Isawa Sachi

Please note: This article is about the Master of Earth. For other uses of the term, please see Sachi (disambiguation).
Usagi Sachi was born into the Hare Clan, became ronin Sachi with the clan's disbanding in 1123, and joined the Phoenix Clan during the offer of fealty given by Naka Kuro and Phoenix Clan Champion Shiba Tsukune following the Clan's losses during the Clan War as Isawa Sachi. He was a powerful Earth shugenja, though his grandfather was one of the finest Water shugenja to come from the Usagi family. In his time with the Phoenix, Sachi quickly became one of the elder sensei of the Isawa Academy, and he was chosen to become the Master of Earth upon the death of Isawa Taeruko. Masters of Earth, by Shawn Carman and Rich Wulf Sachi was a member of the 12th century Gozoku conspiracy. Isawa Sachi (Web of Lies boxtext)
== Life of Isawa Sachi ==
=== The Yobanjin Invasions ===
In 1145, Sachi was instrumental in the destruction of an invading army of Yobanjin. The Acolyte of Earth found a smoldering village with many frightened peasants and one half-dead samurai -- his dear friend and husband of Isawa Taeruko, Isawa Hikaru. Hikaru had been speared to the ground and would not survive, but before his death, he told Sachi of the Yobanjin's troops and their movements. Sachi attempted to heal the man, but Hikaru would not allow him to use his magic when the crops, and therefore the lives of the Phoenix Clan were at stake. 
Just before his death, Hikaru told Sachi that he knew the shugenja loved Taeruko. Hikaru had known all along, but was not angered. He commended Sachi for putting his Clan first, and admitted that the shugenja had always been his closest friend, despite Sachi's feelings for his wife. When Hikaru died, Sachi was angered past anything he had previously experienced. 
Sachi found the Yobanjin army that evening. None escaped. The Acolyte of Earth crushed an entire mountain, pulling it down atop the barbarian invaders. Afterward, Sachi returned to Kyuden Isawa to bring the news of her husband's death to Taeruko. 
=== The War of Spirits ===
During the War of Spirits, Sachi once again had to be the bearer of unbearable news to Taeruko. Her daughter, Isawa Yaruko had been killed by the order of Hantei XVI as an example to the Phoenix Clan, who would not acknowledge his claim to the Imperial Throne. Sachi infiltrated the lands of the Hantei, took the body of Yaruko, and returned to the lands of the Phoenix to deliver the child's body to her mother. 
On the way, in the Dragon Heart Plain, Sachi was stopped by twenty of the Steel Chrysanthemum's men. They attempted to arrest Sachi and bring him to trial for refusing to acknowledge the Hantei's rule. Sachi killed them all, burying them so deep within the earth that no blood was left to mark their deaths. Sachi took a terrible vengeance against the spirits. Four Winds, p. 109
=== The Hidden City ===
Three months prior to his appointment as Master of Earth and shortly after the movement of Gisei Toshi by Shiba Aikune, Sachi found both Aikune and the Hidden City. Aikune was suprised to see the shugenja because he had silenced the kami in the area so they would not reveal the location of the city to anyone. Unfortunately for Aikune, their silence is what drew Sachi to the City. The old shugenja knew the mountains intimately, and the sudden silence of such a large area was immediately apparent to him. 
== Sachi and Taeruko ==
Sachi loved Taeruko during all of his life as a member of the Phoenix. Taeruko was aware of his feelings for her, but both knew that she was betrothed to another and that his love would forever remain unrequited. 
After the untimely deaths of her husband and daughter, Taeruko still considered Sachi a close friend and still accepted him as a confidant, despite his repeated appearance as the herald of death. Unfortunately, the grief in her life had made Taeruko as hard as the stone she had mastered. She refused to change, in her hatred toward Isawa Nakamuro and Shiba Aikune who let her daughter die, or in her rejection of Sachi who wanted nothing more than to marry her. Taeruko had no reason other than the unchanging Earth which she embodied, but she would not change. 
