Chapter 450 The birth of 'Yidao Zhai' and the attack of bandits! [7600 words]
In the second year of Kanzheng (1790 AD), December 4——
Nishikino Town, inside a certain house——
As soon as Ogata entered the house, he saw Nishino Jiro.
Nishino Jiro was sitting cross-legged on the ground, carefully watching the rehearsal of the members of Takarashimaya in front of him.
When Nishino Jiro and the members of Takarashimaya saw Ogata entering the room, they immediately stopped what they were doing and faced Ogata and saluted him.
With the concerted efforts of Ogata and Nishino Jiro, they finally successfully completed the script the day before yesterday - it must be said that Nishino Jiro is very talented in writing.
In such a short period of time, a script was completed that made Ogata very satisfied.
Ogata actually doesn't understand Kabuki, and he doesn't know what kind of Kabuki script is considered a good script.
He only knew that under his guidance, Nishino Jiro's kabuki script was basically in line with historical facts and could be read as a history book.
In Ogata's eyes, as long as the script based on his deeds is consistent with the real situation, it is a good script.
After finishing the script around 9 a.m. the day before yesterday, Nishino Jiro excitedly took the script with him and took Ogata to find their only kabuki troupe in Nishikino Town - Takarashimaya.
According to Jiro Nishino, although Takarashimaya is a kabuki troupe, all the members only regard kabuki as a full-time job, and there are no people who rely solely on kabuki for their livelihood.
All the members of Takarashimaya usually have their main jobs, and only regard kabuki as a hobby and part-time job. They usually work on their main jobs, and only when there are festivals, they get together to perform a play to satisfy their hobbies
You can also use this to make some extra money.
Because they do not rely on Kabuki to make a living, but rely solely on enthusiasm to perform Kabuki, every play performed by Takarashimaya is of high quality. It is famous in Nishikino Town and is popular among the people of Nishikino Town.
welcome.
Whenever there is a kabuki performance at Takarashimaya, the tickets are sold out quickly, and every performance is almost always full.
Every New Year, Takarashimaya performs kabuki in Kinkino Town.
Because of Takarashimaya's high popularity, watching Takarashimaya's performances has become one of the things that many people in Kinkino Town must do every New Year.
Nishino Jiro, who aspires to become a "Kabuki playwright", has a very good relationship with Takarashimaya.
Previously, Nishino Jiro had made an agreement with Takarashimaya - this year's New Year, Takarashimaya will perform a new play written by Nishino Jiro.
Therefore, the members of Takarashimaya have been waiting for this script written by Nishino Jiro for a long time.
The morning before yesterday, when Jiro Nishino handed the completed script to the members of Takarashimaya for reading, all the members of Takarashimaya praised the script written by Jiro Nishino and said that this is a movie that may be a big hit.
A welcome drama.
There are 15 members in Treasure Island House, 8 of whom are responsible for playing music and 7 for acting - all of them are eager to give it a try. They just received the script the day before yesterday and started rehearsing in full swing immediately.
Chinese opera and Japanese kabuki are very similar in many aspects. For example: these two performing arts have dedicated people responsible for playing background music on the spot.
In Chinese opera, there are dedicated people behind the scenes who are responsible for playing the erhu, playing the castanets, and providing background music for the performances in front of the curtain.
The Japanese kabuki is similar - there are dedicated people behind the scenes who are responsible for playing the shamisen, shakuhachi, and various musical instruments to provide background music for the performances in front of the curtain.
In a professional kabuki troupe, in addition to those who are responsible for playing music and performing drills, there are also those who are responsible for makeup, setting up the stage background, and doing odd jobs...
And Takarashimaya is just an amateur theater troupe where all the members only take kabuki as a side job, so it is barely enough to have two types of people who are responsible for playing music and responsible for performing.
The play written by Jiro Nishino requires at least seven people to star in it - just the right number.
