Banshi: Board Master

 BANSHI: BOARD MASTER

“……?”

What …… is this?

I try cupping it with my fingers. Smooth.

“Ahnn!”

Huh. What a cute little sound.

“???”

I lean in closer for a good whiff. It’s got a pleasant smell.

Then, I finally figured it out.

A butt?! What’s a butt doing in a board shop?!

In a panic, I jump past it and into the corner of the room. From further away, it’s so obvious. That’s a woman. A butt-naked bombshell of a beauty.

What’s more, the young woman is pressing a sword, no, a full-fledged katana onto a Shogi board. Completely in the buff.

“W-W-Why don’t you have any clothes on?!”

“Keep your voice down!”

She says like an ice-cold slap with the katana clenched in her hand. Totally naked.

“Making a ruckus and being clothed in this sacred space is beyond disrespectful! Take those clothes off this instant!”

“Being naked in a sacred space seems more disrespectful if you ask me?!”

“Enough! All of you, strip down right now!!”

“Not a chance!!”

“Then get out of this room, immediately!!”

The beauty advances on us with her blade held high. Get me out of here!

Slam!

I jump out of the room with my apprentices in my arms and tumble into the hall just as the sliding door snaps shut behind me.

“W-Well, that was a surprise ……”

Rather than feeling like a Peeping Tom who hit the jackpot, it’s more like some whacked-out woman forced me to look at her naked body. I’m the victim here. Not happy at all ……

“…… Master? Who was that lady just now? Is she the kind of friend who always greets you naked? And why is it that there are always so many women around you like that? If there are any more, tell me right now so I, as your first apprentice, can go introduce myself properly to each and every single one.”

Ai’s eyes have gone completely dark as she coils herself to look me square in the face, her voice completely flat. Master, trembling ……

Meanwhile, Ai Yashajin is trembling for another reason.

“H-Hey, um …… Sensei? Was that, was she really ……?”

“Yeah. I think she’s who you’re thinking.”

“The real …… Shumai Honinbou?! The first female title holder in Japanese Go ……? That ……?”

So, she knew. I suppose she would, watching all those Go and Shogi TV shows.

“Just as you said, she holds one of the three grand titles in Go, Honinbou, Shumai Honinbou-sensei. Shogi and Go are different, but she’s a pro player just like me.”

“……!!”

Both girl’s eyes go wide. The looks on their faces something close to: That pervert ……?! Kids are brutally honest.

“She’s also one of the few banshi in the world today.”

“Ban …… shi?”

My two apprentices tilt their heads, never having heard that word before.

While she seems completely different from the person who crashed the First Move Ceremony, and in the buff, that is Shumai-sensei. Her personality depends on the amount of alcohol in her system.

There are only a few days out of the whole year that the woman who took a title completely sloshed is sober.

But they’re not for Go matches.

“…… I’d waited three whole days for the humidity and breeze to line up perfectly!”

The sliding door opens again, and Shumai-sensei steps out wearing a yukata robe.

Ai Hinatsuru works up the courage to ask.

“U-Umm! …… What were you doing naked with a katana ……?”

“Tachimori. That’s what.”

“Tachi …… mori ……?”

Blanking, Shumai-sensei gently explains it to her in simple terms.

“Giving a board life–––a ceremony to enshrine a god within it, Miss Ai Hinatsuru.”

“I must apologize for my rudeness earlier. While I knew of your arrival, Yaichi, the conditions for the ceremony don’t line up that perfectly very often.”

“Oh, well …… I was the one who asked you to do this earlier than we’d planned ……”

I thank her as she serves tea.

Shumai-sensei becomes a reckless pervert with an affinity for four-letter words when she’s drunk. But she’s a well-mannered lady without alcohol in her veins. Well mannered, but totally naked at the time.

Ai Yashajin cautiously tries to break the ice.

“So …… You’re Shumai Honinbou, yes? The real ……”

“Indeed. My actual name is Uzu Tentsuji and this is my shop, Tentsuji Gobanten.”

“You’re a professional Go player strong enough to claim a title …… but you make boards, too?”

“I suppose you could say my surroundings rubbed off on me. The Tentsuji family have been banshi for generations … although many banshi don’t have the slightest idea how to play either Go or Shogi despite making boards for a living,” Shumai-sensei explains with a soft smile on her lips. “Being who we are, many highly skilled players often visited my family’s home and workshop in Nara. They would play against each other to pass the time, and I must have watched them enough to memorize the rules when I was very young, too young to remember anything else.”

