Chapter 1
'Tetsuya.'
The
boy looked at the stranger, startled.
'No
one in this city has ever seen Tetsuya holding a bow,' he replied. 'Everyone
here knows him as a carpenter.'
'Maybe
he gave up, maybe he lost his courage, that doesn't matter to me,' insisted the
stranger. 'But he cannot be considered to be the best archer in the country if
he has abandoned his art. That's why I've been travelling all these days, in
order to challenge him and put an end to a reputation he no longer deserves.'
The
boy saw there was no point in arguing; it was best to take the man to the
carpenter's shop so that he could see with his own eyes that he was mistaken.
Tetsuya
was in the workshop at the back of his house. He turned to see who had come in,
but his smile froze when his eyes fell on the long bag that the stranger was
carrying.
'It's
exactly what you think it is,' said the new arrival. 'I did not come here to
humiliate or to provoke the man who has become a legend. I would simply like to
prove that, after all my years of practice, I have managed to reach
perfection.'
Tetsuya
made as if to resume his work: he was just putting the legs on a table.
'A
man who served as an example for a whole generation cannot just disappear as
you did,' the stranger went on. 'I followed your teachings, I tried to respect
the way of the bow, and I deserve to have you watch me shoot. If you do this, I
will go away and I will never tell anyone where to find the greatest of all
masters.'
The
stranger drew from his bag a long bow made from varnished bamboo, with the grip
slightly below centre. He bowed to Tetsuya, went out into the garden and bowed
again towards a particular place. Then he took out an arrow fletched with eagle
feathers, stood with his legs firmly planted on the ground, so as to have a
solid base for shooting, and with one hand brought the bow in front of his
face, while with the other he positioned the arrow.
The
boy watched with a mixture of glee and amazement. Tetsuya had now stopped
working and was observing the stranger with some curiosity.
With
the arrow fixed to the bow-string, the stranger raised the bow so that it was
level with the middle of his chest. He lifted it above his head and, as he
slowly lowered his hands again, began to draw the string back.
By
the time the arrow was level with his face, the bow was fully drawn. For a
moment that seemed to last an eternity, archer and bow remained utterly still.
The boy was looking at the place where the arrow was pointing, but could see
nothing.
Suddenly,
the hand on the string opened, the hand was pushed backwards, the bow in the
other hand described a graceful arc, and the arrow disappeared from view only
to reappear in the distance.
'Go
and fetch it,' said Tetsuya.
The
boy returned with the arrow: it had pierced a cherry which he found on the
ground, forty meters away.
Tetsuya
bowed to the archer, went to a corner of his workshop and picked up what looked
like a slender piece of wood, delicately curved, wrapped in a long strip of
leather. He slowly unwound the leather and revealed a bow similar to the
stranger's, except that it appeared to have seen far more use.
'I
have no arrows, so I'll need to use one of yours. I will do as you ask, but you
will have to keep the promise you made, never to reveal the name of the village
where I live. If anyone asks you about me, say that you went to the ends of the
earth trying to find me and eventually learned that I had been bitten by a
snake and had died two days later.'
The
stranger nodded and offered him one of his arrows.
Resting
one end of the long bamboo bow against the wall and pressing down hard, Tetsuya
strung the bow. Then, without a word, he set off towards the mountains.
The
stranger and the boy went with him. They walked for an hour, until they reached
a large crevice between two rocks through which flowed a rushing river, which
could only be crossed by means of a fraying rope bridge almost on the point of
collapse.
Quite
calmly, Tetsuya walked to the middle of the bridge, which swayed ominously; he
bowed to something on the other side, loaded the bow just as the stranger had
done, lifted it up, brought it back level with his chest and fired.
The
boy and the stranger saw that a ripe peach, about twenty meters away, had been
pierced by the arrow.
'You
pierced a cherry, I pierced a peach,' said Tetsuya, returning to the safety of
the bank. 'The cherry is smaller. You hit your target from a distance of forty meters,
mine was half that. You should, therefore, be able to repeat what I have just
done. Stand there in the middle of the bridge and do as I did.'
Terrified,
the stranger made his way to the middle of the dilapidated bridge, transfixed
by the sheer drop below his feet. He performed the same ritual gestures and
shot at the peach tree, but the arrow sailed past.
When
he returned to the bank, he was deathly pale.
'You
have skill, dignity and posture,' said Tetsuya. 'You have a good grasp of
technique and you have mastered the bow, but you have not mastered your mind.
You know how to shoot when all the circumstances are favorable, but if you are
on dangerous ground, you cannot hit the target. The archer cannot always choose
the battlefield, so start your training again and be prepared for unfavorable situations.
Continue in the way of the bow, for it is a whole life's journey, but remember
that a good, accurate shot is very different from one made with peace in your
soul.
‘The
stranger made another deep bow, replaced his bow and his arrows in the long bag
he carried over his shoulder, and left.
On
the way back, the boy was exultant.
'You
showed him, Tetsuya! You really are the best!'
'We
should never judge people without first learning to hear and to respect them.
The stranger was a good man; he did not humiliate me or try to prove he was
better than me, even though he may have given that impression. He wanted to
show off his art and to have it recognized, even though he gave the impression
that he was challenging me. Besides, having to confront unexpected trials is
all part of the way of the bow, and that was precisely what the stranger
allowed me to do today.'
'He
said that you were the best, and I didn't even know you were a master archer.
So why do you work as a carpenter?'
'Because
the way of the bow serves for everything, and my dream was to work with wood.
Besides, an archer who follows the way does not need a bow or an arrow or a
target.'
'Nothing
interesting ever happens in this village, and now suddenly here I am face to
face with the master of an art that no one even cares about any more,' said the
boy, his eyes shining.
'What
is the way of the bow? Can you teach me?'
'Teaching
it isn't hard. I could do that in less than an hour, while we're walking back
to the village. The difficult thing is to practice it every day, until you
achieve the necessary precision.'
The
boy's eyes seemed to be begging him to say yes. Tetsuya walked in silence for
nearly fifteen minutes and when he spoke again, his voice sounded younger:
'Today
I am contented. I did honor to the man who, many years ago, saved my life and, because
of that, I will teach you all the necessary rules, but I can do no more than
that. If you understand what I tell you, you can use those teachings as you
wish. Now, a few minutes ago, you called me master. What is a master? I would
say that he is not someone who teaches something, but someone who inspires the
student to do his best to discover a knowledge he already has in his soul.'
And
as they came down the mountain, Tetsuya explained the way of the bow.
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