Shinjo Yokatsu

Shinjo Yokatsu
Born:	Unknown
Died:	(c. 1132)
Spouse:	Shinjo Chibokiko
Children:	Shinjo Yasamura, Shinjo Haruko, Shinjo Shono
Titles:	Unicorn Clan Champion, Shinjo Daimyo, Kolat Master
People

Shinjo Yokatsu was the Unicorn Clan Champion during the Clan War. He had two sons, Shinjo Yasamura, and the much younger Shinjo Shono, and a daughter, Shinjo Haruko. He was called the "Master of the Four Winds".

Youth

Yokatsu was raised by his grandfather, and grew up hearing tales of his clan's time in the Burning Sands. The day after his gempukku, Yokatsu declined to immediately take the position of clan champion and instead mounted his horse and departed from his home.

Yokatsu spent the next two years traveling. During his travels he met with strange gaijin, from whom he learned much. One day Yokatsu reached the edge of the Burning Sands. He spent the day mounted on his horse, simply watching and not moving. When the moon rose Yokatsu turned around and left for home, singing songs from his youth.

Upon returning Yokatsu took up the championship and came to be known as the Master of the Four Winds.

Appearance and Demeanor

Yokatsu was not a large man, but was fairly stocky, with restrained eyes. His smile, when displayed, was open and genuine, but he was at other times a stern-looking man.

As Champion

Champion Shinjo Yokatsu

Yokatsu was very uncomfortable in political situations, as he was a quiet man. He often made mistakes in court and would curse under his breath and look extremely embarrassed, visible to all.

Horiuchi family

Yokatsu was married to Shinjo Chibokiko. In 1115 when Shonoko and Shono were seven and five, they were part of a caravan to the lands of the Lion Clan. The caravan was attacked by bandits who fought the samurai caravan guards. The children's governess, Iuchi Shoan, fled from the bandits with a child under each arm. She was not fast enough and the bandits caught up with her. She protected the children with the spell Castle of Water while the remaining bushi dispatched their assailants.

Days later, Yokatsu learned of her bravery and added Hori- to her name, which means moat. She remained the only Horiuchi for several years. Years afterward, her followers took the Horiuchi name.

Emerald Championship

After his victory in the Emerald Championship, Doji Satsume asked Yokatsu to follow the path of his ancestors and to be ashamed for the barbaric ways they showed. Yokatsu retorted that he would cross blades for any future slight regarding the matter, declaring his blade would be guided by the Kami Shinjo herself.

Otaku Kamoko

Yokatsu attended the gempukku ceremony of Otaku Kamoko, and even spoke to the assembly after the ceremonies. He spoke with Kamoko later the same evening where he realized she had not named her horse. He named it Hachiman, deeming him "as rash and impetuous as his mistress".

"The Unicorn must remember our history, as we have done each year since the time of our ancestors. We must rise to the winds during this time of war, and we will be victorious!" -Yokatsu

Scorpion Coup

Shinjo Yokatsu

Yokatsu condemned Bayushi Shoju's actions in the Scorpion Coup in 1123, and sounded a call to arms to his clan in support of the Hantei Dynasty. Yokatsu successfully brought the Unicorn army to the capital within a day of the Emperor's assassination. Until the return of Akodo Toturi, the leadership of the united clans was going to be held by either Yokatsu or Matsu Tsuko. The weeks before this day the Unicorn had molded and trained an army on the edge of the Ikoma land, as near to the capital as they could. It was considered pure luck that such a well-prepared force was ready for quick dispatch to the Imperial City.

Testing the Scorpion

Yokatsu joined Shiba Tsukune and her small detachment, and requested her aid for a quick attack on the Scorpion defenses in the second day of the Coup. Tsukune spared her commander Shiba Shingo with ten men.

Assassination attempt

A Scorpion spy under the persona of Ide Shiguji was sent to steal their battle plans and to assassinate Yokatsu. The spy made the attempt in the fourth day of the coup. Yokatsu survived the attempt, and the Scorpion placed the blame firmly on the Crab Clan.

After the Coup

After the Coup the Rokugani life was dangerous, with the Imperial Legions seeking hidden Scorpion and the Crab armies leaving the Kaiu Wall. Yokatsu began to marry off Unicorn daughters right and left, trying to secure alliances wherever he could.

