Nobunaga changed his main castle to Gifu castle. However, due to the renovation of Gifu Castle, the audience with Shizuko this time would be held at Komakiyama Castle. During the audience, he was in a good mood from the beginning to the end. The number of rice bales brought in as tax was much higher than expected. So much in fact, that it couldn’t even fit into the warehouses, which necessitated another expansion, but he was still in a good mood. There was a reason for that.
“I heard you brought something to prove the value of cotton.”
And that was because Shizuko had reported that she would bring something that allowed him to experience the value of cotton first-hand. Nobunaga couldn’t control his curiosity, wondering what she will bring to him and how it will let him show the value of cotton.
“Yes sir. Also, I brought a material that could be used in construction. Since the cotton demonstration will take some time, I’ll show you the material first.”
After saying that, Shizuko clapped lightly. The sliding door opened quietly, and Saizou and Keiji entered while carrying a tray.
“Oohh…”
Some of the vassals let out a voice of admiration when they saw what was on the tray. Soon, the tray was placed in front of Nobunaga, and now Keiji and Saizo also bowed down behind Shizuko.
“This is concrete, a building material used in Namban.”
“…Hm, this is quite a smooth surface. I would like to praise its craftsmanship, but it won’t mean anything if you only have one.”
“My lord, haste makes waste. Certainly, I only brought one block of concrete, but it’s because there’s a secret to it.”
As she told that to Nobunaga, he put his hand on his chin and looked at the concrete block. This was a signal from Nobunaga that meant ‘let me think’. He enjoyed looking at the unknown and finding the answer to that question.
(The smoothness of its surface is wonderful. It’s like it has been carved by an excellent blade. Its hardness…Hoo, it’s quite good. If it’s thick enough, it might even block matchlock bullets.)
Nobunaga carefully inspected the concrete block by touching its surface, trying to lift it, and tapping it to check its hardness.
“Haha, so this is what its secret is. It’s quite obscure, but now I understand, Shizuko. This thing wasn’t made naturally. It’s a stone made by human hands!”
‘That is correct, my lord. You really have a keen insight.”
As she said that, Shizuko prostrated before him. However, Nobunaga replied to her with a big, hearty laugh.
“That’s fine. It’s fun to think about the things you make. Now, Shizuko, what’s the material you used to make this? Don’t tell me you’re using valuable items to make this.”
“The raw materials used are gravel, sand, water, air, and a mixture called cement; consisting of limestone, clay, gypsum, and a small amount of iron. Mix them in a certain ratio, process it according to the procedure, and then let it dry for around 30 days to complete it. There are various types of concrete, and although its properties vary depending on the composition, they generally have high durability.“
“What did you say!? You can make it just with that!?
Nobunaga unintentionally raised his voice in astonishment. All those materials were cheap and easy to get, one doesn’t have to worry when procuring them. And for that exact reason, even though it wouldn’t have been strange for anyone to figure it out, nobody had done so before.
“Yes. I have summarized the production method here.”
“…As expected from you. You have prepared it to this extent.”
Nobunaga received the document that describes how to make concrete and lowered his gaze to it. After reading its content, he threw it to the page who was standing by.
“Take it to Okabe. He should be able to make full use of it.”
The page who received the thrown document was flustered and tried to await further instruction, but he hurriedly left because Nobunaga glared at him.
“Now, I will present you with something that would help you understand the value of cotton.”
Keiji and Saizou moved the concrete block in front of Nobunaga back. But soon, they carried another thing together and slowly placed it in front of Nobunaga. Just like the concrete block, after placing them, they stayed behind Shizuko.
“Hoo.”
At a glance, it looks like a thick cloth. But it didn’t look like just plain cloth piled on together. It was like something soft was stuffed inside.
“This is what I have prepared today for you to realize the value of cotton… a futon.”
