2nd Scroll - The Lands of the Takeda - 1st - 90th Days

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jemmus · #1 Post by **jemmus** » Mon Jan 24, 2022 5:13 pm

Akemi accepted Kentaro's invitation to dinner at the Sho-Chiku-Bai inn. In order to have some privacy, Kentaro had timed it so that the dinner was before when the group usually dines. Akemi is served only rice, pickled vegetables, and miso soup. Kentaro shares his grilled fish, salmon eggs, and pork dumplings with her. For the first time, Akemi acknowledges that Kentaro has feelings for her. She says in a hushed voice, Kentaro-san, the kuge was correct to paint me as a shrike. The butcher bird. Unlike the shrike, I do not impale my victims on thorns for later consumption. But like the shrike, I am a killer, and I am alone. I must be so, because at any time I can be made non-present. Or I may have to disappear, change my identity, and never return and see my loved ones again. That's the situation with my family at home. I love them, but I will never, ever see them again. If I do, that will be the day that they have found me and I become non-present.

I am glad to have you as a friend. But it would break my heart to become more than your friend and someday have to leave you. I'm sorry, and I am grateful to you for deigning to have affection someone such as me.

She looks down, very sad, and for a moment it looks as if she's about to cry. But she puts on her oiran courtesan face, and gaily quotes,
At his favorite tavern
The bald man finds a hair
In his soup.
She laughs and merrily claps her hands.

Marullus · #2 Post by **Marullus** » Tue Jan 25, 2022 9:15 pm

Kentaro hunches at dinner, his large form unavoidably ungainly at the low table. He pushes around the pork dumplings on his plate with his chopsticks, rearranging them while he gathers his thoughts. "I have not shrunk from what you are," he says at last, lifting his eyes to deliberately meet her own. "I see you, Sakura-san, and what you are is beautiful to me. I do not mourn a cherry blossom upon the tree, knowing it will fall."

More words fail to come, however, and after an uncomfortable pause he pops the dumpling in his mouth and chews slowly to excuse the silence. His position is undaunted, but he does not push again, leaving it in her hands. After he chews and swallows, he quietly divides his fish and shares another section with her without a word.

...

Kentaro pays his gift to Miyaguchi Minoru, overcoming reservations only as he demonstrates his service to and gifts from the Kuge, expresses his experience in battle. He tells the tales of Togakushi no Daisuke -- to his dismay, his grandfather's good Buke name carries little weight here after the passage of time and his own rustic nature leaves him constantly feeling out of place.

The hulking man, however, perserveres. Having gained admittance, he shows his undauntable ethic, taking all the hardships they pile upon him like an ox put to the plow -- without complaint and beyond the endurance of more effete, rich students. Under their tutliage his skill grows steadily in both bow and sword, his rough skill learned from his father honed to a razor edge in this professional environment. Even if begrudging, he earns more respect than when he began.

He returns each evening to the inn, sweated and tired. He learns to appreciate the soothing warmth of the offered bath house on his continuously aching muscles. He arrives to dinner every night a bit early, wordlessly appreciating time with Akemi as often as she joins him. He is glad for the company of the other Buke as well, building ties with Omi, Ito, Hiroshi and Haruto at the table each evening.

After nine weeks, the more competent ronin quietly counts his coins in the palm of his hand once more in his room. He began with enough to be fed in his mountain village for a decade... two months later his last gold coin is gone and his silver is once again thin. At least, he thinks, the coins are silver and not copper this time. But it is time to find someone to serve.

Through the innkeeper, he also keeps an eye on the mail. A payment for his service in capturing the bandit is due from the Matsumoto and, despite his continued concerns for their honor, trusts it will arrive soon...

OOC: Training Math

jemmus · #3 Post by **jemmus** » Tue Jan 25, 2022 10:36 pm

Before Haruto set out for Kofu, the kamunushi of the Fuujin shrine told him, This is a letter introducing you to my friend Noriko in Kofu. She's a shugenja, like you. She's not as devoted to Wind God as you and I, but she's a friend of it's. She may be able to teach you, or introduce you to someone who can.

