Now that I am a full member of Clan Noriaibasha, I am allowed to attend the special meetings that happen twice every week. On Tuesday and Thursday mornings, we city fighters of the Keitai Team meet with the Nichiren priests, the artists and carpenters and the tea masters. We discuss matters of philosophy and artistry and strategy and battle, and how all these things are interrelated, and how they affect our Way and our relations with the peasants in the areas we control.

These meetings are — with occasional exceptions — restricted to full clan-members only. Kento allowed me to attend one early in my tenure here, and it was most enlightening.

Now, I can attend whenever I want… except that I am so busy trying to rid Ichimen of Ayamari, there is no time for me to spend in meetings that aren’t directly related to the Teitōken campaign!

On that score… there are 32 Ayamari that we must kill by the end of the day tomorrow. And fully half of them are ones that I must slay, by myself. I will be quite busy.

This was originally published at The Tales of the Ninja Coder. You may comment here, if you wish, but Ichirō invites you to comment at his humble blog.

I have just come from a meeting with Risako, a priestess of the Shoshū sect, who will be guiding the first stages of the upcoming Kanezukai campaign. She is very pleasant to talk to, and her ideas on Harmony align well with my own. I suspect we may well become friends, at least within the castle walls.

And a very ironic thing happened: In small upstart clans, we ninjas are often told, “With so few people, each one of you will have the chance to make a real difference in the clan’s actions.” But at Clan Nettobuku and Clan Tenya, my advice on tactics was ignored. By the time I was ready to leave the world of small clans behind, the idea of not having any say in my clan’s actions was no drawback; I already had no say, so I would be losing nothing.

How amazing, then, to see what happened in my meeting with Risako: Her plan for the first stage of the campaign involved using the Bright Square technique for certain city and village operations. I mentioned that I don’t like Bright Square much, as it tends to place great hardships on the peasants in the occupied area. The Floating Square technique serves our army’s purpose just as well, without hurting the peasants so much.

And Risako agreed, and said she would change the attack plan.

Then Akinori, whose weapons locker is near Risako’s altar, overheard. He is working on the plans that will guide many of the clan’s strategies for the next few years, and noted that there has been some question of which technique to use. He says that his recommendation is also for the Floating Square, and he has some standard kata for use in that tactic. All three of us are agreed: Akinori’s Floating Square kata will be part of the Kanezukai campaign.

And Akinori would like me to see if I can improve his kata.

So, in the course of a single meeting, I have just had a real, distinctive effect on the tactics the clan will be using in an upcoming campaign — and soon, I may have an effect on the kata we use in all our operations! The kind of influence that I had given up all hope of wielding has just been placed in my hands.

This was originally published at The Tales of the Ninja Coder. You may comment here, if you wish, but Ichirō invites you to comment at his humble blog.
ninja_coder: (Default)
( May. 23rd, 2009 03:58 pm)

This is the initial WordPress post, that normally just says “Welcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!”

I could delete it, but it makes a great honeypot for spammers, so I’m leaving it here. Anything that comments on it will be assumed to be a spambot and dealt with accordingly.

This was originally published at The Tales of the Ninja Coder. You may comment here, if you wish, but Ichirō invites you to comment at his humble blog.
 
Last night, after spending a bit of time studying the Jōgesen ryū and improving my knowledge, I went out to enjoy some music and dancing in Ueno, the capital of Iga Province. There, I noted some handbills that said that Clan Iwinaga is looking for a warrior skilled with the weighted-and-hooked chain. It seems they still haven't found a good replacement for me.

Then, at the inn, I met two of the Buddhist priestesses that I once knew in Clan Iwinaga. It seems the clan has had to purge even more members, citing a shortage in its treasury.

Even if still feel very subordinate here at Clan Nettobuku (and I do), I am still in a better place now than I was then. I must remember this.
 
Inspired by a thread in my previous post: This is a general retelling of a Zen Buddhist story from ancient China. (I think it might even predate Zen, but the flavor is very Zen anyway.) I'm going to mess up a few of the details, because I don't have the text close at hand, but the exact names of the mountain and the two monks are really not the point anyway. The basic idea still comes through.

Once, on a holy mountain in the wilderness, there lived Monk A, who was so holy that the birds would bring him gifts of flowers every day. Monk B came to visit him, and they spent some time walking among the forested mountain pathways, talking of Weighty and Holy Matters. During one of these walks, a bear roared in the forest nearby, and Monk B jumped, startled. "I see it is still with you," said Monk A, referring to the instinctual fear of death.

Later, when they returned to Monk A's camp site, Monk B took a moment to surreptitiously write the Holy Name of Buddha on a stool where Monk A was accustomed to sit. When Monk A returned, he was about to sit down... when he saw what was written on the place where he was about to plant his bottom, and stopped, startled. "I see it is still with you, too," observed Monk B.

At that moment, Monk A was fully enlightened. And the birds never brought him any more flowers.


I got this one from Alan Watts' The Way of Zen, but I suspect its real source is much older. (Duh.)

Heh. It's interesting to look through my tags list and see which ones apply in odd ways. Okay, I think this is now tagged appropriately.
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