kimono I have on. I sleep in it when I’m out in the open. I’m used to it.” “You’ll do no such thing!” Myōshū said sternly. “You yourself may not mind, but think of the other people. In those nice pretty rooms, you’d look no better than a dirty old rag. Men go there to have a good time and forget their troubles. They want to be surrounded by

“If you become self-conscious about the proper way to drink, you won’t enjoy the tea. When you use a sword, you can’t let your body become too tense. That would break the harmony between the sword and your spirit. Isn’t that right?”

“I never thought about it. I’d like to travel to a lot of distant places, go to the farthest end of Kyushu and see how people live under the foreign influences in Nagasaki. And I’m eager to see the new capital the shōgun is building in Edo and the great mountains and rivers in northern Honshu. Maybe I’m just a vagabond at heart.” “You’re not the

“She’s perfect! She doesn’t leave herself open anywhere.” As she whisked the tea, he sensed in her the same unearthly proficiency that one might observe in a master swordsman poised to strike. “It’s the Way,” he thought, “the essence of art. One has to have it to be perfect at anything.”

But the day’s work was done, and it was not the mark of a mature warrior to stand around moping over the past.

“You’re Sasaki Kojirō from Iwakuni.

“If you’re going to live in this world, might as well have a good time.”

They went into a house, and Matahachi left everything to Yasoma, who seemed to be quite experienced. He knew how to order the sake, how to deal with the girls; he was flawless. Matahachi found the experience quite entertaining.

You’ll find, my friend, that in the gutters of this floating world, much of the trash consists of fallen flowers.”