Haruto found Noriko in her modest home in the center of Kofu. She's a woman in her late 40s or early 50s, neither thick nor thin. She's very kind and likes to slowly make and serve tea. She explains that she's the mother of children who are now grown, and that she would have more knowledge of shugendo if she'd had more time when she was younger. But she was busy being a mother, and at that she succeeded, she says. A son and and two daughters grew to adulthood, and only one child perished in childhood.

She says to Haruto, Fuujin-sama is a wild one. Like a beast of the mountains or the seas, from before there was civilization. A shugenja needs discipline, but Fuujin despises structure and order. You've chosen a difficult path. Or your soul has has chosen it for you. Or at worst, the kami itself chose it for you. If you can exceed at it and survive, you may become quite powerful in this realm indeed. But even if you fail and become not present, your soul will grow stronger and wiser from the experience. Very good for coming back into a body. If you even have to do that again, and don't decide to remain in nirvana.

And now, let's begin your lessons.

jemmus · #4 Post by **jemmus** » Tue Jan 25, 2022 10:47 pm

Kentaro knows that any reward coming from Shinano will be sent to the ninyo's residence in Chiyoda village. That was the only postal address that he had at the time. He realizes that he will need to send a letter to Chiyoda to inform the samurai where to send the package, if or when it arrives. That would be the post office in the sake merchants' district. He knows that he'll have to pay postage for the letter. And that, knowing the not especially generous ninyo, he should probably send coins for postage from Chiyoda to Kofu as well. And there's the fact that Kentaro caused the ninyo embarrassment during the letter-writing affair, which didn't please the samurai bushi much. On the other hand, maybe the ninyo would want to recover some pride by generously paying the postage and flaunting his wealth.

Marullus · #5 Post by **Marullus** » Wed Jan 26, 2022 11:51 pm

Kentaro looks ruefully at his coin, but has no wish to upset the ninyo of Chiyoda further. He sends his note by the post the first week with the return postage enclosed, hoping it arrives in time. It will not be the last time that he reflects on the costs of Buke business... (-4 silver, 20 copper)

Marullus · #6 Post by **Marullus** » Thu Jan 27, 2022 12:10 am

Haruto goes the first night to find his father before dusk, a feeling of excitement within him to pray with his father in person, that his father knows he is physically there, not just spiritually present. While properly reserved, his father Harukatsu looks on him both with affection and pain. "You have the beauty of your mother," he tells his son with a laden tone. Takeda Chiyo purses her lips downward, tense at the comment, and clucks her tongue. "Still sickly, so thin," inserting judgments on how he doesn't measure to a strong, Bushi son. Haruto's half-siblings are brought in and introduced (with positive comment upon how robust and strong the boys are growing to be) and they all dine together. The reunion with his father bittersweet, Haruto tells them he has secured lodging in the city with some strong, Bushi companions who value his aid, and tells them of his honor in serving the Kuge noble in his travels. He politely excuses himself from the uncomfortable home with a resigned sadness, promising to answer any summons from his father and to return to dine with them on occasion while he remains in the city.

The next morning, he arrives just after the hour of the Hare, pausing outside the modest home of Noriko to re-read his letter of introduction. He is anxious, meeting a practitioner of the magical arts that is not of the shrine. Will she honor the Kami? What is the knowledge she has if it doesn't come directly from their beneficence? He remembers the children's tales of shugenja, shuddering slightly, thinking himself different for his religious moral grounding. But she is a friend of the kamunushi, so she cannot be a frightening mountain witch, either. The stories are not true of himself, neither should they be true of her. He reaches over to pet his dog, Haru, for comfort - the dog weighs more than him after all, all substance in contrast to Haruto's slender form. He holds his breath and knocks on the door.

He is utterly surprised by the middle-aged matron within - she doesn't even have a wart, or a hunch! He finds his concerns washed away as she shuffles about the kitchen to brew tea before their conversation, speaking of her grown children. The austere upbringing he had sequestered at the Nino-San Shrine is in sharp contrast to the warm, maternal feeling of Noriko's home. He finds honest affection for Noriko grows quickly, his first teacher outside the Kami, a mother-figure to fill the gap in his heart left by the death of Andoh Aiko, who is only a dearly-held story.

