Chapter 88 Held a 'Swordsmanship Battle' with Chiba Sword Hall! [5400 words]
Sanako's glare towards Qingden... only lasted for a moment.
She seemed to be just curious and confused about this stranger who suddenly followed Kondo into the living room and had never seen him before.
After briefly glancing at Qingdeng with doubtful eyes, she seemed to have lost interest in Qingdeng. She withdrew her gaze from Qingdeng, lowered her gaze, and looked at her nose and heart.
"Jugetaro-kun, Miss Sana, I haven't seen you for a while." At this time, Kondo, with a smile on his face, enthusiastically greeted the couple.
"Hahahaha." Chiba Jutaro laughed heartily a few times, "Well, it's true that we haven't seen each other for some time."
Compared to Chiba Jutaro's casualness, Sana is much more disciplined.
She used textbook standard movements, lowered her upper body, and saluted Kondo and others: "Gui'an, Yong-kun, Okita-kun, and my brother have taken the liberty of visiting me. Please forgive me."
During the gap between the two parties greeting each other, Kondo led Aoto and Okita to behind Shusuke and knelt down on the ground upright.
After Kondo briefly exchanged greetings with Chiba Jutaro, Chiba Jutaro cast a curious look at Aoto who was sitting behind Kondo:
"Yongjun, who is this?"
"Oh, Jutaro-kun, let me introduce you." Kondo smiled and moved his body slightly to the side, "This person's name... you should have heard of it in the past few days, this is
The newcomer I mentioned to you before: Tachibana Aoden."
"This is our first meeting." As soon as Kondo finished speaking, Aoto immediately bowed to the brother and sister in front of him, "I'm Tachibana Aoto."
——Is this Chiba Jutaro...
While introducing himself to the brother and sister, Aomori quietly looked at Chiba Jutaro.
Because Sanako's appearance and figure were too eye-catching, Qingto had been subconsciously sizing up Sanako and ignored Sanako's older brother.
Should we say that their family's genes are very strong? As the elder brother, Chiba Jutaro also has a handsome face.
Edo women of this era liked men who were full of masculinity - and Chiba Jutaro happened to be this type of man.
Chiba Jutaro is tall and strong, with thick eyebrows and big eyes. He looks very energetic and has the appearance of a "hot-blooded man".
In addition to the "beauty gene", their Chiba family seems to have a very good "height gene".
Both siblings are quite tall.
According to Aoto's visual inspection, Chiba Jutaro is about the same height as him, around 1.75 meters, while Sanako's height is around 1.6 meters.
Sanako's height... in this era when even the average height of men only fluctuates around the figure of "1.5 meters", that's really rare.
Take the current situation as an example - there are currently no more than 50 women in Edo who are over 1.6 meters tall... Aonto feels that there are not more than 50...
For Aotobu, the only shortcoming in Chiba Jutaro's appearance is that like Kondo, he has moon hair...
Although he has traveled to this era for some time, Qingto is still not used to seeing this extremely ugly Tsukiyo head.
In Qingto's eyes, this Tsukiyo-tou, which is too ugly to look at, has sealed the appearance of Kondo and Chiba Jutaro...
In terms of appearance alone, Chiba Jutaro and Sanako have quite a lot of similarities in appearance, especially their noses. Their tall noses are almost carved from the same mold.
But in terms of personality...the difference between these two brothers and sisters is a little big.
From the words and deeds of Chiba Jutaro, it is not difficult to see that he is a person with a very forthright personality.
Compared with Chiba Jutaro, Sanako seems much quieter.
How should I put it... Ever since Qingto met Sanako for the first time just now, he felt that Sanako's temperament matched her status quite well, and she was very "elderly".
Sanako is the daughter of Chiba Sadakichi and the niece of Chiba Shusaku.
Chiba Shusaku created the current "Japan's number one swordsmanship school": Hokushin Itto-ryu.
As the younger brother of Chiba Shusaku, Chiba Sadakichi helped his brother develop and perfect Beichen Itto-ryu.
So... one can imagine what position and identity Sanako has in the current "Japanese martial arts world".
