Chapter 12: Tamon Yamada

  This place is close to the Tokaido, and for the safety of the road, the nearby forest is cut down every year. Kira's mount was a skilled mountain horse from Matsuo, which easily outran the horses of the large group of samurai. He chased after them alone, shouting loudly as he entered the forest, driving his inferior horse to catch up.

  They chased for several hundred meters but couldn't see any sign of the master, so the Mōri warriors dispersed in all directions to search. Fortunately, the forest wasn't very large, and soon some of the Mōri men came back to report that they had seen the master's horse in a clearing up ahead. Sengoku Sanetaka blew his whistle to gather the Mōri warriors, and they followed him as he led them in pursuit.

  Not far away, in the depths of the forest, I caught sight of the silhouette of my steed. This carefully selected horse was tied to a tree, leisurely munching on leaves. Not far from there, in a simple campsite, Kiryū Manzōmaru sat chatting with a child of similar age. Another child, only four or five years old, held a sturdy black hawk and dozed off, seemingly uninterested in the unexpected guest.

  "Master of the inn!" Yamagata Zenzirō hastily dismounted his horse and ran over, while the dozen or so horsemen behind him immediately dispersed to block off all roads in every direction, assuming a tense and vigilant posture. The slightly older child's face changed instantly, and he pulled his younger brother down into a kneeling position, not daring to speak.

  Kiriyama Mantarō looked up at the group's attitude and laughed, saying: "Zentaro? What are you doing? Don't scare them off, hurry up and put away your weapons!"

  "But these two have an unknown origin, for the safety of our master, let's have Shōsuke investigate before we lift our guard!"

  Yamagata Shōsuke stubbornly refused his request, with a stern expression he glared at the two children and asked: "What are your names? What do you do? Where did you come from? Why are you approaching our master?"

  The slightly older child was still quite calm and replied with a slight boost of spirit: "My name is Honda Mataro, this is my younger brother..."

  "Yahachi! San'ya!" A worried voice called out from afar. A middle-aged man was being kept at bay by the Kiryū family's horse, running around in distress. Kiriyū Mansaburō looked at the tense expressions of the two brothers and said, "Let him in! This man should be the father of these two."

  "But, Master Innkeeper, your safety..." Yamagata Zenzaburou tried to argue further.

  "The safety of this house is in your hands, let this man come in now!" Kiryu Mitsumaru glared at him and made Yamagata Zenjirō shrink back, hastily making way for the middle-aged man to enter.

  This middle-aged man was more discerning than his two children. As soon as he saw a dozen or so robust warriors with strong waists and broad swords, carrying powerful bows on their backs, he knew that this group of people had some background. He first bowed down to the ground and called out twice in a muffled voice, "Sir!", his eyes fixed on the two children. After confirming that the two children were fine, he spoke cautiously: "My name is Honda Toshimasa, from Ogawa in the county, I am a falconer, today I brought my two sons, Yabei and Sanmi, out to fly hawks, do you know if they collided with this gentleman or not?"

  "They didn't crash into me, is your family from the Takaokaya or the Honda clan? What's your relationship with Honda Tadataka who died in battle at Anjō Castle this year?" At the mention of the surname "Honda", Kiryū Manzaburou furrowed his brow and thought for a moment: "Falconry is a rare profession, has anyone from Mikawa ever been a falconer? This name 'Yahachi' sounds familiar, but I've never heard of a Honda Toshimasa!"

  "Honda Heihachiro is a distant relative of the Honda clan, serving as the head of the Honda family. Mentioning this makes Honda Toshimasa feel somewhat embarrassed, being a member of the Honda clan and seeing how the main house's Honda Tadataka has turned out, and then looking at his own branch family's situation, within the Matsudaira household he is nothing but a nobody, only able to gain favor with the lord through his skill in falconry, truly a bitter tear."

  "Honjō Heihachirō, Honjō Yahachi, what a familiar name! Isn't Honjō Tadakatsu the same as Heihachirō? Then this Yahachi must be Honjō Masanobu!" Kiryū Manzaburō finally realized that this guy was definitely the father of Honjō Masanobu. So, it turns out that this Yahachi is his son Honjō Masanobu?"

  "Aren't you from the Honda clan? How did you become a falconer?" Kiryū Manzōmaru asked, still being quite nosy.

  "This... In the next generation, there are many branches, besides the main house of Hachiro's family, Motoda Tadataka, there is also Sakubei's family, Motoda Shigetsugu. The direct line of Yoshisan's family, Motoda Hirotaka, and the small branch families are just collateral lines, so they don't have the qualifications to serve in the same hall as the main house." Motoda Toshimasa felt his old face was about to lose all its dignity, he still didn't know which noble family this handsome young boy in front of him belonged to, yet he had already revealed all his family's secrets. Now he really wanted to slap himself in the face.

  "So you're just a ronin, making a living by secretly holding down another job as a carpenter?" Kiryu Manzoumaru suddenly had an epiphany. No wonder Honma Masanobu was treated poorly at the turtle place and ran away for decades without returning home - it turned out that his family branch was being oppressed by the main house.

  "It's a skill passed down from my grandfather, Tadamasu. My ancestors studied falconry in Kyoto, so the falconry skills I possess are quite famous in Mikawa. As a result, Lord Tokugawa Ieyasu granted our family 40 koku of land and appointed me as the head of the ashigaru corps, increasing our stipend to 80 koku. My eldest son, Shigeatsu, also became a samurai of the Matsudaira clan."

  "Do you have an eldest son? What about these two kids?"

  "Yahachi was the second son of mine, because his older brother Honda Yahachirō Shige became a samurai of the Matsudaira family and inherited the position of Ashigaru-taisho, so I changed his childhood name to Yahachi as well, planning to pass on the art of Takajo of the Honda family to him later, so that he would have a skill to make a living. Sanmitsu is my fourth son, who followed Yahachi out for the first time to fly hawks."

  "Ah, I see! The master understands!" Kiryu Manzoumaru nodded and ignored him, turning to the two children and asked: "I'll give you an opportunity. Do you want to be a falconer or a farmer, living a mundane life, or follow me and become an excellent warrior serving our clan in the future? You decide for yourselves!"

  "What...what's going on here?!" Bando Toshio was shocked and couldn't understand how it had suddenly come to this, that his two sons were being made into warriors. Who exactly was this noble person? He felt like he wasn't thinking clearly, and all sorts of questions flooded his mind. He wanted to ask for help from the people around him, but who would listen to him? Yamagata Zentarō was glaring at the three of them with a sharp gaze, his eyes darting back and forth like a hawk's.

  In this era, the warrior class was extremely strict. In front of warriors who were higher in status than themselves, even a slight careless remark would result in being scolded and humiliated. In severe cases, anything could happen. Therefore, Honda Tadakatsu, no matter how anxious he was, did not dare to utter another word. He wished that the gods would make these people leave quickly.

  "My name is Yahirō. I, Yahirō, will follow Lord Kira Yoshinaka!" said the child, pulling his five-year-old brother San'ya down to bow with him.