I have a faint recollection of reading about Samurai, esp. Bushi, taking a year off to travel the lands to improve a skill, usually sword fighting. Trouble is that I cant remember where I read it. If it was somewhere in this edition or in some earlier edition or even in real Japanese historical literature. Though I think it was in a L5R book. I just can't find it again.

I was reminded of it when I read the sidebar in EE about The travelogue of Miya Hisano, which mention it was written during her year as a ronin. I remember that the name had something to do with waves, similar to the true meaning of ronin as a wave man.

Does anyone know what I'm thinking about and if it exist what the real name is and where in all the L5R source material ever published I can read about it?

musha shugyo

https://l5r.fandom.com/wiki/Musha_Shugyo

Thanks. It was driving me nuts.

For some reason, I keep thinking that it was mentioned in "Courts of Stone" but I can't seem to find it off hand. Might be that I am confusing it with the passage you mentioned from Emerald Empire.

A minor point is that it does not have to be just a year. For many, it is. Sometimes, it lasts longer due to goals of the musha shugyo. And, be expected to demonstrate what you have learned, and, while on a Warrior's Pilgrimage, you cannot refuse any reasonable challenge if you are doing it for dueling.

In Path of Waves :

• "The Endless Year", p. 10
• "Martial Pilgrim", p. 13