The Crane Clan
The Crane are the Left Hand of the Emperor, in service as the political aides to the throne. It’s traditional for the Hantei to choose a samurai from the Doji family as their spouse, more Emerald Champions have been Kakita than any other family, and the samurai of the Daidoji family serve as some of the finest shock troops in the Emerald Empire. Yet the Crane make their greatest contributions in culture: many of the finest poets and craftspeople hail from their academies, and their duelists have few rivals. The Crane are the masters of court, with the wealth and status to prove it.
History
“We are the children of Lady Doji, first in all things. Excellence is our past, our present, our future. Others hate and fear us only because they can never achieve what we have been given.” – Doji Kurohito, Crane Clan Champion, twelfth century.
The Crane Clan was founded by Lady Doji, of all the children of the Sun and Moon the closest to her brother Hantei.
She was determined to make his new Empire a place of elegance and glory. Doji ultimately created most of the political and cultural institutions of the Empire, as well as many arts, thus launching the Crane Clan’s dominance of the Empire’s civilized life. However, perhaps the most important act of her life was her marriage to the mortal, Kakita, whose legacy is as important to the Crane Clan as her own.
Kakita was a simple warrior from the wild provinces of the north, self-taught in a swift and deadly fighting style that used a sharp, narrow blade—one of the first true katana in the Empire. When the first Hantei sponsored a great tournament to determine who would be his personal champion, Kakita entered and defeated every foe, including Lady Matsu, the greatest follower of Akodo. By the end of the tournament, Kakita was Hantei’s champion. By the end of the day, the two had become fast friends and Hantei had offered his sister Doji to be Kakita’s bride.
Lady Doji was incensed at the thought of marrying a mortal and decided to rid herself of this unwelcome match by asking Kakita three questions. Only if he answered them would she become his bride. The questions were designed to be impossible—Doji asked Kakita to bring the dead to life, to tell the court how large the world was and how many days it took to walk it, and to bring her something whose beauty could not be challenged.
A lesser man might have given up, but Kakita had become smitten by Doji’s beauty and grace, and he dedicated himself to the task of answering these impossible demands.
He spent many weeks travelling the early Empire, seeking a way to resolve the puzzles, while his twin sister Kiyamori remained at the Imperial Court and spoke of her brother’s worthy qualities to Doji. Eventually, with the help of a canny old fisherwoman named Yasuki, Kakita found his answers and returned. The Emperor’s court watched expectantly as he spoke, and while Lady Doji sought to project her former arrogance and hauteur, her heart had been softened by Kiyamori’s words.
For the first answer, Kakita presented a piece of driftwood, lifeless and dead… and a biwa he had carved from the same wood. The music from the instrument was so beautiful that none could doubt Kakita had brought the dead to life.
For the second answer, Kakita declared the world should be measured not by one’s journey but by one’s companion, the blessed Sun. A man guided by Doji’s mother, Amaterasu, would surely traverse the whole world in a single day.
Hantei and the court were delighted with the wit of this answer, and Doji herself hid a pleased blush beneath her fan.
For the third answer, Kakita held up a small golden mirror, showing Lady Doji her own reflection.
The founder of the Crane allowed herself to be fully satisfied with Kakita’s answers, and the two were wed. From their many children sprang the family lines of the Doji and the Kakita, for each child was permitted to choose which parent’s name they would take, and soon the Daidoji would also spring from the same family.
"There is proper technique for all things."
Type
Geopolitical, Clan
Parent Organization
Subsidiary Organizations
Controlled Territories