Hantei Genji

Please note: This article is about the son of Hantei. For other uses of the term, please see Genji (disambiguation).
Hantei Genji was the son of the Kami Hantei and the second Emperor of Rokugan, who reigned as Hantei II. Hantei Genji was coronated as the new Emperor 5 months after the death of his father. He was also known as the Shining Prince, The Imperial Wedding, by Rusty Priske the Son of Heaven, To Change the World, by Rich Wulf and the Poet Emperor. Imperial Histories 2, p. 32 He married a Doji woman of the Crane Clan, as his father had and as many other Emperor would after him.
== War Against Fu Leng ==
=== Before Day of Thunder ===
Genji looked so sad when the Thunders departed. Shadowed Souls, by Rich Wulf
=== Hantei's Mausoleum ===
Genji erected the Temple to Hantei after the Battle of Four Winds as a place his father could pass on in peace. Otosan Uchi:Book 2, p. 83
== Reign ==
In the year 46, several months after the death of his father Hantei Genji was declared Hantei’s heir and the new Emperor, Hantei II. His younger brother Hantei Yamato gave up the Hantei name and swore fealty to the Otomo. This began the tradition of the siblings of the Imperial Heir taking the Otomo name. Winter Court: Kyuden Seppun, p. 38
===First Achievementes===
Hantei Genji was himself a fine poet, and under his reign, the arts flourished throughout Rokugan. Many of the cultural traditions of Rokugan began during his reign, no small amount of which were begun by Genji himself. The types of food eaten within the empire, interaction customs between samurai, and even the Shintao faith were developed directly under Genji. Winter Court: Kyuden Seppun, p. 82 He was seen as a true visionary, coupling his father's ethics and his mother's love of beauty into one feudal system, as it was portrayed in Tale of Genji. Winter Court: Kyuden Seppun, pp. 27-28
=== Shogunate ===
Before Sun Tao left the Empire, he proposed to Genji the creation of the shogunate. The Shining Prince was initially reluctant to share command of the Imperial forces, but eventually he was convinced about the wisdom in the proposal. Emerald Empire: Third Edition, p. 114
=== Isawa's Last Wish ===
The Isawa's Last Wish was a powerful and dangerous artifact, but had not been finished and was unstable. Genji decided to hide it in a small shrine in the mountains, but the Isawa and Asako families began arguing about who would control the shrine and guard the Wish. To Change the World, by Rich Wulf
In the year 46 Secrets of the Phoenix, p. 9 Genji ordered that the Wish should never be finished, and Isawa's notes be destroyed. The Wish sensed that Genji had been a good man, once, but the world had changed him. To make the Empire safe, Genji had done many terrible things. In the year 47 Imperial Histories 2, p. 33 Genji tasked the Shiba family as guards of the Wish, as their bushi would not allow the device to reach out to the kami. 
=== Niten ===
The Dragon Clan presents a copy of Niten to Hantei Genji. He encouraged the Dragon to copy and distribute the book around the nascent Empire. 
=== Marriage ===
In the year 49 Hantei Genji married Doji Oborozukiyo, who was called by the poets of the day "the Lady of the Misty Moon." The first encounter of the couple happened during a Cherry Blossom Festival, Winter Court: Kyuden Seppun, p. 66 arranged by Lady Doji herself, who had found her a suitable wife for her nephew. 
=== Clan Conflicts ===
In the year 50 the Matsu family attacked the Kakita family's holdings south of Otosan Uchi, goaded by the stories of Kakita's insults against their founder. The Phoenix allied the Crane, while the Scorpion supported the Lion. Genji decreed such actions legal and honorable. The Matsu eventually halted their attacks, feeling they had proven their point. 
