Tetsubishi Pronounced 'tet-soo-bi-she'
Also known as makibishi or (in Europe) caltrops. Sharp, usually triple-spiked foot jacks made from iron or twisted wire. The jack's tips were sometimes flecked with poison. They could be painted to blend in with reed matting or a polished wooden floor. Able to penetrate sandals, tetsubishi caused unexpected injuries, stopping or slowing a pursuer.
Tori (gate) Pronounced 'tor-ree'
A simple, usually three-beamed, wooden archway found at the entrance to a Shinto shrine. Often painted red, a tori gate signified entering a place visited by both spirits and the living. Throughout medieval times, Shinto, the native religion of Japan, and Buddhism, which had more recently spread to Japan from China, existed peacefully side by side.
Travel Guidebooks (in Old Japan)
Even in medieval times, the Japanese, despite the many dangers their land frequently presented, were enthusiastic tourists, and an entire industry developed around publishing travel guidebooks, some of them illustrated. But as a reference in Moonshadow (concerning Snowhawk's thoughts) implies, the guidebooks were not always reliable, some containing sensational, convenient or misleading information.
Tsukikage Pronounced 'skee-car-geh'
A 470-year-old sword 'waza' (technique) of the Musou Jikiden Eishin-Ryu school of Iaido, the art of the samurai sword. The Moonshadow technique employs a low, delayed turn, then rising at the attacking foe and executing a crescent strike at their raised forearms. This combination block-and-cut is followed by a push then a step, after which a fatal single vertical cut is unleashed. The characters making up the technique's name can be translated as 'moonshadow'. See also Iaido.
Water spiders (mizu gumo) Pronounced 'mi-zoogoo-mo'
Circular foot floats on which a spy balanced in order to cross a moat, pond or still river. Only those of very light build could operate them. Festival sideshows in modern Japan still tempt contestants to take the 'mizu gumo challenge' and try to cross a shallow 'moat' with round floats on their feet. The rare successes (usually children) take home prizes. The rest get a free bath. Some historians believe that the mizu gumo design used by Koga shinobi was actually a single wooden lifebuoy or flotation ring, inside which the spy was suspended, submerged to the chest. Below the ring, small foot-mounted paddles helped propel him forward.
Yojimbo Pronounced 'yoh-jim-bo'
A bodyguard or security officer. Most yojimbo in historical Japan were either trusted samurai retainers assigned to guard their lord's life and family, or were hirelings, ronin (see above) whose need for income and evident sword skills made them a reliable choice of protector, say for a travelling merchant or performer forced to enter a war zone or a region plagued by bandits. In reality, many so-called yojimbo were really little more than hired assassins or, at the other end of the scale, the equivalent of modern western 'bouncers' or security guards, keeping the peace outside a tavern or guarding a vulnerable warehouse.
Author's note and
acknowledgements
The Moonshadow stories are fantasy tales set in a romanticised historical Japan. Though they reflect certain key events of the early Tokugawa era, and include many facts and details about the sword art of Iaido and Japanese warrior culture in general, they remain adventure yarns, not histories. Despite the many liberties I have taken, I hope these stories inspire readers of all ages to investigate the saga and customs of fascinating Old Japan, a world which still has so much to teach us.
My heartfelt thanks to my multi-talented wife Annie, for her brilliant ideas and fantastic support in developing the text of Moonshadow. My gratitude also to Anita Bell, another creative polymath, for her guidance, business savvy and insight. A very special thanks to the whole team at Random House Australia, especially Linsay Knight for instantly believing in Moonshadow, Kimberley Bennett for her fabulous, inventive editing, and to Loretta Barnard. Moon and I are in your debt. My thanks also to Catherine Drayton for her faith, encouragement and astute ideas.
A very low bow and a big domo arigato gozaimasu to the brilliant Lian Hearn, who so kindly employed her encyclopedic knowledge of Japanese history and language to identify anachronisms in Moonshadow's first draft.
A special tribute to resident of Japan, Doctor Glenn Stockwell, Kancho (Chief Instructor) of Seishinkan Iaido Dojo, for so devotedly preserving the beautiful Iaido of his teacher, Kimura-Kancho, in the twenty-first century. My personal gratitude also to Yasuhisa Watanabe, Fuku-Kancho (Deputy Chief Instructor) of Seishinkan Iaido Dojo, for translating the furube sutra and leading me to sites of historical significance to shinobi culture while in Japan. My thanks also to Yasu and to Sandan-rank instructors Matt Andrew, Nathan Nilsen and Brent Harrison, and to my friend Nobutaka Tezuka, Eishin-Ryu Shodan, for training me in Iaido and helping me learn tsukikage, Moon's signature duelling move. To any readers wishing to learn or know more about this graceful five-hundred-year-old art, please visit:
www.seishinkan-iaido.org/
About the Author
Simon Higgins's employment history reads like a novel. He's worked as a disc jockey, laboratory assistant, marketing manager and even as a monster on a ghost train. He also spent a decade in law enforcement; as a police officer, state prosecutor and as a licensed private investigator.
Simon is proudly a student of Eishin-Ryu Iaido, a 470-year-old style of swordsmanship which prizes traditional techniques and medieval samurai etiquette and courtesy. He has trained in Japan and participated in Taikai (contests) before His Imperial Highness Prince Munenori Kaya. In the 2008 Iaido World Titles held near Kyoto, Simon placed fifth.
As well as conducting professional development sessions for educators, Simon runs writing workshops for kids and adults, in Australia and overseas.
To read more about Simon and Moonshadow, go to:
www.simonhiggins.net
and
www.greylightorder.com.au
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