After promising Baosheng to be a guest of their sword hall for the remaining month, Ogata's remaining days became regular.
In the morning, I went to Minamoto Tachibana to finish his Kabuki script with Jiro Nishino.
In the afternoon, Jiro Nishino went to help his family, while Ogata went to the Hosho Sword Hall to gain experience...ah, no, he was instructing the apprentices of the Hosho Sword Hall and gaining experience at the same time.
In addition to teaching Katori Shinto-ryu swordsmanship, Hosho Kenkan also teaches Katori Shinto-ryu judo.
Therefore, the apprentices of Hosho Sword School are all proficient in both swordsmanship and judo.
Some apprentices specialize in swordsmanship, while others specialize in judo.
Therefore, in addition to teaching them swordsmanship, Ogata also taught them judo.
Although Ogata was not very good at imparting knowledge and answering questions, he was more than capable of teaching them some of the experience he had gained and accumulated in fighting against enemies through one life-and-death battle after another.
This kind of fighting experience cannot be passed on just by words.
It would be better to say that swordsmanship is a skill that cannot be mastered by just oral instruction or ear-learning.
The best way to impart your accumulated practical experience is undoubtedly through actual combat.
Through actual combat, the apprentices of Hosho Sword Hall can personally experience and learn these experiences of fighting to the death, which are very precious in peacetime.
While imparting his experience in fighting enemies through actual combat, Ogata can also gain a lot of experience through fighting with his apprentices.
Although because the strength of everyone in the Hosho Sword Hall is not very good, the experience points gained after each battle are not much.
The weakest one, after Ogata defeated him, his personal level experience bar only gained 10 experience points.
But fortunately, there are enough apprentices in the Hosho Sword Hall.
With this fairly respectable amount as a foundation, Ogata's experience bars are steadily increasing.
The master of the Hosho Sword School not only has a broad mind that is big enough to invite Ogata, a challenger, to be the swordsmanship instructor of the school, but he also has a humble heart.
These days, Master Baosheng often humbly accepts Ogata's guidance.
The master's humble attitude towards learning also encouraged the apprentices in the academy to seek advice from Ogata more actively.
Even the owner of the museum is so humble and still willing to ask questions even at such an old age. How can we, the students, lag behind our master?
This is the voice of many students in the library.
While teaching swordsmanship to the masters and students at Hosho Sword Hall, Ogata unknowingly earned a nickname - "One-sword Samurai".
This nickname was given to him by the apprentices of the Hosho Sword Hall.
Because no matter who Ogata fights with, he can kill them instantly with one strike.
No one could take Ogata's sword, and no one could dodge Ogata's sword - not even their master could block or dodge Ogata's sword.
On the first day after Ogata officially became a customer of their Hosho Sword Hall, the master of Hosho Sword Hall also asked Ogata for advice because he was itching to do something.
His result was the same as his apprentices - he was killed instantly by Ogata's sword.
Gradually, the apprentices of Hosho Sword Hall began to call Ogata "One Sword Samurai".
Hosho Sword Museum will close after dark.
Therefore, after dark, Ogata would leave the sword hall and return to the hotel to start learning "Ezo" with Atachi.
Before leaving Edo, Ogata bought a book called "Ezo Common Language Teaching" from the owner of Kitakaze-ya, where Kondo was working, at a very low price.
I haven't had much time to study recently because I was busy traveling.
Therefore, Ogata and Atachi planned to learn the common expressions of Ezo during their temporary stay in Kinno-cho.
After learning the language of Ezo, it might be of unexpected use when I arrive in Ezo.
After studying until late at night, Obaya would begin to do what he and Atachi did every day after his own injuries were almost healed.
Ogata is 21 years old and Atachi is 18 years old.
They are all at the age where they have tasted the sweetness of food and are hungry for it.
The two of them explore each other's physical limits every day.
Practicing sword regardless of day or night - this sentence is the most appropriate to describe Ogata's life these days.
…
…
On the night of November 29, 1790,
As a town with a population of nearly 100,000, Kinno-cho naturally has no shortage of bathhouses.
