Kyūden Asako
Morning Glory Castle was the seat of power of the Asako family. [1]
Details[]
Appearance[]
The castle was located in the Isawa Mori on the easternmost edge of the Asako lands. It sat atop a low-standing, craggy hill in the midst of abundant, nutrient-rich wetlands. Its location, and its white walls, caused the sun to reflect a brilliant light, giving it its name of Morning Glory Castle. Kyūden Asako housed a number of schools and dōjō, including that of the Shiba Artisans. It also contained a large, well-stocked library and extensive facilities for ongoing scholarly research. It had hosted Imperial Winter Courts as far back as the reign of Hantei Genji in the early days of the Empire. [1]
Landscape[]
Kyūden Asako was a beautiful palace of gleaming pale walls and rich red tile roofs. It was built on a series of hills in a volcanically active region where hot springs dispensed mineral-rich water into natural basins. The palace, which encompassed some of the springs, was devoted to leisure, comfort, and healing, a place wehere scholarship thrived. The priests used massage therapy and herbal remedies in their healing. The palace's permanent staff included tea masters and chefs as well, many of whom specialized in the intersection of cuisine and preventative medicine. [2] Kyūden Asako had no equal in attracting the best entertainers Rokugan had to offer. [3] The palace was famed by several rustic features, such as the view of short pines rustled by the wind. [4]
Wetlands[]
The castle's early occupants kept a wide ring of wetlands around the castle site intact, insted to transform them into paddies. An ancient king who lived there vowed to leave the wetlands undisturbed after a turtle saved his child from drowning. [2]
Defenses[]
Because of the hills' low rise and the marshy ground, Kyūden Asako's physical defenses were less elaborate than those of many military castles. The palace had outer curtain walls and a central keep, but most of its structures were built as yashiki (single-floor mansions) rather than fortresses. Half of the palace guards were Shieldbearers, and the other half traditional spearfighters. [2]
Notable Locations[]
Kyūden Asako
Kyūden Asako's library was excellent, a massive structure built into the central keep to guard against both attack and inclement weather, having texts that dated from the dawn of recorded Rokugani history, including a trove of books written on bamboo strips and uncovered by Phoenix archaeologists. The library looked ancient on the outside but it had modern appointments and furnishings on the inside in order to keep books and scrolls in a safe, dry environment. The palace's collection of medical texts was particularly robust. Kyūden Asako's on-site shrine honored Benten, the Fortune of Arts and Letters. Kyūden Asako was also a hotbed of espionage, both amateur and professional. [5] The Aioi Theater was the most splendid theater in the Asako lands. [4]
Supernatural Phenomena[]
Kyūden Asako's frequent alignment with various Spirit Realms implied the arrival of unusual guests during these cosmic confluences. On misty evenings, ancestor spirits descended from Yomi to the ancient place on cloud palanquins, bathed in the waters and reminisced together about their time walking the earth. In the dead of night, the administrators of Jigoku and the employees of Emma-Ō and his Kings of Hell made the long climb from far beneath the earth to unwind from their stressful jobs. Sometimes hungry ghosts and wicked demon appeared, and they also relaxed in hot water as well as any noble ancestor. Strange, shapeless creatures from Yume-dō, the Realm of Dreams, mingled with capricious animal spirits from Chikushō-dō and Sakkaku. [6]
History[]
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Morning Glory Castle
Predated[]
Kyūden Asako rose on the site where a castle was built thousands of years ago, before Rokugan's founding. The earliest foundation stones had been set by a local ruler, positioned according to the counsel of traveling scholars from the Land of the Four Rivers. Several stones were marked with the words and motifs of that distant land. Some of the ancient castle structures—raised wooden buildings and a thatch-roofed watchtower—survived to this day. [2]
Known Castellans[]
References
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