Jack bit back on his retort. He didn’t wish to ruin his chances of learning more from his rival.

Yamato called to Jiro to retrieve a bokken from the house again.

‘Follow what I do. Exactly,’ said Yamato to Jack, their weapons in hand.

Yamato stood, his feet together, heels touching. He had slipped his bokken through his obi on his left-hand side. His left hand, grasping it just below the hilt, kept it firmly in place by his hip.

‘Other way up,’ he said, nodding at Jack’s bokken. ‘The blade edge should face towards the sky, so that when you withdraw the sword you are immediately able to make your cut.’

Jack turned the blade over so that the curved edge of the wooden blade was pointing upwards.

‘Good. Now watch me.’

Yamato moved his right hand across his waist and gripped the handle. His right leg slid forwards, dropping into a wide stance. Simultaneously he whipped out his bokken, grasping it with both hands, and sliced downwards. He drove forwards another step, lifting the kissaki up to his imaginary victim’s throat. The attack completed, he then twisted the bokken with a sharp one-handed flick to the right before stepping up carefully and re-sheathing his weapon.

‘Now your turn.’

Jack went to mimic Yamato’s movements, but had not even grabbed the hilt before he was interrupted.

‘No! Your hand must stay close to your body. If you have it out there, your enemy will just chop it off.’

Jack began again. At every stage Yamato stopped him and corrected his movements. Jack quickly grew frustrated. There was so much to think about and Yamato was unflinching in his criticism.

‘What’s the final flick for?’ asked Jack irritably.

‘That move is called chiburi,’ replied Yamato, giving a sadistic smile. ‘It shakes your enemy’s blood from the blade.’

∗ ∗ ∗

The whole afternoon was spent repeating that single kata over and over again. Little by little Jack progressed through each step of the sequence until he was able to execute it in one complete move. He was by no means fluid, but he had learnt the core techniques. The sun was beginning to set by the time Yamato brought the session to an end.

‘Arigatō, Yamato,’ said Jack, bowing courteously.

‘Dōmo, gaijin.’

‘My name is Jack.’ And he held Yamato’s imperious look, challenging him to show appropriate respect.

‘Your name is gaijin until you prove otherwise,’ he said, re-sheathing his bokken.

Yamato then spun on his heels and, without returning Jack’s bow, disappeared into the house.

18: BEST OUT OF THREE

18

BEST OUT OF THREE

The next day, Jack arrived early in the garden to make sure he was practising the kata before Yamato turned up. Yamato made no comment, but Jack’s point had been made. He would not be put off bokken practice, however disrespectfully Yamato acted.

Yamato fell in beside Jack and began to synchronize his training with Jack’s.