The Twelve Kingdoms: A Thousand Leagues of Wind

the government and become an independent person. This plot was called a partition or homestead. Those twenty years were calculated according to kazoe-doshi, meaning that you were one year old when born and counted a year older every New Year's day.
    Youshi laughed. "See, there are so many ways to count your age. What a mess."
    "Normally, age is counted by your birthday. It's because of compulsory service. Using kazoe-doshi, you can end up with people who are all seventeen years old but have all different sizes of bodies."
    You became responsible for paying taxes when you became an adult and received a homestead, but age wasn't taken into consideration when it came to compulsory service. In an emergency, even ten-year-olds would be rounded up. Rebuilding dikes, digging ditches, building villages and hamlets, and in the worse case, fighting wars. It was rare to draft soldiers who hadn't reached the age of eighteen, but if troop strength proved insufficient, the draft age would be lowered.
    "Compulsory service also used to be done according to kazoe-doshi, too, but that was a long time ago."
    "Huh."
    "Yamato doesn't have compulsory service?"
    Youshi shook her head, a sardonic smile creeping onto her face. "It doesn't, but it often seems like the compulsory service is year-round."
    "How's that?"
    "Adults work from morning till midnight. Children study from morning till midnight. It's not actually compulsory, but if you don't work harder than everybody else, you'll really get left behind. So everybody works through the night to the break of dawn."
    "Sounds awful," said Rangyoku.
    Keikei burst into the kitchen, having finished tending to the goat. "I'm done!" he cheerfully declared, ready for his next job. "Well, then, clean off the table and get out the dishes."
    "Okay."
    A twinkle in her eyes, Youshi watched Keikei dart off, rag in hand. "Hard worker, Keikei is."
    Rangyoku readily agreed. "He is, isn't he?"
    The abundant pride she evidenced made Youshi smile. "Is Keikei his name?"
    "It's his nickname, what everybody calls him. His real name is Rankei."
    Youshi laughed. "It really is very confusing."

Chapter 25
    Y ouko did not have a really good idea of who Enho was. Keiki had arranged for her to come to the orphanage and had asked him to be her teacher. He was, according to Keiki, a very distinguished scholar. She hadn't been able to get anything more out of Enho, either, other than that he was also the superintendent of Kokei.
    The day after she arrived, Enho told Youko to come to the study in the afternoon and then after supper so that they could get acquainted. At first, they chatted about nothing important. After that, he spent several days inquiring into her personal history. Then he asked about Yamato. What kind of country it was, the nature of the geography, what kind of business and industry it had, how it was governed. What people thought and dreamed about.
    As Youko conversed with Enho, many things surprised her. She was mortified at how little she knew about her native land.
    After straightening up the kitchen after lunch, Youko slipped down the portico to the study. Along the way, she allowed herself a sigh. Another day answering questions. Day after day, the breadth and depth of her ignorance grew and grew.
    When she got to the study, Enho wasn't there. She looked out at the garden and saw him sitting in the gazebo-like tea room, bathed in sunlight.
    "Oh, there you are."
    When she walked out onto the veranda facing the tea room, he smiled. "The weather's turned out so nice today. Youko, come and have a seat."
    She obediently sat down on the bench in the tea house.
    "This must be your first winter here. How are things going?"
    "It doesn't feel so different from Japan."
    "Oh?" said Enho, with a nod. "Kei is quite fortunate, compared with the kingdoms to the north. Still, in the northern part of the kingdom, you can freeze to death living outdoors. Game is scarce in the fields. It's not the same as the warmer kingdoms where, though the yield may be poor, you can plant during the winter and gather a harvest. So, during the winter, what do you think the most important thing is to people?"
    "Um, a warm house?"
    Enho stroked his beard. "I can see how that would be true in Yamato. But, no, not a house, but food. Yours is the opinion of someone from a country whose people do not suffer from starvation."
    Youko bowed her head in chagrin.
    "It is a particularly grave concern in the kingdoms to the north. The mere