As they move to discussion of the mystical and the powers of creation in the world, Haruto finds it both fascinating and utterly alien. Being taught by the servants of Fuujin directly in the shrine, the powers of creation as natural as breathing for a Kami, was his only previous experience. He learns now of the inherited knowledge of Shugenja, power over the world wrested and codified, passed from mentor to student in structured education. He recognizes the common threads, the underlying patterns of the world within each, but is amazed at the difference as well. While Fuujin spoke of wind and life, he finds that Noriko is an expert in fire and water - elements of which Fuujin did not speak. He soaks up her lessons as readily as Riku at the bowl of stew on the floor, eagerly learning these new aspects of power. Showing some proficiency, he also then bolsters his knowledge of Soil and Metal - the core learning of Fuujin governing wind, earth, and dominion - curious to see how the shugenja differs in style and application.

She says to Haruto, "Fuujin-sama is a wild one. Like a beast of the mountains or the seas, from before there was civilization. A shugenja needs discipline, but Fuujin despises structure and order. You've chosen a difficult path. Or your soul has has chosen it for you. Or at worst, the kami itself chose it for you. If you can exceed at it and survive, you may become quite powerful in this realm indeed. But even if you fail and become not present, your soul will grow stronger and wiser from the experience. Very good for coming back into a body. If you even have to do that again, and don't decide to remain in nirvana."

He reflects on this wisdom. Wielding wind, the strength to dominate, is indeed natural under the wild Kami, and indeed unstructured. He is grateful to learn the discipline she teaches, to tame wind as well as to wield it. As the weeks pass, he is as grateful to her as to the old and distant kamunushi who raised him. As his father sees the pain of his mother's loss in his face, he is grateful to this woman, who looks at him and mothers him as a child of potential and purpose.

Learning Math:

jemmus · #7 Post by **jemmus** » Thu Jan 27, 2022 2:43 pm

Nice. Noriko was going to offer a discounted rate, and 2 sp works well. Otherwise, private instruction would be very expensive. I've forgotten the calculate, but over 10 sp per week. For the house rules for the spells, do you mean determine them randomly, per the rules for encounters with NPC shugenja? That's what I was going to do.

jemmus · #8 Post by **jemmus** » Thu Jan 27, 2022 7:04 pm

Just a heads up that we're at September 3 in-game. 9 weeks in Kofu will take us to early December. The PC's expect snow in Kai's climate in December, but usually not heavy ones until January. But of course no one can predict the weather. Snowstorms reduce BMA by 1. And heavy snow on the ground reduces strategic scale movement by 25%. Traveling to Kofu in clear weather (no penalty to movement), the PCs moving at the slowest party member's rate were able to reach the next post station inn with not much daylight left. That may not be possible in winter.

Possible consequences of traveling at night:

The people of Nippon may be a little suspicious of characters traveling at night;

Higher chance of encounters with things that like to move around in the dark.

Marullus · #9 Post by **Marullus** » Thu Jan 27, 2022 7:34 pm

OOC:

jemmus · #10 Post by **jemmus** » Thu Jan 27, 2022 8:09 pm

A summary is in the next post.
Early in the morning after the first night’s stay at the Sho-Chiku-Bai inn, the travelers set out to obtain inn passes/stay permissions at the Special Duties Commission office. Haruto makes asks directions from shopkeepers setting up shop in the brisk early autumn morning. Following them, the party makes its way toward the city’s castle. As they draw closer, more samurai are seen going to and fro along the street. They wear hakama wide trousers and haori jackets, and of course dai-sho.

A troop of haughty and disdainful cavalrymen in o-yoro clatter by, forcing the party and townsmen aside.

Near the castle’s outer wall, a large barracks or armory is scene. Next to it is a smaller building. An upright banner, white with the Takeda kamon emblem in light blue stands before it. A wooden sign with kanji and katana script also stands before it. The less literate travelers mentally sound out the katakana letters: to-ku-be-tsu-ya-ku-ba-sho. Office of the Special Duties Commission. They slide the door aside and enter.

In an anteroom two samurai in hakama and haori are seated on the floor behind low desks, writing with paper and brushes. They carefully look the party over. Then one stands, adjusts the dai-sho under his belt sash, and simply says, Come. He slides open a door to a bigger room, around three paces wide and 10 paces long. along each side are rows of four low desks, each manned by a brush-wielding samurai garbed and equipped like their escort.

