Isawa Mizuhiko

Isawa Mizuhiko was a water Tensai and Jade Magistrate of the Phoenix Clan.
== Family ==
Mizuhiko was the second son of a second son, and his mother was once a geisha. His grandmother was a woman who became mad and died. Fires of the Heart, by Lucas Twyman Shiba Katsuda was his grandfather, who was lost in the Battle of Oblivion's Gate. For many years Mizuhiko did not know that Katsu, Katsuda's son with Soshi Jomyako, was his uncle. Preparations, Part III, by Rusty Priske, Nancy Sauer, Lucas Twyman, and Fred Wan
== Student ==
Mizuhiko was a student of the Master of Water, Asako Bairei. Bairei saw him as a good man, with strong will, and powerful shugenja. A disquiet in Mizuhiko's spirit would cause him great difficulty until he healed the wound in his soul. A New Empire, Part I, by Shawn Carman
== Station ==
After Mizuhiko's gempukku, he set out looking for adventure. Whenever Bairei received word of Mizuhiko's travels, he became increasingly worried that the young man was in need of something to focus him. Unexpected Allies 2, p. 49 Shiba Ikku had been appointed as his yojimbo. All Things Have a Price, by Lucas Twyman
== Isawa Oharu ==
Mizuhiko fought alongside Isawa Oharu during the War of Fire and Thunder. He was fond of Oharu, despite she was married with Asako Itaru. 
=== Battle of Broken Waves ===
In 1167 Mizuhiko saw Isawa Oharu dancing to the kami during the Battle of Broken Waves. Her yojimbo Shiba Sakishi did not understand his charge at first, wondering how she could dance in the middle of battles. Mizuhiko explained to Sakishi that her dancing pleased the air kami, and in turn the kami would aid in the defense of the Phoenix troops. 
=== Lover ===
Mizuhiko came to see Oharu shortly after the death of her husband. He expressed his love, but Oharu refused to marry him because his status as Itoru's widow would be higher than Mizuhiko's wife. Despite it, Oharu and Mizuhiko became lover this day. The War ended shortly after. 
== Hunting the Dark Oracles ==
The Oracles of Light had removed themselves from Ningen-do in 1160. Isawa Sawao and Asako Juro believed they had withdrawn to the Celestial Heavens in an attempt to lessen the influence of their counterparts, the Dark Oracles, in the mortal realm. In 1169 Sawao requested Isawa Takesi and Isawa Kyoko to join Mizuhiko, Isawa Kimi, and the Asako Inquisitors in their quest. The group were determined to figure out what would happen if a Dark Oracle died in such situation. Kimi would assist in locating the Dark Oracles alongside Juro's agents, and Mizuhiko will kill them. Revelation, by Shawn Carman
=== Phoenix release the Imperial City ===
The Phoenix had been controlling Toshi Ranbo for a year, and the Elemental Council did not see their presence necessary anymore in the capital. In 1170 in the Month of the Dragon Mizuhiko was in charge to cede the control of the Imperial City to Otomo Hoketuhime, the Otomo Daimyo and representative of the Imperials. The Imperial Court would reopen their business next day under Otomo stewardship. Words & Deeds, Part I, by Shawn Carman Hoketuhime was found killed before the month ended. Story Rulebook (Words And Deeds), by Shawn Carman
=== Jade Magistrate ===
Mizuhiko was appointed as Jade Magistrate when Asako Juro gave him the chop of his new charge. Juro told a Moto Akikazu's delegation found a battered Togashi member of a Sleeping Thunder Mountain's patrol. The Dragon had monitored the activities of regions known to contain potentially active volcanoes since their experience with the Wrath of the Kami. He was the only survivor after the Dark Oracle of Earth, Yasuki Nokatsu, attacked them. Mizuhiko, Ikku, Takesi, Sakishi and Oharu made a group to track and kill the Oracle. 
=== Dark Oracle of Earth ===
Nokatsu ambushed the party, killing their Shiba escort but their personal yojimbos. Mizuhiko sent Ikku to tell Juro of the matter, but pressed by the Oracle intentions the three Isawa and Sakishi entered the cave where Nokatsu dwelled. 
