Doji Rengetsu

Doji Rengetsu
Born:	Unknown
Died:	1198
People

Doji Rengetsu was a courtier and artisan of the Crane Clan.

Imperial Court

Doji Rengetsu blaming a Mantis

Rengetsu was a Crane representative at the Imperial Court in Toshi Ranbo during the reign of the Empress Iweko I. She was also an attaché with the Daidoji Trading Council.

Dark Naga

In 1198 the Imperial Chancellor announced to the court that members of the Great Clans with ties to the Naga race were being targeted by an unknown foe. The Emerald Magistrate Doji Hakuseki was appointed by the Empress as the Imperial investigator. The Imperial Herald arrived and told the Imperial Governor of the Colonies Ikoma Katsuru had been slain in the Second City.

War with the Mantis

Rengetsu had had an affair with Yoritomo Emoto, and after he had been appointed in the Colonies, they continued in contact playing games of go through letters. His letters stopped coming when tensions raised between both clans, in the edge of war. Rengetsu and Emoto were sent before the Emerald Champion Utaku Ji-Yun to testify. The Doji family had requested that the Mantis be rebuked for their aggression to the Crane in the Colonies, which had begun after Yoritomo Tsang's death in aduel with a Daidoji. The Emerald Champion sanctioned that the Mantis would seek to redress an affront to their honor, so permission for war between the two Great Clans was granted, as the Empress Iweko I only forbade warring in Rokugan.

Mantis Banishment

During the Mantis-Crane War in the Colonies the Imperial Governor of the Colonies Otomo Suikihime ordered to cease the Mantis strikes against the Crane until the Kitsuki finished an investigation on the matter. As the order was countermanding the judgment of the Emerald Champion, the Mantis did not stop. For their defiance, the Mantis representative Yoritomo Sakuma was told in front of Rengetsu that any member of the Mantis were banished from the Second City.

Talks with the Mantis

Daigotsu Subudi, the head mediator in the colonial war, had arranged a meeting between parties at Kalani's Landing. Through seniority Rengetsu replaced her student Doji Iza as leader in the negotiations, where she confronted Yoritomo Sachina. The talks between the parties came into a state of uselessness. Shortly after a Crane fleet attacked the Landing, and both Crane as honored guests were allowed to join the ship of Daidoji Tametaka, instead to be seized as prisoners.

Facing the Mantis

During the Battle of Twin Forks City Rengetsu was placed onboard the Bladed Wing, to assist Daidoji Tobei in coordinating the naval assault against Emoto's fleet. The Crane vessels had been filled with soldiers and expected to catch the enemy unprepared.

Death

The Crane ships found themselves on two fronts after Yoritomo Hiromi's fleet moved upriver from the south. Tobei was preparing to turn on their gaijin allies, with experience in making explosives. Rengetsu confronted Tobei, who went mad, killing a fellow Crane while he was trying to stab Rengetsu. The explosives planted by Daidoji Saboteurs in the enemy commander's ship, the Third Kama, were set by a Mantis flaming arrow. Nearly all of the samurai on the water had been consumed by the blast. The Crane fleet was practically wiped out, and only the few Mantis ships that had remained behind the charge survived.

Rengetsu's Last Gift

Emoto survived the Battle of Ten Thousand Martyrs, and the Crane Clan Champion Doji Makoto believed it was appropriate that he still received a gift Rengetsu had intended for him before the war began, a go set. The glass beads were blue shells worked into mantis images, and green stones inlaid in the patterns of a crane.

External Links

• Doji Rengetsu (Forgotten Legacy)

References

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