KATANAGATARI 1

Then again, Togame must have a slew of bogus catchphrases that hadn’t made the cut; he had better settle or risk being dealt something far worse. Even if the lot of them were bogus, she had clearly labored over every one. The thought tugged not imperceptibly at his heartstrings…yet any more of this might confirm a disturbing suspicion that had arisen in him: Could Togame be dumber than me?

Shichika knew that he was dumb.

He was okay with it.

He was not okay, however, with Togame being dumb.

There was only room for one idiot on this adventure.

“Sounds good.”

“Huh?”

“I like it. ‘Not if you’re torn to smithereens.’ Nice feel. Honestly, I can’t believe how much it fits me.”

“Oh, you’re picking that one? It’s a little unexpected─I hadn’t meant to recommend it out of all the candidates. But hey, it was good enough for me. If it’s your favorite, I won’t argue.”

“Yeah… Do you think we could stop talking about this now?”

“Sure. Once you thank me.”

“Thanks a million.”26

“Welcome.”

Togame nodded happily.

She looked altogether satisfied.

And thus Shichika Yasuri acquired his catchphrase.

“Well, I didn’t think you would be so choosy, but that’s finally settled. We aren’t too pressed for time, all told. If we keep up the pace, I should have us there by evening.”

“Not if you’re torn to smithereens.”

“Cheerio!”

She punched him, rather unfairly.

But that was their rapport.

It had been about a month since they first met on Haphazard Island, and by now, they had begun to let their guards down. There was nothing strictly wrong with this, but when the two of them passed the time with such inane banter on the roadways, they were bound, like it or not, to catch the eyes of whoever they passed─undesirably, considering the purpose of their journey. At the moment, however, given their location, there was no need to worry.

There was not a soul in sight, for this was no roadway.

They were in the middle of Japan’s only desert landscape─

Inaba Desert27 as it was known in those days.

■　■

Shichika and Togame were staying at an inn28 in the last town before the desert. Togame had shed layer after layer of voluminous kimono but retained an air of extravagance due to her adornments.

“Tomorrow, we’ll be arriving in Inaba.”

They had finished dinner and were sitting face to face.

Shichika was dressed no differently from when he was outdoors. Bare-chested, as usual, there was little left for him to strip without being totally naked.29 In a sense, he was clad more heavily indoors, relatively speaking. Facing Togame, he let her long white hair enwrap the muscles of his abdomen.

Around his chest and arms and neck, and plenty more around his head.

Togame’s hair was as long as it was white─long enough to wrap all the way around Shichika, and then some. A young woman’s hair stops even a mammoth30 in its tracks, but whether or not such a saying actually exists, nobody stumbling upon the scene would fail to find it odd.

This was not some sexual fantasy31 come true for Shichika (or Togame). While you would have no way of guessing it, this was a strategy, a course of action developed in the wake of battling against Komori Maniwa, one of the Twelve Bosses of the Maniwa Ninjas, back on the island that had been Shichika’s only home.

Komori Maniwa.

His was a fearsome ninpo where he shapeshifted into any other person in existence─the Body Melt, incomparable to any mortal method of disguise. Morphing into Togame, he had attempted to ambush Shichika.

Purely in terms of outcome, the ninja failed.

Having never met a stranger in all his years on Haphazard Island, Shichika was not equipped to remember the details of Togame’s appearance. It was absolutely fruitless for Komori to pose as her─no matter how expertly.

That time, Shichika was lucky.

But now that he had vanquished Komori Maniwa, his inability to tell one person from another was just a decisive, fatal weakness. Not being able to differentiate between Togame, his employer, and the foes he had to vanquish was unacceptable. If he lost track of who was who in a melee at some point on their quest to find the swords, the Kyotoryu would no doubt shred Togame, whose martial artistry was nil.

That simply would not do.

Other people aside─Togame had to act, and fast, to make sure Shichika could pick her from a crowd.

Therefore.

To ensure he knew her from the others, she fed his muscle memory using her most striking feature: her white hair. Thus the scene at the inn was educational in nature.

