Isawa Ishiken
From L5r: Legend of the Five Rings
The Isawa Ishiken are unique in the empire. They are the fifth group of tensai: specialists in Void. Void is a jealous master, and not just any shugenja can cast even the most basic Void spells. The use of Void magic takes special training as well as innate ability.
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[edit] The Realm of Void
Everything in the world is created from the four elements: Air, Earth, Fire, and Water. The student of the Void, however, knows that all things are all four elements, held together by the intangible Void. The element of Void is that which exists outside of and surrounding the other four elements, defining them in its absence as silence defines the musical note it surrounds. The Ishiken are the students of this, the imperceptible Realm of Void. It is by far the most powerful of the elements, as well as the most difficult to master.
[edit] Joining the Ishiken
[edit] Selection
Every Master within the Ishiken are tasked with constantly listening to the Void for the signs that a child has been born with a special sensitivity to the Realm. When such a birth occurs, the Masters meet to evaluate the potential of the child. Those with only a slight ability are unlikely to ever manifest their potential in any significant way -- perhaps a kharmic tie to another individual or an innate sense of impending danger -- if the ability manifests itself at all. These children are believed to not be a threat to others or themselves if they remain untrained, so they are generally left to live their lives without the interference of the Ishiken.
If, however, a child possess the potential to develop a usable ability in the Void, the Masters must make a decision to either take the child as an initiate of the school or to permanently place a shield around his abilities, blocking him from the Void so that he will not prove a danger if his abilities continue to develop unchecked and untrained. This decision must be made in the first five to ten years of the child's life. After that time, their abilities have the potential to become overly dangerous, as the child becomes increasingly likely to lose himself in the Realm of Void.
In addition, the earlier a child begins the training of the Ishiken, the easier it is for the child to learn the proper techniques. As a person grows older, his view of the world becomes more and more rigid. The earlier a student begins, the more easily he can shape his worldview around the realities of the Void.
[edit] Apprenticeship
When the Masters determine that a child should be accepted into the school for training as a Void shugenja, the first step is to find a Master that can teach the new initiate. This is not always the Master that discovered the new prodigy, as Ishiken generally have only one apprentice at a time. The first Master will be the one to explain to the child and his family the importance and necessity of proper training, but the Master to whom the child is apprenticed is the one with whom he will be spending his time. Once accepted to a Master, the prodigy is called an Ishi.
Ishi spend most of their childhoods living with and learning from their assigned Masters. The apprentices do not leave their Master's side for the first one to five years of their training, depending on their progress during this time. During this time, the Ishi spend a great deal of time building a bond with their Master. The closeness of the pair for this time makes most Ishi come to see their Master as a surrogate parent.
This is of great benefit to the students, because it helps to anchor them to the mortal world and helps prevent them from becoming lost in the Realm of Void. The Masters take great care to protect their students from this fate, up to and including erecting buffers around their ability to sense the Void. A Master will lower these blocks when he feels that his student is ready to safely experience the Void.
After the students have shown enough progress to satisfy their Master, they are allowed to make short trips home to visit their families. Through their entire training, Ishi are not allowed to travel anywhere else. Outside influences are seen as very detrimental to proper training of future Ishiken.
[edit] Training of the Ishiken
[edit] Beginnings
Using the Void is just as complicated as any of the other four elements, and it is also easily the most dangerous of the five. Students are first taught the founding precepts of Void magic before they are even allowed to learn the intricacies of spellcasting with the Fifth Element. This process itself can take decades for lesser initiates.
All Void abilities are taught separately, despite the similarities between them and their foundational principles. This process is used because of the inherent dangers in Void magic, so that special and unique care will be used for each different application of the Void.
[edit] Ishika
Once the students learn how to perceive the Realm of Void, they must learn to understand what they see there. Once a fledgling shugenja knows how to safely enter the Void, seeing things within the Realm is easy, but this does not mean that the student will understand the importance of what they see, or even that they will understand what they see at all.
Eventually, this study and understanding will lead the student to realize that everything he sees, from the mountains on the horizon to the crickets chirping next to him, is as much a part of him as his hands or feet. This is the stage of realization known as ishika, or "comprehension."
[edit] The Rings of Void
The following describes the path of the "typical" Ishi. Not all Void shugenja follow exactly the same path. Some learn certain lessons more quickly or more slowly than their fellow students. Because of the chaos of the Void, this is to be expected.
[edit] Beru Saishome
Beru Saishome is the First Ring. Lessons in this Ring consist generally of relearning how to understand the world. The student will meditate often and for extended periods of time, sometimes days. This process is designed to allow the student to tear away the blocks the Master has placed on his ability, slowly opening him to the Void.
Students at this stage are watched very carefully for signs of overexposure to the Realm of Void: confusion, dementia, euphoria, and/or madness. The Void is a very discomforting place at first, offering only deeply distorted views of reality. Students must learn to survive this immersion and return safely to the mortal world thereafter.
Once the student is able to regularly enter the Void, his training begins in earnest. At these early stages, the Ishi is trained merely to sense things through the Void. This understanding is the basis for all lessons to follow. As the student learns to sense things through the Void, he also begins to develop an understanding that all things are connected through the Realm as well.
