"Immortal..."

Katsura Kogoro chewed the term gently while casting a meaningful look at Shuten Doji.

Shuten Doji noticed his eyes and couldn't help but laugh.

"What? Guijun, do you think I'm talking nonsense?"

Katsura Kogoro said calmly:

"Any normal person would think you are full of nonsense, right?"

"Ogata Issei is an 'immortal'?"

"Why don't you just say that he is the reincarnation of Hachiman Daimyojin?"

Faced with Katsura Kogoro's ridicule, Shuten Doji shrugged:

"No wonder you are like this."

"In fact, when I learned the full story, I was equally in disbelief."

"Let me think about it... where should I start..."

He fell silent and thought to himself.

After a while, he slowly spoke:

"...Guijun, do you know the 'Eight Hundred Bhikshunis'?"

Katsura Kogoro replied without thinking:

"Of course I know. A nun who lived eight hundred years old."

Eight Hundred Bhikshunis - a famous Japanese folklore.

Legend has it that a long time ago, a man named Takahashi, who looked like a fisherman, moved to a village called Obama in Wakasa.

One day, this man invited people from the village to his home for dinner. Some of them found a fish being cooked in his kitchen with a human-like head. They were so frightened that they quickly told others.

When the cooked fish was brought to everyone, everyone knew it and pretended to enjoy it, but in fact no one dared to eat it.

One of them secretly hid the fish in his sleeve and took it back to his wife to eat.

It is said that eating a mermaid's wife will give her the ability to stay young forever.

No matter how much time passes, your appearance will not change at all.

Later, this long-lived woman became a nun and was honored as the "Eight Hundred Bhikshuni" because she had an ageless appearance and lived for more than 800 years.

From the 15th century onwards, the name "Eight Hundred Bhikshunis" began to appear in Japanese literature.

Except for remote areas such as Ezo and Kyushu Island, its legends are spread in other places.

There are many different versions of the story of the Eight Hundred Bhikshunis. The most original version is no longer available, but the content of the story is similar.

Some say that the mermaid is actually a native product that the man brought back from the so-called other world, the ocean that the Japanese have believed in since ancient times.

There are also other theories, such as that the woman ate the food as a treat from the Dragon God, or that she received the elixir of immortality from the Dragon God.

No matter what the version or content is, Katsura Kogoro has always had only one attitude toward these folk tales: to sneer at them.

He classified "Eight Hundred Bhikkhunis" as a fantasy story like "Momotaro" and "Kaguya Princess" - only suitable for reading to children as bedtime stories and not to be taken seriously.

Katsura Kogoro has always believed that many stories become more and more distorted in the process of spreading, and finally completely deviate from their original appearance and become absurd legends.

Maybe these eight hundred bhikkhunis do have prototypes, and there is indeed a nun who lives a long life, but she is just an ordinary person.

She may have just lived a relatively long life, eighty, ninety, or even a hundred years old, so it gave people the illusion that "she will not die."

Due to backwardness in medical care and diet, the average life span in ancient Japan was not high, only twenty or thirty years old.

That's why there is a saying of "life spans fifty years", believing that normal people can only live fifty years.

For this reason, coupled with ignorant thoughts, in the eyes of ordinary people, old people who have lived for eighty or ninety years are like gods.

This nun has been alive since he was a child. He has lived for several generations and has never died. Therefore, he believes that the nun is a "godman" who has divine power and will never die.

As a result, word of mouth spread from people to people, and the story became more and more outrageous, and gradually evolved into the "Eight Hundred Bhikshunis" that is now known to everyone.

After Katsura Kogoro said that he knew the Eight Hundred Bhikshunis, he immediately changed into a joking tone:

"Shuten Doji, are you trying to tell me that the Eight Hundred Bhikshunis are indeed a real person? She is an 'immortal' who is immortal and immortal."

"..."

Shuten Doji didn't say anything immediately.

I saw the corners of his mouth raised in an intriguing smile.

Katsura Kogoro noticed his strange facial expression and couldn't help but be startled.

"...Could it be that I really got it right?"

Shuten Doji burst out laughing:

"Yes, that's right!"

"There is indeed such a person as the 'Eight Hundred Bhikkhunis'."

