Great Journey of the Second Sword Birth
On his 16th birthday he is presented with a nigh impossible Gempukku – Make a Katana in a way never before done before!!!
Tales of the impossible task have been whispered throughout the Dragon lands. But the boy accepted the Gempukku without hesitation. Some whisper that his father is being punished for some hidden slight of honor.
Donoha sama planned out how he would do this and set about the journey to prove honor can be restored. He left Shiro Kitsuki in the second month after the longest night of the year. He was provided with letters to access roads and funding as the clan would pay the cost. He took three gifts with him to entreat the damiyos he met to aid him in these endeavors.
The Dragon journeyed to Aojiroi Oku Shiro (Pale Oak Castle) in the lands of the Phoenix Clan. The gift he presented to the Daimyo there was blank bamboo scrolls and ink vials prepared to inscribe and hold magic. In exchange he asks for two blades that had failed and broke under use. Whether the break was from battle or a defect would not matter to him as his plan to create a new way to craft a katana would help restore honor to the swords’ owner or maker.
Phoenix blade owners: Asako Katsumi & Shiba Tsukasa. Both had died protecting the Shugenja. Tsukasa was the Yojimbo assigned to a Phoenix Shugenja. Katsumi committed seppuku when he leared of the blade failing he had made.
During his time here he settled disputes between tradesmen with such care that he was gifted with two very thick, treated, branches from the pale oak where beneath Emperor Hantei the Seventeenth was buried to be near the woman he loved! The Daimyo was impressed with the child of the Dragon. He spent three months there (Spring to Summer) gathering the sharkskin and wood and learning how to shape tsubaka and saya (handles and sheathes). He also fell in love there. The one thing he never learned to do was dye sharkskin as the material he acquired had already been dyed black. He did learn a lot about glue and adhesives from them. In all of his travels he continued to write letters to his true love.
He continued on, leaving from Toshi no Omoidoso (City of Remembrance) via ship for Ryu Bannin Toshi in the Imperial controlled lands. It was the middle of summer when his ship docked and he got to meet his famous grandfather in person. His grandfather grilled him with question about how he would accomplish such a daunting, no, an impossible task. He told his grandfather a phrase he heard him say when he was younger, about 6-7. “Problems are merely Oni for which we have not found the correct sword to slay them with.” He went on to explain to his grandfather, grandmother, and aunt everything over a family dinner in the Seppun house. They saw his journal about his travels and his notes about the process he wished to try.
Getting his grandfather’s, grandmother’s, and aunt’s blessings to continue he left Ryu Bannin Toshi on another ship heading south to Samui Kaze Toshi. It was the end of summer when he arrived. He rode with patrols of samurai from the Crane clan to Dangai, on to Shaiga, Meidochi and finally Kaia Osho Mura. Next he joined a river merchant caravan going to Maemikake, Kuda Mura, and finally Kaiu Shiro – The Carpenter’s Castle. Here he presented a box wrapped in black silk embroidered with the dragon of his clan. The box and the four stones inside hinged with gold was made wholly from jade. Then he presented the smith hammer he’d been gifted and asked to be trained further in its use. It only took a few days for the Crab historians to realize that the hammer had been gifted to the Dragon for returning an heirloom sword after defeating one of the Crab Samurai. (edited)
Chikai no kodzuchi 誓いの小槌 known as the Oath-hammer. Was a smithing hammer from the Crab Clan used in making Kaiu Blades. It was a nemurani that required an oath of the wielder to function. At the time of this writing there has been a total of 9 daimyo that know he’s not allowed to let it out of his sight. The three Dragon Family Daimyo, the four Crab family Daimyo, the Ikoma of the Lion, and the Seppun imperial family Daimyo
During the next six months he worked with a young Kaiu smith with some interesting ideas and learned more secrets about forging blades. He made one trip to see the wall during this time and sketched it. It was there he collected the broken swords of those whom had fallen fighting on the wall. The names of the six samurai were: Hida Shimazu, Hida Nagahide, Hiruma Kenji, Hida Moriyama, Kuni Asakura, and Yasuki Saigo. These would become the core of the edge, but also prevent warping if the blade bent.
When he left, he had turned 17 and re-traced his route over land back to Samui Kaze Toshi departing on another ship to Kyuden Doji. Said to be rivaled only by the capital in splendor. Donoha drew several of the shrines and buildings within the city in his journals.
A few days later found him in the great open market city of Yufuku & Heigen Toshi. Every clan was welcomed here because of the market. He spent almost a full week in taverns listening to tradesmen talk about their work. He spent a fair amount on scrolls as he ate to take down what he was hearing. He won a game of Go against one artisan that all they did was make the Habaki (the shoulder the blade sits on before meeting the Tsuba or guard). Instead of extracting Koku (coin) he had the artisan help him make a habaki so he knew what to do later but left it with him as a token of thanks. They left as friends if nothing else. Echigo Sawanda was the artisan’s name, not a noble just one of the merchant classes.