Daidoji Kasako

Daidoji Kasako was a Daidoji Daimyo in the 6th century, older daughter of Daidoji Kamei. Secrets of the Crane, p. 31
== Uncle's Maddened Behaviour ==
In 520 her uncle Daidoji Hira began to act erratically until his brother patience was exhausted. The Daidoji Daimyo Daidoji Kamei ordered his brother to commit seppuku, but Hira fled along with forty-four bushi from the Shiro Daidoji guard, leaving a message behind: "You did not set a date for my death, brother. Seek me in the Uebe Marshes if you wish to hasten it." 
== Foxfire War ==
Incensed, Kamei sailed down the coast to the Uebe Marshes to chase his brother. In the unfamiliar terrain, his troops were slaughtered during the Foxfire War with trap-laying and ambush strategies developed by Hira. After several months Kamei retired to Shiro Daidoji, and found Hira's body in his former quarters, dead by seppuku. Arranged around him was a model depicting the most treacherous ambush points in the Marshes in the same scale as those in the Daidoji Library, and the message: "Do not let the food and drink of peace make the belly of the Daidoji grow fat. Seek my son in the marshes." 
== Daidoji Daimyo ==
Kamei retired as a monk, and Kasako succeeded him. She resumed the war and hunted Hira's son, Daidoji Yasuhira, who had attracted Scorpion and Mantis ronin to his guerrilla band. Within three years she had brought her cousin to bay. Yasuhira was captured and executed, surrounded by new woodland models and maps and the instruction: "My brother Shigehira and my men spit at you from the Wall above the Ocean." 
== Aftermath ==
Shigehira's followers were chased by Daidoji Hanzo, Kasako's youngest brother, who killed the enemy leader in personal combat. The daimyo at that time was not Kasako, but her younger sister Daidoji Kasami. Those troops that had helped her defeat Hira's followers, were proclaimed the Hiramori family, vassals to the Daidoji. The family was named the "Forest Hira," an ironic joke at the traitorous Hira's expense. Hira's third son, Daidoji Michihira, was pardoned for his involvement in the uprising, and Kasami chartered him with his own family, the Hiramichi family, or "Hira of the paths." It was formed by men forced to rely on illegal sources, smugglers who had supplied food and war material to the revolters. Secrets of the Crane, pp. 31-32
Category:Crane Clan Leaders