Chapter 36: It’s easy to say when you’re not the one getting beaten, right?
Japanese monks were brazenly plagiarizing China’s advanced industrial production techniques. They returned to their country, built workshops in their temples, and desperately raked in money, yet refused to acknowledge the source of their technology. They were secretive, attributing everything to Buddha, as if Buddha had bestowed it upon them. This greatly displeased Yuan Ye—copying was one thing, but not even giving “citation” and claiming it was Buddha’s grace. Anyone would be unhappy about that.
However, he was powerless for the moment. He couldn’t defeat the over a thousand people at Aragiko Kannon Temple by himself. He could only suppress his displeasure for now and deal with it later. But the book in front of him was quite interesting, and he wanted to take it back to examine carefully.
The young monk Chijō was only eight or nine years old. He didn’t understand the cost of daily necessities and didn’t treat the precious books with much importance. He readily agreed, “Of course, you can, devotee. Take it back and read it!”
The fat monk Faxing immediately became anxious upon hearing this and quickly said, “Junior Uncle-Master, my Master said books cannot be lent out, this…”
This book belonged to his Master. If Yuan Ye borrowed it and didn’t return it, it would surely be blamed on him. His Master would not let him off easily, and at the very least, he would have several months’ salary deducted. In this era, books in Japan were very expensive, priced by the string, and often difficult to obtain.
Especially technical books like this were even harder to come by. There were plenty of Buddhist scriptures and Confucian classics, so lending a few to Yuan Ye to read wouldn’t be an issue.
“Hmm, Second Senior Brother…” Mentioning Faxing’s Master, Chijō hesitated slightly. But he had already promised Yuan Ye. After thinking for a moment, he said, “Just say you lost it! He’ll only hit you a few times at most, he won’t do anything to you! He won’t be angry once the book is returned.”
Faxing’s chubby face instantly contorted. “Are you even speaking human words? As if it’s not you who will be beaten, you little brat?”
Even in Japan, being a monk involved strict hierarchy. Chijō, as the most beloved junior disciple of the old ancestor Hishin, had a considerable background himself. Faxing had no leverage over him and could only watch them leave with a look of despair.
He had kindly explained the origin of the craftsmanship to Yuan Ye, but not only did he gain no benefit, he might even get beaten!
If he had known earlier, he would have kicked Yuan Ye into the kiln just now. Shameless!
…
“Does the devotee like reading?” Chijō paid no mind to the fat monk Faxing and was more concerned with his task of entertaining Yuan Ye, the guest. He actively suggested, “Shall I take you to see the Zenshōdō?”
“Oh, Zenshōdō? Is that where the temple stores books?” Yuan Ye was about to leave but became interested again.
“Yes!”
“Then let’s go quickly!”
The group turned another corner, led by the young monk Chijō, heading towards the southeast corner of Aragiko Kannon Temple. After walking for about fifteen minutes through winding paths, they arrived in front of a Buddhist hall with attached rooms.
The Buddhist hall was in a small, separate courtyard. There were no trees or buildings around it. Next to the door were a row of large water vats, indicating a strong emphasis on fire prevention. In later inspections, the fire safety aspect would likely not be penalized.
The young monk Chijō also introduced, “You can only come here during the day. The doors are locked at night, and lighting lamps inside is not allowed.”
“That’s as it should be.”
Yuan Ye nodded and followed Chijō inside. At the entrance, two monks looked up at them before lowering their heads to read, showing no intention of stopping them.
Inside the Zenshōdō, it resembled a modern-day reading room. Wooden shelves held wooden plates, and each plate contained several volumes or scrolls of books. Unlike modern libraries that prefer to stand books upright to display their spines, the books here were stacked horizontally.
Furthermore, a faint sound of reading could be heard from within the Zenshōdō, though it was not very clear.
Seeing Yuan Ye seemingly listening intently, Chijō explained, “That’s the sound coming from the Terakoya nearby. The Terakoya is not far from here.”
Oh, right. Japanese monks also moonlight as school teachers. Most of their students were from the families of local lords and local warriors, but there were also children from merchants, followers, and family retainers. Sometimes, even a few children from impoverished commoner families had the opportunity to receive an education.
Kinoshita Tōkichirō, the protagonist of “Taiko Risshiden 2,” apparently attended a Terakoya before his rise to prominence. He learned to read and write Chinese Characters and Kana, as well as skills like arithmetic, rhetoric, and the Tea Ceremony at the temple, which laid a solid foundation for his future as a Samurai. However, it’s unknown if he studied at Aragiko Kannon Temple.
But Yuan Ye wasn’t concerned about the monkey at this moment. He would likely encounter this person soon enough, so there was no need to actively seek him out. Books were more important now.
After all, there was no better learning tool in the world than books. A Man, that “Original Ninja,” could only introduce recent events and it was difficult to form a systematic understanding.
He went from one plate to another, flipping through the books. Most of the ones in front were Buddhist scriptures, along with many handwritten notes on Buddhist principles. These were useless to him, so he bypassed the first row and picked up a book from a shelf in the back. The title was “Reiiki.”
Ancient novels?
He casually flipped to the middle and found it was a collection of short stories. The story on this page was about a person who borrowed money from a temple, refused to repay it when it was due, and fled into the mountains with his family to default on the debt. However, upon waking up one morning, he had turned into an ox.
