Post by Deleted on May 31, 2016 10:55:05 GMT
Norman, John. Rebels of Gor (Kindle Location 8240)
That I supposed would be something in the nature of one hundred and fifty slaves. “For what were they sold?” I asked. “Rice,” he said. “Lord Yamada is generous,” I said. “He is a great lord,” said the Ashigaru. “Much rice?” I said. “Most,” he said, “were exchanged for one fukuro of rice, some for two.” “That is not much,” I said. The most common fukuro of rice, or bag or sack of rice, as I had seen it measured out in the holding, and at the encampments, would weigh less than a half stone.
Norman, John. Rebels of Gor (Kindle Locations 1060-1065)
Even a pot girl, a kettle-and-mat girl, would most likely bring between twenty and thirty copper tarsks in most markets. And, in better times, one might buy the common fukuro of rice, to its usual measure, for as little as one or two tarsk-bits.
Norman, John. Rebels of Gor (Kindle Locations 1298-1300)
The large shed housing the pens was but a short walk from the courtyard; it was not unlike such sheds elsewhere in the vicinity, rudely planked, and low roofed, used for storage, and the stabling of beasts , verr, tarsk, and slaves. Some such sheds are also used for the housing of rice seedlings, which are later transferred to designated paddies, or wading fields. Harvested grains are commonly dried in the sun in Se’Kara, before the Seventh Passage Hand. Most rice is grown in village fields, several villages often under the rule of a single daimyo. These villages pay the rice tax, supplied primarily in produce, rice itself, to the daimyo , and the shogun receives his tax, usually in kind, as well, from the daimyos. Sometimes, too, the tax is supplied in terms of men, serving as porters, workers, and Ashigaru. Some villages, on the other hand, are under the rule of the shogun himself, so he profits both in virtue of a direct and an indirect tax. To be sure, silver , gold, and copper also function as means of exchange in the islands, either in the form of marked coinages or as plates and bars. Similarly various forms of produce other than rice may be taxed, exchanged by bartering, and so on. Fishing villages, of course, share portions of their catch, fresh, or dried, with their patrons and protectors, these goods gathered by low-level administrative officials. A great deal of the exchange in the islands is effected by barter. It was thus not all that unusual that many of the slaves of the holding of Lord Temmu had been exchanged for rice. What was unusual was the desperation on the part of the besieged to obtain rice, and the ratio of exchange, often as surprising as one fukuro for a slave.
Norman, John. Rebels of Gor (Kindle Locations 3042-3054)
“We have eleven varieties of rice here,” said the shogun, “variously prepared, in stews, pastes, and cakes, and variously seasoned, with a dozen sauces and herbs. Too, consider the gifts of the sea and shore, from four of my fishing villages, clams, oysters, grunt, bag fish, song fish, shark, eels, octopus, wing fish, parsit, squid.” “You set a magnificent table,” I said to the shogun. “I rejoice if my humble offerings please you,” said the shogun.
Norman, John. Rebels of Gor (Kindle Locations 3517-3521)