fandomhigh | Japanese Blades, First Period, Friday [08/10].

Mitsutada looked completely relieved as he stood in front of the class with his guest for the week - a towering beefcake of a man with magenta hair flowing back into a long pony tail, wearing a traditional black kimono with hakama. No shenanigans with dramatic entrances or anything else this week.

"Welcome everyone," Mitsutada said. "I will get down to the class at hand. We are covering spears this week, with my friend Tonbokiri. I will let him introduce himself."

"Hello," Tonbokiri greeted with a warm smile. "I am Tonbokiri, one of the Three Great Spears of Japan, though that sounds like a boast which I do not like to do." He even looked a little embarrassed. "I was forged by Fujiwara Masazane in 1532, and famously wielded by Tadakatsu Honda, who was thought to be invulnerable due to never being wounded or bested in battle."

"There are even legends that he was so strong that his spear had a shaft twenty feet in length," Mitsutada added, gently teasing. Tonboki blushed and shook his head.

"That would be a very impractical spear," he said. "Though it is true that Tadakatsu had me shortened as he aged, so that he could still wield me even in his older days."

"Tell them the story of your name!" Mitsutada said.

"Oh!" Tonbokiri said. "It is pretty straightforward, if you know Japanese. 'Kiri' means cutter, much like in Shokudaikiri here. 'Tonbo' is a dragonfly. My name comes from the story that my blade was so sharp that a dragonfly went to land on the edge, and cut itself clean in half. I kind of feel sorry for that dragonfly, honestly."

Mitsutada nodded, knowing that sort of feeling. "Any questions for our guest today? I don't think all of your are familiar with his master Lord Honda, so he would be happy to tell you about him."

[ooc: OCD up, class is ready!]

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Like a beautiful warm hug of a person

For any questions for Mitsutada or Tonbokiri.

This week, practice spears appeared for each of the students - and this time, they were all properly sized to each student! Mitsutada was learning. They were really no more than wooden poled with padded ends, but that worked for what was needed.

It was also a return of the training dummies!

"Wielding a spear to its basic use is not that hard, if I am honest," Tonbokiri said. "You hold it, and make sure if someone is coming at you, they hit the spear before they hit you."

He picked up his own practice spear and struck a dummy clean in the head. "Aim for bits that they do not want pierced. It's a very good deterrent. There's a reason Tadakatsu had such a reputation, and it's because a spear is very good at not letting your foes get near you. So, please, get a feel for the spear. I think they might be better than swords."

"At least, as long as you're not in tight or cramped quarters," Mitsutada teased.

"Well, yes," Tonbokiri said, rubbing the back of his neck with a hand. "Please, practice!"

Now was the time to ask Mitsutada or Tonbokiri more private questions.

"Oh," Tonbokiri said, reaching down and pulling out a watch-like object from tucked inside his kimono. "It looks like we are needed back at the Citadel, Shokudaikiri."

"Wait, I need to--"

They disappeared in a flash of golden light.

yeeeha?

Peridot

"Ha! I'm the Pearl!" Peridot was absolutely enjoying wielding a spear, yes. Even if it was kind of poorly.

Pearl absolutely would have been appalled at her form.

Astrid Magnussen

Jason Lee Scott

Well. Since Mitsutada threw it out there, Astrid was more than content to catch it and throw it back.

"So," she said, tilting her head a little, "tell us about your master Lord Honda."

She wasn't just being facetious, either, she really did want to know.

With a...bit of a side-eye at Peridot, Astrid shook her head and tried to focus on her own attempts at using a spear. After all the work with swords, switching her non-warrior brain over to a spear seemed difficult, though she felt that maybe it was her own self getting in her way. Still, she tried, as always, and figured that, so long as her form was better than Peridot's, she'd be okay.

"Well, he was one of the four heavenly kings of the Tokugawa," Tonbokiri said. "One of Ieyasu's most trusted and talented generals. He fought in many battles, almost all victories, and helped unify Japan under the banner of the Tokugawa. While he struggled with the shift from general to a lord in a peaceful land, he was well loved for his role in helping end years of warfare that ravaged Japan."

Almost too good, Astrid thought. There was nothing exciting about someone who won all the time (even if it was almost); that's why people liked tragedies so much, why people liked flaws, to make them feel better about their own failures and misgivings.

But perhaps if she dug deep enough...

"Was it unusual that used a spear instead of a sword?" she ventured. "You hear a lot about samurai and swords, but not about spears as much."

"He had a sword as well," Tonbokiri admitted. "A Masamune blade, though oddly one we have not seen summoned to the Citadel at all. But you're right, there aren't many warriors known for using spears. There are only three great spears, and one of us was never really used in battle before he became a Touken Danshi, as his blade is a bit... different."

Tonbokiri made a little face, he didn't like saying things that were less than nice about his friends.

Japanese Blades, First Period, Friday [08/10].

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