In the castle towns of the Edo period, only the wealthy families had bathrooms in their homes.
Middle and lower-level samurai and ordinary people usually did not have bathrooms at home. If they wanted to take a bath, they had to go to the large bathhouse in the castle town.
Therefore, the large public bath is one of the most indispensable facilities in every town.
Ogata was very disappointed that the hotel where he and Atachi stayed did not provide bathroom services.
However, there is a bathhouse not far from the hotel.
These people, Ogata and A-machi, all bathe in this bathhouse.
Once you go to a wild and smoky place like Ezo, you may never have the chance to take a bath again.
Therefore, Ogata and Atachi have been taking baths very frequently recently. They want to take more baths comfortably while there are still conditions available.
Tonight, after dinner, Ogata and Atachi came to the bathhouse to take a bath as usual.
Since Matsudaira Sadanobu, who was determined to revitalize the shogunate, took office as the elder councilor, he has carried out reforms to varying degrees in many fields such as economy and culture.
In terms of people's livelihood, Matsudaira Sadanobu also issued many reform orders.
For example, Matsudaira Sadanobu reformed the bathhouses across the country.
In the past, many bathhouses were mixed bathing places for men and women, with no distinction between men's and women's baths.
So at that time, the happiest time of the day for many old perverts was when they went to the bathhouse to take a bath.
Soaking in the warm pool water, staring at the pomegranate mouth with the "like-minded" comrades around, hoping that the next person to enter the bath will be a beautiful young girl.
After Matsudaira Sadanobu took office as the elder councilor and took control of the country, he believed that the fact that baths did not distinguish between men and women was immoral, corrupting morals and demoralizing.
So with a stroke of the pen, it was required that all bathhouses in the country must be divided into men's and women's baths, and there must no longer be mixed bathhouses for men and women.
After this order was issued, those bathhouses where men and women bathed together immediately began to renovate and rectify the situation.
Nowadays, it is almost impossible to find bathhouses across the country that allow mixed bathing for men and women.
As far as Ogata knows, ever since Matsudaira Sadanobu launched the "bathhouse reform", it seems that quite a lot of people, from samurai to ordinary civilians, hate Matsudaira Sadanobu to the core and hope that he can step down quickly.
At the same time, I also heard that since there are no more mixed-gender bathing baths, the business of many bathhouses that originally had mixed-gender bathing has suddenly declined.
The reason is not difficult to guess - many old perverts have lost the motivation to take a bath again.
I can’t look at a woman’s body anymore. What’s the point of taking a bath for the rest of my life?
Therefore, after the "bathhouse reform" was announced, many old perverts who had lost their dreams were "unable to recover".
Ogata was not opposed to Matsudaira Sadanobu's "bathhouse reform".
Not only do they not object to it, they also think it is a rare benevolent and good policy.
Just as he still cannot appreciate the topknot, Ogata still finds it difficult to understand why people of this era could accept mixed bathing and think that it is not a strange thing for men and women to take a bath together.
After saying goodbye to Atachi in front of the bathhouse door, Obe entered the men's bath on the left, while Atachi entered the women's bath on the right.
The layout of the bathhouse that Ogata and Atachi often come to bathe recently is a very common bathhouse layout nowadays.
There are two floors in total. The first floor is for bathing, and the second floor is for resting. Guests can go to the second floor to rest after taking a bath, but only men can go up to the second floor to rest.
There are two entrances and exits on the first floor, both of which are hung with cloth curtains.
These two door curtains are hung at different entrances and exits, one of which has "Men's Bath" written on it and the other has "Women's Bath" written on it.
The word "yu" in Japanese has many meanings, one of which is "bath".
There is no doubt about it - the "Men's Bath" and the "Women's Bath" are separated by a thick wooden wall, and the old pervert can do nothing and see nothing except hearing some sounds coming from the "Women's Bath".
Whether it is the "Men's Bath" or the "Women's Bath", the layout inside is similar. After paying at the counter, you first go to the dressing room to take off your clothes, and then go to the shower room to wash your body.