Through the time he spent writing scripts with Nishino Jiro a few days ago, Ogata also became somewhat curious about the art of kabuki.
Since the script was compiled the day before yesterday and rehearsals have begun, Ogata's daily morning activities have changed from "writing the script with Nishino Jiro" to "coming and watching their rehearsals."
The room Ogata is currently walking into is the place where the members of Takarashimaya rehearse kabuki.
"Good morning! Majima-kun!" Jiro Nishino greeted Ogata with a warm tone as always.
"Good morning." Ogata nodded in agreement and sat cross-legged next to Nishino Jiro, "How is everyone's rehearsal going?"
"So far it's going well!" Nishino's tone was filled with excitement that could not be concealed. "Everyone is very enthusiastic! We can't wait to perform "Ittōsai" as soon as possible in the New Year."
"Ittosai" - the name Ogata and others gave to this play.
A good name determines the life or death of a drama to some extent.
If we can come up with a loud and catchy title that even illiterate people can remember, it will greatly promote the spread of this drama.
After finishing writing the script, Obanon and Nishino racked their brains to think of what name to give the play.
In the end, Ogata made the decision to name the play "Ittousai".
Although Ogata now has a lot of titles, "Ittosai the Executioner", "Ogata Ittosai", "Renzai Yishi", "Shura"...
But the most widely circulated one is undoubtedly "The Executioner Ittosai".
Since Ogata left the feudal clan, almost all the people he has met who call him by his title have chosen to call him "Ittousai" or "Ogata Ittousai", and very few people have called him by other titles.
he.
The three characters "Ittosai" only have three syllables, are catchy, and are widely circulated.
This play is based on his deeds, so it is appropriate to use the title "Ittousai" as the title of this play.
After Ogata proposed the name "Ittosai", Nishino Jiro immediately nodded in agreement with his eyes shining.
So the name of the show was decided.
"That's good." Ogata smiled and nodded, and then silently followed Nishino Jiro to watch the members of Takarashimaya who were rehearsing "Ittōsai" in front of them.
While writing the script with Nishino Jiro, Ogata also learned a lot about Kabuki from Nishino Jiro.
Early Kabuki was not something that could be put on the stage. It was a bit like a modern gray industry.
When Kabuki first came into being, it mainly relied on showing off its colors to attract attention.
Many female kabuki actors rely on their beauty to attract people to watch their performances.
A very small number of female kabuki performers often engage in body trade while performing kabuki.
After the Edo shogunate noticed this chaos, they felt it was immoral. So in the sixth year of Kanei (1629 AD), the Edo shogunate issued a ban on "female kabuki", and women were prohibited from performing kabuki.
Without women to perform, what will happen to the female characters in the play?
Then let a cute boy play the role.
After the Edo shogunate issued a ban on "female kabuki", "Wakazo Kabuki" was born.
"Ruozhong" refers to underage men.
The ban on "Ononna Kabuki" caused people to shift their attention more to the lovely "Wakazo Kabuki".
The important task of playing female roles and selling out the beauty to attract attention has been transferred from the "female kabuki" to the shoulders of "wakazuki kabuki".
In the first year of the agreement (Convention 1652), the Edo shogunate also banned Ruozhong Kabuki on the grounds that it was immoral.
At this point, neither women nor underage men can perform in Kabuki, and only adult men can perform in Kabuki.
But the troubled history of Kabuki is not over yet.
As the saying goes, "There are policies from above and countermeasures from below." After the Edo shogunate banned minors from performing in Kabuki, many minors still pretended to be adults and continued to perform in Kabuki.
And it’s not just underage men who have cute looks. There are also a lot of cute looking people among adult men.
Therefore, even if the shogunate issued a ban on "female kabuki" and "wakazuki kabuki", kabuki relies on selling its sex appeal to attract attention, and the current situation of a large number of kabuki actors doing immoral things has not changed at all.
The Edo shogunate was furious and thought that all the kabuki actors could not be saved.
