Chapter 206: Untitled
Okabe Igen and Yuan Ye chatted very happily. Even though Yuan Ye didn’t understand woodworking or architecture, nor could he build ships, he could understand and was willing to listen to discussions about related crafts, which greatly surprised Okabe Igen.
In this era, this was the first time he had met a Local Lord who could discuss construction techniques. To put it more exaggeratedly, in his family’s seven generations of carpentry, they might have only met one oddity like Yuan Ye.
Therefore, he couldn’t help but be happy. He even chatted with great enthusiasm and volunteered to take on a few small jobs at the banquet. In the future, he would help Xin Wanjin design some iconic buildings, so that Xin Wanjin wouldn’t be full of uniform cement houses that looked grand but somewhat dull.
It wasn’t until nearly ten o’clock at night that he was sent back to his lodging by carriage, still tipsy. As soon as he entered the small courtyard where he was staying and was about to fall asleep, he found many things laid out on the tatami. From pots, bowls, ladles, and basins to home furnishings, his main wife was happily sorting them out.
He glanced and asked, “Were these bought today?”
Before coming, he thought Xin Wanjin was a dangerous place and had strictly warned his family not to wander around outside to avoid trouble. However, after more than a day of interaction, he found that Xin Wanjin didn’t seem dangerous, so he didn’t mind. He felt it was fine for his wife and children to go shopping, especially since he had just received an annual salary of one thousand kan. He could afford to spend this money—Maeda Toshiie, a High-Ranking Samurai, only earned four hundred and fifty kan a year, and he earned more than two Maeda Toshiie combined. He would have a very comfortable few years ahead.
“They weren’t bought,” Okabe Igen’s main wife noticed her husband had returned and was a bit drunk. She quickly put down the items to help him and casually said, “These are all gifts from Princess Inu-hime.”
Okabe Igen was slightly surprised: “You went to Lord Yuan Ye’s residence?”
“We all went, and Princess Inu-hime even kept us for dinner,” Okabe Igen’s main wife explained cautiously, fearing he would be angry. “It wouldn’t be right not to go, Princess Inu-hime even sent someone to pick us up.”
“Hmm, go if you want, but try to tell me next time.”
Okabe Igen felt this was likely another way for Yuan Ye to win him over. Moreover, Yuan Ye had been with him all afternoon and evening, so it was fine for his wife and daughter to meet Princess Inu-hime alone—he couldn’t feel resentful towards Yuan Ye anymore. He just needed to remain slightly wary that Yuan Ye might be a super lecher.
Of course, if Yuan Ye were willing to marry her properly, he wouldn’t be opposed to his daughter becoming a concubine.
He said casually, his attention quickly shifting to Princess Inu-hime’s gifts. He carefully examined them and found that the gifts were very practical, mostly household items, but all exquisite. Especially a pair of meiping vases used as indoor decorations, which were particularly outstanding, with unique shapes, bright colors, and warm, lustrous porcelain—very beautiful.
He held the meiping vases in his hands and examined them for a while. He felt that this pair of vases could at least be exchanged for a good horse. He couldn’t help but sigh: “These must be Ming Dynasty treasures, they look extraordinary. They are indeed much better than Seto ware.”
In this era, Japan did not produce genuine porcelain. In 1223 AD, Kato Kagemasa accompanied Dogen to Song Dynasty to seek Buddhism. Upon his return, he attempted to fire porcelain in the Seto city area in northwestern Owari, but did not succeed. Instead, he produced a semi-vitrified glazed pottery that looked good, so he named it “Seto ware.”
It was passed down through generations. By the time Yuan Ye arrived, “Seto ware” had branched out into many schools, such as Ki-Seto, Shino ware, and Oribe ware, but the craftsmanship remained the same, and what was fired could only be considered pottery.
The specific reason is unknown. Perhaps the kiln temperature was not high enough…
Or perhaps they simply liked this style.
If one truly wanted porcelain, they would have to wait until 1804, when Kato Tamakichi, an unknown descendant of Kato Kagemasa, finally succeeded in firing it. It took nearly six hundred years, which can be considered quite inspiring.
Therefore, in the Japanese Warring States period, if you saw genuine porcelain in Owari, it would be like exquisite silk—it must have been smuggled from the Great Ming, which was common knowledge.
“No!” Okabe Igen’s wife, who really liked the pair of meiping vases, had asked Princess Inu-hime about them at the time and immediately said, “This is porcelain produced in Wanjin. Husband, look at the bottom of the vase.”
Okabe Igen turned the vase over and saw that there was indeed an inscription on the bottom, with four Chinese characters fired in glaze: Kōmō Porcelain Workshop.
He was stunned for a moment and couldn’t help but murmur: “It’s really produced in Wanjin… in Kōmōhara? There seems to be a pottery kiln there that fires coarse clay jars. I didn’t expect they could fire such exquisite porcelain. The Kato family must be furious.”
Kōmōhara belongs to Japan’s future Toyota City, the Toyota City that produces cars. However, it is a bit further south than modern Toyota City—modern Toyota City is on the ancient Kōmō River channel, and people will only move there after the Kōmō River is diverted.
At this time, the soil quality in Kōmōhara was poor, being colloidal soil, similar to the conditions in Kōka and Iga. It was not suitable for farming. Therefore, local lords built a pottery kiln here, extracting large amounts of soil to make pottery and sell it.
