Edo, Koishikawa Kohinata Yanagicho —
— Is this… the Shieikan?
Aoto eyed the somewhat plain-looking residence in the distance with a skeptical gaze.
Outside the moderately sized house hung a plaque inscribed with the characters “Natural Reishin Style Shieikan.”
— Why can’t I hear any sounds of sword practice?
Inside the Shieikan, it was quiet…
There was no sound of bamboo swords clashing, as if no one was inside the Shieikan…
Aoto walked slowly towards the Shieikan, pondering this question.
After only a few steps, Aoto suddenly saw a tall, robust young man emerge from the hall, carrying a bucket and a rag.
This young man walked over to the plaque that read “Natural Reishin Style Shieikan”—he probably intended to wipe it clean.
Just then, the young man noticed Aoto walking towards their dojo.
Aoto and the young man’s eyes met, their gazes clashing in mid-air.
Then—
Thump.
The sound of a bucket and rag falling to the ground echoed.
The young man calmly dropped the bucket and rag he was holding, then appeared before Aoto with a speed akin to teleportation.
“Good morning!
May I ask if you’re here to learn swordsmanship at my Shieikan?”
This young man, who had suddenly appeared before him, startled Aoto, causing him to instinctively take two steps back.
Seeing Aoto quickly retreat, the young man first paused, then showed a look of shame.
“My apologies, my apologies, I was too hasty, I’m truly sorry for startling you.”
With that, the young man cleared his throat, then showed Aoto a somewhat guileless smile:
“I am Kondo Isami!
I am the Teachers Assistant of this Shieikan!
May I ask who you are?”
[Note: “Teachers Assistant” can be understood as an acting master, responsible for assisting the dojo master in teaching duties.]
After Kondo Isami finished his self-introduction, Aoto quickly and politely introduced himself, briefly explaining his purpose:
“I am Tachibana Aoto.
I heard that your dojo is a highly virtuous one, and thus I wish to join your school to study swordsmanship.”
As he introduced himself, Aoto scrutinized Kondo Isami’s appearance.
Kondo Isami’s first impression on Aoto… was that he was very energetic.
Bushy eyebrows, bright eyes, a tall and robust build, approximately 1.8 meters tall, he looked quite spirited.
Among his features, what impressed Aoto the most was his mouth.
His mouth was very large.
It felt like he could swallow a fist whole without any problem.
However, despite his large mouth, it didn’t significantly detract from his appearance; his entire face still looked quite handsome, the type of masculine handsome man.
The only minor flaw was… he had a chonmage hairstyle.
This incredibly ugly hairstyle immediately cut Kondo’s attractiveness by half.
The chonmage was one of the most popular hairstyles in Edo Period Japan.
Out of ten men, about nine wore this hairstyle.
Its general appearance… could be understood as a variant of the “balding.”
All the hair on the top of the head would be shaved off, leaving only the hair at the back of the head and the temples, which would then be braided into a topknot and placed on the shaved crown—this was the chonmage.
This hairstyle, being cool, convenient for wearing helmets, and not having to worry about hair coming loose and obstructing vision during fights, first became popular among the samurai class, which then led commoners to also adopt this hairstyle.
Looking at Kondo’s chonmage, Aoto’s mouth twitched, and he couldn’t help but reach up to touch his own hair—he was very grateful that his hairstyle was a total hair, not a chonmage.
The so-called total hair meant keeping the hair on the top of the head and only braiding it into a topknot.
Although Aoto also found this hairstyle ugly, no matter how ugly it was, it was still a million times better than the chonmage.
“Oh, oh!
You really want to learn swordsmanship!”
Kondo’s smile instantly became much more enthusiastic.
However, in the very next moment, Kondo’s smile suddenly froze, then turned to awkwardness.
“Ah… I almost forgot… our master isn’t at the dojo today… If you want to become a disciple, the earliest you can do so is tomorrow…”
“Tomorrow?” Aoto’s eyes widened.
Japan is also a country that places great importance on the concept of “respecting teachers and valuing their teachings.”
