The Arai Clan and Ariki
The Arai Clan has held Ariki as long
as anyone can remember. Their mon is a
white crane feather on black. The clan presently numbers 4 -
Tetsuo, (51, head of the clan, resident at
Ariki), his older brother Togai, (55,
currently banished to Kanto province where he serves the lord Ikeda
as a Gokenin), Tetsuo's son Ogame (18,
recently returned to Ariki after a spell at the school of Bujutsu in
Muso Shinden) and his sister Kozokura, (46, married to a minor court
official near Kyoto). Lord Tetsuo's wife died in childbirth. He has
not remarried but has taken a concubine (Namiko, 27). Tetsuo and
Togai's uncle (Haruhiso, 78) has retired to a monastery in Otsu, near
Kyoto.
In addition, Tetsuo has 4 Shi-Tenno ("picked men" - although one
is in fact a woman). The first three are the military commanders of
the castle - the role of the fourth is undefined except that they are
all companions to the lord. They are:
Inohara Renshin (48) The hatamoto. An excellent spearman and also
known as a masterly tactician. A friend of Lord Arai's during his
earlier days as a samurai in Kanto province and known to have played
a role in the southern clan wars as a minor general.
Kaneko Gohei (36) A huge bearded warrior. He is a master of
Bojutsu, and is sometimes seen practising with a tetsubo on the
bujutsu field. he is known to have a quick temper but it is not so
well known that he is also a master tactician. He served with Renshin
in the clan wars
Chibanosuke Munekiyo (39) A flashy swordsman and a keen hunter. He
has been a friend of Lord Arai since boyhood and his family has
served the Arai for generations.
Hane Tomoe (31) Unusually, she is a
woman warrior. It is rumoured (and disputed) that she has had/is
having an affair with the lord. She is obviously samurai and rumour
also has it that she is Kunoichi and an excellent swordswoman. She is
from a family that lives near Hoden monastery. Obviously no-one knows
much about her outside the castle.
There are 47 other samurai of varying qualities in the castle and
town and the castle can raise another 200 ashigaru. In addition,
given time, a much larger force could be gathered from the
countryside, of both samurai and ashigaru.
Personalities in the castle include:
Chibanosuke Shoan (67) Munekiyo's uncle and chancellor of the
castle. Has a reputation for being better with accounting than a
sword or soldiery, but his loyalty to the family is undoubted.
Kamadai Senkei (29) A castle samurai. Trained at Takenouichi, a
school specialising in close combat
Tendo Katsuiki (42) Wrestling trainer of White Feather Castle.
Lives in the Bujutsu hall.
Kanemaru Hidiyaki (31). Bushi. Also a skilled wrestler. Stocky and
muscular.
There are several dozen servants in the family's home, White
Feather Castle (named for the mountain that towers above Ariki).
White Feather Castle is not heavily fortified, but enjoys a
commanding position on a ridge above the village and river
valley.
The fief of Ariki is bordered on the
north by the Nakanishikawa family's lands and to the south by the
Miyajima. The Nakanishikawa are a fairly poor mountain clan. They
resent the fact that the Arai have shown no inclination to upgrade
the rough road that connects Ariki to Shingan and the fact that they
have to pay extra to import most of their material through Ariki.
This resentment has not flowed into hostility because of the superior
numbers of bushi that the Arai command and their reputed better
quality (especially Tetsuo and his Shi-Tenno, who are worth 50
ordinary bushi). The Miyajima family is wealthier as they have the
town of Kubota as their seat - the only port of any size on this
rugged coast. Their lands extend several days march southward, and
their attention is focused mainly on their larger neighbours
southward and on controlling the valley of the Two Horses river. They
have cordial relations with the Arai, but in truth the two families
have little to do with each other.
The land all along the coast is rugged, with steep foothills
leading into mountains, their upper slopes clothed with bamboo and
pine. The villages mostly cling to the edges of rivers with their
margin of cultivatible land or make their living from fishing the
rocky coast. Most communication with the rest of Nippon is by ship,
although there is a rough track running past Hoden
monastery over the mountains.