Akodo Maeda

Please note: This article is about the last member of the Damasu family. For other uses of the term, please see Maeda (disambiguation).
Reika, the last member of the defunct Damasu family and daughter of its late daimyō Damasu Kojima, was raised as a geisha. She rejoined the Lion Clan as Damasu no Akodo Maeda, and its last Daimyō.
== Demise of the Damasu family ==
Born the daughter to Damasu Kojima, ruler of the Golden Valley, the ancestral home of the Damasu family, and lord of Kyotei Castle. Wedding at Kyotei Castle, p. 5 The stronghold was close to Toshi Ranbo, an it became the target of Doji Retsu, the Tsume Daimyō. To shore up the Crane Clan's logistical lines to Toshi Ranbo (and to fuel his own ambition) Lord Tsume Retsu besieged the castle, eventually overcoming its defenses and slaughtering every member of the Damasu family Love and Death (FFG Web) in 1103. 
== Geisha ==
The rōnin Itto, one of her father's sworn samurai, had smuggled her out of the castle as a baby during Tsume Retsu's slaughter. To protect her and keep her close to her home, he sold her to the Pine House, a geisha house in the shadow of the castle, where she trained to become the geisha named Reika. She used to wore her long, jet-black hair in a high chignon bun. This same retainer kept watch over her until she came of age, when they revealed her true identity. She swore revenge against the Tsume family and began training in swordsmanship. 
== Revenge ==
Reika began a relationship with Tsume Takashi, Retsu's son and his heir, who was a frequent visitor of the Pine House. Takashi fell in love with her, and Reika manipulated Takashi into a relationship so that she could gain access to the inner castle at Kyotei and murder his father, Tsume Retsu, in his very bedchambers, in 1120. Reika escaped with the help of Itto. Wedding at Kyotei Castle, p. 3 The truth of her crime was never found, and Reika fled the city not long after to rejoin the Lion Clan. 
== Claiming her Heritage ==
Reika and Itto lived on the road for some years, gathering rōnin allies to her cause in the promise that she would one day elevate them to be Damasu samurai, including a warrior named Kuu. Eventually, she was brought to Akodo Toturi himself. The Lion Clan Champion accepted her as the legitimate heir to the Damasu, and she took the name Maeda. 
== Death ==
In 1123 her former lover Takashi announced his wedding with Shiba Itsuyo, and Maeda accepted Takashi's wedding invitation on behalf of Ikoma Ujiaki, which the Crane had extended out of courtesy but did not expect to have accepted due to the bad blood. There, she plotted to marry Takashi but rule as lord, returning the castle to the Lion Clan in the process. Eventually her plot was uncovered by a group of samurai and Maeda was slain in the process. 
== See also ==
* Damasu Maeda/Meta
Reika
Damasu Maeda