KATANAGATARI 2
“You’re right about that.”
He was a sword.
And a sword could not betray her.
“The best reason to fight─”
“Is love?”
“Exactly. A man who fights for love.”
Here Shichika spoke without the least embarrassment, his capacity for emotion being elementary at best.
“Because I fell for you, Togame─I could never betray you. Over these five months traveling together, it’s like I’ve loved you more each day.”
“And yet we can sit together in the hot spring, and you don’t even do anything.”
“Huh? What do you mean? Wasn’t this your idea?”
“So what?”
Hiding her embarrassment on her end, Togame took a big swig of sake straight from the carafe. It seemed like they were out. She placed the empty container on the tray, and sent it floating.
“Alright─time to talk business. I had planned to do so once we were done bathing, but this feels too good to stop. Seems like no one else is coming, so we may as well talk here.”
“Okay. I can’t imagine anyone is eavesdropping… Been a while since we’ve seen a Maniwac.”
“Those guys weren’t exactly chasing us─besides, the less we run into them the better. It’s hard to imagine more annoying enemies.”
“Feels like we’ve fought more than enough of them already… So, tell me more about the next sword that we’re after, Zokuto the Armor. Were you serious back there? About that warrior being the owner, and the sword being the armor─”
“Dead serious.”
“Is that it, though? Seems too simple,” Shichika voiced his concern. “Armored Pirates, they say…and that’s what we get? No games…or, like, forthcoming. But something’s fishy44 about this. That Armored Warrior…”
“Kanara Azekura.”
“Yeah, Azekura. That guy seems like…he’s really popular.”
As he spoke, Shichika recalled the battle at the Basket.
“Not just Azekura though… From what I hear around town, the pirates have a real good reputation. Makes it awkward to announce we came to take him down.”
“Better not, if you want to save your skin. The village has a mayor and all, but in essence, the pirates are the ones who run this harbor.”
“Still, it doesn’t feel like they took over… I don’t understand why they’re so popular. What’d they do? I guess that, what’s her name, Meisai Tsuruga, who I fought at Triad Shrine, she started as a bandit─”
“Pirates and bandits aren’t quite the same. I suppose they’re all a bunch of rough-and-tumble scoundrels─but the thing is, pirates maraud the sea, not land.”
“Huh?”
“Pirates need a place to come home to. Which means they never do harm to their base harbor. On the contrary, they work hard on its behalf─for the Armored Pirates, Dakuon Harbor is such a home. They may behave the same as bandits, but if they lose their harbor, they’re finished.”
“Makes sense.”
“Between Kyushu and Shikoku, there are loads of pirates, but they’re all the same. In the time of the Old Shogun, the Armored Pirates operated in the Inland Sea─but after he lost power, for some reason they decided to relocate to Satsuma.”
“Wow. They’ve had the Armor for a long time, then. Their naming isn’t just lazy, because the armor plays a big role in their history.45 Right, you taught me this─the Old Shogun issued the Pirate Ban so he could get the Armor, didn’t he.”
“Good memory─but the Pirate Ban failed to get the job done. The pirates must not be underestimated. As long as they’re at sea, nothing can stop them.”
“Guess we’ll have to fight them on land. But Togame, not to split hairs, but didn’t we just see him fighting on land? That’s what the warrior was doing, with the Armor.”
“A kind of public service.46 A way of drawing people to the hot springs. Let’s call it what it is─illegal gambling…but no one seems to mind. Even the bakufu turns a blind eye.47 Besides, even if you start cracking down on that sort of thing, you never see the end of it… The Basket holds these games once every two weeks. The fighters receive a ranking, and that determines the level of their odds. But far and away, the favorite is Kanara Azekura.”
“Sounds like you were hard at work.”
“Don’t be fresh. I repeat, it was pure luck that we got to see Azekura in action. We must have been rewarded for our everyday behavior.”
“I don’t know about that…” Shichika laughed. He had a lot on his mind. “So, what happens next? I’m not sure what sort of diplomacy you have planned, but should I, as the sword, bank on fighting Azekura in the Basket?”
