Isawa Shugenja
From L5r: Legend of the Five Rings
The Isawa Shugenja are the clansmen for whom the Phoenix Clan is known. They are considered by many to be the most versatile shugenja in the Empire. Unlike most families, whose shugenja schools focus on a single element, the Isawa Shugenja have different teachers who will allow a student to focus on any of the four elements.
[edit] Training of the Isawa Shugenja
The Isawa Shugenja school accepts new students at the age of six from any of the families of the clan. After approximately two years, once a child should have learned the basics of spellcraft and the simplest rituals and prayers, each student is tested for their ability in each of the elements. Any student who is shown to be lacking in more than two of the elements is dismissed from the school. These students are generally sent to the Shiba Bushi school so that they can use their training to benefit the Phoenix Clan in a more practical and mundane manner.
If a child passes their tests, they are given to a sensei (or Master) for further training. Each Master may have up to five apprentices of his or her own, chosen by the Master because of their ability, interests, and lineage. Thousands of students are newly apprenticed to the Masters of the Isawa school each year, but only a handful are ever apprenticed to the Elemental Masters themselves. The Elemental Masters also generally have up to five apprentices themselves, but these apprentices are also sensei in their own right, with up to five younger children each who are trained and taught by the apprentices instead of the Master. Students in this position are invariably training as Tensai and the Masters use this system to teach them spellcraft as well as responsibilty and leadership.[1]
[edit] Gempukku
Isawa reaching their gempukku are required to spend at least one night alone, meditating in the Mori Isawa. Among the spirits of the highly magical place, the students are to consider the universe and their place wihin it. To some shugenja, whom the kami will choose, the spirits will appear directly to them and reveal some secret of the universe.[2]
