In the Shadows of Ancient Edo
Text from the back cover of "A Mirror Image Storm" written in the voice of Yukiko Karematsu, one of the characters.
My father can talk for ages about how he created Starr and Staff, but he always begins in the same place: in the Tokugawa period of Japanese history, which stretched from the seventeenth to nineteenth century. It was a time when proud samurai swordsmen walked the streets of ancient Edo and shinobi— or ninja, as they’re more often called nowadays— hid in the great city’s shadows, although over time they were supposedly stamped out by the shogunate’s iron rule.
In those mythical times, almost all samurai lived and died by the sword. By any standard, the samurai sword was a fearsome weapon. One sword usually took six months or more for master forgers to create. It was said that a samurai became one with his sword… or “The sword is the soul of the samurai.”
However, the sword was a weapon of the elite. If a samurai were stripped of his honour and status, he no longer had the right to wear a sword. And this is exactly what happens in the story my father wrote.
What can we say about the “star” and the “staff”? Matsubayashi Henyasai, believed to be a shinobi in secret, is credited as the inventor of shuriken throwing stars. These are meant to distract an opponent, an invention to be used in darkness, silence and stealth. Muso Gonnosuke, a samurai, created the jo, or short staff. His purpose was to use it openly in a duel with the great swordsman Miyamoto Musashi.
So my father pointed out that Hoshi and Jo (Starr and Staff) represent two opposed philosophies, two different ways that his dishonoured samurai can choose to deal with his problems. “The true war is inside the soul. The enemy we must face is the one we see in the mirror. My two characters locked in an eternal battle represent the constant struggle inside of us.”
This was my father’s first inspiration for what he created…
~Yukiko Karematsu, daughter of Takeyoshi Karematsu, multimillionaire creator of the world famous “Starr and Staff” video games.
You’re reading: Starr and Staff: A Mirror Image Storm
Read the chapters in order: