My Gang of Swordsmen

Chapter 306: Chapter 126: Marquis of Aizu’s Swordsmanship Tournament

After speaking, Hijikata swung his right fist.

”All right.” Aoto grinned, readily agreeing without hesitation, ”I want to see what new moves you’ve been working on.”

Over time, Aoto had gained a considerable understanding of this notorious ”Demon King” known as Hijikata Toshizo, who had countless companions.

When Aoto first met Hijikata, he got a carefree impression of him, but over time, he slowly discovered that Hijikata had a serious side too.

He was very dedicated to his swordsmanship training, arriving at Shiwei Hall almost every day at the crack of dawn to practice swordsmanship, only returning home after dark.

The focused look Hijikata had when practicing swordsmanship was entirely different from his frivolous demeanor when chatting with his companions.

Hijikata was one of the few at Shiwei Hall with a keen interest in hand-to-hand combat skills and actively honed his martial arts.

Hence, he often invited Aoto, who was skilled in grappling and free fighting, to spar with him.

Aoto was originally quite interested in hand-to-hand combat skills; otherwise, he wouldn’t have mastered so many types of unarmed combat skills in his previous life, so he always accepted Hijikata’s invitation without question.

Due to the frequent sparring sessions with Hijikata, Aoto and Hijikata quickly became familiar with each other.

There weren’t many apprentices practicing swordsmanship at the dojo today.

Training warmly amid the bustling crowd of fellow students from the Sword Dojo, without realizing it, the sun soon approached its zenith.

Early this morning, Zhouzhu and Abi went out somewhere, and they haven’t returned yet.

Just as Chokata was about to don his ”cutting apron” again, preparing to cook lunch for the day, an unexpected guest suddenly arrived at Shiwei Hall—

”Yong! Yong! Are you there?”

Inside the dojo, Kondo, who was instructing a certain apprentice, froze momentarily upon hearing the loud shout from the entrance of the Sword Dojo’s gate: ”Shigetarou?”

...

...

In the hallway of Shiwei Hall, Chiba Shigetarou sat cross-legged in a relaxed manner in front of Aoto, Kondo, Hijikata, and Chokata.

”Mr. Hijikata, long time no see! I heard you’ve been injured before; have you recovered now?”

”Thanks for your concern,” Hijikata smiled faintly, ”It’s nothing, I recovered long ago.”

After exchanging simple greetings with Hijikata, Chiba Shigetarou turned his gaze towards Aoto.

”Mr. Tachibana, congratulations!” Chiba Shigetarou flashed Aoto a warmer smile, ”I’ve heard all about it! You recently made a great achievement and increased your salary by 400-koku!”

”Thank you.” Aoto humbly smiled at Chiba Shigetarou, whom he hadn’t seen since the Plum Blossom Festival’s ’Red and White Battle,’ ”I was just lucky.”

After the two sides exchanged pleasantries for a while, Kondo, sitting opposite Chiba Shigetarou, suddenly cleared his throat and curiously asked:

”Okay, Shigetarou, tell us now, what is this ’important matter’?”

Earlier, upon hearing Shigetarou’s voice, Kondo immediately rushed to the Sword Dojo’s entrance.

When he arrived at the gate, he saw Chiba Shigetarou standing alone under the bright sun.

Kondo was naturally quite surprised and puzzled at Chiba Shigetarou’s sudden visit.

Chiba Shigetarou was also a man of decisive action.

Meeting Kondo at the entrance and extending a greeting, he candidly said: Yong! I’m here to tell you something important!

Though greatly tempted to immediately ask Chiba Shigetarou ”what important matter,” the entrance was ultimately not a suitable place for conversation, and leaving a guest outside would be impolite. So Kondo bottled his curiosity and led Chiba Shigetarou inside to the hall.

”Yong, Mr. Tachibana is here too? That’s great! The matter I want to discuss is a bit related to him, so bring Mr. Tachibana over to listen as well!”—Upon being brought into Shiwei Hall, learning that Aoto happened to be practicing swordsmanship in the dojo today, Chiba Shigetarou eagerly made this suggestion to Kondo.