A futon is a type of bedding widely used in Japan. It keeps your body warm when going to bed, and it prevents the concentration of your body weight on one point so that your body doesn’t get sore as a result. However, it was not until the Meiji era that futons and quilts were used. Until then, the common people and Sengoku warlords slept in the clothes they wore in the daytime and used “sleeping mats” made from straw or rush. That was because “padding” such as cotton was a luxury item that could only be obtained by trading with Ming.
“My lord, please excuse my discourtesy. Would you please change into nightwear so that you can fully experience the comfort of cotton?”
“Hmm…so you’re telling me to expose my nightwear here? interesting.”
Despite Nobunaga’s angry tone, his face shows that he was enjoying this. He then briefly left the audience. After a while, he came back wearing his nightwear.
“Feel free to try it.”
When Shizuko urged him, Nobunaga grinned and lay down on the mattress. After confirming that he had put his head on the pillow which was also stuffed with cotton, she lifted the quilt for a moment. It was to show Nobunaga and his vassals that it wasn’t concealing anything dangerous. After that, Shizuko slowly lowered the quilt starting from Nobunaga’s feet. After she finished, she stepped back three steps.
A sensation that was really different from sleeping on the hard floor engulfed Nobunaga. As a soothing warmth slowly spread around him, he unknowingly closed his eyes. But soon he got up and flung the quilt away with it. His face was full of sweat and his shoulders were shaken from his breath; the vassals were surprised and were about to stand up. Ignoring them, Nobunaga covered his face with one hand and said,
“Shizuko, this is so comfortable that it’s dangerous. I was about to give in and surrender myself to the futon.”
It was something trivial. Nobunaga nearly fell asleep due to the magical power of the futon. It was cool autumn weather today, so it was unavoidable that Nobunaga felt drowsy. After changing his nightwear back to formal wear, the audience resumed. He puts his hand on his chin and looks at the mattress again.
“Hmmm…I definitely enjoyed the comfort of cotton.”
But he soon said that while smiling.
After reporting the expected production of soybeans and brown sugar, Shizuko received a reward from Nobunaga. It was a reward because her silk has been flying off the shelves. Unbeknownst to Shizuko, Owari silk thread bearing the Oda seal is now a hot topic in Kyo and Sakai. Although it was not comparable to the finest silk thread made by first-class craftsmen, the Oda-branded silk thread has unique characteristics. And it was its uniform quality. Making silk thread requires many stages, and since most of those stages require human hands, the quality would inevitably be inconsistent. On a scale of ten, ordinary silk thread consists of grade nine and ten threads but with some grade one and two threads mixed in. However, because of its uniformity, Oda-branded silk thread only consists of grade five and six silk threads. That was why merchants bought it up and sold it at a high price.
As for the person, Shizuko herself, even if she received a monetary prize, she was troubled on how to spend it. She was given a fair amount of money, but unfortunately, she wasn’t the consumer; she was the producer. She thought about using it to buy some farming tools, but it was not like all villages had tools that needed to be repaired in abundance.
“That’s why, I will give you a bonus.”
Thinking that any unspent money is a waste, she set aside a necessary amount for emergency funds and distributed the rest to Keiji, Saizo, Aya, and Nagayoshi. Since Nagayoshi was still a trainee and was yet to serve Shizuko, he got a little less than the other three. Still, it was a good amount.
“Hoo, how generous of you, Shizucchi.”
“We are extremely grateful for such consideration.”
Keiji thanked her casually, while Saizou thanked her formally
“Well, at least I’ll give you my thanks.”
“I don’t know what a ‘Bonus’ is, but if you receive gift money, shouldn’t you use it instead?”
And there was a very natural rebuttal from Aya. However, even though she still had a lot of assets for a farmer, Shizuko barely touched it. It was obvious that any more money added would just be wasted.
“Haha. Certainly, it cost me quite a bit for the materials when I was making firebricks, but still, I didn’t even use half of that. That’s why it’s obvious that I won’t be able to spend it all by myself.”
