Author Description

Japan 1633. Hideki is on his first musha shugyo to sharpen his sword skills. He is now a left-handed swordsman, an oddity in Japan and therefore a target of ridicule. With his new mentor Yagyu Jubei, Hideki travels to the southern most Japanese island of Kyushu seeking to learn the techniques of Shinkage-ryu from the former instructor to the shogun. If he can win respect as an elite swordsman again, he may regain his confidence as a martial artist and a man. Once on Kyushu Island, Hideki and Jubei make some disturbing discoveries. Something is killing Kirishitans (Christians) on Mt. Taro at night. Whole Japanese farming villages are disappearing and Chinese Buddhist Temples are being turned into slaughter houses. No one has a clue who is perpetrating these crimes. On top of this Hideki finds Nagasaki riddled with corruption from top to bottom. Profit is king. Honor and bushido mean nothing. It is a world gone mad. Before Hideki and his friends are through, his faith in bushido will be severely tested as they are attacked by a tengu, tangle with a yellow-eyed demon, fight with pirates, help defend a village of Ryukyuan sailors, and are hired out to protect the hardboiled female owner of a brothel.