Chapter 62: The Mysterious Sakae Town (Seeking Collections)

  Honda Tadakatsu has become much more subdued since his last defeat, following Yamamoto Kansuke around during the day to learn about fortification and management techniques, and running outside at night when there is moonlight to read by its light, studying with great diligence and hardship, far surpassing what he was like in his youth.

  "It's only with this kind of determination that one can become a famous strategist of the Warring States period!" Kiryū Manzōmaru sighed, having nothing but admiration for someone who was not only intelligent and studious, but also diligent and hardworking. Compared to Honda Tadakatsu, his younger brother Honda Matsumiya was far inferior, spending all his time following Takigawa Hida no Kami around to the west of Bichū, trying to learn the ways of the gun from Ishikawa Goemon and Watanabe Kongō. And when he saw Nakajō Hidemasa's exceptional swordsmanship at a young age, he went off to try to learn the military tactics of the Nakajō family.

  It is not known whether it was because of his open-minded and straightforward personality that suited the Mikawa samurai, but Takigawa Keijirō, an outsider, was quickly accepted by everyone, and his father Takigawa Masashige also benefited from this. With their young age and simple-mindedness, they actually managed to blend in with the Mikawa samurai.

  It is said that Takigawa Keijirō, as soon as he came up, asked Watanabe Kōgan to try a match, and Watanabe Kōgan did not refuse his challenge. As a result, he was defeated by one shot every time, and each time he got up stubbornly, he would be knocked down again. Finally, Watanabe Kōgan couldn't help but tell him that although his basic shooting skills were good, it wasn't enough, and he was too young and lacked strength, so he should practice for a few more years before trying again.

  Watanabe Kōgan also told him that the Watanabe family's traditional gunjutsu came from Kinai, and in Kinai, the gunjutsu of Nanto was revered as the best. The best gunjutsu could be learned at Kōfuku-ji Temple or Enryaku-ji Temple. It was said that Inoue Shigeyori's gunjutsu at Kōfuku-ji Temple's Hōzōin was particularly famous in Kinai. Takigawa Keitarō secretly hid himself when Yamagata Bantetsu was not around, and asked Kirishima Mitsuhiro to take him to Yamato Province to have a look.

  "But our family has no intention of going to Yamato!"

  "I've heard that the scenery of Heijokyo in Nara is not inferior to that of Heiankyo! Let's go take a look first, and then bring Shoko-hime along for a visit another day!"

  "Alright! Just this once, don't take it as a precedent!" Kirishima Mantarō made a show of considering it for a moment before readily agreeing.

  "Thanks, Master!" Takigawa Keijirō ran off excitedly, seemingly to inform his partner, Honda Sanmi.

  The Uji River is a tributary of the Yodo River and the only river that flows out of Lake Biwa, merging with the Katsura River, which runs through Kyoto, and the Kizu River, which flows through Yamato Province, to form the Yodo River.

  The Yodo River has many tributaries and a vast watershed, making it the largest river in the Kinki region. It flows southwest through the Osaka Plain and empties into Osaka Bay at its southern end.

  Kuromatsu is located at the corner of Osaka Bay, where Settsu Province, Kawachi Province and Izumi Province meet. It was also called Sanshu no Sakai. After the end of the Nanboku-chō period and the Muromachi bakufu's revival, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu pledged allegiance to the Ming dynasty's Yongle Emperor, and trade between China and Japan began to flourish. This small port in Kinai quickly rose to prominence due to its unique geographical advantages.

  Afterwards, with the Hosokawa family monopolizing the shogunate's power after the ōnin War, Sakai became an important port for the Hosokawa family's control of the kanrei trade, injecting greater economic stimulus into this new city and gradually transforming it into the most important commercial port in the Kinai region, almost monopolizing Kyushu, Saikaido through the Seto Inland Sea and the economic activities with Kinai, its commercial status even surpassing Kyoto's Kyōmachi.

  As the largest port in Kinai and an emerging commercial city, Sakai's scale far exceeded that of all castle towns during the Sengoku period. The entire city was managed by a self-governing organization called Naya-shu, which was located near the outer periphery of the city, giving off a strong commercial atmosphere.