“Well… if Shizuko-sama is fine with it…”
“Rather than that, I’m more concerned about the harvest of the soybeans and sugarcane. The soybeans are showing signs of a good harvest this year, so I think we can get more than last year. I wonder if we should prepare a lot of baskets starting now?”
Instead of money, she was more concerned about the fields. Rather than being selfless, Aya thought that it was more apt to say she had a different desire than the world in general.
“Understood. I will prepare the baskets just in case.”
Aya bowed to Shizuko, who was looking forward to harvesting soybeans.
Several months passed without any major incidents, early December rolled around, and it was finally time to harvest the soybeans. As drying them would take a lot of space, and as working in one place would be more efficient than doing it in every village separately, they pulled out the plants by the root and brought them to Shizuko’s village. With the roots pointing downwards, the soybeans were dried on T-shaped bamboo racks.
After drying, the soybeans are threshed, after which husks, bugs, and the beans they damaged were separated from the good soybeans. As this work needed raw manpower, many people came together on this day to thrash and sort the beans. After this work was completed, they lined up the tubs/buckets and calculated the harvest yield for each village.
The farming areas of Asamachi, Misomachi, Mitsumachi, Takemachi, Motomachi were 20ha, 20ha, 20ha, 20ha, and 50ha respectively. They produced harvests of 18 tons, 19.5 tons, 16 tons, 17.2 tons, and 52 tons for a total of 122.7 tons. The area for sugar cane was 5ha in each village, but in return, they tried to cram in as many plants as possible to increase their yield.
It was simply cheaper to increase the number of sugarcane plants than waiting for fewer plants to grow larger. So they grew the sugarcane with 80-100 cm between plants instead of the usual 140cm. As a result, they managed to harvest a little more than with the standard approach. On the scale of a single field, it didn’t make much of a difference, but if they increased production from now on, the effects would become visible soon.
Finding the optimal spacing between plants would be one of Shizuko’s next tasks. Since it was only their first time harvesting the sugarcane, the villages had a yield of around 60 to 70 tons per ha. From the total mass of harvested sugarcane, roughly 40% would become sugar. In reality, it dropped a little to 400 tons or around 30% of sugar yield.
However, this still was an exceptional harvest. Without doing anything himself, Nobunaga had gained 60 tons of soybeans, as well as 200 tons of brown sugar. Furthermore, he cheaply bought even more soybeans and brown sugar from Shizuko and the villagers. While the amount they sold was uncertain as it was dictated by how much money they wanted, but unlike others, they traded in kilograms.
Transporting that much was a challenge, but storing it was even more difficult. But, as a result of the past issues with rice, Shizuko had requested wooden silos to be built in Nobunaga’s castles in Owari and Mino. Therefore, even though the transportation took a long time, there was no need to worry about storage.
With that, the tax payments of rice, soybeans, and sugar had been finished. Shizuko thought that she could enjoy her free time until next spring, but things wouldn’t be that easy.
“I heard that you finished something called a stone oven“
Roughly a week after Shizuko had made her payments of soybeans and brown sugar to Nobunaga, Nouhime suddenly paid her village a visit.
“Y-Yes….I did build one. Why are you asking….?”
Furthermore, she hadn’t come alone. Besides her companion, another nobleman had joined her.
“Are you the Shizuko-dono which Nouhime-sama has spoken of?”
“Your age seems close to ours.”
Two women had come along with Nouhime, both looking to be around age 20, and they seemed to be on good terms with each other.
Judging from the fact that they were acting together with Nouhime, Shizuko surmised that they probably were the legal wives of one of Nobunaga’s aides or retainers.
“Ahh, right, this is the first time you have met. This here is Kinoshita-dono’s legal wife O-Ne, and this is Maeda-dono’s legal wife Matsu. Ah, not the Maeda who is in your care, Shizuko.”
“I-I see… I’m pleased to meet you.”
While deeply bowing her head, Shizuko understood. Why she had felt that the two of them were very close with each other. It made sense if they were O-Ne and Matsu. After all, their houses were next to each other during the Azuchi era, they were close in age, so they were on better terms than most other wives of military commanders.