She is undoubtedly the "eldest lady of a famous family in the martial arts world" and the "daughter of martial arts". In terms of noble status, there should be few women in the entire "Japanese martial arts world" who can compare with her.
Aintō guessed: This Sanako has most likely received a lot of extremely rigorous education since she was a child, with the goal of cultivating her into a qualified "Yamato Nadeshiko".
Every move she made had an extremely elegant aura.
Except for bowing down to salute Qingden and others just now, Sanako's waist has been very straight the rest of the time, with two catkins overlapped on her legs, and her graceful swan neck is elegant.
The curvature of the body was high, and the body was neither rigidly tense nor rudely slumped into a puddle.
Her graceful and graceful sitting posture is a beautiful sight that pleases the eyes and entertains the heart.
Whether it was in his previous life or in this life, this was the first time Qingdeng had seen such a woman behave in such a "young lady" manner.
Qingden felt that even if Sanako was asked to eat sticky natto, smelly snail powder or durian, she would be able to give these foods a "high-end feel".
However, the fly in the ointment is...this "eldest lady" doesn't seem to be the kind of person who is easy to get along with...
If the temperament exuded by Jutaro is "bold" and "enthusiastic", and can be associated with "flame", then the temperament exuded by Sanako is "cold" and "uncertain"
"Keep away" can make people think of "ice cubes".
Qingto has observed: Ever since he followed Kondo and Okita into the living room, Sanako's expression... has not changed at all until now - it has always been expressionless...
Her expressionless face made the air around her seem several degrees cooler.
——Are you as stern as Saito...
Sanako's aloof look made Qingto think of his bodyguard who might not speak more than 10 sentences at the end of the day...
After Aonto reported his name, Chiba Jutaro was startled at first, and then hurriedly moved his eyes up and down, looking at Aoto quickly.
"Oh? Are you that Tachibana Aoden?" Two looks of joy suddenly burst out from Chiba Jutaro's eyes.
After Qingteng's self-introduction ended, Sanako also turned his gaze back to Qingteng again, his eyes shining with surprise.
However - just like before, Sanako simply looked at Qingteng for a while, then withdrew his gaze, and did not take another look at Qingteng.
"Hahahaha." Chiba Jutaro patted his thigh with moderate force, "Tachibana-kun, I've wanted to see you for a long time!"
"When you first joined the Trial Guard Hall, Yongjun once told me that they had a good prospect with a promising future in the Trial Guard Hall."
"At that time, I wanted to come to the Trial Guard Hall to see what the young man who was so praised by Yongjun looked like, and whether he was really as good a young man as Yongjun said.
"
"But who would have thought that before I even had time to visit the trial defense hall, I would learn about your feat of 'defeating more with less, defeating powerful enemies on a snowy night'."
"When I first heard the relevant rumors, I thought I had heard it wrong."
"After confirming with others many times, I finally confirmed that the person who achieved such an incredible feat is indeed the newcomer at the Trial Guard Hall."
"In our Little Chiba Sword Hall, we often see apprentices gathering together these days, discussing the new 'monster rookie' from the Trial Guard Hall."
Having said this, Chiba Jutaro paused as if he suddenly remembered something.
Then... he narrowed his eyes slightly and looked at Qingdeng carefully with an... intriguing look.
Because Chiba Jutaro's gaze was quite obscure, no one present noticed that he was looking at Aomori with a strange look.
I saw: He looked at Qingdeng carefully and muttered at a volume that only he could hear clearly:
"Well...he's very tall...about the same height as me..."
"You're also very young..."
"He looks... quite handsome..."
"The only shortcoming is that I don't have a neat Tsukiyo hair... I have a long hair that is difficult to take care of..."
After muttering in this soft voice, Chiba Jutaro subconsciously tilted his eyes slightly and glanced sideways at the sister beside him.
Chiba Jutaro's look at his sister went as quickly as it came.
After glancing at Sanako, Chiba Jutaro quickly looked away. Everyone present, including Sanako, did not notice Chiba Jutaro's little movement.
Chiba Jutaro, who had finished secretly observing Aotobu, turned his attention to Shusuke and Kondo.
