The region's daimyo, Lord Mifune, was observing the contest and was impressed with Usagi's skill enough to offer him a position as a retainer. Usagi won the tournament, his final match being against his old "comrade" Kenichi (now the top student of the Dogora school), and earned his own daisho: the katana named Yagi no Eda ("Willow Branch") and the wakizashi named Aoyagi ("Young Willow"). Before a blow could be struck, however, Usagi's future lord, Mifune, intervened on his behalf and upon sensing the rabbit's honorable nature, let Usagi go.Īt the end of his training, Katsuichi brought Usagi to a fencing tournament hosted by the Dogora school. Instead of summarily executing the young rabbit, they instead began the process of cutting his hand off. Upon his return to the battlefield to return the sword to its rightful owner, Usagi was caught by adult samurai and accused of theft.
Fraught with guilt over the theft, Usagi began seeing the now dead soldier in numerous situations, at one point having a nightmare that involved Katsuichi morphing into the soldier. One of those misadventures involved a young Usagi stealing a dying soldier's wakizashi while walking through a battlefield with his teacher. Katsuichi initially refused but relented when Usagi stood outside his home day and night through unpleasant weather long enough to convince the teacher of his determination.įor years, Usagi was the exclusive student of Katsuichi-sensei, and although he proved a mischievous pupil who got into various misadventures, he also excelled at his studies to become a formidable warrior. Although Kenichi was unimpressed by the display, Usagi pursued the departing sensei to petition him to become his student. In spite of their numerical advantage, the gang was quickly defeated by the sensei's unusual, but definitely effective, technique.
However, on the the way there, the boys witnessed a confrontation when a gang of arrogant Dogora students attacked a lone traveler named Katsuichi, who had left the school years ago, dissatisfied with the poor caliber of the students. His two childhood playmates were Kenichi, with whom Usagi would have a less-than-friendly rivalry his whole life, and Mariko, one of the reasons for the boys' rivalry.Įventually the trio went their separate ways when the boys were sent to be trained as samurai in the Dogora school of bujutsu (arts of war). Usagi was born the only son of a village headman in Mutsu.
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