Chronicles of The Hardships of Komachi in The Sengoku Era

The year's total is on New Year's Day, and so much so that the Warring States New Year is an important event.

And there was a relationship with the cake served on New Year's Eve that could not be cut.

Originally, cakes are an essential part of celebrations and festivals as sacred food dedicated to God.

No matter how poor the people were, it was common sense to always prepare cakes for New Year's Eve.

Shizuko naturally also worked to collect things from the end of the year in order to prepare for the New Year.

Particularly important items in preparing for New Year's Eve are "Gateway Pine", "Shimmering Decoration" and "Mirror Cake".

In the first place, New Year's Day is also a day to welcome God down from the high mountains in order to bring happiness to the families, the "God of the Year".

Therefore, Menmatsu is a landmark when God comes down for the New Year, and the cost of dependence to welcome him into the house again.

A sign of purity and holiness indicating that the adornment is a place cleansed to welcome the Year God.

Mirror cakes are a gift to God for the year he welcomes you home, and it also means dependency (where you are).

It is generally not until December 28th that it is considered good, and subsequent days should be avoided.

There was something else to do. It is the preparation of a banquet to celebrate New Year's Day.

Unlike last year, this year it was close to the grand banquet because some of the villagers of the two works, as well as those who settled.

That brings us to New Year's Eve in a bit of a rush.

New Year's Day.

Only on this day, the villagers, who usually don't come out in the cold, also got up before the sun rose.

The villagers then gather in the square and set the fire and wait for the sunrise.

A few hours later, at the same time as the sun rose, they all joined hands and wished for a healthy year.

When that's over, we'll have cake next.

Prepare the mortar and pestle, prepare the rice down and steam, then follow until the rice grains are out of shape.

Due to the number of people on the boulder, several mortars and pestles were required.

When rice cakes began, a few moments later, two villagers arrived in the village.

After exchanging greetings for the New Year, they handed their souvenirs to Shizuko.

They caught three big pigs a few days ago. He said he was really lucky, and he brought some of it.

After thinking about how to cook, I decided to make a pot.

But since pots have been considered the most basic cookware and sacred at the same time since ancient times, other things like dirty pots with straight chopsticks.

But eating around the same thing was also a way to strengthen the sense of union, as there was also the saying, "Eat the same kettle of rice".

In the end, the dish surrounding the "enclosure" rather than the "pot" was deluded. I decided to prepare chopsticks just in case.

Apart from pork dishes, Shizuko prepared a juicy dish, the so-called braised dish, mainly of cakes commonly eaten on New Year's Eve.

The term Mixed Stew first appears in The Suzuka Family Journal, written during the Muromachi period.

Until the Edo period, however, rice was expensive and at the same time taxed, so the common people ate potatoes instead of rice cakes.

In the martial arts society, it is the first good food to eat at a feast. As much as they said the feast wouldn't start without eating the broth, the broth was behaved first.

However, in areas where fixed and baked fields were carried out on crops other than rice, there is a custom that it is forbidden to serve or eat cakes to the Divine Buddha on the third day of New Year's Eve.

This was because rice was considered unworthy of the food offered to the Divine Buddha because it was an outpatient food that was not produced in our own land.

I have one delightful story to tell about the broth.

During the Muromachi period, it was a lesson to end up in the juice served as an appetizer for this dish, and to add cakes, yams, potatoes, soybeans and other things that were considered good for the body. Some regions include seafood and the like.

When that entered the Edo period and the rice cakes became readily available, the custom spread that New Year's Eve was celebrated with braised meat all over the country (except Hokkaido and Okinawa).

At that time, the term "simmer anything in clutter" was interpreted so that it could be used even for ingredients other than those that are good for the body, as in the original simmer.

Today (Konnochi), there is a theory that it may have come from this misconception that braised dishes taste different from region to region.

All gathered in the village's public and private buildings after the rice cakes and the like were finished.

"Happy New Year, Cohon"

Shizuko speaks the words of blessing when the year begins to welcome God.