“Ahh, so this is the stone oven.”
After Shizo led the three of them to the stone oven, Nouhime raised her voice in a child-like manner. Thankfully, even she didn’t go as far as touching a hot oven all over. But just in case, Shizuko prepared herself to do her best to stop them before they could.
“Now say, Shizuko. What manner of delicious food can you cook with this?”
“Huh, ahh… well, there’s quite a lot. Right now, I’m making steamed chicken…”
At the word chicken, O-Ne and Matsu reacted. The common sense of the Sengoku period dictated that meat from chicken, cow, horse, and the like are taboo.
Disregarding the commoners, the daughters of military or noble families usually received education in temples from an early age. For this reason, many military commanders still avoid eating chicken.
“Nouhime-sama, chicken is forbidden meat. Why would one eat such a….”
“Hohoho, what are you saying, Matsu. What difference is there between the wild birds you have eaten so far and a chicken?”
A chuckling Nouhime argued against Matsu’s complaint. Yet contrary to the light atmosphere of the conversation, her words had a strong meaning.
“On top of that, the monks who should serve the Buddhas do not follow their teachings by bearing weapons and drowning themselves in wine and women. In light of this, don’t you think it is unreasonable for us to restrict ourselves?”
“T-That is…”
“The things those in high positions forbid are only the delicious things. In short, since it would make their share shrink, they are saying that lowly masses shouldn’t eat them. I have no need to hear the dribble of such imbeciles.”
Shizuko was honestly impressed; as expected of Nobunaga’s legal wife. Maybe it was exactly because she had a way of understanding things and ethics that didn’t fit for a person in the Sengoku period that she was able to become Nobunaga’s legal wife. Or so Shizuko thought.
“Go on then Shizuko. Hurry up and prepare something that will entertain my tongue.”
It goes without saying that after O-Ne and Matsu had taken a liking to the finished chicken dish, even Shizuko’s portion had been eaten by them.
Nobunaga changed his main castle to Gifu castle. However, due to the renovation of Gifu Castle, the audience with Shizuko this time would be held at Komakiyama Castle. During the audience, he was in a good mood from the beginning to the end. The number of rice bales brought in as tax was much higher than expected. So much in fact, that it couldn’t even fit into the warehouses, which necessitated another expansion, but he was still in a good mood. There was a reason for that.
“I heard you brought something to prove the value of cotton.”
And that was because Shizuko had reported that she would bring something that allowed him to experience the value of cotton first-hand. Nobunaga couldn’t control his curiosity, wondering what she will bring to him and how it will let him show the value of cotton.
“Yes sir. Also, I brought a material that could be used in construction. Since the cotton demonstration will take some time, I’ll show you the material first.”
After saying that, Shizuko clapped lightly. The sliding door opened quietly, and Saizou and Keiji entered while carrying a tray.
“Oohh…”
Some of the vassals let out a voice of admiration when they saw what was on the tray. Soon, the tray was placed in front of Nobunaga, and now Keiji and Saizo also bowed down behind Shizuko.
“This is concrete, a building material used in Namban.”
“…Hm, this is quite a smooth surface. I would like to praise its craftsmanship, but it won’t mean anything if you only have one.”
“My lord, haste makes waste. Certainly, I only brought one block of concrete, but it’s because there’s a secret to it.”
As she told that to Nobunaga, he put his hand on his chin and looked at the concrete block. This was a signal from Nobunaga that meant ‘let me think’. He enjoyed looking at the unknown and finding the answer to that question.
(The smoothness of its surface is wonderful. It’s like it has been carved by an excellent blade. Its hardness…Hoo, it’s quite good. If it’s thick enough, it might even block matchlock bullets.)
Nobunaga carefully inspected the concrete block by touching its surface, trying to lift it, and tapping it to check its hardness.
“Haha, so this is what its secret is. It’s quite obscure, but now I understand, Shizuko. This thing wasn’t made naturally. It’s a stone made by human hands!”
