Chapter 21 Chapter 03 Utanhua

Today is a dangerous day for the Yoshioka family. Since the establishment of the Sijo Martial Art Museum at the intersection west of the West Cave, it can be said that it has suffered the greatest insult today, which has discredited the famous military art school.This should indeed be kept in mind - disciples with a heart, all have a look of pain.Usually at dusk, martial arts disciples would all go home one after another, but now, some gathered on the lounge floor, speechless; some gathered in a room like crows, and no one went home. If you hear the sound of a sedan chair in front of the door, someone will say:

"Are you back?" "Is it the little master?" Everyone immediately broke the silence and stood up to see what happened. The person who had been leaning on the pillar at the entrance of the martial arts hall shook his head heavily and said: "no." Upon hearing this answer, the disciples sank back into gloom.Some people smacked their tongues, some sighed loudly, and the people next to them could hear them clearly. In the dimness, all of them had frustrated eyes. "What happened?" "What a coincidence, the little master is not here today!"

"No one knows the whereabouts of little master?" "No, people have been sent to look for it separately, maybe they have been found, and they are on their way home." "Hush!" ——A doctor came out from the inner room, and several disciples silently escorted him out of the porch.As soon as the doctor left, those people retreated into the room in silence. "Did you forget to light the lamps? Someone! Who will light the lamps?" Someone roared angrily.It was a yell at himself for being insulted, but unable to fight back. There is a shrine of "Hachiman Bodhisattva" on the front of the martial arts hall, and someone immediately lit a lamp.However, even the light had lost its brilliance, and it looked like the fire of jealousy, shrouding an ominous atmosphere.

——Think about it, in the past few decades, the Yoshioka family has been too smooth!Among some old disciples, some people also reflected in this way. The former teacher - the founder of these four martial arts gyms - Yoshioka Boxing is indeed very different from his eldest son Seijuro and his second son Denchiro.Originally, this kind of boxing was just a craftsman in the dyeing room. He invented the broadsword technique from the method of applying the stereotyped paste, and then learned the brilliant pommel horse monk long knife technique, and also studied the Baliu sword technique.In the end, he finally established the Yoshioka-ryu Kodachi Sword Art, and was appointed by the Muromachi General Ashikaga at that time, and was promoted to a member of the Art of War Institute.

Master is so great! Today's disciples mourn the late boxing teacher and his virtues from time to time.The second generation Seijuro and his younger brother Denshichiro not only learned the family martial arts no less than his father, but also inherited the huge family property and reputation left by Yoshioka boxing. "This is the source of the disaster." Someone said so. The current disciples are not following the virtue of Seijuro, but following the reputation of Yoshioka boxing method and Yoshioka style.Because as long as people who have completed their training in the Yoshioka family can move freely in society, the number of disciples will increase day by day.

After the death of General Ashikaga's family, although Seijuro's generation had no salary, but the Yoshioka boxing method didn't like to play, so they accumulated a lot of property.Coupled with the majestic mansion and numerous disciples, it can be regarded as the longest domination in Kyoto, Japan.Regardless of its essence, its appearance alone is enough to make it popular in Japan, which advocates kendo. ——However, people inside the wall are still addicted to boasting and pride. In the few years of excessive enjoyment, the times have changed outside the huge white wall. It was not until today that the martial arts school was greatly insulted that these proud eyes were opened—they were awakened by an unknown countryman Miyamoto Musashi with a sword.

The cause of the matter is this. ——Miyamoto Musashi, a ronin in Miyamoto Village, Yoshino Township, Sakushu Prefecture. The concierge came to report that such a countryman had come to the martial arts hall.Asked what kind of person he was, he replied: he was about 21 or 20 years old, nearly six feet tall, like a cow that suddenly ran out of the dark.The hair was tied in a random bunch and tangled as if it hadn't been combed all year.The clothes had been filthy from the rain and dew, and it was hard to tell whether it was plain or patterned, black or brown, and it seemed that he could still smell the stench all over his body.On his back is a treasure bag commonly known as a martial artist's practice bag. It seems to be a popular practice of martial arts recently, but it is a bit ridiculous.

