War of the Otori Succession

The "War of the Otori Succession" was a three-way conflict that began after the death of Iida Sadamu, Lord of the Tohan Clan. It pitted the reigning Otori lord of Hagi, Shoichi (supported by his younger brother Masahiro) against the claimant Otori Takeo, adopted son (and biological nephew) of Otori Shigeru, the deceased legitimate heir to the Clan. Shoichi's faction benefited from the actions of Iida Nariaki (cousin and heir of Sadamu) who rallied the remains of the Tohan in attempt to take the domain of Maruyama, which he claimed through his wife. Takeo, meanwhile, drew support from many discontented Otori warriors, as well as most of the Maruyama clan's retainers in support of his wife, Shirakawa Kaede (the legitimate heir to Maruyama). He also later recruited the Terada pirate clan of Oshima to provide naval support. Both factions faced opposition from Arai Daiichi, the new overlord of the Three Countries, who wanted to either place a more submissive puppet figure in charge of the clan or else claim their lands for himself by right of conquest.

The Tribe initially sided exclusively with Shoichi and Masahiro's faction after Daiichi made clear his intention to locate and eliminate them, but after the division within the Tribe between the Muto and Kikuta families, all five families except the Kikuta swore allegiance to Takeo.

The war ended in a decisive victory for Takeo at the Battle of Hagi, where a massive earthquake wiped out most of Daiichi's army and Daiichi himself was killed, leaving the Arai clan- despite its' vast conquests- without leadership or significant support. With Shoichi, Masahiro and their various sons dead, Takeo was readily accepted by the Otori Clan as the new lord of Hagi and all of the Middle Country was returned to Otori rule; the Arai vassals established in the Eastern country accepted him as their new overlord, and his wife Kaede's inheritance of both Shirakawa and Maruyama secured more than half of the Western Country, making Takeo and Kaede the undisputed rulers of the Three Countries.

The Downfall of the Tohan and the Rise of the Arai
The event that touched off the war was the death of Iida Sadamu. Prior to the Battle of Yagaehara, Otori Shigeru had been heir to the Otori Clan, followed by his younger brother Takeshi. After the Otori's defeat at Yagaehara, however, Sadamu- the head of the Tohan Clan and Shigeru's most bitter enemy- forced Shigeru and Takeshi to abdicate the succession, instead giving it to their uncles, Otori Shoichi and Otori Masahiro. He also stripped the Otori of many of their territories, putting much of the Middle Country under Tohan authority. However, Shigeru's popularity and the cruel repression of Tohan warriors in former Otori territories meant that he might easily usurp his uncles, start uprisings in the conquered territory and potentially wage a war of revenge. With Takeshi having been murdered by Tohan soldeirs, Shigeru's uncles- who were frightened and envious of their nephew's popularity- plotted with Iida to secure their hold over the remaining Otori lands by making an alliance with the Tohan, which would be cemented by the marriage of Shigeru and Shirakawa Kaede. Secretly, the marriage was an excuse to make Shigeru journey to the Tohan capital of Inuyama, where Sadamu could assassinate Shigeru or find some pretext to execute him for treason.

What Sadamu, Shoichi and Masahiro did not know was that Shigeru had his own plans. He had recently rescued his biological nephew, Tomasu, and adopted him under the name of Takeo; he agreed to the marriage in exchange for Takeo being formally adopted into the Otori clan (none except Shigeru knew that Takeo actually had Otori blood). Takeo's father, Kikuta Isamu, was a former member of the Tribe. As such, he possessed many inherent powers and skills which made him a master assassin, skills which Takeo inherited; he and Shigeru plotted for Takeo to assassinate Sadamu in Inuyama, after which the Tohan would be leaderless and Shigeru could easily reclaim control of the Otori Clan. However, Takeo was abducted by the Tribe before he could carry it out, as the Kikuta family wished to claim his skills and make him one of them. Without Takeo, Shigeru was forced to go along with the marriage, but Sadamu had him accused of treason, imprisoned and tortured before it could take place. Sadamu then attempted to rape Shigeru's betrothed, Kaede, but she stabbed him to death before he could assault her. After making a bargain with the Tribe, Takeo rescued Shigeru and gave him a painless death, then wiped out most of Iida's retainers in Inuyama as the castle burned down.

