Emperor Vs Umi 1882 -

In the sweltering summer of 1882, the Meiji Restoration was barely a decade and a half old. Japan was hurtling out of the shadows of the shogunate and into the harsh light of Western industrialization. But not all forces bowed to the chrysanthemum throne. On the jagged shores of the Seto Inland Sea, a legend rose from the depths— Umi no Ryūō (The Dragon King of the Sea), a rogue master of Kobujutsu and a self-styled warlord of the waves, commanding a flotilla of disenfranchised samurai and fishermen.

Umi waited, barefoot on the wet sand, a six-foot nagamaki resting on his shoulder. emperor vs umi 1882

. After centuries of samurai rule, the "Restoration" had put him back on the throne, but he needed a way to ensure the new national army wouldn't turn against him. In the sweltering summer of 1882, the Meiji