You know, back in the day, a shop dealing in secondhand wares is a difficult business to run. If an opportunity does come up however, he usually makes a lot of money. But such opportunities don't come by that often. Such is life. Therefore a dealer usually goes off into the countryside to find rare objects. For instance, if the dealer sees some valuable ceramic vase at some old farmer's house, and it just so happens to be that the farmer doesn't know the true value of the vase, the dealer would buy it off the farmer at a much much lower price.

This story is about a secondhand shop dealer such as the one I just described. He went far into the countryside dressed up as an ordinary traveler. It was during the Edo period, right before Meiji, the mid-19th century. So he wore a kimono, and put on some waraji (sandals made out of straw). He's been walking around a lot and hasn't had a good find in a long time. He was tired and pretty pissed off from all the walking. Apparently he thought it was too early for the sun to be setting. When he unconsciously turned his head to face the sun, he saw a rustic old tea stall shining gloriously, the sun's rays glaring from behind. There were two benches side by side. Tartan checkered mats were laid and bucket shaped ash trays were placed on them. He then realized that an old man was blowing air into fire very hard with a bamboo pipe behind him.

Dealer : Hey gramps..
Old Man : Ah, please have a seat. I will prepare some tea for you.
Dealer : Thank you. May I rest here? I am exhausted, but once I find a hotel, I will be fine. It's nice around here isn't it? Peaceful and quiet. The scenery here is great too. Look, the stream looks so beautiful! I feel like I will get two or three years younger.
Old Man : Yes, well, please have a cup of tea.

The old man then brought a cup on a tray from behind the stall. There was a pot for rice crackers and a lot of boxes for cheap sweets were placed side by side next to it. By the stall, a cat was eating food from a small dish. When the dealer looked closer at the dish, he realized quickly that it was a valuable dish from Korea. Now, the pot would not be sold easily, even with a price tag with over 300 ryo. Ryo was the currency in the Edo era, and 1 ryo would easily equal to 10,000 yen present day. (About USD100, if I recall correctly or RM380 roughly) So you understand the value of this plate now, don't you? So the dealer started thinking to himself.

Dealer : Wow, what a great find! He must have no idea how it really costs, feeding the cat with it like that! Great!
Old Man : Ummm- sir? Would you like another cup of tea?
Dealer : Oh yes, I would. You have a good cat! Kitty, kitty, kitty! Ah it's coming, it's coming. Good good, come here. Come, hahaha, it's pretty cute isn't it?
Old Man : Ah, sir, Ahhnn, it's not a good idea to play with the cat like that.
Dealer : Don't worry, I'm a cat person. Cats are cute creatures. Look, it's purring on my lap, hahaha.
Old Man : Hey, you shouldn't dirty our guest's clothes like that! Come on, get down!
Dealer : It's alright, look, it's pretty comfortable for this guy here. This cat is pretty tame and friendly, isn't it?
Old Man : Hmm, you look like you like cats, and the cat knows it. It knows you like it.
Dealer : Yes, I use to have a cat. But it went away and disappeared. My wife always says to me "If you go somewhere and find a nice cat bring it back." but I think kittens are too small and would run away or die easily. But I think cats this size and age are pretty good. So what do you think, can you give this cat to me?
Old Man : What?
Dealer : Come now, don't give me that strange look. I know, how about I pay you for this cat? How about three koban? (a type of coin, koban = 1 ryo, ooban = 10 ryo, basically he's willing to pay 30, 000 yen for the cat)

Dealer : You don't mind do you? You seem to have more out at the back.
Old Man : I know you are right, but I lost my wife a long time ago and these cats are all I have to keep me company. This cat especially has been quite attached to me. So...
Dealer : Yes, but please, just one? I don't have a kid you see..
Old Man : But 3 ryos are too much mister!
Dealer : I can't have no as an aswer, just take them please. It's not that much..
Old man : Haha, is that so? Then thank you very much, I will humbly accept your offer.
Dealer : Take a look gramps, it fell asleep on my lap. It's very cute. Once I get to the hotel I will give it good food. Ah, have you fed your cat with this plate?
Old Man : Yes, in fact I have.
Dealer : Well, you know they say a plate won't eat from a new plate, so I will take this plate and feed it with it, okay? This plate?
Old Man : Ah no, here's another one, please take this one instead.
Dealer : It's alright, you don't care if I take this dirty one right?
Old Man : Well..you see, I can't give you that plate.
Dealer : Why not? Why would you care about this filthy dish?
Old Man : You say it's filthy, but I think you don't realize it. This is a valuable ceramic vase from Korea. It's limited edition stuff. I have become such a poor person, but I cannot part with this vase. It costs more than 300 ryo you know.

Of course, you see, now the dealer is naturally taken aback by this.

Dealer : Hmmm, is that so. It's worth that much money? But why did you feed the cats with such an expensive plate? I'm interested.
Old man : You see sir, it is both interesting and funny. When I feed a cat with this plate, sometimes a cat is sold for 3 ryo.

-THE END-
------------------

Lol, well, I'm not sure if you all got that. It's my rendition of the original Rakugo story from Japan called Neko no Sara, or a cat's dish/plate if you want. I might be doing a couple more of these when I have time. The stories are pretty funny anyways, at least to me. Well, I've taken an interest in Rakugo (the stories, not the occupation) after watching the J-Drama Tiger and Dragon, or Toradora, for short lol. It shares its name with an anime with a similar title, which is why I downloaded it, but it's a different story altogether, although it's still pretty damn funny. Check it out if you have the time, Tokio's Nagase Tomoya is in it, as well as V6's Okada Junichi, both as Tora and Dora respectively. Ma, that's all for now. Work is gonna pile up again soon, but after going through a few things, I think I have a better perspective on things for now. Temporary optimistic boost I guess? Hahaha.