Clan War

Shinjo Yokatsu

Winter Court - 1125

In 1125 the Unicorn diplomat in the Imperial Court, Iuchi Takaai, reported that the Otomo were determined to maintain the Winter Court in Otosan Uchi at all costs. Takaai suggested the detainment of the ambassadors from the other Great Clans as a mean to press for holding winter court at Shiro Shinjo. After the clan representatives became captives, the Unicorn diplomats were retaliated against similarly and signs of war were everywhere. Takaai, influenced by the Emperor's wife Bayushi Kachiko, had manipulated Yokatsu, in hopes he could surface as the man who avert war al the last moment. Winter Court was eventually held at Kyuden Kakita and the Clan War Kachiko had devised as revenge for her disbanded Clan was in motion.

Yoritomo's Alliance

Yoritomo, leader of the Mantis Clan, was a bold samurai who wished to carve his own destiny. He founded the Yoritomo's Alliance, amassing a great army, an alliance of the Minor clans in the Empire. In 1127 Yokatsu was visited by Yoritomo Hogosha, who asked the Unicorn's support when his Lord would present his claims to the Great Clans. Yokatsu agreed to back him if Yoritomo would have the strength to support his aspirations.

Toturi's army

In 1127 the Leader of the Brotherhood of Shinsei, Tetsuya, sought an alliance with the Unicorn. Yokatsu agreed, and immediately sent one force to Toturi's Army, the force that was acting in the Empire's best interest. An isolated Unicorn army led by Shinjo Yasamura fought at the Battle of Beiden Pass under the banner of Toturi the Black. They were later tasked with guarding the pass, and after a Lion-Unicorn treaty agreed upon by Yokatsu, Toturi was no longer permitted travel through the pass. While Toturi and a Dragon army engaged the Crab, Captain of the Imperial Guard Seppun Ishikawa delivered an Imperial message to Yokatsu. Bayushi Kachiko ordered Yokatsu to refuse the Dragon army access to Beiden Pass upon their return. Ishikawa told Yokatsu this had been his last mission as Imperial Guard, resigning as Kachiko was sending him and his men to missions seeking their death.

Yogo Junzo's Army

Shiro Iuchi had been almost destroyed during an attack by Yogo Junzo's army, but Iuchi Karasu and Otaku Kamoko and her Battle Maidens made them flee. Yokatsu would marshal his army after winter, but Kamoko's tiny band left immediately to chase Junzo. A band of the army attacked Water Dragon Shrine, and began to kill the Shingon monks who tended it. Yokatsu arrived with an army of Shinjo Bushi and drove the Horde into Dragon Heart Forest.

A Prophecy Uncovered

The investigation performed by Seppun Ishikawa regarding Kachiko and her implication on the bad Emperor's health jeopardized the secrecy of the Kolat organization. Ishikawa, former Captain of the Imperial Guard, was manipulated by Yokatsu. At Heaven's Crossroads, a small abandoned Scorpion keep in the Lion-Scorpion border, there was a Kolat hideout where a scroll was being researched. Ishikawa went there, killing the Kolat, whom he believed to be Scorpion ronin. The scroll prophesied that the Emperor would be corrupted from within and fall to the Deceivers. Ishikawa returned to Otosan Uchi to offer himself in service to Kachiko and her cause against the Hantei. The Kolat knew the prophecy did not show the return of Fu Leng, but rather the hold of the Lying Darkness upon an Emperor, who would be Toturi I years later.

Breaking Alliance with the Lion

Yokatsu was concerned that the Lion did not attack the Crab forces landed in the shores near Otosan Uchi, and also noted their strange behavior when Shadowlands forces sacked Kyuden Doji at the sight of Matsu Agetoki's forces. He did not rely on his alliance with the Lion anymore, so in the first month of 1128 Yasamura was ordered to leave Beiden Pass.

Besieging Otosan Uchi

Yokatsu later ordered the Unicorn forces led by his son to join the combined army massing near Otosan Uchi, fighting alongside the Crane Clan Champion Doji Hoturi, the Lion forces of Kitsu Motso, Hida Yakamo's Crab forces and Toturi's Army. After the failed assault on Otosan Uchi against Hantei XXXIX in the Month of the Hare of 1128, the surviving Crab forces laid a camp near the ruins of Kyuden Doji. In winter this year the possessed Emperor announced the cancellation of the Winter Court. Hida Tsuru, Hida Kisada's brother, sent invitations to hold a mock Winter Court outside the city, which was soon attended by the leaders of the clans and their military advisors. Now united, the clans began massing their forces against the Shadowlands.