After Yuan Ye drove out the local lords from the Chita Peninsula, this pottery kiln naturally became his. It coincided with droughts and floods in Chita, and he was using work relief. Thus, he took the opportunity to convert many nearby villagers into kiln workers and began to produce porcelain—making porcelain doesn’t even require charcoal, just burning wood. The glaze is closely related to chemistry, which suited his major. He spent over a month developing the glaze, still produced in his “Elderly Death Squad Workshop.”
In short, Wanjin has gained another pillar product. At least for the labor force in the Kōmōhara area, Yuan Ye has found them jobs. From now on, the people in this area will mainly produce porcelain, with farming as a secondary activity.
Of course, firing porcelain is not that simple. Yuan Ye spent nearly two years and repeatedly experimented before succeeding. Currently, the defect rate is still extremely high, and only two colors are acceptable. Overall, there is still room for improvement.
Okabe Igen was unaware of these details. He marveled at the meiping vases and then looked at other items. He found that the porcelain bowls and plates for daily use, although not as exquisite as the meiping vases, were still quite good. There were even iron pots and iron shovels. Upon closer inspection, the quality of the iron material was also quite high, sufficient for making swords, and considered quite luxurious for making kitchenware.
This was also due to the natural disasters of the past two years, with alternating droughts and floods making farming impossible. Yuan Ye needed to find work for the refugees, so he pulled many people to open iron fields. This led to a significant increase in Wanjin’s wrought iron production over the past two years. Since weapons couldn’t absorb so much, to recoup costs and avoid waste, he had to start selling iron tools and kitchenware at low prices again.
This inexplicably changed the dietary habits of the people of Wanjin. After all, in this era, commoners cooked with clay jars, mainly boiling. Now that iron pots are becoming popular, frying and stir-frying are skills that people with quick minds naturally picked up without Yuan Ye having to say anything. Many small vendors in the Wanjin night market made money by developing their own cooking skills, creating various new snacks, and many became very wealthy.
This can be seen as fulfilling the old saying: as long as the conditions are met and restrictions are lifted, the market will find its own way and create miracles.
Okabe Igen was unaware of these details, but as a master carpenter and an experienced craftsman, he vaguely felt that these were all Wanjin’s foundations and proof of Wanjin’s prosperity. He genuinely felt that Wanjin was very powerful and rich.
With this thought, he went to lie down and pulled a soft, thin cotton quilt over himself. As he was drowsy, he suddenly remembered something and turned to instruct his wife: “That, find out that strange clothing sent by Lord Sanlang… I need to wear it tomorrow.”
When in Rome, do as the Romans do. Since he was in Wanjin, perhaps he should try to integrate into the local culture and wear the local tops with buttons and very narrow trousers, even though the clothes looked strange and were not very comfortable. But Wanjin was so powerful, perhaps the clothes also had some hidden wonders, and he wanted to try them.
Okabe Igen’s wife responded, but immediately asked, “Are we changing too?”
She was a little inclined to change. Today, she saw Princess Inu-hime wearing a dress with a large, beautiful skirt, and she also wanted to try it. Okabe Igen hesitated for a moment and casually said, “You can do as you please!”
He had also seen it when he went out today. He felt that many Wanjin women’s clothes were also strange, but it was only the style that was strange; they were still very modestly covered. If his wife and daughter only wore them in Wanjin, it seemed to be fine.
Okabe Igen’s wife’s heart leaped with joy, and her courage grew. She continued to press: “Princess Inu-hime also said she would invite us to the grand theater to watch a play when she has time, so should we…”
“Go, go!”
Okabe Igen’s wife was even happier and pushed her luck: “Princess Inu-hime also said today that Wanjin has schools and all children should go to school. She also suggested we send Heianmaru and Aju to study. What do you think…”
“Schools?” Okabe Igen was stunned for a moment, then sat up and asked with concern, “Are they Terakoya? The Yuan Ye Family’s ancestral temple? Would they be willing to accept Heianmaru to study there? How much would it cost?”
Given his status and position, he was not qualified to send his children for formal apprenticeship. He had always wanted to obtain Samurai status, largely for his children’s sake, much like many parents in later generations—they would do their utmost to get household registration in Kitajin just to make it easier for their children to get into university.
“It doesn’t seem to be a Terakoya,” Okabe Igen’s wife was not very clear. Princess Inu-hime had just mentioned it in passing. She hesitated for a moment: “It doesn’t seem to cost money. I heard that children under twelve years old study for free, and Lord Yuan Ye even provides a meal.”
Okabe Igen was shocked: “Is there such a thing?”
“Princess Inu-hime probably wouldn’t lie. Perhaps Lord Yuan Ye is a good person…”
“Lying is indeed impossible. That place might be where the children of Wanjin Samurai study,” Okabe Igen became interested and lay down to ponder. “I’ll find an opportunity to ask about it later. If you can see Princess Inu-hime again, try to gauge her intentions. If Heianmaru can study there, it would be worth spending some money.”
“And Aju.”
“We’ll talk about Aju later. It’s enough for you to teach her.”
Okabe Igen’s wife fell silent. Okabe Igen’s drunkenness surged, and he slowly fell asleep, his dreams filled with Yuan Ye’s “Great Daikoku Iron Ship.”
Now, if he couldn’t satisfy Yuan Ye, he felt he deserved to be cut down by Yuan Ye’s sword.
