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Jinsei was covered in sweat after a day’s hard kenjutsu training. It had started before dawn with training with cuts through tough rolled mats of straw with his ninjato.* And then with kata.** And then real dueling with bamboo swords. And finally, with more real dueling with bone-bruising bokken hardwood version of a steel ninjato.

It was the last day of the young shinobi’s three weeks of training granted him by the clan, upon completion of his introductory mission from the mountain village into the heart of the Takeda samurai clan's capital of Kofu. His group-- himself, Kaida (a shugenja), Fuma (another ninja (a.k.a. shinobi) and Minoru (also a shinobi ) had been sent to obtain and deliver a certain tea ceremony vessel from the grand residence of a newly-wealthy merchant. On the way from the Kumo clan's hidden mountain Village, they had encountered old, predatory oni of the mountains- and wisely outrun it and followed different route. And passed in disguise through Takeda samurai clan checkpoints at in the city. And avoided a battle with yakuza thug gangsters in dark backways of the city. They had penetrated into the interior of the merchant's vast mansion, and encountered the ghost of an ill-fated servant. But they had failed to take possession of and deliver the master craftsman's tea vessel. But in their Kumo clan's elders' eyes, they had succeeded. They had worked together, as an independent unit on its fledgling mission. They had found the objective (or at least its believed general area). No one had be lost death or capture and torture. And most important, no samurai or enemy ninja had been led back to the Village. For that, the young members of the clan were granted three weeks-- 30 days-- to train.

Tough Mozu-sensei*** with his weathered face said, Well done, Jinsei-kun. Today your last day of training. And then your nakama*** will leave the Village again. This time with no specific assignment-- other than to go and see and hear in Nippon and report back to the clan what you have observed. In other words, you have the freely-ranging Crow assignment. As you were told, you must report to the village at least once every month. In person, or by message. You weren’t told before, but messages should be sent to a tea house in Kofu called Uiguisu no Michi.***** The oiran****** there are members of our Kumo clan. Any messages to them should be in the form of a love-struck young samurai writing of his adventures to his lover.

Well. I’m sure you have heard that members of the clan have found a band of tengu deep in the mountains north of here. It’s believed that they may be guarding a giant cedar tree that is thousands of years old. Or maybe they are just attracted to it. It is kami, of course.

As you know, tengu are master swordsmen. There have been some humans in history who have claimed to be trained in kenjutsu by tengu, but only a very few. But there are many people who have encountered tengu and derived some benefit from it. There was an impoverished boy whom tengu gave a pair “one-tooth clog” to. Every time he fell down while wearing the clogs, a gold coin would appear. But the tengu warned him not to fall down too much or he would grow smaller. His greedy uncle took the clogs from him and fell down repeatedly. The boy went to his house and found a big pile of gold coins with a bug on it. He threw the bug away and took the coins home to his widowed mother. The bug was his uncle, of course.

So, if I were a young swordsman like yourself, I would go and try to meet these tengu. They are not necessarily hostile to humans, and they may provide some gift or boon. But you must remember that though they mayy look like humans and speak in the language of Nippon, they are not at all human. They are birds. Crows, to be specific. And they think like birds. They are quite intelligent like crows, but they do not at all understand how a human thinks. So they make give away something that has little value to them, but is very valuable to a human. Such as gold coins. On the other hand, they may think they are providing a human with help, when they are actually causing them harm to their situations-- or their health.

As I said, tomorrow will be last day of training-- for now. You have chosen kenjutsu as a skill to spend your effort and sweat and the limited and invaluable days of your life as a skill to work toward mastering. As have I. When I see you again, I expect you to have surpassed my skill with the sword. So you can be the teacher, and I the student. Good luck to you, Fuma and Kaida on your journeys as Crows.



*A uniquely designed multi-purpose ninja sword
**”Forms.” Set moving patterns of attacks, defenses, and counterattacks against an imagined opponent.
***"Shrike-teacher"
****A set group, a tight circle of insiders
*****”Nightingale Path”
******Professional female entertainers; courtesans. Direct predecessors of the geisha

Fuma

"Thank you Mozu-sensei."

Fuma prepares to set out to see these tengu in the morning.

