Muto Shizuka

Muto Shizuka is a member of the Tribe. A niece of Muto Kenji and cousin to both Otori Takeo and Muto Yuki, she is also the (former) lover of Arai Daiichi, and mother of his illegitimate sons Zenko and Taku. An exceptional spy and assassin, she played an influential role in both the defeat of the Otori clan at Yagaehara and their subsequent victory, many years later, in the War of the Otori Succession. She becomes the handmaiden, mentor and confidant of both Maruyama Naomi and, later, her cousin and heir Shirakawa Kaede.

Though Shizuka was raised in the total obedience of the Tribe, the birth of her first child- which came shortly after Yagaehara- caused her to question whether she wanted her children raised in such a ruthless, warlike realm. This led her to provide covert information on the Tribe to Otori Shigeru, whom she developed feelings for. After the Fall of Inuyama, her relationship with Daiichi ended due to his (correct) suspicion that she had been spying on him for years, and she continued her service with Kaede until the latter dismissed her, due to their differences over Kaede's decision to marry Takeo. Shizuka initially returned to the Tribe, but after Yuki's death and the schism with the Kikuta Family, she joined her uncle Kenji in allying the Tribe with Takeo, offering him her sons as hostages. She narrowly managed to rescue Kaede from the nobleman Lord Fujiwara, during the Great Earthquake. She subsequently married Lord Fujiwara's physician, Ishida, with whom she had previously had a romantic affair.

In the postwar years, Shizuka helps train Takeo's twin daughters Maya and Miki, who both develop strong Tribe abilities; her younger son Taku was trained by Kenji to succeed him as head of the Muto family. Meanwhile, Zenko inherited the Arai fief and overtime began plotting against Takeo, blaming him for Daiichi's death. Vaguely aware of it, Shizuka tried to stay neutral in order to spare her older son's life, but Takeo's request that she take over the Tribe after Kenji's death put her in conflict with Zenko and the Kikuta, especially once they learned of her prior conspiracy with Shigeru. She was subsequently put under house arrest by Zenko when he finally moved against Takeo. Aware that Zenko's plot had resulted in his brother Taku's death, Shizuka went to the temple at Hofu to fast and grieve. Her public suffering gained her great sympathy and caused many of the Tribe to defect from Zenko back to Takeo. By the end of the war, both Shizuka's sons, as well as one of her grandsons, were dead. Her two surviving grandsons by Zenko, Sunaomi and Chikara, are the main protagonists of Children of the Otori.