Useless Mission
In the 7th to 8th century, it was oddly believed that Japan would be invaded by China and Korea from Kyushu. Thus, Japan was forced to prepare for such thing, no matter how absurd it seemed.
"Nani?" exclaimed Japan, "Are you certain?"
Japan was speaking with one of his soldiers in his house, with the soldier having just said some outrageous statement.
"Japan-dono, there may be no concrete evidence, but this is only to be expected," the soldier spoke, "ever since we intervened Korean Baekje when China invaded him, I fear that the Chinese or the Silla Koreans will make a move against us."
"But China… he won't invade me…" Japan reassured himself.
"Even if the Tang did not invade, the Koreans might," the soldier said, "we must act before the consequences become too much for us."
"You mean we must invade them as a pre-emptive move," Japan wondered.
"No, that would really start a war," the soldier said, "instead, we should place frontier guards in Kyushu, where it is the nearest to Korea."
"But who would do a work like frontier guards?" Japan asked, "In China's house, frontier guards is work only for discredited soldiers."
"We can always get the peasants to do it," the soldier said.
"So we have to scout from the entire kingdom…" Japan wondered.
"No, only those from the eastern parts will do," the soldier explained, "they do have the experience of fighting outsiders and have their own weapons."
"That way, we don't need to waste the state treasury to make weapons for them," Japan said.
"And they can fulfil their duties to the state," the soldier continued on, "and the people in the capital won't complain about their sons being dragged off to the frontier."
"Very well, let's call them… the sakimori!" Japan voiced out.
The idea was put up that conscripts were displaced to Kyushu, along with their families. There, they waited and their role was to hold off potential Chinese or Korean invaders while the military prepared itself.
Years had passed since the beginning of sakimori, and Japan decided to pay those soldiers a visit and to see how things were going. He eventually made it to a sakimori camp, and saw the soldiers there. However, they were not the least bit cautious about the "upcoming" invasion.
"Soldiers, how can you be so relaxed?" Japan asked, "The Chinese could be invading us any second now!"
"Excuse me, but how should we refer you?" asked one of the sakimori.
"Watashi wa Honda Kiku desu," Japan introduced, "I'm from the capital."
"The capital… you're the first from there!" someone exclaimed.
"Hush now, he's probably nobility," a third man spoke, "do not offend him, baka!"
"I bet he was nobility, but got demoted," a fourth man remarked, "why else would he be in this no man's land?"
"Never mind my comrades Honda-san," the first sakimori said, "they're just surprised of you, and so am I to be frank."
"You can say that I'm here to see how you all are doing," Japan explained, "but also to know how the situation is so far."
"Well, there was no invasion," the sakimori answered, "there were the occasional ships from Silla, but they are merely fishing boats and never went towards us."
"Nani, could we be mistaken?" the Japanese thought deeply, "but come to think of it, China is still quite receptive of me."
"I see, but may I ask one question from all of you?" Japan asked, "How do you feel about all this, the journey to be guards of the frontier?"
"I was practically aimless when I received the order from Tenno-henkai," the first sakimori spoke up, "I am only honoured to be of great use to the state, even though there was no invasion."
"I was so excited about all this alright… that I forgot to say my last words to my wife," the second man said, "I wonder if she's there, waiting for me."
"All this seems like a waste of time, if you ask me," the third man said, "we see no action and it feels so boring everyday! Kisama!"
"Watch your tongue!" shouted the first sakimori.
"It is good to hear your feelings expressed in such a variety," Japan remarked, "perhaps we should convey our feelings into poetry to find something new to do."
"Ok, you're really from the capital," the third sakimori said, "but you got me. Let's do it people!"
"Yes, I would like to convey my thoughts of having some purpose in life," the first sakimori said.
"Yes, maybe my wife will be touched if I send it back to my hometown," the second sakimori said, "but if only she were there."
"I never got the chance to see my parents when they passed on…" the fourth sakimori said, "I will write two copies then, one to be given to my parents and the other to be read for the world."
"Yes, that will be good," Japan remarked.
However, he was deep in thought of the apparent over-cautiousness of his.
"I knew that I won't be invaded, guess I will have to tell the government to disband these boys," he thought, "how embarrassing this has become…"
And so was the story of the sakimori, frontier guards who never really did anything other than poetry.
Notes
Baekje was a kingdom in the southern half of Korea. Silla was also another kingdom in the southern parts of Korea.