  In this era, there were many commercial organizations similar to Nakaya-shu that controlled cities, such as Uji Yamada-cho in Ise Province, Ominato, Kuwana-juku, Hakata-machi in Chikuzen Province of Kyushu, and Sakata-machi in Shonai Province of Dewa. They also implemented a similar framework of joint management autonomy, which was called Gasshōdō.

  The system of the village association is similar to that of the manorial system, which was formed after the collapse of the medieval manor system. In this system, some wealthy farmers in rural areas gradually took control of the land and became the de facto rulers of the villages. After the collapse of the manorial system, some villages were not occupied by these new rulers due to various reasons, so the emerging landlords and villagers united to form an autonomous body, electing several powerful landlords or peasants as village elders to jointly manage the village.

  They were also dissatisfied with the management of the shogunate and the national masters, and frequently stirred up or started a riot in pursuit of autonomy. For example, the "Tokusei Riot" in the first year of Kaji was caused by this group of villagers. The village league quickly gathered an army of 30,000 people, forming a formidable force that occupied various temples in the capital region and threatened to burn down all the temples if the shogunate did not issue a Tokusei decree. At that time, the shogunate happened to be dealing with the Kaji Disturbance, and the Kyoto political situation was in chaos, unable to resist. Therefore, the village league easily obtained the Tokusei Riot Decree, which further fueled the villagers' arrogance.

  The only place where the association of merchants is similar to that of the village is that the internal system is exactly the same, but the relationship between farmers and local officials has been transformed into a relationship between small traders, wholesalers and big merchants. They would not listen to the management of the shogunate and national government, but instead pay a fixed amount of "protection money" every year to gain independent autonomy. For commercial ports like Sakai-machi, which can be called a money tree, local lords including Hosokawa family did not dare to overstep their authority, so their status is much higher than that of the village group.

  The guilds not only maintained a high degree of autonomy but also had their own laws and regulations to deal with various commercial disputes. They also had their own law enforcement agencies to handle fraud, robbery, theft, and even murder. Each member of the guild was elected by the merchants living in these cities, most of whom were top businessmen from various industries, known as "the virtuous".

  The autonomous council composed of these "virtuous people" is responsible for handling the daily affairs of the entire city, resolving various commercial disputes and criminal cases. It's roughly similar to the famous federal system, and the names and systems of the gatherings in different places are also similar, such as Uji Yamada being called "Yamada Sanpo", Hakata Kumon being called "Twelve People's Annual Administration", Shoin Sakata Kumon being called "Thirty-six People's Gathering", and O-Kumon being called "Gathering of People".

  For example, the name of the Kaisho in Sakai-machi is called Naya-shu. From the name, it can be heard that Naya is a commercial organization engaged in industries such as earth warehouses, which means that they were initially organized by warehouse lenders and pawnbrokers. However, after nearly a hundred years of change, many members of Naya-shu have changed, with old families declining and new families rising. The original Naya Sanjuroku-nin-shu has long been gone, and today everyone knows that the ruler of Sakai-machi is Naya Jūnin-shu. As for how the thirty-six people were reduced to ten, no one knows.

  Kiriyama Manzaburou and his group of dozens disguised themselves as ordinary merchants, blending in with the merchant groups that came from all over, not drawing attention to themselves. Some wealthy merchants' groups had hundreds of people shouting and calling out, using tens of boats, and even hiring a group of ronin numbering in the tens as bodyguards, fully equipped with bows, horses, swords, guns, and armor, more elite than many daimyos' armed forces.

  "It's indeed worthy of Sakai, it's really amazing!" Kira Yoshinaka and the attendants around him had a deep impression of Sakai, which was indeed impressive. As a typical ring-moat city, Sakai is surrounded by many rivers such as Doigawa, Utogawa, Furukawa, Tategawa, and Shinborikawa.

  Many of these waterways were excavated with the investment of merchants in Sakai, in order to achieve the purpose of improving commercial activities and cargo transportation speed by relying on the dense river network. It is said that the fastest way from south Sakai to north Sakai is by boat, which shows how much this city relies on water transportation. The crisscrossing river network can be seen everywhere with large and small docks, which is the foundation for Sakai to maintain its vitality and has created favorable conditions for the development of this city.

  Note: This is also what I found from reading about the history of Osaka and related materials, it's not just something I'm making up.