Sengoku Tales Chapter 1:Suemori

The following is a text version of Sengoku Tales of Okaiken, Chapter 1:Suemori. This post is meant to be the final release version of the entry, with additional links to connect to existing TALOD Wiki pages.
==Prologue==
In the land of Mitoyagi, nothing is ever constant aside from war. 
It has been about a hundred years since war broke out in the capital and spread over the provinces. The Imperial Family could not do anything but to wait for the right moment to intervene, though it’s as if they have mostly given up on the idea. Instead, the court entertained themselves with theatre and poetry, while ordinary people begged for someone who could feed them and bring peace to the blood-stained land.
The Imperial Family over the Sengoku period remained relatively quiet and pampered; they tasked the provincial lords to construct the summer palace at Yuzawa so the family could leave the desperately putrid capital. Some lords were irked at the idea of building grand palaces in a period full of destruction and bloodshed.
One of those lords that objected to the idea was Ogasawara Terumune, who owned the domain where the palace was being built. Teruhide’s domain bore the brunt of war; the once prosperous City of Ueno was destroyed by it, and now, the emperor wanted more land and conflict by using the aid of the rival Kitabake clan. After the destruction of Ueno in 1520, the Ogasawara moved to a small castle in Nagaya with a stipend of 10,000 koku. 
In 1534, the Ogasawara were granted the small town of Suemori with an additional stipend of 1,000 koku, but the Ogasawara were not satisfied. Terumune wanted to exact revenge on the Kitabake clan for destroying his territory and in 1558 his clan set fire to the Imperial Palace at Yuzawa while the Imperial Family was staying. An officer in Terumune’s clan kidnapped the young prince Fumihito and then killed his uncle Mutsuhito, even though the consequences of this action would be severe. In order to protect the integrity of the Ogasawara clan, the officer abandoned the young Fumihito at Shoheiji, a small temple close to the town of Suemori. 
This is where our story begins.
==Entry==
I had been waiting. 
I did not know what I had been waiting for, but it has been a number of years since I was left at the temple by an unknown person. I do not remember his voice or what he looked like, but I remember that he was wearing a black and red armor of a bushō. The elder priests told me that when the time is right, it will eventually reveal itself to me. I was a little bewildered, because until now this had been the only life that I knew: maintaining the temple and always chanting the nenbutsu. The temple priests from time to time usually remind me that I have been an orphan since I was about two hundred full moons. They did not know if I was a son of a deceased warrior or the son of a wealthy merchant, but they said that my destiny was not to become an abbot, a monk or a priest like them, simply because I do not belong to the temple. 
But when is the right time? What is my destiny? 
And what am I really waiting for?
The temple priests were not sure of my real name, nor the officer that dropped me at the temple, even though I kept on insisting they reveal it to me as if they knew. Shinran, the temple head priest, would say that he was asleep when one of the monks found me inside a large pot. 
I thought of Shinran as a very mysterious man, he did not say things often and when he did, his answers were usually short and simple. Shinran always kept a smug face and looked terrifying when someone was having a conversation with him. However, his look on his face brightens when he sees me every morning, after I pick up the broom and start sweeping the temple grounds.
I talk to him from time to time to see if he would be able to reveal who I really was, though over the years it has not been successful. From time to time, his eyebrows would twitch a little bit and give me some clues about my identity. At one such moment, Shinran believed that I came from a nearby area and said that I had been wearing the finest quality silk the temple had ever found, so they were sure that I came from the most powerful clan of the area, which was either the Taketoyo, or the extinct Kitabake clan. 
“Oh--Ichimatsu, you are daydreaming again,” said a man wearing a thick, white head cover. He is also wearing an armour of a bushō that signifies his status as a warrior monk. 
They called me Ichimatsu, since I was abandoned at the temple and have been waiting for my eventual fate that day. “Ichimatsu” was meant to signify the day everything would be revealed to me. Sometimes, the priests would call me “Nabe”, since I was found abandoned inside a pot belonging to the temple when the officer left me. Rairen is more relaxed than the priests of the temple even though he is the sole member that could protect the temple from bandits. 
“Rairen, you are looking sharp as ever,” I jokingly replied. 
