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Sanzo

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Please note: This article is about the 12th century ronin. For other uses of the term, please see Sanzo (disambiguation).
Sanzo 
Sanzo 
Born: Unknown 
Died: Unknown 
Children: Hozumi 
Titles: None
People

Mirumoto Sanzo left the Dragon Clan after his family was slaughtered by ogres, becoming the noted ronin Sanzo, [1] a samurai without a daisho who rode a horse that was better-kept than himself. This former samurai of the Dragon Clan interested Miya Yumi so much that she took on Sanzo as a yojimbo and spent considerable time studying him. Yumi was so moved by Sanzo's story that she replaced Sanzo's missing daisho. [2] Musha was the name of Sanzo's loyal mare, who served him both in life and death. [3]

Early Life[]

Mirumoto Sanzo

Mirumoto Sanzo

Mirumoto Sanzo lived at Lost Samurai Village, [1] a remote mountain village, as a proud samurai and the village's protector. One fateful day, a band of marauding ogres and ronin attacked Sanzo's home. He returned to his village too late to prevent the attack or do anything to aid his people. Overcome by fear, he could not bring himself to fight. He watched in mute horror as his wife and daughter were murdered, while all those he had sworn to protect died at the ogres' hands. He watched as the leader slung his father's swords over his back, swords Sanzo had left behind rather than carry them into the fields with the workers. The beasts trudged into the wilderness, and Sanzo could do nothing. Later he met the ronin who had destroyed his village, but fled from them in fear once more, missing his chance for revenge. [4]

Ronin[]

Earning His Daisho[]

Sanzo

Sanzo

Sanzo, now a ronin, was a small samurai with no daisho, haunted eyes, and bearing a jagged tattoo on one side of his face. He became involved in brawls in every waystation on the road. In one of them, beside the Emperor's Road, Sanzo met the Miya Daimyo, Miya Yoto. The Miya was a fervent supporter of ronin and lower caste samurai, and considered Sanzo the archetype of a ronin. Yoto hired him as his personal yojimbo and took the opportunity to interview Sanzo at length. As payment Sanzo was gifted a daisho. [5]

Clan Wars[]

The Ogre with Sanzo's family sword

The Ogre with Sanzo's family sword

During the Clan Wars, by pure chance Sanzo fell in with a group of others outcast by circumstance --including Miya Yumi and the mysterious Koan. [6] Yumi was trying to uncover the treachery of the Miya Daimyo and her cousin, Miya Satoshi. After visiting Yumi's uncle, the deposed and imprisoned Miya Yoto, [7] they moved to Kyuden Ashinagabachi, where the Wasp Clan Champion Tsuruchi commanded Ashinagabachi Ichiro to guide them to Traitor's Grove. Yumi was searching for Kenshin's Helm, a cursed nemuranai. Yumi communed with Bayushi Tesaguri, who used to be in possession of the helm, and whose spirit was the first to be bound to the grove. In 1127 they moved to the Phoenix lands, hoping to cross Beiden Pass undetected, as Yumi believed there were enemies looking for her. Kenshin's Helm was hidden within the Phoenix lands, in the possession of one of the greater spawn of Uragirimono, another of the humans cursed by the nemuranai. [8] Tesaguri had said that it was hidden at Doro Owari Mura and that Yogo Junzo was seeking it. [9] The nemuranai had been hidden in a cave by Shosuro Hametsu alongside the 11th Black Scroll, the Doom of Fu Leng, but both items had been stolen by Uragirimono. [10] Traveling and fighting beside them, Sanzo learned some small part of what it meant to be a hero and helped to prevent a terrible tragedy from befalling the Empire. [11] Still, he never forgave himself for his failure long ago. For years he chased death with a blind fury, never relenting against the creatures of the Shadowlands. [4]

Ambition[]

In 1132 Sanzo found the broken shards of the Bloodsword Ambition within the empty halls of Kyuden Bayushi. After forging them into a wakizashi, [12] he set out to hunt the ogre that had murdered his family. After a long hunt, he finally confronted his adversary and gained the revenge he had so long desired. [13] Sadly, indulging in his blood lust also gave Ambition a measure of control over him. The sword drove him to find and slay the one responsible for the duel that led to the sword's initial destruction--Emperor Toturi I. [14] [15]

Killing the Ogre[]

Sanzo killed the ogre

Sanzo killed the ogre

Sanzo eventually found the lair of the ogre who had killed his father and his family. After a vicious fight Sanzo was able to kill the ogre and reclaim his family sword from the hands of the dead beast. [16] [17] The whole event was witnessed by an Ise Zumi named Togashi Abokito, who then followed the ronin. [18]

Murdering Toturi[]

At the time, Toturi and Isawa Kaede were hiding in Shiba lands in a house in the mountains near the Village in the Valley. [19] Kaede was struggling to help Toturi overcome the Lying Darkness' hold upon him. In 1133 Sanzo found and attacked the Emperor, wounding him grievously. [20] Sanzo managed to regain some control before he could strike the killing blow and fled. [21] Kaede arrived to find Toturi mortally wounded and Sanzo gone. [22] He gave one of the remaining shards of Ambition to one of the townsfolk of the village. [19]

Death[]

In the end, Sanzo wandered the Empire alone as a madman, his wakizashi as shattered as his mind. [23] He wandered for some years before finally succumbing to death. A Phoenix shugenja discovered his body and realized that the curse of the Bloodsword had overcome him. The sword and his skull were placed in Gisei Toshi for study, but the fate of Sanzo's spirit was never known. None had been able to commune with his soul in Yomi, nor any of the other Spirit Realms. [4]