"Sir Shusuke, Yong-kun." Chiba Jutaro sighed with envy on his face, "I really envy you. You really got an incredible young hero from the Imperial Guard this time."
"Hahaha." Shusuke said with a smile, "Are you 'envying us'... Jutaro-kun, what you said is a bit too exaggerated."
"I'm not exaggerating, I really envy you." Chiba Jutaro shook his head, and then sighed with helplessness, "The recent operating situation of our little Chiba Sword Hall... is a little bit not good.
.”
"My father and I have been troubled recently by the delay in recruiting high-quality, worthy newcomers."
"Ah, by the way... Lord Shusuke, Lord Yong, why is it that Lord Tachibana is still here at this point in time?"
Only then did Jutaro realize: Why is Aoto, a swordsman apprentice, at Kondo's house now that it's already night?
"Ah, that's it..." Kondo succinctly informed Jutaro of the entire process of how they "accepted" Aoto and others.
After knowing the detailed reason why Qingden appeared here at this time, Chiba Jutaro frowned slightly: "I see..."
Chiba Jutaro, who had a bit of regret and regret on his face, slapped his thigh again: "Those beasts of the 'anti-barbarian faction' are really getting more and more bad...!"
"He is even capable of such despicable things as setting fire to other people's homes."
"If the fire accidentally gets out of control, countless people will lose their lives and their homes...!"
"Don't they care at all about the lives of those innocent people..."
After sighing heavily, Chiba Jutaro raised his eyes and offered basic condolences to Aomi, such as "No one in your family was injured, right?"
…
…
Chiba Jutaro seems to be very interested in Aoto's "Snowy Night Battle".
After expressing basic condolences to Qingdeng whose house was burned down, he asked Qingdeng excitedly and anxiously about the details of the battle and how Qingdeng commanded the inferior troops to fight back against the "rejection of the foreigners".
"Send".
However, after these questions from Chiba Jutaro, Sanako reminded her brother softly in a cold tone:
"Brother, it's not very early now, so let's get down to business first."
Hearing Sanako's reminder, Chiba Jutaro was stunned for a moment, then raised his hand, grabbed the hair on the back of his head, and slapped him haha.
"That's right, we should talk about the business first."
After finishing speaking, Chiba Jutaro put down the hand holding his hair and cleared his throat vigorously.
"Master Zhouzhu, Mr. Yong, I will keep the story short."
"The reason why my roommate and I came here unexpectedly tonight is actually to tell you a good thing."
"Oh? Good thing? Please tell me." Seeing that Chiba Jutaro was about to get down to business, Shusuke straightened his waist a little, while Kondo and others also sat a little more upright.
"Sir Shusuke, Kondo-kun, and Yushima Tenmangu Shrine finally nodded in agreement - they agreed that our Little Chiba Sword Hall and your Trial Guard Hall will hold a party at Yushima Tenmangu Shrine on the day of the Plum Blossom Festival.
A 'red and white battle'!"
As soon as Chiba Jutaro finished speaking, he saw a strong look of joy on the faces of Shusuke, Kondo, and Okita.
"Oh!" Okita was the first to shout excitedly, "Yushima Tenmangu finally agreed... great..."
Okita and the others all looked excited - only Aoto looked confused.
Huh? What? Yushima Tenmangu Shrine? Plum Blossom Festival? "Red and White Battle"? What the hell?
Yushima Tenmangu Shrine, Plum Blossom Festival, Red and White Battle... Qingnobo knew what these three words meant, but when they were strung together, he didn't know what they meant...
Japan is a country that loves to hold festivals and has a very prosperous "festival culture".
The various types of festivals and activities are dazzling. Festivals of various sizes are held almost every month throughout the year.
In Japan during the Heian period, there emerged a great scholar who was extremely knowledgeable and wrote many books throughout his life: Sugawara Michizane.
Due to some very complicated reasons, after the death of Sugawara Michizane, the emperor, who was not a puppet at that time but still had real power, ordered the construction of "Tenmangu Shrine" to worship this great scholar. After that, Michizane became part of the Shinto faith.