His wife and children were greatly startled and quickly took the ox to the temple to seek the monk’s help. The monk immediately recognized that he had committed a sin and was experiencing the karmic retribution for intentionally defaulting on his debt, destined to be livestock for generations.
Thus, the family had no choice but to stay and work at the temple, even leaving the ox behind. They worked diligently in the fields, and after repaying the money, they tearfully vowed never to default again, only then were they shown leniency and restored to human form.
After reading it, Yuan Ye flipped through more pages and found similar short stories, not even qualifying as fables. He was speechless for a moment—this book also had a large number of red ink annotations, refining the wording and phrasing, suggesting it was a collection of short stories publicly preached to devotees, specifically to deceive them.
This book was still useless to him. He put it down and picked up another one, titled “Damonroku.” However, upon opening it, he found it was also a collection of short stories specifically designed to fool ignorant men and women. It seemed Japanese monks put considerable effort into disciplining their devotees.
Yuan Ye flipped through several more books, and the content was similar. It appeared this row of books was useless to him.
He continued to the back and carefully browsed. He found that these books were finally somewhat useful to him—ancient books like “Jōgūki,” “Kojiki,” “Manyoshu,” “Iroha Classification,” and “Fudoki.” The content was mostly written in Chinese Characters mixed with Man’yōgana. There were both printed thread-bound books and handwritten copies, many with handwritten annotations. These served as historical records, geographical accounts, dictionaries, and literacy primers of this era.
He needed to study these. He was studying abroad in Japan, and his Japanese reading and writing were fluent, but that might not be the case in the Medieval Period. In the future, he would likely have to correspond with others, so it was necessary to systematically learn ancient Japanese again.
Of course, he also needed to relearn Traditional Chinese Characters, but that wouldn’t be difficult for him.
He stacked these books aside and looked at the ones next to them. He found more books like “Songhua Zhuan,” “Tang Yun,” and “Hanwen Xiaomu.” It seemed Japanese monks were very enthusiastic about learning foreign languages, even creating foreign language textbooks.
In addition to these, he also found complete sets of the Four Books and Five Classics, various Confucian classics, with some books having seven or eight different editions. There were also manuscripts and handwritten copies of Tang and Song poetry, and even some Zaju Opera scripts and courtesan songs. It was unclear whether Japanese monks had collected them or copied them.
He selected these and stacked them aside, then continued to flip through the rest. The ones further back were mostly handwritten copies. He casually flipped through them and found that most were samurai’s casual writings, collections of essays, and diaries—very personal items. It was unclear how they ended up in the hands of the monks.
Perhaps their unworthy descendants pawned them as collateral when borrowing money from the Tu Cang, and then couldn’t redeem them?
He browsed for a while and felt they were also useful, so he picked out some with well-written characters and stacked them aside.
More than half an hour quickly passed. He had picked out dozens of books he found useful. Fortunately, ancient writers focused on substance, unlike modern writers who were shameless and churned out millions of words. The dozens of books stacked together weren’t that thick, but it still astonished Chijō: “Devotee, do you need to read so many books?”
“It’s not that many, really. A small box can hold them all.”
“The devotee is truly diligent!” Chijō was very impressed. He disliked reading himself but was forced to do it daily. Being able to wander around today was all thanks to Yuan Ye.
“Then I’ll take these!” Yuan Ye had initially thought he would have to trick Chijō to get all these books, but he didn’t expect Chijō, despite his young age, to be so generous. He immediately reciprocated, smiling, “When you have a chance, come to the village and find me, and I’ll stew ‘mountain mushrooms’ for you! Stewed with medicinal materials, it’s fragrant and nourishing, making you want more after just one bowl!”
Chijō was indeed tempted and swallowed. “Really? Then the devotee must remember, don’t deceive this little monk!”
“Don’t worry, you’ll be satisfied!” Yuan Ye agreed immediately. However, looking at these books, he still felt a bit regretful—he couldn’t take any more. Chijō was just a child; if an adult monk had accompanied him, taking away three to five books would have been considered a lot.
As for the rest, he would deal with them slowly in the future!
Aragiko Kannon Temple was so shameless. He felt a connection with this temple and perhaps one day, all these books would be his.
Yuan Ye thought to himself, emptied the medicine box carried by A Qing, discarded some of the brought medicinal materials, and crammed all the books inside. Then, he left the Zenshōdō and bid farewell to the young monk Chijō.
When he reached the foot of the hill, he looked back at Aragiko Kannon Temple, then at the majestic mountain gate, and the Multi-Treasure Pagoda gleaming in the setting sun. He then headed straight for Aragiko Castle.
Before, he didn’t understand why Oda Nobunaga, in the latter half of his life, went mad and beat monks relentlessly, even burning down Mount Hiei, earning him the nickname “Sixth Heavenly Demon King” and being called “The World’s Foremost Enemy of Buddha.” Now, he completely understood. If it were him, he would also go mad and beat Japanese monks.
Of course, he felt that Japanese monks were truly shameless and deserved a beating. But Oda Nobunaga likely aspired to unify the world and believed that “advanced productivity” must be held in his own hands, which is why he had to subdue the monks and control their industries.
Most likely, that was the reason!
