I Was a Swordsman in Ancient Japan

After agreeing to Treasure that he would be a eater at their sword hall for the remaining one month or so, Ogata's remaining days became regular.

In the morning, I went to Gen Tachibana and completed his Kabuki script with Jiro Nishino.

In the afternoon, Jiro Nishino went to help the family, while Ogata went to the Hosei Sword Museum to learn experience... Ah, no, it was the apprentices who instructed the Hosei Sword Museum to bring about the experience.

In addition to teaching Katori Shinto style swordsmanship, Hosei Sword Museum also teaches Katori Shinto style jujitsu.

Therefore, the apprentices at the Baosheng Sword Museum can be considered as both swordsmanship and jiu-jitsu.

Some apprentices majored in swordsmanship, and some majored in jiu-jitsu.

Therefore, in addition to pointing them to swordsmanship, Ogata also pointed them to Jiu-Jitsu.

Although Ogata is not very good at preaching, teaching and solving puzzles, it is more than enough to teach them some of the enemy experience he has learned and accumulated in one death battle after another.

The teaching of this kind of fighting experience is impossible with the mouth.

Rather, it's better to say-Swordsmanship is a skill that can't be mastered by listening to the mouth.

The best way to pass on the actual combat experience you have accumulated is undoubtedly through actual combat.

Through actual combat, the apprentices of the Baosheng Sword Museum can feel and learn these precious experiences of fighting against people in peace times.

While imparting his own experience of the enemy through actual combat, Ogata can also honestly rely on the battles with the apprentices to gain a lot of experience.

Although the strength of everyone in the Hosei Sword Hall is not very good, the experience points that can be obtained after each battle are not much.

The one with the worst strength, Ogata's personal level experience bar only gained 10 experience points after defeating him.

But fortunately, there are enough apprentices in the Baosheng Sword Museum.

With this fairly considerable number as a base, Ogata’s various experience bars are steadily increasing.

The owner of the Hosei Sword Museum not only has a broad mind that can invite the kicker Ogata to be the swordsmanship instructor of the Sword Museum, but also has a humble heart.

These days, the owner of Baosheng Museum often accepts Ogata’s guidance humbly.

The owner's modest teaching also drove the apprentices in the museum to seek advice from Ogata more actively.

Even the owner of the museum is so humble, and at such an old age, he can still ask without shame, how can we who are students lag behind the master?

This is the voice of many students in the library.

In the process of teaching the swordsmanship of the masters and apprentices of the Hosei Sword Museum, Ogata unknowingly got a nickname-"One Sword Samurai."

This nickname was given to him by the apprentices at Baosheng Sword Museum.

Because no matter who Ogata is fighting with, it is a one-shot kill.

No one can take Ogata's stab, and no one can dodge Ogata's stab—even their master can't stop or dodge Ogata's stab.

On the first day after Ogata officially became a patron of their Hosei Sword Museum, the owner of Hoshokan also asked Ogata for advice due to itchy hands.

And his result was the same as his apprentices-he was killed by Ogata with a single knife.

Gradually, the apprentices at Hosei Sword Museum began to call Ogata "One-Sword Samurai."

The Baosheng Sword Museum will be closed after dark.

Therefore, after dark, Ogata will leave the sword hall and return to the hotel to start learning "Ezo" with Amachi.

Before leaving Edo, Ogata bought a copy of "Ezo Common Phrases Teaching" from the owner of the north wind house where Masao Kondo works at a very low price.

Some time ago, I didn't have much time to study because I had been busy on the road.

Therefore, Ogata and Amachi plan to learn Ezo's common language during the time they are temporarily living in Kinnocho.

After learning Ezo's language, waiting for Ezo land may be of unexpected use.

After learning late at night, Okinawa will start to do things with Amachi every day since his physical injury is almost healed.

Ogata is 21 years old this year, and Amachi is 18 years old this year.

They are all at the age of "food marrow knows the taste" and will be hungry and thirsty.

The two are exploring each other's physical limits every day.

I practiced swords both day and night—it’s perfect to describe Ogata’s life these days.

...

...

In the second year of Kuanzheng (AD 1790), November 29, the night-

As a town with a population of nearly 100,000, Kinno Town naturally has no shortage of bathhouses.

In the towns and cities of the Edo period, only those large households would have a bathroom in their homes.

