THE LAST SAMURAI
THE LAST SAMURAI V Five years later Kamakura , Japan Kamakura lay crouched between the mountains and the sea; a warrior city forged in iron and blood. Due to its altitude, it had been chosen for defenses: its steep forested hills at its back, the open bay before it, but now those same mountains seemed to close in, heavy with mist and the echo of war. The low thatched huts were on fire and led a trail of smoke in the air scarring the violet sun cast sky. The streets were strewn with dead bodies leaving a strong pungent odor renting the air, it’s narrow carved and deliberate pathways coiled like a serpent to confuse its invaders. The sound of steel was constant: swords being drawn, tested, sheathed again not in ceremony but in an act of war. In Kakamura the soil bled and war was imminent. As the saying goes: a man’s blade was an extension of its soul. In the beginning, the city had been disciplined and proud, the seat of the shogunate , where the samurai ruled in ...