“Don’t chew on it. You’ll damage it.”

“Can I lick it?”

“Go ahead. Lick it and remember how it tastes. But don’t twist your body like that. It hurts my scalp.”

“Okay, I won’t.”

Education is a funny thing. Shichika and Togame had been working on this almost every night since coming over to the mainland, and it was finally beginning to pay off. He could recognize her now, to some extent.

That aside.

The topic was the morrow.

“Right, Inaba. That’s where─what was it again?”

“Gekoku Castle32 stands,” replied Togame. “We are to find Zanto the Razor. I suppose this is as good a time as any to tell you more about the sword.”

“Yes, please. I wish you’d have told me earlier, but you were keeping it secret.”

“Not secret. Classified.”

“What’s the difference?”

“It’s a matter of severity. Anyhow, I’ve mentioned that the Razor has a keener edge than any other blade. Supposedly it can cut through any substance in a single swing.”

“Wow.”

Shichika did not sound like he cared.

Perhaps he wasn’t taking her too seriously.

Such a claim would sow the seeds of doubt in most.

“Sounds like it’s up there with the Leveler. Like how you said the Leveler was forged to be so hard it─hey, wait a second. What would happen if we tried to slice the Leveler with the Razor?”

“I wonder. Only one way to find out─though I would never allow it.”

Togame chuckled.

She seemed to find his innocent question funny.

“My guess is the Possessed became more powerful from one piece to the next, in a simple hierarchy. Since to the best of my knowledge the Razor was created later, if I had to guess, I’d say that it would make the cut.”

“Hoot,” Shichika interjected facetiously─and looked away from Togame and off to the side.

But she saw right through him.

In his battle with Komori on Haphazard Island, Shichika came out on top although the competition had been fierce. Nevertheless, it was not the Leveler that he had beaten. Which was fine, since the goal of Togame’s journey was to collect the swords without a scratch.

Yet she knew it weighed on his mind.

The Kyotoryu.

Could a swordless school of swordsmanship triumph─over swords themselves?

She could tell that he was itching for the challenge.

For him, this journey was a match between the Kyotoryu─swordsmen who forsook the sword─and Kiki Shikizaki─the swordsmith who trusted in swords.

There was nothing wrong with being so competitive, but it was something Togame had better keep her eye on.

“So the Razor beats the Leveler…”

“It was a conjecture.33 Don’t take the question too seriously. What’s more, the answer would depend on who is wielding the weapon. We know that a Possessed empowers its owner, but is at its most fearsome in the hands of an able swordsman.”

“Makes sense. It’s wrong to focus only on the sword. So what now? Who has the Razor? Don’t tell me another ninja.”

“As it happens…”

With the Leveler in their safekeeping, eleven swords remained, the whereabouts of only five of which were known at the moment. Among these, Togame had picked Zanto the Razor as their first target. This was partially due to geographic considerations, but there was a far simpler reason at play.

“Your opponent is a swordsman.”

“Right on. After all, the Kyotoryu is a form of swordplay. A swordsman will be easier to face than a ninja.”

“Ginkaku Uneri…a ronin34 or…the lord of a castle, after all?”

“What?” Shichika was baffled. “How do you mean, Togame? How can you be both?”

“Usually you can’t. But I keep forgetting how little you know. Perhaps I should start over from the beginning.”

Which is exactly what she did.

“Once upon a time, when the Old Shogun launched the Great Sword Hunt, the owner of the Razor, Kinkaku Uneri35 by name, was a samurai in the service of the daimyo of Tottori.”

“So, like, the grandpa of the other guy?”

“Basically. To be precise, he lived ten generations before Ginkaku, current owner of the sword. A contemporary of your forefather Kazune, founder of the Kyotoryu.”

“Okay…so this guy would have been around during the Age of Warring States─and out there on the battlefield wielding one of the Possessed. In the heyday of the Shikizaki swords.”

“I wouldn’t compare him with Kazune,” cautioned Togame, “who was always on the frontlines fighting for the Tetsubi─but you could say he had a modest reputation as a warrior. Just not at the level that goes down in history.”