Lower- and middle-ranking samurai and ordinary Ichirai usually have no bathroom in their homes. If you want to take a bath, you will be bathed in a large bathhouse in the castle town.

Therefore, the large bathhouse is one of the most indispensable facilities in every town.

The hotel where Ogata and Amachi stayed did not provide bathroom services, which made Ogata very regretful.

But there is a bathhouse not far from the hotel.

These days Ogata and Amachi bathe in this bathhouse.

After going to the barren and smoky land of Ezo Land, there may be no chance to take a bath again.

Therefore, Ogata and Amachi have been taking a bath and washing very frequently recently. They want to take a comfortable bath and take a few more showers as soon as possible.

Tonight, after dinner, Ogata and Amachi returned to the bathhouse to take a shower as usual.

Since Matsudaira, who was determined to revitalize the shogunate, took office as the old middle school, he has carried out reforms of varying degrees in many fields such as economy and culture.

In terms of people's livelihood, Songping Dingxin also issued many reform orders.

For example, Songping Dingxin restructured bathhouses across the country.

In the past, many bathhouses used mixed bathing for men and women, regardless of whether they were male or female.

So at that time, many old people criticized that the happiest time of the day was the time to take a bath in the bathhouse.

Soak in the warm water, and stare at the pomegranate mouth with the "like-minded" comrades around, hoping that the next person who enters the bath will be a young girl.

After Songping Dingxin took office as the senior middle school and mastered the power of the country, he believed that the bathhouse, regardless of gender, was really unscrupulous, corrupt, and decadent.

Therefore, with a stroke of the pen, it is required that all bathhouses in the country must be divided into male and female baths, and there should be no more bathhouses for mixed male and female baths.

After this order was issued, the bathhouses where men and women bathed in mixed baths quickly began to renovate and renovate.

Nowadays, there are basically no bathhouses where men and women can bathe in mixed baths in the whole country.

As far as Ogata knows-since Matsudaira Matshinbu launched this "bathroom reform", from samurai to ordinary civilians, it seems that quite a few people hate Matsudaira Matshinbu, and hope Matsuba Matshinbu can step down quickly. .

At the same time, I heard that since there were no bathhouses for mixed men and women, the business of many bathhouses that were originally mixed men and women has suddenly deteriorated.

The reason for this is not difficult to guess-many old pornographic critics have lost the motivation to come back to take a bath.

There is no way to look at a woman's body anymore. What is the point of taking a bath in the rest of your life?

So after the release of the "bathroom reform", many old critics who had lost their dreams were "depressed."

Ogata didn't dislike Matsuhira's "reform of bathhouse".

Not only is it not disgusting, but also thinks it is a rare benevolent and good governance.

Just as it is still impossible to appreciate Tsukidai, Ogata still finds it difficult to understand why people in this era can accept mixed bathing, and it is not strange that men and women bathe together.

After saying goodbye to Amachi in front of the bathhouse, Okina entered the male bath on the left, and Amachi entered the female bath on the right.

The layout of this bathhouse where Ogata and Amachi often come to bathe recently is a very common bathhouse layout at present.

There are two floors. The first floor is a bathing place, and the second floor is a rest room. Guests after bathing can go to the second floor to have a rest, but only men can go up to the second floor to rest.

There are 2 entrances and exits on the first floor, and both entrances and exits are hung with cloth curtains.

These two pieces of curtains hung at different entrances and exits, one of them was written "Men Tang" and the other was written "Women Tang".

"Soup" in Japanese has many meanings, one of which means "bath".

There is no doubt that there is a thick wooden wall between the "male soup" and the "female soup". The old color critic can do nothing except hear some voices from the "female soup". Can't see it.

Regardless of whether it is "male soup" or "female soup", the layout inside is the same. After paying the money at the counter, go to the dressing room to undress first, and then to the shower room to wash.

After the shower room is a bath for bathing.

The mouth that connects the shower room and the bath is often called the "pomegranate mouth."

Only after washing the body in the shower room can you pass through the "pomegranate mouth" and take a bath in the bath.

He quickly took off his clothes, and after simply washing his body in the shower room, Xuanyi passed through the pomegranate mouth and was about to enter the bath to take a bath.

It is about 8 o'clock in the evening. In the Edo period, this was the best time for bathhouse business.

