Chapter 15 Part 2 - 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: Yuina

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　Around the beginning of summer, I came up with a new specialty: glass.

　As I was researching about the thermometer, I found that most of the glass tools were not made in Japan at that time, so I thought I would try to reproduce them.

　It seems that they used to make glass balls, but now they didn't know how to make glass. I learned about shoso-in's bowl in my Japanese history courses which is considered as a valuable treasure.

　I used the silica sand that I received with the furnace, and mixed it with wood ash and lime.

　When heated in a high-temperature furnace, it turns to mush, so I attached it to an iron rod with a hole in it and blew it before it cooled down in order to mold it.

　However, I had a hard time getting a forger to make an iron rod with a cavity, in other words, something like an iron pipe. It is said that they usually only make parts of swords or armor, and they struggled to meet the demand of a long stick with a cavity and uniform thickness. After all, I had them make it by rolling and stretching the iron plate. They used some special material to make it relatively heat-resistant.

　My prototype glass was not uniform in thickness even when blown, and the bottom was round and unstable. In short, it simply looked terrible.

　Speaking of which, Zenji-san (59), a glass craftsman, also said it would take nearly 10 years to master the skill of making a good and uniform product while rotating the wrist. This may require patience.

　However, as it was a glass product which no one was able to make so long (or it may have not been properly distributed in the market yet), it was immediately presented to the Governor of Mino, Yorinari-sama,

　I told them that I reproduced the Ming manufacturing method.

　We hired about 20 young men to become artisans (the young people who lost their jobs because of the flood) hoping they will do well in the workshop. They were very enthusiastic about becoming master craftsmen and getting a wife.

　After three months from the first prototype, we were finally able to figure out the ratio of lead oxide needed in the pigments. I also rewarded the craftsman who successfully completed the task with some gold. Since we had decided in advance to share the technique within the glass studio, there were no complaints, so we made sure to continue sharing the technique. My father had told me not to talk about it outside the workshop. It's like patient confidentiality, and that can't be helped.

　It'd be a little while before we could really make a sale.

　In the meantime, Father seems to have distributed the prototype to the Imperial Court, the Shogunate and the merchants.

　I wonder when I'll be able to make a glass distiller or thermometer.

Author's Note:

The Naginata Beater was from the Meiji Period, but the Hollander Beater was from the 17th century, and it was water wheel power.

Since the punching machine is a tool for hitting the fibers of mulberry like rice cake with a water wheel, it can be easily  reproduced.

Glass-related products are still lacking in craftsmanship, so I plan to come up with more as time goes on.

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