The Way of the Warrior - Chris Bradford [69]
This was no-man’s-land.
During the kihon and randori sessions in these classes, Sensei Kyuzo would often turn a blind eye to Kazuki’s excessive use of force. One time, they had been practising ude-uke, inside forearm blocks, and the power behind each block had escalated until they were both hammering at each other’s forearms. The bruises didn’t fade for over a week. Jack had tried to complain about Kazuki’s behaviour, but Sensei Kyuzo shot him down, saying, ‘It’s good conditioning for you. If you can’t take a little pain, you are clearly too much gaijin to be a samurai.’
Akiko’s voice interrupted his thoughts.
‘Jack, are you coming?’
She had appeared at his door in a sky-blue kimono decorated with butterflies. Jack blinked. She was like the butterfly from his vision! Then Kiku sidled up to her, wearing a light-green spring kimono and carrying a small bag.
‘Coming where?’ asked Jack.
‘Hanami!’ she sang, and hurried off with Kiku in tow.
‘What’s hanami?’ Jack called after her down the hallway.
‘A flower-viewing party,’ said Saburo, who had popped his head round the corner. Jack could see Yori waiting silently in the background.
‘A flower-viewing party? Sounds absolutely thrilling,’ said Jack with forced enthusiasm, but he put down his watering jug and followed after them nonetheless. At least it would make a change from training, he thought.
‘This certainly does make a change,’ said Jack, letting out a long contented sigh as he lounged on the grassy banks of the Kamogawa River, shaded from the sun by sakura trees that literally drooped under the weight of their blossom.
Akiko, Kiku, Yori and Saburo were sitting beside him, equally enjoying the bliss of the moment. This was the first time the students had been allowed out of the school complex, and they were all relishing the freedom.
‘So how do you like our hanami party?’ asked Akiko.
‘Well, if all it involves is eating, drinking and relaxing under cherry blossom trees, Akiko, then this is the best hanami party I have ever been to!’ replied Jack.
‘It’s much more than that, Jack!’ admonished Akiko, with a good-natured smile.
‘You’re starting to sound like Sensei Yamada with one of his koan!’ replied Jack light-heartedly, and they all laughed.
‘Seriously, though, hanami is very important to us,’ said Akiko. ‘The cherry blossom marks the start of the riceplanting season and we use the flowering to divine the success of the harvest. Judging by the fullness of the blossom already, this year will be a good year.’
‘The blossom also signals a beginning, a new stage in life,’ added Kiku, ‘so we make offerings to the gods who live inside the trees. See those samurai over there?’
‘Yes,’ said Jack, peering over at three samurai who were sprawled around the base of a cherry blossom tree. They were passing an extremely large ceramic bottle between them and appeared heavily intoxicated from drinking its contents.
‘They have made the traditional offering of saké to the sakura and are now partaking of the offering.’
‘What’s saké?’ asked Jack.
‘Rice wine!’ said Saburo buoyantly. ‘Want to try some?’
‘All right,’ said Jack, though he was hesitant after noticing Akiko’s disapproving look.
Saburo ran over to the drunken samurai and quickly returned with a wooden box-shaped cup brimming with a clear liquid. He offered some to Jack.
Jack took a swig. The saké tasted sweet and watery, but as he swallowed it became sharper and more potent. He hacked as the saké burnt the back of his throat.
‘What do you think?’ said Saburo eagerly.
‘Well, it’s not as rough as the drink on-board ship, but I’ll stick to water if you don’t mind.’
Saburo shrugged indifferently, finishing off the rest of the cup in one gulp. He went to return the cup to the samurai, only to come back with another full one. He offered it to the girls this time.
‘Saburo, you know we’re not allowed saké,’ scolded Kiku.
Saburo ignored her and merrily sipped the entire contents on his own.
They spent the rest of the day relaxing under