“No, I don’t think you can cut into their schedule like that…and even if you could, it would take us extra work. Not to learn a lesson from our visit to the Triad Shrine, but why go out of our way to fight on enemy territory? The Armor is enough trouble as it is.”
“What kind of trouble?” asked Shichika. “I thought it was just a suit of armor. Togame, this might sound stupid…but what makes that thing a katana? I know Kiki Shikizaki was a kook,48 but calling armor a katana is absurd.”
“I’m afraid it’s a katana all the same. It may have been hard to see from a distance, but the metal plates are sharpened to an edge. Why do you think that swordsman with the gigantic sword was shredded to a pulp by a mere tackle? Those weren’t abrasions. They were lacerations.”
“He sure was bloody in the end…hmm. A tackle that chops your enemy into bits. But in that case─”
“I know what you’re going to say. This is no normal sword─more armor than anything else. It might be armor made from the same steel49 used to forge katanas, but it’s obviously more fit for defense than for attack.
“At the risk of repeating myself,” Togame continued, “so far on the Sword Hunt, you have gotten by without a scratch… Even when Komori Maniwa attacked you with his Star Cannon, back on the island, in the first real battle of your life, you blocked him like an iron wall─but Azekura too, ensconced in Zokuto the Armor, is a wall of iron. What you need to remember from the Basket is not how the swordsman was all but blown apart, but his massive sword turning to powder. It would take no small amount of force to scratch the Armor.”
“That kind of hardness reminds me of the Leveler.”
“Yes. When Kiki Shikizaki made the Armor, I dare say he had the same idea. But built the way it is, the Armor could not possibly be as hard as the Leveler─”
Zetto the Leveler─uncanny hardness.
Zanto the Razor─uncanny sharpness.
Sento the Legion─uncanny numbers.
Hakuto the Whisper─uncanny fragility.
“Zokuto the Armor─was forged to have uncanny armor class. Not merely hard, but hard to beat.50 That iron wall cannot be broken, at least not in the confines of the Basket.”
“If the pirates are unstoppable at sea, and the Armor can’t be beaten in the Basket, seems like we’re out of options. What’s left, fighting him in the sky? To begin with,” said Shichika, “you told me the Armor is unbreakable, but I’m not supposed to damage any of the swords, so I wouldn’t want to break it anyway.”
“Quit your gloating.51 Who do you think I am? I don’t need you to remind me. There’s no chink in the Armor. It covers his entire body…”
“If we still had Zanto the Razor, I bet we could break his defense. Of course, that would mean scratching up the Armor.”
“True, but we are not without our options. Your Fatal Orchid─sorry, the number has slipped my mind, but the armor-piercing52 one…”
“Oh, right.”
Togame forgetting the form’s numeration was one thing. Shichika replying with those words, “Oh, right,” seemed far more problematic─but anyway, armor-piercing.
This move resembled kenpo more than anything else. A thrusting strike that worked through even shields and armor, scrambling the insides without scrambling the shell─with adequate practice, it could even be applied “long distance”53 or with “instantaneity.”54 A quintessential move for the swordless Kyotoryu, but traditional forms of swordplay relied on similar tricks to pull off the acrobatic feat55 of cutting not the thing before you, but whatever was behind it.
“Fatal Orchid Four: Ryuryoku Kako,”56 said Shichika. “The Fatal Orchid based on Form Four, the Asagao.57 Among the Seven Forms of the Kyotoryu, it’s the only time I make a fist… Yeah, I could take down Azekura, without harming the Armor that surrounds him.”
That way he could uphold Rule One, about not harming the swords, and still face off against the Armor─Shichika nodded comprehendingly.
Togame saw this and said, “Look, even if you don’t use a move like that, what makes Azekura, and the Armor, different from your previous fights is that there are plenty of ways to beat them. The armor may be like an iron wall, but I’m sure that if we put our heads together, we can think of a few ways to take down the pirate captain.”
