The Way of the Warrior - Chris Bradford [99]
On an impulse, he withdrew his katana and held it up to the moonlight. Admiring the deep graceful curve of its blade, he turned it in the air, gauging its weight, judging its point of balance. It was too soon for it to become an extension of his arm, like his lighter wooden bokken, but nonetheless he felt confident enough to attempt a few cuts.
He sliced the moon in half, speared Bellatrix and cut off a shooting star. Whirling round, he brought his kissaki up ready for another assault and there was Dokugan Ryu. Standing in the darkness. Motionless. Waiting to attack.
‘Never hesitate.’
This time Jack wouldn’t. He lifted the sword above his head and ran at Dragon Eye to deliver the killing blow.
‘Jack-kun!’ cried Sensei Yamada from behind.
Dokugan Ryu turned to stone and Jack spun round.
‘What are you doing?’ asked the Zen teacher, leaning upon his walking stick in the darkness, a quizzical look in his eyes.
‘I was…’ began Jack, glancing back at the standing stone, ‘practising my kata.’
‘On a stone?’
‘No, not really,’ replied Jack, deflated. ‘I was imagining it was Dokugan Ryu. I was about to kill him. Get my revenge.’
‘Revenge is self-defeating. It will eat away at you until there is nothing left,’ observed Sensei Yamada, speaking the truth as if it were as obvious as the moon in the night sky.
‘But he killed my father!’
‘Yes. And he will undoubtedly pay for that sin, if not in this life then in his next. But do not believe for one moment that possession of that sword makes you all powerful. You must never forget your bushido. Rectitude, your ability to judge what is wrong and what is right, is the keystone to being samurai.’
He took Jack by the arm and led him slowly along the path towards the old pine tree in the corner of the garden, its bough weighing heavily upon its wooden crutch.
‘Benevolence, your compassion for others, underpins all of them. There is no place for anger or rage in the Way. In real budo, there are no enemies. Real budo is a function of love. The Way of a Warrior is not to destroy and kill, but to foster life.8 To protect it.’
He stopped by the old pine and faced Jack.
‘Jack-kun, as Masamoto-sama said, you’ve only just begun to learn the Way of the Warrior, but you must also learn the Way of the Sword. Kendo.’
Sensei Yamada smiled enigmatically, his sharp eyes twinkling like miniature stars, then he disappeared into the veil of darkness beyond the tree, leaving Jack all alone under a Japanese sky.
As Jack glanced up, a shooting star trailed across the heavens.
The little meteorite flared brightly then died, the path it had burnt in the sky fading like the embers of a fire.
In that instant Jack was struck by a moment of satori, enlightenment as bright as the star itself. He too was on a journey whose destination was unknown and whose fate was uncertain. But he had set his course and there was no going back.
He had chosen… the Way of the Warrior.
NOTES ON THE SOURCES
The following quotes are referenced within Young Samurai: The Way of the Warrior (with the page numbers in square brackets below) and their sources are acknowledged here:
1 ‘The path of the warrior is lifelong. Yet mastery is often simply staying the path.’ [Page 154] Richard Strozzi Heckler (strozziinstitute.com). (By permission of the author)
2 ‘From every tiny bud springs a tree of many branches. Every castle commences with the laying of the first stone. Every journey begins with just one step.’ [Page 155] Lao Tzu, philosopher and founder of Taoism. (Material in the public domain)
3 ‘It’s good to have an end to journey toward but it’s the journey that matters, in the end.’ [Page 156] Excerpt from The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin, copyright © 1969, 1997 by Ursula K. Le Guin, published by Ace Books. (By permission of the author’s agent)
4 ‘Given enough time, anyone may master the physical. Given enough knowledge, anyone may become wise. It is