Takeda

Takeda was the leader of the Gilded Knives, a smuggling cartel at Toshi Ranbo, the Imperial City. He was a fat and aged man with a keen mind for his activities, and he had avoided any criminal prosecution through a combination of weealth, influence, cunning, and sheer ruthlerssness.

Assassin's Target
In 1165 three of the other crimelords of the city, Hiroshige, Oni Jakuchu, and Atshushi, had been murdered by unknown assailants. Takeda and his competitor One-Eyed Ieyoshi knew they would be the next. They had a meeting in a sake house with the Emerald Magistrate Shinjo Yushiro, but the gathreing was fruitless, as no information was given to expose who was plotting the murders. Shortly after the meeting three assassins infiltrated the building, with the intention to kill Takeda. Yushiro had seen them and rushed to foil them.