After passing through the pomegranate mouth and entering the steam-filled bath room, Xu Jian saw that 60% of the bath room was already full of people.

I tried the water temperature with my fingers-it's a little hot, but in the winter, this water temperature is just right.

After immersing the parts below the neck in hot water, Ogata swam to a place where there were not so many people, and quietly enjoyed the feeling of being surrounded by the warm bath water.

The quality of the human skin mask on Ogata's face is really high. It's nothing more than being fake, and he's not afraid of getting wet by water vapor.

Thanks to the high quality of the human skin mask, Ogata has been able to take a bath in the baths so openly these days.

It was soaked until the skin of his fingers wrinkled slightly, and then Ogata got up from the bath.

Wipe clean, and then went to the dressing room to put on the change of clothes he had brought.

Amachi’s bath time is longer than Ogata’s.

So after changing his clothes, Okinawa boarded the second floor of the bathhouse, preparing to rest on the second floor of the bathhouse while waiting for Acho to go out.

The second floor of the bathhouse was one of the most important social places in the Edo period.

Almost all bathhouses will have a second floor for male guests who have finished the bath to rest.

Some more free male guests will go to the second floor to rest and play after taking a shower.

When he had not yet reached the second floor and was only walking up the stairs, Xu could hear the noise from the top.

Stepping up to the last step, it is easy to see young and old of different ages in different places, passing the time in different ways.

Or get together to discuss all kinds of weird topics.

Or use the bathhouse to provide guests with entertainment equipment such as shogi and go.

On the second floor of this bathhouse, there are staff members who set up a small stall selling snacks and tea, so some people buy steamed buns, yokan and other snacks, eating snacks and drinking free tea, so happy.

Because the second floor of all bathhouses is not open to women, there is no woman in sight here.

Among all the people present, there was no one that Ogata knew, so Ogata walked to the window in silence, looking bored at the scenery outside, to pass the time.

At this moment, Ogata suddenly noticed a loud voice from his side:

"Okay! Those who want to hear me tell my hunting story back then, sit down!"

This voice is a bit old, but very energetic.

Because this voice was very loud, he drew Ogata's attention directly.

Ogata followed the prestige—the master of this voice was an old man.

This old man looks probably in his 50s and his hair is mostly gray.

Although he is old, he is very energetic and his eyes are piercing.

After the words he had just dropped, the six young people who were probably only a teenager sitting in front of him immediately surrounded the old man with their eyes beaming.

"Master Dao!" one of the young people asked, "What are you going to talk about today?"

"Today...today I will tell you the story of hunting giant bears in Ezo land when I was young!"

——Ezo land?

Hearing this word, Ogata raised his brow slightly.

"That was also a very thrilling hunting... eh? In one step, would you like to listen to it together?"

The old man noticed Ogata who had been watching him since just now, so he threw an invitation to Ogata.

Ogata pointed to himself, "Can I come and listen?"

"Of course!" the old man said readily, "the more people who come to listen to my story, the happier I will be! Let's listen to it together! My story won't be long."

Listen to the story of the old man hunting in Ezo land, maybe I can collect some information related to Ezo land-so Ogata is also happy to take advantage of nothing to do now, come and hear the old man hunting bears in Ezo land story.

Sitting in front of the old man with the six young people, the old man moved his eyes and looked up and down Ogata several times, and then asked:

"I haven't seen you, are you a foreigner?"

"Yeah." Ogata nodded. "Because of some things, I have traveled so far."

"Since the outbreak of'Tianming Famine' and the number of gangsters in our northeast has increased, the number of outlanders who will pass through us has been very rare." The old man smiled bitterly, "Anyway-let me introduce myself first. ."

"My name is Shimasuke. I used to be a ghost of the Matsumae clan who lived in Ezo land. Now that I am old, unable to draw a bow or hunt, I move to Kinno Town to live with my daughter and son-in-law. "

"Ghost again?" Ogata's eyes were a little surprised, and he couldn't help but look again at the old man in front of him several times.

"Outsiders, do you know what'Ghost' is?"

Ogata nodded. "I've heard of it. It's the kind of person who both farms and hunts, right?"

The Tohoku region and Ezo land in Japan have always been "wild animal kingdoms."

There are many wild animals such as deer, wolves, and bears.

