Togashi

From L5r: Legend of the Five Rings

Togashi

Born:	Pre-calendar
Died:	1128
Parents:	Onnotangu, Amaterasu
Siblings:	Akodo, Bayushi, Doji, Fu Leng, Hantei, Hida, Ryoshun, Shiba, Shinjo
Spouse:	Bayushi Kuninoko
Children	Togashi Hoshi
Titles:	Dragon Clan Founder, Togashi family founder, Dragon Clan Champion
People

Togashi was the founder of the Dragon Clan, one of the Kami that fell from Tengoku when the stomach of Onnotangu was cut open by Hantei. He is one of the three Kami that did not participate in the Tournament of the Kami, the other two being Fu Leng and Ryoshun,^[1] declaring that he already knew the outcome. Togashi himself never died, though he changed identity every fifty years or so, and continued to personally rule the Dragon Clan for over 1100 years. ^[2]

[edit] After the Fall

After the Fall of the Kami the other brothers and sisters of Togashi gathered many followers, but Togashi wished no one to follow him. After his lesson with Shinsei he retreated to the mountains in northern Rokugan where he thought he could be left alone. This turned out to be impossible as two humans had followed him there. Together with Mirumoto and Agasha the three built a temple to Amaterasu and a castle around the temple to protect the temple. Togashi and his two followers remained here for many years, and word of their temple grew, drawing more followers to the Dragon Clan. Many of Togashi's new followers went for Togashi's wisdom. Others showed promise with the sword and were trained by Mirumoto, and Agasha trained those remaining who showed insight into the ways of the elements. ^[3]

[edit] Duty

All the kami were given tasks by their brother Hantei. Togashi was charged to "Watch the Emerald Empire. Through your eyes, the truth of history shall be known." Togashi knew that truth could not be known without separation from the mundane, as so he retreated up into his mountain. He remained in seclusion, studying the words of Shinsei, communed with the spirits of the Elements, and above all watched the Empire. Records of Togashi's observances are kept in the depths of Kyuden Togashi. Every event from the birth of the tiniest sparrow to the death of the greatest Emperor is chronicled here. They are written in a strange serpentine script that only the wisest monks can comprehend. ^[2]

[edit] Seclusion

Togashi would rarely leave the mountains in over a thousand years. The few times he did marked tremendous changes in the Empire. Each time, the destiny of the Empire hung in the balance. His passings have been marked with storms, earthquakes and other natural phenomenon, none of which could be connected to him. In the beginning of the twelfth century his appearances in Rokugan would increase, portending some major event to come. (Day of Thunder)^[4]

[edit] War Against Fu Leng

[edit] Gathering Thunder

At the height of the war, the armies of Fu Leng were pushing the defending Crab back slowly. None of the Kami were willing to confront their mad brother, and defeat seemed inevitable when a wise man named Shinsei appeared. He revealed that a small group of individuals could infiltrate the Shadowlands and defeat Fu Leng, but they would have to be mortals. Hantei, grievously wounded from a recent battle, declared that one individual from each clan be sent to join in this endeavor. Togashi put forth his own yojimbo Mirumoto as the Dragon Thunder. Shinsei assembled the remaining Seven Thunders personally, and joined them on the quest to defeat the Ninth Kami.^[5]

[edit] Day of Thunder

The Seven Thunders and Shinsei made their way deep into the Shadowlands, where they found Fu Leng and defeated him. The cost was heavy, as only Shinsei and Shosuro survived the fight. They fled north, with the First Oni and many other creatures pursuing. The timely intervention of Shiba allowed Shinsei and Shosuro to reach Rokugan, but at the expense of Shiba's life. Fu Leng had been defeated, but at a very high cost.^[6]

[edit] Togashi, Bayushi and Shosuro

Togashi saw the destiny of Bayushi's follower Shosuro, and came to warn his brother that she would have to walk her own path alone. Bayushi was very angry with Togashi, and refused to believe his foreseen future.^[7] Sometime later after the Day of Thunder, Shosuro fled the Scorpion Clan and sought refuge with Togashi in hopes the Lying Darkness within her could be stopped. Togashi encased her in a crystal prison, but she later escaped. ^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Togashi's family

Unlike his brothers and sisters, Togashi never took a bride nor had any children (that, until recently, the empire knew of; see Togashi's Son. The Togashi family, which bears his name, is a family not of blood in the traditional sense. The Togashi are the Ise Zumi which came to follow Togashi (and now his grandson, Togashi Satsu). Though they were not descended from the Dragon Kami himself, Togashi used his own blood to give power to their tattoos, so they are, nevertheless, connected by Togashi's blood. ^[8]

Some of those who sought to join him were pushed to their limits, mentally and physically. One such individual, Akodo Kaiteru, became one of the first to bear the Togashi name after he almost starved to death in the Dragon mountains.^[9]

"You have sought out my wisdom, my guidance, and you shall have it. I see a Dragon on your soul, and I will paint it for all the world to see."

