Tokyo Girlfriend Illustrated Book

Chiyoda Yaesu area

Yaesu is located next to Tokyo Station, which is known as the "front entrance" of Tokyo. To the west is Tokyo's most expensive CBD business district, Marunouchi, and to the north is Otemachi, the same district. You can see the Imperial Palace in the distance through the gaps in the high-rise buildings. It can be said that it is an inch of land. A land of gold. If Beichen had not been wealthy for his ancestors, it would have been impossible to own a dojo here.

During the neon bubble era, this large ashram was spotted by many real estate companies, but was ultimately rejected by contemporary owners. It's not that no one has used their brains. At that time, Ji Dao was riding the fast train of economic development and was very enthusiastic about real estate. However, everyone turned their heads and looked at the busy construction site next to them, and they all chose to remain silent.

It was the territory of the Mitsubishi Consortium, with the towering Mitsubishi Bank Building and various corporate buildings starting with Mitsubishi standing side by side. To tell a joke, the first thing the Neon Emperor saw when he opened his eyes was not the Queen, but the Mitsubishi Consortium building.

Even the Mitsubishi Consortium failed to hold the Beichen Itto-ryu dojo in their hands, so how could they succeed? Next door is Kasumigaseki, the center of neon political power, and it only takes less than ten minutes to walk to the Metropolitan Police Headquarters.

It wouldn't be wrong to say that Beichen's Itto-ryu is so powerful that it can scare the Mitsubishi Consortium, but he can't stand the fact that he has many connections. Apart from anything else, there are quite a few people in Mitsubishi Group's kendo club who have studied in Beichen Itto Ryu. As a school that improved bamboo swords and protective gear in modern times, many people who were immune to the infliction of real swords had to fall in love with Beichen.

Beichen Itto-ryu's dojo is a traditional neon ancient building. The walls are not as high as those of the violent angels in the suburbs. Instead, they are low and low. You can climb over them with just a hand. It was probably built with swordsmen in mind when they were first built. Hiding in the wall to ambush passers-by outside, just put a small stool on the root of the wall, jump out with a hard push, shout "Heavenly Punishment", kill them indiscriminately, and finally escape over the wall.

It's easy to kill the people inside, and it's easy to kill the people outside. It also avoids besieging trapped animals and wasting food. It can be said to be the best of both worlds.

The house sign under the cornice reads Beichen Yi Dao Liu in five Chinese characters. I don't know if the font is carbonized or some special pigment. Even though the wood is very old, the color of the font has not faded. Below the door plaque is a slightly smaller door plate that reads "Omachi Chiba Dojo"

You don't even need to enter the door to hear the noisy sounds inside, not the screams of apes, but the sounds of chatting and talking.

At this time, it was the time when the community animals were going home after work, so there were many people passing by the door of the dojo, and they all looked inside curiously. People who work here are very familiar with this dojo and know its door opening and closing times. Companies with poor sound insulation during the day hate this dojo that makes noise. There are many people who curse inwardly. The most irritating thing is that the dojo is only noisy during work hours and falls into dead silence after get off work.

It's already past seven o'clock today, and it's strange that Beichen Yidaoliu Dojo is still brightly lit and bustling.

Two men who worked at Nomura Securities were walking towards Tokyo Station, savoring the malty aroma of beer in their mouths. When they passed by the dojo, one of them said in surprise:

"Nakabashi, I remember you came to this dojo before, right?"

"Yeah, what's wrong?" The man named Nakabashi answered casually.

"Was this dojo as lively as this before?"

A colleague asked, although it is adjacent to Ginza, one of the liveliest places for nightlife in Tokyo, the nightlife in Yaesu is not that rich, let alone a kendo gym that is so brightly lit at this point.

"Alas?"

Nakahashi also realized at this time that he had paid his dues at Beichen Ittoryu, and he would come here to practice kendo and relax when he had nothing to do, so he was very sure that the Okemachi Chiba Dojo should not be so busy. Otherwise, he would definitely use the dojo as a place to spend time at night. After all, the people there are all interesting kendo enthusiasts.

"That's not right. Except for direct descendants of this family, outsiders should not be allowed to stay, right?"

He was also surprised. As a means of spreading culture and earning funds, Beichen Itto-ryu's dojo has always been open to the public. As long as you pay a small membership fee, you can use the venue. There will also be direct swordsmen from the family to teach basic kendo knowledge and open kendo interest classes. Needless to say. But outside of business hours, only members of the family are allowed to stay in the dojo, and people also have to practice the secrets that are not passed on.

