The Ring of Earth - Chris Bradford [32]
Jack had to agree. He’d also be far more wary of Miyuki in future. Flashing her a breezy smile to show he could take a joke, he headed back to the river to wash himself down, while the other students returned to their homes for the day’s chores.
Despite immersing himself several times, Jack still couldn’t shift the acrid tang of manure from his hair. He reckoned it would be a day or so before that faded, though the embarrassment of the prank would linger on far longer. He’d already heard Miyuki nicknaming him ‘the Smelly Samurai’. Not that the name-calling bothered him that much. He’d suffered far worse at the Niten Ichi Ryū. His class rival Kazuki, along with his Scorpion Gang, had taken particular pleasure in persecuting him for being a foreigner. But at the samurai school Jack had had his friends to turn to. Here, among the ninja, he was alone.
As he made his way back to Soke’s house, Jack heard a haunting, soulful sound drift through the air. His curiosity roused, Jack followed its plaintive song across the open grassland and into the trees that bordered the valley’s mountains. Reaching a steep slope, he found a narrow pathway winding up the valley side towards the sound’s source.
Jack climbed, rising above the treeline, until he arrived at a cave that looked out over the valley in the direction of the village. Inside he found Soke, cross-legged before a Shinto shrine, playing a long bamboo flute. A slow languid melody rose and fell in time with his breathing, echoing off the walls to create a never-ending waterfall of sound. The old man’s eyes were closed and he appeared lost in meditation.
Jack sat down at the cave’s entrance and waited patiently for Soke to finish. He studied the old man, his wrinkled timeworn features at odds with his role as a deadly ninja Grandmaster. Yet again Jack wondered why Soke was so committed to helping him.
The Grandmaster put down his flute. ‘This shrine is in honour of our mountain god, Yama-no-kami,’ he explained, as if he’d been expecting Jack. ‘I play to appease him.’
‘Your god should be very happy then,’ replied Jack. ‘It sounded like an angel singing.’
‘I appreciate your compliment, but there are far better players than me,’ said Soke, humbly bowing his head. He held up his flute. ‘This is a shakuhachi,’ he explained. ‘Komusō, the Monks of Emptiness, use it as a spiritual tool to attain enlightenment. Have you practised meditation before?’
Jack nodded. ‘Sensei Yamada taught us zazen.’
‘Well, this is the art of blowing Zen. Instead of sitting and contemplating a koan riddle, you focus on the playing of a song.’
Soke reached behind and produced a second instrument. ‘You look like you’d benefit from some suizen.’
Passing Jack the flute, he taught him to hold it vertically like a recorder. Then he showed Jack how to position his fingers over the five pitch holes.
‘You blow across the top of the flute like this,’ he instructed, placing his lips at right angles to one end of the bamboo. A clear note sang out. ‘By changing the angle, you can also change the sound.’
Jack wet his lips, placed them against the flute and exhaled. The instrument squealed like a strangled bird.
‘Don’t blow so hard,’ said Soke, suppressing a grin. ‘Gently, as if trying to move a feather.’
Taking another breath, Jack tried again. This time the flute gave out an unsteady but tuneful note.
‘Good. I’ll teach you a basic honkyoku. This song is called “Hifumi hachi gaeshi”. It’s a favourite of the Komusō. They play it when begging for alms.’
Settling himself into a comfortable position upon the cave floor, Soke began a simple beseeching melody. Having performed the whole song, he then repeated the opening phrase several times, showing Jack the finger positions of each note.
‘Now you try.’
Jack made a faltering attempt, but soon ran out of breath.
‘Focus on breathing from the belly, not the chest,’ advised Soke, ‘just as in normal meditation. The melody should flow as effortlessly as the air from your lips.’
Jack spent the remainder of the morning practising the introduction to the song.