The Gold One

By Ishora Koji

Ishora Koji’s timeless parable about a young boy who leaves home to become a hero of legend only to discover the true meaning of heroism.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Apr 13, 2014
• ISBN: 9781312099647

Book preview

The Gold One

The Gold One

Ishora Koji

ISBN 978-1-312-09964-7

Copyright

The Gold One © 2010-2014 Ishora Koji. All rights reserved.

The Gold One Digital Adaptation © 2014 Little Big Lion™. All rights reserved.

This is a work of fiction. All characters, their distinctive likeness and related elements featured in this book are registered or unregistered trademarks of the author(s). All rights reserved. If you purchased this book without a cover, you should be aware that this book is stolen property. It was reported as unsold and destroyed to the publisher. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping, or by an information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author. This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the author’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.  This is a work of speculative fiction. All of the characters, names, products, incidents, organizations, religions and dialogue in this novel are either products of the author's imagination or are used satirically, as parody and/or fictitiously.

LITTLE BIG LION™ does not read or accept unsolicited submission of ideas, stories, or artwork. E-mails to Ishora however may be sent to:

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Hiroshi Dreams of Becoming a Hero of Legend

A long time ago in Japan there lived a medicine man and his eighteen-year-old son, Hiroshi, who dreamed of one day leaving his father’s farm to become a great hero of legend. It was this dream of becoming a hero of legend that motivated Hiroshi to work harder than anyone he knew in his village.  With every dawn Hiroshi woke to do his chores with great speed and vigor thinking about the great samurai stories the paupers told in the bazaars for money or food. Hiroshi loved those stories so much that once his chores were complete he would spend the rest of his morning practicing samurai moves with a makeshift blade his father had fashioned out of an old katana which, his father had said, he had found many years before Hiroshi had been born. A katana his father had given him to help cut the grass and herbs and barks he needed for his medicines and teas. The odd-looking katana had a cracked bamboo hilt fastened with string, resin and leather. It was a cheap looking katana, but despite the katana’s appearance it cut grass and herbs and barks with relative ease and efficiency. But that was not all it did. It did one thing more.  It constantly reminded Hiroshi of his dream to become a great hero of legend who could vanquish entire armies with single blows—like the best of the samurai stories—the legendary stories of the Gold One. 

Everyone told stories about the Gold One. The Gold One was the fiercest warrior in the land who possessed the most beautiful katana ever made. A katana with a majestic gold and silver ornamented hilt and a blade—it was said—that could cut through stone.

From the time he was a toddler Hiroshi heard the stories in the towns and villages. How a great samurai had won the most beautiful katana in the world by beating all the wandering samurai in Japan. The katana was a prize designed by a wealthy lord who had created the katana to attract the best of the wandering samurai the storytellers were now calling ‘ronin’. The lord had set up the competition as entertainment for his birthday. It was said that ronin from every part of Japan came to fight