Behind the shower room is the bathing pool.
The opening connecting the shower room and the bath is commonly called the "pomegranate opening".
Only after washing your body in the shower room can you pass through the "pomegranate mouth" and take a bath in the bathtub.
After quickly taking off his clothes and simply washing his body in the shower room, Osamu passed through the pomegranate mouth and prepared to take a bath in the bathtub.
It is now around 8 o'clock in the evening, which was the busiest time for bathhouses in the Edo period.
As soon as he passed through the pomegranate entrance and entered the steamy bathing room, Osamu saw that 60% of the space in the bathhouse was already filled with people.
I tested the water temperature with my finger - it was a little hot, but it was just the right temperature for a cold winter.
After immersing the body below the neck in the hot water, Ogata swam to a place where there were not so many people and quietly enjoyed the feeling of being surrounded by the warm bath water.
The quality of the human skin mask on Ogata's face is really high. Not only is it indistinguishable from the real thing, it is also not afraid of being wetted by water vapor.
Thanks to the high quality of the human skin mask, Ogata can take a bath in the bathhouse so openly these days.
He soaked in the bathtub until the skin on his fingers became slightly wrinkled, then he got up from the bathtub.
After wiping his body clean, he went to the dressing room and put on the clean clothes he brought with him.
Atachi's bathing time is longer than Ogata's.
So after changing his clothes, Oobian went up to the second floor of the bathhouse, ready to rest on the second floor while waiting for Atachi to come out of the bath.
The second floor of the bathhouse was one of the most important social places in the Edo period.
Basically all bathhouses have a second floor for male guests to rest after taking a bath.
Some male guests who have more free time will go up to the second floor to rest and play after taking a bath.
Before reaching the second floor and still walking on the stairs, Xu Fang heard a burst of noise coming from above.
After stepping onto the last step, Xu Fang saw people of different ages passing the time in different places and in different ways.
Or get together to discuss all kinds of strange topics.
Or you can take out the entertainment equipment such as shogi and go that the bathhouse provides specially for the guests.
On the second floor of this bathhouse, staff set up a small stall selling snacks and tea, so some people bought snacks such as steamed buns and yokan, and had a great time while eating the snacks and drinking the free tea.
Because the second floors of all bathhouses are not open to women, you can hardly see any women here.
Among all the people present, there was no one Ogata knew, so Ogata walked to the window silently and looked at the scenery outside the window boredly to pass the time.
At this moment, Ogata suddenly noticed a loud voice coming from his side:
"Alright! Anyone who wants to hear my hunting stories from the past, please take a seat!"
The voice sounded a little old, but very energetic.
Because the voice was very loud, it immediately attracted Ogata's attention.
Ogata looked in the direction of the voice—the owner of the voice was an old man.
The old man looked to be in his 50s, with most of his hair white.
Although he is old, he is energetic and his eyes are bright.
After he finished speaking, the six young men who were probably only in their teens and were sitting in front of him immediately sat down around the old man with shining eyes.
"Master Dao!" one of the young men asked, "What are you going to talk about today?"
"Today... today I will tell you the story of when I was young and hunted a man-eating giant bear in Ezo!"
——Ezo?
Hearing this word, Ogata's eyebrows raised slightly.
"That was also a very thrilling hunt... Hmm? My Lord, do you want to come and listen to it?"
The old man noticed Ogata who had been looking at him from the beginning, so he extended an invitation to Ogata.
Ogata pointed at himself and asked, "Can I come and sit in on the class, too?"
"Of course!" the old man said cheerfully, "The more people who are willing to listen to my story, the happier I am! Come and listen together! My story won't be long."
By listening to the old man's story about hunting in Ezo, perhaps he could gather some information related to Ezo - so Ogata was happy to take advantage of his free time to listen to the old man's story about hunting bears in Ezo.
After the six young men sat down next to the old man, the old man looked Ogata up and down several times, then asked:
"I haven't seen you before, are you a foreigner?"
"Yes." Ogata nodded, "I traveled here because of something."
