The Old Man of Edo
During the Tempo Era (1830–44) there were reports of an old man traveling around the outskirts of Edo, using a broken bow stave as a cane. He successfully fought all challengers, giving the losers a sound thrashing and confiscating their swords. These incidents ran into the dozens, and the losers included several people who were later to become famous swordsmen.
Read more about this topic: Matsuura Seizan
Famous quotes containing the word man:
“Each man has his own vocation. The talent is the call. There is one direction in which all space is open to him. He has faculties silently inviting him thither to endless exertion. He is like a ship in the river; he runs against obstructions on every side but one; on that side all obstruction is taken away, and he sweeps serenely over a deepening channel into an infinite sea.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)