==== Judgement ====
Nokatsu had a Bloodsword, Judgement, inside the cave. With the aid of Yajinden's blade and the angry spirits of Memui Kamiari Yama, Nokatsu expected the sleeping volcano would erupt again. Mizuhiko and Takesi's magic were not defiance for Nokatsu. Oharu sacrificed herself to use the air kami to expell all air in the Dark Oracle's lungs. Nokatsu, who was never a shugenja, needed to speak to command the Earth. It bought Mizuhiko enough time to take the Bloodsword and kill Nokatsu. The survivors realized they had avoided the dead of the incoming reinforcements, from an ambush Nokatsu had plotted, an earth avalanche. 
=== Dark Oracle of Air ===
A short time after the battle with Nokatsu, Mizuhiko had an encounter with the Dark Oracle of Air, Soshi Jomyako. Jomyako claimed that Mizuhiko had the same eyes as her love, Shiba Katsuda, whom Mizuhiko acknowledged as his own grandfather. 
== Judgement Thirst ==
Bairei theorized the bloodswords' thirst could be quenched, and the targets would be the Dark Oracles. In this way Judgement would become passive, without harming any innocent in the process. It was necessary a wielder for the blade, someone incorruptible, a man whose heart was endlessly fair and just. Juro believed Mizuhiko matched it. 
=== Shinomen burns ===
The Master of Void Shiba Ningen advised Mizuhiko to hurry to the Shinomen Forest, which was in flames. Mizuhiko arrived with a Phoenix force and summoned a storm, and the rain saved three quarters of the forest. Shogun Moto Jin-sahn's forces were fighting the tainted ronin called the Spider Clan, and their arrival allowed to get victory. Glory of the Empire, Part II, by Rusty Priske and Nancy Sauer
=== Seeking vengeance ===
Mizuhiko travelled to Katsuda's estate at Duty's Heart and studied Jomyako's letters. He determined that Jomyako was responsible for his grandmother's death, and swore to punish her. 
In 1171 Shiba Sakishi sacrificed himself to weaken the Dark Oracle of Air, by luring her to the Temple of the Eight Guardians and destroying it in a massive explosion. Sakishi opened a vial of the Agasha, and the once-trapped kami held inside catalyzed hundreds of alchemical casks secreted throughout the temple. This allowed Mizuhiko to slay her with Judgement. It was instrumental that Jomyako had broken the law which governed the Oracle interaction with Ningen-do shortly before she entered the Temple. Oceans, by Lucas Twyman
=== Seeking an answer ===
Since that Mizuhiko's location was lost by his fellow Phoenix, even divination abilities did not aid them. In 1172 Mizuhiko was moving quickly through mountains, as if he were searching for something. Destiny Has No Secrets, by Lucas Twyman His kin began to be worried when he was not seen in Phoenix lands the last six months. Isawa Shun (The Plague War flavor) He had spent a year in search of an answer, if he could bring about the doom of the Empire wielding the Bloosword. He crafted a temple on a remote island, surrounded by the water kami. A Desperate Ruse, by Brian Yoon
=== Chosai ===
Mizuhiko returned to kill the Dark Oracle of Fire Chosai, who had returned to the Empire. The Dragon had set a trap in which the Oracle fell, but Mizuhiko had only the opportunity to wound him. Chosai had to flee to recover in the month of the Rooster. Imperial Histories 2, p. 252
== Destroyer War ==
During the Destroyer War Isawa Mizuhiko fought at the front lines, moving from battle to battle, sometimes fighting with valor, and sometimes abandoning those he met because Judgment decided they were unworthy. 