“Really?”

“I gather Mutsue never mentioned the Uneri?”

“Nope, he didn’t. So they couldn’t have been too outstanding.”

“Like I said. Kinkaku had a modest reputation. It’s like this. No matter how strong you are, if you only have one person to fight, you can only win a single battle. This area had no shortage of battles, but comparatively speaking, things were peaceful.”

“Got it. You’re saying it’s because our founder fought at the forefront on the toughest territory36 that he became so legendary. Huh.”

Upon saying this, Shichika appeared to delve into his thoughts.

Thinking did not exactly suit him.

Nor was it like him.

It gave Togame pause, but she went on.

“Then, when the Old Shogun unified the nation, he launched the Great Sword Hunt. This was when the Shikizaki blades in the possession of the daimyos were snatched up, all at once, by the shogunate.”

The Great Sword Hunt.

Perhaps the most ignoble law in Japanese history. Ostensibly enacted to amass enough material for a giant buddha statue, it grabbed the swords from every hand across Japan. Its hidden motive was to end the cult of the katana and to rid the domain of any kind of swordsman─but the true motive was the Old Shogun’s maniacal obsession with collecting all thousand of Kiki Shikizaki’s Mutant Blades.

Charming how only the outward objective, erecting a giant buddha, was met. Ironically, Seiryoin Gokenji Temple, on Mt. Sayabashiri in Tosa, and home to the Katana Buddha, became a favorite pilgrimage for swordsmen─whom the shogun failed to quash.

The underlying project to collect all thousand of the Shikizaki blades fell short as well.

“But the shogunate got all the other swords, except for the Possessed, right? Wait…if Kinkaku was working for Tottori, wouldn’t that mean the Razor wasn’t his to─”

“He strayed from the way of the samurai,” Togame passed swift judgment on the man. “Kinkaku Uneri refused to hand over Zanto the Razor, saying it was no possession of the daimyo, but his alone to keep.” Of all the Mutant Blades whose exact whereabouts were known from before the Great Sword Hunt, one sword, and only one, could not be captured: Zanto the Razor.

“So he was working for a daimyo but wouldn’t surrender it? Listen to that! But there must be more to the story. I bet it hurt the reputation of the daimyo of Tottori, his lord.”

“Exactly. Kinkaku, labeled a traitor, was wanted─dead─but he managed to counter every attempt on his life. With the Razor.”

“Sounds about right.”

“All told, between the forces sent by the daimyo of Tottori and the Old Shogun, he fended off ten thousand strong─ow!”

Strongow.37

No, ten thousand strong─and ouch.

When Shichika, wrapped in Togame’s hair, heard what she said, he fell backwards─an oddly exaggerated reaction for the era─and as a consequence, tugged hard on Togame’s scalp.

“What the hell!” she screamed.

“That’s crazy though! Ten thousand?” Shichika raised himself and yelled back. “You’re saying he fended off ten thousand guys alone? No way a guy like that exists! I’d be amazed to hear someone had chopped apart ten thousand daikon,38 but men? How could that be? And if he actually exists, why not save him for last? Why take him on second, as basically my first real opponent!”

“Hold on, this is history we’re talking─Kinkaku, not Ginkaku.”

She petted him to calm him down. He was usually gentle and kind, but when you got him worked up, there was no stopping him─Togame was finally beginning to grasp Shichika for who he was.

Unlike some swords, the boy snapped easily.39

That said, he was a man now, turning twenty-four this year… His island upbringing had taken a toll and stunted his emotional growth. Or rather─Togame had no way of knowing what kind of a father Mutsue had been, but his older sister, Nanami, who acted like his mother, seemed to have spoiled him.

“I’m fine. You can stop now,” Shichika said after a while. “Still, ten thousand. How could one guy put such a dent in humanity’s headcount? Why try to stave off a population explosion40 in our era? Plus, I can’t see how one sword could stand up to that much abuse. Unless it was the Leveler…”

“Well, this is over a hundred and fifty years ago. That number may not be credible, but we must assume that the Razor had been swung at least often enough for such rumors to be whispered with credulity. Shichika, even if the Kyotoryu is swordplay, you don’t use swords yourself, so I can see why you would be skeptical. But a blade doesn’t need to be as hard as the Leveler to last. Theoretically, a masterpiece sword41 can be used indefinitely.”

