Usagi Yojimbo DojoBoard

Hello;
I have re-read the 'Duel at Kitanoji' several times and I stumble on a conversation between Katsuichi and Usagi after the death of Koji. Katsuichi asks U, or rather, says, You liked him, didn´t you? to which U answers, He was an honorable samurai, and yes, he was my friend.
Now, this may be some language problem, however, to me, U doesn´t _really_ answer K:s question - he, sort of, evades it - honorable, yes, friend, well, possibly, yes, he wouldn´t lie to K, but, like him? Koji is not exactly a likeable fellow. It appears in a few instances that Koji and U do not look at things in quite the same way, and never more so than before the duel when Koji has cleansed himself in the waterfall and ends a dispute by saying, Then you are no longer a samurai - apparently without angetr, resentment, rancor or anything - he does it with a dead pan face.
I´m sorry if I raise a stupid or unintelligible question, however, for some reason, that conversation ahs bothered me a bit.

Cheers

Nils Gustaf

I don't like soccer, but most of the people I know like soccer, and that's ok with me (most of my friends like soccer too). Lots of people I know disagree with me in lots of things (from trivial stuff like movies, books and general entertainment to more important stuff like politics or religion) and that doesn't stop them from being my friends. From my experience, different points of view doesn't mean that two or more people can't get along. You only need one common interest, and the will to tolerate someone else's opinion, behaviour or way of being (unless it is harmful to an outsider in any way), even if it's really different from what you're used to. I guess that's what happens with Usagi and Koji. Even though they disagree on the definition of samurai or they understand bushido differently, that doesn't mean they can't be friends (being a friend doesn't mean hanging out together and have a couple drinks, it means that both of them have a common interest and respect each other). They're both warriors and they've both learnt from the other. At least, that's the way I see it. What does other people think?