Chapter 500 Ogata is going to be compiled into an epic of Ainu heroes? [7200 words]
"Then adding goosefoot at this time can greatly enhance the flavor of the meat and remove the fishy smell of the meat."
"Schefflera is a very useful seasoning. It is almost universal. We Ainu people basically add it to every meat dish."
Aizan, who was sitting in front of Ogata and Azuma, was carefully taking care of the pot in front of him while explaining to Ogata and Azuma how to cook this "venison hot pot".
It's lunch time now.
The team, composed of the villagers of Qina Village and Ogata, had now stopped, set up a pot, and started making lunch.
Ogata, Omachi, and Aizan were sitting around a pot.
What was in the pot was the venison that Ogata and the others ate most during this period.
The Ainu, who are still in a tribal civilization where treatment basically relies on praying to gods, naturally have an average lifespan that is not too long.
Aizan is only 35 years old this year, but in Ainu society, he is already a middle-aged man.
There are only a very small number of people like the village chief of Chepke who have gray hair but are still in good spirits.
Although Ayzan is already middle-aged, he still has a studious heart despite his age.
After he started doing business with merchants in Qina Village, he became interested in Japanese and took the initiative to learn Japanese from the merchants.
Although a little non-standard, it is very fluent.
He is considered one of the royal Japanese translators of the village chief of Chepke.
When Ogata communicated with the village chief of Chepke before, he basically relied on Ayzan to translate between the two.
After Ogata and Atachi decided to go to the Red Moon Fortress with the villagers of Qina Village, Aizan was sent by Chepke to serve as Ogata and their personal translator and housekeeper.
During this time, Aizan would always personally cook their Ainu specialties for Ogata and Atachi.
I have to say that Aizan, who looks like a rough guy, has a very high level of cooking.
Moreover, Aizan is a very talkative person. When cooking, Aizan often teaches Ogata and others about the food culture of the Ainu people, as he does now.
Currently, the pot of venison being cooked in front of the three people has begun to emit a fragrant aroma.
After Ayzan threw the goosefoot into the country, the fragrance that spread out became even fresher.
"After putting in the goosefoot, put in the matsutake and white mushrooms."
Ayzan grabbed a handful of matsutake and white mushrooms from the small cloth bag placed nearby and threw them into the pot.
"Next, just wait until the meat and mushrooms are thoroughly cooked."
After saying that, Ayizan picked up the lid next to him and covered the big pot.
"How long do we have to wait?" Amachi asked.
"Well...it still takes a long time."
"Is that so..." Amachi muttered, "It seems that this pot of food will take a long time to cook... but it does smell quite fragrant."
This kind of waiting time for the food to be cooked is very boring.
Although I have had relatively frequent contact with Ayzan during this period, I am not particularly familiar with him yet.
Moreover, Ogata and the others are so different from Aizan and him in terms of culture and age that even if they want to chat, they don’t know what to talk about.
After the three Ogata people were silent for a moment in this slightly awkward atmosphere, Aizan took the initiative to break the silence.
"Anyway, it will take some time before the meat is cooked. Why don't I tell you about the heroic epic that has been passed down from generation to generation among us Ainu people?"
"Heroic epic?" Ating raised his eyebrows suddenly, his eyes flashing with intense interest, "What is this?"
"Well... you can understand it as a story praising heroes."
"Probably... similar to stories like "Momotaro", "One-inch Master", and "Rikitaro" among you and others."
"We Ainu don't have writing like you and humans."
"So we rely on word of mouth to pass it on and remember our history."
"Some of these heroic epics passed down from generation to generation among the Ainu people are fictional, but some are real things that happened in history."
Speaking of this, a faint look of reminiscence appeared in Ayzan's eyes.
"In the past, when I was a young child, my favorite thing to do was to gather around the knees of the old people in the village with other children in the village and listen to the old people telling these heroic epics."
"Listening to these heroic epics was one of the happiest pastimes of our childhood as Ainu people."
After Aizhan finished speaking, the interest in A-Machi's eyes became even more intense.
"Okay, okay! Then tell us about your heroic epic!"
Amachi likes to listen to stories the most.