Therefore—Aoto was called to the hall, bewildered and confused.

Likewise, Chokata and Hijikata also came over to listen.

Hearing Chiba Shigetarou’s reason for coming, they also became quite curious and enthusiastically expressed their desire to listen in and find out what Chiba Shigetarou intended to discuss.

Kondo had gone straight to the point, so Chiba Shigetarou didn’t beat around the bush either.

After a few hearty laughs, Chiba Shigetarou quickly said:

”Yong, early this morning, I received some very accurate insider news.”

”Currently staying in Edo due to the ’Visit and Handover,’ the Marquis of Aizu plans to hold a two-day swordsmanship competition in Asakusa in half a month... on April 16th!”

”The Marquis of Aizu is hosting a swordsmanship contest?” Chokata first exclaimed in surprise.

The Marquis of Aizu—currently the Daimyo of the Aizu Domain: Matsudaira Yoshihiko.

Kondo and the others... including Aoto, upon hearing the word ”swordsmanship competition,” all focused their surprised gazes on Chiba Shigetarou.

”The ’Visit and Handover’—simply put, was a system implemented by the Edo Shogunate to weaken the power of the various Daimyo throughout the land.”

The Edo Shogunate specified: the Daimyo of each Vassal State must travel to Edo once a year to assist the Shogunate in handling state affairs for a period before they can return to their own territories, bearing all travel expenses themselves.

In short—it’s about troubling the various Daimyo, forcing them to frequently visit the Shogunate’s center of power and control: Edo.

Nominally to help the Shogunate handle state affairs, but in reality, it was merely to consume their financial resources and time, and to facilitate monitoring them.

The intervals for the Daimyo’s visits to Edo varied.

For most Vassal States, it was once a year.

In some cases, where the Vassal State was very close to Edo, their Daimyo were required to remain in Edo, and these were known as ’Edo residence.’

For those Vassal States far from Edo—such as the Tsushima Domain with its territory on Tsushima Island in the Korea Strait, the Shogunate allowed its Daimyo to visit Edo once every three years.

On average, throughout the year, each Daimyo generally spent only one-third of their time in their own lands, with the other two-thirds either in Edo, on the way to Edo, or returning from Edo.

To pass the boredom of being effectively ’incarcerated’ in Edo, many Daimyo thought of various entertainment activities to pass the time.

For instance, sponsoring or hosting martial arts contests.

Some Daimyo who were fond of martial arts often sponsored or held martial arts competitions while residing in Edo due to the Visit and Handover, inviting the martial artists of Edo to engage in competition.

Thus, every now and then, one would hear about some Daimyo planning to host a martial arts contest in Edo.

”The swordsmanship contest hosted by the Marquis of Aizu this time is quite extensive.”

Chiba Shigetarou continued.

”According to reliable sources—the Marquis of Aizu’s swordsmanship contest this time is open only to various dojos in Edo.”

”It’s limited to newcomers who have been practicing swordsmanship for less than three years to participate in this competition.”

”So—”

Chiba Shigetarou smiled, turning his gaze towards Aoto.

”Mr. Tachibana, are you interested in participating in this competition?”

”I heard the Marquis of Aizu is quite generous this time. Whoever achieves victory can win a prize of a full 20 ryo of gold!”

********

********

Asking for monthly tickets! Asking for recommendation votes!

Recently, the most discussed characters among our book club members are Miss Sazanoko and Tenshōin. Everyone is extremely interested in discussing the attributes of Miss Sazanoko with big bears and Tenshōin as the ’perfectly pure young widow.’ Truly deserving of being my readers.

Miss Sazanoko has real historical photos, which I haven’t shown before. Let the author make up for that now, please see the review on the right.

Everyone might have heard about the quality of 19th-century cameras. Most people’s photos aren’t clear... To have such a level of appearance under 19th-century camera lenses, Miss Sazanoko truly deserves the name ’Chiba’s Demon Beauty.’