This happened on April 1, 1568 (Eiroku 11).
The weather over Nagahama that day was extremely bad.
The large raindrops that began to fall intermittently in the evening quickly turned into a torrential downpour reminiscent of a Southeast Asian squall.
The trucks struck various parts of Nagahama, creating countless puddles on the road surface.
"That's an incredible sound... really."
As I was doing my daily routine of babysitting Manpukumaru and Chacha, I muttered to myself.
The raindrops, hitting the Imperial Palace with such force, produced a sound that could only be described as a roar.
Incidentally, both of them were fast asleep, seemingly oblivious to the sound of the rain.
It was normal for Manpukumaru not to react, but it was unusual for Chacha, who usually gets anxious at the slightest change in her environment, to be this quiet.
(She must feel safe because I'm by her side... but that can't be right.)
I chuckled to myself as I thought about the children's biological parents.
Today was the day I was supposed to spend the night with Ichihime, but she was currently in the bathhouse, sweating it out with Haruhime.
Lately, the two of them have been taking baths together more often.
It's not that they have any homosexual preferences.
The bathhouse is a secluded room. In that private space, it seems that Haruhime and Ichihime are having a raw, intimate conversation about how to conceive my child.
The Saito family was where Haruhime spent her childhood and adolescence.
As is well known, she was subjected to brutal abuse there, and even now, small scars remain on her skin.
Having had her adolescence stifled, Haruhime seemed to have despaired of the world and harbored a kind of suicidal desire—but now, that feeling had completely subsided.
Having slowly regained her dignity as a woman, she now adores and loves me.
She desperately wanted to bear and raise my child.
It seems that the Takenaka family retainers, including Shigenori, the younger brother of Haruhime, are in agreement with the wishes of the head of the Takenaka family.
However, as is well known, Haruhime had been subjected to a horrific assault.
And despite spending a long time at the Saito household, she never became pregnant.
Perhaps I have a body type that makes it difficult to get pregnant.
However, it could not be denied that the daily assaults had destroyed her functions as a woman.
I still remember Haruhime saying that she was a woman who couldn't bear children.石女horse mackerel
However, she now wishes to have children.
She wanted to cherish our child in her womb, and like Ichihime, give birth to life and become a mother.
"Well... it seems neither of them are in the mood for that for a while."
It is still fresh in our memories that Mrs. Todo passed away at the Nagahama Imperial Palace at the end of last month.
She's not related to us.
However, they were family in the broader sense, as they lived together in the same house.
The death of Mrs. Todo apparently had a profound impact on Ichihime.
As a mother with children, his death forced her to contemplate a variety of thoughts.
If, hypothetically, she were to die and leave her children behind—thinking about that, it was not something the princess of the Oda family could ignore.
While I was there for Ichihime as she struggled with her problems, I also had to worry about the Todo siblings who were left behind.
The night Mrs. Todo passed away.
Takatora slept next to me, and Kyoko slept next to Ichihime and Haruhime, but various things have come up that are bothering me.
Kyoko seemed to be fine.
According to his wives, on the night his wife died, he cried his eyes out and then fell into a deep, exhausted sleep.
The next morning, as soon as he woke up, he went straight to his mother's body and was overcome with tears of grief.
That's precisely why she was able to come to terms with the death of her mother.
Although she occasionally wears a somber expression filled with loneliness, she continues to diligently train in household management alongside her children, just as she once did.
(But the real problem is... Takatora...)
From what I could see, I couldn't tell anything about the older brother.
Actually, trying to understand someone else's inner world is presumptuous to begin with...
Even so, he showed absolutely no emotion, not even a hint of change in his expression.
Takatora, who hadn't made it in time for his mother's death, paid no attention to Myo's strangely nervous demeanor—he stared intently at his mother's face in death, his expression completely serious and unchanging.
Without shedding a single tear, without even flinching, and with his breathing rhythm normal—he was simply confronting his mother's remains.
Even when we shared a bed, he was just like always.
Of course, Takatora has feelings too. He must have some thoughts and feelings after losing his beloved mother.
Yet, because he absolutely refuses to show any weakness, I feel a deep sense of unease.
◆
Furthermore, Mrs. Todo's death presented me with a new problem.
In other words, the question is how the dead are treated within the Biwa religion.
The whole thing started with doubts about where the grave for her should be located.
This was because neither Takatora nor Kyoko knew the location of the tomb where their ancestors were supposedly buried.
The exterior of Nagahama Imperial Palace. The lakeshore beyond the west gate.
At the funeral held there, when they asked Yohachi, who had been invited from Todo Village, about the location of the Todo family grave, he replied that it was in the village's communal cemetery.
However, Yohachi is opposed to burying his wife in Todo Village.
He clutched the silent hand of the corpse, and with tears streaming down his face, he uttered words of atonement for not being able to live with her—he desperately pleaded not to return her remains to the village.
Judging from what his wife once told us, the two were probably lovers in their younger days.
He is against sending his wife back to the village.
In traditional communities, it's likely that blatant contempt for zashiki-warashi (house spirits) still persists.
And so, after reconsidering the burial place of my wife and the subsequent issue of her remains, I decided to include a large cemetery with the branch office that we plan to build on the Kanegafuchi Spinning Company's land.
If you think about it, Nagahama is a city that was newly built by developing land that was practically uninhabited.
Before the modern era, temples and shrines held the exclusive right to manage people's deaths, but such institutions themselves are rare in Nagahama.