“Okay. Such as?”
“Shoving him into the sea,” Togame proposed without batting an eye. “The Armor may be flawless, but Azekura is a human being, and needs to breathe. There’s no way the Armor is airtight─it has to have a small gap somewhere. If we sink him, the Armor will start filling up with water, and he’ll suffocate and drown. The Armor is probably heavy enough that once it fills with water, he has no chance of staying afloat. And if we put a fat chain or something around his ankles, we can crank him out of the water once he drowns, and then wipe off the Armor so it doesn’t rust.”
“Wow…you sure have some devilish ideas…”
Shichika was not taking the bait.
Although he sat in steaming water, he felt a shiver down his spine.
Togame, unfazed, shared another idea.
“How about we fry him? Fry or freeze, either would do, but frying him would definitely be easier. We light him up,58 but not so hot it damages the Armor─after all, metal conducts heat so well. The Armor will turn into an oven, Azekura will fry to death inside.”
“…”
“Huh? What’d I say? Shichika, why are you making that face?”
“No, it’s just…”
Togame tilted her neck in surprise at Shichika, who somehow had taken this long to recoil from her dark side. Wasn’t he happy to see Togame in her element again, behaving like the strategist59 she was after reclaiming both the Leveler and the Whisper?
“I mean, you’re definitely right about the Armor, awesome as it is, not changing the fact that Azekura is human. There’s gotta be a way─my own armor-piercing move also skips the armor, and hits whoever is inside it. If you’re okay with fighting dirty, we could always catch him with the Armor off.”
“That’s not dirty. It’s par for the course. But it’s also out of the question. This man─Kanara Azekura, Captain of the Armored Pirates, never removes the Armor before mortal eyes.”
“Oh… Sort of like how Ginkaku Uneri, back at Gekoku Castle, never set foot outside of his little room.”
Ginkaku Uneri’s Danger Zone.
An iron wall if there ever was one.
“From what I hear,” reported Togame, “not even his fellow Armored Pirates have seen him in the flesh, or even seen his face. In that sense, he is shrouded in mystery. No one knows about his life before joining the pirates.”
“Suppose when you’re a pirate, you don’t want people remembering your face anyway. The Armor is definitely cooler. Makes a statement.”
“It reminds me of how Ginkaku Uneri always kept Zanto the Razor at his side─I wouldn’t be surprised if he wears it all the time, not only to protect himself, but to protect the sword. That much, he would anticipate and guard against─hmph.”
There was something gravid about Togame’s remark. While Shichika noticed, he decided it was not worth pursuing, and let it go.
“Alright,” he said, to keep things moving. “But isn’t it possible he has moves for fighting water and fire?”
“Of course. The ideas that I just gave you were simplified, to make sure you understood. We can’t just shove him into the sea. He’s far too big and heavy. And we can’t heat him up, if he’s inside the Basket─see what I mean? Our actual strategy will necessarily be far more complicated, far more intricate60─but Shichika. We have a more immediate concern.”
“What’s that?”
“Azekura’s popularity,” Togame said with a sardonic smile. “Make no mistake─when I call him popular, I am not calling him a perfect person. Bandits and pirates are all a bunch of good-for-nothing scoundrels─they only give back to this harbor town for their own benefit.61 They have plenty of reasons to create a distraction from their plunder and their slaughter on the high seas. The Great Sword Hunt was idiotic legislation, but the Pirate Ban was nothing of the sort─whereby,” Togame paused here for effect. “I have no qualms about you killing Kanara Azekura─none.”
“…”
Komori Maniwa. Ginkaku Uneri. Meisai Tsuruga. Hakuhei Sabi.
How exactly did these words resonate for Shichika Yasuri, who had thus far slain every one of his opponents, sparing not a life?
Shichika was not incapable of reining in his swordplay.
Case in point, soon after they crossed over from the mainland, when Togame toured him around the dojos of Kyoto to put his abilities to the test, he had injured not a single one of his opponents, at least not permanently─
Regardless.