“Do not call me Rairen, It’s Shimotsuma-dono… Ah, I was just fooling around, of course you can call me Rairen,” he jokingly answered back, with his eyes and eyebrows slowly relaxing. 
Rairen is the designated temple guardian. He was a very young, lively rōnin when he was found by the priests in town. His brother, Zeiren, did not want to be involved in any conflict, so he encouraged Rairen to be employed by the temple so they would be within each other once the conflict flared up again. He agreed, and has now been employed by the temple for more than 50 full moons. 
Even though Rairen rarely takes off his head cover, I always think of him as a very fair looking man when he does take it off. His eyebrows were straight and his hair, although long, was neatly tied and organized. Rairen’s face always looked lively but can turn into a menacing figure in times of despair and frustration. His voice is unusually raspy and you can usually discern his voice during the chants at the temple.
“So Ichimatsu, what are you doing today?” He asked. Rairen seemingly looked bored, as if he had never left the temple in seven temple sweeps. 
They would usually have me in charge of cleaning the floorboards of the temple every morning, sweeping the fallen leaves and travelling to the town of Suemori to buy vegetables for the temple from the merchants. Though the temple specializes in growing the tastiest vegetables such as radishes, not everything can be grown all at once and I would have to walk two ris to the centre of town.
“I’m going to get some vegetables for tomorrow”
“Wait -- you’re going to town? Let me walk with you,” Rairen asked. 
“Ee, I was also going to get miso and ask for donations,” I responded back affirmatively
“Agh, donations? That is tiring Nabe. Shouldn’t you be doing more masculine things, like practicing with spears?” Rairen complained, while handing me his spear he uses for combat. 
We walked away from the temple and crossed the wooden bridge that would take us to the town of Suemori. After the bridge, there is a small patch of bushes that Rairen and I used to practice. We stopped there so Rairen could show some new tricks that he learned from the Ogasawara retainers at Suemori. Rairen sat on a rock and took out an onigiri (rice cake), and used his right hand to signal me to begin swinging his spear. 
I swung his spear towards a bush and hit a branch hard. I heard a loud thud as if I just hit a metal object like one of the hokuban armours the people from Awaji are selling. The vibrations of the spear rattled throughout my body and I let go of the spear.
“Nabe-h Ichimatsu-h, looking wooden as ever,” Rairen teased. I rolled my eyes in frustration. I do not think I would be good enough at weapons. Whenever I see spears or swords it just reminds me of suffering and pain. 
“Ichimatsu, sometimes you just have to be-- look out!”
A pair of bandits appeared behind the bush.
“Huh, monks. Easy prey,” one man said. He is a middle aged man with unkempt long hair and equally long facial hair. He has a big gash on his forehead. He was equipped with two swords and full armor even though it looked like it was in tatters; I believed he was a rōnin. The other person was younger but he also looked older than Rairen. He had grown a beard and a moustache and was wearing a blue yukata. 
Rairen reached for his spear but his spear was kicked by one of the bandits. I stood in there, unable to move the limbs of my body due to fear of being killed by the two. 
“Ichimatsu, pick up the spear-- Argh!” Rairen screamed as one of the bandits thrust his sword towards Rairen’s abdomen. The bandit missed his target but nevertheless managed to scrape Rairen’s right leg. 
I could not remember correctly, but I just picked up the spear on the ground and swung it towards the younger bandit. The blade hit the bandit on the left side of his chest and he agonizingly screamed. He fell to the ground, face down.
“Mototaka!” screamed the older bandit. Upon hearing his partner’s agonizing scream, he faced me and attempted to kill me with a slash of his sword but somehow I managed to evade the slash and stabbed him in the stomach with Rairen’s spear. Small amounts of blood began to flow from his abdomen as he struggled to keep his composure. His arms weakened and his sword fell out as I took the spear out.
Rairen’s eyes opened wide, as if in a state of shock after seeing myself injure the two all by myself. 
“Ichi...matsu?” Rairen asked, while tending his leg wound. 
“O...no...re,” cried the older attacker. He then collapsed to the ground, with blood flowing from his nose and mouth. I tried to approach him but Rairen stood in the way. “No, we should not be helping him,” he reprimanded. 