Her biggest hobby is listening to books, rakugo... and everything related to storytelling.
Ogata had never heard of the heroic epics of the Ainu people before, so his interest was slightly aroused now.
Ayzan cleared his throat.
"Then let me tell you about one of the most popular epic poems, "Zhu Lun"."
"Ah, let me remind you first that many of our heroic epics don't tell people what they did, like you tell your historical stories."
"It's about telling what 'I' did. Use 'I' as the perspective to tell the story."
Because there are no terms like "first person" and "third person" in this era, it makes Ayizan's words just now a bit difficult to understand.
Ogata summarized Aizan's words just now, meaning that most of their heroic epics are narrated in the first person rather than the third person.
After clearing his throat again, Ayzan said slowly:
"In this big family, my foster sister has a broad mind and treats me perfectly. She has always been like this and has never changed. The big beams in the house are full of beautiful things, including the yellow thorny wooden lunch boxes and boxes, all the treasures that complement each other.
Below, the first floor is dazzling. Oh, what a beautiful home I live in!"
…
The story Ayzan tells is not very long.
Ogata was very interested at first.
But after listening to half of it, I felt a little sleepy...
On the contrary, Amachi looked very interested from the beginning to the end.
The outline of the heroic epic called "Zhu Lun" mentioned by Ayizan is roughly as follows
A long time ago, a boy was adopted by a family. His adoptive parents and sister treated him very well, and his family was also very well off, and he lived a happy life.
After the boy became a teenager, the adoptive parents told the boy about his biological parents.
It turns out that the boy's father is a human being with appearance and courage far beyond that of a god.
The boy's mother is a god, the wolf goddess.
The boy's father was jealous of others because of his extraordinary courage and beauty. He fought day and night, and finally accidentally drank poisoned wine at a banquet.
After his father died, his mother, a god, took his sister to the divine world where their gods lived, leaving the boy alone.
After learning the truth, the male protagonist decided to avenge his biological father and embarked on the road of revenge.
After one battle after another, revenge was finally successful.
The ending of the story is that the boy and a beautiful girl named Ouya Lulu became husband and wife, returned to their hometown together, and lived a happy life.
This kind of story may be considered interesting to people like Atachi who have not heard many interesting stories.
But for Ogata, such stories really make him unmotivated...
In his previous life, Ogata had read some books recording Greek mythology and Nordic epics.
Ogata has seen this kind of story many times in his previous life, in which "the protagonist is the product of a hybrid between humans and gods, and then starts taking risks for some reason, and finally succeeds in getting a treasure or a beauty, and living a happy life."
Ogata found that the routines of these heroic epics were very similar.
The protagonist is always the product of a cross between humans and gods. Then the protagonist often sacrifices his parents to heaven at the beginning.
Then the protagonist will embark on adventures for various reasons, and finally successfully marry a beautiful woman, retire somewhere with her, and reach the pinnacle of life.
Ogata was tired of this kind of routine story.
However, for the sake of politeness, Ogata still held on, tried to pretend to be interested, and listened to the end.
On the contrary, Atachi, who has never been exposed to this type of story before, the interest that shines in his eyes is genuine.
After finishing this heroic epic, Ayzan paused for a moment, and then said slowly:
""Zhu Lun" is one of the epic poems with a long history."
"Perhaps no one remembers when Zhu Lun was handed down in the past."
"Some people think "Zhu Lun" is a real thing."
"And some people think "Zhu Lun" is fictional."
"Many of our heroic epics are like this, because they have been circulated for so long that our descendants cannot remember whether these stories are real or fictional."
"I personally tend to agree that "Zhu Lun" is real."
At this time, Ayzan suddenly grinned.
"Speaking of which, Majima, you hope to become the protagonist of a new epic that will be passed down from generation to generation among our nation."
"Me?" Ogata pointed at himself and raised his eyebrows.
"Mashima's deeds of saving our village are enough to be compiled into an epic, and then passed down from generation to generation among our nation."
"I don't know what other people think. Anyway, when I grow old, I will definitely tell your story about Majima to the young children in the village."
"Tell the young people in the village that there was a Kazuto named Goro Majima who stepped forward and saved our village from being almost wiped out."