Therefore, in the second year of the Mei Dynasty (1656 AD), the shogunate ordered the demolition of all the theaters in Kyoto, the center of kabuki, on the grounds of the Kabuki riots.
When Kabuki was almost swept into the trash can of history, later, with the efforts of many defenders of Kabuki, the shogunate agreed to let Kabuki go on the condition that "the sex appeal should be removed and orthodox drama should be performed."
Since then, Kabuki has officially embarked on the path of "serious" drama.
Thanks to the efforts of many Kabuki playwrights and Kabuki actors, Kabuki has gradually changed from a "gray industry" that is not very popular on the stage to the current performing art that is very popular on the stage and is loved by all classes.
However, the shogunate has not yet lifted the ban on "female kabuki" and "wakazuki kabuki".
Therefore, all members of Takarashimaya who are currently rehearsing in front of Ogata are, without exception, all adult men.
On the Kabuki stage, all roles are played by adult men, regardless of whether they are male or female.
So you don't need any doubt - every female character you see on the Kabuki stage, no matter how beautiful "she" looks, is a master of cross-dressing.
In "Ittosai" written by Ogata and Nishino, there are female characters - two female characters based on Asaki and Fuku from the izakaya where Ogata used to work.
When he learned that the two characters based on Asaki and Afu had to be played by men, Ogata felt very complicated.
Fortunately - the ones responsible for playing these two female characters based on Asaki and Afu are two very handsome men from Takarashimaya.
According to Jiro Nishino, these two are the actors who specialize in playing women in Takarashimaya.
After women and minors were banned from performing in kabuki, the female roles in the play were all taken by handsome-looking young people, preferably boys and girls.
After accompanying Nishino Jiro to watch the rehearsal of Takarashimaya for a while, Obanon excused himself and left.
Although Ogata comes to watch rehearsals almost every morning, it is impossible to spend the whole morning here watching others rehearse, otherwise he will be bored to death.
So Ogata would just look at him briefly, then leave, and then rush to the Hosei Sword Hall to gain experience... Ah, no. He was giving pointers to the apprentices of the Hosho Sword Hall and gaining some experience at the same time.
Anyway, the rehearsal venue of Takarashimaya is quite close to the Hosei Kenkan, so it won’t be in the way.
…
…
As evening approaches——
"It's okay to hold the place near the knife with your right hand, but don't use too much force with your left hand. Release the little finger of your left hand and hold it gently with only your ring finger, middle finger and index finger."
Ogata, holding a wooden sword in his mid-level stance, pointed at a young man in front of him who was facing him with a sword.
This young man's name is Xiao Lin, and he is also one of the "Ten Swords of Precious Life".
To be dubbed the "Ten Swordsmen", Xiao Lin still has some talent for swordsmanship.
After receiving Ogata's instructions, Kobayashi followed Ogata's instructions and slightly released his left hand holding the lower end of the knife handle.
After taking a look at Xiaolin's left hand, Ogata nodded:
"Yes, that's it. Keep this posture and attack me."
"yes!"
Xiao Lin shouted loudly and raised his knife to strike at Ogata.
Snap!
When Kobayashi's wooden sword was about to hit Ogata's head, Ogata suddenly swung the wooden sword in his hand horizontally, hitting the blade of Kobayashi's wooden sword directly, and knocked Kobayashi's wooden sword away with one blow.
[Ding! Use Sakakibara Itto-ryu·Dragon Tail to defeat the enemy]
[Acquire 35 personal experience points and 30 experience points for the Ninjutsu "Shiranui-ryu Ninjutsu"]
[Current personal level: LV34 (50805200)]
[Sakakihara Itto-ryu Level: 12th Dan (36259000)]
"How is it?" Ogata asked Xiaolin in front of him, "Do you feel that the speed of drawing the sword has become much faster?"
"Although it has indeed become faster..." Xiaolin said with a wry smile, "But I still can't make it realistic for you, Master Shima, to make a second blow..."
