other hand, Genichi, Makimura and the others are still very energetic.
They were all heavy drinkers, especially Genichi. Genichi was the kind of man who drank alcohol like water and could drink all day long.
For them, this little bit of alcohol is just enough to make them slightly tipsy.
In order to cheer himself up a little, Ogata left the table temporarily under the pretext of going to the bathroom, intending to go outside to get some fresh air and boost his spirits.
There happened to be a window in one of the corridors of the house.
Ogata, who had temporarily left his seat, walked quickly to the corridor, opened the window, and then stuck his head out of the window.
The cold night wind blew in my face.
Because he had drunk quite a bit of alcohol, Ogata's face was now slightly flushed and felt a little hot to the touch.
My slightly hot face felt indescribably comfortable when it came into contact with the cool night breeze.
It reminded Ogata of the feeling of returning to an air-conditioned room from the hot outdoors in the summer of his previous life.
Under the blowing of the cool night wind, the pain in my head was slightly relieved.
Just as Ogata was quietly enjoying the night breeze and recovering his spirit, a female voice with a hint of surprise sounded beside him:
"Lord Ogata, are you here to get some fresh air as well?"
It’s the sound of melons.
Ogata turned his head and saw Uesugi, whose face was also red, walking slowly towards him.
Guasheng got his life back on track some time ago.
She continued to work in Yoshiwara as usual, and continued to defend Yoshiwara with the name "Yoshiwara Village Tongxin" given to her by the prostitutes.
In order to attend Ogata's wedding, Uesugi took a day off today.
"Yeah..." Ogata smiled bitterly, "Master Genichi and the others drank too much, so I came out to take a break."
"I came out to rest, too." Guasheng also smiled bitterly, "I can't drink very well, and I drank a little too much just now, so I don't feel very well now, so I also want to come out for some fresh air..."
Ogata will stand aside and give some space to Uoe.
Uesugi walked slowly to the space that Ogata had just vacated and stood side by side with Ogata by the open window.
After they enjoyed the night breeze together in silence, a smile slowly appeared on Guasheng's face.
After this smile appeared, Guasheng broke the silence between the two of them:
“This period of time feels like a dream.”
"The Ichitosai whom I have always respected and admired suddenly appeared before my eyes."
"I worked in Yoshiwara for a while with Ittosai, whom I admired."
"Then Ittosai helped me get revenge and destroyed that abominable place in Shiranui."
Having said this, Guasheng paused.
Then he turned his head and cast a serious look at Ogata.
"There are so many things I want to thank you for. Thank you so much."
"I want to thank you, too." As soon as Ueyoshi finished speaking, Obe smiled and said, "Thanks to you, I had a very happy time working in Yoshiwara."
"I just did what I should do as a senior." Guasheng smiled and responded in a joking tone.
After another silence, Guasheng asked:
"Now that your wedding with Ms. A-Machi is over, are you also going to prepare to leave for Ezo?"
"Yes." Ogata's expression became a little more serious, "We will be leaving in a few days."
Guasheng's expression also became more serious: "Although I don't know much about Ezo, I have heard that Ezo is a dangerous place."
"It is said that there was a riot among the Ezo people last year."
"So - you must pay attention to safety."
"Yeah. Of course." At this point, Ogata's serious expression gradually disappeared, and then he joked, "I went to Ezo with the intention of heading to a dangerous place."
"When you have finished your own affairs, you are always welcome to come back to Edo."
The serious look on Guasheng's face also faded away.
"When you come back, you can always come to see me. I will do my best to be your host and treat you to a good meal."
"Then tell me about your experiences in Ezo."
The smile on Guasheng's face grew wider.
"Unless something happens, I will definitely be in Yoshiwara."
"Do you plan to continue working in Yoshiwara?" Ogata asked.
"Of course." Uechi answered without hesitation, "Yoshiwara is my home now."
"And, just like you have your work to do now, Lord Ogata."
"I also have...things I should accomplish."
Uesugi looked out the window and into the distance.
"Although my power is quite weak."
"Although my help to the Yoshiwara girls was only a temporary solution, not a permanent one."
"But I still want to do my best to help these vulnerable girls."
"After all, someone just told me this a while ago."
Ueo returned his smiling gaze to Ogata.
"'Give some light if you can. Even if it is as light as a firefly, it can bring some light to the darkness. There is no need to wait for a torch to illuminate the darkness.'"
Ueo softly recited the words that Ogata had told her before.
"I've decided to stay in Yoshiwara."
“I will continue to shine as long as I can.”
Ogata looked at Uesugi beside him, with a hint of surprise in his eyes.
He said this to Guessou when they were sent together to support a teahouse.
That night, I also encountered Takigawa who was causing trouble in the teahouse - but that's a story for later.