When learning swordsmanship at a dojo, one typically had to perform a master-disciple ceremony for the dojo’s master, followed by a series of other miscellaneous rituals, before being considered officially initiated and able to formally begin learning swordsmanship.
Therefore—if the dojo’s master happened to be absent, new apprentices were generally not accepted during that period.
“I’m very sorry…” Kondo’s face was full of apologies, “But the master is indeed not here today… If you wish to be initiated, please choose another day.”
The “Radical anti-foreigners faction” was a Sword of Damocles hanging over Aoto’s head at all times.
In his current predicament, Aoto didn’t want to waste even a single day.
He only wanted to learn swordsmanship and replicate his talent as quickly as possible.
When told to come another day, he naturally refused.
“I don’t have time tomorrow!
Do I really have to wait until your dojo’s master returns before I can be initiated and learn swordsmanship?”
After today’s holiday, Aoto would have to go back to work at the Magistrates Office starting tomorrow, and it would be at least two more days until his next holiday.
Seeing Kondo’s troubled expression, Aoto suddenly remembered the “new customer benefit” that Mr.
Kiryu had just given him.
Aoto pulled out the slip of paper with the four large characters “Kiryu Kazuma” written on it, which Mr.
Kiryu had given him, before he could say anything, Kondo’s eyes widened upon seeing the slip of paper.
“This is… are you introduced by Mr.
Kiryu?”
“Yes.” Aoto quickly nodded, “Mr.
Kiryu introduced your dojo to me.”
“So, you were introduced by Mr.
Kiryu…”
A hint of hesitation appeared between Kondo’s brows.
After a long moment, he finally let out a sigh of relief and nodded vigorously:
“…Alright, since you were introduced by Mr.
Kiryu, we’ll make an exception this time.”
“How about this—you pay the tuition today and write your information in the apprentice ledger, and then when the master returns, you can complete the master-disciple ceremony.
What do you think?”
For Aoto, these initiation procedures didn’t matter; as long as he could quickly get started with swordsmanship and fight people, that was all that mattered.
“Of course.” Aoto nodded vigorously without hesitation.
“Then come with me!”
Kondo turned, picked up the bucket and rag he had just dropped, and led Aoto into the Shieikan with large strides.
The Shieikan was a typical architectural style of this era—a residence surrounded by an earthen wall, with small courtyards in the gaps between the house and the wall.
Aoto, while putting the slip of paper Kiryu had given him back into his pocket, curiously asked Kondo.
“Kondo-kun, does your dojo have a deep relationship with Mr.
Kiryu of the Thousand Affairs House?”
“Hmm… to be precise, it’s a deep relationship with my father… ah, that is, with the master.” Kondo sighed with emotion, “When the master planned to build the Shieikan here, Mr.
Kiryu helped us a lot.”
“Father?” Hearing Kondo’s accidental slip of “father” just now, Aoto raised an eyebrow.
He suddenly recalled—Mr.
Kiryu seemed to have told him earlier that the current head and master of the Shieikan was Kondo Shusuke, the third-generation head of the Natural Reishin Style.
He shared the same surname as the Kondo Isami in front of him.
“I didn’t expect you to be the young master of this dojo,” Aoto said with a smile.
“It must be very hard to be the young master of a dojo, right?
You have to help manage the dojo, and when you practice swordsmanship, you also get extra ‘attention.'”
“Yes.” Kondo sighed with a bitter smile, “From childhood, I’ve received more scoldings than any of the other disciples in the dojo… Alas, I suppose this is a responsibility that people like us simply have to bear.”
After a brief exchange, the atmosphere between the two became much more harmonious.
“Tachibana-kun, have you studied swordsmanship before?”
“I only learned a bit of a rough style from my deceased father; it’s almost as if I haven’t learned swordsmanship at all.”
“So, you have a little bit of a foundation, then.”
Kondo then lowered his gaze to the inro hanging on Aoto’s right hip.
“You have the Magistrates Office inro hanging at your waist.
May I ask if you are currently serving in the North Precinct or the South Precinct?”
Aoto always carried this inro, which proved his official status as someone working for the city government, keeping it tied to his right hip.
“Yes.” Aoto nodded, “I serve in the North Magistrate Office.