It doesn't matter.If he just came to the kitchen to beg for a meal, it would be fine. Unexpectedly, when he saw this huge portal, he even said that he wanted to ask for advice from the head of the house, Mr. Yoshioka Seijuro.The disciples almost spit rice when they heard this.Some people said to drive him away, while others suggested asking what school he was and who was his teacher?The porter asked him these questions half-jokingly, and his answers were even more impressive. ——When I was young, I learned the iron rod technique from my father.In the future, I will ask every strategist who came to the village for advice.He left his hometown at the age of seventeen, and during the three years of eighteen, nineteen, and twenty, he only studied learning for some reason.Last year I hid alone in the mountains, taking the trees and mountain spirits as my teachers, learning by myself, without teachers or schools.In the future, I want to learn the true story of Oniichi Hogan, consider the essence of the Kyoba-ryu, follow the example of the boxing teacher who founded the Yoshioka-ryu, and create the Miyamoto-ryu.Although the strength is insufficient at present, we will work on this goal.

The man spoke honestly, without breaking the usual etiquette.But not only did he have a blunt tongue, but he also had a thick local accent, and he looked clumsy.The porter imitated his way of speaking, and made everyone laugh. Dare to challenge the No. 1 Sijo martial arts gym in the world, it is already a fool, and even said to follow the example of the boxing teacher to create a school, it is really overestimated.That's all for now, but he went further and asked if anyone could collect the corpse?And again the man said half-jokingly to the porter: "In case something happens, if you want to collect the corpse, you can throw it in Mt. Toribe, or throw it in the Kamo River to flow away with the garbage. You will never die in peace."

This bold tone is extremely disproportionate to his dull appearance. "superior!" Someone yelled and started the incident.They were going to catch him in the martial arts gym and beat him to death before throwing him out.However, after the first round, it was the martial arts people who were half dead.The first person on the field was severely injured when he broke his wrist with a wooden sword.Rather than being interrupted, it was more like being snapped off, leaving only the skin and the drooping wrist. One by one the disciples went up to fight him, and almost every one was badly wounded and completely defeated.Although he used a wooden sword, there was blood all over the ground.There was a murderous look everywhere, as if even if all of Yoshioka's disciples were killed, the nameless country bumpkin could not be allowed to go back alive and boast to the world.