At that time, Uesugi met a " harayujo" he had known before. The scene reminded him of a former prostitute and he began to doubt the work he had been doing. He wondered whether his work was meaningful and whether he had helped the prostitutes in Yoshiwara.
At that time, looking at Uesugi who had a confused look on his face, Ogata took the opportunity to say this famous quote from a great writer in his previous life.
The look in Guasheng’s eyes now is completely different from that of Guasheng back then.
Now Gua Sheng’s eyes are full of determination, without a trace of confusion.
Looking at Guase, who was completely different from before, an uncontrollable smile appeared in the depths of Ogata's eyes.
"It seems that you are no longer confused."
“Because I was inspired by someone.”
Ueo looked at Ogata.
"Whether it was the daimyo of a domain, or the powerful Shiranui and the shogunate, that man never backed down in the face of these behemoths."
“I decided to learn from his courage.”
"Keep going straight on the path you want to take."
There was a hint of surprise in the depths of Ogata's eyes.
After staring at Uesugi for a while, Ogata slowly suppressed the surprise in his eyes.
What replaced "surprise" was a faint feeling of "relief".
"...Well said, Ueochi." Ogata nodded slightly, with a look of relief in his eyes and face. "While I'm fighting in Ezo or somewhere else, you should also work hard."
"I will return to Edo when everything is settled in the future."
"When that happens, you have to treat us to something delicious."
"It would be even better if you take us to a delicious restaurant that only Edo locals know about."
"I will." Guasheng laughed, "Then you can eat without worry. I still have quite a bit of savings."
Hearing Ueo's joke, Ogata and Ueo both laughed softly.
…
…
As the night deepens——
Edo, Kitamachi Magistrate's Office——
Because Edo implemented the "monthly rotation system", Minami and Kitamachi took turns managing Kyoto on a "monthly" basis.
Last month, which was October, the Kitamachi Magistrate's Office was in charge of Edo.
Now it is November, and the responsibility of managing Edo naturally falls to the Minamimachi Bugyosho.
However - even though the Kitamachi Magistrate's Office is not in charge this month, it does not mean that the Kitamachi Magistrate's Office is now deserted.
There are still a small number of officials staying in the Kitamachi Bugyosho to prevent outsiders from trespassing.
Converted into modern Earth time units, it is almost 11 p.m. now.
In this era, it is already late at night.
On the left and right sides of the main gate of the Kitamachi Magistrate's Office stood two officials holding swords.
Because it was late at night, the four officers felt sleepy uncontrollably and yawned frequently.
Also, because it was late at night, there were no pedestrians on the street in front of the four people.
Apart from the whistling sound of the night wind, there was no other sound .
The overly quiet environment made the four of them even more sleepy.
Just as they were concentrating their minds, struggling against the sleepiness in their minds and anxiously waiting for the shift change, a strange music suddenly came into their ears.
This strange music came from the end of the street on their left.
The music was getting louder and louder - the music was coming towards the four of them.
The four of them frowned and looked towards the street intersection on the left following the sound.
The humidity is high tonight, with a thin layer of fog everywhere.
A figure slowly emerged from the entrance of the misty street at a leisurely pace.
After seeing the figure clearly, the four officers frowned even deeper.
The figure's attire was strange.
He wore a deep straw hat that covered his entire head, which was called a "sky hat". He wore hand guards on both hands, a monk's robe hung around his neck, a pair of dirty white socks on his feet, foot straps tied to his calves, and a sword without a hilt hung on his waist. He held a shakuhachi in both hands and played it.
This person has an extremely sturdy build. He should be a man, and a particularly strong one.
Looking at the man's strange attire, an officer raised his eyebrows and muttered in a puzzled tone: "Void Monk?"
Japanese Buddhism has quite a few branches.
Among these many branches, there is a very famous sect: the Puhua Sect.
People usually call the monks of the Puhua Sect "Xuwu monks".
The monk Xuwu can be said to be the most special monk.
The monks of the Void Sect all wear a deep straw hat called "sky canopy" that covers their entire head, and have hand guards on their hands. They do not shave their heads or wear monk robes, but only wear a cassock around their necks.
The time they spend traveling around is far greater than the time they spend in Buddhist temples.
Monk Xuwu spends most of his time traveling throughout the year.
When traveling, he often carries a musical instrument called "Shakuhachi".
He wandered aimlessly while playing the shakuhachi, and basically survived by begging for food during his travels.
The reason why the Void Monks are special is not just because they dress very strangely.
What makes them special is that the shogunate gave them considerable privileges.
The Puhua Sect is not a sect that anyone can convert to.
Only the children of the military family could convert to the Puhua Sect.
This means that common people cannot enter the Puhua Sect and become a Void Monk.
Because the Puhua Sect only accepts children from military families, every Xuwu monk is a "former warrior."
The shogunate gave the nihilistic monks of the Puhua sect two major privileges.
