Asahina Tamako

Asahina Tamako was the reclusive daimyo of the Asahina family and the Empire's greatest astrologer. Born under signs that his destiny was great, he was the seventh son of a seventh son, this destiny was cut short following the race to Volturnum. Way of the Crane p. 89
== Omens ==
Tamako's early life was full of different omens, and this was perhaps how the youngest son of the Asahina Daimyo came to be the next daimyo. He was born the seventh son of a seventh son, and on the day he was born the elements were aligned in the sky above Shinden Asahina. While still a baby in his crib a negligent maid left him unattended to go tend Tamako's mother, and when they returned a crow was sitting on the side of the crib looking at Tamako. The maid cried out in fear for Tamako, but the crow merely looked at her and gently touched it's beak against Tamako's face, then flew away. Since that day it was said that Shinsei himself guided Tamako. 
== Isawa Tomo ==
In his youth Tamako attempted to seek truth in every book that existed in Rokugan. He sent several letters to the Isawa library requesting certain books to be copied and sent to him at any cost. This sparked one of the few friendships Tamako ever had, with the recipient of those letters Isawa Tomo, even though the two never met in person. Their letters were long and filled with thought, secrets and insecurities. The two had a mutual understanding of restricting worlds, and became friends because they were willing to trust someone they had never met. Way of the Crane p. 90
== Man of Peace and Study ==
Tamako had the gifts of precognition and foresight. Clan War: Crane Army Expansion, p. 44 He dedicated his life to the study of magic and the essence of spiritual study. His talent in creating nemuranai was unparalleled, and he could have flashes of insight that were incredibly eerie. He was a faithful believer in mental discipline and complete devotion to study. He had an aesthetic view on the world, and although he could sometimes appear to be detached or unconcerned with reality it would merely be that he was contemplating powerful magics. 
=== Asahina School ===
His personal aesthetic views did not close the Asahina Shugenja school to outside influences. Because of pressure from the Doji family and visions Tamako believed he had received from Shinsei, he kept the doors of the school open to all. 
=== Asahina Daimyo ===
Tamako had a case of xenophobia, and although it gave him a reputation for being a hermit he ruled the Asahina family with a gentle hand and much wisdom. He would never call himself wise, and would always say he guided his family with the wisdom of Shinsei. He lived in Shinden Asahina, where he would hide in the library enveloped in study. 
== Appearance ==
Tamako had light-green eyes, and his face was already wrinkled and wan around his eyes when he was only middle aged. His health was never good, and would often wear thick robes to keep out the cold. His frailty never bothered him, because he had no intention of leaving home (that was until 1133). His frailty however meant he was forced to remain indoors during winters. Way of the Crane pp. 89-90
== Clan War ==
=== Omen of War ===
Studying the stars with his brother Asahina Tomo they saw an omen of war. Rokugan would be torn apart, and the Crane would suffer the first blow. Tamako refused to believe it, and forbade his brother to speak on it to anyone. Some time later the Crab invaded the Crane lands, during the onset of the Clan War. Time of the Void, p. 90
=== False Hoturi ===
When the forces of the False Hoturi assaulted Shinden Asahina in 1128, during the Battle of Bloodied Honor, the firmly pacifist Tamako had no choice but to witness a battle taking place on the Fields of the Morning Sun for first time in history. Time of the Void, p. 74
== Hidden Emperor ==
Tamako was terrified with the fight style of the Kikage Zumi. Fortified Infantry (Hidden Emperor 3 flavor)
== War Against the Shadow ==
=== Twenty-Seven Days of Darkness ===
In 1132 Hitomi visited Shinden Asahina in the twelfth day of the Twenty-Seven Days of Darkness. The Lady saw him as the peaceful past of the Asahina, and his student Asahina Tsukiyoka, who knew the ways of war, as the future. Strike At Midnight: The Twenty-seven Days of Darkness
=== Volturnum ===
Tamako as a true pacifist did not fight himself, Clan Letter to the Crane #14 (Imperial Herald v4 #3) but he was involved in the Battle of Oblivion's Gate, serving as a healer in the armies of Doji Kuwanan. Despite his honorable intentions, Tamako's wounds sustained while at Volturnum attracted the Taint. He survived the battle, but the influence of the Shadowlands upon him made him unable to continue serving as the leader of the Asahina. Tamako retired, spending the majority of his remaining life in seclusion in his tower, guarded by wards that would help him resist the corruption building in his soul and visited regularly by his close family. Test of the Jade Champion, Part I, by Rich Wulf and Shawn Carman
== Honored ==
Despite being tainted Tamako was not forgotten by his kin. In 1153 the great artisan Asahina Hana weaved a tapestry which depicted a sky brighted with the stars in the position precisely as they would have appeared on the night that Tamako became daimyo of the Asahina. Sacrifices, by Rusty Priske
== Test of the Jade Champion ==
Tamako found his death after the all-Asahina finale of the Test of the Jade Champion in 1158 that resulted in the victory of his nephew Asahina Sekawa. The ceremony was interrupted by Hakai, the Onisu of death, who killed Tamako and his niece Asahina Kimita. Way of the Samurai p. 96 Tamako finally succumbed to his taint just before to be killed. Test of the Jade Champion, Part III, by Rich Wulf and Shawn Carman
== See Also ==
* Asahina Tamako/Meta
* Asahina Tamako/CW Meta
* Asahina Tamako/Diskwars
== External Links ==
* Asahina Tamako (Imperial)
Category:Crane Clan Leaders