Second Day of Thunder

Yokatsu fought at the Second Day of Thunder, and aided Otaku Kamoko in killing Yogo Junzo by shooting an arrow through his throat before Kamoko trampled Junzo with her horse.

Death of Akodo Kage

Yokatsu Sensei

Yokatsu knew the death of his old friend the Kolat Master Akodo Kage in 1128 had been faked, and arranged for Kage's blades to be delivered to him and then 'stolen', allowing him to return them to Kage, who was now in hiding.

Otaku Kamoko Dissappeared

The behaviour of Otaku Kamoko after the end of the Clan War became so twisted from her mother's vengeance that at one point she even issued a duel against Yokatsu, who refused. Near the end of year 1129 the Otaku Daimyo disappeared.

Hidden Emperor

Shinjo Yokatsu

The Unicorn Clan gave testimony against the Scorpion Clan after Toturi I disappeared. Kitsuki Yasu, the appointed investigator, disagreed.

While the Imperial Throne was empty Yokatsu keep the Emperor's law with Shinjo Yasamura in the West and Shinjo Sanetama in the East. The way the Unicorn attempted to keep the law clashed with the Lion Clan, and fights began between both clans. The city of Ryoko Owari was seized in 1130 with the Scorpion Clan sent into exile.

Madness of Toturi

In 1132 Toturi had been rescued and ruled again the Empire. He enacted a Imperial Edict stepped down the Lion as the Right Hand of the Emperor, and the Unicorn Clan took this role instead. Toturi ordered the Unicorn courtier Ide Tadaji to punish the Lion for threatening the Crab, as well as to destroy the Kitsu for their corruption.

The Gift of the Emperor

Ryoko Owari remained under Unicorn rule even when the rest of Scorpion lands were returned to their original holders by Toturi I in 1132 as the boon of the tournament The Gift of the Emperor. The Emperor would not have his right hand cheated of their conquest.

Kolat

Yokatsu

Kolat Master

Yokatsu had grown up surrounded by Kolat and he became one of the ten Kolat Masters. He saw the Kolat and the Unicorn as the same thing. By guiding the conspiracy to greatness, so too did he guide his people along the same path. His famous two-year journey before his gempukku had been nothing more than an extended visit with the other Masters.

Revealed as a Kolat

In 1132 Yokatsu fled the Unicorn, becoming a ronin, after Shinjo returned from the Burning Sands, Yokatsu was removed from his station as Unicorn Clan Champion when he was revealed to be a Kolat Master. He fled towards Exile's Road, being helped by Seishi, the master monk of the shrine in the Dragon Lake who had been saved by Yokatsu during the Clan War. Yokatsu finally took refuge in the Hidden Temple of the kolat. Yokatsu had never been afraid to give his life in service to the Unicorn, and was not afraid to give his honor. He believed his services as a kolat had been for the good of his Clan.

Hidden Temple

The rest of the masters and the kidnapped Doji Shizue were at the Hidden temple. Yokatsu and his fellows surveyed the events of the Assault on Otosan Uchi. Yokatsu guessed the death of Onnotangu could empower the Shadow.

Death

Yokatsu

After hiding for several months, Yokatsu was hunted down by his son, Shinjo Shono. Yokatsu refused to cross blades with him, and Shono struck him down.

See also

• Shinjo Yokatsu/CW Meta
• Shinjo Yokatsu/Diskwars
• Yokatsu/Meta

Preceded by: Unknown	Unicorn Clan Champion ? - 1132	Succeeded by: Moto Gaheris
Preceded by: Unknown	Shinjo Daimyo ? - 1132	Succeeded by: Shinjo Shono
Preceded by: Unknown	Kolat Master ? - 1132	Succeeded by: Morito

External Links

• Shinjo Yokatsu Inexp (Scorpion Clan Coup - Scroll 1)
• Shinjo Yokatsu (Imperial)
• Shinjo Yokatsu Exp (Hidden Emperor)
• Yokatsu (Ambition's Debt)
• Yokatsu Sensei (Honor Bound)

References

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