Utumoi

Utumoi was a farming community and one of the many isolated villages of the Fochu Peninsula in Wa. It primarily produced large amounts of rice.

Description
Utumoi was a more prosperous village than most in the region, because it had good rice farming.

Most of the structures within the village were simple peasant shacks known as minka, built from wood with latticed walls and straw-thatched roofs. Apart from these poor residences were small barns, warehouses, and shops.

The people of Utumoi were suspicious of strangers and not at all welcoming. The village had a population of about 515 individuals after.

Geography
Utumoi was located on the western side of the Fochu Peninsula of Tsukishima. A trail led east from the village to the settlement of Kareki at the edge of the Momoden Forest. Another trail led overland to the city of Fochu.

Government
Villages in Wa were run by an administrator known as a shoya, typically a minor samurai, and Utumoi was no different in this respect. The shoya could call upon a local militia if needed. The shoya of Utumoi after Wa Year 1770 (1352 DR) was Kugyin Yugunine.

Trade
The cost to spend the night in one of the small minkas was 4 fen. The village did not produce anything more expensive than 4 yuan to sell.

Defenses
About 52 citizens of Utumoi served in its militia. These persons were only armed with simple clubs or spears.

Religion
Like most of the villages of the Peninsula, the people of Utumoi were strict followers of the Path of Enlightenment. They were usually strongly opposed to anyone visiting their village who would not demonstrate devotion to the Path by making a donation to a shrine, reciting a prayer, or spitting on the symbol of Chauntea, who was considered a heretical faith.

History
Sometime after Wa Year 1770 (1352 DR), deposed coiled dragon Za-Jikku began murdering citizens of the many villages of the Fochu Peninsula, transforming them into magical butterflies, the breath of which would create yun ch'i, the vapor of death, which he would use to live forever.

During that same time, the people of Utumoi were under extra stress, because the village was undergoing a kenchicho, a sort of tax census. During the previous kenchicho, the shoya had bribed the census takers to lower their numbers, as a means of avoiding taxes. The next time around, however, the new census takers had noticed major discrepancies and were not as open to accepting bribes as the previous census takers had been. The people were full of anxiety that they would be executed for failure to pay taxes, so they began desperately trying to sell their possessions at bargain prices so that their total assessed worth would be lower and their taxes would be less.

Appearances

 * Test of the Samurai