“You learned just by watching ……? And too young to remember, so you must’ve been one or two years old? Quite the monster, aren’t you ……?”

“Though I picked up the necessary techniques for board-making as well. That’s why I’m able to make a living as a professional player while creating and selling only the boards I deem worthy in the shop like this. It’s more of a past time.”

I mention what has been on my mind since coming inside, more than seeing her naked.

“By the way, Sensei. Was that board just now–––.”

“It was. The very same board you sent to me for repairs.”

“……! Is it the one that I cracked ……?” Once Shumai-sensei silently nods, Ai asks in a rush, “You can fix it?! Even after what happened?!”

“But of course. A piece of scotch tape is enough to take care of a crack that size.”

“That’s all?!”

“Boards have life. A banshi’s greatest technique is stabilizing harvested wood while still living rather than letting it die. Thus, the board retains its natural ability to heal from cracks and scrapes because it is alive.”

“Alive ……? Shogi boards ……?”

Seeing my apprentice thrown for a loop, I let her in on the secret.

“That’s a namaban. It’s raw wood, meaning it doesn’t matter if it cracks.”

That just made Ai even more confused.

“The best material to make Shogi and Go boards is nutmeg, a plum-yew called kaya. However, it cracks so easily that people have always called it ‘splintering kaya.’”

“Huh?! W-Why would you want to use a wood like that?!”

“Because it fuses so well that it is also called adhering kaya.”

“Adhering …… kaya?”

“Let a namaban made from kaya set, and it will adhere to itself … So well, in fact, that scars are invisible to the naked eye. That being said, a black line will remain should any dust or debris get into the crack.”

“Now I see …… The tape keeps that stuff out ……”

“Yes. That’s far better than trying to fill it with some foreign substance yourself.”

Ai Yashajin nods in understanding as Shumai-sensei continues her explanation.

“Kaya is an extremely elastic wood. That suppleness allows it to gently absorb the impact of any stone or piece snapped onto its surface, no matter how great …… That’s why players never tire no matter how long they play on a board made from kaya.”

A good board is easy on the fingers and matches the player’s enthusiasm with a good sound on each move. Fingers get tired playing on any other surface, and that effects the Shogi.

“The fact that Go and Shogi can be traced back over one thousand years means that pieces and boards have a history dating back just as far. Just as strategies have been honed over that time, trial and error has led to the necessary equipment being refined as well. Compared to the old rosewood boards that have been preserved in storehouses, the shape and material used for modern boards are entirely different,” says Shumai-sensei making direct eye contact with Ai Hinatsuru. “The board I left in Yaichi’s care was in a process called Board Lending. It gives a namaban a chance to dry out while getting used in actual matches.”

“Dry out? …… It needs to dry?”

“That it does. In fact, the drying process is the most important aspect of making a board. Each individual sun requires around one year to dry.”

“So, a 7-sun board would take …… seven years?! That long ……?”

My first apprentice looks surprised. Well, finding out that one of those boards would take almost their own age to dry would surprise anybody.

“A felled tree will never dry no matter how long you wait. Warping and damage are inevitable once the tree is cut into smaller pieces and shaped. That’s why it needs to be dried as a board. Putting it in the proper environment and monitoring the damage is part of the process. That is Board Lending.”

“You need to go that far ……?” asks Ai Yashajin, sounding stunned.

Shumai-sensei nods.

“There aren’t many banshis left who do, but I want to be satisfied with my work, even at the cost of profit.”

There’s a meaning behind passing on the traditional banshi techniques to the next generation. It’s just.

“Memorable matches happen and legendary players come and go like a summer breeze. Boards, on the other hand, are works of art and yet are created with the purpose to fulfill.”

Shumai Honinbou both makes boards and plays professionally, so that way of thinking would make sense from her point of view.

Just like the extreme effort she’s always talking about.

That extreme effort goes into making boards that can match players’ passion.

“Once a namaban has completed the Board Lending stage, a carpenter’s plane is used to shave off the excess and put the finishing touches on it. Boards that have completed that process will never bend or break, ever. Authors who write books about Go and Shogi love to say a player smacked a stone or a piece down so hard it shattered the board’s surface, but that’s only for dramatic effect. It’s not physically possible.”

Taking a sip from her teacup, Shumai-sensei adjusts her robe’s collar.

“The tea’s gone cold. Perhaps I should move on to explaining the Tachimori Ceremony.”

“You were using the katana to mark the spaces for the grid, weren’t you?”

Sensei nods at Ai Yashajin’s question.

