Way of Warriors
武士道
When the Ishimatsu Shōgunate united the thirteen clans in 1080 PD, a century of nonstop war ended and the island of Ryūshima entered an unprecedented era of peace. The samurai, whose devout study of bushidō and mastery of the martial arts had been in high demand for years, suddenly found themselves displaced. Some have since become courtiers, bureaucrats, and administrators under the employ of daimyō, while others have had to hand over their swords and find work as wandering rōnin. With time on their hands, samurai spend more time in pursuit of education, wealth, or just pleasure as opposed to studying martial arts. The daishō, the paired long and short swords of samurai, has transformed from a necessary means of defense into a symbolic emblem of power.
With these radical social changes, many of the specialized dōjōs that were key in training the samurai of the Age of Strife have found themselves empty and financially struggling. Desperate to maintain interest and keep cash flowing, many have begun to cooperate with an educational faction called the Way of Warriors. The Way of Warriors was formed by Tomoaki Nagao, sensei of Ume's Nagao Dōjō, as an effort to save his school by allowing interested civilians to study noble warrior ideals.
Despite the samurai class's general disinterest in bushidō, plenty of commoners aspire to the life of the samurai, wish to learn something about the martial arts, or are interested in warriors' philosophies. The Way of Warriors uses this to their advantage, providing these commoners the opportunity to study at partnered dōjōs for a tuition fee. Not all dōjōs are open to allowing students of the Way of Warriors into their halls—some are too traditionalist or too occupied with daimyō clans to train non-samurai—but many struggling sensei are open-minded enough to partner with the school in an effort to keep a steady flow of students and save their traditions from dying out.
Most major cities have a location where students can register with the Way of Warriors. New students are assigned to a local dōjō, where they are trained by a real sensei as if they were a young samurai during the Age of Strife. More interested students may be sent across Ryūshima to study at other partnered dōjōs, keeping the network close and different forms of martial arts alive. Experienced students of the Way of Warriors are allowed to wield ko-daishō, essentially a smaller and slightly more curved pair of daishō wrapped with a distinct red and black cloth. This cloth indicates that they are trained warriors but not hereditary samurai. Graduates go on to become mercenaries, police, yōjimbō, or assistants in dōjōs.
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