Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book.

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#1 The baby girl, Tsuneno, was born in 1804. She had everything she needed for the first few months of her life. Her family had old clothes and rags to piece together for diapers, so she could be changed whenever she was wet.

#2 Tsuneno's family were investors and planners. They had to be, since even substantial fortunes could be lost quickly through bad harvests and mismanagement. But they also spent money freely on the small things of everyday life.

#3 In the house of Tsuneno, which was attached to the temple, some of those everyday things were funded by donations from parishioners. The True Pure Land sect's scholars taught that raising a child to become a priest or priest's wife was a gift to the Buddha equal to all the treasures that fill three thousand worlds.

#4 Echigo was a region in Japan that was known for its harsh winters. But at least everyone knew what to expect. It would be freezing from equinox to equinox, and sometimes farmers would need to shovel out the fields so that they could plant their rice seedlings.