Summary: Usagi finds a peasant being attacked by bandits and saves him. He learns most people in the town work in the silk industry and that the silk fair is approaching. He offers to help deal with the bandits in exchange for payment.
They visit the silk merchant,
Kaiko, but he already has a hired samurai,
Matsutaro, who works cheaply. "A samurai knows his worth", quips Usagi.
Spending time in town, Usagi appreciates how hard the townspeople work for how little reward, because the greedy silk merchant keeps it all.
When the bandits are about to attack, Matsutaro runs away. Usagi is able to demand a large amount of money from the merchant to deal with the bandits and asks that the money be given to the workers.
The merchant objects that the amount is twice what they are worth and four times what he pays them!
With the help of
Jiro and his family setting traps with silk and needles, Usagi is able to chase off the bandits.
Genta, Jiro's son, starts referring to himself as a samurai for his role in the victory.
Thoughts: This story has a glaring problem to me. At least it's glaring in the light of later stories. Nowadays, in a story entitled "Silk Fair", I am quite certain Sakai would have shown us the silk fair. Taught us a little about silk-making. What glimpses we see here have little to do with silk, as the conditions presented (owners profit while workers remain poor) are quite common across times and places, right up through present-day United States. In that sense, it is a timeless parable about the plight of the worker. But it lacks that distinctive Japanese feel so many later stories had. And this is easily rectified: show us the silk fair.
I can only speculate why Stan chose not to put more focus on silk. Perhaps...
He didn't think to.
He didn't know a lot about silk.
He hadn't yet developed enough confidence in his own storytelling abilities to bring the focus too much away from the adventure aspects
He didn't want to, preferring to spend precious story pages on other aspects.
Whatever the reason, I was disappointed.
I remain fascinated with understanding why Usagi gets embroiled in misadventures. As the series progresses, it becomes clear he's a do-gooder who can't help himself. These early issues sometimes justify his motivation with needing work. Here, he clearly saves the peasant from bandits just because it's the thing to do. He then suggests he is interested in staying to help with the bandits in exchange for payment. In the end, he does not accept payment but rather helps redistribute wealth from the owner to the workers. This moves me toward thinking Usagi is just a guy who cares about justice.
This issue also offers us a true feeling of warmth, in the glimpses of the time Usagi spends with Jiro's family, who will later help Usagi defeat the bandits. They provide the heart of the story. I am not actually sure what type of animal Jiro is supposed to be.
I am not certain why this story was moved after #6 in the collected editions.
Notes:- Introduces several one-shot characters: Jiro and his family--including Genta, the young samurai; Mr. Kaiko the mill owner; Matsutaro, the cowardly samurai
Grade: B+
Was that Jiro #1, then? I seriously want to count these.