"Since the 'Morning Famine' broke out, the number of bandits in our Northeast has increased, and it has become very rare to see foreigners passing through our area." The old man smiled bitterly, "Anyway - let me introduce myself first."
"My name is Shimasuke, and I used to be a Mataki from the Matsumae Domain in Ezo. Now that I'm old and can no longer draw a bow or hunt, I moved here to Kinno-cho to live with my daughter and son-in-law."
"Another ghost?" Ogata's eyes showed some surprise, and he couldn't help but look at the old man in front of him again.
"Stranger, do you know what 'Yougui' is?"
Ogata nodded. "I've heard of them. They're the kind of people who farm and hunt, right?"
Japan's Tohoku region and Ezo have always been a "wildlife kingdom."
There are many kinds of wild animals such as deer, wolves, bears, etc.
Bears are not only numerous, but also extremely destructive, so bears pose the greatest threat to humans.
Thus, a special group of people emerged in Northeast China and Ezo.
They engage in agricultural planting in spring and summer, and hunt in the forest in groups in winter and early spring, mainly hunting bears and deer.
People called these people in the Northeast and Ezo regions who were engaged in both agricultural cultivation and hunting "Yatamonogatari".
"Yougui" is actually an Ainu word, meaning "winter hunter".
Although he had heard of the Matagi, a group with a long history, this was the first time Ogata saw the Matagi with his own eyes.
"Now that you know what 又鬼 means, it's easy to deal with." Shimasuke grinned, "I don't have to explain it to you."
"Where was I just now? Oh, yes. I used to be a Mataki from a certain Mataki Village in the Matsumae Domain of Ezo."
"We farm in spring and summer, and when winter comes we pick up bows and arrows and go hunting in the mountains."
"I'm not bragging, but when I was young, I was the best hunter in the village."
Shimasuke said this as he assumed the posture of drawing a bow and shooting an arrow.
"Not to mention deer, which even a ten-year-old child can hunt, I have killed countless bears alone."
"But - although I am undoubtedly an expert in bear hunting, I will never take it lightly when preparing for a bear hunt."
"Because bears are extremely scary animals."
Shimasuke's tone gradually became serious.
"Once a bear starts running, it can easily catch up with a human."
"When it comes to running, humans can never outrun bears."
"An adult bear can break a tree with a trunk as thick as two bowls with just one claw."
"If a human is struck by a bear, death is almost certain."
"Especially the bears in Ezo. The bears in Ezo are much scarier than the bears in Tohoku."
"I don't know if it's because it's colder in Ezo, but the wolves and bears there are much bigger than those in Northeast China."
Shimasuke drew a big circle in the air in front of him with his hands.
"If the bears from Ezo and Northeast China were to fight one-on-one, the bears from Ezo would definitely win because the size difference is too big."
"The best weapon against bears is poison arrows."
"Whether we are the Yata or the Ezo, we all use poison arrows to hunt bears."
"Although the formula of the poison used by the Ezo is different from that used by us ghosts, the effects are similar."
"After a bear is hit by our poisoned arrow, it will be killed in just 10 breaths."
"I've hunted a lot of bears in my life."
"But if I had to ask which hunt was the most dangerous in my life, it was undoubtedly the fight with the man-eating bear when I was 36 years old."
Shimasuke is very eloquent.
The intonation is well controlled, making it comfortable to listen to.
I wonder if this eloquence was developed from telling people around him stories about hunting when he was young for a long time.
Ogata was also fascinated by the song without realizing it.
Real hunting stories dictated by real hunters - Ogata had rarely heard of them, either in his previous life or now, so his curiosity was aroused at this time.
"Bears are particularly strange animals."
"They don't normally consider humans as food."
"But if they eat humans, they won't be able to eat anything other than human flesh until they die."
“Even if there are many other delicacies such as wild fruits, fish, and venison, I will not touch them again.”
"Why?" asked a young man sitting next to Ogata.
"There's a saying in our village that human flesh is far more delicious than other foods. It's so delicious that bears will become completely addicted to it and won't eat anything else."
Shimasuke shrugged.
"And the Ezo people say that this is a punishment from the gods for the bears."