At the back of the room, two men are seated on flat cushions on a slightly raised dias. Both also have low desks before them with paper, brushes, and inkstones on them. Varnished boxes filled with standing scrolles are beside them. The man on the left is in his mid-fifties and wears dai-sho and a black kimono with the Takeda kamon emblem. The one on the right is older, and wears an ash-gray kimono, also with the Takeda kamon. He has the look of a scholar. Perhaps even a shugenja.

The samurai bows and addresses them. Bugyo-san, bucho-san, we were told about these people last night, and again this morning. The bushi and the samurai escorted the kuge who is the guest of the castle into Kofu. These people travel as one group. The stayed at an inn called Sho-Chiku-Bai in the Tamahata district, with no disturbance or incident. He takes a folded fan from his sash and points toward each person in turn. Bushi, samurai. Bushi, samurai. Shugenja, Takeda samurai. Bushi, ronin. And so on for each to Akemi. Your occupation and caste? Budoka, heimin, she replies.

The younger man, the bugyo, waits for the accustomed bow from the group. Then he appraises each individual with a long, direct look. After some time, he sighs and speaks. I will say this so that you will know why I speak. The Takeda are fearless and known as the finest of bushi. I say this not as boasting, but because it is said of us throughout Nippon, from the capital to cold Tohoku to the remote islands of the Inland Sea. There are some clans that brag of being better at sieges or castle defense than we. Many at better at ships and fights on the sea than we are. And there are some who are undoubtedly more skilled at intrigue, deception and trickery as we. But none in Nippon can claim to be masters of the horse and bajutsu like the Takeda. Or claim that their bushi are less afraid of or more skilled at battle in the open field that we. If there is a disturbance or a threat, our bushi go out and put it down, whatever its source.

But now we are at war with half of Nippon or more, and our bushi are needed in numbers everywhere at once. So from time to time we employ wandering bugei questers and questers of arts for special tasks. But only if they have formed a group that that has shown that its members can work together. These tokubetsu-yakudan [special duties groups] are rewarded for their work upon their return. The reward may be for quelling some disturbance, investigating some occurrence, or retrieving some item. But I will advise you that many of them-- most of them-- eventually do not return.

The older man in gray now speaks. In times of war, when men are busy fighting each other, the yokai and o-bakemono of the land grow bolder. They delight in the misery that war brings, and they seek to increase it and intensify it. The ghosts of the slain roam the battlefields, and the ghosts of innocents who somehow lost their lives hide in dark corners. Temples and shrines fall abandoned, and the evil kami work to turn the holy places into their own obscene mockeries. To say it simply-- war with enemies on the earth draws war with the enemies of humankind.

The bugyo, resumes. You are not compelled to accept assignment as a yakudan [duties group]. But if you do, you cannot refuse any assignment. If you do, you will not be given another assignment for the space of a full season. But the rewards for successful completion of an assignment are good. After completion of a task, all members can generally expect to have enough money to live comfortably at an inn for two or three months. After completion of several tasks, you can probably be able to buy a modest house with a servant. Or rise in rank, or even caste.

The bucho resumes. But to earn the pay, yakudan have to achieve the objective, and also return still alive. The dead are not paid. 'The deceased do not need the rice from the hungry child's bowl.' To achieve that, they have to be very smart. I know, because I used to be yakudan myself, when I was young. But we didn't call it that then. We just went out and did it. But for especially loyal yakudan who don’t return, we do send other yakudan to find and bury or burn their bones. They're usually hard to find. And if that happens, it's hard for the yaku-dan to know if they found the correct set of bones. Or if any great or small beast has carried any away. But still, we do our very best.

The bugyo says, I will mention that there is always the option of joining the ashigaru corp. The pay is much less, of course. But the hazards are less as well. At least, one’s life only depends of the fortunes of battle. One does not have the discomfort of knowing that his death was caused by his own poor choices.

The bugyo draws a scroll from the box beside his desk, unrolls it, squints his eyes and reads it, puts it back. He draws another another one, squints and reads, and gestures to one of the scribes. The samurai rises, and hastens forward and takes it from him. Those who wish to become yaku-dan, state your names. The scribe begins to write.

