“Learn swordsmanship?”
Kyubei blinked, looking puzzled.
“Young master, why do you suddenly want to learn swordsmanship?
Haven’t you always been uninterested in it?”
“The Anti-Foreign Faction are too unreasonable and detestable, so I’ve decided to seriously practice swordsmanship starting today.
The next time they try to ambush me, I’ll utterly defeat them,” Aoto said, half-truthfully.
Hearing Aoto’s words, Kyubei was stunned for a moment, then his face lit up with excitement.
“Well said, young master!
That’s the spirit!
That’s what a samurai should be!
Yes!
That’s exactly right!
Please wait, I’ll go get the ledger and money.”
Kyubei turned and hurried to the back room.
In a short while, he returned to Aoto.
When he returned to Aoto, he had a ledger, an abacus, and a bag of money in his arms.
Aoto looked at the bag of money in Kyubei’s hand with a hint of bitterness—this not-so-bulging bag was all the current savings of the Tachibana family…
The original Kitsutachibana Aoto didn’t understand accounting; all the family’s money and ledgers were usually managed by Kyubei.
Kyubei moved a low table from a corner of the living room, spread the ledger on it, placed the abacus beside the ledger, and quickly began to calculate.
In no time, Kyubei stopped using the abacus, then untied the money bag containing all the Tachibana family’s savings, and took out some silver coins and a large string of copper coins.
“Young master…” Kyubei chuckled awkwardly, “After deducting necessary expenses like food, clothing, housing, and transportation…
our usable funds are only 11 monme of silver and 6,000 mon of copper”.
In Japan during the Edo Period, three types of currency circulated: gold, silver, and copper.
1 ryo of gold ≈ 64 monme of silver ≈ 6,400 mon of copper.
Upon learning that the family’s freely available funds were so meager, Aoto’s jaw almost dropped to the floor.
“Is that all the money?”
“Young master…” Kyubei sighed, “Most of the family’s remaining wealth…
has been used to pay off debts…”
Listening to Kyubei’s words, Aoto’s mouth twitched involuntarily.
—Truly, a penny can stump a hero…
After silently sighing with emotion, Aoto let out a long sigh.
“Ah…
well, if there’s less money, so be it.
Kyubei, with our current remaining funds, which is the best sword dojo I can go to?”
The original owner of this body was not interested in swordsmanship, so his memory contained little information about dojos in Edo.
Therefore, Aoto could only turn to Kyubei for help.
“Oh dear…” Kyubei looked troubled, “Young master, you’ve stumped me…
I can count the dojos whose names I know on one hand…”
“I thought so too…” Aoto sighed softly, “No choice then…
I’ll ask some of my friends later…”
“Ah!” Kyubei suddenly slapped his forehead, “Young master, I remember!
Why don’t you try asking at the Thousand Affairs House?”
“Thousand Affairs House?” Aoto raised an eyebrow, “What is that?”
“It’s an employment agency,” Kyubei said.
“Young master, aren’t we short on money lately?
So I was thinking of finding some work that I could do to help with household expenses, and through someone’s introduction, I learned about this employment agency.”
Aoto: “Employment agency?”
Edo, as the center of the Edo Shogunate’s rule, its political and economic hub, was the largest city in the Edo Period.
As the largest city of its time, Edo naturally attracted young people from all over the country, bringing with them dreams of getting rich.
A large number of young people came to Edo for work, and in this era, there were no convenient things like newspapers or the internet.
Information exchange was very difficult, and finding a job in this city of a million people on one’s own would be extremely challenging.
Thus—employment agencies specializing in helping people find work came into being.
Most of the employment agencies in the Edo Period were privately run.
In Edo, there were more than twenty such agencies, both large and small.
“Kyubei, I’m looking for a dojo, not a job.”
“Young master, let me finish,” Kyubei shook his head.
“That Thousand Affairs House not only introduces jobs but also dojos.
That’s one of their important specialties.”
