The guide was a chatty fellow, eager to show them the city, but unfortunately his talk was all gossip about the Samurai and nobility and ministers of state who lived behind the walls of the various houses and estates they passed. Shota mostly had no idea who these people were, nor did he much care. The big houses were really walled compounds, with courtyards and many outbuildings, including dwellings for servants, soldiers and other dependents, and the places where they all worked. ...