Session 10. (9/3/12)

It is spring in the Year of the Tiger (1482). Andō Hidasue goes on a trip to Akita, capital of Dewa Province, a few ri along the coast from his home, to report on his peace-keeping efforts in Oga Town. He is very pleased to learn that Dewa's Jitodai (or Assistant Land Steward) is impressed with his success in defeating the Oga ruffians, and is amazed to find himself promoted to the job of collecting harbour tolls on the Omono River, which runs through Akita Town.

Hidasue has been told he can take his new staff to assist him in his new role, and he asks his guests from Ezo if they will work for him, as he feels unable to cope by himself and they did so well in Oga town. Meanwhile he tells them about the job.

In Akita, boats come up the river from the agricultural lands in the interior of Dewa Province. Most of them come into Akita's port to unload, or to transfer their cargoes to coastal vessels which carry the produce further south. A few boats can navigate the inshore waters and the lower river. These boats must be intercepted by the Harbour Patrol to collect the tolls. Not many cargoes go upstream, just some "exotic" foodstuffs like citrus fruits and alcohol, and goods such as ceramics and lacquerware. All boats must pay a toll of 1 Copper per Silver Piece of the value of their goods (or about 3%). Cargoes that get transferred are subject to paying the toll twice.

Hidasue tells them he has been warned that sometimes the boat captains try to avoid the tolls by sneaking into the docks, or drifting past at dusk, or by hiding cargo. On occasion, boats might try to smuggle illegal items such as drugs, weapons and illegal travellers. All must be found and the captains fined.

To celebrate his promotion, Hidasue organises a little drinks party in his house with his deputies. Soon he challenges them to a drinking contest. He clearly knows one end of a sake flask from the other, while the half-Ainu castaways are unsure what to make of the warm, volatile liquid. Sahpo takes one sip and refuses to drink any more, citing religious reasons. Emishi has a little more but loses control of his limbs and has to stop. Yoshi Yeesu keeps pace with Hidasue, who has slowed right down after his fast start. Ishan Ashte passes Hidasue's total quite comfortably, but even he cannot surpass Tomtare's prodigious capacity for drink. All the ex-Ainu can hear Kokuma's voice in their heads: "That's my boy!" Hidasue slurrily congratulates Tomtare and Ishan Ashte for beating him, and Yoshi Yeesu shares some group respect for managing to keep up with his boss.

While somewhat inebriated, Hidasue admits that his clan, the Andō, went to Ezo and founded Matsumae. The half-Ainu offspring of former Matsumae samurai prick up their ears - this man is the abandoned son of the oppressors of their parents' people. Being too drunk to work out the import of this sentence, they let it go without issue - after all, they shouldn't judge a scroll by its ribbon.

The harbour patrol duties start gently, after a day nursing hangovers and learning to use the customs skiff, a tidy little craft built for speed and manoeuvrability on Akita's broad river. Sahpo takes the helm, having learnt quickest the rudiments of sailing it, and they all take turns in being in charge. One of their first encounters occurs when Sahpo is in charge. A boat appears to be sailing past the docks without paying its tolls. Tomtare calls out "Heave to!!", but the boat ignores his booming voice. Sahpo turns their skiff on a copper piece and heads off the other boat. Ishan Ashte is caught out by the sudden turn and falls off the thwart on which he was squatting. The other boat slows, but swerves to avoid the approaching customs officers. Emishi shouts a warning to the captain of the other boat and fires a warning shot from his bow, which hits him in the gunwales. The evasive captain immediately gives in and heaves to. Sahpo pulls alongside and the others board the boat. It is carrying a cargo of vegetables. They search the ship but find nothing else other than a few fruits. The captain, the only man on the boat, offers up his harbour fee, explaining that he just didn't want to stop to hand it in. Emishi suggests they rough up the captain to see if he has any secret cargo, but the others baulk at manhandling a peasant, so Emishi seizes his plums and lets him go.