I am a Doshin of the Regular Town Patrol.”
“Regular Town Patrol?”
Kondo’s expression suddenly froze, as if he had heard some incredible secret.
The burly man’s gaze towards Aoto slowly filled with admiration.
“I didn’t expect you to be a Doshin of the Regular Town Patrol…”
“Don’t be afraid to know—I’ve always deeply admired the ‘San Kai’ samurai who tirelessly work to maintain Edo’s public order.”
“You all have worked tirelessly to maintain Edo’s public order.
It must have been very difficult.”
With that, Kondo stopped and bowed solemnly to Aoto.
“You overstate it,” Aoto said, standing to the side with a helpless expression, not accepting Kondo’s bow.
“We ‘San Kai’ are merely doing what we ought to do.”
Edo, which would later be renamed “Tokyo,” was at that time the largest city in japanese.
To prevent the Town Magistrate responsible for governing Edo from acquiring too much power, two Magistrates Offices were established in Edo—the North Magistrate Office and the South Magistrates Office, abbreviated as “North Precinct” and “South Precinct,” respectively governed by the North and South Town Magistrates.
Simply put—Edo had two city governments and two mayors.
The place where Aoto currently worked was the North Magistrate Office.
The most brazen and significant privilege held by the samurai class was their hereditary positions and stipends.
During the Edo Period, japanese did not have an imperial examination system; instead, it adopted a hereditary system similar to that of China’s pre-Qin period And those who served as officials in the government were from the samurai class.
Only individuals from the samurai class could hold official positions in the government; commoners absolutely had no right to be officials.
Certain official positions could even only be held by members of a few specific samurai families.
Commoners were forever confined to the three classes of “farmers, artisans, and merchants” and could never attain official status.
In modern terms, it meant: Samurai did not need to take any civil service exams; they were born to serve as civil servants and officials for generations. Follow the newest chapters on novelping dot com.
The political landscape of japanese during the Edo Period could largely be summarized as “father dies, son succeeds” and “senior official positions are rotated among senior samurai, while junior official positions are rotated among junior samurai.”
Aoto took over his father’s position to become a Doshin of the Edo North Magistrates Office Regular Town Patrol.
The two major Magistrates Offices in Edo managed a city with a population of millions, and many might assume that the Edo Magistrates Office, bearing such heavy responsibilities, would have an enormous number of staff.
But in reality… the situation was dire.
Taking the North Precinct, to which Aoto belonged, as an example—excluding the miscellaneous staff responsible for cleaning, the North Magistrate Office had a total of officials: 1 Town Magistrate, 25 Yoriki, and 120 Doshin.
The Town Magistrate was similar to a mayor, Yoriki were like middle-level managers, and Doshin were grassroots personnel.
These were all the officials of the North Precinct… a total of 146 people…
The South Precinct’s organizational structure was identical to that of the North Precinct, so the combined total of staff from both Magistrates Offices was a mere 292 people…
As an important government organization responsible for managing the entire city, the Magistrates Office naturally had numerous departments, each with different tasks.
For example—the “Yojosho Mimawari” had 1 Yoriki and 2 Doshin.
They were responsible for supervising the condition of the poor receiving treatment at the Yojosho (medical facility).
The “Teikyo-gake” had 1 Yoriki and 2 Doshin, responsible for patrolling and inspecting all bridges within Edo city.
The departments responsible for catching thieves, solving cases, maintaining public order in Edo, and performing modern police functions were collectively known as the “San Kai”: Regular Town Patrol, Rinji-Mawari, and Inmitsu-Mawari.
The department Aoto belonged to was the Regular Town Patrol.
The daily work of the Regular Town Patrol was to patrol various parts of Edo and, when a case arose, to handle and solve it.
The Rinji-Mawari was composed of elites selected from those who had long worked in the Regular Town Patrol, and they were responsible for guiding and assisting the Regular Town Patrol.
The Inmitsu-Mawari was responsible for intelligence activities, disguising themselves to patrol various districts of Edo and collect information for their colleagues in the Regular Town Patrol and Rinji-Mawari.