=== Battle of Shutai ===
In 1173 with other Jade Magistrates and Phoenix forces Mizuhiko was sent to Shutai, where Shosuro Jimen, the Emerald Champion, was fighting in the Battle of Shutai. Jimen was nearly trapped by the enemy, which was noticed by Kuni Daigo. Asako Serizawa and Asako Bairei performed the River of Ten Thousand Steps ritual to magically swift the troops inside the village. Persuaded by Judgement to not help Jimen or any other, because the blade deemed them unworthy, Mizuhiko at first ran from the battlefield. A chance encounter with Daidoji Kirimi showed him how he could be essential in Shutai's defence. The shugenja left the nearby river overflow and thus slowed down the advance of the Destroyers. The Destroyer War, Part 2, by Shawn Carman & Lucas Twyman
=== Battle of the River of Gold ===
Mizuhiko was near River of Gold, watching the battle there, but he did not enter in the fray. He had been several days far from anyone, the blade found all unworthy, and called out for their demise at his hands, none were fit. Mizuhiko denyed to quench its thirst, and the sword was draining his very soul. The Destroyer War, Part 14, by Shawn Carman
==== Encounter with Daigotsu Setsuko ====
Mizuhiko met a female ronin bushi, who called herself Setsuko. While he didn't learn her true identity, the Phoenix priest had spoken to Daigotsu Setsuko, paragon of Shourido, the Dark Perfection. She admired Judgement's beauty and claimed that the sword had sung to her, which was why she had come to see it. Mizuhiko offered the blade to her, but Setsuko declined. "'I am not worthy,' she said with a sigh. 'I seek perfection, but have not attained it. Perhaps one day…'". What irked the Phoenix and hunter of the Dark Oracles was that Judgement remained uncharacteristically silent around the woman, while it had judged everyone else as unworthy and urged to kill them. Mizuhiko was advised to use the blade against the Destroyers. Setsuko used metaphors, phrases and words that were known to the Phoenix the Bloodsword itself. Mizuhiko sent the woman away. Once she was gone, he held the unsheathed Judgement in his hand without remembering to have drawn the sword. 
== Mizuhiko's Sanity ==
The Bloodsword had caused the shugenja Mizuhiko's sanity to slip away. It was not known how much of the encounter with Setsuko, especially of the dialogue, really happened and how much the priest merely imagined. During dreams Mizuhiko believed he had crossed the borders of the Spirit Realms, traveling to Maigo no Musha and met Sanzo, the ronin who wielded another Bloodsword, Ambition, when he was alive. Judgment, Part 1, by Lucas Twyman
== Heigai's Death ==
In 1176 Mizuhiko and his yojimbo Shiba Morihiko moved to Lion lands. Matsu Sasake let them to enter after he surveyed their travel papers. They arrived the Castle of the Swift Sword, upon request of Heigai, an aged man formerly known as Akodo Ginawa and once wielder of the bloodsword Revenge. The monk was in the brisk of death, cared by Kitsu Yutaro and Sachiko. Heigai told that Mizuhiko's soul was in conflict, and only with help could he master the spirit of the bloodsword. Ginawa counseled the Phoenix to throw the blade away, but Mizuhiko refused. Heigai challenged him to a duel, so if Heigai was the winner, the Tensai had to discard the cursed blade. Two days later, the monk died dueling Mizuhiko. Judgment, Part 1, by Lucas Twyman
Mizuhiko realized that Ambition had to be destroyed. He and Morihiko journeyed far to the north, outside the bounds of the Empire, to break the blade down, expecting to destroy it with molten earth. 
== Death ==
Sasake accompanied Mizuhiko and Morihiko on their leaving from Lion lands. While Morihiko was the sparring of Sasake in a bokken training, the Lion unleashed such damage to the yojimbo that earned the wrath of Mizuhiko. Morihiko had realized that instead Sasake the man who was striking him was Matsu Turi, the Dark Oracle of Water. Mizuhiko struck Turi with a bo, so the Dark Oracle was free to use the Gohei's Daisho to draw a killing blow to the Tensai. Instead of killing him the man was transformed by the bloodsword Judgement in another being, Handan, who exacted the death of Turi, and disappeared. Judgment, Part 2, by Lucas Twyman Mizuhiko himself had been consumed by the sword. Book of Fire, p. 126
== See also ==
* Isawa Mizuhiko/Meta
== External Links ==
* Isawa Mizuhiko (Honor's Veil)
* Isawa Mizuhiko Exp (Path of the Destroyer)
Category:Phoenix Clan Members
Category:Jade Magistrates