“You serious?”

“Indefinitely might be a bit of a stretch. In the hands of a third-rate swordsman, its edge will be lost after ten kills from all the fat and muscle. A first-rate swordsman knows how to take a life without hurting his sword. You could even say that killing without harming your sword is what makes a first-rate swordsman.”

“…”

“Otherwise, how could all thousand of the Mutant Blades of Shikizaki still exist? The nine hundred and ninety-nine that aren’t the Leveler would long ago have snapped or corroded. But that is not the case.”

Of course, she conceded, there was no way to guarantee the safety of the six precious42 whose whereabouts were lost. For her to reach her goal, they better be safe, but she had to face the facts. There was a difference between a wish and wishful thinking.

“Taking a life without hurting his sword, huh. Sounds like Kiki Shikizaki didn’t think of his swords as expendable, and the Leveler was just the most extreme example…”

“True, but the deciding factor is who wields them. In that sense, perhaps the Razor was in the best hands possible. The daimyo of Tottori and the Old Shogun failed to capture it, but life went on. The Great Sword Hunt was rescinded, and the Old Shogun…”

“Met his ruin?”

“Not exactly ruin,” Togame took issue with Shichika’s word choice. “He lived a long life and died peacefully. But having clashed with him, Kinkaku Uneri was dismissed from Tottori and became an unaffiliated43 ronin.”

“Unaffiliated. That’s one way to put it.”

Shichika burst out laughing.

His father, a swordsman (Master of the Kyotoryu Mutsue Yasuri hadn’t wielded a katana but was a swordsman all the same), dubbed the Hero of the Rebellion in the only bona fide war to take place under the Yanari, had to pay for a crime he committed shortly afterwards. Banished to an island along with his family, for nineteen years he never left the island, until his spirit left this world the year before.

Togame felt like Shichika may be seeing his father in Kinkaku Uneri, but she dismissed the thought.

What did she care.

In the first place, she would rather spend as little time as possible thinking about Shichika’s father─even though she originally ventured to Haphazard Island intending to ask him, not Shichika, to help with gathering the swords.

After all─Mutsue Yasuri had been among her most hated foes.

“But even upon being expelled, Kinkaku Uneri refused to leave Inaba. He did not take service with another master but dared to make his home within its borders, where he lived out the rest of his days. It seems the land claimed a soft place in his heart. Over the years, the Razor stayed in his family and was passed down as an heirloom─”

“And now it’s in the hands of Ginkaku, the current head of the Uneri. Does that mean that tomorrow, we’ll be dropping in on Uneri’s mansion in the town of Inaba, Tottori?”

“No,” Togame shot him down. “The Uneri mansion is gone.”

“Gone?”

“I should say, Inaba is gone.”

“The entire city?”

“More than that. Tottori, as a territory, has ceased to exist.”

“What could make it stop existing?”

“Ever hear of Inaba Desert?” asked Togame, seeing how surprised Shichika was.

This was turning out to be a lengthy introduction.

“Yeah…my dad told me about it. Tottori is famous for it, the only desert in Japan. He said he visited once just for fun. Supposed to be awesome. Everywhere you look is sand. I was actually hoping we would go there.”

“Don’t worry. Before long, you’ll have had enough.” Togame was getting sarcastic. “About five years ago, Inaba Desert began steadily increasing in size. What once covered a fraction of the coastline has swallowed Tottori whole.”

The entire territory.

“Inaba has become a wasteland, unfit for living.”

The desert had grown.44

The rapid environmental development could be described no other way. The local authorities, longstanding stewards of the desert, and the Yanari, who boasted absolute unparalleled authority, were powerless against this natural disaster. Its scope was formidable, but it was the pace that made controlling it impossible.

The end of Tottori, and of Inaba─though Shichika could not have known, stranded on that island for the past twenty years.