Ever since Ogata got the nickname "One-Sword Samurai", many people in the Hosei Sword Hall have silently set a goal for themselves - to force Ogata to use a second sword.
But so far, no one has achieved this goal.
"How? Do you want to continue practicing?"
"No." Xiao Lin shook his head, "It's almost dark, and I'm almost going home."
Ogata turned to look at the sky outside the window - the sky was already dark now, and in a few moments, the sky should be completely dark.
"If I wasn't careful, it would turn out to be so dark..." Ogata whispered, "Then it's almost time for me to leave."
Baosheng Sword Hall will close as soon as it gets dark, so now all the disciples in the hall have left.
Seeing that it was already dark, Ogata also put the wooden sword in his hand back on the knife rest, preparing to leave the sword hall and return to the hotel to start the evening activities: learning the Ezo language and having negative distance contact with Omachi.
However, as soon as Ogata put the wooden sword in his hand back on the knife rest, he saw an apprentice carrying the hakama from his lower body and rushing into the dojo.
Because Ogata happened to be closest to the entrance of the dojo, the apprentice asked Ogata:
"Mashima-sama, have you seen the master?"
"Master Baosheng? He seemed to have gone to the toilet just now."
Speaking of Cao Cao, Cao Cao arrived. As soon as Ogata finished speaking, Baosheng, who had just finished using the toilet, returned to the dojo through another small door of the dojo.
Seeing that Baosheng was back, the apprentice quickly ran towards Baosheng and said to Baosheng:
"Master! Two farmers came outside the museum and asked you to save them!"
"Farmers? Save them?" Baosheng frowned slightly.
The apprentice did not restrain his words, so Ogata, who was not far away, also heard what he said.
When he heard the word "save them", Ogata's brows wrinkled slightly like Baosheng did.
…
…
It is a rare thing for farmers to come to their homes and ask for help.
Out of curiosity, Baosheng agreed to let the two farmers in.
There is a parlor in the sword hall that is not commonly used, so Baosheng brought the two farmers to this parlor.
"Then - you two sign up first." Baosheng put his hands into his sleeves and looked at the two farmers in front of him.
There are only 4 people in this small reception room.
Baosheng, these two farmers, and Ogata.
Ogata was a little curious about what the two farmers said about "rescuing them," so he expressed to Baosheng that he wanted to sit aside and listen.
Ogata is now a distinguished guest of the Hosei Sword Hall, so of course he has no reason to refuse such a small request.
After the two farmers sat down in the reception room, Oufang began to look at the two people.
The appearance of these two people is very distinctive.
A face with many spots and wrinkles looks quite aged.
The other is bald and has no hair at all on the top of his head.
The two of them were very reserved and nervous. Their faces had always been pale since entering the sword hall, and their whole bodies seemed to be huddled together.
His eyes were darting around unconsciously, and he seemed extremely uncomfortable with everything around him.
After hearing Baosheng ask their names, the two farmers responded quickly.
"My name is Suzo," said the vicissitudes of the farmer.
Bald farmer: "My name is Yushiro."
"Sukezo and Yushiro, right?" Baosheng nodded, "Tell me what you are doing. What do you mean by 'save you'?"
"It's like this..." The vicissitudes of the farmer... that is, Suzo swallowed, moistened his throat, and then continued, "Our village... was spotted by the ronin..."
"At the end of last month, when one of our villagers went up the mountain to dig wild vegetables, he encountered a dozen ronin lurking on the hillside, secretly observing our village."
"Our companion was secretly hiding not far behind the gang of ronin, so he overheard their conversation."
"That gang of ronin is planning to rob our village, saying they want to grab some good things to celebrate a good year..."
At this point, whether it was the bald farmer named Suzo or the vicissitudes of the farmer named Yushiro, their already pale faces turned even paler.
"Our village has finally survived the 'dawn famine', and it was not until this year that things finally got better..."