"Once a bear eats a human, as punishment, the gods will punish the bear so that it can only eat humans for the rest of its life."
"The Ainu call a bear that eats human flesh 'Uenkamuyi'."
"Uenkamuyi?" asked another young man.
"It's Ainu language. It means 'evil god'."
"As for why the bear that ate human flesh is called that, I don't really understand. Our village doesn't have much contact with Ezo, so I don't know much about Ezo either."
"After a bear eats a human, it can no longer eat anything other than human flesh. So we have a rule among us that if we encounter a bear that has eaten human flesh, we must kill it as soon as possible."
"Because once the bear eats the first person, it will definitely eat the second, the third... until it dies."
"When I was 36, I encountered my first and only human-eating bear."
"For some reason, a bear suddenly attacked the 'Ghost Village' next door."
"Because it is very rare for bears to actively attack human villages. So the people in that village were caught off guard by the attack of the giant bear."
"The giant bear rushed into the village in the middle of the night and attacked a family of three. All three members of the family were killed by the bear while they were sleeping."
"After killing the whole family , the giant bear started to feast on them."
"The bear hadn't taken a few bites when the villagers who had noticed the bear attack came over and began to surround and hunt the man-eating giant bear."
"It's a pity that the villagers' encirclement and suppression failed. This man-eating giant bear was not only huge, but also extremely fast. It quickly escaped from the village and fled back into the mountains like a gust of wind."
"In order to prevent more victims from happening, the people from that village came to our village and hoped that we would come and help as well."
"If a man-eating bear appeared, our people might also be killed, so we agreed to cooperate without hesitation. All the men from the two villages joined forces to kill the giant bear."
"After three days of searching, we finally found the man-eating giant bear in a forest."
"And the first person to discover this man-eating giant bear..."
Shimasuke smiled bitterly and raised his finger to point at himself.
"That's me."
"That man-eating giant bear is really big..."
"If it stood up, it would be twice as tall as me."
Ogata looked at Shimasuke's height.
Shimasuke is about 1.5 meters tall.
If the bear was really as tall as two Shimasukes, then the bear would be 3 meters tall when it stood up.
"Not only tall, but also very strong."
Shimasuke raised his hands and gestured.
"Its waist must be four times as wide as me."
"I was hiding in a big tree, waiting for the best opportunity to shoot."
“There is a knack for shooting bears.”
Shimasuke raised his hand and nodded his head.
"When fighting a bear, you only need to remember one thing."
"That is, you can't attack the bear's head."
"The bear's skull is extremely hard, almost as hard as steel. Even a cannon may not be able to penetrate a bear's head."
"Although the bear's head is big, its brain is small, so when you attack the bear's head, it is difficult to accurately hit the bear's brain. If you can't hit the bear's brain directly, the bear will not die."
"So when fighting a bear, you must never attack the bear's head."
"The best place to attack is the bear's soft belly."
"After waiting for the best time to shoot, I shot the poison arrow into the belly of the man-eating bear."
"My shooting positions are carefully selected by me."
"It took about 13 breaths for the man-eating bear to run to the tree where I was hiding."
"That's enough time for the poison to take effect and kill the bear."
"But I didn't expect..."
Shimasuke's face showed bitterness.
"That man-eating giant bear is so tenacious..."
"After I shot the poison arrow into the man-eating giant bear's body, it actually held on for 15 breaths before dying..."
"Bears can not only swim but they can also climb trees."
"It was almost up the tree trunk where I was hiding... I could smell the bear's breath at that time."
"Luckily, just as it was about to crawl up to me, the poison finally took effect and it fell from the tree."
"If it had held on for two more breaths, my head would have been smashed to pieces..."
"Although this happened 20 years ago, when I think back to the time when the bear's face was so close to me, I still break out in a cold sweat..."
After saying that, Shimasuke touched his back and showed it to Ogata and the others - his palms were really wet.
“Although it was thrilling, I finally succeeded in killing the man-eating giant bear.”
"Since then, I have further solidified my reputation as the 'best hunter in the village.'"