“No swordsman or sword is any match for nature.”

To judge from the fatalism in his voice, this meant something to him, too. When the desert started spreading, Togame was already working for the bakufu, and despite it being outside her wheelhouse45 she drew up all kinds of countermeasures; they were only a drop in the bucket and had almost no effect. Thus she intimately understood what Shichika was feeling.

Helplessness.

That’s what you call it.

“Still,” Togame said. “Perhaps it’s too soon to conclude that no swordsman─or sword─can master nature. That wasteland is no place for human life, but out there, Shichika, one swordsman has made himself at home.”

“…?”

“Or to speak your language, one sword, Ginkaku Uneri, lives─alone in Gekoku Castle, the only structure left standing in Inaba─with Zanto the Razor at his hip.”

■　■

Togame the Schemer and Shichika Yasuri, Seventh Master of the Kyotoryu, set off side by side into the desert, leaving their footprints in the sand. They were heading for Inaba─or, in its place, Gekoku Castle, though no road stretched before them.

“Good thing it’s cold out,” said Shichika, gazing up at the sky. “If this was the middle of summer, you would be dead, wearing so many layers.”

“Nonsense. In summer I take some off. About three layers.”

“Big difference. You make me carry all the luggage, saying you’re not strong enough to help, but I bet the whole lot of it weighs less than your accessories.”

“More nonsense. Women have a special set of muscles just for fashion.”

“Special muscles? You have extra body parts?” Shichika sounded appalled. “I can’t see clothes as anything but in the way.”

“I’ve given up on making you wear a shirt, but do me a favor and please don’t take your pants off. I don’t want to travel with a perv.”

“Don’t worry. I’m starting to like this hakama you bought me. It’s good for moving, and good for fighting.”

“How is moving different from fighting?”

“Just is.”

“Interesting.”

Crunch, crunch, crunch.46

The two walked on, leaving footprints in the sand.

They estimated that the walk would take them the whole day.

Leaving aside the joke about special muscles, Togame’s ability to travel on foot for such a distance was revealing. Even if she was not skilled in the martial arts, she was in no way without stamina. Needless to say, for Shichika, walking for a whole day cost him barely more energy than spending the day in bed.47

“If the desert swallowed the city, does that mean if we dug around we might find houses and stuff?”

“We’ve been walking quite a while. This area was sand before the desert grew. But who knows. If you dug enough you might find something. From five or six hundred years ago.”

“Wow. So wait. Then Tottori’s Gekoku Castle was built in the middle of the desert.”

“The lay of the land has shifted over time, so not in the middle as it stands today. Once upon a time, it stood on the edge. The castle is literally a natural fortress. Since no general trains his troops for a desert assault, it was hard to attack and easy to defend. Still, it was quite the undertaking to build on sand. What could be harder?”

“And that’s why it’s the only building standing in Inaba─but hey, Togame. There’s something I’ve been wanting to ask you since last night.”

“Yes?”

“You originally hired that maniac Komori to capture the Leveler because he was the most flexible ninja around, which made him a perfect fit for the most rigid sword. After that, you asked Hakuhei Sabi to capture the Whisper because it was the most difficult to handle, and no one in all of Japan can wield a sword better than him.”

“Precisely.”

“Okay. So how come you’re asking me to get the Razor? Is there some reason you think it’s a good fit, or a good match48 for me? Since I don’t use a sword, I can’t see how any of that would matter.”

“There were geographic considerations. From what I know, Zanto the Razor is the closest of the Possessed to your home on Haphazard Island.”

“So it was the most practical.”

“Sure, but more importantly, as Master of the Kyotoryu, you never use a sword, and thus no sword would ever be a good match or a good fit. That is what makes your school what it is. That is why I picked you to help me round up the Possessed, and why your situation is different from Komori or Sabi─but Shichika, there is one exception49 among the swords.”

“You mean out of the Twelve Possessed?”

“I mean all thousand of the Mutant Blades. That sword is Zanto the Razor,” Togame declared.

“What do you mean?”

“Don’t you get it? A sword that is merely sharp is of no concern for you. Cheerio!”