In Jinsei’s hands, the ninjato gleamed dully—shorter than a katana, straight-edged, built for speed and stealth. With practiced precision, he moved through the katas, each slash a whisper, each block a breath. His feet barely touched the moss-covered earth, balance flowing like water over stone. The blade cut through the morning mist, tracing arcs of disciplined fury. He trained not for glory, but for clarity—each motion honing both mind and muscle. A fallen leaf drifted down; his blade met it midair, slicing it clean before it reached the ground. There were no spectators, no applause—only the rhythm of steel and stillness. In the solitude of motion, the ninja found truth: the weapon was not just for war, but for awakening. And so, he trained.

Later, Jinsei bowed to his Mozu-sensei. “Thank you sensei for your teaching and wisdom. I shall seek out the Tengu.”

The young shinobi noted the method for the monthly reporting to the village.

Jinsei considered the ways of crows. If the Tengu thought like crows, he should try to get in their minds as well. He recalled a saying from one of his teachers, “The bird perches quietly on the branch, knowing that stillness is the seed of insight.” Or was it, “The crow does not ask why the night is dark, it simply learns to fly within it?”

This is elective reading. It's to show the setting for merchants such as Ateno's merchant-bushi character.
It was the evening of the day before New Year's Eve. The day before the first day of spring. When the people of Nippon travel to their home villages, reunite with family, and enjoy cooking the special feast dishes of the season. And relax together and catch up on what had happened with each other throughout the outgoing year. And then pay visits to the local Shinto shrines to show their reverence to the kami and pray for health, safety and prosperity in the coming New Year.

Shohzoh's father said, Shohzoh-kun, Mother and I don't want to go either. But we were invited, and as you know, Tanaka Jiro is an important merchant in Kofu. He's got a web of connections going all the way to Kamakura. Where Minamoto no Yoritomo is based, and where he assembles bushi from the Takeda and other Minamoto clans for their war against the Taira.

What Tanaka Jiro has achieved is a system for buying and transporting armor and weapons made in mountainous Kai to Yoritomo far to the east. Then loading his pack trains with the abundant rice grown in the flat plains around Kamakura. For sale at high wartime shortage prices here. He's made a fortune doing this two-way trading. He's an important man among the merchants of Kofu city-- and a ruthless one. We can't afford to decline his invitation.

Tanaka Jiro's mansion was huge-- the size of four ordinary mansions in Kofu. Shohzoh knew that it had been a summer house for a nobleman in Heian-Kyo. But many nobles had fallen on hard times due to the disruptions of the war, and Jiro had been able to buy the extravagant villa at a good price. As Shohzoh and his parents entered its vast grounds (which were complete with a simulated river and beach), servants and caterers dashed with dishes and foodstuffs from a side gate to the house. Dinner itself was long. Before it, the guests-- the most prominent merchants of Kofu and their families, had sit for two hours in an outdoor collonaded pavilion and compliment the merchant's vast garden, hear poetry readings by old men and young dandies, and be entertained by oiran musicians. (Shohzoh did enjoy that part). The merchant's wife wore a bright, multi-colored kimono too showy for a woman her age. She had a face that reminded one of a fox covered in thick white makeup.

At last, at dinner, Jiro, his wife and children seated themselves so that a tokono shelved alcove was their backdrop. It had an ink painting of a swimming carp, an old katana in the tachi style, a ceramic vase with bright flowers. At the center of everything was a tea vessel. It was so prominently highlight that a guest could not but comment on it. Jiro's wife said (in an affected high-born accent), That humble little thing? I'm fond of it, that's all. Another guest said, Interesting. the dark color is at the top and the sky blue is at the bottom. Is that the "Earth above Heaven" style I've heard of. The wife replied, Why yes, Yamamura-san, it is. You have erudition in the arts, I see. Murata replied, Oh no, not at all. Do you know the artist's name? The woman offhandedly said, I believe the man's name is... Kaneta. They are surprised exclamations around the tables. The famous Kaneta? Splendid! It must be priceless! Other guests have blank looks, as if they've never heard the name. Some join in. A Kaneta? In little backwoods Kofu? But one man--the merchant Yamata Taro-- quietly snorted to himself. The merchant Tanaka Jiro said, The man makes a fortune for one day's work. You pay for the name. He could sell a lump of clay from his workshop for a gold koban. The wife gave him a quick scowl.

At last the dinner was over. Shohzoh's father said, There, Shohzoh, is an example of what happens to some people with little education rise quickly to great wealth. There's no shame in being born in a low station. But when you flaunt your wealth and try to put on airs, you only embarrass yourself.