The story is set in the end of the Edo period. At a training hall, Master Meisui is teaching the art of the cane staff to his pupils Sarasa and Mori.

To help them understand why they are learning the cane art, Meisui tells them an anecdote while demonstration it. Just then, a man comes to the gate and listens to the story that leaks out from inside.

The spirit of a true samurai is to “lay down the sword”--
What hope does this paradoxical teaching offer the man who will lead Japan into a new era!?