At the same time, events in the Western Country came into play. Kaede's former friend (and fellow hostage of the Noguchi clan) Arai Daiichi, was a former ally of Shigeru. Shortly before Kaede's betrothal to Shigeru, Daiichi had been banished back to the Arai fief of Kumamoto by the unwitting Lord Noguchi. However, this was exactly what Daiichi wanted; he had long despised the Noguchi and the Tohan for their treachery at Yagaehara and resented his status as a hostage. Raising an army, he defeated first Kaede's father Lord Shirakawa- who had sworn allegiance to the Tohan- and then the Noguchi, killing most of the latter in revenge. Marching east, he gained support in the formerly Otori city of Yamagata- which had erupted into open rebellion against the Tohan once Shigeru's death was announced. As Takeo and his allies escaped Inuyama, Daiichi arrived in the Eastern Country to conquer it.

Knowing that the reigning Otori lords were involved in the plot to murder his former ally Shigeru, Daiichi soon began preparations to conquer them as well, both to avenge Shigeru and to bring the Otori fief under his control. The obvious ally for him to accomplish this was Takeo; as Shigeru's heir and (supposed) avenger, most of the Otori clan would likely defect to him already, giving the Arai a potentially easy conquest. Daiichi also wanted Takeo to marry Kaede, as it would bind her father to Takeo in alliance and secure his loyalty. Like Daiichi, Takeo wished to punish Shigeru's uncles for their treachery, and he and Kaede were genuinely in love. However, his agreement with the Tribe meant he had to renounce his Otori inheritance entirely or forfeit his life, and he disappeared soon after his meeting with Daiichi. Enraged at the Tribe for taking his opportunity for an early victory through Takeo, Daiichi began planning both a campaign to fight the Otori and to root out the Tribe.

Consolidation of Gains and Preparations
Daiichi began re-building Inuyama to serve as his new military headquarters; it was somewhat more centrally located than Kumamoto, and would better secure his conquests against the remaining Tohan warriors and vassals who had escaped Sadamu's fall. He set up some of his retainers as new vassals in the various Eastern territories and began re-building his army, which was stretched thin by its' various occupations. Despite Daiichi's genuine efforts to keep order across the Three Countries, various groups of bandits began gathering around mountain passes and roads outside villages.

Although Daiichi's conquests were vast- giving him control of nearly all the southern half of the Three Countries- his control was uncertain and his potential enemies numerous. The Otori lords had not yet declared war on him, but nor did they recognize him as their overlord. With Takeo's disappearance, their claim to the Otori clan's leadership no longer had any challengers, and Daiichi feared they might attempt to seize back Yamagata and some of the other former Otori fief possessions. As it was, while the current Otori fief was not especially large, their capitol (the port city of Hagi) was well-supplied, had excellent natural fortifications and was supposedly impossible to take by siege. The Otori were also the new primary employers of the Tribe, who originally worked mainly for Iida Sadamu; with Sadamu's fall, Daiichi's impulsive and ineffective campaign against the Tribe meant most of them defected to Shoichi and Masahiro. This gave the Otori a great advantage in intelligence and espionage, as well as the financial support of many Tribe merchants. However, the Otori, aware of Arai's greater military strength, did not seek open battle and instead consolidated defensive positions at Hagi and Tsuwano, increasing the already-heavy taxes on their subjects to build up money for a military campaign. After Takeo defected from the Tribe (both disillusioned by their cruelty and by the knowledge that the Kikuta killed his father for leaving them) the Otori lords, alarmed, began employing the Kikuta to hunt him down, as he was the biggest threat to their legitimacy.

