An Old Folk House, Gessoutei

　　Next was an old folk house, "Gessoutei," in which the lord of Tanegashima had lived in the early Meiji Era. This old wooden house was built in 1793, but well-preserved. Some local volunteer guides showed us how to use a matchlock gun and they let me handle the gun. It was considerably heavy and it required troublesome procedures to shoot another shot after every single shot. If it rains, you need to make sure the fire does not go out. I imagined that people of other days would be spending harder days in many ways.

(Vocabulary)
put out (明かり、火など）を消す
people of other days 　昔の人々

次に訪れたのが月窓亭。種子島の主が住んでいたという建物。１７９３年に建てられた木造の家だが、保存状態が良く、内部の広間で地元のボランティアが建物の由来と火縄銃の扱いについて説明してくれた。火縄銃に初めて触れたが、重い！一発撃ったら次に撃つまでの手順が長い。雨が降ったら使いづらい、、、など昔の人は何でも大変だったなあと感慨にふける。