Chapter 15 Part 1 - Since I was reborn as Saito Yoshitatsu, I'm aiming to hand over the territory to Oda Nobunaga and live longer!
1536 (Tenbun era, year 5)
TL: YuinaAuthor's Note:
The reality is that medical development requires the development of industry and technology first.
Chapter 15: Glassmaking can't be achieved in a year, nor can the improvement of Papermaking
One day, when I was dozing in a sea of books, my father suddenly came to my room.
I had been collecting books about the Ming dynasty in order to broaden my knowledge, and now I have a room full of books. Sachi regularly tidies up the books, but after I use them for the sake of study, I find that the room became a mess again. It seems that I haven't been able to change my past habits from my previous life.
"I am looking for a way to get rich."
When he said that, I thought that he wanted to look for some legend of buried treasure to get rich, but it seems that he simply wants to make money by producing new special products.
Mino has made a lot of money by making Mino Washi paper since long ago, but it seems that it is not enough to compensate for the flood damage that occurred in quick succession before.
That's why I also started making soap, but the production price of soap is a little high. Oil is expensive to begin with, and it costs 20 Japanese mon (which is about 8,000 yen) to produce an adequate amount. The annual income of a samurai of the lowest rank[1] was around 2 kan and 500 mon (2500 mon, about one million yen). Since it was like that, ordinary people cannot afford to buy many of them.
We arranged it in a neat wooden box to make it look more like a luxury item, and distributed samples as gifts to the Imperial Court and the shogunate, as well as the Rokkaku, Asai and Shiba clans, so that it will sell soon. But it couldn't sell as well as Mino Washi paper, and it needed oil, so we couldn't mass produce.
Therefore, since I was able to come up with such a fine product, I was asked to make something else.
For the time being, I decided to go and watch the process of Japanese paper making.
I can recall the memories of the Mino Washi paper Museum that I went to before my death, so I thought that it might be possible to improve the manufacturing method.
If this goes well, the income will increase quickly.
I went to the Japanese paper factory with Shinshichi who's my friend (no matter what anyone may say), although others consider him more like a small accessory that I own. I'm also thankful for the escort guards who are always accompanying me.
"Oh, this looks amazing, Toshinori-sama. Are they making Mino washi paper here?"
"Hmm."
"Young Master, please be careful not to go too far inside, or they will stop working."
"I understand, thank you."
Since I had already told them beforehand that I wanted to see how they were working, they bowed to me immediately after I entered, and continued working silently.
The papermaking process did not seem to differ greatly in the past compared to the present... But the age of the workers varied too much, ranging from an old man with gray hair to a young girl who seemed to be about the same age as me.
"Why is there such a wide range of ages among the workers?"
"Young master, papermaking is a skill that is passed down from generation to generation. Since it is a family business, when the children are old enough to help your grandparents, they can start learning the craft."
What is this inefficient way of doing things?
"Why don't they start a division of labor while working all together in a big facility."
"Division of labor? I don't know what that thing is, but if that's what they do for a living, they won't teach it to other people."
I see. In this day and age, people won't easily share their knowledge since it's their livelihood. Suddenly, I felt that this reality was a bit more difficult to deal with.
Then, a boy a little older than me came in from the opposite doorway.
He said, "Father, there are only a few paper mulberries left to be unraveled."
"Well, then, follow Grandma and go finish them for me."
"All right. Let's go, Grandma."
As the two of them went out, I decided to take a look there as well.
Then, to my surprise, they started beating the paper mulberries in the mortar with a hammer to dissolve the fibers.
After a certain amount of processing, the paper is transferred to a bucket, and the paper in the bucket is loosened to pieces with a stone knife. I couldn't help but call out to the old lady.
"How long does this process take?"
"Well, if you start from dawn until the sun reaches zenith, you'll finish about three tassels and have about twenty sheets of paper."
In other words, even if you do your best, in one day, you can only make that much paper? There are seven hours from dawn till noon. This is also another exploitative workplace. Child labor adding to it an environment that did not allow for retirement, and of course, retirement payments don't even exist in this world.
Thus, the first objective was to do something about the work process.
I don't know all the details, and there's no way I can make it, so I'm basically leaving everything up to the craftsmen, but I decided to help them by making a naginata beater [2] and a smashing machine using a water wheel.
Since I could use a small knife as a surgical tool to carve, I spent about two hours a day making a small wooden model, and the mechanism was completed in four months. It didn't take too long to adjust the rotation speed of the gear.
The beating rod moves up and down under the power of the waterwheel to break up the fibers, and the naginata, which rotates on the rotating shaft of the waterwheel, breaks up the fibers.
It didn't turn out to be as great as the modern ones, but when it is completed, it will dramatically increase productivity.
"I want more funds."
I showed my father a model and explained that we needed a waterwheel, and he said,
"Let's work on just one for now, and we'll share it with a few craftsmen at first, we'll add more as we get good results."
Strange. I thought I had chosen something that would have a relatively immediate effect.
"Well, if it works, we can lower the price a bit, that way we'll have the monopoly over the paper in the capital. This is also related to the Danjo no chu. It's good to rope in Tsushima and use Tokaido [3] to be able to sell it to various places."
Personally, I'm not satisfied with just this, knowing how much more benefits I can achieve with the memory of my past life, but my father seems to be enjoying himself, so I guess it's okay.
[1] Ashigaru (lightfeet) (足軽) were foot-soldiers who were employed by the samurai class of feudal Japan.
[2] A naginata beater is similar to a hollander beater, but generally used in Eastern style hand papermaking to process long fibers such as kozo. The difference is that a naginata has long, thin, rotating blades that tease the fibers apart. The resulting paper sheet is remarkably even.
[3] The Tōkaidō was originally an old Japanese geographical region that made up the gokishichidō system and was situated along the southeastern edge of Honshū, its name literally meaning 'Eastern Sea Way'. The term also refers to a series of roads that connected the capitals (国府 kokufu) of each of the provinces that made up the region.
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