-Togashi

^[9]

[edit] Togashi's Son

Two centuries after the foundation of Rokugan, Bayushi Oshiso, then the Scorpion Clan Champion, decided to attempt to infiltrate the lands of the Dragon Clan. Oshiso sent his daughter Bayushi Kuninoko to gather information from the enigmatic Clan. Oshiso did not see his daughter for seven years, but when she returned, her hair was streaked with grey and she was completely blind. But she had the secret for which her father was searching.^[10]^[11]

Oshiso's daughter told him that the man the empire knew as Togashi Kuzejiro, the Dragon Clan Champion, was in fact the Kami Togashi under an assumed name, still alive after two hundred years. She also told him that she was pregnant with the son of Togashi, and that she needed to return to Kyuden Togashi. Oshiso tried to stop her, but eventually had to let her go, never to see her again.^[12]

The Scorpion Clan kept this information, its most closely guarded secret, until the Second Day of Thunder, when it became knowledge throughout the Empire. Nor were the Bayushi surprised afterward when Togashi Hoshi revealed himself and attempted to take control of the Dragon. ^[12]

Togashi was secretly proud of the progress his son made, hoping his son would help his clan prevail through the dark times he foresaw coming.^[2]

[edit] Togashi the Dragon

Togashi was the first dragon to enter the world of men, but where the other dragons are physical avatars of powers in the universe he was not. His form as a dragon represented the wisdom of the world, and the enormous potential it contained. When he first touched the earth he lost the immortality that all dragons share. In exchange however he gained the ability to see the world as it truly was. The other dragons refused to give up their immortality, and as such remained bound to their respective elements and could not view the world outside the confines that it presented. Togashi considered his immortality an easy trade. He would frequently speak with the other dragons, and his discussions with Osano-Wo were legendary within the monastic order of his family.^[2]

[edit] Togashi and the Gozoku

Like all Scorpion Clan Champions since Bayushi Oshiso, Bayushi Atsuki knew the secret of Togashi's existence and met him in counsel shortly before Atsuki and the rest of the Gozoku was preparing to assassinate the Emperor and take control of the Empire. The Dragon Kami instead advised him to kidnap the heir and control the throne from the shadows instead of killing them outright. After taking this as a sign of approval from a child of Tengoku, the Gozoku changed their plans and thus preserved the Hantei line.^[10]

Later, as Hantei Yugozohime prepared to take the throne from her Gozoku-controlled brother, Togashi ordered the Mirumoto family bushi to cut off the Imperial Lands, preventing the Gozoku from coming to the aid of their puppet heir. With Yugozohime's coronation as Empress, the Gozoku's power was at an end. ^[10]

[edit] Kokujin

In 1120, Togashi, realizing that a confrontation with his brother was inevitable, set to prepare himself for it. But the flesh bound Kami found that the thousand years in mortal form had left him vulnerable to such things as doubt and fear. Knowing that he could not show such weaknesses in the battle to come, he took the unusual step of nurturing two tamashii. Into one, he poured all his fears, doubts, anger and other negative emotions. Unfortunately, the act broke the mind of the tamashii, and despite Togashi's attempts to help him, he escaped and fled the Dragon lands. Soon this former Ise Zumi took a new name, Kokujin. ^[13]^[14]

[edit] Scorpion Coup

Sometime prior to the Scorpion Coup in 1123, Scorpion Clan Champion Bayushi Shoju met with Togashi.^[15] The exact details of their conversation is unknown, but it is believed that Shoju asked Togashi's advice on the Prophecies of Uikku.

Shortly after the Coup was enacted, Hoshi wrote a letter to his father begging him to keep the Dragon Clan out of the events unfolding at the capital. Hoshi suspected the true motivations for Shoju's actions, and felt the Dragon should allow the Scorpion, his mother's clan, to complete the task they had set before them.^[16]

[edit] Togashi's Death

Togashi died during the Second Day of Thunder at the hand of Mirumoto Hitomi. Hitomi was forced to kill the Kami after he was crippled by Fu Leng. The Twelfth Black Scroll was hidden within his beating heart, and Hitomi was forced to retrieve it so that the Dark Kami could be finally defeated. ^[17]

[edit] Togashi Satsu

Togashi's grandson Togashi Satsu retrieved Togashi's Daisho from the mad monk Kokujin in 1159. This allowed Togashi to being guiding Satsu.^[18]

"Are you surprised? Were you not told that when you regained my swords that my wisdom would be yours as well?"