"Happy New Year"

The villagers also imitate Shizuko and utter the words of blessing.

By exchanging words of gratitude to God among people, this makes sense to rejoice in having a sincere year-old God.

"Er, I would like to say how pleased I am that we have successfully celebrated the New Year this year. There's a lot going on, but start drinking and eating today to nourish your New Year's English! Okay, I'll take it!

"I'll have it!

The feast of New Year's celebration began the moment the good villagers of 10% and Nori said that out loud.

The villagers pound their tongues on dishes they can't usually eat, such as a broiled blubber pan.

Shizuko had an unusual conversation with the two works, their families and generations while watching it in the upper seat, but there were visitors around the middle of the banquet.

He didn't come directly into the ballroom because it was Cai who made the next exchange, but apparently he was talking to the early horse from Nobunaga.

Shizuko, who thought it was bad to keep him waiting, took his seat early. As I went out into the hallway, I shook myself into the cold outside.

"Uh-huh... oh, yeah. People with early horses will be cold, too, and have tea ready."

"When I say tea... is that the one that dried the mulberry leaves?

After washing the mulberry leaves with water, steam gently. Then squeeze the steamed leaves and finely chop them to about three millimeters, then dry until completely dry in the sun.

Mulberry Leaf Tea, which can only be done with it, is a healthy tea with a variety of benefits.

"Oh, that. Put it in a large bowl with warm water and a small bowl with hot water."

"Is it two? That's..."

"Ma, Ma, now do as you're told. I'll explain why later."

I was surprised by the colour, but it explains why later, so I decided to follow it honestly now.

After seeing it through, Shizuko headed to where the early horse person was.

When I went out through the entrance, the cold became even colder. It will be tough to be out there for a long time.

"Dear Shizuko, right? I'll give you your orders."

An armored martial artist standing right next to me with a horse called out to Shizuko to notice or deny it.

Quit the cold. Are you patient, that body was trembling in small pieces.

"Tomorrow, the Hall will have a solace banquet. In that seat, Shizuko will join us."

"Yes."

"At that time, bring a bow that will creep."

"Oh, yes...... (Did I show you the crossbow?

I had some doubts, Shizuko, but I immediately took it off my consciousness, wondering if I had shown it somewhere.

Then after telling the early horse person to join him, Shizuko said to him:

"You'll think you'll freeze in this cold. We have prepared warm tea for you to enjoy."

"Oh, no...... sorry"

Cut it out. Is the cold staining on you even if you put up with it, or the early horse man bowed his head small.

Shizuko tried to lead him to the front door, but before that, Cai came out with tea.

As I was told, I brought tea made of warm water into a bowl-like container and tea hot enough to produce hot air into a small container.

"Let's moisten our throats first. Drink this large bowl of tea."

"What? Ha..."

Even with a face that doesn't fall to his heart somewhere, the early horse drinks tea from a large vessel, as he was told.

He drank a little bit at first, too, to stir it up, the moment he found it easy to drink with warm water.

I was vaguely wondering if I had the strength to ride a horse, Shizuko.

"Now drink this hot cup of tea"

"No wonder... Achichi..."

Now the hotter the air, the hotter the tea from the looks of it.

But it was a good source of heat to warm the hands of the early horses, whose hands were shuddering in the cold.

(Mitsunami Ishida tea is said to be an Edo-era creation, but it's excellent as a hospitality attention)

I thought I couldn't afford three drinks on the boulder, so I made it two, but still appreciated it for the early horse guy.

Because a glass of white water smudges your bones how grateful you are while you freeze in the cold.

When the impressed early horse man corrected his posture, he bowed his head deeply toward Shizuko.

"It was a treat. Thank you Shizuko for your care."

"Oh, no."

"Now if you'll excuse me"

After he bowed his head again, the early horse man quickly ran across the horse and away.

The New Year's Day banquet was very exciting, and the banquet continued until the sun set critical.

Both the men of Shizuko's village and the men of the two villages were drunk, so the villagers of the two works were to stay in Shizuko's village in a disintegrating way.