Bears are not only numerous in number, but also extremely destructive, so it is the bear that poses the greatest threat to people.

So a special group of people was born in Tohoku and Ezo.

They are engaged in agricultural planting in spring and summer. In winter and early spring, teams hunt in the forest, mainly hunting bears and deer.

People in the Tohoku region and Ezo land are called “ghosts” who are engaged in both agricultural planting and hunting activities.

"Yougui" is actually an Ezo language, meaning "winter hunter".

Although there have been people with a long history who have heard of Takaki before, this is the first time Ogata has seen Takaki with his own eyes.

"Since you know what the ghost means, it's easy to handle." Shimsuke grinned, "I won't have to explain."

"Where did I just say it? Ah, yes. I used to be another ghost from a certain "Ghost Village" in Matsumae Clan in Ezo Land."

"We farm in spring and summer, and after winter we pick up bows and arrows to hunt in the mountains."

"It's not that I brag, I was the first hunter in the village when I was young."

Shimasuke put on a bow and arrow posture while talking.

"I won't say anything like a deer that can be hunted by a ten-year-old child. I have killed just how many bears."

"But-although I am an undoubtedly veteran when it comes to bear hunting, I will never take it lightly when preparing for bear hunting."

"Because a bear is an extremely terrifying animal."

Shimsuke's tone slowly became serious.

"Once a bear runs, it can easily catch up with humans."

"When it comes to running, humans can't run beyond bears no matter what."

"An adult bear can slap off a tree as thick as two bowls in the trunk with just one claw."

"After being hit by a bear, human beings are basically bound to die."

"Especially the bears in the Ezo land. The bears in the Ezo land are much scarier than the bears in the Northeast."

"I don't know if it's because the Ezo land is colder. The wolves and bears on the Ezo land are a circle bigger than the wolves and bears here in the northeast."

Shimasuke used his hands to draw a big circle in the air in front of him.

"If the Ezo land bears and the Northeast bears go head-to-head, then the Ezo land bears will definitely win. The size difference is too much."

"To deal with bears, the best weapon to use is poison arrows."

"Whether it is us ghosts or Ezo, we use poisoned arrows to hunt bears."

"Although the poison formula used by Ezo and the poison used by our ghost is different, the effect is similar."

"After the bear hits our poisoned arrow, it only takes 10 breaths to be poisoned to death."

"I have hunted countless bears in my life."

"But if I want to talk about which hunt is the most dangerous in my life, it is undoubtedly the battle with the giant cannibal bear when I was 36 years old."

Shimsuke's eloquence is very good.

The circumflex and frustration are all very good, making people feel very comfortable.

I don't know if this eloquence was trained by telling stories about hunting when he was young for a long time with people around him.

Ogata was also fascinated by it unknowingly.

The real hunting story dictated by the real hunter-Ogata rarely hears it in his previous life or in the present, so Ogata's curiosity at this time is also aroused.

"The bear is a very strange animal."

"They don't usually treat humans as food."

"But if they eat humans, they will not be able to eat anything other than human flesh until they die."

"Even if there are so many delicacies such as mountain fruit, fish, venison, etc., I will never touch it again."

"Why?" a young man sitting beside Ogata asked.

"The saying in our village is that human flesh is far more delicious than other foods, and it is delicious enough to make bears completely obsessed with this food, and they can't eat other foods anymore."

Shimsuke shrugged.

"And Ezo's argument is-this is the punishment of the gods on the bear."

"Once a bear eats people, as punishment, the gods will punish this bear for only feeding on people for the rest of his life."

"Ezo call the bear that ate human flesh'Unkamuyi'."

"Unkamuyi?" another young man asked.

"It's in Ezo. It means'Cthulhu'."

"As for why I call a bear that eats human flesh like that, I don't know much about it. Our village doesn't have much contact with Ezo, so I don't know Ezo very well either."

"Because after a bear eats humans, it can no longer eat food other than human flesh, so there is a rule in our ghosts-once you encounter a bear that eats human flesh, you must hunt it down as soon as possible."

"Because once the bear eats the first person, it will definitely eat the second, the third...until it dies."

"In the year I was 36 years old, I encountered a bear that ate human flesh for the first time and at the same time."

"A bear who didn't know what was going on, suddenly attacked the "Ghost Village" next door."

