Usagi Ozaki

Usagi Ozaki was a bushi of the Hare Clan, and the son of the Hare Clan Champion. Later, he became the Hare Clan Champion himself, and was one of the longest-reigning family daimyo in Rokugan.
== Family ==
Ozaki was the son of Hare Clan Champion Usagi Oda. Ozaki had a sister, Usagi Tomoe Game Master's Pack; The Hare Clan, p. 20, a son, Usagi Kashira, The Last Stand of the Hare Clan, by Rich Wulf and a daughter, Usagi Oteko. Blood Hunt Region 12
== Appearance ==
Ozaki was a slender man, not overly tall, with the same weak chin as his father. He would normally wear formal and conservative clothes. 
== Otosan Uchi ==
Ozaki accompanied his sister Usagi Tomoe to Otosan Uchi in 1122, Bells of the Dead, p. 9 when their father sent Tomoe to the capital to find a suitable husband. While they were there their retainer Seiki was seen entering the den of vice known as the House of the Winter Moon. Ozaki went there in disguise to retrieve Seiki, who was needed to accompany Tomoe. Ozaki found Seiki, but then also noticed his old friend Matsu Akira apparently being blackmailed by a figure in dark garments. Game Master's Pack; The Hare Clan, p. 30
=== Uncovering a Conspiracy ===
Ozaki followed the figure who he later recognized as Soshi Yukio, a known enemy of Akira. Ozaki got Tomoe to follow Yukio while he followed Akira, attempting to help his friend without him knowing. Yukio and Akira met again, but this time Akira paid her a lot of money and gave her “new orders”. Ozaki and Tomoe followed Yukio, but she spotted them and Yukio tried to flee but was killed in the chase. Ozaki recovered the scroll, and the siblings returned home with no news of marriage. Tomoe started trying to decifer it with no luck. Game Master's Pack; The Hare Clan, p. 31
== Hare Clan Sword ==
Sometime later in 1123, Ozaki encountered an ogre which had been plaguing Hare lands. He killed the ogre, and retrieved a saya from it's corpse. Game Master's Pack; The Hare Clan, p. 20 Oda identified the saya as that of the Hare Clan Sword. Tomoe communed with the spirits of the saya, and learned that the blade was located in Shiro Hiruma. Ozaki decided to travel to Shiro Hiruma and recover the blade. Game Master's Pack; The Hare Clan, p. 21 He found it in the possession of a goblin shugenja known as the Exalted Ugu and recovered it. A ronin named Masago attempted to take the blade for herself, but Ozaki was able to stop her. Game Master's Pack; The Hare Clan, p. 29
== Siege of Shiro Usagi ==
Ozaki returned to find Shiro Usagi besieged by a Scorpion army led by Bayushi Tomaru. The Scorpion were seeking revenge for the death of Soshi Yukio and seeking to recover the scroll that Ozaki stole. Oda and the Hare Clan stood defiant, and fought for six days. Game Master's Pack; The Hare Clan, p. 36 Oda was killed in the siege, and Tomoe captured by Tomaru. Ozaki fled with the Hare Clan Sword, and the Hare Clan were abolished by decree of the Emperor when accusations of maho use were levelled against them. Legend of the Five Rings; Third Edition, p. 18 Ozaki had paid for his escape with an eye, Way of the Minor Clans, p. 120 lost to a Scorpion arrow. Bells of the Dead, p. 37
== Ronin ==
=== First Kolat Encounter ===
Ozaki followed the clues Tomoe had deciphered to Mori Kage Village, a village near Morikage Toshi. He found the local magistrate Ide Gonkuro dying in his bed, who had poisoned himself to be released of the kolat plots. Bells of the Dead, p. 9 Usagi fled after the house was set to fire by a hidden assailant, destroying any tracks of the kolat activities. Witnesses had provided his description as the culprit behind the fire and the local magistrate's death. Before the fire, he got some notes about a Yasuki Merchant, so he moved toward the Crab lands. He was pursued by the Emerald Magistrates led by Miya Katsu. Winter Court: Kyuden Kakita, p. 111
=== Second Kolat Encounter ===
In his journey he came to Ryoko Owari Toshi, where was assaulted by a Kolat Assassin, by the name Koda. Ozaki beheaded the assailant with Kenno and left the City of Stories. Bells of the Dead, p. 5
=== Third Kolat Encounter ===
Ozaki was resting at an inn of Nanashi Mura when the magistrates led by Katsu marched into the village. He was prepared to meet his doom when a shabby little man in the garb of a trader led the samurai away, into the dark tangle of forest. Before the merchant left he glanced directly at Ozaki's position mouthing a single word, "Run". Ozaki did not know why the man, who obviously to him was a kolat, had aided him. The merchant most probably was Yasuki Taka.
