Arc: Father
1: Volume 1 Birth and Death.
Chapter 1.
Arc: Father
Japan, 1586.
Far from the city of Tokyo, on a mountain, stood a three-story building in Japanese style called Dojo.
At the Dojo, spiritual practices and physical training were conducted to train warriors.
The main character, named Yarimato, at the age of 18, completed his sword training with his teacher Takahashi.
Yarimato is a tall, pale guy, six foot tall.
Yarimato is a tall, thin guy who hides behind his weak appearance the enormous strength he has gained through long and arduous years of training.
His face is narrow and thin, his expression always calm, and his empty gaze serious and determined.
His dark gray eyes emphasize his seriousness and composure.
His nose, ears, and mouth are small and neat, and his pronounced cheekbones create an attractive face shape.
He has medium-length dark hair tied back in a ponytail with two strands of hair slightly covering his eyes.
He is dressed in classic Japanese clothing – black, long, wide pants called Hakama, a white kimono with wide sleeves called Gi, and ordinary wooden sandals with two teeth at the bottom of the sole.
Yarimato is a calm, intelligent, cool-headed, sensible guy with a good upbringing who, over many difficult years, achieved the mastery of his teacher and was preparing to finish his training, but one day everything changed dramatically.
On the last evening before completing his training and setting off on his journey, three unknown swordsmen climbed the mountain.
Yarimato and his teacher Takahashi fought against the swordsmen, but after being defeated, Yarimato, with deep wounds on his torso, sat on his knees and held his mortally wounded teacher in his arms, watching the three killers leave.
That night, the three swordsmen killed the protagonist’s teacher, and so Yarimato, sitting in grief and despair, promised himself that he would take revenge on the three killers for the death of his teacher.
But the story will start from the very beginning and tell us about the difficulties Yarimato had to go through before that moment.
Volume 1 Birth and Death
Arc: Father
Chapter 1
In 1568, during the Muromachi period in Japan, a boy was born and named Yarimato Kato by his parents.
Yarimato was born into a samurai family under the name Ito Kato.
Ito Kato was a healthy, tall, and strong man with a manly and stern face, short hair, and a beautiful beard.
Yarimato’s mother was named Kusagiri, and she was the most beautiful and kind woman.
Kusagiri was kind, respectful, and considerate to everyone.
Ito Kato was a very strong and wise samurai who built his own dojo and founded his own clan in his honor, so he was respected and revered among his own and other samurai.
From childhood, Yarimato was a weak and quiet child.
His father wanted his son to be a strong swordsman and become a samurai like him, but his mother did not want her son to become a killer.
From the age of three, Yarimato began to watch his father’s training and memorize his movements.
At the age of seven, Yarimato found a small knife and a stick, which he used to make a bakken (a wooden replica of a katana used for martial arts).
Every day, without his parents knowing, Yarimato would go deep into the forest and swing the stick, repeating the movements he had memorized while watching his father.
But one day, Yarimato’s father noticed that his son was often missing and decided to follow him.
Hiding in the bushes, he saw his son waving the stick and perfectly repeating all his movements.
Ito was proud of his son, so one day he decided to take Yarimato to his dojo, where he taught his students.
At that time, Yarimato was almost 9 years old, and his father took him with him to show him what he did.
Ito: Yarimato, today we are going to my dojo, where I train samurai.
Yarimato’s father said in a cheerful voice.
Yarimato: Will I see you swing your sword today?
Yarimato asked happily.
Ito: Yes, and today I will show you how to swing a sword correctly.
Yarimato was very happy about this event, so he and his father went to his dojo.
Ito was already 43 years old, so he trained new students as a sword master.
For Yarimato, his father was the person he most wanted to be like.
Ito was calm, wise, and strong, but his strength lay not only in his sword skills, but also in his seriousness and steadfastness, so many wanted to be like him.
When they arrived at the dojo, Ito introduced his son to his students and showed him how he trained them.
