| Doji-no-Kami | |
|---|---|
| |
| Born: | Unknown |
| Died: | Unknown |
| Parents: | Onnotangu Amaterasu |
| Siblings: | Akodo Bayushi Hantei Hida Shiba Shinjo Togashi (Half) Fu Leng (Half) Ryoshun |
| Spouse: | Kakita |
| Children: | Doji Yasurugi Doji Konishiko Doji Nio Doji Hayaku |
| Titles: | Kami Crane Clan Founder Doji family Founder |
| People | |
Doji was daughter of Lord Moon and Lady Sun, and one of the Kami who fell to the mortal realm from the Celestial Heavens, alongside her siblings. [1]
Heavens[]
Since the beginning of time, Lord Moon chased Lady Sun about the world. One day, he caught her, and as her light faded, the curtain fell on the age of the ancient races. Over the course of countless seasons, Lady Sun gave birth [1] to ten children: Hida, Doji, Togashi, Akodo, Shiba, Bayushi, Shinjo, Fu Leng, Hantei, and Ryoshun. [2] Fu Leng was openly despised by Lord Moon, and all their siblings did not know why. Unknown to them, Fu Leng and Togashi had a different father than the rest of their siblings, a Lord who Lady Sun met during her wanderings from an unknown land he called Tian Guo. [3]
Fall of the Kami[]
Legends told that the Moon, jealous over Lady Sun's love for their children, swallowed their Kami children. This day was the night with no light, when Amaterasu wept for her children. Amaterasu saved her final child, Hantei, from being swallowed to save his siblings. [4] Amaterasu trained Hantei in the martial arts. When Hantei and Lord Moon finally did battle, he sliced open his father's belly, and the rest of his siblings tumbled out. They fell from the sky to Seppun Hill, save for one. Lord Moon reached out at the last moment and grasped Fu Leng. Hantei swung his sword one last time and severed his father's very arm. Fu Leng tried to grab ahold of Hantei, and they both fell. Plummeting downward, Fu Leng plunged through the earth to Jigoku itself, where he was lost. [1] Ryoshun's name was lost to history. [2]
Founding Rokugan[]
The Creation of Mankind[]
In some places, the blood mixed with Lady Sun's tears, and from that mingling came the first men and women. [1] Lady Doji was discovered on a beach by residents of a village of fishers and craftspeople. Recognizing her otherworldly nature, the villagers took her in and tended to her wounds. Doji became fascinated by the myriad human cultures before her, who already had claimed the creation of art, of music, and of civilization; however, she despaired at the violence humans wreaked upon each other. Conflicts ended in her wake, and her words pierced the hearts of any who dared to attack her people. By the time her siblings rediscovered her, the coastal enclaves were united, all beneath Doji's gentle guidance. [5]
Tournament of the Kami[]
No longer immortal, the Kami shared the mortal realm with human beings. They resolved to teach and guide these humans, and they held a great tournament to see who would lead those who lived in this land they dubbed Rokugan. Lord Shiba saw through his twin Bayushi's trickery, but was overcome by Lady Doji's grace, who in turn was defeated by Lord Akodo. Hantei was the final victor, and after his coronation as Emperor, he charged each of his siblings with a different task. [1]
Crane Clan[]
Doji would foster the arts and keep the peace between them all. [1] The Kami found themselves plunged into a mortal world rife with cruelty and war. She resolved to bring order to this savage realm. From her, these primitive peoples learned writing so they could record their achievements, politics to govern their affairs, economics and commerce to manage their wealth, and art and culture to lift them from their lives of misery. Those she touched the most became her devoted followers, the first samurai of the Crane Clan, founding the Doji family. [6] The language employed characters derived from the script of the Land of Four Rivers along with elements of other local languages. [7]
Marriage[]
After the first Emerald Tournament, the Emperor Hantei and Kakita became fast friends. Doji was set to marriage Kakita, but she was scornful of him. She requested that Kakita be able to complete three challenges, so that she would know his worth. 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 at being presented with such seemingly impossible tasks, Kakita did not give up. [8] Kakita set out that day across the Empire in search of the answers, stopping only to consult with his old friend Yasuki. In the following months, Kakita's twin sister, Kiyamori, tended to Lady Doji, telling stories about Kakita's youth and revealing his true noble nature. Through these tales, Doji fell in love with Kakita, and she began to secretly hope that he would succeed. [9] For the first challenge, Kakita crafted a biwa, a stringed musical instrument, 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. They were wed immediately after, and the festivities lasted for seven days. [8]