The first privilege is the power to wear a sword, and every Void Monk can wear a sword.
The second privilege is being able to travel around Japan freely without any hindrance.
The reason why the shogunate gave the nihilistic monks these two privileges was very simple - the shogunate and the Puka sect had a cooperative relationship.
Since its inception, the Puhua Sect has always had the custom and culture of encouraging its monks to travel around.
So the Edo Shogunate simply cooperated with the Puka Sect - giving them these two major privileges so that they could travel around more conveniently.
Fukashomon only had to do one thing to repay the shogunate.
That is to serve as a spy for the shogunate and spy on the movements and public sentiments of the daimyo of each domain.
In other words, many of the nihilistic monks were actually spies of the Edo Shogunate.
He traveled around under the guise of practicing Buddhism, but in reality he was a spy.
The Edo Shogunate also specially built a new Buddhist temple for the Puka sect - Suzuhoji, which is located in Edo.
This ethereal monk suddenly appeared at the intersection of the mist, blowing the shakuhachi in his hand while walking towards the four officials guarding the gate of Kitamachi Bugyosho at a leisurely pace.
The strange music that the officers heard came from the shakuhachi in the hands of this nihilistic monk.
Looking at the Void Monk who was slowly walking towards them, the four officers frowned even deeper.
"Stop!" An officer pointed the spear in his hand at the monk, "If you are here to beg for food, please leave. We don't have any extra food now."
"Leave immediately!"
When the officer pointed the spear in his hand at the nihilistic monk again, the other three officers hurriedly followed suit, and as if facing a formidable enemy, they held the spears in their hands horizontally and pointed them at the nihilistic monk again.
There is a reason why these four officers are so nervous.
The reputation of the Void Monk has been getting worse and worse recently.
The reason for this is that there are many thieves who disguise themselves as false monks, travel around in the guise of false monks, and then commit crimes everywhere.
No one knows whether the monk in front of them is a real monk.
It was late at night and there was not even a dog on the street. Yet, this nihilistic monk suddenly walked towards them while playing the shakuhachi in the middle of the night - it really looked suspicious no matter how one looked at it.
When the officer shouted "Stop", the monk had already stopped.
However - although he had stopped, the movements of his hands did not stop.
He stood there and continued playing the shakuhachi in his hand.
Because this illusory monk was wearing a "sky canopy" that covered his head, the officials could not even see his face clearly.
"Didn't you hear what we said?" The officer shouted again in an impatient tone, "Stop bragging! Leave quickly! If you don't leave, we will treat you as a suspicious person and make you spend some time in jail!"
After the officer finished speaking, the monk finally stopped playing the shakuhachi.
Then……
bass!
The sound of a sharp blade being unsheathed suddenly exploded.
The Void Monk quickly loosened his hands, let go of the shakuhachi in his hands, then reached behind him and pulled out the sword without a guard hanging on his waist.
His grip was very strange, not a straight grip, but a reverse grip.
At the same moment when he pulled out the katana from his waist, the Void Monk turned into a shadow and pounced towards the four officers in front of him.
The knife flashed.
The Void Monk swung the katana four times in a row, splashing out four handfuls of blood.
After swinging the sword for the fourth time, the Void Monk jumped away nimbly to avoid the blood spurting out of the officials' bodies. At the same time, he swung the sword in his hand towards the ground with force. The blood on the blade spilled out along the blade, dripping onto the ground and forming a dark red arc on the ground.
Pop.
The sound of the shakuhachi hitting the ground was heard.
After the Void Monk spilled the blood on his blade, the shakuhachi that he had just let go of fell to the ground.
When the Void Monk sheathed his sword, a voice of praise rang out from where he had just appeared:
"Louluo, your skills seem to have improved."
As soon as this compliment was uttered, a young man slowly emerged from the misty street corner.
The young man had a handsome face and wore an exquisite katana with a purple handle on his waist.
A sturdy man who was just as muscular as the Void Monk followed closely behind the young man.
After the young man appeared, the Void Monk immediately bowed to him.
"Toyotomi-sama. Thank you for the compliment."
The young man, Toyotomi, smiled, then continued with a somewhat helpless tone:
"But do you have to blow your shakuhachi every time you kill someone?"
"This is my habit." The monk who was called "Louluo" by Toyotomi said in a calm tone, "If I don't play the funeral music I created before killing someone, then when I kill someone, I will feel very uncomfortable."
"Forget it, as long as you like it." After saying that, Toyotomi strode towards the gate of the Northern Bugyosho in front of him, "Gao Qing, Lou Luo, follow me, let's give the shogunate a surprise together."
"Yes!"*2
The sturdy man who appeared with Toyotomi was Gao Qing.
He and Lou Luo shouted "Yes" in unison, and followed Toyotomi to stride towards the gate of the Kitamachi Magistrate's Office, which was no longer guarded by anyone.