=== Denouncement of ancestral testimony ===
In the year 53 the Scorpion revealed that one of the "spirits" summoned by the Kitsu Sodan Senzo testifying in a particular trial was supposedly the soul of a Matsu general who was in fact still alive. Genji declared all magic invalid in legal proceedings. Secrets of the Lion, p. 6
=== Shintao ===
Genji merged the twin religions of Shinseism and kami no michi. He elevated Kaze-no-Kami as te Fortune of Wind, and sanctioned the Order of the Wind and their practices as acceptable. Book of Air, pp. 96-97 In the year 61 he ordered construction of the Shrine of Discussion, the first Shintao temple. Imperial Histories 2, p. 34
=== Fox Clan ===
In the year 89 the remaining remnants of the Ki-Rin Clan petitioned the Emperor for assistance in combating bandits plaguing their lightly-populated lands. Genji ordered the Lion Clan to deal with the problem, who expelled the remaining members of the Ki-Rin from their lands. In the year 90 Genji gave them new lands in the south and proclaimed them as the Fox Clan, the first Minor Clan in the Empire. He also issued an Imperial Edict forbidding full-scale warfare of Great Clans against Minor Clans. Imperial Histories, p. 19
=== Tsi family ===
During his reign Hantei Genji was impressed with the work of the gaijin smith Tsi Wenfu and declared him no longer a gaijin and the Tsi family was founded. Way of the Samurai, p. 6
=== Ancestral Sword of the Hantei ===
The Ancestral Sword of the Hantei, Kunshu, was forged for Hantei Genji by the legendary swordsmith Doji Yasurugi. Passion, by Rich Wulf Immortal Steel, by Shawn Carman
=== Fox Clan Sword ===
Genji had the Ancestral Sword of the Fox Clan taken from the Fox Clan sometime during the third century. It was given to Togashi Nyoko who reforged the sword and wrapped the hilt with silk made from the Kami Shinjo. Beneath the silk was secretly, per Genji's order, hidden the Black Scroll The Walking Horror of Fu Leng. The sword was then stolen by the Scorpion Clan and hidden beneath the mountains by Otosan Uchi. As it was officially the Scorpion's duty to guard the Black Scrolls, it is very likely that Genji authorized the Scorpion to take the sword. Nightmares, by Ree Soesbee
=== Iaijutsu ===
In the year 152 Genji commanded Soshi Saibankan and the Emerald Champion Doji Hatsuo to re-organize the Empire's law enforcement, Imperial Histories 2, p. 35 and the next year selected Dark Edge Village to hold the Emerald Champion tournaments. Strongholds of the Empire, p. 51 In the year 163 they officially issued their reforms on the Imperial Law, developing the framework for the Emerald Magistrates and the Imperial Legions. Hantei Genji sanctioned iaijutsu as the official way to settle disputes between samurai. He declared the winner of a duel was chosen by the favor of the Celestial Heavens, making it a foolproof method. 
=== Fortunes ===
In the year 175 Genji elevated the late Saibankan as Fortune of Magistrates and Judges. Imperial Histories 2, p. 37 He also elevated a farmer, Inari, as the Fortune of Rice and Good Grain. Roleplaying in the Emerald Empire, p. 137 He denied to grant Kaimetsu-uo the status of Fortune of Serenity. Book of Earth, p. 112
=== Fate of the Ki-Rin Clan ===
The blessed mirror which keeps contact with the Ki-Rin Clan had not conferred the words of Shinjo in decades. In 198 Hantei Genji gave the mirror to the Seppun Daimyo as a gift for his coronation, who swore to guard it with his life. Imperial Histories 2, p. 152 In 223 the mirror went dark and the Ki-Rin's Star banished from the sky. The Empire concluded that the Ki-Rin Clan had been lost. Hantei Genji declared a festival celebrating and remembering the lost Ki-Rin. At the next Winter Court the darkened mirror was given to the Master of Air. Imperial Histories 2, p. 153
== Ascension of Hantei Genji ==
A great festival was held to celebrate the rule of the Poet Emperor, and a week later, in the year 247, Hantei Genji died, but popular legend claimed that, like his father, the Shining Prince did not die, but ascended to Tengoku. Legend of the Five Rings Roleplaying Game: Third Edition, p. 11
== Notes of Interest about Genji ==
Genji forged the Kitsune Nagamaki The Kitsune Nagamaki (Pearl flavor) and he was considered the most skilled player in the courtly Game of Letters. Winter Court: Kyuden Kakita, p. 68 His story was writtten by Ikoma Noritobe in an epic tale named "The Prince of Heaven". Secrets of the Lion, p. 45
== See also ==
* Hantei Genji/Meta
== External Links ==
* Hantei Genji (Dawn of the Empire)
Category:Imperial Leaders