I received unregistered RABCKs of this and Volume 4 from BCer ghir in Hawaii, and was delighted to get them, as this is an excellent series! (See my comments on Volume 34 for the events leading up to this volume.)

The artwork in this series as awesome, with detailed, realistic characters and amazing scenery. This part of the story is more low-key than most, though, with Musashi taking time off in a tiny rural village, where he's living with and (sort of) mentoring an orphaned boy who really, really wants to be a samurai. The region is prone to flooding, with the villagers taking it aimlessly, while Musashi decides to tackle it somehow - first by setting up stone barriers and, when that fails, digging channels to redirect the flow. This all takes months if not longer, with the life-cycle of farmers coming to the fore - amusing at times, with Musashi's physical prowess aimed at hoeing the ground rather than cutting down enemies.

While his flood-abatement methods do seem to work, Musashi has no solution for a plague of locusts - those poor farmers can NOT catch a break. And to complicate things, the warlord wants Musashi brought back to fight for him, and sends a party out to "insist" on this...

Most of the story is philosophical, with us hearing Musashi's musings as he watches the water, trains in the forest, finds joy in physical movement and purpose in teaching his young charge how to read. He also thinks back on his own youth, from his first killing to other key moments in his life, and wonders where he should go from here.

[There's a TV Tropes page on the series that's entertaining.]

I left this book on a bench in the Wamasit Indian Park on Old Main Street next to the waffle house at around 4; hope the finder enjoys it!

*** Released as part of the 2016 E-less release challenge. ***