Ikoma Ujiaki

Ikoma Ujiaki was the foremost diplomat of the Lion Clan, though he was trained as a bushi as well. His father was the last son of a long line in the Ikoma family, and the largest of the three most prominent families within the Ikoma.

Ujiaki fought against the Phoenix Clan as a banner bearer, serving the cause of the Emperor when the Isawa family would not. After reciving a near fatal wound, he was transferred to the diplomatic corps, and performed his diplomatic tasks with a ferocity that rivals the Lion battle-fury.

As the controller of the Lion's political strength, Ujiaki used his contacts and allies to make the best of any situation, and handsomely rewarded those that serve him. Ujiaki's sharp mind and physical strength gave him an advantage in the courts - he had been in battles, and knew the advantages. When the Crane came to have the Lion armies withdrawn, Ujiaki instead would move them to a stronger position.

Ujiaki was not a plesant person, as he took defeat as a personal insult. What he could not gain through politiking, he gained instead through threats and brute force, and he hated the Crane Clan fiercly. A clever man, but not a brilliant one, Ujiaki used threats and violence to force people to aknowledge him as one of the foremost minds in Rokugan.

The Second Day of Thunder
On the Second Day of Thunder, the Lion Clan was in shambles. The Akodo family had been disbanded, dealing a cruching blow to the Clan's strength. To make matters worse, Lion Clan Champion Matsu Tsuko had seen the darkness growing within Emperor Hantei XXXIX and could not bring herself to defend the Emperor. Days before the battle, she committed seppuku, leaving the Lion leaderless and divided between those who remained loyal to the Emperor, no matter the cost, and those loyal to the Empire, even at the cost of the Emperor.

Ujiaki was among the former. On the Second Day of Thunder, he led the armies of Lion loyalists, marching among the Tainted armies of Fu Leng, as the leaders of the Empire and the Shadowlands had become one and the same.

Major References
Way of the Lion page 69