When it came to actual battle, he killed with zero hesitation.
That included all his duels since they entered Kyushu.
“On the way here─on the wayside, you accepted several challenges.”
“Huh? Oh. You mean all the guys who asked to fight me, out of the blue,62 after I became the Strongest in Japan. At first I was like what the hell─I guess there’s been what, ten guys or something?”
“Thirteen,” said Togame. “All of whom you slew.”
“Um, so?”
“Well…”
Um, so?
Thirteen men─after slaying thirteen men, all he had to say was “Um, so?” This went beyond his island upbringing. Such was his personality.
Making it hard to leave him to his own devices.
At present, this was not, per se, a problem. Or rather, it was a chronic problem─certainly not one that could be solved immediately.
Not at this juncture.
“What I’m saying is that killing Sabi ushered in a world of hardship. Sabi was not exactly popular, but he was infamously the Strongest in Japan, and that carries a lot of significance and weight… Think for a second, Shichika. We can use one of my strategies, or you can take him down by brute force, but if we kill Azekura─what will happen?”
“We get the Armor.”
“THINK!”
Togame palmed hot water in his face.
This finally got him thinking.
“Huh… Oh, you mean because Azekura is so popular, we might wind up with the whole town turning against us?”
“Right. Not just the pirates.”
It had taken Shichika a moment to catch up, but Togame accepted his response.63
“Not as bad as back at Triad Shrine, where the two of us could have wound up fending off a thousand miko─but not far off. This town has hundreds of people, and they’re all relying on the pirates. This is a harbor, but unlucky for us, we’d never be allowed to retreat across the sea. Like it or not, our backs would be against a wall.”
“So I guess we can’t just grab the sword and hightail64 it out of here… By the way, how many of these pirates are there anyway?”
“The core comprises about twenty. Nothing you can’t handle.”
“Pretty small band of pirates.”
“They’re mean and lean.65 But either way─they’re nothing you can’t handle. I doubt that all the pirates are warriors. Consider this open season. But stick to pirates, we don’t want the entire town against us…”
“Last time, it was a formal duel between two swordsmen, so you got the day off,” reminded Shichika. “From your diplomacy.”
“I suppose that’s true.”
Warriors and swordsmen may be the focus on the battlefield, but the most important part of battle is not whether you win or lose─winning is of course ideal, but winning on its own is not enough.
What matters in battle is how you prepare─and how you clean up.66
Regardless of whether you win or lose, not dealing with the aftermath is unacceptable. Just as the most glorious victory can be more loss than gain if you leave a mess, the most pitiful defeat can be more gain than loss if you pick up the pieces.
No such thing as an undefeated king who wins every match.
What separates the first-rate from the second-rate is winning as much and losing as little as possible─how you act before the fight, and how you respond to a win, and to a loss. This pattern is not limited to swordplay or the battlefield─just look at Togame the Schemer. She was betrayed twice over, by the Maniwa and by Hakuhei Sabi, but in less than half a year she made up for her loss. Talk about picking up the pieces.
“But in this case─I’m not sure who to engage. Meeting directly with Azekura would be the quickest option, but if we want to catch him unawares,67 I could sit down with the puppet68 mayor…or perhaps the harbormaster…”
Seeing Togame mutter to herself and drift into her own world, Shichika decided it was time that he stopped listening. They were entering Togame country─whatever she was planning, he was not about to stand in her way.
He had no choice but to rely on her, and let her do her job.
“Togame, want to get out?”
They had been sitting and talking longer than they realized. Any longer in the hot spring, and they might start feeling woozy─not like they were stuck in suits of armor, but it would never do for them to drown or fry themselves.
“Ah, sure. Let’s go, there’s plenty of time to think things through. Now that we’ve recovered the Leveler and the Whisper, no one at the bakufu is breathing down my neck69─we can afford to make preparations. Oh, and Shichika. Before we go, stand up.”
“Huh?”
“I said stand up, right where you are.”