‘That is correct, my lord. You really have a keen insight.”
As she said that, Shizuko prostrated before him. However, Nobunaga replied to her with a big, hearty laugh.
“That’s fine. It’s fun to think about the things you make. Now, Shizuko, what’s the material you used to make this? Don’t tell me you’re using valuable items to make this.”
“The raw materials used are gravel, sand, water, air, and a mixture called cement; consisting of limestone, clay, gypsum, and a small amount of iron. Mix them in a certain ratio, process it according to the procedure, and then let it dry for around 30 days to complete it. There are various types of concrete, and although its properties vary depending on the composition, they generally have high durability.“
“What did you say!? You can make it just with that!?
Nobunaga unintentionally raised his voice in astonishment. All those materials were cheap and easy to get, one doesn’t have to worry when procuring them. And for that exact reason, even though it wouldn’t have been strange for anyone to figure it out, nobody had done so before.
“Yes. I have summarized the production method here.”
“…As expected from you. You have prepared it to this extent.”
Nobunaga received the document that describes how to make concrete and lowered his gaze to it. After reading its content, he threw it to the page who was standing by.
“Take it to Okabe. He should be able to make full use of it.”
The page who received the thrown document was flustered and tried to await further instruction, but he hurriedly left because Nobunaga glared at him.
“Now, I will present you with something that would help you understand the value of cotton.”
Keiji and Saizou moved the concrete block in front of Nobunaga back. But soon, they carried another thing together and slowly placed it in front of Nobunaga. Just like the concrete block, after placing them, they stayed behind Shizuko.
“Hoo.”
At a glance, it looks like a thick cloth. But it didn’t look like just plain cloth piled on together. It was like something soft was stuffed inside.
“This is what I have prepared today for you to realize the value of cotton… a futon.”
A futon is a type of bedding widely used in Japan. It keeps your body warm when going to bed, and it prevents the concentration of your body weight on one point so that your body doesn’t get sore as a result. However, it was not until the Meiji era that futons and quilts were used. Until then, the common people and Sengoku warlords slept in the clothes they wore in the daytime and used “sleeping mats” made from straw or rush. That was because “padding” such as cotton was a luxury item that could only be obtained by trading with Ming.
“My lord, please excuse my discourtesy. Would you please change into nightwear so that you can fully experience the comfort of cotton?”
“Hmm…so you’re telling me to expose my nightwear here? interesting.”
Despite Nobunaga’s angry tone, his face shows that he was enjoying this. He then briefly left the audience. After a while, he came back wearing his nightwear.
“Feel free to try it.”
When Shizuko urged him, Nobunaga grinned and lay down on the mattress. After confirming that he had put his head on the pillow which was also stuffed with cotton, she lifted the quilt for a moment. It was to show Nobunaga and his vassals that it wasn’t concealing anything dangerous. After that, Shizuko slowly lowered the quilt starting from Nobunaga’s feet. After she finished, she stepped back three steps.
A sensation that was really different from sleeping on the hard floor engulfed Nobunaga. As a soothing warmth slowly spread around him, he unknowingly closed his eyes. But soon he got up and flung the quilt away with it. His face was full of sweat and his shoulders were shaken from his breath; the vassals were surprised and were about to stand up. Ignoring them, Nobunaga covered his face with one hand and said,
“Shizuko, this is so comfortable that it’s dangerous. I was about to give in and surrender myself to the futon.”
It was something trivial. Nobunaga nearly fell asleep due to the magical power of the futon. It was cool autumn weather today, so it was unavoidable that Nobunaga felt drowsy. After changing his nightwear back to formal wear, the audience resumed. He puts his hand on his chin and looks at the mattress again.
“Hmmm…I definitely enjoyed the comfort of cotton.”
But he soon said that while smiling.