"Then what are you doing? It's as lively as a competition. Is today a big day?" asked a colleague.

While the two were wondering, Nakahashi suddenly saw a somewhat familiar figure walking towards the gate of the dojo. He quickly walked over and found out that Ichihashi was a senior from Beichen's Ittoryu Honka, who had practiced with him before. He has fighting skills and is a very easy-to-get-together person, so he quickly opened his mouth and shouted:

"Senior An Teng, senior An Teng, please wait a moment."

An Teng Qianzhen, who had just returned from running errands over there, stopped when he heard the shouting and turned his head, looking at the person in front of him in confusion.

Nakahashi, who works in a securities company, is very familiar with this situation. He knew that this senior could not remember him at all, so he quickly introduced himself, and the two of them said oh oh, it turns out to be you. After a brief exchange of greetings, he expressed his question:

"Senior An Teng, is there an event in the dojo today? Why is it still so lively at this point?"

Nakahashi's attitude is very low. Even in Neon, where the culture of his seniors is very bad, seniors in violent sports like kendo are worthy of their names. If you meet a senior while walking and don't stop to bow and say hello, no one will sympathize with you and chop you with a knife. They will only help and scold you, which is not polite at all. How can you practice kendo well like this? Have you noticed that the disciplinary committee members and deans at the entrance of colleges and universities all have bamboo swords in their hands? This is tradition. If you're in the navy, you'll change it to a spirit-infused stick, which will directly teach you how to behave.

I don’t know if Iteng Qianzhen over there is really a kind person, or because he is the first person to run errands and has not yet reached the stage where he can exercise the authority of his seniors. He has a very good attitude towards Nakahashi who suddenly appears. He was also a little strange and asked:

"Don't you know?"

"Forehead……"

This rhetorical question immediately made Nakahashi a little overwhelmed, and he quickly apologized:

"Private Marseille, Senior An Teng, the company has too many affairs during this period, so I haven't been to the dojo for a week. I will work harder in the future!"

In the root culture, the stern seniors will say at this time, "Completing the work is what you should do, not a reason to slack off. How can you be called a man like this? If you don't have time, just give me some time to sleep." , now, immediately, swing the knife ten thousand times, practice until you faint, bastard!"

Fortunately, An Teng Qianzhen was used to being bullied by her seniors. When she heard this, she complained with sympathy and deep feeling:

"My school is currently preparing for a sports festival, and there are a lot of things going on, but I still come to the dojo every day. It's really..."

"Private Marseille! I will swing my knife ten thousand times tonight!" Nakahashi shouted immediately upon hearing this.

"...I don't mean to criticize you, I just..."

An Teng hesitated to speak and wanted to wave his hand, but found that he was still holding the drinks he bought for his seniors, so he had to say:

"Forget it, in short, all you need to know is that the atmosphere in the dojo is very strange recently. Those of us in the family are required to be on standby no matter how busy we are at work."

"Huh? What happened? Can you tell me if it's convenient?" Nakahashi became more and more curious.

Looking at the two curious men in front of him, An Teng Qianzhen slowly uttered a few words:

"He tried to fit in."

"Is he trying to get along?"

Nakahashi repeated, while his colleague said in confusion:

"What is that? Playing in the gym?"

Before waiting for Iteng Qianzhen next to him to speak, Nakahashi quickly explained seriously:

"No, he's trying to get married and being kicked out of the gym are completely different things..."

In the Edo period, it was a common thing for him to have a marriage with another person. A high-level swordsman usually obtains a level that is not allowed to pass on, or has received verbal and written approval from the clan. Then he can embark on a journey (martial arts training) to compete with masters of other schools across the country. Trials are used to improve one's own level; most competitions are completed with bamboo swords, sometimes wooden swords, but real swords are rarely used; the main purpose of trials is to improve one's own mental and physical skills by competing with other opponents. technical ability.

Why was Nakahashi so nervous after hearing his colleague's words? While explaining, he secretly observed the reaction of Chizhen Itan next to him? It's really because this "Taliyu Shihe" is the specialty of Beichen Yitou Ryu. On the official website of the sect, among other things, there is a large article with tens of thousands of words explaining the meaning of Tailiu Shihe and touting it. The justice of his flow and the benefit to the advancement of neon swordsmanship.