At this stage, the Ishi can sense the basics of the things he observes, such as what it is he is looking at from the Realm of Void, the presence of any magical beings or effects, or the health of any living beings. The Ishi can also sense the emotional state or surface thoughts of both humans and animals. Additional dangers, of course, pose themselves if the Ishi is attempting to delve into the spirit or psyche of an evil or Tainted being.
[edit] Beru Daimome
Beru Daimome is the Second Ring. At this stage, the student begins to truly understand what he sees within the Realm of Void, as he begins to truly understand that all elements are one, and all is connected through the Void. The Ishi at this stage learns to see the elements for what there are and to see the Void for its absence.
Ishi at this stage are taught to see beyond the rigid structure of the world and to see the swirling dance of the elements beyond. They are also taught to replace the rigidity of their perception so that they can return again to the mortal world, lest they be lost to the Realm of Void. Exposure to the fluidity of reality is a turning point for the student, as no Ishi can ever truly see the world with such a fixed lens again.
This enhanced perception also allows the student to see their own place in the Realm and realize they too are made of the same earth, fire, air, and water as everything else, and that they are held together by the same Void. This allows the Ishi to transcend the limitations of distance they have placed on themselves. This realization allows the Ishi to discern the elements at much greater distances and with a much greater precision. In this manner, an Ishi can see what is beyond the next hill, in the next village, or across the Empire and in the Shadowlands.
[edit] Beru Sanbanme
Beru Sanbanme is the Third Ring. At this stage, the Ishi learns to mentally superimpose a thing's image in the mortal world over the swirling mass of elements as which it appears in the Realm of Void. This stage brings great comfort to the student floating in the Void, although it also brings great danger. By making the Void seem familiar, it also gives the Ishi a greater temptation to answer the siren call of the Void and remain in the Realm. Reaching this stage and surviving requires a great deal of concentration on the part of the student.
The ability to see a thing's physical image in addition to its elemental makeup now allows the Ishi to see the mortal realm over great distances. Just as they could see the play of the elements across Rokugan upon reaching Beru Daimome, the Ishi can now see the mortal realm across the breadth of the land through the Realm of Void.
In addition, at this stage, an Ishi generally learns to affect the Void in others. This allows the student to cause turns of another's fortunes, either good or ill, by either diminishing or increasing their connection to the Void. Most will generally see this as the intervention of the fortunes and never consider that it is actually the Ishi's doing.
[edit] Beru Yonbanme
Beru Yonbanme is the Fourth Ring. At this stage, the Ishi removes the last of the barriers placed on him by his Master. He learns to protect himself through his own discipline and anchor himself to the mortal world by his own will.
This stage of learning also allows the Ishi to be more aggressive with his use of Void, stealing it from others or affecting their very person and abilities. Such aggressive use of the Void is more dangerous, however, for if an attempt should backfire, the effect on the Ishi would be even more devastating.
[edit] Beru Ganbonme
Beru Ganbonme is the Fifth Ring. At this stage, Ishi are rightfully deemed Ishiken, and the knowledge of this Ring is theirs and theirs alone. The Ishi are not even aware of the existence of this level of learning. To those who have not achieved Beru Ganbonme, the Fourth Ring is believed to be the final stage of comprehension.
The Ishiken hold a vision to unite the two worlds, and their trials are carried out separate from the rest of the Ishiken school. These powerful shugenja have abilities far beyond that of any Ishi. They are rumored to have the ability to completely rob a person of all Void, causing him to be completely unmade, or to expose the Realm of Void to those in the mortal world, causing death or madness to those who experience it. These are truly the masters not only of the school's training, but of the Void itself.
[edit] Ability and Prowess
Ishi can increase in strength both in terms of natural ability and training they have received. As the Ishi learns to open himself to the Void, his natural capacity for manipulating the Fifth Element will increase alongside the increasingly intricate and powerful training he receives from his Master.
In addition, as Ishi grow in the Void, they also grow in the other elements as well. This allows Ishi to cast the same spells as any other shugenja, though they can use the Void in addition to the standard four elements.
Despite the strength granted through training and ability, there is also the matter of the student's connection to the fickle essence of the Void. Some students will occasionally plateau at a certain level of training despite early indications of great ability. Conversely, sometimes a mediocre student will suddenly achieve a great leap in ability as his connection to the Void becomes suddenly stronger. The latter is a dangerous position, as students are often not prepared for the sudden increase in their connection to the Realm of Void.
This surge is even more dangerous when it occurs in those who were deemed unfit for training early in their lives. Occasionally, such a person will experience a surge of power later in life that overwhelms the blocks the Masters placed on his abilities and suddenly exposes him to the Void. The results of this are almost always disastrous.
[edit] Ishi and Ishiken
All students of the Isawa Ishiken school can be rightly called Ishi. Only the most advanced, however, should be called Ishiken. The difference is that between a Master and a student. Only the most advanced Ishi -- generally those who have reached Beru Ganbonme -- are deserving of this title and are allowed to take on apprentices.
[edit] See Also
[edit] Major References
- Way of the Phoenix Pages 55-63.
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