By Saruwatari Tsuyoshi, Kyoto Shimbun News

August 24, 2012: Toyama, Japan – A funny thing happened on our way to defending the title.  After a slow and stumbling start, Edo finally got its act together and found that first place in the Bright Blade Group had already been taken by the Kuwana Steel Dragons.

It’s a position they deserve.  In fact, the Dragons are 8-4 in games against Edo.  We need a leader, like the English dragon slayer St. George in order to retake the pennant.  In search of St. George, I set off to get the players’ opinions.

The pitching staff has been the team’s armor all season.  Their collective 2.97 ERA leads all the LRS.  Manabu Taniguchi observed, “It is a classic struggle.  Our pitching is the best.  We all worked hard in the offseason.  We stayed in a house near (Morihiro) Nakamura-san’s childhood home.  Every morning, we would rise early and run along the beach to improve our stamina.  Then we would meditate as the sun rose and warmed our bodies.  We were instructed to imagine the warmth of the sun filling our bodies with the spirit of victory.  Filled with victorious spirit, we assaulted the sea and swam out as far as we could until our bodies could carry us no more or our warrior spirit was spent.  The local fisherman would pick us up and return us to shore.  This taught us that mind and body must both be strong and in harmony.  The sea is never ending and will always win in the end, like life and death, but as long as we strive, we can beat the sea.”

Surely, such warrior spirit will serve our beloved Battousai well in the final stretch of the season.  No doubt our pitching staff is ready, but what of the batters?

To find the answer, I sought out veteran catcher Kenko Nakamura.  He agreed with Manabu’s general premise.  “Yes, it’s true.  They all worked very hard to sharpen their warrior spirit.”  He chuckled as he noted, “The sea does not suit me, though.  Hah!  A man of the mountains, I am.  As a youth, I spent many days hiking in the hills near my home.  My favorite hikes were those that took me through the bamboo glades up Mt. Gokahara.  I would fashion a bamboo sword and swing it all day at imaginary foes.  That is where I first developed my batting swing, those early days in the mountains.  Yes, I slayed many dragons in past.”  He smiled wryly.  “Hopefully, my days of slaying dragons have not yet ended.”