Followers of the Way

The Followers of the Way was a Shintao sect of the Brotherhood of Shinsei founded by the retired Lion samurai Hesshu.

Founder
Akodo Segitomo was the sensei of an Akodo Bushi school in the northern Lion lands. He opened the customary copy of Tao of Shinsei any dojo had to have since the Dawn of the Empire, having a revelation with the first sentence he read:

"“All things are necessary – war, peace, the edge of the sword, and the sound of a poem. With understanding, all things are one.”"

- Tao of Shinsei

Segitomo became convinced there was no meaningful distinction between Akodo's way and Shinsei's, the two things were one. Segitomo was dismissed for his persistence to teach this philosophy among his students, in a clan who disdained the Tao as irrelevant to their concerns. He retired as the monk Hesshu and founded the Followers of the Way, which had as its primary concern to persuade other Lion samurai.

Allies
Followers of the Way made little progress among the followers of Akodo, surviving largely through the assistance of the Wind's Grace Order, the Asahina, or the Isawa family. Their sole monastery was located near the Lion-Crane border, and on at least two occasions the monastery was burned to the ground by irate Matsu commanders.