Otori Ryoma

Otori Ryoma was a minor character in Brilliance of the Moon. He is one of many illegitimate children of Otori Masahiro, the younger of Otori Shigeru's uncles. A few years after Otori Takeo was born, Masahiro had taken Ryoma's mother as a lover when she worked in the castle, but when her pregnancy was discovered he claimed she was a prostitute and that the child could be anyone's; after she gave birth, her family was forced to sell her to a brothel in Katte Jinja. There she converted to the ways of the Hidden, though Ryoma never did. He became a fisherman and smuggler by trade, often seeking work with the Terada pirate clan on Oshima island; his was the only civilian craft that could land in Oshima's harbor safely. While proud of his Otori heritage, he was often mocked for it, and his hatred for his father continued to grow.

In Brilliance of the Moon, Ryoma serves as ferryman to his cousin Otori Takeo when the latter travels to Oshima to make an alliance with the pirates. Along the way he reveals their connection and, guessing the purpose of Takeo's journey, asks him for help in gaining recognition as a member of the Otori and taking revenge on the Otori lords. Takeo promises to do so; when the pirates taunt Ryoma on their arrival at Oshima, Takeo orders them to apologize, referring to Ryoma as his cousin.

After Takeo's successful audience with the Terada, Ryoma attempts to take him back to the mainland, but a huge storm occurs over the northern sea, forcing them to turn back to Oshima's harbor. Near the shore, the boat is capsized and both of them nearly drown before the pirates rescue them.

During the invasion of Hagi, Ryoma's boat participates in the amphibious attack on the castle. When his father, Otori Masahiro, jumps out the castle window into the sea to escape, he happens to surface near his son's boat. Ryoma grabs Masahiro by the hair and cuts his throat with a fishing knife, finally gaining his revenge on the father who never acknowledged him and condemned his mother to a life of suffering.

During the chaos of the subsequent earthquake, Ryoma's boat was sunk by falling masonry; he either died from drowning or from debris striking his head. Takeo had him buried with honor next to the rest of the Otori clan, with a stone naming him as one of the Otori.