Most people slept in the banquet hall because many people were drunk that day, regardless of gender.

Shizuko, on the other hand, bathed in the morning to purify herself and make sure she looked as beautiful as she could.

When it comes to banquets of comfort, they seem to have a rough vibe, but banquets in martial arts society are categorized as fairly rugged.

To be clear, you may consider it close to a social party. If you keep your manners, you'll crush the faces of those who throw the banquet.

And all this time, I needed to dress as a warlord, or a man, not as a warrior woman.

(Samui... I want to pull into the room behind the furnace...)

Shizuko arrives at Komakiyama-jo, where Nobunaga is located, shaking in the cold but nothing is happening on the road.

There was nothing like dressing in the castle because I had changed in advance this time.

But I didn't immediately travel to the banquet hall. It was necessary to say hello to Nobunaga for the New Year because it is a martial family society with strict upward and downward relations.

But Shizuko is not the only one who greets him. Warlords serving Nobunaga directly, as well as the samurai serving his warlords, also planned to give Nobunaga a New Year's greeting.

As a result, a long line of snakes was formed between the sights.

(... it might be interesting to even hold a sign that the tail is here)

Before the event, Shizuko was in line, thinking carelessly.

As soon as I lined up, one of the samurai who was in front of me noticed the sound looked back and gave me a startled look.

Shizuko, who thought it was at first, but soon understood what he was surprised by.

It is a height difference. The samurai's height is only around Shizuko's chest, and no matter how you look at it, it's only about the first half of a hundred and fifty.

Still a taller one, a closer look at the front revealed a samurai even less tall.

(Well... it was about a hundred and forty centimeters on average at the time)

Once again, I understood that I was big, but there was no way I could lose height where I understood.

In the end, Shizuko continued to be seen like a spectacle hut animal by the samurai until he entered during the sight.

And after dozens of line-ups, my turn finally came.

Having said that, I did not choose unusual words or anything else, but made it a difficult greeting similar to the previous one.

When you're done saying hello, move to the ballroom.

Whether a seat is reserved in advance, or someone like a servant will guide her to the place.

But when I sat down for a while, Shizuko realized that she was the only one who was guided.

Others seem to know their place from the start.

(Hmmm... this seat... I have a bad feeling about it...)

Her unpleasant hunch will be centered long enough later.

Shizuko was feeling something cold in her spine.

She regretted that she should have noticed from the beginning that her seat was strangely close to Nobunaga's seat.

Just move your eyes. Shizuko looks around. Next to him sat Kasei Mori, the bravest of Nobunaga Oda's ministers and known as the "Three Lefts of Attack".

Looking at the other side, what was sitting there is Takigawa Ichigo, later responsible for the corner of Shiteno Oda, sitting looking somewhere difficult.

A short distance away is Katsuya Shibata, who is now treated like an misadventure, but is later one of the four kings of Oda and will be said to be one of the best fierce generals of the Oda family.

And fairly close to Nobunaga, he became Nobunaga's relative for two generations, and was seated by Tanyu Nagaxiu, one of Oda's four kings, Oda's five generals, and a fierce general alongside Shibata's Katsuya.

Akechi Mitsui, who later joins Shiteno Oda, is not currently present because he is said to have become a minister of the Oda family between 11 (1568) and 12 (1569) years of Yonglu.

Yoshiro Kishita, who later became Hideyoshi Toyotomi, was also still close to Nobunaga's seat.

In other words, there are such members sitting around Shizuko.

(My stomach... I want stomach pills... ugh!

I thought the warlords' brewing intimidation was going to make a hole in my stomach, Shizuko, but I couldn't even tell him to change his seat now, and I just had to bear it in silence.

To tell you the truth, she doesn't like these seats, and even if she does, she's a pie who spends time discreetly in the corner.

What's more, I don't want to go out on a cold day. I have a nite temper.

(Ugh... I wonder if I'll finish early today)

Behind her wishes like that, then a few dozen minutes later, the banquet didn't even begin.