"Ouch~" Amachi, who was sitting on the left side of Ogata, snickered while using his right elbow to dig into Ogata's left side of the abdomen, "So I hope that I can be passed down from generation to generation like the protagonists of those heroic epics.
?"
"Theoretically, this is the case. But it is quite difficult for an epic poem to continue to be passed down and become an immortal chapter that will never be forgotten."
"When Majima's deeds are widely circulated, we can hope that Majima's epic will be spread forever."
Ogata has been listening quietly.
From now on, his expression has become very strange.
Not long ago, he had just met in the Ou area and planned to write a kabuki script based on the story of his Ogata Issei that could be passed down forever.
But now in the ice-covered Ezochi, he encountered a similar incident again.
If we are lucky, the epic based on the story of his pseudonym Majima Goro will be passed down from generation to generation among the Ainu people, at least in Kina Village for a long time.
Ogata doesn't mind others telling his story.
Just don't change it.
"Ayzan, if you want to tell the young children in the village about my deeds in the future, I have no problem with it."
"But remember not to talk nonsense. If you describe me as some kind of samurai with a beautiful Tsukiyo hair, or some kind of beautiful 'hime samurai', I will be very troubled."
Ayzan laughed a few times.
"Don't worry. I've seen your deeds, Majima, with my own eyes, so I won't talk nonsense."
"Ayizan!" Azimachi said at this time, "Tell us more about your heroic epic!"
"I'll tell you slowly later! Let's eat now. The meat has been cooked."
After saying that, Ayzan opened the lid of the big pot in front of him.
The moment the lid was lifted, the alluring aroma immediately hit Ogata and the others.
Ogata and the others took out their own bowls and each put a large piece of venison into their own bowls.
Pick up the venison in the bowl with chopsticks, bring it to your mouth, and bite off the meat easily with just one bite.
The venison was cooked just right, and even an old man with bad teeth might be able to bite the meat easily.
Because the meat is cooked together with the mushrooms, after biting into the meat, the taste of the meat and the umami of the mushrooms will spread in your mouth.
The unique flavor of the mushrooms is wrapped and integrated with the fat of the meat, giving the tip of the tongue a pleasure that cannot be explained in any words.
After spending this period of time with the Ainu people, Ogata has deeply realized that although the Ainu people are still in a backward tribal civilization, their food culture should not be underestimated.
A-Machi, who had only recently started to eat meat, is now gradually able to experience the beauty of meat. Although her stomach has not been completely accustomed to meat until now, she still cannot eat too much meat at every meal.
…
…
After finishing lunch quickly, Ogata took off the sword from his waist, held the knife in his arms, and leaned against a big tree nearby.
After lunch, there will be a short break.
Many people will choose to take a nap during this time.
Ogata quite likes to take a nap.
So after finishing lunch, Okon held his knife carelessly, leaned against a big tree, and planned to take a nap.
By the way, at this time when Ogata was planning to take a nap, Amachi was washing her and Ogata's dishes and pots not far away.
As soon as Ogata held his knife, sat on the ground leaning against the tree trunk, and closed his eyes, he suddenly heard a series of footsteps approaching him quickly, which was quite unfamiliar to Ogata.
Ogata clearly remembers the sound of Atachi's footsteps.
The person approaching him was not Atachi, and his number did not match him.
Ogata opened his eyes and looked forward.
Four girls were walking quickly toward him.
And these four girls, Ogata is no stranger to them, are the four girls with different colored headbands on their heads.
After the Cossacks who attacked the village were repelled, although Ogata could occasionally see these four people in the village, he never had the opportunity to communicate with these four people again.
Ogata didn't remember the name of the girl wearing the three-colored headbands of red, purple, and blue, but he did remember the name of the girl wearing the orange headband. Ogata remembered that her name was "Ashri."
These four girls, whose average age was less than 15 years old, walked quickly to Ogata and lined up in a row.
"What's wrong? (Ainu)" Ogata asked in Ainu.
Ogata had relied on the "Common Guide to Ainu Language" to lay the foundation of Ainu language.
