Tankenka

Please note: This article is about the monk of Yaruki Jukko. For other uses of the term, please see Noshin (disambiguation).

Tankenka
Born:	1061
Died:	1123
People

Soshi Tankenka was cast out becoming the ronin Tankenka. He joined a monastery, but later he changed his name to Noshin when he fused with a water kami and considered himself Enlightened. When the kami was removed from his body and he retook Tankenka as name. He worked as a shikken to the Imperial Families in the last part of his life.

Becoming a Ronin

Tankenka was a Soshi Shugenja who had a natural affinity with the elements. In 1110 he was assigned to Scorpion force who were to take a small village north of Kyuden Suzume, promoting terror among the Minor Clans. It abhorred Tankenka who consciously failed to cast an illusion the general ordered, and the villagers were able to flee before they could be cut down. He was dubbed as Junshin by the Clan, dishonored and cast out.

Monk

In 1114 Tankenka eventually reach Yaruki Jukko, a monastery at the shores of Three Sides River near Kenson Gakka. He joined the Order of Courageous Reflection, who meditated before a reflective surface to reach Enlightenment.

Shinpu

Shortly after he arrived the monastery's shinpu died. The kami of Three Stone River, Shanshien, had abandoned its home and taken human form as the shinpu of the temple. The kami had sensed Tankenka and had drawn him to the temple. The kami revealed himself to Tankenka as the spirit of the late shinpu. The supposed ancestor explained to him that the temple was corrupted, only an undercover of a six hundred years old Scorpion operative to claim Kenson Gakka. Tankenka was guided by the spirit to becoming the shinpu of the Order.

Merging with the Kami

In 1118 during a terrible fever, Tankenka saw Sanshien for what it really was, and terrified attacked it. Sanshien rebelled, overpowering him. The kami fused with the body of Tankenka, and permanently subduing Tankenka's conscious mind. The monk changed his name to Noshin.

Slaughter at Yaruki Jukko

Festival

In 1120 Noshin was a fifty-nine years old, physically fit and incredibly focused. Since his arrival he became friend of the city's Lord, Matsu Kioma During the Festival of the Humble Turtle several of his monks released doves, an omen of war. Noshin quickly reached Kioma, to apologize, but the Lion demanded the monks had to leave immediately for the slight.

Kidnapped infant

Later he heard Akodo Ujide, son of the city's commanding officer Akodo Ikare, had been kidnapped. Noshin sensed the boy within a serie of secret tunnels built below the city, and went underground to find him. Shortly after entering the labyrinth, Noshin stumbled into hidden Scorpion stronghold, and fell prey to traps left behind.

Confronting the Mastermind

A group of samurai appeared and aided Noshim. Eventually the Scorpion mastermind, Bayushi Sozui, arrived and the samurai attacked her. The room was put to torch by Sozui, and the group were forced to escape through an underground river. Noshin breathed underwater, thanks to the water kami within his body.

Lion attack the monastery

The temple was attacked by the nearby Lion garrison of Kenson Gakka, after they were accused of the infant's abduction. Tankenka was the only monk who survived, and changed his name to Tantenka.

Zokujin's aid

Noshin was found by Kakera, a zokujin who was seeking him to return the kami of the river to its place. The water of the river had become stagnant and mire without the presence of the kami, corrupting the rocks beside it, the natural food of the Zokujin. Eventually, Kakera aided Noshin in separating himself from the kami within him, returning it to its home in Three Sides River, where it began to repair the damage done over the six years of its absence.

Tankenka

A small part of the kami still remained within him, a tiny kernel of the Water Element. Noshin took back his former name, claiming that he had lost his former sense of enlightenment, remaining Tankenka. He left the temple's place, taking a mirror used by his destroyed order. The fragment of the kami awaken the mirror, which became a nemuranai bond to Tankenka.

Shikken

Tankenka felt the imminent call of death, so he collected many favors owed, and arranged to become a shikken, an Imperial regent dedicated to preserving the peace. He donned the ceremonial grave clothes known as shinishozoku.

Tracking Down Sozui

Tankenka realized Sozui was present in several minor and major events which were increasing the tension between Lion and Crane, and decided to expose her.

Legacy of the Forge

Matsu Shimei, and armorer at the Castle of the Swift Sword, advised Tankenka that Sozui was investigating the accounts of Kitsu Jikai, a Kitsu Sodan Senzo, who wrote heretics scrolls about the Legacy of the Forge. By the time Tankenka arrived to Shiro Sano Ken Hayai, Sozui already had moved with a Lion accomplice to the area of Toshi Ranbo. The Legacy was a legion of toshi, fighting warriors of Toshigoku, and Jikai had written a ritual to command them on the Mortal World.

Crane-Lion War

In 1123 Tankenka arranged to be assigned to the peace negotiations at Toshi Ranbo, to track down Sozui there. The Lion's heir, Akodo Arasou, had been killed in combat against the Crane in the city's outskirsts two years before. The Emperor had ordered to arrange a ceasefire, and Tankenka met with his counterpart Asahina Denosei.

Legacy of the Forge Unleashed

Tankenka wrote in his journal what had happened these days, including the seppuku of Matsu Agame, publicly shamed by the revelation of his relationship with Doji Meiko, the daughter of the Crane general posted in that city. Tankenka had been instrumental in Agame's demise, when he told the samurai of the Kitsu and their ancient Legacy of the Forge.

Negotiations Broken

Agame's son, Matsu Izedan, stood as his second, and as Agame began the ritual suicide, Izedan was struck down by an arrow from the Crane lines, leaving him to an agonizing slow death. Peace efforts were cancelled and both armies fell upon each other, in the Battle of the Forgotten Tide. Bayushi Sozui, the Scorpion agent, was the responsible of the bloodshed again. She had exposed Agame's affair and concealed had fired the arrow which killed Izedan.

Death

Tankenka called a group of samurai to aid him in his peacekeeping efforts at Toshi Ranbo. Before he could met them the slaughtering Legacy had begun, so Tankenka found Sozui, who was performing the ritual. It eventually stopped, but Sozui threw Tankenka from the top of the city's walls, deatly wounded. Before Tankenka died he managed to inform the samurai group that they had to lead the Legacy of the Forge home, to Jigoku.

After Death

Tankenka and Akodo Arasou

The group of samurai were tricked by Goden to cross a portal which led them to Meido. Tankenka and Akodo Arasou arrived and explained the ritual which would stop the Legacy, and the place where the scroll could be found. Arasou explained he could not leave the physical plane until the Sodan Senzo who misguided him dies. They guided the samurai group back to Ningen-do.

See also

• Noshin/Meta

References

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