She nailed him in the ribs.

Hers was a fearsome catchphrase that would embarrass her later, the more frequently she uttered it─but we’ll get to this curse in due course.

“Why do you keep hitting me in the same spot?”

“Don’t tell me I hurt you.”

“Hurt me? No.”

“Of course not,” Togame said. “Your body is so finely tempered that I’m almost entranced50 by it. I have a hard time keeping my hands away from your amazing muscles. But Shichika. Not even a body like yours can stop a blade.”

“Right.”

“You can train all night and day, but your flesh can only get so hard. Any razor─small ‘r’51─will cut skin if you touch the blade. Therefore, it matters none how sharp Zanto the Razor is. It’s not like you will be crossing blades, yes? It should be no different than your average katana.”

“Makes sense.”

Shichika could see her point.

This Possessed was the one exception.

The Mutant Blades each had their special powers, but only one was comparable, at least for Shichika, to a normal sword. And that was Zanto the Razor.

“Okay,” said Shichika, “I’m relieved that you aren’t an idiot.”

“First time I’ve had to convince anyone of that. Whatever. Anyway, capturing this sword from Ginkaku Uneri will simply be a matter of your swordplay versus his. As long as he isn’t any stronger than he would be with another sword, this should be a relatively easy one for you to capture.”

“You told me all about his ancestor Kinkaku yesterday, but not what to expect from this guy. Can he cut down ten thousand guys too?”

“Not sure. But I know he’s good. I hear he’s a master of iainuki.”52

“Iainuki…”

“They say it’s the trademark of the Uneri family─Kinkaku included. It would be fair to label him a specialist… But in terms of personality, he is an eccentric.53 While everyone else in Inaba abandoned the land where they were born and raised, he stayed.”

“Is the desert still expanding?”

“Not anymore… Last year, it suddenly stopped. By then the whole of Inaba was buried, but the damage to neighboring territories has been slight.”

“I see.”

“It was four years of hell. But Shichika, I meant to ask you. Does the Kyotoryu have any special moves for countering iainuki?”

“Huh? Oh, well, I’m not sure for iainuki specifically─my dad called it an extreme form of swordplay─hold on, though. While we’re on the topic, I have some things I want to ask you too.”

“Such as?”

“Between Ginkaku Uneri and Hakuhei Sabi, who’s stronger?”

“Having never met Uneri in person, that’s hard for me to say…but I would put my money on Sabi. His skill is unfathomable.54 His ability to fight without damaging a sword is nonpareil─no other swordsman could handle the Whisper. For him, a stunt like cutting down a hundred men is easy-peasy.”

“In your opinion. If that’s the case, who would you bet on between me and Sabi?”

“…”

For a moment, Togame was at a loss to answer.

“I’m amazed how hard it is for you to lie,” laughed Shichika. “I think I understand why you can’t lie in your report.”

“That’s not it, Shichika. Sabi may be unrivaled as a swordsman, but based on fighting style, I think your chance of beating him is─”

“That’s not what I’m getting at, Togame.”

Shichika’s tone was bold, almost arrogant.

“What I’m saying is you’ve only had a taste of what the Kyotoryu is made of─if you really understood the school, you would never think to ask a stupid thing like if I had a special move for iainuki.”

“So not even Sabi poses a threat.”

“Well. I’m not sure about that.”

And I’m not sure I ever want to meet him, he added, his voice returning to normal─to the easy, carefree, unenthused Shichika.

“Whatever happens, Togame, you have nothing to worry about.”

“Hmh… Ch-Cheerio!”

This time she stomped his toes with her seta.55

And it did hurt.

“Wah, what the?”

“M-Make no mistake! No one cares about you. My sole concern is our safe recovery of the Razor! I could not be less worried about what happens to you. I could replace you in a heartbeat!”

“…”

This brand of humor─what can I say.

A Japanese tradition, though as yet it had no name.

“R-Really? You could replace me? M-My mistake.”

Shichika was a piece of work, too, for feeling genuinely wounded.

But that aside, this travel scene met a juncture.