Although he was a bit confused, Shichika did what he was told. When he stood, his enormous body made no small wave, and the flecks of water he sent flying almost hit Togame in the face. Unperturbed, she took a long70 look at his body gleaming in the starlight. Shichika made no effort to conceal himself and let Togame stare straight at him.
She nodded satisfactorily.
“Seeing all of you, I realize just how big you really are─skinny for your height, and yet in no way feeble. Am I crazy, or have you gotten bigger since we left the island?”
“Yeah? I’m not sure, myself. I haven’t paid attention…but if you say so, maybe I have. Is that okay?”
“It’s fine… Enough. Sorry to have looked you up and down71 like that. Let’s talk more back at the room.”
“Huh? You mean we’re not done talking?”
“Not yet. We need to discuss the most important thing.”
Togame stood. Like Shichika, she made no effort to hide herself. She rose from the steaming water and headed for the changing area, untying the tenugui holding back her hair.
Shichika followed close behind.
He had made it to the fifth month of the Sword Hunt without suffering a single injury, not even a bruise or sprain─but he still thought that the hot spring was delightful.
■ ■
We can afford to make preparations.
That was how Togame put it, but things would not proceed exactly as she hoped─if things worked that way, she would never have been forced to set off on this perilous Sword Hunt in the first place. That night, their circumstances, the conditions under which they sought Zokuto the Armor, one of the Twelve Possessed of Kiki Shikizaki, would transform entirely72─unnoticed by Togame, until just before it happened. She had not been expecting it one bit. Not in the slightest.73
Getting a massage74 is, has been, and always will be the perfect complement to a hot bath, but now that Togame and Shichika were being plagued with unsolicited auditions for the role of Strongest Swordsman75 from all manner of ruffians and rogues, they could not be so careless as to trust a stranger with their bodies. They were deep behind enemy lines─if they wanted a massage after their bath, they would need to make do with each other.
That being said, Togame was not about to offer Shichika a rubdown for a job well done. The world would end before that ever happened. In this case, “make do with each other” meant that Shichika massaged Togame, on a one-way street. Yet, as you may expect, Togame had her reservations about Shichika running his man hands all over her body. Hence, a contrivance.
Back at the room, lying face down on the futon and dressed in her thin slip, she had Shichika step on her back.
Rubbing her down with his feet.
“…”
“Oh, right there… That feels so good…”
Wearing a look of euphoria, Togame let Shichika sink into her body. There was something inescapably freaky76 about a man stripped to the waist walking all over a petite girl in a thin slip─“massage” didn’t seem like the right word here.
Her contrivance was problematic,77 much like their manner of ascent up the thousand stairs to Triad Shrine.
You could say that she was digging her own grave.
“It feels good? Me, I’m getting this sense…that weird needs are budding in my heart…”
“What the heck is that supposed to mean? Your feet stopped. Step on me. Harder.”
“Harder? Okay…”
While fearing he would crush Togame if he stepped on her in earnest, he did as he was told, exercising marvelous restraint. A good example of the sort of trouble being too obedient can get you into.
“It might feel good if you, like, stepped a little on my head.”
“I’m not so… Okay, fine.”
Shichika stepped right onto her head, white hair and all. Togame moaned with ecstasy, not sounding like herself at all.
“Yes…”
…Maybe she knew what she was doing, and was a freak after all.
In which case, Shichika didn’t stand a chance; sooner or later, he’d be going there.
“What were you saying earlier─about the most important thing?”
“Oh, that…hm. So we seem to have various tactics at our disposal for Zokuto the Armor, starting with Fatal Orchid Four: Ryuryoku Kako…and we have all kinds of stuff to do before you fight this hometown hero pirate captain… Basically, we’ve talked again and again about filling in all the moats─but not about the crux of the matter, namely Kanara Azekura.”
“Oh yeah, I was gonna ask you.”
Pirates. A katana fashioned after the armor worn by European knights of old. Flashy details all─but what about the man who owned and wore Zokuto the Armor, the captain of a band of pirates that ran this harbor town, Kanara Azekura? They had failed to consider what kind of a person he might be.
