The Way of the Warrior - Chris Bradford [1]
result in fatal injuries. The author and publisher take no responsibility for any
injuries resulting from attempting these techniques.
978-0-14-191802-0
For my father
CONTENTS
Map: The Japans – 17th Century
Prologue – Masamoto Tenno
1 Fireball
2 Rigging Monkey
3 Devil and the Deep Blue Sea
4 Land of the Rising Sun
5 Shadows in the Night
6 Fever
7 Samurai
8 Ofuro
9 Kimonos and Chopsticks
10 Abunai!
11 Sencha
12 The Duel
13 Father Lucius
14 The Summons
15 Yamato
16 The Bokken
17 Gaijin
18 Best Out of Three
19 Masamato’s Return
20 Akiko
21 Niten Ichi Ryū
22 The Tokaido Road
23 Butokuden
24 Sensei
25 The Shining One
26 Defeating the Sword
27 A Reason to Train
28 The Daruma Doll
29 Sensei Kyuzo
30 Target Practice
31 Kazuki’s War
32 Hanami Party
33 The Taryu-Jiai
34 Yamada’s Secret
35 The Switch
36 The Demon and the Butterfly
37 The Jade Sword
38 The Sound of Feathers Waterfall
39 The Apology
40 Staying the Path
41 Gion Matsuri
42 Dokugan Ryu
43 Kendo – The Way of the Sword
Notes on the Sources
Acknowledgements
Notes on the Japanese Language
PROLOGUE
MASAMOTO TENNO
Kyoto, Japan, August 1609
The boy snapped awake. He seized his sword.
Tenno hardly dared to breathe. He sensed someone else was in the room. As his eyes grew accustomed to the dark, he searched for signs of movement. But he could see nothing, only shadows within shadows, the moonlight seeping ghostlike through the lucent paper walls. Perhaps he had been wrong… His samurai training, though, warned him otherwise.
Tenno listened intently for the slightest sound, any indication there might be an intruder. But he heard nothing unusual. The cherry blossom trees in the garden made a faint rustle like the sound of silk as a light breeze passed through. There was the familiar trickle of water as it flowed from the small fountain into the fishpond, and nearby a cricket made its persistent nightly chirp. The rest of the house lay silent.
He was overreacting… It was just some bad kami spirit disturbing his dreams, he reasoned.
This past month the whole Masamoto household had been on edge with the rumour of war. There was talk of a rebellion and Tenno’s father had been called into service to help quell any potential uprising. The peace Japan had enjoyed for the past twelve years was suddenly under threat and the people were afraid they would be plunged back into war. No wonder he was so on edge.
Tenno lowered his guard and settled back to sleep on his futon. As he did so, the night cricket chirped a little louder and the boy’s hand tightened round the hilt of his sword. His father had once said, ‘A samurai should always obey his instincts’, and his instincts told him something was wrong.
He rose from his bed to investigate.
Suddenly a silver star spun out of the darkness.
Tenno threw himself out of the way but was a second too late.
The shuriken sliced through his cheek before burying itself deep into the futon where his head had just been. As he continued to roll, he felt a rush of hot blood stream down his face. Then he heard a second shuriken thud into the tatami-matted floor, and in one fluid movement he sprang to his feet, bringing his sword up to protect himself.
Dressed head-to-toe in black, a figure drifted ghost-like out of the shadows.
Ninja! The Japanese assassin of the night.
With a measured slowness, the ninja unsheathed a vicious-looking blade from his saya. Unlike Tenno’s large curved katana sword, the tantō was short, straight and ideal for stabbing.
The ninja took a silent step closer and raised the tantō, a human cobra preparing to strike.
Tenno, anticipating the attack, cut down with his sword, slicing across the body of the approaching assassin. But the ninja deftly evaded the boy’s sword, spinning round to kick him squarely in the chest.
Thrown backwards, Tenno crashed through the paper-thin shoji door of his room and out into the night. He landed heavily in the middle of the inner garden, disorientated and fighting for breath.
The ninja leapt