Kenshiru’s Journey – Prologue

The Old Man, Gakumo

You would not mistake the old man for a master of the blade, nor guess that he had fought as many duels in the service of the Emperor as there are waves rolling upon the ocean. In those days his name had been Doji Baisetsu and he had taught at the famed Kakita Iaijutsu School in the Crane lands. He had always assumed that one-day he would meet a more skillful opponent and be killed, but death had never claimed him. Gradually the years passed and he grew old. He had wanted to die a hero’s death but it appeared that the Fortunes had forsaken him. Instead he lived to be an old man. Eventually the time came when he had to leave his life at the Kakita School behind him. He shaved his head and took the name Gakumo before setting off to travel the length and breadth of Rokugan in search of the destiny that had eluded him for so long.

Fifteen Summers Ago on the Kaiu Wall

Gakumo journeyed for many years without finding his destiny. He was already ancient when his quest took him to the Kaiu Wall some fifteen summers ago. It was there that he first encountered the Crab bushi named Hiruma Tadaka.

A battle raged on the wall that day, and like a rock at the edge of the ocean Tadaka stood firm as wave after wave of ogres and goblins crashed about him. Lesser men were washed away, driven before the relentless onslaught but he gave no ground. He struck without fear or hesitation at the greatest and most terrible of foes. Gakumo was too old to join the fighting but in his heart he stood along side the brave samurai. Time and time again Tadaka was engulfed, only to emerge victorious from the most desperate of situations. Until eventually the attack was repelled.

After the battle Gakumo sought out Tadaka. He was not sure why. For some strange reason he felt that there was a bond between them. It was only once he was face to face with the samurai that he began to understand. There was a great sadness about Tadaka and as Gakumo looked closer he could see his own desire for death reflected in Tadaka’s eyes. It had not been bravery that had driven him but despair.

Gakumo found it hard to ignore the strangely fateful nature of the encounter. Had it somehow been his destiny all along? He talked with Tadaka and learned the reason for his grief. Only a few weeks before his young Shinjo bride and the child she was carrying had died during the birth. Tadaka had loved her very much and to his shame he had found that serving the daimyo was no longer enough to fill the emptiness inside of him. He had no reason to go on. He had sought to die amidst the thickest of the fighting or out scouting in the twisted, barren wastelands beyond the great wall but for some reason the Fortunes had kept him alive.

Gakumo understood. Suddenly he found that his own faith had been renewed. He truly believed that both he and Tadaka had a destiny to fulfill and that it was for this reason that the Fortunes were keeping them alive. He tried to reassure Tadaka that there was a greater purpose but though Tadaka listened he could not be convinced that it was true.

The two became friends despite the fact that Tadaka continued to volunteer for all of the most dangerous missions into the Shadowlands and to throw himself recklessly into combat when he was hopelessly outnumbered.

Tadaka’s Second Chance

A few months later winter came. It was harsh that year, the snow fell thick and the wind blew chill. There were few men who would brave the conditions. Even the ogres and goblins had been driven to hide within their lairs. Yet Tadaka continued scouting deep within the Shadowlands. Sometimes he was gone for many days.

One time, after Tadaka had not returned for over a week, and many had thought him dead, he had emerged from the blizzard’s maw clutching a young boy child. The pair were starving and half frozen, but though near death they had both survived.

After he had recovered, Tadaka told of the bitter cold and harsh biting wind out in the wastes. How he had become lost and wandered across the wilderness for many days. One dark night as he had staggered towards an outcropping of rocks seeking shelter from the storm he had stumbled upon the body of a young woman and her child buried in the snow. Although he could not imagine what had brought them there, it was clear to Tadaka that the woman had been carrying the child towards the same shelter that he was making for but that, weak with cold and hunger, she had stumbled and fallen. He had thought them both dead, but then the child stirred and the woman’s eyes opened. Even pale and blue with cold he had thought that she was beautiful. She had reminded him of his dead wife.