After reporting the expected production of soybeans and brown sugar, Shizuko received a reward from Nobunaga. It was a reward because her silk has been flying off the shelves. Unbeknownst to Shizuko, Owari silk thread bearing the Oda seal is now a hot topic in Kyo and Sakai. Although it was not comparable to the finest silk thread made by first-class craftsmen, the Oda-branded silk thread has unique characteristics. And it was its uniform quality. Making silk thread requires many stages, and since most of those stages require human hands, the quality would inevitably be inconsistent. On a scale of ten, ordinary silk thread consists of grade nine and ten threads but with some grade one and two threads mixed in. However, because of its uniformity, Oda-branded silk thread only consists of grade five and six silk threads. That was why merchants bought it up and sold it at a high price.
As for the person, Shizuko herself, even if she received a monetary prize, she was troubled on how to spend it. She was given a fair amount of money, but unfortunately, she wasn’t the consumer; she was the producer. She thought about using it to buy some farming tools, but it was not like all villages had tools that needed to be repaired in abundance.
“That’s why, I will give you a bonus.”
Thinking that any unspent money is a waste, she set aside a necessary amount for emergency funds and distributed the rest to Keiji, Saizo, Aya, and Nagayoshi. Since Nagayoshi was still a trainee and was yet to serve Shizuko, he got a little less than the other three. Still, it was a good amount.
“Hoo, how generous of you, Shizucchi.”
“We are extremely grateful for such consideration.”
Keiji thanked her casually, while Saizou thanked her formally
“Well, at least I’ll give you my thanks.”
“I don’t know what a ‘Bonus’ is, but if you receive gift money, shouldn’t you use it instead?”
And there was a very natural rebuttal from Aya. However, even though she still had a lot of assets for a farmer, Shizuko barely touched it. It was obvious that any more money added would just be wasted.
“Haha. Certainly, it cost me quite a bit for the materials when I was making firebricks, but still, I didn’t even use half of that. That’s why it’s obvious that I won’t be able to spend it all by myself.”
“Well… if Shizuko-sama is fine with it…”
“Rather than that, I’m more concerned about the harvest of the soybeans and sugarcane. The soybeans are showing signs of a good harvest this year, so I think we can get more than last year. I wonder if we should prepare a lot of baskets starting now?”
Instead of money, she was more concerned about the fields. Rather than being selfless, Aya thought that it was more apt to say she had a different desire than the world in general.
“Understood. I will prepare the baskets just in case.”
Aya bowed to Shizuko, who was looking forward to harvesting soybeans.
Several months passed without any major incidents, early December rolled around, and it was finally time to harvest the soybeans. As drying them would take a lot of space, and as working in one place would be more efficient than doing it in every village separately, they pulled out the plants by the root and brought them to Shizuko’s village. With the roots pointing downwards, the soybeans were dried on T-shaped bamboo racks.
After drying, the soybeans are threshed, after which husks, bugs, and the beans they damaged were separated from the good soybeans. As this work needed raw manpower, many people came together on this day to thrash and sort the beans. After this work was completed, they lined up the tubs/buckets and calculated the harvest yield for each village.
The farming areas of Asamachi, Misomachi, Mitsumachi, Takemachi, Motomachi were 20ha, 20ha, 20ha, 20ha, and 50ha respectively. They produced harvests of 18 tons, 19.5 tons, 16 tons, 17.2 tons, and 52 tons for a total of 122.7 tons. The area for sugar cane was 5ha in each village, but in return, they tried to cram in as many plants as possible to increase their yield.
It was simply cheaper to increase the number of sugarcane plants than waiting for fewer plants to grow larger. So they grew the sugarcane with 80-100 cm between plants instead of the usual 140cm. As a result, they managed to harvest a little more than with the standard approach. On the scale of a single field, it didn’t make much of a difference, but if they increased production from now on, the effects would become visible soon.
Finding the optimal spacing between plants would be one of Shizuko’s next tasks. Since it was only their first time harvesting the sugarcane, the villages had a yield of around 60 to 70 tons per ha. From the total mass of harvested sugarcane, roughly 40% would become sugar. In reality, it dropped a little to 400 tons or around 30% of sugar yield.