“When I saw him fighting at the Basket, it seemed like all he did was tackle that guy─I heard him say ‘Unbreakable’ or whatever, so it must have been some kind of move. Trouble is, what works for taking down the Armor won’t necessarily work for taking down the man.”
“Azekura fights at the Basket at least once every two weeks. With a little digging,78 I’ll learn everything there is to know─but listen,” Togame told Shichika, whose feet were stomping all over her back. “This comes down to something simpler than that. Have you ever fought somebody taller than you?”
“…”
Kanara Azekura.
During his fight at the Basket, Shichika had only seen him from afar, and with barely any frame of reference, so it hadn’t left such a strong impression─but in fact, Armor or no, the pirate captain was absurdly tall.
The man was more than giant.
The Armor was well over seven feet tall─making Azekura, who fit inside of it, over seven feet tall himself.
One or even two heads taller than Shichika Yasuri.
If a guy never took off his armor, and never showed his face, he could easily be a group of people, taking shifts─but in this case, Kanara Azekura was undoubtedly the only man who wore the Armor.
Men that huge─were in short supply.
“Just my dad and sister. They were taller than me, when I was a kid79…”
Mutsue Yasuri.
Nanami Yasuri.
The family he had lived with back on Haphazard Island─
“I passed my sister around seven, and my dad in the middle of my teens. Out of all the guys that you’ve arranged for me to fight so far in dojos, and the pesky challengers I’ve had to fend off since we crossed over into Kyushu…no one was bigger than me.”
“Hm. I knew you were inexperienced─but this means that since you grew into your body, all your opponents have been smaller than you. I guess that makes this your first time fighting someone bigger.”
Shichika was right─the slew of “challengers” he had taken on since crushing Hakuhei Sabi, since becoming Strongest Swordsman in Japan, were merely a distraction from the purpose of their journey, an absolute annoyance. But Togame didn’t see them as such a bad thing. He was still so inexperienced. The more fights he fought, regardless of the circumstance, the better─fighting outside the dojos, in the open air, would surely only make him stronger. Now, the fact that Shichika was killing all these challengers was a grave problem they needed to address later, but in the meantime, every battle he fought increased their chances of succeeding in the Sword Hunt.
Except.
Among the droves of challengers, not one swordsman had stood taller than him─
Granted, no mediocre80 meddler who showed up waving his katana posed any real threat, but maybe at least their build… No, as we just saw in the hot spring, Shichika’s frame deviated greatly from the norm. Until that very day, in fact, Togame had wondered if the Kyotoryu might not be the tallest man in all Japan.
But she was wrong.
Of all people─the one man taller than him possessed a Mutant Blade.
“I had no idea that Zokuto the Armor was so big…” Togame said. “I had heard this sword was actually a massive suit of armor, but to be honest, I had written that off as a tall tale. Since you’ve only ever fought with guys smaller than you, I’m afraid you may not understand my meaning, Shichika…but tallness is a source of strength.”
“Hahaha. I’d expect that from a runt like you, Togame.”
“Cheerio!”
With a deft twist, Togame socked Shichika in the ankle as he walked over her back. Since this part of him had barely any muscle, her backfist was actually quite painful.
“Ah…I was beginning to miss your Cheerios.”
“Stuff it. Small people like me have our own way of fighting─we’re nimble and light. But it seems you take the pros of tininess for granted.”
“Yah.”
“Of course you do. You’ve never fought somebody taller than you─you’ve never been forced to fight that way. But you will be. This time, things are different. You are up against Kanara Azekura, a giant of a man.”
“Don’t you have some kind of a strategy?”
“For this sort of thing, no,” the Schemer replied decisively. “I know absolutely nothing about the martial arts. This is beyond my specialty─think for yourself.”
“Okay…”
Shichika was not untroubled to be spoken to this way, but he recognized that it was foolhardy81 of him to ask Togame for advice on such matters. She may have been commander of their journey, but when it came to battle, Shichika was the expert. He had no choice but to think this through himself.