=== Katsu Turns his Investigation ===
Circumstances had demonstrated to Katsu that Ozaki was not responsible, as his orders to arrest Ozaki were issued weeks before Gonkuro's death occurred. Through the connections of the Imperial with the Sparrow Clan, a group of samurai were tasked to unveil the conspiracy, one powerful enough to manipulate Emerald Magistrates and to wipe out a Minor Clan. Bells of the Dead, pp. 10-11
=== Seeking the Truth ===
In 1125 Ozaki moved to Kosaten Shiro, where Daidoji Unoko was living, a samurai-ko who was one of the four who testified the Hare were Maho-tsukai. Unoko was unable to answer Ozaki's questions, as she was apparently insane. Another of the infamous witnesses, Toritaka Bonugi, had been murdered days before. Bells of the Dead, p. 13
=== Meeting the Investigators ===
Ozaki has visited the Yasuki territory repeatedly, to find another clue, or to get a chance to question Yasuki Taka, the Yasuki Daimyo. In one of his visits to Yasuki Yashiki he saw the group of samurai who were making questions about the Hare, and tailed the party subtly. Ozaki was surprised from the back, when the already dead Koda attacked and knocked him out. The party killed the assassin, whose body blackened and melted into a puddle of black goo. Bells of the Dead, pp. 14-15
=== Infected by Shimushigaki ===
Ozaki during the fight had been infected by the Shimushigaki. He was tended by the personal shugenja of Taka, Yasuki Garou. The priest realized a evil had entered Ozaki's soul somehow, and only banishing it would restore him to health. Garou suggested the group of samurai to bring Ozaki to the Temple of Jurojin on the Fields of the Morning Sun, to be tended by the monk Moruko, a former Toritaka. Bells of the Dead, p. 18
=== Kolat's Conspiracy ===
The samurai confronted Kitsune Hamato, learning that the Bells of the Dead could put the gaki back to sleep. They had recovered one of the bells which after it was rung released Ozaki from the gaki's illness. Taka told that Asako Nakiro was a Maho-tsukai he once helped, also infected by the Shimushigaki. The inquisitor had become a member of the conspirators, so Taka swore that if these foul kolat were destroyed he would rescind his testimony against the Hare. Bells of the Dead, pp. 25-29
=== Freeing his Sister ===
Tomoe would be part of a ritual sacrifice to allow the Shimushigaki to enter the mortal realm, and the Maho-tsukai expected Ozaki would be also part of the ritual. Ozaki and the samurai managed to find the fortress where Tomoe was prisoner, confronting the leader Daidoji Dajan and the Maho-tsukai Nakiro while they wer eperforming the ritual. After Dajan was killed the gaki took Nakiro's corpse, but it was defeated. Tomoe was freed from captivity. Bells of the Dead, pp. 34-36
== Reinstatement ==
In 1125 the soiled reputation of the Hare was cleared by the heroic efforts of Ozaki. Although many looked upon the Hare with suspicion, the clan was once more and the slow process of rebuilding has began. Legend of the Five Rings; Third Edition, p. 19
=== Kinotu's Fate ===
The fate of his younger brother also had been revealed. An investigation of the haunted Shiro Usagi had exposed that Usagi Kinotu had been passed to a farmer, by Oda shortly before his death. The peasant had adopted the young boy and called him Otu. Game Master's Guide; 2nd Ed, p. 213 During his time as ronin Ozaki had stopped in a few times to check upon his little brother. Ozaki never told Otu who he was, and little Otu did not recognized his brother. Bells of the Dead, p. 12