== Master of Earth ==
After Taeruko's death in 1165, Sachi was appointed Master of Earth. He reshaped a mountain with a portrait of Taeruko and her family. During a conversation they had many years before, Taeruko was saddened by the knowledge that the kami of the Earth were not concerned over the loss of her cousin, Isawa Tadaka and by the fact that they would likely forget him. She was discouraged by the thought that the mountains would not remember as great a shugenja as Tadaka, despite their closeness during his life. After he told it Taeruko's story, the mountain found it moving and created the portrait of Taeruko, Hikaru, and Yaruko. In that way, the mountain would never forget her. 
=== Gozoku Allegiance ===
Sachi allied with the Gozoku because of their practical wisdom, but the Master of Earth saw that its leader, Bayushi Atsuki, was little more than a power mad psychopath, and the [[Shogun] Kaneka himself was a dangerous child. Sachi used his experience and wisdom to assert himself as the new leader of this organization, without success. Lotus Personalities: Isawa Sachi
== War of Fire and Thunder ==
In 1166 the cargo of a Mantis captured vessel was found a Black Scroll, the Wasting Disease. This scroll had been used to destroy a Phoenix village several days ago. The Gift, by Rich Wulf Ochiai sided with Nakamuro in attempting to prevent hostilities with the Mantis Clan, but Ningen sided with Sachi and Akiko Lotus Personalities: Isawa Ochiai and the War of Fire and Thunder was the result. Shiba Tsukimi was sent to Toshi Ranbo to deliver the scroll to the Emperor Toturi III, so that he might choose an appropriate guardian. The Council politely refused Kaneka's aid in the Phoenix Clan's war against the Mantis. It was Akiko's belief that the Shogun served the Empire more efficiently in the capital. Report of Miya Shoin to the Righteous Emperor, Toturi III (Imperial Herald v2 #16)
=== Schism in the Council ===
In 1167 Nakamuro summoned a council seeking to end the bloodshed, being the war in a stalemate for months. The maintenance of the wards protecting Isawa lands from the Mantis Storm Riders was a terrible one, the Phoenix shugenja weaken by the day. The Master of Air requested to give him leave to further investigate the allegations the Mantis have levied against them, which suggested a Phoenix used the Black Scroll to incite this war. Sachi and Ochiai refused, being absent the leader of the Council, Akiko, who was witnessing her daughter's wedding. Ningen kept neutral. Dawn of the Lotus, The Phoenix, by Shawn Carman
=== Akiko's Death ===
This year Akiko was witnessing the Topaz Championship, and Ikoma Masote accused her of treason and Gozoku membership in presence of the Emperor Toturi III. She was killed by her husband, Doji Kurohito. The Council lost its leader. The Topaz Championship, Part Two, by Shawn Carman
=== Battle of Broken Waves ===
The entire Mantis Clan fleet sailed on the Isawa coastland in a winner-take-all assault, The War of Fire & Thunder, Part 2, by Shawn Carman in a point surmised by Asako Bairei, and the Shiba Army and the Council were waiting for them. As the battle progressed the Dark Wave Fleet under the command of Yoritomo Kitao appeared and assaulted both forces. Nakamuro was ready to join the fight but he was struck down by Sachi seizing the Bishamon's Spear. Sachi wished to avoid the sacrifice of his friend and beloved student Nakamuro. The War of Fire & Thunder, Part 3, by Shawn Carman
== Death ==
Combining his magic with the Master Sensei of the Storm Riders, Yoritomo Kaigen, they destroyed the Dark Wave on the rocks of the island created by him, Kaigen's Island, killing both Sachi and Kaigen in the process. Kitao and Yoritomo Kumiko died during their single combat. 
== End of the War ==
In the wake of the battle Nakamuro negotiated the surrender of the Phoenix with the new Mantis Champion, Yoritomo Naizen. The Mantis got the islands they had seized during the war, the new one created in the Battle of Broken Waves, Kaigen's Island, as well as trading rights along its shores, an action that was not very popular. Mirabu refused to withdraw the Phoenix claim that the Mantis were still a Minor Clan. 
== Sumai ==
Sachi was a sumotori in life. 
== External Links ==
* Isawa Sachi (Web of Lies)
Category:Phoenix Clan Leaders
Category:Members of the Gozoku
Category:Articles with Pictures
Sachi
Category:Hare Clan Members