Doji

Doji was the founder of the Crane Clan as well as a creator of culture and civilization. During the founding of the Empire her wisdom shaped the nature of diplomacy and social interaction in Rokugan. In addition to creating the written language she invented some of the techniques taught even now at the Kakita Academy.

Tournament of the Kami
To determine who would be the first Emperor of their newly created Empire a Tournament was held. Doji fought against Shiba and won, but was in turn beaten by Akodo who had studied her techniques closely.

Family
Doji married the Emerald Champion Kakita, and they had five children together. Their daughter Doji Konishiko became the Crane Thunder after the death of her twin brother Doji Yasurugi. Doji Hayaku founded the Daidoji family, Kakita Shimizu the Kakita family and Doji Nio the Doji.

Marriage to Kakita
Shortly after Kakita had won the tournament to become Emerald Champion, Hantei presented Kakita to his sister, Doji, and expressed his desire that they wed. Doji agreed, but on the condition that Kakita be able to complete three challenges, so that she would know his worth. Hantei agreed. The first challenge was to bring the dead to life. The second was to measure the width of the world. The third was to show her a vision of absolute beauty. Though crestfallen, Kakita did not give up. In order to complete these quests, Kakita travelled far to consult with a wise woman, Yasuki, who showed him where to seek the answers to the Lady Doji's challenges. For the first challenge, Kakita crafted a biwa from a piece of dead driftwood and gave it to his bride to be. For the second challenge, he explained that the world was only as wide, and would take as long to cross, as the company you had while crossing it, and that if Amaterasu were your companion, you could cross it in a single day. Finally, for the third challenge, Kakita took out a mirror, and showed the Lady Doji her own reflection, as a vision of peerless beauty.

Snow-flakes
After Otosan Uchi had been built upon Seppun Hill Doji had stayed to live with her brother Hantei for a while. There, when looking out her window one day, see saw a beggar sitting outside in the cold. When she told her guards to offer him to come in the beggar refused. She went to see him to ask why he would not come in from the cold. The beggar asked her if she had taken the time to look at the snow and appreciate that every snow-flake was different. The beggar's insight into how things will eventually be forgotten, even someone like Doji, caused her to sit with him in the cold and enjoy the falling snow around them.

Gathering Thunder
At the height of the war, the armies of Fu Leng were pushing the defending Crab back slowly. None of the Kami were willing to confront their mad brother, and defeat seemed inevitable when a wise man named Shinsei appeared. He revealed that a small group of individuals could infiltrate the Shadowlands and defeat Fu Leng, but they would have to be mortals. Hantei, grievously wounded from a recent battle, declared that one individual from each clan be sent to join in this endeavour. Doji suggested a search be held for the member of the Crane to be chosen, which in the end proved to be her son Doji Yasurugi. Yasurugi was killed very shortly after by an oni, but when all hope seemed lost his twin sister Doji Konishiko stepped forward to become the Crane Thunder. Shinsei assembled the remaining Seven Thunders personally, and joined them on the quest to defeat the Ninth Kami.

Day of Thunder
The Seven Thunders and Shinsei made their way deep into the Shadowlands, where they found Fu Leng and defeated him. The cost was heavy, as only Shinsei and Shosuro survived the fight. They fled north, with the First Oni and many other creatures pursuing. The timely intervention of Shiba allowed Shinsei and Shosuro to reach Rokugan, but at the expense of Shiba's life. Fu Leng had been defeated, but at a very high cost.

Loneliness
Lady Doji lived for many years after the death of her husband, Kakita. She became lonely as the years went by, with Kakita and Hantei dead and Shinjo gone into the lands beyond the mountains. She regularly journeyed to the homes of her brothers, but her trips became shorter and shorter as they either died or disappeared. Her last living sibling was Togashi, and when she was turned back at the gates of Kyuden Togashi with the news of his death in 101, she stopped journeying. Of the eight Kami, Doji and Hida were the only ones remaining. Having never been too close to Hida she felt very alone.

Disappearance of Lady Doji
Some time later, Doji was walking along the beach at Kyuden Doji. As the sun set, she stood on a high rock and watched the ocean. The tide rose at her feet, and the waves crashed against the surrounding rocks. Doji watched the setting sun as it fell behind the land she had made her home. The waves towered over her and crashed on the rocks on which she was standing. When the water receeded, the Lady Doji was nowhere to be found. Her body was never been recovered, and there are those that say that she did not die. Legends say that she became a part of the ocean itself. The rocks on which Doji stood for the last time have become a holy place for the Crane. The night before a new samurai becomes the Crane Clan Champion, he spends the night on these rocks searching for the wisdom of Lady Doji and praying for her to guide him on his new path. The largest of the rocks is called the Lady's Rest. It is decorated with flowers each year during the Chrysanthemum Festival by maidens from all of the clans. Superstition says that maidens who make such remembrances will be very lucky in their love lives.