Meanwhile, although the Arai domain was obviously loyal to Daiichi, the rest of the West was in turmoil. The sudden death of Lord Shirakawa temporarily raised the question of his succession for Daiichi; although he hoped to marry Kaede off to one of his retainers and thus secure the Shirakawa domain, Kaede told his representative that her father named her as his heir. She also managed to give the impression that she was more powerful and secure within Shirakawa than assumed, though also indicating that she was and intended to remain Daiichi's ally. In reality, she had financed the restoration of her domain through the support of her neighbor, the courtly nobleman Fujiwara, with whom she engaged in a dangerous game of intrigues and secrets.

Maruyama, a far more valuable domain to the north of Kumamoto, raised another problem for the Arai as, according to the Emperor's decree, it could only be inherited through the female line. Although the previous ruler, Lady Maruyama Naomi, named Kaede (her cousin) her heir before her death, Naomi's stepdaughter was also married to Sadamu's cousin Iida Nariaki, who had declared himself head of the remaining Tohan clan; Nariaki intended to claim Maruyama through her. Some of Maruyama's more conservative Seisshu retainers also chose to join Nariaki's forces Although the Tohan were crippled by the fall of Inuyama, if they joined with Shoichi and Masahiro they might prove strong enough together to present a real threat to Daiichi. He began making overtures to the Emperor to accept the Arai clan as officially sanctioned overlords of the Three Countries, in order to lend further legitimacy to his position.

The Otori-Shirakawa Marriage-Alliance
Almost a year after Sadamu's death, Daiichi was shocked and angered when Kaede disappeared in the early spring (supposedly while journeying to meet him at Inuyama) only to appear at the mountain temple of Terayama shortly after with none other than the resurfaced Otori Takeo. Having rejected the Kikuta (who had broken faith with him already) and found refuge and much support at Terayama, Takeo had been making plans to seek his Otori inheritance, aided by his friend Kubo Makoto and the abbot of the temple, Matsuda Shingen.

While at Terayama, Takeo married Kaede, without Daiichi's permission as her overlord. Takeo's plan was to gather support from discontented Otori warriors who felt more loyalty for Shigeru than his uncles; he and Kaede could then march to Maruyama, secure the domain in her name, and approach the Arai to negotiate. Takeo hoped to placate Daiichi's anger against him with a secret set of records that Shigeru compiled on the Tribe (kept for him at Terayama), which would prove extremely valuable to Daiichi in his campaign to destroy them. In return for Daiichi recognizing him as heir to the Otori and helping him defeat Shoichi and Masahiro (the offer Daiichi made him originally) Takeo and Kaede would swear allegiance to Daiichi and give him the records.

With the news of Takeo's appearance at Terayama, a number of the Otori warriors indeed flocked to join him. The Miyoshi brothers Kahei and Gemba, sons of the Otori's former chief retainers at Yamagata, also joined him to serve as his military advisers; in addition, a number of farmers from the Otori fief deserted their villages, took up arms and joined Takeo's force, much to the disapproval of Takeo's war council.

The Fujiwara-Arai Alliance
Unknown to either Takeo or Kaede, Fujiwara had been approaching Arai with terms of alliance; as a nobleman, he held great influence with the Emperor and thus could help Daiichi receive Imperial sanction to support his authority. His main wish in return was to marry Kaede, which would (for the Arai) solve the problem of her inheritance of Shirakawa and possibly Maruyama as well, thus making Fujiwara the ruler of both domains and giving the Arai stability in the West. Arai agreed to the match, though Kaede left for Terayama before the betrothal could formally be made. Her and Takeo's impulsive marriage angered and offended both Daiichi and Fujiwara and gave them further mutual cause. In Kaede's absence, her father's former retainer, Shoji- who did not trust Kaede and believed her actions would ruin the Shirakawa domain- released her hostage and turned her sisters over to Fujiwara, who promptly put them in Arai's custody as hostages.

Takeo's march to Kibi: crossing the mountain and the Battle of the Ford
Shortly after Takeo and Kaede's wedding, Jo-An, a leatherworker (outcast) and a member of the Hidden who supported Takeo, warns him that nearly six thousand Otori warriors have moved from Tsuwano to surround the roads leading north and south of Terayama, intending to intercept and destroy Takeo's force before he can reach either Maruyama or Yamagata. Badly outnumbered (his army, though growing, is barely a thousand men) Takeo instead leads his forces over the mountains west, by the same narrow path he took to reach the temple originally. The warrior monks at Terayama, meanwhile, intend to fortify the temple and resist the Otori in Takeo's name.

