Tenkei Shinzui

A young boy practices with a bokken in the pebble garden.  He practices diligently.  Practicing his attacks time and time again and focusing carefully on each spot before he strikes.

"You are not keeping your guard up Tenkei," speaks a voice in the distance.

"Huh," the boy looks in the direction of the voice.  "Oh, father.  When did you get here?"

"Here, you must call me sensei.  And I've been here for some time.  You are not paying enough attention to everything around you."

"I'm sorry sensei.  I will try to focus harder in the future."

"Do not try in the future.  Do it now."

"Yes sensei"

"You focus too much on attacking; you must work harder on your defense."

"But sensei, the only way to defeat my opponent is to have a strong attack.  I must do more than just defend."

"Yet, if you cannot defend, you will not live long enough to attack."  He pulls out a piece of cloth.  "Allow me to demonstrate what a good defense can accomplish."  He ties the cloth over his eyes as a blindfold.  "There, now attack me."

A smirk comes across the face of Tenkei.  He quickly side steps to the left of his father, and then attacks his side.  His father parries the attack with his katana.  Tenkei seems amazed.  He attacks again and again, each time more aggressive and uncontrolled.  Then, his father parries the bokken into the air and removes it from the hands of Tenkei.  His father pulls off the blindfold and looks down at him.

"No fair.  You cheated," complains Tenkei.

His father smacks him in the head with the bokken.  "Stop making excuses!  Everyman is responsible for his own actions.  Do not try and blame others for your mistakes.  Your attack was not your problem, but your self control.  You let you emotions get the best of you and made stupid decisions."

"Sorry sensei."

"Now," hands the boy the blindfold, "you try."

"But that's impossible."  His father hits him in the head with the bokken again.  "Ouch," he cries as he starts rubbing his head.

"I just proved it IS possible."

Tenkei sighs, "Very well.  But this really doesn't serve a purpose; I don't plan to lose my sight."

His father hits him again in the head, also hitting the hand that had been rubbing his head.  "Don't say such stupid things!  Anything can happen in a fight.  What if an opponent threw sand in your eyes?  Then what would you do?"

"Well that wouldn't be very honorable."  Tenkei gets cracked across the skull with the bokken yet again.  "Errrrrrrr."

"Not all opponents you face will follow a code of honor.  Never assume that.  Now, I can see the anger in your eyes.  You want to be mad at me, well go ahead and be mad.  Use that anger to your advantage, turn it into a weapon.  If you allow your anger to take control, then you have already lost any fight you are in.  And, that, more so than any opponent, will be your undoing."

The face of Tenkei is puffed up from anger.  He takes the blindfold and puts it on.  His father hands him the bokken and takes a few steps away.  His father puts his sword back into its sheath.

"Prepare yourself, here I come," shouts his father.  "Ahhhhhh!!!!!!!"

Tenkei begins to panic, "No, no.  Wait.  I'm not re……Ungh."  His father hit Tenkei hard in the stomach with the hilt of his katana, being careful not to expose the blade.  Tenkei grabbed his stomach and fell to the ground.

His father stood over him and spoke, "Listen to the sound of the grass moving.  Feel the movement of the air.  Sense my presence before I attack.  And, I talked more than enough for you to follow my voice.  Clearly, you need more practice.  Get up and we'll try it again."

*****

As Tenkei Shinzui grew up, his father taught him the art of the sword.  He studied hard and eventually he became one of the best swordsmen in Japan.  He was accepted as a samurai for Lord Shu, as was his father and his father before him.  While standing guard one day of his lord's castle, a demon attacked.  Tenkei defended the castle the best he could.  However, the demon was invulnerable to normal attacks.  His katana bounced harmlessly off of the armor-like skin of the demon.

The demon grabbed him by the throat and picked him off of the ground with one hand.  Tenkei gasped for air.  The demon looked into his face and smiled.  Then, with a single attack, the demon slashed its talons across his face.  His vision began to blur, then everything went black.  Although he could no longer see, he could still hear the demon laughing.

It is likely he would have died that day had a monk not come to his aid.  As the demon held him above the ground, a staff landed into between the two.  On top of the staff was two golden snakes that formed a circle around the highly decorated top, from each snake hung three golden rings.  As the staff hit the ground, the rings began to move and make noise.  A bright light was emitted from the staff and the demon let go of Tenkei.  The demon began to scream in pain and retreated.

The monk approached Tenkei.  He picked up his staff and waved it over him.  The staff began to glow and the scars on his face began to heal.  However, he still wasn't able to see.  Although he had defended the castle against a demon, the fact that he let it cut his face in such a manner and did not chose death caused him to be removed from the service of Lord Shu.

