The Blade of the Samurai
The lessons of youth sharpen the blade
“It is good to face challenges in your youth. He who has never suffered will not sufficiently temper his character.”
Yamamoto Tsunetomo
Kusonoki was on a mission,
One that he needed to complete.
He had faced many challenges as a young samurai.
This was to be his greatest and hardest one yet.
He had learned to move as well as to fly.
As a student, he had learned many lessons.
All taught to him by his famous Master.
Kusonoki had trapped and freed a hundred dragonflies.
He had saved the prince from being poisoned.
He was the best archer with the sharpest eyes.
He was now given the task to find an assassin.
One who was both cunning and clever in disguise.
He did not know if the assassin was a man or a woman,
But that the assassin had a foot made of wood.
A foot that was eaten by a shark and was lost for good.
The young Kusonoki saw the large congregation,
All assembled in the court of the King and his Queen.
He checked the footprints on the path after the summer rains.
The impression of one foot led him to the foreign mercenary Kaijin.
Kusonoki saved the King and captured the devious and dangerous assassin.
Poet’s Note: Kaijin is a Japanese word that means “mysterious person”.
https://wikizilla.org/wiki/Kaijin
