Warring States Survival Guide
Chapter 119 - 73: Temporary Worker

Chapter 119: Chapter 73: Temporary Worker

The wakizashi is a type of short knife, usually about one and a half shaku in length, evolved from the "waist knife" of the Heian Era.

In Japan’s historical dramas, the classic Samurai accessory set called "Daisho"—meaning long and short blades worn together at the waist—features this short knife as the wakizashi. Contrary to how it’s shown in later Japanese TV dramas—as a seppuku-exclusive tool—in reality, it was more often used in close-quarters combat and was considered a weapon for fighting.

This thing was still pretty new in Japan’s Warring States Era. Pairing a long saber with a tachi, or a short knife with a wakizashi, only started to become popular during this period. It wasn’t until the Edo Era that it really became the standard. And because Oda Nobunaga was an "oddity" who loved to chase fashion trends, always leading the way, he carried one with him everywhere.

Now, this ornate and beautiful wakizashi—which looked more like a work of art than a murder weapon—ended up in Ah Man’s hands.

She happily stroked the elegant sheath a few times, then lightly drew the blade partway to admire the snow-patterned edge, and without hesitation, slid it slantwise through her belt to equip herself. With her height of over one meter, it fit perfectly. She even started thinking it was time for her to get with the trends—her short-handled axe was just too crude and didn’t fit her current status anymore; it was time to ditch it and get herself a long tachi to pair with the wakizashi.

At the same time, her impression of Oda Nobunaga changed for the better. Complimenting him with drunken burps as she kept practicing her wakizashi drawing, she said, "Hic, Oda Nobunaga really is a good guy. I totally shouldn’t have called him a big idiot behind his back before!"

"Not bad, really, he’s okay as a person," Nozawa had a pretty good impression of Oda Nobunaga as well. Prideful folks usually aren’t that bad. Oda Nobunaga might have his issues, but among all the Lords in Japan’s Warring States, he’s already considered pretty decent—at least you can’t call him despicable.

Of course, that’s just his own opinion. Whether Oda Nobunaga was good or bad was still up to public consensus in the end.

The two of them kept chatting about Oda Nobunaga. Nozawa took the chance to remind Ah Man to keep things confidential and not to go around blabbing about Oda Nobunaga’s plans, just in case it messed up the grand scheme. While they were waiting, the big ox cart convoy finally crawled over at a snail’s pace.

Ah Man didn’t bother with her horse anymore; she just grabbed her leather wine pouch and climbed straight onto an ox cart, looking like she was planning to drink her way all the way back to Nagano Castle. Nozawa glanced at her, shook his head, and decisively called A Qing over to tattle on her, asking A Qing to figure out a way to confiscate Ah Man’s wine pouch.

This boozy habit of hers—he figured he needed to do something about it too. After all, Ah Man was very important to him. He didn’t want her turning into a total drunk.

The group got back on the road. Nozawa rode his horse for a while and saw Maeshima Shichiro had automatically taken over the spot Ah Man had abandoned, bustling up and down in front of the ox cart convoy to keep things moving. So Nozawa waved at him, "Lord Maeshima, take a break, you don’t have to hurry so much. Moving too fast isn’t good for the wounded either."

Yep, that unlucky group of townsfolk was actually bringing along their old and young, walking behind the ox carts instead of scattering, not even trying to make a run for it. Nozawa thought the ox cart convoy management should be even looser, so they’d have a better chance to escape.

He even wondered for a second, why haven’t these guys run away yet?

Honestly, things were already relaxed enough, nobody was even watching them!

Maeshima Shichiro was pretty obedient too, since what Nozawa said made sense. After a moment of hesitation, he turned his horse around and rode over. Actually, Nozawa hadn’t paid much attention to him before; he just thought the guy seemed honest and hard-working. So now he casually asked, "I’ve never really chatted with you before, Lord Maeshima. Are you a household retainer supported by the Lord of Upper General?"

"Lord Nozawa, please just call me Shichiro, no need to be so formal." Maeshima Shichiro was actually a little younger than Nozawa, looking about eighteen or nineteen, and kept a low profile. With a tinge of awkwardness, he said, "I’m not the Lord of Upper General’s retainer. I just work at Takeshige Manor."

"Oh, Lord Maeshima, so you’re not an Oda Family retainer?" Nozawa was genuinely surprised. He’d always thought Maeshima Shichiro and Okurakiyebi were in the same crew—part of the old guard of household retainers.

Maeshima Shichiro lowered his head a little, embarrassed. "Not yet, actually. Right now I’m only working as a clerk. I haven’t had the chance to get formal permission from the Lord of Upper General to officially become his retainer."

"So that’s how it is..." Nozawa, after being stranded in the Japan Middle Ages for several months now, was gradually getting the hang of things, and managed to piece it together—turns out Maeshima Shichiro was basically a temp.

Generally speaking, the Samurai during Japan’s Warring States Period could be roughly divided into three categories:

The first were personal attendants, retainers who were directly supported by the Lord.

For example, Maeda Toshie and other kosho were Nobunaga’s direct personal attendants. They received an annual salary, support rice, and all sorts of irregular rewards straight from Nobunaga, never had to worry about food or drink, and followed Nobunaga everywhere, taking his direct orders. If he said to chop someone, they did it.

The second type were local gentry or earth warriors. These folks, big or small, all had their own fiefs.

Usually, for Lords like Oda Nobunaga, not only did they not have to pay these people anything, the local gentry even had to pay Nobunaga money and rice to fulfill all sorts of feudal obligations. But in name, they’d recognize Nobunaga as their "adoptive father," becoming part of the Dan Zhengzhong clan without any actual blood ties. But they kept quite a bit of independence—for all of Japan’s history, these were the guys who’d pull the classic "down with the boss" moves, killing their ’father’ and launching uprisings.