“You came”, she had whispered to him.

Tadaka had begun to try and help her, but she had reached out her hand to touch his face. The hint of a sad smile had brushed across her lips.

“No”, she had breathed gently, “I can go no further.”

Tadaka had begun to protest, but she had fixed him with a piercing gaze that reached deep into his soul.

“It is up to you now. Promise me that you will take care of my son.”

And so she had died.

Tadaka had taken the boy and through his will and determination had brought them back to the Wall. Everyone who heard this story agreed that it was a miracle that the pair had survived.

And now Tadaka finally understood. He had been given a second chance. This was the destiny that Gakumo had spoken of. He named the boy Kenshiru and adopted him as if he were his own son.

Wanting to separate Kenshiru from the horrors of the Shadowlands Tadaka asked Gakumo to take the boy far to the north to live amongst the Unicorn clan with his wife’s sister’s family. Tadaka hoped that under Gakumo’s tutelage Kenshiru would grow to the age where he could attend the Hiruma Scout School at Shiro Shinjo. Perhaps one day the boy might become a great warrior and make his father proud.

A Hero’s Death

Though Tadaka made the long journey to visit his son whenever he could, Kenshiru saw him infrequently during his childhood. When Kenshiru was seven, a week before he was due to start at the Hiruma School, a grim faced Crab clan samurai brought the news that his father had died. The young boy did not cry. He swallowed the tears and bore the weight of his sadness as Gakumo had taught him to. Tadaka would have been proud.

The samurai told how Tadaka had led a small force into the heart of the Shadowlands to rescue one of Hida Kisada’s nephews who had been snatched by a powerful oni. The truth of what happened will never be known but a week later a scouting party spotted a lone figure staggering across the plain. It was Tadaka, pale and covered with blood, carrying the unmoving form of Kisada’s nephew on his shoulders. Though Tadaka was mortally wounded he would not allow his charge to be taken from him until he had carried him to the very gates of the Kaiu Wall itself. There he had collapsed to his knees and died. Kisada’s nephew had eventually recovered from his ordeal but had been unconscious throughout and could remember nothing about the rescue.

The samurai said that Hida Kisada had demonstrated his recognition of the sacrifice made by Tadaka and his men by personally attending a ceremony in their honour. In addition the daimyo wished to reward Tadaka’s devotion by offering Tadaka’s son a place at the Hida School for Bushi. Such an honour could not be refused, and so it was that Kenshiru returned to the war torn lands of the Crab clan in southern Rokugan.

Growing to Adulthood

Over the next eight years Kenshiru proved that he was an exceptional student. At first the other boys picked on him because he was an outsider and somewhat smaller in stature than they were, but they soon learned that he was not easily intimidated and a lot tougher than he looked, After only a short while his resolute defiance earned their respect. The sensei at the school recognised his promise. He had agility and lacked the fiery Crab temperament that drove many of his contemporaries to act without thinking. He could not match the other boys’ in head-on strength but defeated them with subtlety and skill.

In the spring of his fifteenth year (980 AD) he was chosen to represent the Crab clan at the Kakita family’s Festival of the Topaz Championship. This was a great honour for him for while each clan holds its own festival for Gempukku (Coming of Age) this most prestigious tournament is one of few that are open to members of any clan. Consequently only the best and brightest young samurai and samurai-ko are invited to attend.

Sadly it had not been long before this that Kenshiru’s old sensei, Gakumo, died. Before he set out for the Crane lands and the town of Tsuma, where the festival was to be held, Kenshiru made the long journey to the Unicorn lands where the old man had spent his final years. Once again he visited his aunt and uncle’s village where he had spent such happy times with Gakumo when he was a boy. He was comforted to think that perhaps Gakumo’s spirit watched over him, and that if he upheld the honourable traditions that Gakumo had taught him and performed well in the championship there was still a chance that Gakumo would see him and be proud.