Isawa Kaito

Kaito no Momotsukihime was a yobanjin princess and priestess which later swore fealty to the Phoenix Clan as Isawa Kaito, founder of the Kaito vassal family. The Sword and the Spirits, by Robert Denton III
== Yobanjin ==
Kaito was the daughter of the Hyōketsu tribe's chieftain, and a medium of spirits and the spiritual representative of her tribe, a princess responsible to preserve the sacred places. Her tribe staged raids against the Isawa provinces, and they made extended campaigns after a visitor from the Imperial Court paid the Hyōketsu to run daring attacks throughout Isawa lands. Kaito was the lone disenter among the tribe's leaders, including her betrothed, Ateru, the Demon of Wyvern Pass. When the Phoenix warriors confronted the Yobanjin, they trapped Ateru's forces at a mountain pass, which would be the end of the Hyōketsu. Kaito decided to betray her tribe, and she brokered a treaty with the Isawa, her tribe in exchange for a place among the Phoenix Clan. The next day saw a massacre of the Hyōketsu at the hands of the Shiba family warriors, but Ateru's body was not found. The surviving Yobanjin became a vassal family, the Kaito, and were granted lands in the mountains of Garanto Province. 
== Phoenix Vassals ==
=== Kaito Daimyō ===
Kaito took an Isawa husband and established her line. The couple had at least two daughters, Isawa Tsuruko, who wrote an extensive journal regarding the origins of their family, and the youngest was Isawa Maruko. 
=== Civil War and Death ===
Yobanjin valued freedom over all else, and many Hyōketsu refused to join the Phoenix. After many years of peace, shortly after Kaito's eldest daughter's gempuku, a civil war began among the Hyōketsu with Ateru as the enemy leader. Kaito sent her family away and lured her enemies on sacred fround chosen to to make her stand by the sacred well, the Well of the Ateru, where the water kami were stronger. Isawa Kaito, who was an expert archer, killed her betrothed with the bow. Ateru's corpse fell deep into a well. Kaito had realized that Ateru's dagger had become an artifact of Tōshigoku, the Realm of Slaughter, and with her last breath, she prayed to seal his body for the rest of the time. Eventually a shrine was built around the frozen well, Sanpuku Seidō. 
== Aftermath ==
Kaito's ashes were kept in an urn within the inner sanctum of Cliffside Shhine. Her catalpa bow, Mikazuki, was revered by her family, and it recognized Kaito's children, being instrumental to select every Kaito Daimyō after her. Her descendants inherited the ability to become temporarily possesed by the kami, allowing them to perform seemingly impossible feats. 
== Legend about Kaito's Death ==
The true origins of the Kaito were kept in secrecy by the Isawa, and an alternative history was told about these events. Legend said that near the dawn of the fifth century a demon appeared in the lands of the Phoenix Clan. This demon terrorized the northern mountain range bordering Rokugan, desecrating shrines and destroying villages, and threw the entire Garanto Province into disarray. Kaito, with only her bow and the aid of the kami, confronted the demon on a tall mountaintop, slewing the demon with her arrow, and then gave her life to trap its spirit, freezing it deep in the bottom of a well. In honor of her sacrifice, her family was raised in status, becoming a vassal family of the Isawa. Disciples of the Void (Flyer)
Category:Yobanjin Members (TCG)
Kaito