Please indicate whether your PC wants to become yaku-dan. They wouldn't report for an assignments until after the study period is over, of course. Each PC gets an inn pass/permission, whether or not they sign. They are good for one month, renewable with good behavior.

jemmus · #11 Post by **jemmus** » Thu Jan 27, 2022 8:28 pm

Summary of last GM post

The first morning in Kofu, the party reports to the Special Duties Commission office to obtain passes/permissions to stay in the city's inns. It's a small building with samurai at desks doing scribe duties. A scribe ushers the PCs into a bigger room. He tells two officers that the bushi and Haruto escorted the kuge into Kofu last night. He also names the inn that they stayed at, and that there was a report this morning that there were no disturbances. Akemi is asked her occupation and class, and she answers "Budoka, heimin."

The more senior officer describes at length the Takeda's prowess in field battles and its mastery of bajutsu. He then offers the PCs employment as a freelance agents group called a yaku-dan, explaining that all Takeda hands are needed on deck for the war effort. The more junior officer, who appears to be a scholar or shugenja, explains that war creates misery, which excites monsters and demons and makes them more active. It also creates more dead and more ghosts. He warns that the pay is good, but many yaku-dan eventually just never return. The more senior officer mentions the alternative of joining the ashigaru corps.

It's also explained that a yaku-dan does not have to accept an assignment. But if they refuse one, they have to wait a full season to request another on. The PCs who would like to join are asked to state their names to be written on a document.

The PCs are issued the inn passes. They're valid for one month and renewable, assuming there's no bad behavior.
Please state if you're PC wants to join, with the first assignment to be requested after everyone's study period is done.

Marullus · #12 Post by **Marullus** » Thu Jan 27, 2022 10:13 pm

Kentaro steps forward first. "I am Kentaro, son of Katashi, son of Daisuke, of the Togakushi. It is an honor to serve in the yaku-dan." His deep voice is gravelly as he tries to be as formal as possible.

Haruto stands, formal and clean, before the officers. Haru sits on his haunches next to and behind him, knowing not to pant. After the Bushi respond, he speaks up as well. "I am Haruto, son of Harukatsu, of the Takeda, come from the Nino-San Shrine as the Breath of Fuujin. I will accompany these Bushi as a member of the yaku-dan." He bows formally.

ffilz · #13 Post by **ffilz** » Thu Jan 27, 2022 10:20 pm

Taisho and Hiroshi will also join in, waiting to state their intention and sign (or make their mark) in order based on precedence within the group.

jemmus · #14 Post by **jemmus** » Thu Jan 27, 2022 11:11 pm

Akemi says, Akemi, daughter of Jiro of Matsuda-cho in Kohzuke Province. When it's time for her to stamp her seal or sign her name, all she can do is simply make a diagonal mark with the brush. To those in the room that have seen her in her guise as an elegant and sophisticated oiran, this seems strange and paradoxical. Perhaps she's just playing the roll of a village heimin budoka. If so, she's doing it very well. She genuinely seems like just another peasant or eta girl who never had a chance to learn to read or write.

We have to all remember that Haruto doesn't know that Akemi's ninja, unless someone has told him. I don't think Omi or Ito would be meddlesome like that. To Haruto, until now she's just been a girl in men's clothing who travels with the bushi and Taisho. Now she's stated herself a budoka from a province two provinces to the east.

Everyone has signed up except Omi and Ito. They'll have a chance to study and/or sign up before we move on. I don't think NPCing either of those wouldn't be right. Let's wrap up study/exercise and give Mac some time to catch up.

ffilz · #15 Post by **ffilz** » Thu Jan 27, 2022 11:25 pm

jemmus wrote: ↑Thu Jan 27, 2022 11:11 pm Akemi says, Akemi, daughter of Jiro of Matsuda-cho in Kohzuke Province. When it's time for her to stamp her seal or sign her name, all she can do is simply make a diagonal mark with the brush. To those in the room that have seen her in her guise as an elegant and sophisticated oiran, this seems strange and paradoxical. Perhaps she's just playing the roll of a village heimin budoka. If so, she's doing it very well. She genuinely seems like just another peasant or eta girl who never had a chance to learn to read or write.