Legion of the Dead[]

In 1166 Sanzo and his horse Musha joined the Legion of the Dead. They had stepped forward to answer Matsu Goemon's call to fight the Legion of Blood, against those who were responsible for the forging of the Bloodswords. [4] Sanzo had been in the Realm of Thwarted Destiny since his death years before. Shiba Tsukune asked him to aid the Legion in seeking Oblivion's Gate, where they intended to help Kisada return to the mortal realm to fight Iuchiban. Sanzo feared he would fail once again as he had in life, but then realized that a man who risked nothing had already failed. Sanzo, along with his horse, led the Legion toward the Gate. [24] Because of his extensive knowledge of this realm he knew a way to the Gate that Kuni Yori and his Legion of Blood were unaware of. [3] Mirumoto Satsu encouraged Sanzo to believe in himself and gifted him his own wakizashi to replace the one Sanzo had lost. Satsu said that no Mirumoto could fight with only one sword, even one who no longer bore the family name. [3]

Sanzo was instrumental in the defeat of the Legion of Blood, attacking Kuni Yori at a key moment so that Hida Kisada, the former Crab Clan Champion and Fortune of Persistence, could pass through Oblivion's Gate. Sanzo was in Yomi for a brief time, and looked upon the souls of his wife and daughter. He watched them from a distance for a while and was at peace; he then returned to wander the Realm of Forgotten Destiny, which he renamed "Maigo no Musha" in honor of his most faithful companion, his horse. [3]

Outsiders Enter the Realm[]

Sanzo sensed two Crane warriors who had ventured through a newly formed passage into Maigo no Musha. One of them, Daidoji Kitagi, wished to know what had became of his father, Daidoji Yoshimaru, who had perished in the Battle of Oblivion's Gate, but whose body was never recovered. Sanzo told Kitagi that his father had been part of the Legion of the Dead, and remained in the realm as a guardian. [25]

Daidoji Uji[]

The presence of the two Cranes had started to weaken the boundaries of the realm, and Sanzo requested that they leave. Himatsu exposed himself as a Maho-tsukai, and drew his maho-empowered sword, threatening Sanzo. This invasion brought about an unexpected side effect. From the darkness appeared a shadow, which quickly overcame and fatally wounded Himatsu. He was an alternative Daidoji Uji, the Iron Crane, which had arrived from a nightmare world. All then left Maigo no Musha. Uji's shadow had been careful in fatally wounding Himatsu so that the Bloodspeaker did not die quickly, thus allowing time to avoid a death within this unstable realm. [25]

Legacy[]

Seiden Sanzo[]

Seiden Sanzo

Seiden Sanzo

The spirit of Sanzo was revered in Seiden Sanzo. [26]

Family[]

Sanzo had a son, Hozumi. [27]

Appearances[]

Gohei's Daisho[]

In 1172 Sanzo aided Akodo Senichi to return to Ningen-do, because the Deathseeker had not fulfilled his destiny in the Destroyer War. [28] Senichi found Gohei's Daisho lying beside him shortly after he awoke from the strange dream. [29]

Judgement[]

In 1176 Isawa Mizuhiko, current wielder of Judgement, crossed the borders of the Spirit Realms during sleep, and pondered with Sanzo about the Bloodsword. [30] Mizuhiko killed Akodo Ginawa some time later, and his spirit visited the Spirit Realm for a brief time. Sanzo met him, and Ginawa's old friend, Matsu Hiroru, also joined them. [29]

See also[]

External Links[]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Secrets of the Dragon, p. 36
  2. ↑ Way of the Wolf, pp. 11-12
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Legions, Part XI
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 The Legion of the Dead: The Tragic Ronin
  5. ↑ Way of the Wolf, p. 12
  6. ↑ Game Master's Guide; 2nd Ed, pp. 61-67
  7. ↑ Game Master's Guide; 2nd Ed, pp. 65-67
  8. ↑ Time of the Void, pp. 25-27
  9. ↑ Time of the Void, p. 46
  10. ↑ Time of the Void, p. 48
  11. ↑ Way of the Samurai, p. 81
  12. ↑ Hidden Emperor, p. 27
  13. ↑ Twilight Mountains (Dark Journey Home flavor)
  14. ↑ Armorer (Ambition's Debt flavor)
  15. ↑ Hidden Emperor, p. 41
  16. ↑ Ogre Bushi (Jade flavor)
  17. ↑ Hidden Emperor, p. 41
  18. ↑ Unexpected Allies, p. 59
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 Broken Ambition, by Shawn Carman and Rich Wulf
  20. ↑ Last Refuge (Fire and Shadow flavor)
  21. ↑ Moment of Brilliance (Honor Bound flavor)
  22. ↑ Hidden Emperor, p. 66
  23. ↑ Public Ridicule (Soul of the Empire flavor)
  24. ↑ Legions, Part X
  25. ↑ 25.0 25.1 Flight from Darkness, by Shawn Carman
  26. ↑ Seiden Sanzo (Celestial flavor)
  27. ↑ Worldly Matters, by Shawn Carman
  28. ↑ Three, by Lucas Twyman
  29. ↑ 29.0 29.1 Judgment, Part 2, by Lucas Twyman
  30. ↑ Judgment, Part 1, by Lucas Twyman



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