Side Story - Formation of Hinata
Though not to many Hinata was not a town but according to the people they refer to it as a safe haven and a city. Though it wasn't recognized to the more powerful they did not even bother to charter the area. In Hinata the residents acted as it were a full fledge city which rivaled in trade with cities like Hakodate or Nagoya. There were shops of course and restaurants, of course. Though it is said that they did not take nor offered money, they bartered, often trading what little they grew or made, they took anything they could get. The actual formation of the village dated back to before the Decline of the Urashima. An old man and two of his sons, weary travelers and merchants grew exhausted and it started to rain. They set up tents, and covered their goods and wagons. As days went by and people passed they were able to sell much of their goods, they were quite a ways from any major city and as many wanderers decided to help with their trade. They realized how flat the ground was and then Hinata's first house was built the wanderer that built it, was named Sugata Shiro, a farmer and his wife Honda Yui. They farmed upon the fertile soil and the second house was built for the merchant and his two sons. Together they sold crops to passing drifters and vagabonds. But as many bad harvests occurred one of the sons had starved and took ill. Yui had given birth to a still-born daughter, as the merchant's son soon died afterwards, grieving from the death of his son the merchant left and moved back to his home in Edo returning to his wife, daughter and other son.
On the other hand, the farmers that had named the home after their daughter, soon left as well. They left the two houses and left a carving on the door with the name, knowing someone may find it sooner or later. Many decades later the Urashima had arrived, and found the dilapidated homes and assumed that someone had lived there before along with a couple of their followers they soon built some few new houses as well as storehouses and silos for crops. They built a more established village and established a legal system. A man named Urashima Kojiro and his nephew refurbished the weathered houses, which had not only been destroyed by nature but thieves who had raided the houses, which had found nothing. As the House was expanded it became Kojiro's home. The Urashima mainly being an agrarian clan, were good farmers. They realized how good the soil was and were able to time frosts and harvests well unlike their predecessors. They also used crop rotation and plows to optimize production and soil quality. Most of their crops were not cash crops but they did grow cotton for cloth and did collect money for merchants to buy what they couldn't produce. The city soon constructed walls to keep not only wild animals out but to keep out enemies. But in order to make their wall they needed not only a large amount of timber but also a widespread area. Well that problem solved itself; they cleared the surrounding forest and used excess timber to build a strong and high wall, towers, and two gatehouses. To minimize suspicion, they routinely placed the remaining leaves and foliage on the walls to make the town either camouflaged or old and abandoned, which this plan worked out well. Hunting game for food wasn't hard either but still wasn't easy as well. They did not use guns. They were completely against guns, but they still needed a way to hunt them. The answer: traps. There were many traps in the forest around which also helped keep out trespassers. Fishing was also done as well. Some of the surveyors located a river sprawling with fish. For this they used nets and spears.
The people followed orders by what seemed a council of which each council member must be ratified every five months or voted out and in where a one month voting period is taken place. Hinata was split into twelve individual districts and a council member from each one must be selected and then ratified by each district needed at least two-thirds of the votes before entering the council. Three Head councilors otherwise known as elders also must be selected form any of the twelve districts and must be ratified by at least three-fifths of the town.
They soon developed caste systems aside from the four occupations system which was generally rejected. Their caste systems were not based on wealth as no one had wealth but rather by background and ancestry, this system was generally accepted by most of the council including the head. It is as followed, the highest were members of artisan families or clans, next were those of agricultural or hunting background, then were those of scholastic background which encompassed instructors, scholars, and philosophers. Lastly, and widely looked down upon were those of royal or martial background such as decedents of shoguns, samurai, swordsmen, or gunsmiths. Those who taught or were taught swordsmanship for recreation or self defense were exempt from this and were treated like scholars. This caste system was thrown out after Urashima Kojiro joined the council but a different one was put in place where most were treated equally yet even so most of the citizens still treated martial clans badly.
As it seemed like the city of Hinata seemed to thrive well, disasters struck. During one summer, there was an intense heat wave that caused many heat stroke especially the elderly, not only were people dying but crops failed too and animals died as well. The main problem was dealing with the bodies, they burned them but many were buried and some of the bodies got into the soil which leaked into the water causing mass illnesses. The next year there was a long winter causing a short growing season and with a lack of crops the next year many starved. A man near the outskirts reported to have found bits of gold in the ground and tried to dig up a mine but hit a spring that burst from the ground flooding that portion of town. Most of which was granaries and silos of grain. After disaster after disaster soon many felt the city was cursed and doomed for eternity and left most of which were the farmers which left only a few artisans and a couple of experienced farmers the rest did not have a particular skill. But in spite of all these Kojiro remained resilient as ever in the face of adversaries, which his sister Hina and some of her followers visited to help train the civilians to hunt, forage, fish, or farm. After a span of over 10 years the city was back to normal.
Many soon heard of Hinata and its success, many famous members of different clans visited, and farmers from all over Japan wanted to live in Hinata. But many who wanted lacked the knowledge of its wherabouts leaving them bewildered. After many did find its hidden location there weren't enough food to ration to the populous city that was Hinata. Many were forced to leave. After enough had continuously been forcibly removed people seemed oblivious of the town and saw as if it was like all the others and to newer generations its location remained unbeknownst to them. Then after the Great Decline of the feared Urashima, a metaphorical flood of people asked to live there, and Kojiro had to unwillingly accept to the terms of agreement and allow them in. After this Hinata's military might had to be recognized as a threat to hostile clans. As weapons were developed so were tactics including hiding, horseback archers, and sniping in trees; though they did not use guns and this tactic was explicitly used it was passed on to their allies who did use arquebuses and muskets. Even after this Hinata's presence remained unnoticed at least for now.