Even if we were to mobilize all the facilities currently scattered throughout Nagahama, there wouldn't be enough capacity to accommodate the massive influx of dead bodies that are expected to arrive.
If they didn't prepare for the coming onslaught of the dead, the streets would be flooded with them, and social unrest could erupt immediately.骸Corpse
For this reason, the development of large-scale cemeteries is an urgent issue.
It is often forgotten, but rulers are those who govern people, and the category of "people" includes not only the living but also the dead.
Furthermore, managing the dead is also connected to managing the living.
From this perspective, it goes without saying that the key point is how death is positioned within the religious system of Biwa-kyo.
During the Sengoku period (Warring States period), both burial and cremation coexisted as forms of burial, but considering hygiene and burial space, the latter was practically the only viable option.
The outline will be decided soon.
Humans are creatures who are compelled to live by acquiring superficial things like status and honor, but the true essence of life lies not in such things, but in what remains even after being consumed by the flames of the secular world.
Simply put, they consider the remains of the deceased to be the most precious thing of all.
The remains must be given a home in the form of an urn, and the grave becomes their city.
If we can instill and establish such an awareness, cities where living people reside will become more sanitary.
When the practice of burying the dead in the ground overlaps with the living environment, it often leads to large-scale outbreaks of infectious diseases.
(Preparing for death is preparing for life... we must proceed without fail...)
One after another, drafts of a social system based on the Biwa religion are popping into my head.
Specifically, the plan involves establishing dioceses for the Biwa sect, separate from the administrative divisions of Nagahama, and setting up shrines in each diocese.
The residents of Nagahama were assigned to a parish based on where they lived, and the shrine located in that parish became their "family temple."
When a child is born, the residents must go to the parish shrine, report the birth of the new life to the dragon spirit, and seek its protection.
When residents die, they are cremated at the parish shrine and buried in the Kanebo cemetery, the place where the dragon is said to have descended.
(That seems to be mostly fine...)
However, it would be premature to propose such social system reforms.
I had to wait until at least July—more specifically, July 13th—the day I would go to Mizuchi and return.
This is because, in human society, opposition will inevitably arise whenever you try to start something new.
Yes, people like Asai Hisamasa from the past—those kinds of people—will inevitably pop up from somewhere and try to sabotage us.
Therefore, I had to widely present to my subjects a theory and ideals that would allow me to overpower the opposition.
This is where the authority of the dragon comes in handy.
If we frame it as the will of a living god who is the object of faith, then the number of people who can directly confront it will be extremely small.
(I suppose I should probably talk to the water god about this...)
It was at that very moment, while I was thinking about such things, that Ichihime quietly entered the room.
"Lord Nagamasa... I'm so sorry for keeping you waiting."
"No, that's actually perfect. I had just finished thinking about something."
"Oh, what exactly were you thinking about?"
"Well... how about saying it's about you?"
"Well..."
Ichihime clung tightly to my back and let out a blissful sigh.
Her voluptuous body pressed against me affectionately, making my heart pound.
"It's true, Lord Nagamasa has only learned how to please women...it makes me jealous."
"What does that mean?"
"It's not that there's anything wrong with it... Lord Nagamasa seemed to have become more sensitive to his choice of words ever since he took Princess Haruhime as his concubine."
"Well... that's..."
"Therefore, I am jealous."
Saying that, Ichihime wrapped her slender arms around my waist and hugged me tightly.
"I had prepared myself for this from the moment I became pregnant, but... seeing Lord Nagamasa's smile and kindness directed towards other women besides me—my heart still wavers. I can't help but feel jealous."
"Well, the city certainly seems like it would be prone to jealousy..."
"Is there anyone who wouldn't be anxious and jealous if my words diverted the attention of the one they love?" Ichihime asked.
"Just now, Princess Haruhime was consulting me about various things regarding having a child with Lord Nagamasa...and deep down, I have mixed feelings. If Princess Haruhime were to give birth to a child with Lord Nagamasa, it would surely be beautiful..."
"Really?"
"Of course it is... Ugh."
Ichihime pressed her forehead against my back and sulked.
"I want to be Lord Nagamasa's number one... now and even after I'm gone."
"city..."
When I slowly turned to face her, the princess of the Oda family gently released her arm.
Facing each other, I embraced her slender shoulders, and Ichihime gently closed her eyes and whispered:
"Looking at Todo's mother, I thought... my relationship with Nagamasa will also eventually come to an end, in the form of death..."
"..."
"But even after death, I want to be with Lord Nagamasa... I don't want to be separated from you... I don't want that..."
"...city"
As I gently embraced my wife's body, Ichihime also tightened her grip on my slender arms.
Her body, fresh from the bath, was so warm—and incredibly alluring.
"Should we just...do nothing and go to sleep tonight?"
When I said it jokingly, Ichihime immediately replied, "No," and pouted.
"Firstly, there's no way Lord Nagamasa could just do nothing... He said something like that before, and while I was sleeping, he did it over and over again..."
"No... I'm sorry about that time."
"And my armpits are all sticky and soiled with your semen... what kind of face can I make—"
"—I'm truly sorry."
Women are scary after all.
I hugged Ichihime, who remembers even the smallest details when it comes to things involving me, and then, trying to appease her, I gently pushed her down onto the bed—stroking her cheek while whispering words of love.
Then, Ichihime would gaze at me with dreamy eyes.
Today's actions, too, will undoubtedly be etched firmly into her memory.