——If this continues, there is no solution, please come out, Mr. Seijuro! When Musashi made this request, he was too tired to stand up.The doorman had no choice but to arrange for him to wait in a room, and sent someone to look for Seijuro.In addition, they sent for doctors to treat the seriously injured people in the back. Not long after the doctor returned, two or three voices calling for the injured person's name came from the back room.The martial arts disciples hurried over to take a look. Among the six people who were seriously injured and lying side by side, two of them had already died. "...Is it hopeless?" The fellow disciples who surrounded the deceased all looked pale. At this time, there was a sound of hurried footsteps, passing the martial arts hall from the entrance, and coming into the house. It turned out that Yoshioka Seijuro had returned with Gion Fujiji. The faces of the two were extremely heavy. "What's going on here? Look at your virtue!" Fujiji is not only a servant of Yoshioka's family, but also a veteran of the martial arts school.So no matter what the occasion, what he said always carried authority. The tearful disciple beside the dead raised up his angry eyes: "I should ask you this question. You were the one who lured little master out, so you have to be a little bit more restrained when you do bad things!" "What did you say?" "When the boxing teacher was alive, there was never a day like this!" "I just go to watch kabuki once in a while to relax, what's wrong! How dare you speak in such a tone in front of my little master! It's too presumptuous!" "Would I have to spend the night there the day before watching female kabuki? The tablet of the boxing teacher is crying in the Buddhist hall behind!" "You bastard, be careful what you say!" In order to appease the two people, the crowd took them away separately. For a while, everyone was arguing again. Suddenly, a voice came from the next room: "...Noisy...It's so noisy...I don't know how painful it is for others to be hurt...Hey-hey...hey-hey." Someone is moaning. "Stop talking about infighting, since the little master has come back, please hurry up and avenge the shame of today... And... don't let that ronin who is waiting behind you leave here alive... Can you? Please! " There was an injured man lying in the quilt, his hands touching the tatami mat and shouting excitedly. Although the injuries were not fatal, the people whose hands and feet were injured under the Musashi wooden sword also cheered up after hearing this. right! Everyone feels humiliated.In the society at that time, apart from farmers, industry, and merchants, they usually attached the most importance to the matter of "shame". If they were humiliated, they were even willing to die at any time to avenge it.Those in power at that time, because of the constant wars, had not yet drawn up a political platform for the peaceful period. Only Kyoto changed its laws and governed the world with incomplete laws and regulations.Even so, the atmosphere of emphasizing shame in the scholar class is still at its peak, and farmers and ordinary people also voluntarily respect this style, which also affects social security.However, relying on the self-government of citizens can also make up for the lack of laws. Yoshioka was in the same family, and finally he was ashamed, not as brazen as the people in the last days.Therefore, when they woke up from the momentary embarrassment and failure, anger immediately ignited in their minds—— This is a disgrace to the family. Everyone let go of their egos and gathered together in the martial arts hall. They surrounded Seijuro. However, Seijuro seems to have no fighting spirit today.The tiredness of last night is still between the eyebrows. "Where's the rogue?" While putting on the leather cuffs, Seijuro asked the doorman to bring out two wooden swords. He chose one and held it in his right hand. "He said he would wait for you to come back, so we had no choice but to let him wait in the room as he wanted." Someone pointed to the small room next to the study across the courtyard. "Call him over." Seijuro burst out those words from his parched lips. He is ready to meet that person.He sat on the master's chair in the martial arts hall and leaned on the ground with a wooden sword. "yes." Three or four people answered, and immediately put on straw sandals beside the martial arts hall, and ran along the courtyard to the corridor of the study.Senior disciples such as Gion Fujiji and Ueda suddenly grabbed their sleeves and said: "Wait a minute, don't act rashly." Then he whispered something in their ears, but Seijuro was a little far away and couldn't hear the content.I only saw family members, relatives, and senior disciples of the Yoshioka family crowding the entire lounge, divided into several groups, head to head, and discussing different opinions. ——Even so, the discussion seemed to have an immediate result.A large number of people who think about the Yoshioka family and know Seijuro's strength very well think that it is a bad idea to call out the unknown ronin inside and fight Seijuro unconditionally here.There are already several dead and wounded in front of him, if even Seijuro loses to him, it will be fatal to the Yoshioka family, it is too risky. Everyone thought that if Seijuro's younger brother Denshichiro was around, there would be no such scruples.However, it is unfortunate that Denshichiro will not be here this morning.Everyone can see clearly that this younger brother is better than his elder brother in terms of martial arts talent, but because he is the second son, he doesn't have to take any responsibility, so he has been living a leisurely life.Today, I only said that I would go to Ise with my friends, and went out without specifying the return date. "Come here with your ears." Fujiji finally walked to Seijuro's side, and whispered something.Seijuro had a look of embarrassment and humiliation on his face. "Sneak attack?" "..." Fujiji gestured with his eyes, and Seijuro said angrily: "If such a despicable method is used, Seijuro's reputation will be ruined. The world will say that I am afraid of a country warrior with mediocre martial arts, and I will win by bullying the few." "OK OK……" Fujiji interrupted Seijuro's resolute words and said: "Leave it to us, we'll handle it." "You people, do you think that I, Seijuro, will lose to that man named Musashi?" "That's not the case. Everyone thinks that it's too much of a fuss for an inconspicuous enemy to be confronted by the little master—it's not something worth publicizing to the outside world... Besides, if the fish caught in the net are killed Slip away, this is the shame of the family, and it will be laughed at by the world." When Fujiji said these words, more than half of the people gathered in the martial arts hall had been reduced—they quietly dispersed to the yard and inner room like mosquitoes, and some went back to the back door from the entrance. "Ah! I can no longer hesitate, little master!" Fujiji snorted and blew out the lights.Then untie the belt that tied the knife, and tie the sleeves up. Seijuro was still sitting, seeing all this, he was relieved in his heart, but he was not