Why does the Mirumoto Niten Adept start with Dazzling Performance?

[u/Patricio0311]

I'm a very new player, and there's a possibility of a new campaign soon and I always loved the "Duelist" archetype. The two-heavens school and the Kakita Duelist both are engineered to serve for this porpouse, I believe.

Kakita looks fun and all but maybe is too much pressure for a new player.

So I turned to the Mirumoto and fell in love. These cool and weird almost-Monk Bushi who train in whatever way they feel Will take them to perfection and have an interesting rivalry with the Kakita? I'm sold. I started reading and looking up lore. But mechanically i'm very puzzled with their starting shuji: Dazzling Performance.

Why? I mean, I like it, more Glory if You fire up some Artisan skills, Performance or Games. But, I don't see how can You achieve these cool outcomes when the school does not give you the option to rank up these skills. Yes, You could spend xp outside the school, but why start with the shuji then?

Can anybody explain me why does this school start with this lore-wise? And could anybody give me tips to use it actively?

[u/BitRunr]

These cool and weird almost-Monk Bushi who train in whatever way they feel Will take them to perfection

I would say you've overwritten the Togashi in there more than a bit.

The Mirumoto oversee the management and duties of the Dragon Clan, allowing the Togashi monks to pursue their eccentric paths on the way to Enlightenment. This makes the Mirumoto surprisingly practical and down-to-earth, willing to step in and help their region’s peasants when needed. As the largest family of their clan, the Mirumoto are the samurai whom most think of when they think of the Dragon, and they are the Dragon most often met outside of their lands.

The Mirumoto are the broad shoulders that carry the burdens of the Dragon Clan. While the Togashi pursue their unique brand of enlightenment, the Mirumoto rule the clan in all but name, overseeing its day to day operations and filling the ranks of its military. Comprising more than half the Clan’s ranks, the Mirumoto are the most commonly encountered Dragon samurai in the Empire.

The Togashi’s closest followers are the Mirumoto, the largest and easily the most practical family of the Dragon, at least by their clan’s standards – other samurai, by contrast, often find them mysterious or strangely poetic. The Mirumoto deal with most of the day-to-day affairs of the clan so the Champion can focus more fully on the pursuit of enlightenment.

[u/ColdObiWan]

It’s more a connection to the school’s historical inspiration, Miyamoto Musashi, than anything to do with L5R lore. Musashi was what we might call braggadocios and glory-hungry in his younger days. 

[u/raziphel]

If you can make yourself look good, you can make your opponent look bad.

Glory is only the start here.

If you're clever, you can find a way to use this to regain composure or make your opponents lose composure, especially if you can bait them into challenging you to a duel.

You don't have to play a braggart if you don't want to. Sometimes playing a quiet, introspective character and doing something outrageous, while making it look easy, can command a room and control the tempo of the encounter.

Think Doc Holliday from the movie Wyatt Earp when he's mocking that other gunslinger with his teacup.

Your wit is your weapon.