In those days it was common for swordsmen to wander Rokugan, testing their prowess and improving the reputation of their schools. So on his twenty-first birthday Akodo Mifure slung a simple furoshiki over his shoulder and set forth. His renown grew quickly, for so centered was his Chi, so quick his hand, and so penetrating was his gaze that none could stand before him. Yet many questioned the methods of this young man, for after the first cut he would bow deeply to his opponent, as if each of his opponents had instead defeated him. When questioned on this Mifure-san always held to silence.
In his twenty-third summer, having never been defeated, Mifure's feet carried him to the Great Wall Mountains, and the remote dojo of Mirumoto Suneko, famed sensei of the Mirumoto style of kenjutsu.
"I am Akodo Mifure" he bellowed from the arch at the garden wall, "the mighty Lion samurai! I have wandered the countryside for two years looking for a samurai who could defeat me, and found none! Who among you would defend the honor of your school?"
Suneko and her students filed out of the dojo. She quickly assessed the visitor, and realized that none of her students were his match. With a gesture from her hand two students dashed into the hall, and walked back holding the polished cherrywood saya of he daisho reverently. They knelt and offered the swords up, their eyes down-cast. With effortless grace she accepted each in turn, and slid each into place within her obi. Quietly she walked down the gravel path, to stand before the Lion samurai, her left thumb sliding her katana forward half an inch.
There eyes locked, his afire with passion, hers calm as ice. Moments passed as the two stood still, locked together yet a yard apart.
"Hai!" Akodo Mifure's kiia rocked the students back on their heels, two hands flew to bokken, but their sensei stood rooted in the ground like a great mountain. "Hai!" Mifure shouted again, and the students stepped back. They could swear that his shout had shaken the branches of the trees within the garden, yet Suneko still stood her ground, a pool of quiet reserve. "HAI!" With his last shout the junior students visibly cringed and the dojo's shoji rattled. The duel was over.
Akodo Mifure stepped back, and ran his hand across the long shallow cut which followed his left jaw-bone under his ear, ending before his hairline. He bowed a shallow bow, while Suneko bowed deeply.
"Lady, why did you acknowledge him as the victor? We all saw you defeat him," asked Mirumoto Kaneda, her most promising student.
"We have all heard of Akodo Mifure," she began, as she gestured towards the back of the retreating samurai. "He has defeated many samurai in duels, and learned nothing. Now he has lost one duel and his eyes are opened."
As one her students bowed to the Akodo Mifure, cleansing his wound by the mountain stream, and filed back into the dojo.