I Teach Kendo in Tokyo - Chapter 38

Chapter 38: Ritualism

To be honest, Kazuma did not expect such a turn of events. He was caught off guard.

“Uh, well, I don’t think I can beat you, Sensei,” he said without thinking.

It was not wrong for him to say that. After all, Daimon Goro was at Muryu Style 8. He could be considered a true expert even if he did not belong to any established school.

Meanwhile, Kazuma was only at Shinto Style 6.

Before Kazuma transmigrated here, he was in an even worse state, Rishin Style 3. The original Kazuma was no match for Fujii Mikako at Muryu Style 4.

Obviously, his cheat was simple and dull. The number after the style name was nothing more than the level of one’s combat power.

Therefore, even if two people were trained in different schools, including the self-taught Muryu Style, the cheat could still allow him to obtain a direct comparison of combat power by simply looking at the numbers.

Four was greater than three, and eight was greater than six, but ratio-wise, they were both four to three.

Based on the numbers alone, Kazuma had no chance of winning.

Besides, he had nothing to take advantage of from the surroundings this time.

If he wanted to win, he could only stack buffs with unknown effects.

And for him to trigger buffs, Kazuma had to do ritualistic things.

Of course, Kazuma wanted to win. It was not that he wanted to compete as the taishou. After all, Kazuma had already decided to give up the special admissions through kendo and enter Tokyo University through exams. Hence, the Kendo National Competition did not hold much significance to him now.

Right now, Kazuma just wanted to win. That was all.

He could also use this opportunity to understand his cheat more.

This cheat was the key to getting through the current crisis that Kazuma was facing. Who knew when the Tsuda Family would lower their caution and start to take action?

***

Of course, Daimon Goro did not know about Kazuma’s thoughts. He only thought that Kazuma was being modest.

In any case, he had fought off two yakuza groups and even severely injured the chief of a yakuza family. How could he be unable to defeat an ordinary high school sports teacher?

Simple common sense dictated that it was impossible!

Half of the reason why the school had hired a physical education teacher like Daimon Goro was to let them deal with delinquents—like now.

Five or six years ago, teachers like Daimon were also responsible for chasing down radical students who rushed onto the podium during school assemblies and taking out those who occupied the Public Announcement room to broadcast their personal views. The list went on.

In that era, although Japanese high school students did not cause as much of a ruckus as university students, they were still hard to deal with.

Even so, Daimon was fully aware that he was only strong enough to handle rebellious students. He would not be able to fight against the yakuza.

Daimon did not believe that Kazuma could defeat the yakuza but would lose to a physical education teacher like him.

He had arranged for this sparring to convince the original taishou.

In any case, he could not publicly announce to all the students that “Kiryuu Kazuma has defeated the leader of the Nishikiyama Family.” If he did so, Kazuma would probably be suspended from school immediately. The school did not care if Kazuma did it for self-defense or if he had joined the yakuza. They were worried that the parents association would write a complaint letter to the Ministry of Education.

Public schools depended on the government to survive, so they were most afraid of being blamed by the higher-ups. This was different from private schools, where the school council only listened to the rich who made donations to the school.

Therefore, as soon as it was made known that Kazuma was involved with the yakuza, he would have a hard time.

The school would definitely not recommend someone who was involved with the yakuza to enter a police academy.

As for Kazuma’s intention to apply to Tokyo University, Daimon had not put too much thought into it. After the call he had answered in the reception room, he went straight to the kendo dojo without going back to the office, so he did not know about Takanashi Kenta’s embarrassing incident.

Therefore, Daimon thought that it was a joke when Kazuma said that he wanted to apply to Tokyo University.

‘Kazuma, I can only help you this much. Win the National Competition as a taishou and join the police academy!’

As he thought that, Daimon shouted, “Everyone, come over here! Get ready to watch the competition between Kiryuu and me.”

Immediately after his roar, all the students from the Kendo Club quickly surrounded Daimon Goro and Kazuma, forming a hollow square formation. Then, they sat down one by one, placing their bamboo swords on the same side of their bodies. The crowd looked rather neat.

***

Fujii ran over with Kazuma’s protective gear and started to help him put it on.

As Kazuma put on his protective gear, he looked at the uniform movements of his classmates and their proper sitting posture. He could not help but click his tongue.

The Japanese sitting posture was torturous. It was probably as uncomfortable as being punished by the sergeant for making a mistake during military training.

Anyway, Kazuma could not get used to that kind of posture. He usually sat cross-legged on the ground.

Looking at the orderly posture of his club mates, Kazuma suddenly thought of something: ‘Isn’t this very ritualistic?’

After that, if Kazuma shouted, “I want to fight ten in one row!” It would be even more ritualistic.

Kazuma looked at Daimon and felt that he looked a little like the more muscular version of “General Miura.”

After having such thoughts, Kazuma could not look at Daimon Goro in the usual way again. When he saw Daimon, he kept wanting to throw his bamboo sword away and get into the Wing Chun[1] position before saying that famous line, ‘Wing Chun, Ip Man[2].’”

And it would be in Cantonese.

Kazuma’s imagination ran wild as he put on all of his protective gear. At this moment, the president of the Kendo Club, who was also the original “taishou,” along with the vice president, stood on both sides of Kazuma, each holding a little flag.

They were the referees for the competition.

The referees would raise the flag when they saw the contestant on their side hit the enemy, so as to signal who had scored a hit first.

Japanese kendo does not have a complete set of competition equipment like fencing does. There was no kendo uniform that would signal when someone was hit. Hence, they could only rely on human judgment.

Seeing that the referees were in position, Daimon got into the starting stance.

Bamboo swords did not need to be drawn, nor could the wielder use sword-drawing moves such as iaido. However, in kendo competitions, there would be a segment at the start where both parties would draw their swords out of their sheaths. In fact, it only served to demonstrate the action of drawing swords and nothing more.

Japan was particular about these aspects, highlighting their pursuit of ritualism.

Kazuma had never treated this pre-combat segment as seriously as he did now.

This was because the ritualism could probably give him a buff.

Initially, Daimon and Kazuma were holding their swords backhandedly near their waist. After the referees gave the signal, they took out the bamboo swords and got into position—this was considered drawing the sword.

After that, they maintained a squatting position and crossed their swords in the air.

Then, both of them stood up slowly at the same pace.

Kazuma thought, ‘That’s not enough. I have to introduce myself to make it more ritualistic. If possible, I would like to recite a poem too.’

He opened his mouth and said, “Tennen Rishin Style, Kiryuu Kazuma. Here I come!”

But Daimon attacked before he could finish his sentence.

“Face!” Daimon shouted, striking Kazuma’s helmet with the tip of his bamboo sword.

Even through the helmet, Kazuma could feel the force of the blow. His head buzzed and felt dizzy.

Daimon frowned. “You shouldn’t do that! Do you think you are shooting an action film? Why did you introduce yourself before launching an attack?”

Kazuma felt wronged as well. In the rules of kendo competitions, they did not specify that it’s not allowed to introduce oneself or recite a poem!

‘Sensei, why are you so worked up about it!’

[1] A traditional Chinese kung fu style

[2] A Chinese martial artist and a grandmaster of Wing Chun