After crossing the mountain with some difficulty, Takeo and Kaede reach a river in full flood from the late spring rains, only to find the bridge destroyed and the Otori pursuing them, having learned of their movement over the mountains. Jo-An and several of his fellow outcasts, who have followed Takeo's army to assist him, build a makeshift floating bridge, which they use to cross the river and then destroy to prevent pursuit. Takeo and his men are attacked by a group of mounted bandits, whom they easily overwhelm, losing less than ten men. He gains one replacement from the headman of a nearby village the bandits were terrorizing, a young man named Jiro.

Takeo and Kaede then journey on to the small town of Kibi, barely garrisoned and held by one of Daiichi's minor retainers, Niwa Junkei. Takeo requests shelter and passage for his armies, promising that he does not intend to wage war against Junkei or Daiichi and that he intends to seek alliance with the Arai as soon as possible. Despite Daiichi's orders to detain Takeo if possible, Junkei is aware that he could not offer real resistance anyway, and is grateful that Takeo had dealt with the bandits (which Junkei himself had failed to do) so he allows Takeo's forces shelter and passage. The next day, they continue west towards Maruyama.

Battle of Asagawa
Takeo and Kaede are uncertain if Iida Nariaki had already moved into the domain of Maruyama, but determined to drive him out when they arrived six days later. They quickly realize that Nariaki's Tohan and Seisshu force of about 2,000 men have already passed through the town- the few remaining guards have been killed by the Tribe, allowing them an easy entrance- but Sugita Haruki, the chief retainer for the Maruyama clan, was expecting the attack and pulled his forces out of the town to seek battle on more favorable ground. Takeo rescues Haruki's orphaned nephew, Sugita Hiroshi, who swears allegiance to him and directs him to the battlefield. Haruki does not intend to fall back into Maruyama itself; although a prosperous town with a well-positioned castle, its' outer defenses have not been well-maintained, and storms have destroyed some of the stores, making it difficult for the Maruyama to resist a siege. Haruki is intending to draw the Tohan across a steep-sided ford in the Asagawa river, making it easy to bottleneck them and compensate for his weaker numbers. Nariaki has pursued him accordingly, burning and looting villages in his path.

With Hiroshi providing him with advanced knowledge of the terrain, and his army already rested, fed and eager to attack the Tohan, Takeo forms his battle plan. He sends his main lieutenant, Miyoshi Kahei, ahead with his cavalry to join the Maruyama, while he approaches the Tohan from the rear with his personal guard, archers and foot soldiers; the Tohan would thus be caught between two armies and anihilated. When the Otori reach the battlefield two hours later- having gained some reinforcements from farmers who were displaced by the Tohan- Sugita Haruki has already pushed Nariaki's forces back to the river itself despite being outnumbered almost two to one. Noticing Takeo's arrival, the Tohan immediately begin moving across the ford in an attempt to both avenge Iida Sadamu and kill the Otori commander; four of their warriors actually pierce the Otori center and come within striking range of Takeo before they are cut down. After an initial clash of the two armies- with the Maruyama and the Otori cavalry continuing to attack the Tohan's rear- Nariaki and Takeo break free of their personal guards and charge at each other. Nariaki loses his balance and is forced to jump from his horse, leaving himself vulnerable to the enemy infantry, but Takeo orders them to back away and dismounts himself. Nariaki charges Takeo, intending to cut him down, but Takeo quickly gets inside his longer reach, impaling and then beheading his opponent with Jato.

With the loss of their leader, the Tohan's discipline breaks; they fight ferociously but not as a collective, organized force. Most of them are on horseback, which puts them at a disadvantage in the middle of the steep-sided Asagawa ford; hemmed in from both sides by infantry and cavalry with spears and swords, they are killed to the last man. The Otori forces- about two thousand men by now, approximately the same size as their opponents- suffer only one hundred dead and another two hundred wounded. Many of the enemy weapons, armor and surviving horses are collected by Jo-An's outcasts for Takeo's use.