"Because there are very few bears actively attacking human villages. So the people in that village were not expected to face the attack of the giant bear."

"That huge bear rushed into the village in the middle of the night and attacked a family of three. All three of the family were killed by the bear in their sleep."

"After killing all this family, the giant bear immediately feasted on it."

"The bear hasn't eaten a few bites, and the villagers who found the bear attacked all rushed over and began to encircle and suppress the giant cannibal bear."

"It's a pity that the villagers failed in their encirclement and suppression. This giant cannibal bear is not only big, but also extremely fast. It quickly escaped from the village like a gust of wind and fled back into the mountains."

"In order to avoid the appearance of victims, people from that village come to our village and hope that our village will also help."

"There is a cannibal bear, and people in our village may also be killed, so we agreed to cooperate without hesitation. All the men from the two villages went into battle and made a concerted effort to fight the giant bear."

"After three days of hunting, I finally found the giant cannibal bear in a forest."

"And the first person who discovered this giant cannibal bear..."

Shimsuke smiled wryly and raised his finger and pointed at himself.

"it is me."

"That giant cannibal bear is really big..."

"If it stands up, there should be two people as tall as me."

Ogata looked at Shimoshimasuke's height.

Shimasuke's height is about one meter and five years old.

If the bear is really as high as two Shimsuke, then the bear will stand up to 3 meters high.

"Not only tall but also strong."

Shimasuke raised his hands and compared it.

"Its waist should be 4 pieces as wide as mine."

"I was hiding in a big tree. I was waiting for the best shooting opportunity."

"Shooting bears also has a knack."

Shimsuke raised his hand and nodded his head.

"Fighting the bear, you only need to remember one point."

"That is not to attack the bear's head."

"The bear's skull is extremely hard, almost like steel. Even an iron cannon may not penetrate the bear's head."

"Although the bear's head is big, its brain is very small. Therefore, when attacking the bear's head, it is difficult to accurately hit the bear's brain. If it can't directly hit the bear's brain, the bear will not die."

"So when fighting a bear, you must never attack the bear's head."

"The best attack position is the bear's soft abdomen."

"After waiting for the best time to shoot, I shot a poisonous arrow into the belly of the giant cannibal bear."

"My shooting position is carefully selected by me."

"It takes about 13 breaths to run from the giant cannibal bear to under the tree where I am hiding."

"This time is enough for the poison to take effect and put the bear to death."

"But I didn't expect..."

A bitter color appeared on Shimsuke's face.

"That giant cannibal bear is so tenacious..."

"After I shot the poisonous arrow into the body of the giant cannibal bear, it took 15 breaths before it died..."

"Bears can not only swim but also climb trees."

"It was almost climbing on the trunk where I was hiding... I could smell the stench of the bear at that time."

"Fortunately, when it was about to climb up to me, the poison finally broke out and it fell from the tree."

"If it takes two more breaths, my head may have been crushed by it..."

"Although this is already 20 years ago, but now I think back to the picture of the bear's face close at hand, and I still sweat uncontrollably on my back..."

After all, Shimsuke touched his back and showed it to Ogata and others—his palm was really wet.

"Although it was thrilling, I managed to kill the giant cannibal bear in the end."

"Since then, I have even more firmly established the title of the'first hunter in the village'."

"Bear hunting..." The young man sitting the furthest away from Ogata looked longing, "I really want to try bear hunting..."

"You listen to me telling stories, you may think hunting is very interesting and fun." Shimsuke shook his head with a wry smile, "but hunting is actually much more boring and dangerous than you think."

"Don't even think about going to hunt bears."

"Inexperienced people can't hunt bears at all."

"If you run into a bear in the wild, you can run away if you can."

"Don't have a fever in your head and want to fight close to the bear."

"It's all about the little bear. There may be a chance of winning in a close fight with a bear, but there is definitely no chance of winning in a close fight with an adult bear."

"If you really can't escape... I'll teach you a way to escape in front of the bear."

"Pretend to be dead?" a young man asked, "I heard my father say that if you run into a bear in the wild, you will pretend to be dead. The bear will not eat dead people."

"That's death!" Shimsuke said irritably, "I really don't know why the fallacy of'bears don't eat dead people' can spread so widely... It's really misleading."

"If you meet an adult bear in the wild, don't pretend to be dead-it's useless."

