It is actually not his birthday! That would have been sometime after the winter arrived and the arrival of spring. However, during winter most of the Clan tend to cease or reduce activity among one another as they retreat to their homelands to prepare for the cold, keep their affairs in order and villagers alive and due to the difficulties of travel. Indeed, crossing the pass to Mitsumine lands in winter is quite hard at best conditions. Thus, there is the tradition to cease diplomatic meetings between different lands during times of winter and either spend it at home or as a guest in the home of another Clan or the capital. Of course, while communication and travel is greatly impaired in this season, the guests of the imperial capital or even those who spent winter in the home of another clan do enjoy a lot of entertainment and long term political play during their stay.

 The winter pass into Mitsumine lands has been open for a couple weeks now, however, today is the traditional day when diplomatic meetings begin and the retreat of winter ends. This gives enough time for characters from other lands to have spent a few days in waiting in Takeshi's village and the like. I already have some NPCs in mind that will be calling onto Ryunnosuke on this in game day.