Shinsei[]
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Doji and the beggar
One day, during a heavy snow at the height of winter, a mysterious beggar appeared at the gates of Kyūden Doji. The beggar declined her invitation for shelter, and Lady Doji went out and sat beside him in the snow. Their conversation made her realize the beauty inherent to an impermanent world, found even in the smallest snowflake. From this lesson, Doji resolved to live keenly aware of each passing moment, to transcend mortality through appreciation of beauty, and in so doing, show all what it meant to live a noble life. [10]
War Against Fu Leng[]
But not long after the Kami had begun to order the world and formed clans with their earliest followers, Fu Leng emerged from his subterranean lair. He confronted Hantei because he had not been invited to the Tournament of the Kami, and challenged Hantei's right to rule Rokugan. Togashi was selected as the Emperor's Champion, who in turn selected all that lives in Rokugan as his weapon. [11] Fu Leng assaulted the Empire with his dark army from the place which would be known as the Shadowlands, but they were eventually repelled from Rokugan by the Seven Thunders on what became known as the Day of Thunder. [4] In such day Doji lose her eldest daughter Doji Konishiko, who had taken her twin brother's role as the Crane Thunder when Doji Yasurugi was assassinated by a monster when Shinsei called for heroes. [12] Yet in her sleep, Lady Doji saw images of her lost daughter, and she was convinced that Konishiko was somehow still bound to the realm of the living. Swearing to find his older sister, her youngest son Doji Hayaku embarked alone on a quest into the Shadowlands, returning after three years with Shukujo, the sword forged by her son Yasurugi. [13]
The Ki-Rin Depart[]
After the defeat of Fu Leng, Shinjo and her clan were tasked with ensuring there were no threats to Rokugan from outside its borders. Lady Doji was very sad to see Shinjo leave, as the sisters had always been close, and she gave Shinjo a beautiful fan that she herself had painted to serve as reminder of their bond [14] when her sister left Rokugan in the year 45. [15]
Disappearance of Doji[]
Lady Doji had long outlived her mortal husband, Kakita. When she learned of the death of Hida, the last of her divine siblings, she walked out onto a rocky outcropping on the seashore below Kyūden Doji at sunset and raised her arms, awaiting the waves. It was said she was carried away by a great wave just as Amaterasu's final rays fell upon her. All Crane Clan Champions were expected to spend a night at the Lady's Rest, praying for wisdom and guidance from their divine ancestor. During the annual Chrysanthemum Festival, youths from all of the clans gathered there and adorned the rock with flower blossoms in veneration of Lady Doji. [16] Her second son, Doji Nio, [17] became the next Crane Champion.
Legacy[]
With a word, Doji was said to defuse the most dangerous situations, and Crane Clan courtiers followed in her footsteps. [18] Doji was also who created the Tea Ceremony Ritual, when she served tea for the very first Emperor. [19] The ancestral seat of power of the Crane Clan was named Kyūden Doji to honor her. [6]
| Preceded by: None |
Crane Clan Champion 5 [20] - ? |
Succeeded by: Doji Nio |
| Preceded by: None |
Doji Daimyō 5 - ? |
Succeeded by: Doji Nio |
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Legend of the Five Rings - Roleplaying, p. 4
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Legend of the Five Rings - Roleplaying, p. 9
- ↑ Adventures in Rokugan, p. 139
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Whispers of Shadow and Steel, by Mari Murdock
- ↑ Courts of Stone, pp. 52, 54
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 The Great Clans (Learn to Play Rulebook)
- ↑ Courts of Stone, p. 52
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 The Stories We Tell, by Nancy M. Sauer
- ↑ Courts of Stone, p. 60
- ↑ Courts of Stone, p. 54
- ↑ Legend of the Five Rings - Roleplaying, pp. 4-5
- ↑ Courts of Stone, p. 56
- ↑ Courts of Stone, p. 61
- ↑ Emerald Empire: The Essential Guide to Rokugan, p. 11
- ↑ Across the Burning Sands, by Daniel Lovat Clark
- ↑ Emerald Empire: The Essential Guide to Rokugan, p. 43
- ↑ Courts of Stone, p. 67
- ↑ Legend of the Five Rings: Roleplaying Game (Beta), p. 139
- ↑ Tea Ceremony Ritual (Beta preview)
- ↑ Emerald Empire: The Essential Guide to Rokugan, p. 10
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