"Don't even think about running away-you can never run away from an adult bear."

"Don't even think about climbing to the tree-bears are better at climbing trees than any human being."

"Don't even think about swimming-bears can also swim."

"If you encounter an adult bear in the wild, the best way to deal with it is to stand still."

"Keep calm and face the bear motionlessly."

"While facing the bear, say something to the bear, say hello to the bear, such as chatting with the bear about the weather today."

"People are afraid of bears, but bears are also afraid of people."

"In the eyes of bears, humans are strange creatures."

"So under normal circumstances, bears will not approach humans."

"There are only two cases when bears attack humans."

"One is to want to eat people."

"The other is to feel that the humans in front of you pose a threat to you, think that you are in danger, so launch a counterattack."

"The reason to stay calm and face the bear motionlessly is to prove to the bear that he is not malicious and will not pose a threat to you."

"The bear may come up to touch you with its big paws, or come to smell you-don't be afraid. Just let it touch and let it smell. You can't resist it anyway."

"The reason it touches and smells you is just because it is curious about you."

"As long as you follow the steps I just mentioned, the bear will most likely leave on its own."

"Of course-the coping methods I just mentioned after encountering bears in the wild are only effective for those bears who have never eaten human flesh and do not know that human flesh is very fragrant."

"If you encounter a bear that has eaten people...you can only pray that this bear is full."

Shimasuke took the tea from the side, took a sip, moistened some dry lips and throat, laughed a few times, and then continued:

"All in all-remember the method I just taught you to escape in front of the bear, although you shouldn't have any chance to use this method."

"As long as you don't go to that kind of deep mountain and old forest, you will generally not touch a bear."

...

...

at the same time--

Hirono Town, a distance from Kinno Town——

"How?" a middle-aged man with an extremely vicissitudes of face asked like this to a middle-aged man with half-bald hair in front of him.

The middle-aged Xie Ding nodded softly:

"I finally met a samurai who was willing to help us, but... that samurai doesn't seem to be very powerful..."

After all, the middle-aged man let out a sigh of relief.

"There are so many samurai in Hirono Town, but only one samurai is willing to help us..."

As soon as the voice of the middle-aged Xie Ding fell, the middle-aged vicissitudes of life answered with a wry smile:

"The remuneration we gave is too low... Those who are willing to accept this kind of life-saving hard work for such a low remuneration...probably only the kind of samurai whose life is already extremely embarrassing."

"There should be no samurai willing to help here in Hirono Town. Let's go to other towns and towns to see."

"Which other towns and cities have we not visited?" asked the middle-aged Xie Ding.

"Linye Town and Kinno Town."

"Kinye Town..." The middle-aged Xie Ding murmured, "I heard that there is a sword hall in Kinye Town... Since they all practice swords, then the people in that sword hall should have a certain level of strength... "

"Yeah." The vicissitudes of middle-aged man nodded, "There is a sword museum named'Treasure' in Kinno Town. I hope the samurai in that sword museum will help us... Anyway, let's go to the nearest one. Let’s go to Linye Town, Kinye Town will go there last."

*******

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Yesterday, a famous book friend asked me about the method of avoiding pregnancy in the Edo period. I originally wanted to give you popular science today, but because today’s chapter involves the hunting of bears, I will leave the popularization of the method of avoiding pregnancy until tomorrow, today. Let me tell you about Japanese bear hunting culture.

Please watch the popular science in the following "Writer's Words"~www.wuxiahere.com~By the way-for the writing of this volume, the author Jun specially bought a book of common bears online, and after encountering bears in the wild What to do book: "What should I do when I meet a bear? 》

This book is an interview with a professional bear hunter who started hunting at the age of 12, and started hunting bears alone at the age of 22. He hunted for 65 years and killed 60 bears in total. The bear hunter dictated various things related to bears. A popular science book that integrates knowledge.

It is said that in this book, it also tells how to greet a bear, how to save oneself after being knocked down by a bear, how to avoid the bear with a plastic bottle, and how to single out the bear with a hatchet.

Not only that, this book also popularizes the culture and customs of some Ainu people, that is, Ezo.

I think this book is very useful for my creation of Volume 7, so I placed an order yesterday. Let me test the poison for everyone first.

I posted a picture of this book in the easter egg chapter at the back, and you can turn it back to →→→ (turn back)