I looked at the man with a hint of concern. He was still breathing but not very rapidly. His mouth became blue and his eyes were trying to look upwards. I may be in fact, looking at a person that was about to pass away. 
“But--” I answered.
“Ichimatsu! They are armed and dangerous. Ugh!” Rairen cried while clutching his leg wound. 
“Rairen!” I shouted. “You need help. Let’s hurry to town before it gets too dark” I answered with a trembling voice.
I helped Rairen up but he could not move his right leg due to his wound. We left the bodies near the bush. I kept looking at the bodies as we walked away, and thought that I could help them as the older man was unconscious but still breathing; I turned my head towards the town and helped Rairen get up. Rairen looked at the two injured men and lowered his white head cover to reveal his face to them. Rairen lowered his head as if he was ashamed and skimped his way forward. I could see a small trail of blood that was left from Rairen’s leg wound. 
Usually it would take a short walk to town but since it was getting dark it felt like it took us an entire day to get there. Unusually, we did not meet anyone along the way towards the town. 
While we were walking slowly, Rairen looked me in the eye and asked me with bewilderment. “Ichimatsu, how did you do that? I thought you said you are not good with weapons.”
I looked at him with a little bit of curiosity. “I am not actually sure,” I answered, with a shrug. “I just… did it.”
Rairen smiled a little. “I think you are going to be a good spearman one day. You just needed a little bit of practice. Try not to be so wooden next time” 
“Maybe it’s because I always sweep the temple?” I answered jokingly. I started giggling and it made Rairen laugh.
We made it into town, where a number of people have just started to close their shops. The person usually selling vegetables, Masayoshi, noticed Rairen’s leg wound and went up to him.
“Are you okay?” Masayoshi asked. He had a concerned look on his face but was a little inquisitive. “Here, let me help you with that,” he said while sitting down and reaching for a mint plant. He plucked the leaves off the mint plant and put it on the wound. 
Rairen bit his lip in agony and reached for the mint on his leg wound but his hands were slapped by Masayoshi. 
“Do not touch!” Masayoshi screamed, before giving . “You will feel a little better soon.” Masayoshi then moved his vegetable basket to the side of the road, and started brushing the earth off. 
Rairen and I sat on a wooden bench from one of the stores that have already closed. Masayoshi then signalled me to stand up and move aside so he could tend Rairen’s wounds.
While Masayoshi was tending Rairen, I looked outside and saw the Ogasawara troops returning from the castle. Leading the troops was Ogasawara Teruhide, the leader of this han. Teruhide is a very short man with an even shorter temper, in comparison to his brother Terumasa. Teruhide wears a bright orange armour laced with black thread. His kabuto, or helmet, is also bright orange but with a motif of a rabbit ear. He wears a golden fan sashimono in order to be identified by other commanders, and even though he is pretty short, you can spot him in the battlefield from the enemy’s side. When he removes his rabbit ear kabuto, it reveals a shaved head and his bushy eyebrows. His eyes looked it it’s in a constant state of tiredness but his beard and moustache looked clean shaved.
Teruhide looked me in the eye and then looked away as if he was disgusted. His eyebrows twitched inwards, then he looked towards the gate of the castle.I always thought that the leaders of this han were kind of like a sham. They were never concerned for its citizens but rather concerned with control and their ego. 
Rairen, who is more relaxed after the mint had worked its way through his leg wound, looked at me and mentioned, “It’s them that bothers you, huh?” He had a long pause and looked at his wounded leg. I have never seen this kind of resentment from him before. Rairen is usually upbeat even with the gravity of a situation. 
Rairen then added, “They do not deserve this han. They have failed to bring peace even to this small patch of land.” 
Masayoshi, who suddenly had a small frown on his face, nodded in agreement but did not say anything. He then looked back at the mints he put at Rairen’s leg, removed it, and applied a cloth bandage. 
Behind Teruhide were about twenty-five to thirty foot soldiers, or ashigaru. One of them looked very concerned as his left hand was at his mouth while the right hand held the banner. He was carrying the banner of Teruhide, which was an orange circle with the character that I could not read from the bottom. It reminded me of the character for “life”, but I could not care less since his leadership was pretty lifeless. He was whispering something but I could not discern from what he was saying. The soldier’s face looked similar to the bandits from the earlier ambush, so I thought that they may be related to the two.