Fighting someone bigger… He’d never given it a thought.
In fact, even when he witnessed Azekura fighting in the Basket, it had failed to cross his mind─that was how far this circumstance surpassed his expectations.
But then, something truly unexpected happened.
A voice came through the shoji─from the hallway.
“Excuse me, madam.”
From the manner of speech, it was somebody from the inn.
Togame startled82 at the sound. So she did understand that being witnessed in their current state (a man stripped to the waist massaging, with his feet, a woman lying face-down in a slip) was undesirable. Stop, stop, she urged Shichika in furtive whispers. From the footsteps, he could tell that they were getting closer, but failing to see any issue in being caught as they were, he shook his head─what a weirdo. Still, he did as he was told and stepped off of his master’s back.
“Yes?” answered Togame, switching to a high-pitched (borderline shrill) voice.
“Sorry to disturb you at this hour, but a visitor is here to see you, at the front door.”
“Who might it be?” The Schemer honestly seemed to have no idea, even as she covered her slip with layer after layer of brash kimono.
“Madam,” the inn worker said, “it’s Dread83 Captain Azekura─of the Armored Pirates.”
1 大盆 ŌBON “large tray”
2 目の粗い格子 ME NO ARAI KŌSHI a loose grid 目 ME eye; also, texture/mesh
3 精悍 SEIKAN vigorous
4 荒々しい ARA’ARASHII gruff
5 兜甲冑 KABUTO KACCHŪ helm and armor; separate, though treated as a set
6 生身 NAMAMI “raw flesh”
7 剛剣 GŌKEN “(bearer of a) mighty sword”
8 丸腰 MARUGOSHI “round-waisted” not carrying weapons (at the hip)
9 特攻 TOKKŌ special attack; the official term for “kamikaze” suicide missions in WWII
10 否崩れ INAKUZURE “not collapsing” pun on イナクズレ INAKUZURE, a font used in manga
11 一介[…]一塊 IKKAI, IKKAI an unimpressive instance / single mass, lump
12 布石 FUSEKI stone placement (allusion to the game of go)
13 足し算引き算掛け算割り算の問題 TASHIZAN HIKIZAN KAKEZAN WARIZAN NO MONDAI question of addition subtraction multiplication division (skipping commas, works in Japanese)
14 ずたずた ZUTA ZUTA onomatopoeia for shredding
15 粉々に砕けた、砕け散った KONAGONA NI KUDAKETA, KUDAKE CHITTA smashed to powder, smashed away
16 逆に、いや逆にすらでない GYAKU NI, IYA GYAKU NI SURA DE NAI 逆 GYAKU opposite, reverse
17 校倉必 AZEKURA KANARA “Unfailing Timber Storehouse” basically “brick shithouse”
18 共感覚 KYŌKANKAKU sympathetic vibration
19 楽しい TANOSHII fun
20 天下布武 TENKA FUBU “armed reign under the heavens” historical warlord Nobunaga Oda’s slogan
21 戦績 SENSEKI “war score”
22 手腕 SHUWAN “hand and arm” skill
23 浸かりすぎ TSUKARI SUGI soaking too much
24 禍根 KAKON “malign roots”
25 油断大敵 YUDAN TAITEKI “the greatest enemy is negligence” an old saying
26 戦々恐々 SENSEN KYŌKYŌ panic-stricken
27 紆余曲折 UYO KYOKUSETSU twists and turns
28 めでたしめでたし MEDETASHI MEDETASHI “Hooray Hoorah” めでたい MEDETAI joyous
29 九州 KYŪSHŪ “nine states” southernmost of Japan’s four main islands, used to have nine domains
