Who will Jotaro serve?

[Shinobi-no-Ryu]

As a Samurai? Lord Mifune is dead, so that family tradition is over. Will he leave at all? Or will Kenichi retire and Jotaro be the headman? I hope Jotaro serves Noriyuki actually.

[miyamoto musashi]

that would be awsome, it would also be cool to see grown up noriyuki

[Todd Shogun]

Wow, I never thought about that. Who will Jotaro serve? Since he's from Usagi's village, and that's now within Lord Hikiji's realm (I'm assuming since Lord Hikiji conquered Mifune), will it be Hikiji? That is, unless Hikiji is ousted by someone else the time Jotaro comes of age...

[Shinobi-no-Ryu]

I think it would be very neat and brave of Sakai-san to do a off-shoot story arc of Jotaro going off to serve under Noriyuki. Maybe even get a similar scar. tee hee. I'd say Noriyuki is 5-7 years older than Jotaro, late teens, early twenties type of thing.

Actually how old would Usagi and Jotaro be? I'd say...Usagi is mid-thirties and Jotaro is early teens. 34, 13 maybe. Hm. That sounds kind of right.

[Todd Shogun]

Usagi is approximately in his late 20s

http://usagiyojimbo.com/intro/faq/faq_popular.html#faq1

[Shinobi-no-Ryu]

Then how old is Jotaro? I think he'd be in his late 20's when he started wandering, he would have to be older now. If he's 28-29, then Usagi and Mariko got biz-ay er-lay.

[Todd Shogun]

I don't think Jotaro is in his teens yet. Remember how old Usagi looked when he first went to study under Katsuichi. He was probably 8-9. I would say Jotaro is about 9-10 years old. That means he would have been born in Usagi's late teens. Usagi may appear "older" because of his maturity but keep in mind that he was no doubt in his late teens when he defeated the Dogora fencing school to win the admiration of Lord Mifune, definitely of age to serve as a samurai. Since then he's had many years to gain that level of maturity, and becoming a ronin most likely accelerated it. I like to think Usagi as wise beyond his years.

[miyamoto musashi]

but not too far beyond, it seems he still learnes much from sanshobo, ishida, and to a lesser extent gen, and varios other peoples along the way.

[Zonny]

Jotaros father Kenichi is serving under Hikiji, right?

[Jeff_W]

Is headman of the village appointed by Hikiji and in Hikiji's lands, so more or less but there would be almost no contact with Hikiji or his immediate council. Even for taxes they are so remote a village that more likely than not send Soldiers and a minor official for collection... if they didn't make the peasnts bring them to a more central location for collection. So yes Kenichi is vassal to Hikiji but pretty darn far down the pecking order... at least that is my take on things.
Kenichi is samurai though, as is Jotaro so it seems plausable that Jotaro might serve in Hikiji's forces, especially if there was another expansionist movement. However the shogun's eace is (ostensibly) on the land and it is unlikely that Hikiji would be so bold as to defy that edict, so it is also very possible that Jotaro would not be accepted into service of the Dark Lord because he (and his family) is too minor to have enough clout to get him a position in an army that is not earning it's keep. On the other hand (just covering all my bases here ) Hikiji may have nefarious puropses behind enlarging his army for some future misdeed...

[takematsu]

Given the way the Japanese social system was shaping up at the time, Jotaro has VERY few choices open to him. Foremost, he'll be expected to serve Hikiji-- since he's of Samurai class and born on lands held by Hikiji and to one of his vassals (however remote), it's sort of a default. Even tho' the Sengoku Jidai is pretty much over, no one is really CERTAIN that there won't be more wars as they've been having them, Shogun or no, for the past hundred and fifty years. Low-rank samurai = the cannon fodder that pushes the Ashigaru cannon fodder around.

Choice 2: Get traded by Hikiji to another Daimyo. Not really Jotaro's choice, but if for whatever reason Hikiji winds up owing someone else, he could ship over some retainers. Maybe it would be a specific request (the Shogun sees Jotaro on the practice field, and says, "Hey, he's pretty cool! Hikiji, you're not too attached to that one, are you?"), or it could be less personal (a letter arrives instructing the headman Kenichi to supply the lord with one of the samurai in his jurisdiction for shipping to Lord Naninani, and there's just not that much choice, is there?)

Choice 3: Flee Hikiji and find another lord who would be willing to take him. While Noriyuki MIGHT be willing, based on his knowledge of what sort of person Hikiji is, don't count on it. If a samurai breaks his duty of service to one lord, how could another trust him?

Choice 4: Ronin. Usagi's been making out OK, but he's an exception. In the society of the time, a masterless samurai was viewed much as a left-over screw in the engine of a car; not doing anything useful, and likely to cause a lot of damage if left to its own devices. An unwary ronin, whether sweetly-natured or surly, was apt to get killed in his sleep by villagers who would fear that he would get up to no good and bring down official notice on the town. Since he's not in service to anyone, no one will wonder where he's gone, and problem solved.

Choice 5: Priest. Less likely to be killed than a ronin, and it would get him out from under Hikiji. Assuming Hikiji allowed it-- and even if he did, he might retain the right to "re-activate" his lost retainer in time of crisis. Entering a religious order was a less permanent thing in Japan that it was in Europe. Heck, Sanshobo might yet decide to chuck the saffron robes (unlikely, but still possible).

[David]

Then how old is Jotaro? I think he'd be in his late 20's when he started wandering, he would have to be older now. If he's 28-29, then Usagi and Mariko got biz-ay er-lay.

Maybe too late to contribute to the subject, but adulthood was attained at 15 years of age if I remember right. If he went to serve his Lord when he became officially adult then the age is right.

[Tim]

What do you mean by "official notice?"

I wonder why Usagi hasn't yet sparked that kind of anger from any villagers yet. Sure, he's nice, but he does have a knack for getting into trouble...

[takematsu]

Official notice--

Flunky: There have been reports of travellers robbed by near Dinky Seaside Town!

Han Metsuke: Really? I just received a report from that town's headman that all was well... although there is a ronin staying with some peasants there.

Flunky: I heard Silk Trader Ishimura lost 27 ryo and his left hand!

Metsuke: Mmm. No good. OK, round up the boys, we'd better go get that ronin. Make sure we've got enough torches to burn the town, too. After all, shelter a criminal, share the guilt.

(this last line is a misquote from Lone Wolf and Cub, Vol. 3, p. 213-- shared guilt was an import from Confuscian China. The townsfolk may be in the dark about the ronin's source of income, but that's not an issue.)