Seppun Hotaitaka

Seppun Hotaitaka was daimyo of the Seppun family following the death of his father, Seppun Daiori, the previous Seppun Daimyo during the Scorpion Coup in 1123.
== Family ==
Seppun Daimyo's wife gave birth a boy, Hotaitaka, Seppun Hotaitaka (Siege of Sleeping Mountain flavor) in 1119, after sixteen years of childlessness. Seppun Daiori knew he was not the father, but loved the child dearly. Since the death of the child's mother in 1122, Daiori had raised the boy alone. Winter Court: Kyuden Seppun, pp. 107-108
== Scorpion Coup ==
His father Daiori survived the Scorpion Coup but his life was threatened several times in the next years. Winter Court: Kyuden Kakita, p. 84
== Siege of Sleeping Mountain ==
The first war Hotaitaka fought was the Siege of Sleeping Mountain. 
== Returned Spirits ==
The Seppun were wracked by the Returned Spirits of their family. Those who returned and predated Hantei XVI's death were appalled their descendants had participated in regicide, while spirits from afterward found themselves second-guessing the role their family had played. When the War of Spirits began in 1138 the family split, mortals sided Toturi I, and the spirits mainly joining the Hantei. Imperial Histories, p. 231
== Toturi's Daisho ==
Shortly after the death of Emperor Toturi I, Hotaitaka was given the Emperor's daisho by Shosuro Toson. Toson had removed the swords from the body of Toturi so they would not become Tainted. Hotaitaka did 
not immediately reveal the swords' discovery to Empress Toturi Kaede because he was concerned that they might have already been Tainted. In the time it took to be certain the blades were clean, Kaede had disappeared and left the Four Winds to challenge each other for claim to the throne. Fires of Toshi Ranbo, Part 1, by Rich Wulf
Hotaitaka kept the daisho a secret until a true Emperor was named, so that he would not give one a boon over the others. Hotaitaka fell ill shortly before the coronation of Toturi III and died shortly after, and a such was unable to pass the daisho along. His sucessor was unaware of the significance of the blades, and they remained away from the Imperial line until they were eventually recognized and presented to the Emperor by Otomo Hoketuhime. 
== Imperial Port ==
In 1158 Hotaitaka appointed his third cousin Seppun Chisekai as governor of Iron Turtle City, the Imperial Port in the Mantis Islands. Secrets of the Mantis, p. 22
== Successor ==
Seppun Kiharu led the Seppun after Hotaitaka Fealty and Freedom, p. 117 retired in 1166. Violence Behind Courtliness, by Shawn Carman and Rich Wulf
== External Links ==
* Seppun Hotaitaka (Siege of Sleeping Mountain)
Category:Imperial Leaders