Later that day Emishi has his turn in charge when another boat tries to pass the docks without paying tolls, this time travelling as fast as its sails will take it. Sahpo shows his mastery of the wind and quickly gets the skiff up to its maximum speed, significantly faster than any of the river boats. The other boat veers away. Yoshi Yeesu decides to fire a warning shot before a warning shout and puts an arrow into the boat's bows. "Heave to!" he cries. The other boat takes down its sails and waits for Sahpo to come alongside. "Tax collection! Boarding! Stand aside, peasants" calls Emishi. The boat's captain, manning it by himself, looks frightened and bemused. Sahpo checks over the cargo, which consists of bundles of dried herbs.

"Nothing illegal here," he announces, somewhat disappointedly, "Just herbs for eating. Quite valuable though." With this information, Yoshi Yeesu has a good guess at the amount of tax to levy, and all improve their Tax Collection skill by a fraction.

Now Yoshi Yeesu takes charge until the day's end. In the evening's dusk, Emishi spots a boat trying to sneak into the harbour. Sahpo guides the skiff right up behind the boat as it starts to tie up, then goes alongside and ties up to the boat.

"Why do you tie up to my boat?!" demands the boat's captain angrily.

"Customs and excise! Prepare for boarding!" yells Yoshi Yeesu. The man looks shocked as five samurai pour onto his boat. A quick glance shows a cargo of mixed foodstuffs.

"Why did you sneak into the harbour?" asks Yoshi Yeesu. The man can't find an answer. "Tear the ship apart," Yoshi Yeesu orders. Sahpo has a detailed, non-destructive search and, finding nothing, stops the others before they have caused too much damage. Tomtare makes the tax calculations and Yoshi Yeesu adds on a fine as well. "Let that be a lesson to you," he warns.

The next encounter on the river, a few days later, occurs on Tomtare's watch. It turns out to be a routine affair - a boat sails up the river and hails the customs skiff to pay its toll rather than spend time going into the dock. Routine, but everyone increases their tax-collecting experience, especially Ishan Ashte who has the honour of doing the value estimates.

And Ishan Ashte is on watch the next time a boat tries something on. It occurs during a routine inspection of a boat carrying sacks of rice. Ishan Ashte decides to check all the sacks of rice by picking them up and judging whether they all weigh the same. After a couple of sacks he gets tired and hands over to Tomtare, who manages to check nine before he tires. Ishan Ashte tries again and manages three. Sahpo has a go, but can only lift one! Tomtare tries again and gets to his fifth when he finds a hidden stash of spices beneath the sack. Sahpo has a look but can't recognise the spice. He guesses they are probably worthless. Yoshi Yeesu guesses they are quite valuable. After a brief tussle of wills, Yoshi Yeesu prevails and they set a sensible level of tax and a fine.

In the coming weeks, the new Harbour Patrol deals with numerous routine searches and minor incidents. They also get to thinking about how they could improve their efficiency. Sahpo analyses the ships design and identifies some minor improvements to the sails and the keel. Yoshi Yeesu works on the masts and spars while Tomtare reshapes the keel; Emishi makes extra sails. Ishan Ashte, on the other hand, tackles the efficiency of stopping other boats - by building a ship bow. This is basically a very large daikyu that is braced against the ship, and designed to fire ship arrows - long, heavy, iron shafts with dull points, which Onuma makes, though she can only get enough metal to make four of them. Newly equipped, the Harbour Patrol sets out on a new week of tax enforcement.