happy at all, because it meant that his abilities were underestimated.Seijuro thought that he had been lazy since his father died, and his heart was very heavy. ——Where did so many disciples and family members hide?He was the only one left in the martial arts gym.The whole mansion was filled with silent darkness and dampness, like being at the bottom of a well. Seijuro couldn't hold back, and finally stood up, peeping out the door from the window.Except for the light in the room where Musashi was, the rest of the place was pitch black. The lights in the lattice door flickered silently from time to time. Under the eaves, in the corridor, and in the study room next door, except for this room with the faint light, everything else was pitch black.Countless eyes, like toads, slowly crawled over in the darkness. Everyone held their breath, held the blade secretly, and listened attentively to the movement in the room. "..." Strange? Fujiji hesitated. The other disciples also stopped. ——Although the name Miyamoto Musashi has never been heard of in Kyoto, his martial arts are indeed strong.Why are you standing still now?As long as he knows a little about the art of war, no matter how good at endurance he is, he will not be indifferent to the enemy who has approached outside.From the perspective of the art of war, walking in today's world, if you are so careless, you may not be able to lose one life a month. —Are you asleep? This is the most likely scenario. Maybe he waited too long and just fell asleep from exhaustion. But having said that, if he was unexpected and an unpredictable person, he might have noticed the movement here, and he had already made complete preparations. He deliberately didn't cut the candles, and waited for the enemy to come and give them a fatal blow. That might be it... no, that's it! As a result, everyone's body froze, and their own murderous aura defeated their own people first.Because everyone is worried about who will sacrifice first!Taking this into consideration, Fujiji cleared his throat and shouted: "Miyamoto!" He pretended to be relaxed beside the lattice door, and said: "I kept you waiting for a long time. I want to ask you to come out and meet..." But still silent.Fujiji was even more certain that the enemy must be prepared. Don't be careless! He gestured to the people on the left and right with his eyes, and then kicked the paper door with a bang. As a result, the figures that should have jumped in immediately all backed away subconsciously.The paper door fell about two feet from the track and broke in two.Go!Someone yelled.Only after this did everyone rush in together, causing the doors and walls on all sides to rattle. "what?" "He's not in now!" Under the flickering lights, everyone's voices suddenly became brave. "Not at all!" When the disciples brought the candlesticks just now, he was still sitting in the room.The cushion was still there, and the brazier was still there, and the tea that was delivered was cold. "Ran away!" Someone went to the corridor to inform the people in the courtyard. As a result, figures kept appearing from the dark places in the yard or under the floor, and everyone stomped their feet and scolded the guards for being too negligent. The gatekeepers all defended with one voice.They saw him go to the toilet once, and he didn't come out again after returning to the room.Everyone said that it was absolutely impossible for Musashi to leave this room, which was really puzzling. Some people mocked these justifications: "He's not a gust of wind..." Someone poked his head into the closet, pointed to a large hole in the floor and said: "Ah! Here." "If it ran away after lighting the lamp, it shouldn't be able to run very far." "Chasing! Fighting!" These people guessed that the enemy was a coward, and immediately became excited.Everyone scrambled to get out from the small door and the back door. Then, someone yelled "over there".Following the sound, everyone saw a figure jumping out from the shadow of the low wall at the front door, crossing the main road, and disappearing at the end of the opposite path. The man fled around like a rabbit.There was a mound of dirt at the end of the road, and the figure of the man skimmed over the mound like a bat, and fled to the side. The sound of chaotic footsteps, interspersed with roars one after another, chased up from behind, and some people went around to the front. Finally, we came to the dark area where the ruins of Kuya-do and Honno-ji Temple were burnt down. "coward!" "Shameless guy!" "Hey! Hey! The one running ahead!" "Hey! Come back to me!" caught.The arrested man was beaten and kicked by everyone, and groaned.However, this desperate man jumped up suddenly, grabbed two or three people by the collar with all his strength, dragged them down, and threw them to the ground. "what!" "This guy……" Just as the man was about to beat them until their heads were bleeding, someone called out: "Wait a minute! Wait a moment!" "I got the wrong guy!" Someone shouted. "what?" "He's not Musashi." There was a moment of silence, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Gion Fujiji, who came late, asked: "Caught it?" "I caught it..." "Huh? This man..." "Do you know him?" "Behind a tea shop called Wormwood House—and I just saw it this morning." "Oh……" Everyone looked suspiciously at Matahachi who was arranging his clothes from the beginning to the end without saying a word. "Is it the owner of the tea shop?" "No, the waitress there said he was not the boss. Probably their relative!" "This guy is really strange. Why stand at the door of someone's house and peek when you have nothing to do?" Fujiji suddenly took a step forward. "Continuing to entangle with this kind of person will make Musashi run away. Hurry up and chase him separately, at least you need to know where he lives." "Yes! Find out where he landed." Youba lowered his head, silently looking at the big ditch of the Honnōji Temple, and suddenly stopped them when he heard the sound of chaotic footsteps. "Ah! Hey! Wait a minute!" A person in the back of the palace asked: "What's up?" The man stopped and ran up again: "How old is the person named Musashi who came to the martial arts hall today?" "have no idea." "Is it about the same as you?" "Well! Almost." "Did he say that his hometown is Miyamoto Village in Sakushu?" "Have." "Is the name the word 'Musashi' (takezou)?" "Why are you asking this? Do you know him?" "No, nothing." "Running around for nothing will cause trouble!" After leaving this sentence, the man also ran into the dark.Youba walked slowly along the dark ditch, looking up at the starry sky from time to time, as if he didn't know where to go. "...It should be him. He changed the way he pronounced his name and started practicing as a martial artist... He must have changed a lot..." Youba put his hands on the front belt, and kicked the stones with straw sandals.Each stone reflected the face of his friend Musashi. "...It's really not the time. If I meet him now, I will lose face. I also have self-esteem, how can I be despised by that guy?... But then again, if he is found by Yoshioka's children, he will definitely die. Where is he? I really want to inform him."