Yarimato was very interested and wanted very much to become his father’s student, but when he told him this, his father replied: “Listen to me, son, now is not the time for you to become a warrior.
I also want you to be strong, and that is why you need to grow up now.
When you gain strength, I will accept you as my student, but for now, learn to read, write, and count, because without these skills, you will not become a samurai.
Ito promised that when Yarimato grew up, he would take him as his student, and for now, Yarimato began to study.
But after only a year, tragedy struck the family.
One day, Ito was patrolling the streets with two young men who had just become samurai.
These two were from a wealthy samurai family, so they easily obtained the title of “samurai,” and one day they crossed the line.
The two young men decided to take advantage of their status and broke into a family’s home, killing the man and raping his wife and child.
When Ito found out about this, he was shocked that his subordinates had gone so far, so he decided to stop them.
When he met with them again, Ito was angry with them, but after calming down, he began a dialogue.
Ito: Do you understand what you have done?
This is a crime!
This is not why you became samurai!
Tatsu: It’s your fault for not keeping track of us, and anyway, we are samurai and can do whatever we want!
Taku: Yes, Tatsu is right, and this man seemed dangerous, so we killed him.
Ito heard them, but he didn’t want to let them off so easily, so he said.
Ito: I have to report this to my superiors, and they will decide what to do with you.
But when they heard these words, the men became angry and decided to kill Ito so that he wouldn’t tell anyone.
Taku and Tatsu drew their swords and attacked Ito.
But Ito was ready for this and fought them with his bare hands.
Tatsu swung his sword from above straight at Ito’s head, but Ito grabbed his arms and punched him in the torso.
Then lifted him off the ground and threw him to the ground.
But Taku, Tatsu’s brother, attacked Ito from behind, but even so, Ito was able to disarm him and push his face into the ground.
Ito: You little bastards, how dare you!
You can thank me for not killing you, but if this happens again, I will kill you.
Ito left them and reported the incident to their superiors, who wanted to punish them, but when they found out that they were the children of Kotoru Usoku, they simply gave them a warning.
Kotoru Usoku is the general of thirty samurai, so he is someone you don’t want to mess with.
Ito understood this, and even though he knew it wasn’t fair, he didn’t want to have problems with Kotor.
So he forgot about it, but the twin brothers were not happy that Ito had humiliated their name in front of the other samurai, disgracing their father’s family name, so they decided to take revenge.
One bright day, when Ito was at work, the two decided to break into Ito’s house, rape his wife, and kill his son.
At the same time, Yarimato was in the forest.
He was reading books and waving a stick, thinking about the stories of various samurai.
Yarimato: I wonder how many people my father has killed?
What is it like to kill a person?
Yarimato thought a lot about what it was like to be a samurai and what it was like to kill his enemies.
He was not afraid to kill his enemies, because if it was to protect the people he loved, Yarimato was ready to take someone’s life.
Meanwhile, Taku, Tatsu, and another guy were sitting behind some bushes near the Ito house.
Taku: So, we’ll just go into the house and do our thing, and you, Takatoshi, will start a fire.
Takatoshi: I think you’re going too far.
Can’t you choose something simpler?
Tatsu: Are you scared or something?
Come on, you owe us, so sit here and make sure there are no problems.
Takatoshi is also a young guy who was becoming a samurai, and one day he got into trouble, and these two helped him, after which he became indebted to them.
Taku and Tatsu began to use the young man for their own purposes, taking him along on all sorts of bad deeds so that he could keep an eye on everything, and even when the brothers attacked a man’s family, Takatoshi was there too.
Taku: Okay, let’s go.
Tatsu and Taku came out of the bushes and slowly walked toward Ito’s house.
The house where Ito and his family live is far away in the woods outside Tokyo, so no one will hear them.
Meanwhile, Yarimato, waving his stick, kicked a branch and fell, injuring his leg.
Yarimato: Ouch, damn, I’ll have to go home and treat the wound, or my mom will notice and worry.