Cold Steel - Inazuma Gaiden

Collected Miscellany - "Hinode Nobutada: Cold Steel"

Have you ever heard of the tale of the Wood Cutter, or should I say the Kikori Monogatari?

Worry not, I shan't judge you if you are not familiar with the particular story. It is a tale as old as time - perhaps one of the first stories to be ever written in the colorful history of Inazuman legends... and also one that will most probably put my older brother to sleep. Truth be told, even I'm not too knowledgeable regarding the prose myself. I've only heard of the tale in passing in mine own studies from time to time. It is an incredibly mystifying, if not nearly-elusive narrative - a story of family and love that was never meant to be.

While it's certainly not as popular as the novels being published by Lady Guuji's publishing house, it is still a timeless piece of our history, dare I say that it's just as important as our nation's festivals when it comes to being symbols of culture. Some say that it even predates the rule of the Raiden Shogun - for there is a reason why the original script was fully written in Yashima-go, the traditional Inazuman language - instead of the currently widely-used Teyvat Common. Whether that statement is truth or fiction though, I won't discuss it for the time being.

It is a tale of many names, the general public will usually call it the Yozora-hime otogi-banashi, or the tale of the Night Sky Princess. However there is a reason why I choose to refer to it in its original title.

For he reminds me of, who I argue - to be the main character of that one mythical fairy tale.

The wood cutter.

"Hinode Nobutada."

"That's a... sublime name, Nobutada-san. I'm pleased to be working with you. My name is Kamisato Ayaka."

"Thank you, Ayaka-san. Likewise."

Hinode Nobutada was born and raised as a commoner. From what I understand, he's lived his entire life under difficult circumstances, and it's also regrettably thanks to these same unfortunate events that he managed to gain his... almost unorthodox sword-fighting techniques. Now... at the risk of sounding incredibly insensitive, I think his kenjutsu is nothing special, it's incredibly basic, particularly awkward, and barely passes for actual combat, which indicates that most of his techniques are self-taught. Unsurprisingly, Nobutada himself also mentioned that he's never received formal kenjutsu training anywhere.

His style mostly revolves in a defensive kata, so he tends to limit his strikes to about four consecutive, very deliberate and very slow giris. Really - Nobutada wields a sword like one hoists a claymore. There is one thing that seemingly differentiates him from other swordsman though, one that I've never seen before. He uses his left dominant arm to conduct the techniques, Thoma did mention that he is a dedicated southpaw, and Nobutada very much shows it. His form is unlike the fast and flowing strikes of the Kamisato-ryu tachijutsu, in which our clan's school tend to exert our dexterity to produce fast and overwhelming shallow cuts to disable our adversaries.

He opens his strikes with an iai, one that translates into an ichimonji-giri, or a horizontal cut from left to right. The next cut usually involves him doing a kessa-giri - a mighty diagonal slash from over his shoulder to his waist. His third strike is merely a simple tsuke - thrust, or stab - mostly aimed at unarmored parts of his opponents and finishes with another ichimonji that resets both his stance and the blade back to its saya.

Though Nobutada prefers to use a standard uchigatana as his weapon, there are times where he would employ the service of our clan's field blade - the odachi. Considering both the awkward length and weight of the weapon itself, and no thanks to his own unfamiliarity with said blade, he will only perform two strikes from the sword in question, a single kessa-giri as the odachi is drawn out of its housing followed by an ichimonji-giri to his left before he rests the blade back to its sheathe.