Besides being a huge fan of this series from a dramatic/artistic point of view, I'm very interested in the level of historical detail the authors have worked into their reconstruction of Edo. I'm curious if people have thoughts on the following:

On p6 of v01c03, Kankichi is yelled at by a man on horseback with a spear-carrying attendant. It's pretty clear that this is not Daizaburou, but the similarities are marked. Is it right to understand that this is common, that nobles on horseback often traveled with spear-carriers on foot? (Apart from this, can anyone comment on the apparent physical similarities of this figure to Daizaburou, i.e. the hunched back and long arms? I had assumed that Daizaburou was an actual hunchback --- it's stated on v01c08.p03 that he has health problems, and I thought that that was a reference to this. But maybe not. Any thoughts?)

On p11 of v01c05, a man appears in the street and passes by the action; he is clacking a pair of nunchucks (?) and is trailing a lantern and a dog on a leash. Surely this man is serving some recognizable office of the time --- anyone know what it's about?

On p15 of v01c06, several goldfish with puffy (deformed?) heads are drawn among normal-looking ones. Are these a different species, or a common type of goldfish?

In general, does anyone have a sense of how obvious or not-obvious these kinds of touches are --- have the authors just taken well-known figures from movies and manga to supply the above, or have they evidently been doing serious research to come up with these effects? Any other fine points I should be noticing?