== Hare Clan Champion ==
The ordeal he had suffered made him the strongest daimyo the Hare Clan had ever seen. Bells of the Dead, p. 38
=== Dojo ===
One of his first acts upon reforming the Hare was to expand and diversify their martial training. Ozaki founded Reichin's Refuge Dojo in a village near Shiro Usagi, which has since become the primary training post for young Hare samurai. Way of the Samurai, p. 76
=== Ujina Family ===
Ozaki entered the Imperial City following the lead of a Bloodspeaker cult that had terrorized the West Hub Village. Few months later, Hidden Emperor, p. 30 when a mass murderer was killing in the Imperial City in 1132, Usagi Ozaki and the ronin Tokimasa co-operated in apprehending the murderer as well as uncovering and destroying a bloodspeaker cell hidden within the city. Imperial Regent Takuan offered Tokimasa the family name of "Ujina" as a reward for his efforts. Ujina Tokimasa immediately swore fealty to Usagi Ozaki and the Hare Clan. Hidden Emperor, p. 26 With the help of Ujina Tokimasa, Ozaki rebuilt the ancestral home of the Hare. Rokugan, p. 162
=== Ally of the Emerald Champion ===
Ozaki was held in high regard by Kakita Toshiken, who had fought beside him. In 1159, the sickly Toshiken advised the new Emerald Champion Daidoji Hachi to trust in Ozaki. Complications, by Rich Wulf
=== Kolat ===
Suzume Yugoki did not understand why Suzume Roshi had tried to kill Hantei Naseru. Ozaki told him about the kolat implication and joined Yugoki to undo it. Suzume House Guard (Winds of Change flavor)
=== Bloodspeaker Threat ===
Ozaki defended Shiro Usagi against a bloodspeaker army led by Jama Suru following the return of Iuchiban and the Rain of Blood in 1165. Ozaki sent his son Kashira to gather allies, and the day was saved when Kashira returned with the Daidoji Daimyo Daidoji Kikaze and the Crane Clan cavalry.News Of Rokugan: The Crane Clan, by Rich Wulf
=== Daidoji Kikaze ===
Ozaki became a good friend of Kikaze, and in 1167 Ozaki was his personal guest in the wedding of the Crane Clan Champion heir, Doji Domotai, with Ikoma Kusari. Rumours of a common secret project abounded. News of Rokugan, Circa Lotus Edition (Imperial Herald v2#17), by Rich Wulf
=== Shiro Usagi occupied by Crane ===
In 1170 Shiro Usagi was occupied by Crane forces. When asked at Imperial Court the Crane courtiers claimed the Hare had requested it. The Heavens' Command, by Brian Yoon It was unknown if Ozaki did it so.
=== Kolat Infiltration ===
In 1170 the Scorpion assaulted the Hidden Temple, the secret headquarters of the Kolat conspiracy. The new Ox Clan Champion Morito Garin revealed to Ozaki that one of the men killed there was Ujina Heiji, so the Kolat had infiltrated the Hare ranks. Fealty and Freedom, p. 44
=== War of the Dark Fire ===
A Badger ambassador arrived at the Emperor's Winter court and informed that a massive army of Yobanjin was preparing an invasion from the North. Ozaki sent an entire legion of Hare with him, led by Usagi Genchi. It was the beginning of the War of Dark Fire. 
== See Also ==
* Usagi Ozaki/Meta
== External Links ==
* Usagi Ozaki (An Oni's Fury)
Ozaki
Category:Hare Clan Leaders