The two stopped.

Straight ahead, directly in their path, they espied something lying on the sand. A dead man, sliced into two clean halves.56

1 口癖 KUCHIGUSE “mouth habit” a word or words that one is given to uttering

2 十二単衣 JŪNIHITOE twelve-layered kimono

3 脚絆 KYAHAN cloth wrapped around the shins

4 袴 HAKAMA loose pleated trousers tied at the waist

5 正式な身分 SEISHIKI NA MIBUN formal status

6 個性が弱い KOSEI GA YOWAI his “individuality is weak”

7 鬱 UTSU depression

8 さん付け SANZUKE attaching the honorific さん SAN

9 花がない HANA GA NAI “to be flowerless,” despite his moves all having floral names

10 七花 SHICHIKA “seven flowers”

11 まにわに MANIWA NI cutesy, derisive pun on やにわに YANIWA NI out of the blue

12 愉快痛快 YUKAI TSŪKAI entertaining and thrilling

13 癪に障る SHAKU NI SAWARU aggravating

14 きゃうーん KYAUUN yelping sound

15 ちぇりおー CHERIŌ an expression unfamiliar to most Japanese readers

16 気合 KIAI a voice emitted to concentrate one’s 気 KI energy

17 ちぇすと CHESUTO analogous to “Yeehaw!”

18 原稿用紙 GENKŌ YŌSHI typically 400 squares per sheet, one character per square

19 客観 KYAKKAN “as a visitor” objective

20 主観 SHUKAN “as the host” subjective

21 四六時中 SHIROKUJICHŪ 24/7

22 やらせ YARASE “made to do”

23 自己中 JIKOCHŪ colloquial abbreviation of 自己中心的 JIKOCHŪSHINTEKI self-centered

24 超必殺技 CHŌ HISSATSU WAZA “ultra lethal technique”

25 不要な味付け FUYŌ NA AJITSUKE needlessly flavored

26 感謝感激雨あられ KANSHA KANGEKI AME ARARE it’s raining thank-you’s

27 因幡砂漠 INABA SABAKU today’s 鳥取砂丘 TOTTORI SAKYŪ Tottori Sand Dunes

28 旅籠 HATAGO a lodge offering room and board to travelers

29 全裸 ZENRA “complete nudity”

30 大象 TAIZŌ “big elephant”

31 変態性欲 HENTAI SEIYOKU fetish; perversion

32 下酷城 GEKOKUJŌ “harsh-underneath castle” pun on 下剋上 GEKOKUJŌ, a bid to bring down one’s ruler/leader

33 推測 SUISOKU estimate

34 浪人 RŌNIN a samurai who has no master

35 宇練金閣 UNERI KINKAKU “Surging Golden Tower”

36 激戦区 GEKISENKU severely contested district

37 超えいた KOEITA [not a word]

38 大根 DAIKON root vegetable often rivaling the size of a human limb

39 切れやすい KIREYASUI quick to lose his temper

40 人口爆発 JINKŌ BAKUHATSU no less of a deliberate anachronism in the original

41 業物 WAZA MONO a top-notch katana, durable and sharp

42 真打 SHIN’UCHI “true forged” the best swords in a production run

43 無所属 MUSHOZOKU usually describes independent politicians who belong to no party

44 成長 SEICHŌ grow (organically)

45 他部署 TABUSHO “different department”

46 ざくざくざく ZAKU ZAKU ZAKU onomatopoeia for sand/gravel

47 布団 FUTON sleeping mat

48 組み合わせ KUMIAWASE combination

49 例外 REIGAI “outlier”

50 ほれぼれする HOREBORE SURU marvel; plays off 惚れる HORERU fall (in love)

51 ただの名詞 TADA NO MEISHI the common noun

52 居合抜き IAINUKI drawing a sword at spectacular speed, often for performance

53 変人 HENJIN “odd person”

54 底が知れぬ SOKO GA SHIRENU “can’t see the bottom”

55 雪駄 SETTA flat-soled Japanese sandals

56 一刀両断 ITTŌ RYŌDAN a single unstoppable swing