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Hida Sozen

Hida Sozen

Mirumoto Sozen was a bushi of the Dragon Clan who was sent as a hostage to the Crab Clan. He later swore fealty to the Crab as Hida Sozen. [1]

Student[]

The Dragon Clan Champion Togashi Satsu saw something in the brash bushi Sozen that others did not. He assigned Togashi Kazuki as his sensei. It was not often that a Mirumoto was assigned a Togashi tutor. Kazuki had to teach him the ways of Enlightenment. [2]

Crab Hostage[]

Hida Sozen 3

Hida Sozen

The Dragon needed to send a hostage to the Crab and Sozen volunteered out of boredom. Sozen found his true calling with his new clan and was personally granted permission by Satsu to swear fealty to Hida Kuon. His new Clan suited perfectly with Sozen's demeanor. [3] [4] He was appointed at the Kaiu Wall. As part of his previous teaching Sozen always meditated after the battles he fought. [2] Sozen was calm for a Crab, maintaining a quiet and relatively polite manner in company and in public. [5]

Enlightenment[]

Hida Sozen 2

Enlightened Sozen

Ironically, while so disinterested in Dragon ways and philosophy Sozen attained enlightenment with his new clan. In 1167 he already had realized that death and decay were part of the natural order of the world, and that destroying something or ending a life made him a part of that order. He found that his purpose in the world was to take the lifes of anynone that had to come to an end. [2] In 1168 Sozen shared his experience with a Wanderer in the Twilight Mountains, in the time the Emperor was in search of enlightenment. [4]

Crab Retaliation to the Scorpion[]

This year Sozen led an unit into Scorpion territory. They attacked and burned to the ground villages that had no strategic importance in retaliation for their attempts made on Kisada's life. It gave the Scorpion the opportunity to take their deserved punishment and felt no need to retaliate. It would made the peasants feel unprotected hurting its production. It was the beginning of the Crab-Scorpion War. [2]

Defending the Wall[]

Sozen in 1169 was part of the standing army that defended the Kaiu Wall. [6]

Race for the Throne[]

With the Imperial Throne empty, many Crab believed Kisada would be the best option as new Emperor, and Sozen was the champion of this cause. Since the Great Bear seemed uninterested in the notion of the Race for the Throne there were those who were beginning to believe Sozen might be a suitable man to take it. [7]

Chosen as Crab candidate[]

In winter of this year Sozen was in Shinsei's Last Hope spiriting the ronin who came to the Twenty Goblin Winter called by Kuon. He was summoned to Kyuden Hida by his Lord, while winter court was running. In front of all the Crab leaders Kuon appointed Sozen as the Crab candidate for Emperor. His connections with the Dragon could bring support from other quarters and there were many that claimed he had gained enlightenment. Kisada disagreed that Sozen was the best option, but Kuon kept his decision unchanged, despite he maintained support for Kisada's option to the Throne. [8]

Death of Art[]

In 1169 during the Third Yasuki War Sozen traveled to Shinden Asahina under orders from the Jade Champion Kuni Daigo. There he destroyed an ancient jade sculpture known as The Council and commandeered its fragments for use in Daigo's campaign against the Shadowlands. [9]

Third Yasuki War[]

In 1170 Sozen was in charge of the Crab army during the Third Yasuki War when he was visited by the Master of Fire Isawa Ochiai and her yojimbo Masakazu to attempt to end the war peacefully. Sozen refused the Phoenix intervention. Following the meeting [10] the Phoenix Clan Champion Shiba Tsukimi led the Shiba Army into Yasuki territory. The Crab and Crane fronts ceased to crash against one another and now, instead, they unified and turned against the Phoenix. Tsukimi realized it and withdrew their forces out of Yasuki lands. [11]

Destroyer War[]

Sozen commanded the Amoro's Legion during the Destroyer War. [12] In 1172 Sozen leading the Legion alongside a Mantis force led by the Mantis Clan Champion Yoritomo Naizen himself made to flee a horde of minor oni rushed from the flank of the Destroyer Horde that remained within the Shadowlands. A large Khol force led by Utaku Kohana and Shinjo Yamauchi struck and eradicated the oni. [13] The Legion was aided by the sohei of the Order of Venom against the raids of the Son of Fire riding his Great Wyrm. Hida Kaoru discovered evidence the monks were related with the called Spider Clan while investigating one of their assistant, the madman Udo. [14] After the Wyrm fled wounded by the Daidoji Iron Warriors led by Daidoji Kikaze, Sozen gave five minutes time for the Spider, and after it the Crab could not find them. It was supposed they had a stronghold in the area, the northern Dragon border. [15]

Centuriae[]

Crab warriors led by Kaiu Kyoka were completely cut off by the centuriae, an elite human unit who fought alongside the Destroyers. The Legion arrived and managed to repel these centurions. Hida Sozen vowed that he would kill the gaijin officer who commanded the enemy during this engagement. [16] In another engagement a centuriae detachment attempted to flank the southern front. They were turned back by Sozen and his Legion, working together with the sohei of the Order of Venom. [17] Then they moved to the southernmost portion of the peninsula east of Earthquake Fish Bay to engage Centuriae that had landed there. [18] He gained victory with the assistance of Spider Clan forces led by Michio, who stood alongside Sozen as a respected equal. [19]

Death[]

After the Destroyer War Sozen had at long last slaked his lust for battle. He found peace and he lived for many years after that. His great friend Togashi Sakata in 1199 found an area in the Colonies where lived a herd of docile beastmen Destroyers, which lacked the overwhelming bestial rage they had during the war. [20] The Dragon called the place Sozen's Legacy in his honor. [21]

See Also[]

External Links[]

References


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