Hagi

Hagi is a large walled castle-town and port on the north coast of the Middle Country, and the seat of the Otori clan. The traditional capital and largest settlement of the Three Countries, it is built on a large island between the tributary of the Nishigawa and Higashigawa rivers, though its' suburbs and surrounding farmland extend well beyond the rivers onto the mainland. Possessing a vast natural harbor and only a single wide bridge connecting it to the mainland, Hagi has long been believed to be impossible to take by siege.

Artisan industries within the city include moneylending merchants, weavers, stonemasons, carpenters and an entire street devoted to pottery; Hagi's fine ceramics are highly prized as artwork. It also possesses a vast fishing fleet, allowing it to sustain itself continuously in case of a land siege. On the mainland part of the city, there are several fine inns and brothels, as well as most of the farming villages; some crops are also grown in secret in the woods. In the woods near the shore, below the facade of the castle, was a house built for Akane, Shigeru's concubine, that Kaede later had converted into a shrine to the goddess Kannon. Rice is the predominant crop grown in Hagi, although soybeans and sesame are also cultivated, both on the island and mainland portions of the city; chestnuts, tangerines and persimmons are also harvested from the surrounding forests and from gardens. A great variety of fish, crustaceans and mollusks are harvested from the sea; the ships also bring traders and goods from the mainland.

The stone castle is built around a raised cliff on the seaward side of the island, and includes a large sword-training arena, a shrine on a small wooded hill, and stables; while it's buildings are much smaller and less formidable than those at Inuyama, its' grounds are nearly as large. Both the castle's outer walls and the main residence have moats around them that extend to the seawall.

On the eastern edge of the town is the house and farming estate of Otori Shigeru, the original heir to the Clan; many of the Otori's retainers had their houses built in this neighborhood out of respect for him. Although small and somewhat spartan, the house has a magnificent upper tea-room, a bathhouse built around a small hot spring, a beautiful garden on the edge of the river, and a Nightingale Floor that gives it an extra level of security. This house was inherited by Takeo after he became Lord of the Otori, and he continued to reside in it until it was burned down, along with the castle, during the sack of Hagi in The Harsh Cry of the Heron.

Hagi has long been one of the largest host cities for the Tribe, particularly the Muto family; the head of the family, Muto Kenji, ran soybean-paste (tofu) and rice-wine (sake) distilleries there. During the War of the Otori Succession, the Kikuta family increasingly began working for the Otori and so a number of them (including Kotaro, the family master) moved to Hagi.

Even after the devastating Otori defeat at Yaegahara, Hagi was never taken or even besieged by the Tohan, and it continued to remain the seat of the Otori after the peace treaty; however, as Shigeru was demoted as heir to the Clan, he chose to move out of the castle and establish his own house and estate. In Across the Nightingale Floor, Shigeru brought Takeo back to Hagi after his journey east, and raised him in his household.

Hagi remained under the control of Shigeru's uncles (Otori Shoichi and Otori Masahiro, who had become leaders of the clan after Yaegahara) through most of the War of the Otori Succession, as they maintained a large garrison in and around it. Toward the end of Brilliance of the Moon, Arai Daiichi approached the city with his vast army, but was wary of attacking it directly due to its' reputation for resisting siege. However, Takeo (who was then allied with the Arai) made a plan to attack by sea, aided by his allies, the Terada pirate clan. He successfully infiltrated the castle with the aide of the Tribe and killed Shoichi, Masahiro and their sons. Most of their troops, who were not fond of the Otori lords and wished to avoid further civil war, then willingly joined Takeo, who ordered the gates to be opened for Daiichi, but Daiichi betrayed him and prepared to attack Hagi. However, a massive earthquake suddenly struck, devastating Hagi and destroying most of the Arai army. Hagi's bridge was destroyed and much of the town damaged by fire, but within a short time the damage was contained and order restored. The city and bridge were re-built, and the castle and the suburbs expanded in the following years.

Under Takeo, Hagi once again became the capital of the Three Countries and remained such until eighteen years later. Driven insane by the death of her infant son and the revelation of the prophecy about Takeo's fate, his wife Shirakawa Kaede opened the gates of the unguarded town to admit a small force of Arai men. The Arai troops destroyed the castle, burned Shigeru's house to the ground and sacked the town. After this brief, chaotic interval, Hagi was restored to Otori rule under Takeo's daughter and heir Otori Shigeko.