When Masamoto recognized who the final participant was, he sprang to his feet, his eyes bulging with outrage. He spun on Kamakura, but was stymied by anger. Kamakura sat, unflinching, relishing the moment. The great Masamoto had been unhinged.

‘This was not what was agreed. Where is the other samurai?’ said Masamoto with scarcely controlled restraint.

‘Did I forget to tell you? I’m so sorry. He was unfortunately called away by his father and we had to replace him with one of my other students,’ replied Kamakura, deliberately lingering over his final words.

‘Your student? This is unacceptable.’

‘I’m afraid the rules of the Taryu-Jiai clearly state that the competition is between the two schools, not individual students. I am perfectly at liberty to switch my warriors any time prior to the contest. Isn’t that right, Takeda-san?’ said Kamakura to the official.

‘Hai, Kamakura-sama, that is correct,’ replied the official, deliberately avoiding Masamoto’s glare.

‘So, unless you wish to forfeit the Taryu-Jiai…’

‘No! We will continue.’ Masamoto sat down, fuming like a boiling pot.

The official held up his hand for silence. The murmurings of the crowd ceased.

‘I am Takeda Masato,’ said the bald-headed man. ‘I am the independent adjudicator for this Taryu-Jiai appointed by the Imperial Court. I will referee all matches. My decision is final and irrefutable. The first round is kyujutsu. Samurai, prepare yourselves!’

The crowd gave a round of applause as the archery targets were set out down the length of the garden.

‘What is Yamato doing on their side?’ demanded Jack as they huddled round their standing stone. ‘How can he fight against us?’

‘You heard Masamoto’s words just as we did,’ said Akiko. ‘Masamoto disowned him after the hanami. He ran away because he’d lost too much face. He couldn’t deal with the shame.’

‘But why join the Yagyu School?’

‘Surely that is obvious, Jack,’ said Akiko. ‘He wants his father to lose face too.’

‘Enough!’ interrupted Sensei Yosa, who had come over to break up their discussion. ‘You must concentrate on the competition at hand. Don’t allow yourselves to be distracted by such underhand tactics. Remember what I taught you – you need absolute focus for kyujutsu. Balance is your foundation stone. The spirit, bow and body are as one.’

Sensei Yosa had drilled those three principles into them every day for the past three months. They had literally spent the first month just learning to stand and hold a bow correctly. Only then had she progressed on to teaching them how to shoot an arrow. Akiko was the first to manage the technique properly, but Saburo and Jack still had difficulty striking the target with any degree of consistency.