During this period of time, he also had frequent contact and communication with the Ainu people, so without even realizing it, Ogata's Ainu language has improved by leaps and bounds, and he can now communicate with the Ainu people simply in Ainu language.
communication.
The four girls lined up in front of Ogata looked at each other for a while.
Then, as if he had rehearsed it in advance, he bowed nearly 90 degrees to Ogata.
Ashiri, who was wearing an orange headband, said in very non-standard Japanese: "Thank you very much... um!"
However, just in the middle of her words, she accidentally bit her tongue, let out a low cry of pain, and raised her hand to cover her mouth, showing a painful expression.
Ogata felt pain just looking at it.
Just when he was about to ask "Are you okay?", Ashley endured the pain of biting her tongue and continued to speak in very non-standard Japanese:
"Thank you very much for saving us."
As soon as Ashley finished speaking, the other three girls wearing red, purple, and blue headbands followed closely behind, and they all thanked Ogata in the same non-standard Japanese.
After all four people thanked Ogata in Japanese, they bowed deeply to Ogata again, and finally ran away quickly, quickly disappearing from Ogata's sight.
When Ashley and the others left, Amachi happened to come back after washing the dishes and pots, and happened to see the back of Ashley and the others as they left.
"I think the girl's name is Ashley." Atachi asked Ogata, holding the freshly washed dishes and pots, "What are they here for?"
"I didn't do anything," Ogata said, "I just came to say thank you to me."
Speaking of this, Ogata showed a helpless smile.
"Perhaps because their Japanese is still very poor, they left immediately after saying thank you."
…
…
at this time
"Finally thank you to that Kazuto." said the girl with a red headband who was walking in front.
"Finally, I no longer have to learn Kazuto's language." The girl with the blue hairband stuck out her tongue, "I don't want to learn any more Kazuto's language in this life..."
"Ashley, you seemed to have bitten your tongue just now." The girl with a purple headband cast a worried look at Ashley, "Are you okay?"
"It's okay..." Ashley stuck out her little tongue and gently touched the place she just bitten with her fingers, "There's no bleeding..."
"It feels so embarrassing..." Ashley blushed slightly, "I have practiced it many times, but I still bite my tongue..."
On the night when the Cossacks attacked, Ogata saved Ashili, who wanted to die with a certain Cossack.
If you don't even say thank you to someone for saving your life, it would be really unreasonable.
So ever since the Cossacks were repulsed, Ashili had been thinking about thanking Ogata properly.
To this end, Ashley found a Japanese-speaking villager in the village and asked him to teach her how to thank people in Japanese.
Her three close friends, who were wearing red, blue, and purple headbands, were learning Japanese with Ashley, and planned to go with Ashley to thank Ogata later.
These three people are close friends with Ashley. Their best friend was saved by someone, and they also wanted to express their gratitude to the person who saved their best friend.
In addition, there is another very important reason why these three people planned to thank Ogata, in order to alleviate some of their inner guilt.
These three people had previously thought that Ogata looked ordinary, and might not be as powerful as the extremely strong men in their village. However, it was this ordinary-looking Kazuto who saved their village.
This feeling of guilt drove them to express their gratitude to Ogata.
After the Cossacks were repulsed, they devoted themselves to learning Japanese.
The four of them thought that Japanese was easy to learn. After they learned Japanese, they thanked Ogata in a loud voice.
But after they actually started learning, they realized that it was either because they lacked talent or because Japanese is so difficult.
Since the Cossacks were repulsed, they have been practicing for such a long time, and they can speak fairly standard Japanese, just saying "Thank you very much for saving us."
They really couldn't learn any other words, so they could only express their gratitude to Ogata with the only Japanese sentence they learned in a helpless mood.
Fortunately, the thank you to Ogata went smoothly and there was only a small accident where Ashley, who was responsible for the beginning, accidentally bit her tongue.
"It's okay!" The girl with the red headband comforted Ashley, "It was just a little accident. Didn't you thank him smoothly in the end?"
When the girl with the red headband finished speaking, the girls with the purple headband and the blue headband also comforted Ashley.
"Ashley! I finally found you!"
At this time, Ashley's grandmother's voice suddenly sounded from beside them.
Ashley's grandma walked towards Ashley slowly with a hunched back.