And why Beichen Itto-ryu is so interested in his Ryu Shikai? This has to talk about Chiba Shusaku, the "founder" of Beichen Itto-ryu. This founder is not a good person. He studied under Nakanishi Itto-ryu. Because of his outstanding talent, he was favored by the head of the main family of Nakanishi. He adopted him as his adopted son and married his beautiful niece, waiting to hand over the dojo to him to inherit.

But Chiba Shusaku refused. He knew from the time he was born that he was going to become a Buddha and an ancestor, so he just took his wife and ran away. He was a completely treacherous person.

After committing such a scandal, he still dreamed of creating his own sect, but there were few places to hang up the banner of Hojo Itto-ryu. Not long after he rebelled, his family almost starved to death. He thought hard for a long time and suddenly realized that this was all because although he was good at swordsmanship at this time, he was still an unknown person. If you want to create a genre, you must choose to become famous. So what is the easiest way to become famous? Nishizawao, Masako Tsuruta and Kyousuke Hojo all gave the most correct answer - step on others to get the upper hand!

So Chiba Shusaku began touring various countries, visiting the most famous local dojos in various vassal states, and applied to the dojo masters for competitions of different schools.

Generally speaking, as long as this kind of challenge is well presented, no dojo will refuse, because this is also one of the dojo's publicity methods. Then this involves one of the most important core technologies!

Winning is publicity, but what about losing?

This will test the wisdom of the master of the dojo. Generally speaking, if a famous and powerful swordsman comes to challenge, the master of the dojo will offer a large sum of money and ask the challenger to be merciful and return home, or simply let the challenger Those who stay in the ashram serve as advisors and guide the disciples on behalf of the master of the ashram. If the master of the dojo feels after evaluation that the visitor is a weakling, he will open the door and invite the rich and common people around him to watch and make a name for himself.

If the challenger is defeated by the disciple, it is equivalent to raising the reputation of the dojo. At this time, just give the opponent enough pocket money to buy a pair of straw sandals, or let the opponent have a meal and stay overnight. This well-established practice allowed some wandering swordsmen to survive.

But Chiba Shusaku didn't want the money offered by the dojo owner at all. He only wanted to make his own school famous by stepping on the reputation of those dojos.

So every time this guy challenged, he would send his younger brother to knock on the door first, and pretend to be a visitor who knew nothing about kendo. He even pretended to be not very smart when the dojo disciples observed him. If you want to ask why, it's because this guy is too tall. In the era when the average height of the martial arts world was no more than 1.5 meters, Chiba Shusaku's stature alone was very deterrent. He looked like a powerful person. Others would definitely not fight him easily.

Chiba Shusaku's younger brother was not a weak person. He could often defeat the disciples of the dojo and force the dojo owner to take action. Then he would wait until his younger brother was defeated before he came out. In this way, he easily got the opportunity to fight the dojo owner. With his strength, he could easily win, and then the dojo owner would find out that he had been tricked, but it was too late. Chiba Shusaku was shameless and began to promote his own school on the spot and recruit disciples.

In this way, Chiba Shusaku traveled all over the country, challenging major well-known dojos and swordsmen, and his reputation grew, and he recruited more and more disciples.

During this period, it was not that no one was angry because of being deceived, but who was Chiba Shusaku? There was a bold and enlarged sentence in the Beichen Itto-ryu Military Strategy "One-heart decision", which means that if you look at the opponent, you may be defeated by the opponent because of carelessness, and being too afraid is not good, because you will be stiff all over due to tension and unable to exert your strength. Therefore, no matter whether the opponent's swordsmanship is strong or weak, as long as you decide to challenge the opponent, you must abandon all distractions and accurately use the skills you have practiced for many years in the instant of fighting. This is "one-heart decision".

To explain, if you encounter a guy who is difficult to deal with, you must run away as soon as possible.

This founder has done this kind of thing at least ten times. He often beat people up during the day, and then fled at night for fear of retaliation.

Therefore, after Beichen Ittoryu became famous, descendants naturally gave justice to the actions of the founder. Perhaps this is what happened when I won all the fights, and then someone will naturally defend me.

As Nakahashi explained, he also understood why the dojo was so lively during his style trial.

It seems that everyone came to see the excitement of Beichen Ittoryu, and they were looking for trouble!

The sword swung by the founder finally fell on the descendants. (End of this chapter)