Bankata

From MoongatesWiki

 

Role

The Bankata are the village/watchtower guards of the clan. After service within the ashigaru and have proven to withstand a fight and live through a battle these men are given a much honoured role. The bankata are always wandering the grounds and maintaining all is safe and nothing suspicous is afoot. At this stage in the dokoro the bankata are often taught by samurai or old teachers of their clans basic weapon arts. Often a passing samurai would stop to talk with a bankata and offer any advice he or she may need. The bankata are normally the ones who maintain the daimyo's law to the letter. Should any law or any incident happen within the castle it is the fault of the bankata, and their head may role.

Short Story

After serving as ashigaru for over a year and had survived two major battles Takeda and Yoshi had been awarded the role as bankata. There times in the sodden feilds planting and harvesting foods is over. Now it was their time to patroll the grounds to maintain that their daimyo was not under threat from hidden ninja or a force of rival samurai. Within hours of signing up they was called to line amungst the other young men to line up and await to hear their name. As a samurai called their name out they walked to the table where he stood and produced his tanto to them, in turn the men had pushed their thumbs onto the sharp blade and pressed their blooded thumb onto the paper with their name. This was a sign to the samurai and to their daimyo that they would serve till their deaths. After this they recived their uniform and a basic selection of weapons. Tonight they would sleep and tommorrow they would work, work as men. The two had also been accepted by the clans school of swords, within their time under teachings of the school they would have a greater chance to becoming a real samurai. They had been granted this position with luck on their side but it had cost two men within the bankata their lives after they had previously let a man steal from the daimyo's castle. As they heard word of this, it shook them inside of what a fearsome man their daimyo truely was.