"Speaking of which, Zona, I made a new friend a few days ago."

Chiba Jutaro, who crossed his arms across his chest and took a figure-eight stride, suddenly spoke to his sister next to him.

"...New friend?" Sanako, who folded his hands in front of him and walked side by side with Chiba Jutaro, turned his head and looked at his brother.

Chiba Jutaro nodded: "It's Satonaka Hachiro who introduced me to a new friend named Kawahara Masatsugu."

"He is a very outstanding young man."

Hearing Chiba Jutaro's words, Sanako seemed to realize something, her eyebrows slightly wrinkled, and her expression... also became cold at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Chiba Jutaro noticed this change in Sanako's expression - but he deliberately pretended not to notice it, laughed a few times, and continued:

"That Kawahara Masatsugu is only 23 years old this year, and he is already a teacher at Sengakukan in Echinaka Town."

"Sona, you probably know about the Sengakukan in Echinaka Town, right? It's the Sengakukan where Ono Itto-ryu is taught."

"Tsk, tsk, tsk, at the age of 23, you have relied on your strength to become the teacher of a big sword hall like Qianxuekan. Your future is bright."

"I went out to have a few drinks with this Kawahara-kun a few days ago."

Chiba Jutaro raised his hand and made a drinking gesture.

"I thought that a young man with a bright future and good looks like him would have been snatched away by a daughter of some family."

"But I didn't expect that Kawahara-kun is still unmarried..."

"...Brother."

Before Jutaro Chiba finished speaking, Sana silently turned his gaze from Jutaro Chiba back to the front of him, and then interrupted Jutaro Chiba's words with a cold tone that was neither sad nor happy.

"I know what you want to say."

"It's rare that we go out together. Can you please stop talking about this kind of topic that I don't like to hear?"

Chiba Jutaro's expression froze.

After he looked at Sanako several times with complex eyes, he slowly closed his mouth and let out a long sigh.

"...Sana, I admit that Ryoma Sakamoto is indeed a very outstanding and charming man."

"But was he so good that...? You still can't forget him until now..."

Chiba Jutaro raised his hand with an annoyed look on his face and scratched the hair on the back of his head.

At this time, Sana pursed her lips slightly, lowered her head slightly, folded her hands in front of her, and gently grasped the fabric at the lower part of the kimono belt.

"I asked some friends who live in Tosa Domain to help me find out about Ryoma."

"After Ryoma left our Little Chiba Sword Hall and returned to Tosa, he joined an organization founded by a corporal named 'Takeichi Hanheita': the 'Tosa Kinou Party'."

"According to my friends from the Tosa Domain...the 'Tosa Kinou Party' is an organization that pursues quite radical anti-barbarian ideas...with the goal of eradicating all barbarians in the country."

"I think there is something wrong with Ryoma... he actually joined such a radical organization..."

"Zona, I think it's better if you don't have any more expectations for Ryoma."

"Ryoma may be... he is no longer the carefree Ryoma we were familiar with who only practiced swordsmanship every day..."

"...Brother!"

Sana interrupted Chiba Jutaro again.

This time, Zona's tone was a little higher.

"The topic about Ryoma-kun... can we stop here?"

"...Okay, okay." Chiba Jutaro smacked his lips gently, "If you don't want to hear it, Sana, then I won't say it."

After saying this, the brother and sister said nothing again.

Until—the scent of grilled eel penetrated Chiba Jutaro's nostrils.

"Oh...!" Chiba Jutaro sniffed hard a few times, then turned his neck eagerly, looking for the location where the smell came from.

"There are still eel stalls at this time..." Chiba Jutaro looked at an eel stall that was still open not far ahead and swallowed hard, "... Sana, do you want to eat eel now?

"

Zona shook his head.

"You don't want to eat it? Well, I'll buy one myself." Chiba sucked the saliva accumulated in his mouth, then quickened his pace and ran towards the eel stall.

"Brother." Sana quickly shouted to Chiba Jutaro's back, "We have to rush to the trial training hall now, and we don't have time to eat and drink here."

"It's okay, it's okay." Chiba Jutaro waved his hand to Sana behind him without looking back, "I eat very quickly! Boss! Here's a skewer of grilled eel!"

"Okay, 8 cents."

…

…

Edo, Koishikawa Kohinata Yanagi Town, Imperial Guard Hall——

In the hall, Okita was kneeling in the corner of the hall, holding an arithmetic book and reading it carefully. He turned his head and blinked a few times at Qingden who was standing beside him:

"bath?"

"Yes." Qingden nodded, "Kondo-kun, Saito, and I plan to take a bath at Chihiro's house now. Okita-kun, do you want to come with us?"

Aoto, who had been practicing at the dojo for more than an hour at night with Kondo, was now covered in sweat, and his face was flushed with the characteristic flush after strenuous exercise.

Qingden is the kind of person who is used to taking a shower immediately after exercising strenuously and sweating all over his body.

His body was now covered with the sweat left after practicing at night with Kondo. All he wanted to do now was to take a bath at Chihiroya, a bathhouse located near the trial gym.

Kondo and his family did not have a bathroom, so they had to go to a nearby bathhouse if they wanted to take a bath.

This kind of family structure without a bathroom was actually quite common throughout ancient Japan. The vast majority of urban residents...including samurai, did not have a bathroom at home.

The reason why this is the case is mainly due to layer 2 reasons.

1: The land is narrow and densely populated. Take Edo as an example. The per capita housing area of ​​Edo’s townspeople is less than 10 square meters. Such a narrow living space is not enough to accommodate only people. How to build a bathroom?

Not to mention bathrooms, most families don't even have a toilet and have to share a public toilet with several or even a dozen neighboring households.

2: It is safe to use fire. You always need to boil water when taking a bath, right? This will greatly increase the hidden dangers of using fire, so the government does not encourage residents to build bathrooms in their homes.

Based on the above two reasons, in ancient Japan, only a very few people had the ability to have a private bathroom in their own home. Most people who wanted to take a bath could only go to a nearby bathhouse.

Because most people can only go to bathhouses to take a bath, Japan's special "bath culture" was born.

By the way - Qingden is one of these "very few people".

In Qingdeng, where he was enshrined, he received nearly 330 square meters of land from the government. The area was sufficient, so he built a small bathroom in his home... Actually, it was called a bathroom, but it was actually just a place for bathing.

It's just a small room for a barrel.

Aoto had already sent out invitations to Kondo and the others one by one just now. Kondo and Saito both nodded and agreed to the invitation of "Let's go to the bathhouse and take a bath together now." Only Okita has not been invited.

"I won't take a shower yet." As soon as Qingto's invitation ended, Okita showed a cheerful smile to Qingto and shook the arithmetic book in his hand without thinking, "I want to go to the southwest and read for a while.

Shu, I want to go to the bathhouse to take a bath later."

Aoto glanced at the book in Okita's hand... The arithmetic book Okita was reading. According to Okita, it was written by Hijikata Toshizo, who Aoto had never met until now.

Compiled "Arithmetic Textbook" for Okita.

Ayoto borrowed it and briefly looked through it - the content of this textbook was indeed quite suitable for Okita, who had a complete mess of arithmetic basics and could only do addition and subtraction within 10.

That Hijikata Toshizo seemed to be planning to use a "step-by-step" approach to teach Okita arithmetic. This thin textbook didn't teach anything else but addition and subtraction.

The book uses extremely concise language to introduce Okita to what "addition and subtraction" is, teaches Okita how to master addition and subtraction of two-digit and above numbers, and lists a large number of arithmetic problems that are very suitable for Okita's current level.

According to Aoto's observations during the period since he moved into the Imperial Guard Hall - Okita is a person who has a very regular daily life.

I practiced swordplay in the dojo during the day, and studied arithmetic there at night.

Overall, he is a very homely person.

I only occasionally go out for a walk when I have finished eating the Jinping Candy at home, or I am greedy and want to eat some delicious snacks outside.

Since Okita expressed that he wanted to wait until later to take a shower, Aoto didn't force him.

After simply saying to Okita, "Kondo, Saito and I will be back later," he left the living room and went to the entrance.

Kondo and Saito had already packed the bathtub, towels and other items and were standing at the entrance waiting for Aoto.

"Tachibana-kun, where did you just go?" Kondo asked.

"I'm going to ask Okita-kun if he wants to take a shower with us." Qingto said to the two of them, "Okita-kun said he wants to wait until later to take a shower."

"Hahaha, this is Souji's habit." Kondo smiled, "Souji always likes to wait until very late before going to the bathhouse to take a bath."

"Since the Souji doesn't come, then the three of us will go to the bathhouse."

Qingdeng nodded: "Well, let's go."

…

…

Chihiroya is the bathhouse closest to the Shiweikan. From the Shiweikan, you can walk for 2 or 3 minutes and turn two intersections to reach this bathhouse. The Kondo family usually comes to this Chihiro house.

Take a shower in the house.

Chihiro House has the most common and classic structure of bathhouses of this era.

There are auxiliary bows and arrows hung on the eaves. Because the Japanese pronunciations of "bathing" and "archery" are the same, so to symbolize the homophony, many bathhouses like to hang auxiliary bows and arrows in front of the gate.

There are two doors in total. The door on the left is hung with a blue cloth with the inscription "Men's Soup", and the door on the right is hung with a red cloth with the inscription "Women's Soup".

Throughout ancient Japan, until the middle of the Edo period, bathhouses were basically gender-neutral, and bathing was basically mixed.

Of course - in mixed bathing, men and women will not take off their clothes. Women will wear a yukata and Yumona (close-fitting skirt), and men will wear a loincloth.

It wasn't until the Kansei period 70 years ago that a man named Matsudaira Sadanobu, who was the leader of the old school at that time, felt that mixed bathing between men and women was really immoral and offensive, so he made it clear that mixed bathing in bathhouses was no longer allowed and men and women must be separated.

Since then, except for a few areas, Japanese bathhouses have been separated for men and women.
To be continued...