"She is indeed an 'immortal' who has lived for more than eight hundred years!"

"How the eight hundred bhikkhunis obtained the power of immortality is unknown."

"Maybe she really ate a fish from another world."

"In short, she is truly an 'immortal'!"

Having said this, Shuten Doji held out three fingers.

"The 'immortal' has three characteristics."

"First, youth remains forever and appearance remains unchanged."

"Second, physical functions that far exceed the limits of mortals."

"Third, and also the most terrifying point - the extremely terrifying regeneration ability."

"No matter how terrible the injury she suffered, even if her head was cut off and her heart was pierced, she would not die. No matter how serious the injury was, she could recover as before."

"In a word, no mortal thing, including time, can kill her!"

"What a pity...'Eternal Life' and 'Loneliness' are twins who will never be separated."

"Familiar characters turn into dust, familiar scenery becomes strange, but oneself remains unchanged... The loneliness in it is absolutely unimaginable for us mortals."

"Gradually, the eight hundred bhikshuni became tired of 'living'."

"Although mortal things cannot kill the 'immortal', the 'immortal' can kill itself."

"She hid in a remote cave isolated from the world, and then ended her life in some unknown way."

"Although Eight Hundred Bhikkhuni committed suicide, her body was affected by the power of immortality and will never decay."

"Logically speaking, her body and immortal power should be buried by time and never die."

"However... about 70 years ago, a group of people learned of the existence of the 'immortal' by chance and began to covet its power."

"And this group of people is the remnants of the Toyotomi family."

Shuten Doji paused, cleared his throat, and was about to continue, but was stopped by Katsura Kogoro.

"Stop, stop!"

Katsura Kogoro massaged his temples with one hand and made a "pause" gesture with the other hand.

From just now, his mind has been running at high speed, overwhelmed, and almost shut down.

First there were the "immortals" and eight hundred nuns, and now there is a remnant of the Toyotomi family...

The remnants of the Toyotomi family—this was a widely circulated urban legend during the Edo period.

Two hundred and sixty years ago, Tokugawa Ieyasu launched two battles of Osaka (Osaka Winter Formation and Osaka Summer Formation), completely annihilating the Toyotomi family and forcing Toyotomi Hideyori, the head of the Toyotomi family, to commit suicide.

, even the majestic Osaka Castle was burned to the ground.

Toyotomi Hideyori had a son named "Toyotomi Kunimatsu". He was only 8 years old when the Toyotomi family fell.

Tokugawa Ieyasu was determined to eliminate the Toyotomi family, so naturally he would not let go of any descendant of the Toyotomi family.

After the defeat of the Toyotomi family in the Osaka Summer Campaign, Toyotomi Kunimatsu and his wet nurse were beheaded in the Rokujo River in Kyoto and later buried in the Oath Temple in Kyoto - the above is the "orthodox content" written in the history books.

Folks have completely different opinions on the whereabouts of Toyotomi Kunimatsu.

One is that the person who died in Rokujo Kawara was his Kagemusha, and his real body successfully escaped to Satsuma Domain and became a branch of the Kinoshita family of the Hinode Domain in Bungo Province, and was named Kinoshita Nobuji, the ancestor of the Kinoshita clan.

As for the second one... it is much more mysterious - a group of loyal ninjas risked their lives to rescue Toyotomi Kunimatsu from the burning Osaka Castle, and the blood of the Toyotomi family was lost among the people.

No matter how much the Tokugawa family whitewashes it, it can't change the fact that they bully the orphans and widowers (Toyotomi Hideyori, Cha Cha) and usurp the lord's kingdom as a minister.

In order to defeat the unfaithful and unfilial ministers and regain the kingdom that should belong to the Toyotomi family, the remnants of the Toyotomi family have not forgotten their hatred for the Tokugawa family for generations, secretly accumulating strength, and are always ready to overthrow the Edo shogunate and reshape the Toyotomi world.

Katsura Kogoro has heard too many urban legends similar to this.

Seven hundred years ago, during the Genpei War, after the Genji wiped out the Taira clan, there were rumors that the Taira clan was not over yet, and that their descendants were accumulating strength in an attempt to take back the world.
To be continued...