This is a set of four books from the Kojiro Monyojiro series written by Saho Sasazawa. Monyojiro was born the sixth son of a poor farming family in Mikazuki Village. He was saved from infanticide by the quick thinking of his older sister, O-mitsu, who was twelve years his senior. O-mitsu died suddenly at the age of 22 after getting married, and Monyojiro ran away from home at the age of 10 to live as a wanderer. He became known as a journeyman, and always had a five-sun-long toothpick that he carved himself in his mouth. He made a subtle sound when he exhaled, and he also had the skill to shoot the toothpick from his mouth like a blowgun. "Shakyo Hana wa Chitta" (The Flowers of Amnesty Have Fallen) begins with Monyojiro, who was exiled to Miyake Island as a scapegoat after being deceived by his childhood friend and brother, attempting to escape the island. Afterwards, he gets involved in troubles in the post towns of the Nakasendo and Tokaido during the Tenpo famine, when the common people were suffering. It was also a tradition for Monyojiro to blow and stick his toothpick into something in the final scene of each story.