However, this still was an exceptional harvest. Without doing anything himself, Nobunaga had gained 60 tons of soybeans, as well as 200 tons of brown sugar. Furthermore, he cheaply bought even more soybeans and brown sugar from Shizuko and the villagers. While the amount they sold was uncertain as it was dictated by how much money they wanted, but unlike others, they traded in kilograms.
Transporting that much was a challenge, but storing it was even more difficult. But, as a result of the past issues with rice, Shizuko had requested wooden silos to be built in Nobunaga’s castles in Owari and Mino. Therefore, even though the transportation took a long time, there was no need to worry about storage.
With that, the tax payments of rice, soybeans, and sugar had been finished. Shizuko thought that she could enjoy her free time until next spring, but things wouldn’t be that easy.
“I heard that you finished something called a stone oven“
Roughly a week after Shizuko had made her payments of soybeans and brown sugar to Nobunaga, Nouhime suddenly paid her village a visit.
“Y-Yes….I did build one. Why are you asking….?”
Furthermore, she hadn’t come alone. Besides her companion, another nobleman had joined her.
“Are you the Shizuko-dono which Nouhime-sama has spoken of?”
“Your age seems close to ours.”
Two women had come along with Nouhime, both looking to be around age 20, and they seemed to be on good terms with each other.
Judging from the fact that they were acting together with Nouhime, Shizuko surmised that they probably were the legal wives of one of Nobunaga’s aides or retainers.
“Ahh, right, this is the first time you have met. This here is Kinoshita-dono’s legal wife O-Ne, and this is Maeda-dono’s legal wife Matsu. Ah, not the Maeda who is in your care, Shizuko.”
“I-I see… I’m pleased to meet you.”
While deeply bowing her head, Shizuko understood. Why she had felt that the two of them were very close with each other. It made sense if they were O-Ne and Matsu. After all, their houses were next to each other during the Azuchi era, they were close in age, so they were on better terms than most other wives of military commanders.
“Ahh, so this is the stone oven.”
After Shizo led the three of them to the stone oven, Nouhime raised her voice in a child-like manner. Thankfully, even she didn’t go as far as touching a hot oven all over. But just in case, Shizuko prepared herself to do her best to stop them before they could.
“Now say, Shizuko. What manner of delicious food can you cook with this?”
“Huh, ahh… well, there’s quite a lot. Right now, I’m making steamed chicken…”
At the word chicken, O-Ne and Matsu reacted. The common sense of the Sengoku period dictated that meat from chicken, cow, horse, and the like are taboo.
Disregarding the commoners, the daughters of military or noble families usually received education in temples from an early age. For this reason, many military commanders still avoid eating chicken.
“Nouhime-sama, chicken is forbidden meat. Why would one eat such a….”
“Hohoho, what are you saying, Matsu. What difference is there between the wild birds you have eaten so far and a chicken?”
A chuckling Nouhime argued against Matsu’s complaint. Yet contrary to the light atmosphere of the conversation, her words had a strong meaning.
“On top of that, the monks who should serve the Buddhas do not follow their teachings by bearing weapons and drowning themselves in wine and women. In light of this, don’t you think it is unreasonable for us to restrict ourselves?”
“T-That is…”
“The things those in high positions forbid are only the delicious things. In short, since it would make their share shrink, they are saying that lowly masses shouldn’t eat them. I have no need to hear the dribble of such imbeciles.”
Shizuko was honestly impressed; as expected of Nobunaga’s legal wife. Maybe it was exactly because she had a way of understanding things and ethics that didn’t fit for a person in the Sengoku period that she was able to become Nobunaga’s legal wife. Or so Shizuko thought.
“Go on then Shizuko. Hurry up and prepare something that will entertain my tongue.”
It goes without saying that after O-Ne and Matsu had taken a liking to the finished chicken dish, even Shizuko’s portion had been eaten by them.
