Tsuruchi Terao

Tsuruchi Terao was a skilled archer from the Tsuruchi family. He was one of many Tsuruchi who chose to follow the ways of their days as the Wasp Clan, choosing not to carry a daisho and to usually wear a scarf of black and yellow -- the colors of the former minor clan.
== Station ==
Terao was stationed on Kyuden Ashinagabachi at command of the Tsuruchi Daimyo Tsuruchi Ichiro. Stray Arrow, by Rich Wulf
== Plot against Kumiko ==
In 1159 Tsuruchi Nobumoto, who had been exiled from Kyuden Ashinagabachi by Ichiro, came to warn the Tsuruchi Daimyo about a plot. Yoritomo Kitao, the Mantis Clan Champion, had offered Yutaka the charge of Tsuruchi Daimyo in return for the corpse of Yoritomo Kumiko, in a private meeting with Yoritomo Naizen. Yutaka knew the location of the Daughter of Storms, and Ichiro send Nobumoto with five more Tsuruchi, to pursue him. Between the five were Terao and Tsuruchi Heishiro , the cousin of Yutaka. The sister of Nobumoto, Tsuruchi Fusako, was with the haunting party of Yutaka as spy. 
=== A Tsuruchi killed a Tsuruchi ===
Yutaka took prisioner Fusako and was killed by Terao when his cousin threatened the life of his hostage. The death of Yutaka was widely considered the start of the Mantis Civil War. 
== Scorpion movements ==
In 1160 Terao saw strange Scorpion troop movements, as if they were to strike another Scorpion forces. Terao informed Ichiro and was commanded to follow them to see if it was a threaten for the Mantis. Control the Field (Winds of Change flavor) The Scorpion raided several strongholds of the Shadowed Tower. Four Winds, p. 59
== Enlightenment ==
Like many others from his family, Terao was accustomed to scouting and hunting down criminals. The rigors of war lay outside of his experience until he was assigned to work with the Yoritomo in the War of Fire and Thunder. It was during a skirmish with a Phoenix patrol that Terao was pinned down by a shugenja's onslaught, and he was certain that no matter what action he took, he would die. The certainty of his death freed something in his spirit, and Terao leapt from his hiding place, firing arrow after arrow, laughing wildly all the while. Some say that the experience drove him mad. Others that it set him free. Which was true - or were both equally true? Test of Enlightenment
== External Links ==
* Tsuruchi Terao (Fall of Otosan Uchi)
* Tsuruchi Terao Exp (Test of Enlightenment)
Category:Enlightened
Category:Mantis Clan Members
Category:Characters with Pictures