Isawa Ijime

Please note: This article is about the daughter of the Celestial Dragon. For other uses of the term, please see Ijime (disambiguation).
Isawa Ijime was a very gifted young shugenja. She was tormented by her family as a child, and died young as a result of the scars she received at their hands. Though she was not loved by her own family, she was honored by the Isawa family following her death.
== Childhood ==
Ijime was raised in a Shiba village by a very large, poor family. The youngest of many children and the only girl to many boys, Ijime was often the target of the abuse of her older brothers. Her childhood was a long period of torment at the hands of her malicious brothers and uncaring parents. Ijime's parents never showed her any love, possibly because she was not truly their daughter. The couple who raised her as their daughter had found Ijime as a baby lying among the fields of the village. Only at the end of her life did Ijime discover that she was actually the daughter of the Celestial Dragon, placed in Ningen-do. To combat the terror she faced in the real world, Ijime learned to retreat into places within her own imagination. Her imaginations became real to an unprecedented extent. The things she dreamed actually spilled over into the real world, allowing her to create images for everyone to see. Unsurprisingly, she attempted to keep this from her uncaring family. Daughter of Dragons
== Rescue ==
When Ijime was nine, a Magistrate came to visit her family. While there, Ijime lost control of her gift, releasing a shower of dancing butterflies and sparkling beetles upon her family and the Magistrate. The Magistrate, thoroughly impressed at the girl's abilities, inquired about her training. Ijime knew she was old enough that the Isawa should have begun her training years before. The Magistrate was answered only with silence. He quickly deduced the answer and took Ijime from her home. She never returned. Way of the Phoenix, p. 76
== Training ==
Ijime was delivered to the Isawa family for proper training. The Isawa were impressed with her talents and took her into their tutelage. They were not lenient with the girl. She may have started three years later than most of their students, but she was expected simply to work hard and catch up with the rest of her class. Ijime poured herself into her work, and by the age of sixteen, she was ready for her gempukku. Way of the Phoenix, p. 77
== Death ==
Shortly before her gempukku, the Celestial Dragon came to Ijime in her dreams. He told Ijime that she was not meant to be lonely, as the mortals had made her, and led her away from Ningen-do and into Tengoku. As the Dragon led Ijime away, she fully opened the portal of her mind. Instead of the usual brilliant and beautiful cascade of magical creatures, dark spirits ushered forth. One evil for each of the evils that had been done to her fled into the world. Greed, lechery, deceit, dishonor, and all the vices imaginable poured forth from her slight frame. But even as Ijime gave the evils of the world physical being, she remembered the Magistrate who saved her. She remembered that he showed her kindness and compassion, though she was but a stranger to him. From this thought, a single bright spirit ushered forth: Hope. Ijime realized that that, too, was the fate of mortals. 
With that, Ijime fell dead. A blood vessel had ruptured in her head, killing her. When she was found, blood was trickling from her ear, and a savage snarl was forever frozen upon her face. It was the picture of the years of neglect and abuse she had suffered at the hands of her unloving family. In death, Ijime was granted the Isawa name and cremated with honor. The powers of her magic were never fully known by the Phoenix Clan. Those within the Phoenix believed that the brightest star in the dawn was Isawa Ijime, who still followed the Celestial Dragon. As her yumeji was so large, she moved to Yume-do, the Realm of Dreams. Fortunes & Winds, p. 96
== Return ==
Ijime returned through Oblivion's Gate during the 12th century. Ijime was known to spend time in the Falling Blossom tea house at Road's End Village. Secrets of the Phoenix, p. 50 She, alongside other notable returned spirits such as Mirumoto Tokeru and Gusai, was murdered sometime later. These murders sparked an investigation led by Miya Shoin at the behest of Hantei Naseru. A Hero's Death, Chapter 2, by Rich Wulf It was later revealed that Gusai had faked his death, and was responsible for their murders. A Hero's Death, Chapter Seven, by Rich Wulf
== Shrine ==
A shrine devoted to her was builkt in the northern wall of the Celestial temple in the Temple of the Eight Guardians. It bore a small flower of yellow silk that Ijime magically created during her training at Kyuden Isawa. Masters of Magic, p. 98
== External Links ==
* Isawa Ijime (Heroes of Rokugan)
Category:Phoenix Clan Members
Category:Returned Spirits