Chapter 8

It has been two years since Kousuke became a resident of the Bukan-shita Hayashi family.

Thanks to the education of his grandfather, Masaharu, he has steadily shown his potential. Although he was initially overwhelmed by the Confucian classics and Zhu Xi's philosophy, through rigorous recitation and writing, he has become adept at reading and writing of this era.

The Hayashi family is unaware.

Acquisition and dissemination of information. Despite the primitive methods, with his newly acquired literacy, he has secretly transformed into the greatest "scholar" of this era, armed with a vast repository of modern knowledge.

(This... is worse than I imagined... truly the worst.)

Kousuke, who was allowed to enter and exit the Hayashi family's storage room, which also served as a study, took advantage of the absence of the family's watchful eyes to voraciously read through the generations of household ledgers.

After finishing the last page, he sprawled out in the storage room.

(Not going bankrupt in this situation is Edo period magic, I guess.)

The Hayashi family's debts were several times their recorded assets, leaving them in a dire state. In modern terms, this would be called "insolvency."

In the Heisei era, creditors would have long since stormed in and hung the president. The reason this hasn't happened is that the Hayashi family, no matter how impoverished, still holds the status of "samurai." Excessive collection efforts could provoke the samurai's right to "punish rudeness," a traditional weapon of the warrior class. Therefore, they remain silent, accepting minimal repayments.

The total debt is over 120 ryō.

Ah, that amount... it's not something to take lightly. The interest alone is 7.2 ryō per year. Considering that a koku of rice sells for about one mon (approximately 1/4 ryō), the interest alone amounts to 28.8 koku of rice.

The Hayashi family owns 7 tan of rice fields they cultivate themselves and 15 tan they lease to tenant farmers, totaling 22 tan. As befits a village headman, they have records of their yields: 31 koku from their own 7 tan and 1 koku per tan from the tenant farmers, totaling 15 koku. Combined, this is 46 koku. Of course, there is no lack of taxes, and the tax on their own fields is 15.5 koku. After deducting the tax, the Hayashi family's total income is only 30.5 koku per year.

The numbers don't add up. The interest and income are almost equal...

(Being stuck with such a bad debtor must be a disaster for the lender... Hmm, who did they borrow from? Ah, the Nishibuchi family?)

Ah, that family.

If you are familiar with the tourist spots in Tajimi, you might recognize the "Nishibuchi Garden."

They were reportedly one of the wealthiest merchants in the eastern part of Mino, dealing in pottery during the end of the Edo period and having stores in Edo and Sakai. Local history records that they built the first wooden bridge in Tajimi (Tajimi Bridge) with their own funds, so they must have been quite prosperous.

In any case, the Hayashi family seems to be repeatedly paying back 1 ryō and borrowing 2 ryō from this wealthy merchant. At this rate, it's safe to assume that the Hayashi family's fields are essentially all pledged as collateral.

My head is starting to hurt.

Incidentally, the Hayashi family receives a stipend of 2 ryō per year from the Edo branch of the Hayashi family, mediated by a moneylender (who handled the conversion of rice and other goods into cash). This has been ongoing since the establishment of the Bukan-shita Hayashi family, a tradition that began with the lord's allowance to his local wife. In Kousuke's case, it was 10 mon per month.

Initially, he tried to figure out how to deal with the debt, but after staring at the simple products of Oohara village, he gave up. Besides rice, there are only firewood and charcoal. Making a fortune is out of the question.

Something must be done, but at five years old, he has no capital or decision-making power. He has no influence in the household, so he can't even move a finger.

The job of "scholar" seems to be a waste for now.

First year of Ansei, autumn.

Oohara village welcomed the season of abundance, bustling with activity.

The season of abundance is also the season of taxes. In the midst of the lingering heat, an official from the daikan office in Nekomoto village arrived at the Hayashi residence.

The daikan office of the Edo Hayashi family (the local lord, Echizennokami Hayashi) is located in a bamboo grove on the hillside of Nekomoto village, which is a series of gentle hills.

The entire family lives in Edo, and no one has moved to this rural area. The local steward, Mr. Sakazaki, oversees the administration of the fief. The minor official sent to the Bukan-shita Hayashi family was a young samurai named Wakao, with a smooth, expressionless face.

The koku of rice piled up in the Hayashi family's courtyard were being inspected one by one by this official and then loaded onto the transport.

The Bukan-shita Hayashi family was the village headman responsible for collecting the annual taxes from Oohara village.

The official production of Oohara village, as published by the shogunate, is 491 koku and 50 masu.

The rice piled up in the courtyard alone exceeds 100 koku.

Kousuke watched the young samurai, Wakao, busily inspecting the rice, and was fascinated by the rare sight of his cousins, Tarō, Jirō, and Saburō, keeping the accounts. As the eldest son and heir of the Hayashi family, Tarō Emon Masaharu, who is often with his father Masaharu, is well-tanned, even on his neck. He is meticulous and repeatedly checks the accounts he has written, looking serious.

"Brother, you're already on the next one, hurry up and write it down."

Next to him, Jirō Saburō Masahikari, holding a writing brush between his nose and mouth, looked bored. He is said to have worse habits than his younger brother Saburō, and his father, Masaharu, forced him to marry into a merchant family in Ichidachō to create a branch family. It might have been a shotgun wedding.

He rolls into his in-laws' home in Ichidachō and lives a lazy life, but during the busy season at his family's home, he is sent back with a note. When Kousuke peered at the accounts Jirō had written, he was shocked by the bizarre artistry.

(Can anyone else make sense of this?)

Kousuke didn't say anything, but Jirō, sensing that his nephew was mocking him (perceptive!), angrily shooed him away.

"Get out of the way! Don't look!"

His hands, which are said to have received a certificate from some school, are calloused and rough, unlike the delicate hands of his brother Saburō. Kousuke, who has experienced the pain of being hit by those hands, quickly moved out of range and found a new vantage point to peek from above the frame.

Jirō, sensing that his nephew was laughing at him, tried to hide the worm-like accounts with his hands and shooed him away.

Saburō, watching the exchange between Jirō and Kousuke, leaned on his elbow and smiled. Essentially, his father, a philanderer, also had poor handwriting. While he shouldn't be criticizing others, the problem is that this man is impervious to criticism. Despite being unintelligent, he is very popular with the village girls, so he has no reason to worry.

"You're a troublesome kid! Just because you're a bit smart, don't get too cocky, or you'll regret it!"

"Masaharu!"

Masaharu, who was watching his sons keep the accounts from the back of the room, thundered. Perhaps because they were so disappointing, the fist on his armrest was trembling.

At that moment, Masaharu's eyes caught Kousuke.

Thinking he would be scolded, Kousuke flinched, but after a moment, he saw that Masaharu was beckoning him over.

Kousuke approached his grandfather, sat down cautiously, and Masaharu pulled over a writing desk and pushed it toward him.

On the desk were a sheet of Japanese paper for writing, a wolf-hair brush, and a well-used inkstone with a plum blossom carved on it.

"Kousuke, try it yourself."

Unaware that Masaharu was evaluating him, Kousuke started keeping the accounts as a way to pass the time.

Incidentally, the job of "scholar" gave him a bit of confidence in keeping accounts.