"If we let those gangs of ronin steal our food and property, we won't know how to live our lives..." Yushiro continued, with a hint of crying in his voice.
"Just waiting for those gangs of ronin to come and rob us is going to kill you. It's better to resist, maybe there's still a chance of survival..." The speaker was replaced by Suzo.
"So we want to ask the samurai to help! Help us repel those ronin!"
As soon as Suzo finished speaking, he turned his pleading eyes to Baosheng in front of him.
Also looking pleadingly at Baosheng was Yushiro on the side.
When Sukezo was about to say something more, Baosheng raised his hand to signal them not to say any more.
"I understand what you mean."
Baosheng said expressionlessly.
"I see...this is what you mean by 'save you'..."
"You want to hire us to help you fight off the bandits, right?"
"Instead of spending so much effort to ask the samurai for help, why don't you ask the government for help?"
As soon as Baosheng finished speaking, Suzo gritted his teeth and said.
"It's useless to ask the government for help!"
"Our village was robbed by another wave of people three years ago! We asked the government for help at that time!"
"What's the result?"
"It wasn't until those gangs of rogues had plundered our village and left in a big way that the government officials were belatedly arriving!"
"What's more, it's still the end of the year and the New Year is about to come."
"This is the most lazy time for the government in a year!"
"When we report it to the government, and then the government officials will report it layer by layer, and then approve it layer by layer, and dispatch officials to assist us, I'm afraid it won't be until the end of the year!"
Baosheng was silent - although he didn't have much dealings with the government, he had heard about the government's bloated organization and slow speed of operations.
"...Since you want to invite samurai to help, how much reward are you going to pay us?"
This question from Hosei directly made Sukezo and Yushiro look embarrassed.
After the two looked at each other for a while, Suzo gritted his teeth, bowed his head and saluted and said:
"Our whole village... almost all starved to death in the 'morning famine'..."
"Now we have finally regained some strength... so we... don't have much money..."
"The only reward we can give... is to treat every warrior who is willing to assist us to eat white rice before repelling the bandits..."
"White rice?" Baosheng frowned, "Do you want to hire samurai just by treating them to white rice?"
"This is what we..." Yushiro lowered his head, "This is everything we can come up with..."
"You want to hire samurai to work for you with such a low salary... You must not be able to hire many samurai now, right? Tell me - how many samurai have you hired now?"
Sukezo and Yushiro glanced at each other at the same time, and the embarrassment on their faces became more intense.
"Answer quickly." Baosheng's tone became more severe.
"We divided into three groups and went to different villages to invite samurai..." Sukezo whispered, "Yushiro and I have only invited one samurai so far..."
"A warrior..." Baosheng shook his head with a look of helplessness on his face, "As expected, the remuneration you gave me is too low. You don't even give me any money. I only treat you with white rice."
"With such a low remuneration, the only ones who would agree to assist you would be those who are so destitute that they can hardly afford to eat, or those who are extremely warm-hearted samurai."
"I'm sorry. I can't help you. At the same time, I won't let my disciples assist you."
As soon as Baosheng said this, Susan and Yushiro both looked anxious.
Just when they were about to say something more, Baosheng said first:
"Even if you visit all the surrounding towns, you probably won't be able to recruit more than 10 samurai."
"As for the gang of ronin who plan to rob you, there are more than ten people who came here to conduct reconnaissance."
"Their total number is probably no less than dozens."
"Even if you invite a few samurai to help, it's impossible to fight against dozens of ronin."
"This kind of battle with no chance of winning will only lead to death in vain."
"So I'm sorry - no matter how much compensation you give, I will not fight such a battle that will lead to death in vain, and I will not let my disciples fight such a battle."
"Please come back."
Suzo: "Samurai-sama..."
"Please come back!" Baosheng interrupted Suzo's words with a much harsher and louder shout.
While interrupting Sukezo's words, he cut his sharp gaze towards Sukezo and Yushiro.
