"From Kyoto, entrusted by great personages, seeking a tribute gift rare under heaven."
The tea room was warm. A red-clay brazier was boiling an antique clay pot, and a faint fragrance of tea drifted through the quiet chamber. Takeda Nobuhiro watched Morino Kiyoshi prostrate on the floor and pondered in silence.
Clearly, the tribute Morino Kiyoshi sought was meant to be given to someone. Given to whom? With the situation at present, naturally it was to be given to the Ashikaga Yoshimi line, which was about to enter Kyoto and take charge of the shogunate. And the reason for the gift, he supposed, was that the great personages behind Morino Kiyoshi had stood on the wrong side in the shogun family's dispute. To seek the Yoshimi line's forgiveness, they had no choice but to rack their brains for ways to curry favor.
Of course, those were all great personages of Kyoto, tied to power under heaven. They were not people a mere local strongman and landholder of Ezo Land like him could wantonly mock.
At that thought, the anger on Takeda Nobuhiro's face immediately drew back, as though it had never appeared. Then he stretched out his strong hands, lifted this great merchant from Kyoto up from the floor, and spoke in a warm voice.
"Morino Kiyoshi, I understand why you've come. Come, rise first. The water is boiled. Share a bowl of compressed tea with me!"
With that, Takeda Nobuhiro looked toward his son. Kakizaki Mitsuhiro, his expression solemn, placed the tea bowl by the fire and roasted it first. In Katsuyama Castle in this Ezo Land, naturally there were no famous tea wares such as "Inaba Tenmoku," "Yuteki Tenmoku," or "White Tenmoku"; even fine porcelain from the Tang people was absent. The porcelain bowl in Kakizaki Mitsuhiro's hands