A man wielding a spear suddenly came running towards the troops. He does not seem to come from a very wealthy family as he was covered with dirt and mud and was not wearing the armour of the bushou; He ran towards Teruhide. Teruhide looked back with a surprised look on his face. He squinted his eyes in suspicion of the man but relaxed when he realized it was one of his vassals, Torii Naoyuki. 
Naoyuki reported to Teruhide. “Tono! I found two bodies outside of town today. They must be two of the bandits that have been terrorizing the town lately. I followed the trail of blood to town and it seemed to end with you.”
Torii Naoyuki is a vassal of the Ogasawara clan, but to me, he looked like a regular farmer or a bandit, with his hair curled and unbrushed and looked like he had not managed to clean his beard a little. His face is usually covered with dirt and mud. His eyes are brown and has large ears. Like the bandit that I had killed earlier, Naoyuki likes to wear the bluest yukata. Shame that it’s always covered in dirt. 
Teruhide responded. “Is that so? I do not think it was me-- there, look! The trail of blood continues to one of the shops.” He stared at the blood trail, which happened to trace itself at the end of my foot and the spear which still had a little bit of blood in it. Teruhide looked me in the eye again, though this time he had a sinister-looking smile on his face. He then looked at Rairen’s spear, which I was still holding. 
“You there! Yes, young man, come closer,” he screamed in the beginning but changed his tone mid-sentence. “Come to the castle with me. We need to talk.”
“But... I work for the temple, and need to be home tonight” I unsurely answered. Rairen looked at me but he seemed to be in disagreement with me. 
“Ichimatsu, it’s okay. You can go with him,” he smiled a little bit. He then added a few words when I started walking towards Teruhide. “You can make a little difference, for the temple’s sake.”
I was still unsure why Rairen had said “for the temple’s sake”. Earlier he was a little bitter of Teruhide, but suddenly had a change of heart when I got called to the castle. Maybe he knew something that I did not know. 
Masayoshi added. “I will take care of Rairen. Take his spear and go with our lord. I will help Rairen get back tomorrow.”
The castle gate was opened as we walked toward, and there was quite a way up to Teruhide’s residence. Trees and bushes cover the path at the foot of the hill, but it soon gave way to a large clearing with the castle’s crude defenses. I saw many bushō with colourful armor in their residences seemingly preparing for battle, and it looked like I was about to be conscripted into a warrior. Is this really what I signed up for? In disappointment I started to frown and looked down at the dirt path. 
Teruhide spoke to me from his horse and asked, “Those two bandits, what did they say to you?” 
“They said that since we were monks, we were weak,” I responded, while looking up and turning my head towards Teruhide. 
“Is that so? Anything else that you wanted to add? Teruhide seemed to be uninterested after I responded so I was hesitating to answer him again, but I mustered a little to respond, though I still frowned at Teruhide.
“As I stabbed the younger guy, the older person said ‘Mototaka’. Mototaka, I do not--”
“Moto-taka?” He interrupted, and looked at me in inquisition. His jaw dropped a little bit in awe and I did not understand why until he mentioned “We’re not just dealing with regular bandits then. Our territory has been compromised by the enemy clan.”
“If I may ask, who is this Mototaka?” I asked. Teruhide looked me in the eye, looking a little furious. 
“Mototaka is a rōnin that casually serves the Taketoyo if he wanted to,” he answered back. “That means that he was checking if the town can handle a few vagrants; if we could not handle it, our territory would be attacked in a siege.”
He then added, just as we reached the top of the castle, “would you be willing to use your spear to protect the town with us?”
I wanted to refuse his offer since I worked at the temple but I did not want to answer no as I could be killed on the spot if I refused. I think I placed myself in a lose-lose situation as if I was stuck between a rock and a palisade. I hesitatingly said yes.
“Good,” he answered as if he really did not want to talk to me. “I can give you a sword and armour for tomorrow.”
“Return to the temple and protect it. Hioki Sadahiro’s brother is there. I heard from him that you are not one of the temple monks or abbots, so I can use you to whatever I want,” he said, then had a short pause. “But for now, you must protect Shoheiji for me.” Teruhide then got off his horse, and went to his residence. 