Any large-scale crackdown on criminal organizations, such as last night’s operation to apprehend the “Benevolence and Righteousness Gang,” was also entirely handled by the “San Kai”.
With so few staff in the entire Magistrates Office, the number of personnel that could be allocated to the “San Kai” was naturally limited, In both the North Precinct and the South Precinct, the Regular Town Patrol only had 2 Yoriki and 6 Doshin.
The Rinji-Mawari’s structure was the same as the Regular Town Patrol, also having 2 Yoriki and 6 Doshin.
The Inmitsu-Mawari was the smallest department in the entire Magistrates Office—with only 2 Doshin, no Yoriki serving as middle-level managers, and all members directly commanded by the Town Magistrate.
This means that, combining the South and North Precincts, the entire city’s police force responsible for catching thieves and maintaining public order totaled only 8 Yoriki and 28 Doshin, making a grand total of 36 people…
[Note: if in a novel, the Author created a setting where “a city of millions of people only has this many regular police officers,” there would surely be self-righteous readers, who consider themselves urban management experts but are actually just ignorant and overly clever, babbling about “Author is an idiot, how can a city of millions have so few regular police, if you can’t write, don’t write.”
However, this is an ironclad fact; Edo indeed had only this many regular police officers.]
Because the “San Kai” samurai bore the responsibility of safeguarding the city’s public order, it was natural for them to be welcomed and respected by certain people.
Judging from Kondo’s current demeanor, he seemed to belong to this group.
After Aoto revealed his identity, Kondo’s attitude towards Aoto clearly became much more enthusiastic.
He enthusiastically introduced the Shieikan to Aoto, his new fellow student.
“Our Shieikan generally opens at five o’clock in the morning (8 AM) and closes around six o’clock in the evening (6 PM).”
“Usually, it’s in the afternoon that more apprentices come to practice swordsmanship.”
“In the morning, because many people like to sleep in, there aren’t usually many apprentices who come to practice.”
“Like right now—there’s only one apprentice practicing in the dojo, and you’ll get to meet him soon.”
At this point, Kondo suddenly paused, then showed a meaningful smile and whispered to Aoto:
“When you meet the only apprentice currently practicing in the dojo, you’ll be very surprised.”
“I’ll give you a hint—that person is a boy.”
“Huh?
What do you mean?” Aoto asked, puzzled.
“Does that person have a very girlish face?”
“Well… you’ll find out soon,” Kondo said with a mysterious smile.
While Aoto and Kondo were talking, they had unknowingly approached the Shieikan’s dojo.
Whoosh…
Whoosh…
At this moment, Aoto faintly heard the sound of bamboo swords cutting through the air from inside the dojo.
The dojo’s main door was currently open.
Kondo, who was leading the way, slightly quickened his pace, then stood at the dojo entrance and looked inside.
“There, that’s the only apprentice I just told you about who’s currently practicing in the dojo.
He’s practicing, so let’s go in later.”
Aoto, who had been following closely behind Kondo, looked into the dojo after hearing Kondo’s words—
“Hmm…!”
The moment his gaze fell upon the figure in the center of the dojo, the overwhelming sense of impact made Aoto instinctively let out a low gasp.
In the center of the dojo stood a… beautiful young girl whom one could only describe as cute, without any other suitable adjectives coming to mind.
[japanese History Classroom is now open~]
North Precinct and South Precinct—just by looking at the names, many friends might assume that the North Precinct managed the northern half of Edo, and the South Precinct managed the southern half of Edo.
This is actually not the case.
How these two city governments, the North Precinct and South Precinct, managed Edo—will be revealed in later chapters.
Readers will surely be curious—how could such a large Edo, with only about 30 police officers in total, maintain public order?
Author has already modified the number of “San Kai” samurai.
[The real “San Kai” in history had even fewer people than the number designed in this book!!!]
In history, the “San Kai” had no Yoriki serving as middle-level managers; all Doshin were directly under the command of the Town Magistrate.
The “San Kai” of the South and North Precincts combined only amounted to 25 or 26 people.
The reason why the South and North Precincts could maintain public order in Edo with so few police was due to two very special systems.
More chapter in
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