(Voice actor) Mr.David Radtke

The Edo period was when the Tokugawa administration ruled Japan. The town of Edo was a heavily populated metropolis. There were few cities around the world whose population was over one million, so the scale of Edo made it the world’s largest city. In order to support this many people, transportation of food and supplies was a serious business. How did they transport goods back when there were no cars? They used boats. From all around Japan came various products, supplies and food to the port of Edo. From the port, they used smaller boats to deliver goods into town through canals, moats and rivers. The same went with the transportation of people. They had palanquins that were the equivalent to current day taxis, but these were carried by at least two people and only one person could ride in a palanquin at a time. It was not a very cost effective business model. On the other hand, a boat could carry many people with the labor of only one boatman. It could carry bigger luggage with no problem too. So water transportation quickly developed into the common mode of transportation. Boatmen at the time were like cab and truck drivers today. However, they were not always busy. They were free of work unless there were passengers. So the boatmen had free time to spend as they pleased. Seiji the boatman was always fishing in his spare time. Since he had few passengers one day, he had plenty of time to fish. He caught many fish too. He called it a day and was about to head to a fish store to sell his catch on his way home when he was stopped by someone. He looked up and found a tall man who was over six feet, or 180cm. Considering the average height for a man back then was less than 160cm, he seemed like a giant to Seiji. Furthermore, he had bristling hair and beard and was strangely dressed in purple clothes. The tall man said, “give me a fish.” Seiji felt eerie but gave him a fish as asked. He must have been very hungry and dug into the fish right there. Finishing the fish, he then asked Seiji his name. Having no reason to refuse, “My name is Seiji,” he replied. Who was this eerie man?