30 骨休め HONE YASUME resting one’s bones
31 濁音 DAKUON voiced consonant
32 露天 ROTEN open to the elements
33 本州 HONSHŪ “main land” the largest of Japan’s islands 州 SHŪ state; continent, landmass
34 混浴 KON’YOKU “mixed bathing”
35 手ぬぐい TENUGUI rectangular towel/bandana
36 お猪口 OCHOKO a small vessel, for drinking (better) sake
37 日向 HINATA “where the sun shines” 日 HI day; sun 向かい MUKAI facing
38 徳利 TOKKURI slender, narrow-necked bottle for serving sake
39 大ぽか ŌPOKA big boo-boo
40 挽回 BANKAI recover
41 窮地に陥った[…]窮余の策 KYŪCHI NI OCHI ITTA, KYŪYO NO SAKU “desperate times calling for desperate measures” 策 SAKU plan (as in 奇策士 KISAKUSHI Schemer)
42 鬼籍に入っていた KISEKI NI HAITTE ITA entered into the demon register (the obituaries)
43 悪巧み WARU DAKUMI “evil design”
44 違和感をおぼえる IWAKAN WO OBOERU to register a feeling of disharmony 和 WA harmony
45 由緒正しき由来 YUISHO TADASHIKI YURAI derives from a proper legacy
46 地域貢献 CHIIKI KŌKEN giving back to the community
47 黙認状態 MOKUNIN JŌTAI a state of tacit approval
48 変わり者 KAWARI MONO eccentric, weirdo
49 玉鋼 TAMA HAGANE superior steel made from iron sand and carbon
50 硬さ[…]難さ KATASA, KATASA hardness vs. difficulty, tightness (as in a tight defense)
51 鬼の首を取ったように ONI NO KUBI WO TOTTA YŌ NI as if you have beheaded a demon
52 鎧通し YOROI DŌSHI passing through armor
53 遠当て TŌATE hitting from afar
54 発剄 HAKKEI explosive force
55 曲芸 KYOKUGEI “the art of bending” 曲がった MAGATTA curved; also, irregular
56 柳緑花紅 RYŪRYOKU KAKŌ “Verdure Peak” (literally, “green willow, crimson flower”)
57 朝顔 ASAGAO “The Morning Glory” (literally, “morning face”)
58 照射 SHŌSHA irradiate 照らす TERASU illuminate 射す SASU shine (in)
59 戦略家 SENRYAKUKA military tactician
60 込み入った[…]絡み合った KOMI’ITTA, KARAMI’ATTA involved / interconnected
61 利益 RI’EKI profit
62 野試合 NOJI’AI match staged “on the fly” (vs. hosted by a dojo)
63 及第点を出す KYŪDAITEN WO DASU issue a passing grade
64 脱兎のごとく逃げる DATTO NO GOTOKU NIGERU “escape like bolting rabbits”
65 少数精鋭 SHŌSŪ SEI’EI an elite few
66 処理 SHORI process; tend to
67 搦め手 KARAMETE through the back door
68 お飾り OKAZARI decoration
69 難癖 NANKUSE criticize (unfairly)
70 とっくり TOKKURI onomatopoeia for exhaustive (vs. the phallic 徳利 TOKKURI carafe)
71 じろじろ JIRO JIRO onomatopoeia for staring, ogling
72 がらりと GARARI TO onomatopoeia for extreme change, evoking a stage turning
73 虫の知らせ MUSHI NO SHIRASE “message from a bug” a feeling something will happen
74 按摩 ANMA the old, native term; also means (the traditionally, blind) “masseur/se”
75 日本最強志願 NIHON SAIKYŌ SHIGAN hoping/volunteering to be Japan’s strongest
76 変態的な匂い HENTAI TEKI NA NIOI scent of perversion
77 穴がある ANA GA ARU “to have holes in it”
78 情報収集 JŌHŌ SHŪSHŪ fact-finding
79 がき GAKI little rascal
80 程度の知れた TEIDO NO SHIRETA run of the mill
81 無謀 MUBŌ reckless
82 びくっと BIKUTTO onomatopoeia for sudden movement
83 さま SAMA “dread” takes liberty, but more deferential/reverent than さん SAN Mr./Mrs.