Young Samurai _ The Way Of The Dragon - Chris Bradford [72]
‘Don’t you ever stop eating?’ Taro demanded, giving his brother a despairing shake of the head. ‘What will our father say, when you can’t fit into your armour?’
Saburo glared at Taro. ‘As if he’d notice with you flashing your two swords about –’
‘Will you both please stop arguing?’ interrupted Kiku. ‘Emi’s riding first for our school.’
Looking to the head of the course, the daimyo’s daughter was already mounted upon her steed. She was anxiously adjusting her quiver and arrows as she awaited the signal to start. The crowd quietened in anticipation.
Lots had been drawn to determine the order of the three riders from each school. They were competing for two prizes, one to be awarded for the best archer and another for the school with the highest number of targets struck and broken.
An official waved a large paper fan with a single red sun emblazoned on it and Emi was off, her horse galloping at a breakneck speed down the track. She let go of the reins and reached for her jindou. Nocking the wooden-tipped arrow, Emi cried out ‘In-Yo!’ and took aim at the first target.
But her horse veered slightly on the approach and she had to grab for the reins. There was a groan of disappointment as she shot by the mark. Jack had to admire Emi’s skilled horsemanship, though. She recovered quickly and readied herself for the second target. Letting fly her arrow, she struck it dead centre and a cheer erupted from the Niten Ichi Ryū.
Now into the flow, Emi smoothly strung a jindou for the final target. But her horse was galloping at such a pace that she was soon alongside the mark. Quickly aiming and firing, her arrow caught the edge of the wooden board, breaking off the bottom corner.
The crowd applauded her run. Sensei Yosa took Emi’s horse by the reins and congratulated her. Two strikes was a fine achievement. Masamoto-sama seemed pleased too, bowing his head respectfully in Emi’s direction.
Next up was a boy from the Yoshioka Ryū. He appeared more confident than Emi. The signal fan went up and at once he spurred on his horse. Flying down the course, he took out the first target with practised ease.
But his over confidence got the better of him. Standing high in the saddle, he lost his balance before the second mark. His horse stumbled slightly and the boy went tumbling to the ground, bouncing a couple of times through the dirt before rolling to a stop.
There was a moment of uncomfortable silence as the crowd waited to see if he had survived the heavy fall. Then, with the aid of a couple of officials, the boy got to his feet and limped to the sidelines. The students all gave him a sympathetic round of applause, but Yoshioka-san in the tower looked thoroughly displeased with his archer’s performance. He flicked his paper fan closed so violently that the spine broke. Jack noticed Masamoto leant over to offer words of condolence, but the samurai ignored him.
‘Did you know that Masamoto-sama and Yoshioka-san once duelled?’ Taro whispered furtively into Jack’s ear.
‘No,’ said Jack.
Saburo nudged Jack with his elbow and rolled his eyes at the prospect of hearing yet another of his brother’s sword stories. He went back to munching on his yakitori, while a boy from the Yagyu Ryū took up position at the head of the course.
‘When Masamoto-sama first arrived in Kyoto, he was an unknown swordsman,’ explained Taro. ‘In order to make his name, he decided to challenge the most renowned school in Kyoto, the Yoshioka Ryū.’
There was a cheer as the Yagyu Ryū archer took out the first target.
‘To everyone’s surprise, Masamoto-sama defeated the head of the school, Yoshioka-san, with only a bokken!’ said Taro, shaking his head in amazement at such an accomplishment.
A groan filled the air, the boy having missed the next target.
‘This was so humiliating for the school that Yoshioka-san’s younger brother now challenged Masamoto-sama to a duel. Once again, Masamoto-sama won, this time gravely injuring his opponent.’
Applause broke forth as the Yagyu boy completed his run. He’d struck two out of the three targets.
‘Incensed