Chapter 527: First Anniversary Extra Chapter ~~ Isekai Trip for Two Part 1 ⑤: Amusement Park ~~ (2/2)
[……Ehh?]
[I wonder if this is Choji Hamon? It's a little hard to see because of the kesho-togi though…… Moreover, even the fine details on the nakago looked amazing.]
(T/N: Choji Hamon is a pattern that looks like cloves lined up together. Kesho-togi is a style of katana design where they would make a white pattern alongside the hamon. Nakago is that part of the blade that goes into the handle)
[K- Kuro…… -san?]
Arehh? What does this mean? Why the heck does it look like Kuro knows more about this than I do!? She's saying technical sounding terms one after another, you know!?
What's going on? What in the world is Kuro saying……
[Unnn? What's the matter?]
[N- No, I'm just wondering how you know about it so much.]
[Ahh, you see, there's that area with lots of books in that room we were in earlier, right?]
[Y- Yeah, there really was a place that looked like a reference room……]
[I ”memorized all the books” there!]
[……………….]
When I heard Kuro's words with a smile, I was utterly astounded. You memorized all those books? When did you do that? Ah, speaking of which, Kuro was acting strangely just now, picking up a book before putting it back on the shelf…… There's no way that she read all of it at that time, right? S- Seriously, her specs are just unbelievably high.
[……Speaking of which, you've been doing it so naturally that I didn't even notice…… Kuro, were you even able to read Japanese?]
[Ehh? Ahh, I see……. Kaito-kun was so used to the Translation Magic that you may not have noticed, but I've been ”speaking Japanese” ever since we came here.]
[……Huh?]
I somehow managed to restrain myself from shouting in surprise. Even if there is no one else in the room at the moment, we are in an Exhibition Room…… a place where one shouldn't raise their voice loudly.
E- Even so…… Kuro had been speaking in Japanese? Well, I didn't notice at all. She was speaking so fluently that I didn't notice any difference from the Japanese I usually hear through Translation Magic.
[The Translation Magic Shiro and Earth God give to people doesn't work on me. Kaito-kun may be able to hear me, but other people wouldn't understand what I was saying…… That's why I learned how to speak your language. Pronunciation is still a bit difficult for me though, so it's not perfect yet.]
[I- I didn't notice at all……]
[You think so? Do you think I'm speaking well before?]
[U- Unnn. You won't look out of place from other people with the way you speak.]
[Really? I'm glad then~~]
Good gracious, she's really quite outrageous. Well, for Kuro, who can memorize the contents of large amounts of books in an instant, I guess studying Japanese is easy…… I kind of feel like she will have memorized all the major languages on Earth by the time we go back home.
Even though I was astonished by Kuro's shocking statement, it wasn't any particular inconvenience, so we continued our tour.
On the second floor of the museum, there was a display of very recently made by a swordsmith called ”Setouchi Toukoukai”, and I was impressed by how exquisite the swords here look.
(T/N: I'm not sure if this is a sword made by a person named Setouchi Toukoukai, or a sword made by someone from Setouchi Swordsmith Association (Toukoukai). I can't find a group like that from google though, so I guessed that it was a name.)
There weren't only katanas here in the second floor Exhibition room, as there were also spears and naginatas, and thanks to Kuro's knowledge, I was able to understand what I was looking at.
After that, we left the museum and went to the ”Bizen Osafune Sword Workshop”, where we could see where the katanas were actually made.
I heard that you can even experience a little bit of the world at the forge where Japanese katanas were made. Unfortunately though, most of the craftsmen were already resting, so we couldn't see them at work.
However, the workshop was a sight to behold, with tools that I had never seen before. There was also an explanatory panel about the work here, which combined with Kuro's explanation, allowed me to clearly understand the work that they were doing.
It kind of feels like there were a lot of autographs on display in the workshop though…… Are they the autographs of swordsmiths here?
After that, we dropped by the ”Sword Master Imaizumi Toshimitsu Memorial Museum”. It was a memorial to a master swordsmith, and the tools he used to create his works were displayed.
Although there are some minor differences, it's basically similar to the one in the workshop we just visited, and in that sense, his techniques have been passed down as well…… How should I say this…… I felt like I'm looking at a piece of history here.
At the end of our tour, we stopped by the ”Fureai Bussan-kan” and picked up some knives…… with some strange kumihimo used in it, which were made with the same manufacturing method used for Japanese katanas.
They also had the souvenirs of Okayama, and a scissor designed like a Japanese katana looked interesting.
As a memento of our visit, Kuro and I decided to buy one Japanese katana's tsuba each to take home with us…… before our tour in the Sword Village came to an end.
Click to open image >>
(T/N: It’s something that looks like this. The design on it is different though.)
On the way home, I had a conversation with Kuro using my freshly-learned sword knowledge, and I realized that I had enjoyed myself more than I had imagined. I'm really glad we came here today.
If a chance comes, I would like to come visit again……
Serious-senpai : [The craftsmen who make Japanese katanas are all working seriously…… which means they are working with serious expressions on their face. This means that the Swordsmiths are Serious smiths, and by extension, Japanese katanas are Serious katanas…… and Sword museums are Serious museums!]
? ? ? : [That's not how it works…… Rather than something like that.]
Serious-senpai : [Something like what!?]
? ? ? : [The fifth chapter of the 4-koma manga is now available at Phantaporta. This time, w- w- what a surprise! It's the character everyone has been waiting for, one of the most popular characters in the novel!!!]
Serious-senpai : [Totally not tooting your own horn.]
? ? ? : [……………………]
Serious-senpai : [Eh? Why did you bring out your knife? Ah, no, I'm lying! ? ? ? is talking about someone totally unrelated to her! Ah, sto…… Higgyaaaaaahhh!?]
T/N: 82/271+10