A tour of Japan's Warring States Period

In mid-June, Princess Hanaji of the Uesugi family finally arrived in the mountains. In addition to the sedan she was riding in, there were hundreds of samurai ashigaru escorting her, as well as hundreds of servants carrying the dowry.

The scale of the wedding ceremony was unimaginable. The so-called congratulatory gifts included one thousand taels of gold, four thousand taels of silver, two thousand taels of Yongle money, five hundred taels of silk, and one thousand taels of green ramie. Then there are lacquerware, screens, furniture, gold and silver colors, swords, horses, wine, and fruits. The procession of dowries stretches from one end of the mountain to the other, in an endless stream.

The point is that Nagao Kagetora rushed to Yamauchi without stopping and was escorted, completely announcing the fact that Yamauchi and Uesugi were wearing the same pair of pants.

After all, there are several people who are qualified to let the Kanto leader personally host and participate in the wedding, especially the newly appointed golden thigh Teruhu Uesugi. This is the first time. As the foster brother of Teru Uesugi, Yamauchi Yoshikatsu has been able to boast for half a year just by being in charge of attending the wedding.

Moreover, such an exaggerated amount of dowry (not counting the Hachioji's 20,000 kanbun territory) not only shows that the Uesugi family is not short of money and is strong now, but also to provide some assistance to the Yamauchi family who is blocking the Koshu entrance.

Ever since the news came that the princess of the steward's family was married to the mountain, the leaders of the mountain were all excited. The Yamauchi family has been running the business for several generations and has never been tyrannical. It has the proud and unforgiving tradition of the old aristocracy. The people's support for the Yamauchi clan came from within. In addition, the Yamauchi clan built water conservancy projects, prepared streets, demolished customs offices, and clarified taxes. There is even a century-long social welfare security system that is rare in medieval society. Nanshin is in an earthquake-prone area. Every time an earthquake occurs, the Yamauchi family will hire a doctor to treat the injured. It also rescued people during large-scale famines, and even now has a medical center for free medical treatment and a welfare home for disabled soldiers in Fuchu Castle Town.

It is precisely because of this that on the wedding day, at least 30,000 local residents came to watch the ceremony. Yamauchi Yoshiharu did not miss the opportunity to win over the people and increase his momentum. In addition to sending people to maintain order, a large number of people were deployed, and all the people who came to watch the ceremony were given ten coins as a wedding gift. Even if there were 30,000 people, it only cost three hundred coins, but it could make the people feel grateful. Xiao Pingtai thought it was a good thing to do something so beneficial and free of charge. (This behavior is very common. For example, in modern Tsarist Russia, several tsars would give out gifts to the people attending the ceremony when they ascended the throne or got married, including candies, biscuits, enamel tea cups, handkerchiefs, and commemorative coins with the tsar's image printed on them. . It doesn’t cost much and it can win over the people.)

Of course, Koheita, as an important minister of the Yamauchi clan, mainly wanted to see what Princess Hana of the Uesugi family looked like. It was rare to see a daughter of an upper-class samurai family, which was very strange. The thirteen-year-old girl was married to Yamauchi Yoshiharu by her biological uncle and patriarchal brother. (Anyway, it was very common to get married at this age during the Warring States Period in Japan, and it was common for thirteen-year-old girls to get married.)

But when he saw the person, Mrs. Xiaoping was disappointed. It's not that Princess Hua is too ugly or anything, but that the makeup is too thick. The Yamauchi family's Kyoto wedding dress is very boring to Xiaoping.

This thirteen-year-old girl had all her eyebrows shaved off and used an eyebrow pencil to draw slightly lighter black curved eyebrows. The face was smeared with thick white powder (three pounds is an exaggeration, I think half a pound is about the same), and the mouth was painted a small red with rouge and gouache. Wearing an extremely gorgeous and heavy twelfth dress (a kind of dress from the Song Dynasty, nowadays, except for the conservative nobles and nobles, basically all have improved it into Japanese-style Wu clothes), it can make people die of heat on a June day. Two maids in their twenties supported her, fearing that she would faint from the heat, or that her steps would be inappropriate.

Yamauchi Yoshikatsu is a tall, silly man, wearing a straight dress and a black hat. It was a rare occasion for him to put on white cotton socks (do you still remember the time when he was naked and practicing the big sword outdoors with people in the winter), and he finally came back from being a barefooted immortal.

He also walked slowly forward under the guidance of two warriors in their thirties wearing formal uniforms, and from time to time saluted the crowd watching on both sides.

Xiao Pingtai saw that he didn't dislike the bride at all, "Has he seen her true appearance in advance?" she thought.

So I quickly asked Uncle Tsunaliang, who was the security team leader in the city, if he had seen the bride's appearance. Uncle Tsunaliang must have shook his head. "I haven't seen her before. I haven't seen her before. How could I be lucky enough to see Princess Hua first?"

It turned out that when Hana Uesugi came to Yamauchi, he was directly placed in the Yamauchi courtyard under the city, and few people saw him at all. Unless they were high-ranking female relatives like Mrs. Hosokawa, they would go and tell the bride what the important officials of the Yamauchi family looked like, what their names were, and what the etiquette was. He must have seen what the bride looks like.

And from the look on Uncle Tsunaliang's face, he didn't dislike the bride whose face was so white that her face could not be seen clearly. I can’t help but sigh, it’s not that I can’t keep up with the times, it’s that the world is changing too fast. Xiaoping really disagreed with the aesthetic values ​​of the people at that time. He didn't like girls dressed in this way. It is best to be a simple girl who does not need to be too beautiful, has shawl long hair, and is lively and cheerful. Well, just think about it.

But I guess only the girls from the Gongqing family and high-ranking samurai families like the Yamauchi family would do this. Xiao Ping thought about the fact that although most of the girls from ordinary samurai families are not all heroic, they don't wear such heavy makeup. In the past, I saw that Aya from the Hosokawa family had no decoration at all and had a very simple style.

After that, Yamauchi Yoshikatsu and the bride paid tribute to the officials of the Yamauchi clan who came to attend the wedding, the envoys sent by the famous masters with whom they were close friends to congratulate them, and the countless spectators.

But Xiao Pingtai waited until the banquet was held, and even after the bride changed into ordinary Wu clothes, she didn't see her face clearly. Very sad. I stood here for a long time and wasted my youth.

Although the bride has not really been seen, I still sincerely wish the political marriage of the Warring States Period a happy marriage. Koheita and all the samurai in the Ohiro room gave their blessings to Yamauchi Yoshikatsu.

The marriage between the Echigo Nagao family, which had inherited the name of the Uesugi clan, and the Nanshin Yamauchi clan was thus concluded. Yamauchi Yoshikatsu, the next head of the Yamauchi clan, became Terutora Uesugi's brother-in-law. The relationship between the two parties greatly deepened and they supported each other.

(Let me explain that the bride did not wear a white dress on purpose. That kind of dress should have become popular from the end of the 18th century to the beginning of the 19th century. I really don’t know what she wore before.)

There was a slight mistake and three chapters were missed.