"I have been looking for you just now. Where have you been?"
In the fierce battle with the Cossacks that night, Ashley's mother and grandmother were very lucky not to suffer any serious injuries.
Seeing her grandma asking them what they were doing just now, Ashley immediately answered.
After learning that they were going to thank Ogata, a faint look of regret appeared on grandma's face.
"See, I didn't say that, did I? That Kazuto is the one-in-a-million good man."
"It's a pity that the man is already married."
"If he doesn't get married, he can get Ashley to marry him in the name of 'repaying the favor of saving his life'."
"If we can make him a member of our family, no one will dare to offend our family in the future."
"That's alright. Since that person and our Ashley are not destined to be together, that's it. I hope there will be an outstanding man on He Yezhe's side who is worthy of becoming my grandson-in-law."
"Grandma, please don't say such nonsense." Ashley, blushing slightly, said angrily.
Ever since Ashley reached the age of 14, Ashley's grandmother often talked about her marriage to Ashley.
Just when Ashley was about to continue preaching to her grandma, a clear female voice suddenly sounded from behind her:
"Ashely!"
Ashley turned her head and looked back. The person who came was the famous "Hunter" in their village: Shipari.
Shipari is one of the newly emerging huntresses who have emerged since the "Disappearance" incident.
She and Ashley have a pretty good relationship. When Ashley was learning bow and arrow, she asked Shipali for advice, so Shipali was half of Ashley's teacher.
Xipari walked quickly to Ashley and said:
"Ashley, we don't have enough food."
"I just briefly surveyed the surrounding woods, and there are a lot of prey. I plan to take advantage of the time now to hunt for tonight's dinner and come back. We are short of manpower. Do you want to come with me?"
Xipari looked at the three girls with red headbands, purple headbands, and blue headbands.
"Do you want to come together?"
"Okay!" The girl with the red headband immediately replied with excitement, "Let's go hunting!"
The girls with purple and blue headbands nodded one after another, expressing their willingness to go together.
After hesitating for a while, Ashley finally nodded.
*******
PS: The "Shu Lun" mentioned by Aizan in this chapter comes from the reprinted version of "Ainu Narrative Poems 4" (first edition 1964) written by Jin Chengyun and translated and annotated by Kinda Kazuki, Sanseido, 1993, pp. 37-38
.
Because the story found by the author is a incomplete version, some of the content of the story may be incorrect, so I would like to inform you.
*******
PS2: In order to write this chapter, the author spent an unimaginable amount of time searching for information. I have read countless papers related to the Ainu people on CNKI. The money spent on purchasing the papers may have
Hundreds of dollars...
After the automatic pen started serializing the 7th volume, I checked CNKI more frequently than when I was writing my graduation thesis (leopard head crying).
The author searched for information for a long time and finally found a real Ainu heroic epic "Shu Lun".
And this heroic epic that we worked so hard to find is still a incomplete version.
One of the reasons for this situation is that it is extremely difficult to find relevant information even on the Internet for this extremely unpopular knowledge.
Another reason is that the Ainu culture suffered a devastating blow.
Many people may not know that it was not until [2019] that Japan passed a new law, the "Ainu Support Law", which recognized the Ainu as an "indigenous people" in the law for the first time, and created a system aimed at maintaining and revitalizing them.
A unique cultural subsidy system.
In other words, it was not until 2 years ago that the Japanese government officially recognized the existence of this ethnic group in their country. Before, it had not recognized the existence of this ethnic group in their country.
The Ainu people have long been at the lower end of the contempt chain in Japan. Anyone who has an Ainu face and speaks the Ainu language will be discriminated against and excluded.
In such an environment where the entire country is ostracizing the Ainu people, the culture of the Ainu people has been castrated and obliterated, and the entire nation has been assimilated.
To this day, there are not many Ainu people who can speak the Ainu language fluently.
At the same time, because few people still remember those heroic epics that have been passed down among their nation for thousands of years, a large number of heroic epics have been lost and no one remembers them anymore.
To be honest, although there are still many Ainu people alive today, the "Ainu" nation is basically half-body in the coffin.
I hope this nation will not just disappear in the long river of history.