"Bear hunting?" A young man who sat farthest from Ogata said with a look of longing, "I want to try bear hunting, too..."
"You may think hunting is interesting and fun when you listen to my story." Shimasuke smiled bitterly and shook his head, "But hunting is actually much more boring and dangerous than you think."
"Don't even think about going bear hunting."
“There is no way a person without experience can hunt a bear.”
"If you encounter a bear in the wild, run away if you can."
"Don't get carried away and try to engage in close combat with a bear."
"It's okay for a little bear. You might have a chance of winning in a close fight with a little bear, but you definitely won't stand a chance of winning in a close fight with a grown bear."
"If you really can't escape... let me teach you a way to escape from a bear."
"Pretend to be dead?" a young man asked. "I heard from my father that if you encounter a bear in the wild, you should pretend to be dead. Bears will not eat dead people."
"That's courting death!" Shimasuke said angrily, "I really don't know why the fallacy of 'bears don't eat dead people' can be spread so widely... It's really misleading."
"If you encounter an adult bear in the wild, don't play dead - it won't work."
"And don't even think about running away - you can never outrun a full-grown bear."
"And don't even think about climbing a tree - bears are better climbers than any human being."
"And don't even think about swimming - bears can swim, too."
"If you encounter an adult bear in the wild, the best way to deal with it is to stand still."
"Remain calm and face the bear without moving."
"While facing the bear, talk to it and greet it, such as chatting with it about today's weather or something."
“People are afraid of bears, but bears are also afraid of people.”
"In the eyes of bears, humans are just strange creatures."
"So bears generally don't approach humans."
"There are only two situations in which bears attack humans."
"One is wanting to eat people."
"The other is that they feel that the human in front of them poses a threat to them, and they think they are in danger, so they fight back."
"The reason why you have to stay calm and face the bear without moving is to prove to the bear that you have no ill intentions and will not pose a threat to you, Mr. Bear."
"The bear might come up to you and touch you with its big paws, or smell you - don't be afraid. Just let it touch you, let it smell you, you can't resist it anyway."
"It touches you and smells you just because it's curious about you."
"If you follow the steps I just described, there's a good chance the bear will go away on its own."
"Of course - the methods I just described for dealing with bears in the wild only work for bears that have never eaten human flesh and don't know how delicious human flesh is."
"If you encounter a bear that has eaten humans... you can only pray that the bear is full."
Shimasuke took the tea beside him, took a sip, moistened his dry lips and throat, laughed a few times, and then continued:
"In short - remember the method I just taught you to escape from a bear, although you probably won't have much chance to use it."
"As long as you don't go to those deep mountains and old forests, you generally won't encounter bears."
…
…
at the same time--
Hironocho is a little way away from Kinnocho.
"How is it?" A middle-aged man with an extremely haggard face asked a middle-aged man with half bald hair in front of him.
The bald middle-aged man nodded gently:
"Finally, we met a warrior who is willing to help us, but... that warrior doesn't look very powerful..."
After saying that, the middle-aged man let out a long sigh.
"There are so many samurai in Hirono Town, but only one is willing to lend a hand..."
As soon as the bald middle-aged man finished speaking, the vicissitudes of life middle-aged man smiled bitterly and continued:
"The pay we offer is too low... The only people who are willing to take on this hard work that could cost them their lives for such a low pay... are probably warriors who are already living in extreme poverty."
"I don't think we can find any samurai willing to help here in Hirono Town. Let's go to other towns and cities and have a look."
"Which cities and towns have we not visited yet?" asked the balding middle-aged man.
"Rinno Town and Nishikino Town."
"Kinno-cho..." the balding middle-aged man muttered, "I heard there's a sword hall in Kinno-cho... Since they all practice swords, then the people in that sword hall should all have a certain level of strength..."
"Yes." The weathered middle-aged man nodded. "There is a sword hall called 'Hosho' in Kinno-cho. I hope the samurai in that sword hall are willing to help us... Anyway, let's go to Hayashino-cho, which is the nearest to us, first, and Kinno-cho last."