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Oyuki Fujihara

Origins

Oyuki Fujihara was actually born as Hiroko Yoshimune, the youngest daughter to a wealthy and powerful daimyo.  Lord Yoshimune's wife Lady Miyoshi, was an unusually strong-willed woman for her station, but she loved her daughter dearly and was the envy of many other neighboring lords.

During this time the fiefdom and many around it were being attacked from within by spies and assassins.  Lady Miyoshi had already lost a son in infancy to these killers, and swore that she would never let anything like that happen again.  Lord Yoshimune made many promises, but neither he nor any of the other lords seemed to be able to do anything.

Lady Miyoshi finally decided to do something on her own.  Since the noblewomen were often left to fend for themselves, she proposed that she found a school where they could be trained to defend themselves aggressively against internal attack.  Most women were trained to use a halberd or spear, but nothing beyond that.  Miyoshi wanted the women to be trained thoroughly in many martial arts.

Lord Yoshimune disagreed.  The more he heard about the plan, the more it sounded (to him) like she was trying to get women to foment revolt.  He had his wife placed under house arrest and dispatched his men to investigate just how far she was planning to take this thing.  Unfortunately, this only made Miyoshi's resolve all the stronger.  To that end, she kidnapped her own daughter (although Hiroko wasn't aware that it was kidnapping!) and took her to the dojo she had been building in secret, a converted convent for Buddhist nuns.  Over twenty other noblewomen had come there as well.

For several weeks they trained intensely, avoiding detection by the authorities.  Hiroko trained with them as well, as much as a girl of seven can do so.  Then it all ended one day, when Lord Yoshimune arrived with fifty men and ordered them to surrender.  His wife met him in the forest outside the dojo and insisted she was doing the right thing.  When she refused to surrender, Yoshimune slaughtered her in plain view of her own daughter.

Aghast, Hiroko ran screaming into the forest.  Behind her, Yoshimune's army slaughtered every woman in the place and burnt it to the ground.  Even the old bonze who had protected them was executed.  Hiroko ran, not looking back, until she collapsed from exhaustion.  A blizzard came and covered her body until only her hand protruded from the snow.

It was this hand that attracted the attention of a passing kendo teacher, a man named Inoshi Fujihara.  At first he was certain the girl was dead, but then he realized with a shock that there was still warmth and life in the tiny body.  He put her across his shoulders and brought her back to his dojo, in a town near Kyoto, where she came slowly back to health over the next week or so.

He named her Oyuki, after the snow he found her in.  In gratitude, she took his last name, and became his daughter in all but fact.  The further she could get away from her origins, the better.  Better to be the daughter to a dojo instructor than the daughter of a murdering fiend who'd slaughter his own wife on general principles.

At the age of nineteen, Oyuki left the dojo to find her own life.  Inoshi had offered her a position in the dojo, but she wanted instead to see more of the world she had never seen.  Inoshi wished her the best and assured her that she would be always welcome.  After some wandering, she met and eventually married Yoshiro Metsukuno, and now lives with him in his village where she is the co-magistrate.

Present

Oyuki is highly skilled in both kendo and archery, and recently added judo as another of her fighting skills.  She is also a very capable mediator and judge, and is called upon regularly to help mediate conflicts within the town.  Fairness and a cool head are more important to her than flashy demonstrations of strength or skill in any endeavor.

Desires

Despite being settled and happy with her husband, there are still things that Oyuki has never resolved in her life.  For one, her father is still alive and has never been punished (in her eyes).  In the best of possible worlds, she would hunt him down and kill him, but she is also trying to balance that out by looking to the present and the future -- if she did that, everything she has now would be destroyed.

Fates

Eventually, whether or not there is anything to facilitate it, Oyuki will go looking for her father.  What she does when she finds him -- or what he does -- is not something anyone can predict with any degree of accuracy.

Life (Strength + Stamina + Ki + Karma) X 4 = 48

[14 left over]

Standard Equipment:

• Matched swords (daisho)

• Long-bow

• 30 arrows

• Tessen (war fan)