When Teruhide mentioned “Hioki Sadahiro”, I was a little confused since I have not yet known who he was or who in the temple is his brother. I was glad that I would be able to return to the temple and not have to deal with Teruhide as he really looked uninterested and just treated me with a lot of disrespect while we were on our way up the castle. I would rather have just betrayed him and joined the Taketoyo at this point. 
That residence was of a crude build, with a thatched roof seemingly not replaced for many years and protected by two covered watchtowers made out of wood the clan had cut and cleared from the hill. Four flags of his clan were strewn on the ground. I followed Teruhide but was then stopped by two guards.
“You cannot be with our lord from here on,” one of the guards responded. Stay here until he comes back.
I waited for a couple of moments, then Teruhide, who now had taken off his armour to reveal his blue tinted yukata, was carrying a large brown wooden box. He then dropped it off in front of me.
“Here, open the box and take whatever is inside. It is yours now.” He said. I opened the box to reveal a brown coloured armour, a headband (called a hachigane) and an old sword on a sheath. “I need the box so you cannot bring it home. Just wear the armour and the sword for now and return to the temple with it,” he added while I was picking up the armour. It made me realize that I actually am not sure who was more stingy, the temple monks? Or the daimyō of this land? “Now, you can get out of my sight,” Teruhide said, which was honestly a little more disrespectful than I thought but I just seemingly did not mind as he told me to return to the temple anyway. 
The two guards then led me to an empty house on top of the hill for the night, and gave me some straw to sleep. The place that they sent me is supposedly the castle’s tenshū, or the keep of the castle. It is rarely used by the clan and usually it acts as the final form of defence if everything fails. The centre of the room is kept empty as it was usually reserved for the daimyō’s final moments: the seppuku. I really did wish that someday Teruhide would use this in his final moments. It would be a joy to see. 
I prepared my room in order for me to sleep. There were a couple of textile sheets, and the tatami was soft enough. I closed my eyes and had a deep slumber. I woke up in the middle of the day. 
I left the compound and made my way back to the temple. 
Punishment probably awaits me at the temple for failing to get vegetables from Masayoshi. Hopefully they would understand once they see Rairen’s leg wound. 
As I entered the temple, an unusual number of monks, all dressed in black, greeted me with joy. I then see Rairen without his head cover, seemingly trying to enjoy everyone’s presence but was still limping around due to his leg wound; he is followed by Zeiren who was trying to replace the bandage of Rairen’s leg wound. “Brother, stop, let me replace that bandage first then you can do as you please.” He then looked towards me; surprised since I was still wearing the armour that Teruhide had given me. 
Shinran, who was at the centre preparing for the event, then approached me. He too is a little joyous today which is a nice change from his usual, serious self. “You had been waiting for a long time for this: Today is your coming-of-age ceremony! Go dress, young man.”
Was I really waiting for this?
==Trivia==
==Glossary of Terms==
koku = a theoretical measurement equalling five bushels of rice
bushō = warlord. Different from the word "bushi," or samurai. 
nenbutsu = a chant, usually from the Jōdo-shu or Jōdo-shinshu sect of Buddhism. it sounds like this. 
rōnin = masterless warrior. 
ri = a measurement of about 3.92 kilometres.
onigiri = rice cake. Yes, that rice cake.
hokuban = Northern armour. 
yukata = similar to kimono, but usually a simpler, more casual type of dress clothing. It is now associated with sleepwear or something you'd wear in a ryōkan (inn) in Japan.
onore = a derogatory expression of "you".
han = territory controlled by a lord.
kabuto = protective helmet of a bushi, usually adorned with decoration. Check out our main character's kabuto here!
sashimono = identifier flag of a "bushō".
ashigaru = foot soldier.
tono = a respectful way to address the lord.
hachigane = protective headband.
tenshū = main keep of a Japanese castle.
daimyō = leader of a han or a territory; a lord.
seppuku = do not attempt, reserved for samurai only. Are you experiencing a crisis right now? Please don't hesitate to contact your local crisis hotline to talk about your mental health today.
==Changelog==
==References==
Category:Sengoku Tales of Okaiken