It gradually spread throughout Japan. Because Michizane was an outstanding scholar and poet during his lifetime, he was worshiped as the god of learning.
Tenmangu Shrine, a shrine dedicated to Michizane, is gradually being opened all over the country.
"Yushima Tenmangu" is one of the branches of Tenmangu opened in Edo.
Michizane loved plum blossoms during his lifetime, so a large number of plum blossom trees were planted in every Tenmangu Shrine.
As time went by, a special festival was born to commemorate Daozhen - this is the "Plum Blossom Festival".
On February 25th every year, people go to the nearby Tenmangu Shrine to enjoy plum blossoms.
This Plum Blossom Festival is considered one of the favorite festivals of Japanese literati.
Every time during the Plum Blossom Festival, you can see a group of literati reciting poems, composing poems, and singing Japanese songs under a plum blossom tree in Tenmangu Shrine.
Counting the days, this year’s Plum Blossom Festival is coming soon. Today is February 10th. In half a month, this year’s Plum Blossom Festival will begin.
As for this "Red and White Battle", it is also called "the Battle Game" and is one of the most popular games played by samurai in ancient Japan.
The samurai participating in this game are divided into two teams: the red team and the white team. There is no limit to the number of players.
The heads of the red team are tied with red ribbons, and the heads of the white team are tied with white ribbons. Both teams have a porcelain plate tied to their foreheads. One person from each team is responsible for being the "general" of the team.
The rules of the game are quite simple: two teams are fighting with wooden swords or bamboo swords. If the porcelain plate on the head is exploded, it means "you are dead" and you have to exit the game immediately. Which side is the "general"?
"If the porcelain plate is broken first, it means which side loses.
To put it simply, it is a "strategic war chess game" in which you try to "kill" the opponent's general while ensuring that your own general will not "die" in battle.
Because the rules are simple, the process is fun and exciting, and it not only competes in personal strength but also in tactics and strategies, so this "red and white battle" is quite popular and can be said to be the samurai's favorite game.
Qingden couldn't figure out how the "Plum Blossom Festival" symbolizing elegance and the "Red and White War" symbolizing violence... these two unrelated words were connected together.
Okita, who was sitting next to Qingden, noticed the confused look on Qingden's face.
"Ah... I almost forgot." Okita raised his hand and played with his ponytail, "It seems we haven't mentioned this to you, Tachibana-kun..."
After saying that, Okita stuck out his tongue, licked his slightly dry lips, and then explained to Ayoto step by step what the "Red and White War" was held at Yushima Tenmangu Shrine.
…
After listening to Okita's explanation, Qingto finally understood what was going on.
We have to start with the chief priest of Yushima Tenmangu Shrine...that is, the head of the shrine.
The god of Yushima Tenmangu Shrine is a kind-hearted person.
In recent years, the development of this country has really been disappointing...
All kinds of messy bird things appeared one after another, but there was nothing good that could inspire people.
Over time, the mental outlook of the people became somewhat depressed.
The Lord God was worried about the current situation of the people.
Therefore, he made up his mind to do his best to do something practical for the people - he decided to make this year's "Plum Blossom Festival" as lively as possible! So that the people can better enjoy the festival and drive the
The gloom on the faces of the people.
The mind has been decided, the mind has been determined.
Regarding what kind of new activities to hold, the God Master, who is very flexible and not rigid in his thinking, immediately came up with an idea.
If we were to say what kind of activity was most attractive to the illiterate people... then there was no doubt that it was the fights between the samurai.
As long as there are samurai fighting on the streets, there will definitely be no shortage of bystanders.
Then, just invite two sword halls to hold a "Red and White Battle" in Yushima Tenmangu Shrine on the day of the Plum Blossom Festival!
God happened to know two friends who opened a sword studio.
And these two of his friends are none other than the owner of Chiba Sword Hall: Chiba Sadakichi and the owner of Shiwei Hall: Kondo Shusuke...
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Yesterday was the Dragon Boat Festival, so the number of words today is a little less...
The author will try to work harder tomorrow (Leopard Head Crying.jpg)