“Oh?” Aoto’s eyes immediately sparkled with interest, and his body unconsciously leaned towards Kyubei.
“I’m not exactly sure about the details.
I only know that besides helping people find jobs, that Thousand Affairs House can also help those who want to learn swordsmanship in Edo find suitable dojos.”
“Hmm…
Thousand Affairs House, huh…” Aoto stroked his chin, “Can help people find dojos…
sounds good.”
“Alright, it’s decided!”
Aoto clenched his right hand into a fist and gently tapped his left palm.
“Tomorrow is a holiday!
I’ll go to that Thousand Affairs House tomorrow morning to ask.”
Not procrastinating and acting on an idea immediately—this was one of Aoto’s most cherished strengths.
As a reward for successfully subjugating the Benevolence and Righteousness Gang, the magistrate granted everyone involved in the operation a day off tomorrow, which could be effectively utilized during this holiday.
“Kyubei, do you know where that Thousand Affairs House is?”
Kyubei nodded: “It’s quite close to us.”
…
…
After quickly eating the breakfast Kyubei had prepared, Aoto put on his clothes, fastened the katana and wakizashi symbolizing his samurai status to his left waist, and rushed out of the house in a hurry.
Aoto’s doorstep faced a dirt road that was neither too narrow nor too wide.
It was probably just past 7 o’clock in the morning.
After turning onto the dirt road that faced his doorstep, Aoto saw scattered samurai, some like him, idle, and others looking eager, likely rushing to “work.”
In Japan during the Edo Period, to show distinctions in status and to avoid disputes, samurai and commoners generally did not live together.
Samurai lived concentrated in “samurai residential areas,” while commoners lived concentrated in “commoner residential areas.”
Hatchobori, where Aoto lived, was one of the samurai residential areas.
Therefore, samurai with swords were commonly seen everywhere in Hatchobori.
In terms of numbers, samurai in Edo were far fewer than commoners, but samurai residences occupied more than half of Edo, and the land owned by samurai were the best plots in Edo, leaving the vast majority of commoners to crowd into the areas with the worst geographical locations.
Such unfair distribution of resources makes one only want to lament with sorrow, “The evil ruling class.”
Without time to admire the streetscape of ancient Japan, after leaving his doorstep, Aoto immediately rushed to the Thousand Affairs House, following the address Kyubei had mentioned last night.
Kyubei’s words were true—the Thousand Affairs House was indeed not far from Aoto’s home.
Aoto jogged all the way, and in just over 10 minutes, he saw a very simple-looking wooden house at the end of his line of sight.
Above the door of this wooden house hung a signboard with the three large Chinese characters “Thousand Affairs House.”
Ancient Japan, like ancient China, had houses mostly made of wood.
Since Japan launched the Taika Reform in 645 AD, thoroughly learning advanced culture and systems from the Sui and Tang dynasties, Japan directly adopted Chinese characters.
Before this, Japan had no writing system of its own.
After the Taika Reform, the use of Chinese characters in ancient Japan remained very high.
A formal government document might be entirely written in Chinese characters.
“Is this the Thousand Affairs House…?” Aoto stood in front of the shop’s entrance, examining the very simple-looking employment agency.
“Is it open now…?”
Aoto muttered this as he quickly walked towards the shop door.
As he placed his hand on the door handle, preparing to open the door—
“Oh my~ Kiryu Kazuma, you can even repair kimonos?”
“Yes, because I once studied the making and repairing of kimonos in the Muromachi area.”
“Kiryu Kazuma!
You really can do everything!
That’s amazing!”
“You flatter me, these are just minor strengths not worth mentioning.”
Two simple conversations reached Aoto’s ears from behind the door.
Whoosh
Aoto pushed open the wooden shop door.
The first thing that caught Aoto’s eye was an old woman with somewhat thick lips.
This old woman was currently kneeling in front of a low counter.
Behind the counter sat an old man who looked to be 80 or 90 years old, wearing glasses on his nose, with a gentle smile on his face, looking very refined and elegant.
******
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