On Sahpo's first command he gets a suspicious feeling about a boat, so he orders it to stop. It does so, word obviously having got around that the customs men won't hesitate to fire on boats that won't comply with their orders. There are two crew. Sahpo asks to see their travel papers. They hand them over. Emishi thinks they look forged, but Sahpo critically fails his kanji and overrules, saying they are OK. However, he still has his suspicions, and, following his nose, finds a concealed hold. He opens it and is met with a cacophony of barking from two guard dogs hidden inside. Tomtare, Emishi and Sahpo try Control Wolf, but all fail. Sahpo quickly closes the hatch, but not before he and Yoshi Yeesu have been bitten. Once the hatch is shut, and the dogs are in the dark, they stop barking. They are of the local Akita breed. Sahpo demands that he controls the dogs while the concealed hold is searched. The man asks if he can receive leniency if he cooperates. Emishi says that the tax is a fixed rate, and it will be extra for the dogs. Yoshi Yeesu is kinder, and says that they can make allowances. The dog owner puts leashes on the dogs and takes them out of the hold. Yoshi Yeesu goes in to investigate. It is a small space, just big enough for the three dogs. He looks for hidden panels but finds nothing. The Harbour Patrol is confused. Why are the dogs on board - after all, the cargo of vegetables is not particularly valuable. Then Yoshi Yeesu twigs: "Maybe the dogs ARE the cargo!"

"Yes," interjects Ishan Ashte, "A well-trained guard dog has got to be worth fifty silver at least!"

The tax collectors sit and ponder the tax. Eventually Emishi concludes, "Three silver for tax and five more as a fine." Despite being very lenient, the boat owner protests.

"I haven't got that much money, only my goods," he says.

"Well we can take some of your cargo instead."

The man says he can give them his vegetables or his smaller cargo of fruit. He puts his plums on the deck, but they have shrivelled up so the officials take his cabbages, much to the boater's relief.

On Emishi's command a few days later, Sahpo has a nagging suspicion about another boat as it sets out to sail south along the coast. Emishi realises what it is - the boat has paid its river toll, but must pay another for passage to the sea, and it has slipped away without paying. Emishi guides the skiff up out to the river mouth to intercept the coastal vessel. The coaster's captain takes one look at the ship bow mounted on the skiff's prow and lowers his sails. There are four crew and a cargo of foodstuffs.

"Import AND export tolls must be paid!" announces Emishi. "Let's see what's in your boxes, barrels and sacks." The crew comply, and soon the patrolmen are busy totting up the value of the various goods. The results differ wildly, but as Tomtare and Emishi arrived at the same answer, they decide to go with that. In fact they end up overtaxing the boat slightly, but as they didn't issue a fine, the boat captain doesn't make an issue of it.

The highlight of the week happened on Yoshi Yeesu's turn in charge. A boat was leaving the docks heading upriver with no cargo, a common enough situation for boats heading for the interior.

"I've got a funny feeling about that boat," says Ishan Ashte.

"Don't be silly, there's obviously no cargo," rejoins Sahpo.

"Maybe we could have a look..." adds Tomtare.

"OK," says captain Yoshi Yeesu, and swings the boat around. They pull alongside and order the boat to stop, which it does. They board, but no-one can see any cargo or anything suspicious. Then, as they are about to rejoin their own boat, a hatch bursts open next to Tomtare and a man jumps out wearing only a fundoshi and runs to the back of the boat. The man sees the other samurai, spins round and runs back to the front, almost colliding with Yoshi Yeesu. Yoshi Yeesu draws his sword, letting his body take over using the iaijutsu skill he practised for hours as a child, and cuts the man's leg off! The man screams and jumps over the side of the boat where he finds his inability to swim is worsened by his lack of one leg. Thinking the man is getting away, Sahpo hits him with two Arrows of Wood, whereupon he stops splashing and floats face down in the river. Sahpo tries to steer the skiff around to him, but he is on the far side of the other boat and the skiff is caught in the current while trying to cross behind it. Ishan Ashte dives in to save the man and manages to drag him back to the boat, where his condition is stabilised.

Yoshi Yeesu asks the captain what is going on, but the captain looks away, his mouth a firm line. Then Emishi draws his sword and the captain's mouth becomes a wavy line, but he is too scared to talk. Then Sahpo announces that he has seen the fleeing man's face somewhere before. Acting on a hunch, he looks at his remaining foot and finds tattoos on the sole - he is a yakuza. He was convicted, but must have escaped from jail and be fleeing upriver. Sahpo orders the boats to return to the dock where the captain and the one-legged man can receive justice.

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