We have to all remember that Haruto doesn't know that Akemi's ninja, unless someone has told him. I don't think Omi or Ito would be meddlesome like that. To Haruto, until now she's just been a girl in men's clothing who travels with the bushi and Taisho. Now she's stated herself a budoka from a province two provinces to the east.

Everyone has signed up except Omi and Ito. They'll have a chance to study and/or sign up before we move on. I don't think NPCing either of those wouldn't be right. Let's wrap up study/exercise and give Mac some time to catch up.

Yes, let's wrap up training. I still want to understand what the attribute training rate will be because I think I might actually have Hiroshi do some of that if it makes sense (otherwise, he'll just take the attribute increases from his skill training). Once that's settled, I'll settle out Taisho's finances.

Marullus · #16 Post by **Marullus** » Thu Jan 27, 2022 11:53 pm

Logging the cash accounting to finalize the downtime:

Haruto spent 6 gold and 9 silver. He has 10 gold, 8 silver, and 16 copper remaining. (He'll help Taisho cover Hiroshi.)
Kentaro spent 4 silver and 20 copper on the letters. He spent 10 gold and 9 silver on downtime. That's a total of 11 gold, 1 silver, 20 copper. He now has 7 silver, 27 copper remaining.

jemmus · #17 Post by **jemmus** » Fri Jan 28, 2022 12:07 am

Horse owners, don't forget the 11 cp per day for stabling. Minus 30% for the weekly rate.

Marullus · #18 Post by **Marullus** » Sat Jan 29, 2022 2:39 am

...Ugh.
11x7x9 = 693 copper = 23.1 silver = 2 gold with a tip for the Stableboy.

Haruto will pay 4 gold total for both his horse and Kentaro's. (Lowering his 10 gold to 6 gold.)

jemmus · #19 Post by **jemmus** » Tue Feb 01, 2022 7:46 pm

On the first full day in Kofu, Akemi sold her men's peasant clothing and bought clothing more appropriate for a female budoka. No one in the group fails to notice that she and Kentaro dine earlier each evening than everyone else. It seems to them that the big bushi is infatuated with the ninja (or budoka, according to each member of the group's knowledge). But the girl seems sad, quiet, and a little formal with him.

Kentaro begins his training at the Kofu Ryu gentleman's dojo. The haughty samurai bushi there brazenly eye the big ronin. When he joins the drills with the sword, someone quips, "Looks like swing a pick" and another "No, like breaking rocks with a sledgehammer." The sensei says nothing and does not intervene. Perhaps he feels that the social challenges are as important as the training in dai-sho technique. Over time, the young samurai are impressed by the ronin's hard work, and his air of having been in actual combat. When a teenage bushi speaks of the glory of cutting down and enemy, Kentaro doesn't smile. It seems that he may have experienced killing and death first hand.

He observes the manners and habits of his samurai teachers and fellow students. They always carry a handkerchief. They don't scratch themselves, and they only touch their faces with a cloth. The don't each, say, an apple while walking. They never sit or lean on tables. Over time, Kentaro's rough country manners smooth, and he behaves with more of the smoothness of an urbane samurai.

In the second week Akemi invites Kentaro for an evening stroll outside the inn. I will confide to you, Kentaro-san, something I couldn't say with people listening in the inn. I have walked all over this city, observing the people and the buildings. I know where to buy anything or service that might be needed. I also know places to hide and routes of escape from any number of foes. And I at last found what I was looking for-- a yakuza gambling house where I can secretly train. The Takeda daimyo has repressed the yakuza here, so they are very discrete.

The shinobi of Kai are of the Kumo* clan. They're enemies of my Kugi* clan. That's why I must train in a gambling house. I learned they are Kumo from the yakuza-- for a price. They only think about money, and they are constantly trying to extort me for more. Their women hate me, so I'm careful not to let them know where I stay.