Sukezo and Yushiro were frightened by Hosei's loud voice and sharp gaze, and they all shrank their necks.
Finally—Sukezo and Yushiro left the guest room with frustrated faces.
After the two people left the guest room, Baosheng asked a disciple who was still in the sword hall to escort the two people out of the sword hall.
After the two farmers left, Ogata finally spoke his first words since the two farmers began to talk about their experiences.
"Master Baosheng." Ogata turned to Baosheng beside him and said, "It's getting late now. It's almost time for me to take my leave."
"Yes." Baosheng smiled at Ogata, "Mashima-sama, thank you for your hard work today!"
…
…
After leaving the Hosei Sword Hall, Sukezo and Yushiro walked down the street with frustrated faces.
"Sure enough, the pay is still too low..." Yushiro lowered his head and sobbed.
Sukezo on the side also remained silent.
The wages they paid were too low - everyone in the village knew this.
If their village was wealthy enough to throw large sums of gold in the faces of those warriors, they believed they would be able to invite many warriors to help.
But they only dare to think about such things as "taking a large sum of money to throw someone in the face"...
"What should we do now..." Yushiro looked at Suzo next to him with a confused expression, "Those ronin are coming soon... and the two of us have only invited one samurai until now.
That’s all…”
"Those who went to other towns and cities probably didn't invite many samurai."
"Can such a small number of warriors stop those ronin?"
Suzo was silent again.
Although they don't know how to fight or the art of war, they can still do simple arithmetic.
The number of rogues interested in their village is unknown, but there are probably dozens of them.
And these villagers basically have no fighting ability. The only ones who can compete with the gang of ronin are the samurai they invited.
And if they can finally recruit 10 warriors, they will be thankful to God...
No matter how you look at it, their village is bound to be defeated now...
"It would be great if there was a warrior who could ride a thousand horses and come to save us..." Sukezo smiled bitterly and said this almost delusional statement.
Just as he finished speaking, a young voice suddenly sounded behind them:
"Hey! You two!"
Sukezo and Yushiro were stunned for a moment, then turned back.
It was a familiar figure that I had just seen.
It was the young samurai who had been sitting next to the master of the sword hall just now, but his name was unknown.
The young samurai slowly walked up to Sukezo and Yushiro, and then continued:
"My name is Majima Goro."
"Tell me more about the concerns about your village by the wanderers."
*******
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PS: The plot of the previous chapter is actually a historical event.
Historically, Hasegawa really used the public funds that were converted by fire thieves to speculate in currencies in order to send people to the field.
I have told everyone before that Japan in the Edo period had three types of currency: gold, silver, and copper.
It is similar to three currencies, the US dollar, the euro, and the Japanese yen, circulating in the market at the same time. Then the exchange rates of these three currencies are constantly changing.
Hasegawa took advantage of the fact that the exchange rate between currencies was constantly floating, constantly buying and selling coins, and earned enough money by speculating in coins to operate the airport.
Then he was caught and arrested by Matsudaira Sadanobu.
In real history, Matsudaira Sadanobu and Hasegawa did not have much dealing with each other. One very important reason is that Hasegawa was single-handedly promoted by Tanuma Yiji, the previous generation veteran, so Hasegawa was considered a close minister of Tanuma Yiji.
In Japan, which values interpersonal relationships, this is quite a fatal thing.
However, in real history, although Matsudaira Sadanobu discovered Hasegawa's secret, he did not do anything to Hasegawa. Matsudaira Sadanobu released Hasegawa and allowed Hasegawa to continue to lead the fire bandit Kai and continue to operate the human foot exchange.
.
By the way: the previous generation old Nakatanuma Yiji is also a quite legendary figure. I will introduce it to you later. Today’s small class will teach you about something that all color batches will be interested in: the kind of ability in the Edo period
The drug that made people happy at work. And how people in the Edo period relied on express delivery to buy this drug.
Yes, there was express delivery in the Edo period.