The battle of Asagawa is a great victory for the Otori in several respects: it removes the last threat of the Tohan to the Otori (which gains Takeo further loyalty from his own troops), secures Kaede's position as the only legitimate heir to Maruyama, and establishes Takeo as a competent battle commander. Most importantly, it leaves Takeo and Kaede's faction in firm control of a strong castle-town to use as a base of operations, and their forces are further bolstered by Sugita Haruki's men. The only force capable of launching a large attack against them is Arai Daiichi, but he is still busy securing his hold over the East Country and the lower half of the Middle Country; by the time he is ready to march west, Takeo intends to placate him with the Tribe records and an offer of alliance.

Takeo's Alliance with the Terada
After moving into Maruyama, Takeo and Kaede set about carrying out two major tasks: restoring the domain's agriculture and administration, and rooting out the Tribe. The former is easy enough to accomplish, with Kaede working alongside Sugita Haruki and the hard-working peasantry, but the few Tribe families remaining in Maruyama refuse Takeo's offer of renouncing their allegiance to the Tribe in favor of him, and there are two assassination attempts against him, both of which fail. In retaliation, Takeo uses his Tribe records to locate them, storms all their homes, has all adult Tribe members in Maruyama hanged or forced to kill themselves, and confiscates their property. Although this measure is disliked by the more conservative Maruyama retainers, it endears Takeo and Kaede to the peasant class, who have long been oppressed by the Tribe's extortion.

In preparation for his confrontations with both the Otori lords and Arai, Takeo decides to make a daring diplomatic move: offering an alliance with the Terada pirate clan on Oshima Island. The Terada have made off with many of the Otori's best sailors and ships over the years, and they have a small but well-kept fleet, which could give Takeo the option to attack Hagi by sea (it has never been taken by land, as its' geographic position is considered too formidable). Against the advice of both Kaede and Makoto, he travels to Oshima alone and meets with the Terada; his childhood friendship with the heir, Fumio, gives him a diplomatic advantage. Impressed by Takeo's boldness and seeing that his rise would allow them both revenge and greater profit- especially since Takeo is eager to continue their trade with the mainland and various "barbarian" ships they have been raiding- the Terada agree to an alliance. Unfortunately, Takeo is unable to return to Maruyama on-schedule due to a typhoon, which strands him temporarily on Oshima.

Daiichi's move west and Kaede's abduction
Meanwhile, news of Asagawa has reached Daiichi. Impressed by Takeo's skilled leadership but still determined to beat him, Daiichi begins moving his forces west along the south coastal road, confident that the Otori, despite their military buildup, will stay on the defensive around Hagi and Yamagata. Unaware of Takeo's journey to Oshima and expecting an ambush, Daiichi refuses to attack Takeo's position until he has gathered his full forces near Kumamoto, the Arai's ancestral stronghold on the southeastern tip of the West country.

In Takeo's absence, Kaede decides to return to Shirakawa briefly and bring her sisters back to Maruyama; she thoughtfully brings a copy of Takeo's tribal records with her, hiding them at a shrine on the Shirakawa river. Enraged to learn of Shoji's actions in her absence, she impulsively rides to Fujiwara's nearby estate to demand her sisters' return, unaware of his alliance with Daiichi. At first attempting to lure her inside, Fujiwara's household guard then kill her few guards and her horse; only Sugita Hiroshi manages to escape. Kaede is eventually met by Fujiwara, who explains her circumstances: he has told Daiichi all of the dark secrets she confided in him, meaning that she could be put to death at any time; her marriage to Takeo is also treated as unlawful. Fujiwara's personal obsession with possessing her means he is willing to spare her and marry her, but if she refuses her sisters will immediately be killed. Shirakawa and Maruyama will come under Fujiwara's inheritance, giving Daiichi security in the west and a friend in the Emperor's court; Fujiwara believes Takeo will soon be killed, either by the Tribe or by Daiichi's forces.

Left without a choice, Kaede vows to endure her imprisonment, believing Takeo will come for her as he did before.