At the end of the second week, at dinner Akemi says, Kentaro-san, your training as a gentleman becomes you. It's not because you're more refined than before. It's because you have the manners of a gentleman, but a gentleman who is humble and honest. I have never seen a samurai with those qualities. She smiles. Later, when their hands accidentally touch during the shared meal, she holds the contact for a moment before moving her hand away. She looks up into Kentaro's eyes for a moment and smiles, then shyly looks away.

* Kumo - a cloud, or a spider. The clan has always left it ambiguous as to which it is. Kugi - a steel nail. A symbol of a small thing performing a job that requires great strength.

At the end of the training, Kentaro gets +5 to personal status for his new refinement.

jemmus · #20 Post by **jemmus** » Wed Feb 02, 2022 1:26 am

Summary in the next post.
During the second week in Kofu, one night a huge storm blew up. Fuujin dashed through the sky, and his counterpart Raijin shook the city with thunder. Lightning struck a pagoda on the Kaizenko-ji temple grounds , but a lightning rod and copper chain carried the charge to the ground. Nevertheless, the next morning four of the cats that loiter around the temple, and all of it's garden's pond's ornamental carp, were found dead. There was heavy rain for two full days, and there were mudslides in the mountains. The Arakawa river that runs through the city ran fast, brown, and turbulent, and there was concern that it would flood its banks.

Two evenings later, three of the four rather loud merchant regulars are at their usual table at the Sho-Chiku-Bai inn. The portly one enters and joins them, and hardly before anyone has filled his sake cup, says, I have news, and it's direct from a good source. The Taira defeated the Minamoto at Ishibashi-yama in Izu, just 20 ri from here! Here's what happened. Young Minamoto no Yoritomo set out from the east toward the capital. He's one of the two biggest Minamoto leaders, you know. They haven't got many left, after the Taira executed or exiled the older ones. He was planning to collect Minamoto troops along the way. But the Regent Tairo no Kiyomori heard of it and sent Oba somebody or other to destroy him....
The handsome and bald merchant cuts in. You can remember the first copper you ever spent, but you can't remember the name of a famous general. The merchants laugh out loud at a not particularly funny joke, as usual.

Anyway, Oba met Yoritomo at the Hakone pass with 3,000 men. Yoritomo had only 300. The Miura clan had tried to reinforce them, but the Sakawa River flooded in the storm and they couldn't get across. Ito somebody....
The second copper her ever spent, the bald fellow says, to more laughs. The portly man takes the ribbing in stride.

Ito took 300 men to the Minamoto's rear. Yoritomo was trapped in the narrow pass, front and back, 10 to his one. The Minamoto fought bravely, but many were cut down. They all would have been, but some of the bushi in the Taira were sympathetic to the Minamoto. In the wind and rain, they could avoid pressing the attack, without being discovered. Still, in the end the Minamoto survivors were scattered. Yoritomo and another escaped, and only avoided being killed by hiding in a hollow tree. They were found my Taira bushi sympathetic to the Minamoto, and escaped to the east.

And now, here's the point for us merchants. The merchant leans forward.

The hooknosed man interjects. Pardon, Tanaka, but I've already heard this news. The point is that the Taira came through Suruga, which is just on the other side of Fuji-san. Suruga is Taira land, and there's a Taira army of some thousands there now.

The smaller and thinner merchant says, The point is, what will the Takeda do now? One of the few Minamoto generals has no army and is running for his life. Will they make a deal with the Taira? Join them? Will they remain passive in Kai, or try to counter-attack in Suruga?

Probably only the gods or devils know, because the Takeda daimyo himself doesn't know, the handsome one says. We know that the Takeda have always coveted Suruga wealth and sea ports. And the Imagawa in Suruga know that, and they've always wanted the Takeda put down. They'll probably be thinking there first loss was a fluke, and they'll be overconfident after their victory. And they took no land, their bushi got heads and armor after the victory, but no new fiefs. They'll petition Taira no Kiyomori for more troops to crush a strong Minamoto ally on their borders, and on the road to the highway connecting to the main Minamoto lands to the east. But the important question is: How does this affect the prices of rice, straw, and soy bean paste? Empty cups!

All laugh again, drain their sake cups, and hold them out to be filled again.

2nd Scroll - The Lands of the Takeda - 1st - 90th Days

2nd Scroll - The Lands of the Takeda - 1st - 90th Days

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