Tenkei felt lost and abandoned.  As he left the castle for good, he discovered the monk was outside waiting for him.  The monk helped him to find a new purpose, to hunt demons and protect the world from their kind.  With guidance from the monk, he learned to attune his remaining senses to compensate for his loss of sight.  While traveling with the monk, the monk revealed to him that his lose of sight was not due to the injuries, but of some unknown cause.

Despite all their time traveling together, the monk never once revealed his name.  One day, when Tenkei returned from a town market, the monk asked him to kneel in front of him.  He handed him a mystical bokken and told him of its origins.  Then, he disappeared without another word.

*****

Tenkei walked into the old and beaten down hut at which they had been staying.  He could feel the heat from candles surrounding him.  He was unsure of what was going on.

"Come, kneel my friend," speaks the monk.  Tenkei approached and kneeled in front of him.  "Tenkei, we have traveled together for a couple years now.  You have learned everything which I can teach.  It will soon be time for us to part.  Here, take this weapon," he handed Tenkei a blood red bokken.

"Thank you, kind monk.  You have been a true friend," replies Tenkei as he takes the bokken.  As he feels the weapon, he asks, "A bokken?  What can I do with this?"

"It is no ordinary bokken.  That is the legendary weapon Gitou Chimidoro."

"Gitou Chimidoro?  Forgive my ignorance, but I do not know of this weapon."

"It was used by one of the first defenders of this realm.  In a time when demons did not walk this earth so freely, the legendary warrior, Bengonin, fought the demon, Kuchikukan.  If Kuchikukan won, he was going to open the gates to hell and release the demon hoards onto earth.  However, Bengonin triumphed and slew Kuchikukan with his sacred bokken, the greatest of all weapons.  However, his victory came at a price.  As he delivered the final blow, the blood of Kuchikukan stained the weapon.  Even his blood tainted with evil.  As it touched sacred weapon, it caused it to lose most of its power.

That day is forever marked by the blood red color of this bokken.  Nothing can be done to remove the stains of blood from it.  However, it is still a weapon of light and can be an effective weapon when used against a demon.  But be warned, it is a sacred weapon meant to defend the race of man.  Under no circumstance will it ever harm a human."

"And you are entrusting me with it, I am deeply honored my friend."  It was at that moment that Tenkei realized that there was no one else in the room.  He could feel the gentle breeze from the open door.  The monk was gone.  Tenkei was on his own once again.

*****

After Tenkei and the monk parted ways, he started a journey of his own.  One to find the demon that had taken his sight.  He traveled from town to town helping out when he could.  He would often be invited to spend the night at a kind stranger's home and fed a warm meal.  He would in return do what he could to help out.

The first time he ran into a demon, he decided to try and use the Gitou Chimidoro.  It was only a lesser demon, but he felt it would provide a good exercise for the weapon.  However, when he tried to use its powers, he found out that it had very little effect.  He looked at the sword with his inner eye and tried to figure out what could be the matter.  Then, a soft voice whispered in his ear an incantation.  As he spoke the words aloud, a gentle blue light surrounded the bokken.  With that, he was able to dispatch the demon with relative ease.

When passing through the village of Danchounoomoi, he discovered that the entire town had been ravished by demons.  The stench of death and destruction hung in the air.  His heart was weighed down in grief as he thought about all of the innocent people slain by the demons.  Then, in the distance, he was able to hear the sound of someone crying.

He ran in that direction.  The voice was faint, but it meant that someone was still alive.  He felt around in the area and found a small girl had been trapped by some rubble of a collapsed house.  He dug her out and helped patch her up.  She was the only survivor of the demon attack.  He decided to escort her to the next town where he was hoping to find someone who would be willing to take care of her.

While traveling, he discovered that he had become fond of the young girl.  In the end, he felt that the life of a lone samurai is not right for a child.  He decided that it would be best for her to have a normal life with another family.  However, when the time came, he discovered she didn't want to go with anyone else.  The young girl had become attached to him, and he to her.  After a bit of time, she revealed her name was Aijiko.

As he continued to travel with her, he discovered Aijiko would say very little.  Her responses were usually limited to a single word.  He often wonders if she was always like this or was it from the shock of losing her entire village to a demon attack.  Despite her lack of speech, she displays an amazing intelligence.  Whenever going to hunt demons, he will try to leave her in the nearest town to avoid putting her in any unnecessary harm.