“While no one knows exactly why katanas are used …… Go and Shogi were originally nobles’ games, so the people delegated to create the boards and pieces would have had deep connections to the Imperial Court and samurai families. The Minase family, their name synonymous with their calligraphic style and renowned for their skill creating Shogi pieces to this day, are a noble house.”

“Calligraphy ……?”

“The characters written on the pieces. That’s what she’s talking about.”

Ai Hinatsuru tilts her head, confused. Ai Yashajin explains it to her. How kind.

“They set a specific style and replicate it. Minase isn’t the only one. Kinki and Ryouko are popular, too, but those are the main three. Simply put, they’re Shogi fonts.”

“They’re not the only options, however. It’s possible to have pieces made with your favorite player’s handwriting, or even your own,” Sensei adds to Ai Yashajin’s explanation.

“Board making was once left to carpenters and people who worked for Buddhist temples. Specialists known as the Gosho-ha emerged in the Kyoto and Osaka area as the demand for boards increased. My own family, the Tentsuji, are banshi descended from them …… and the skills required to perform the Tachimori Ceremony are part of their tradition.”

Just listening to her talk, I can feel how proud she is to be part of it.

“On the other hand, the craftsmen who went to Edo—present-day Tokyo—to serve the government are called Oshiro Go Banshi. Rather than using tachimori, they create the grid using arrow shafts and brushes.”

“Why wouldn’t they use a katana?”

“Edo was the samurai capital, their cultural center. For them, katanas were seen as warrior spirits. Somewhere along the line, they must’ve decided that warrior spirit shouldn’t be used for board making.”

Sensei then uses my question to support her own reasoning.

“I, for one, believe the techniques required to perform tachimori, to make the most precise adjustments with a katana, are the most advanced of all,” she declares with pride.

“Other styles paint lines on with lacquer, but tachimori imprints them. Therefore, we can naturally create more dignified lines. Plus, with enough experience, tachimori practitioners can set lines faster than any other technique.”

“…… Banshi and tachimori are starting to make sense,” says Ai Yashajin, her tea still sitting untouched in front of her.

“But, what doesn’t make sense is why you were doing it naked.”

“Yes, that! Explain that please!”

My first apprentice still seems to think there’s something more between Shumai-sensei and I. She’s giving her a threatening stare while maintaining a tight grip on my arm.

“It’s vital that there be no dust in the air when applying lacquer. Should any get on it before the drying process is complete, that dirt will remain forever. Beautiful as they may be, the board’s overall balance is forever lost should any line be off by a fraction of a degree. All the time and energy spent creating it will have been wasted. That’s why the clothes come off!” Shumai-sensei says with vigor.

Her eyes are twinkling even though she’s totally sober.

“Even a slight possibility of a loose thread makes it impossible to focus entirely on setting the lines. That is why practitioners worth their salt have always worn only a loincloth while wielding a katana, even in the dead of winter. My father and Master is one of them.”

“Then at least put on a pair of panties, Sensei!”

“How could a man who’s risen to the heights of Ryuo have such low aspirations ……? An apprentice only comes into their own by surpassing their Master! Mine wore a loincloth, so I shall wear nothing at all! You’ll never convince me otherwise!!”

After Shumai-sensei stubbornly vows to stay in the buff, Ai Yashajin asks, “Wouldn’t a swimsuit be just fine? Synthetic fabrics like nylon don’t have loose threads.”

“……!!”

Shumai-sensei gawks at my second apprentice.

“Hey, hey, why are you looking at her like she’s a genius? She needs to work harder for your respect, Sensei.”

I’d rather she’d recognize Ai Yashajin for her skill and talent.

Whether she heard me or not, I don’t know. But, she locks eyes with Ai and says, “You are Miss Ai Yashajin, I presume?”

“Yes. And?”

“Hehe …… I see. Yaichi has quite an eye for these things.”

“Huh? …… What’s that supposed to mean?”

My second apprentice looks between the two of us, suspicious. I look away and pretend I have no idea.

“…… Ngh~.”

Meanwhile, my first apprentice doesn’t seem to be happy with Shumai-sensei’s reason to go stick with her birthday suit.

“…………”

My second apprentice is having trouble believing that the Shumai Honinbou, a woman who has accomplished so much in the Go world, and the sparsely dressed woman sitting in front of her are in fact the same person.

Shumai-sensei stands up before them and says, “I normally never allow others to enter my working space …… Consider this a present for the two of you to celebrate your Women’s League membership. Allow me to demonstrate board making techniques for you.”