Young Samurai_ The Way of the Sword - Chris Bradford [31]
‘All will become clear when we reach the monastery, Jack-kun,’ shouted Sensei Kano from afar.
They stared at one another in amazement. Sensei Kano was already out of sight, yet he had still heard them.
‘This temple is where Sensei Sorimachi, the founder of the Mugan Ryū, the School of No Eyes, began his training,’ explained Sensei Kano. ‘The school is based upon the insight that “To see with eyes alone is not to see at all”.’
The class listened obediently, standing in two rows, their staffs held tightly by their sides. Sensei Kano had brought them to a large open courtyard that faced the ruined remains of the Kompon Chu-do, the largest temple of the once great and powerful Enryakuji monastery.
The temple’s long curved roof had collapsed in several places, and red and green tiles lay scattered on the floor like discarded dragon scales. The broken bones of wooden pillars rested at odd angles and battered gap-toothed walls revealed ransacked shrines and cracked stone idols. To all intents and purposes, the monastery was dead.
Yet deep inside, a single light glimmered. This, Sensei Kano explained, was the ‘Eternal Light’. A lantern lit by the temple’s founding priest, Saicho, over eight hundred years ago, it was still burning, tended by a solitary monk. ‘Belief never burns out,’ observed Sensei Kano before starting the lesson.
‘As a samurai warrior, you must not become blinded by what you see. You must use all your senses to conquer your enemy – sight, hearing, touch, taste and smell. You must be at one with your body at all times, maintaining perfect balance and complete awareness of where each limb is in relation to the others.’
The sensei turned to face Jack, his misty grey eyes staring directly at him. The effect was unsettling, as if the sensei was somehow looking into Jack’s very soul.
‘You asked me, Jack-kun, how I managed to save your friend without being able to see. Simple. I sensed his panic. My staff was moving before he fell. I heard his foot slip on the log and then his scream, so I knew exactly where he was. The hard part was ensuring he didn’t land on any of you!’
A ripple of laughter spread among the students.
‘But how can such skills be used to fight an enemy you can’t see?’ asked Kazuki with scepticism.
‘I will demonstrate,’ replied Sensei Kano, turning his clouded gaze towards Kazuki. ‘Your name?’
‘Oda Kazuki, Sensei.’
‘Well, Kazuki-kun, try to steal my inro without me knowing and it’s yours to keep.’
Kazuki grinned at the challenge. The little carrying box hung freely from the obi of the sensei’s kimono, easy pickings for even the most inept thief.
Kazuki crept out of line and advanced silently towards the sensei. As he passed Nobu, he indicated to him and another lad, a thin, wiry stick insect of a boy called Hiroto, to follow him. Kazuki then resumed his approach, with Nobu moving off to his right and Hiroto to the left. Each converged on Sensei Kano from a different direction.
They were four paces away when Sensei Kano whipped his bō staff round, catching Hiroto by the ankle and sweeping him off his feet. Spinning round, the sensei thrust his staff in between Nobu’s legs, knocking them apart. A single jab to the stomach sent the startled Nobu toppling to the floor. Finally, without pausing, he attacked Kazuki, driving his bō directly at the boy’s throat.
Kazuki froze, an audible swallow of panic coming from him as the end of the staff stopped a hair’s breadth from his Adam’s apple.
‘Very clever, Kazuki-kun, employing decoys, but your friend over there smells of three-day-old sushi,’ he explained, nodding towards the fallen figure of Hiroto. ‘You breathe as loud as a baby dragon, and that boy treads like an elephant!’ he said, indicating Nobu, who lay on the floor rubbing his bruised belly.
The class broke into uncontrollable sniggering.
‘Enough!’ interrupted Sensei Kano, bringing an abrupt end to the laughter. ‘It’s time to start your training or you’ll never learn how to fight blind. Space yourselves out so