Kokei-Sho
The largest of The Boar Clan’s checkpoints along Haku’s Pass. Held by the Kanamori family, it serves as one of the final lines of defense before reaching the Imperial City. The Kanamori samurai consider themselves the penultimate line of defense against any forces that would harm the emperor, a duty they take very seriously… sometimes too seriously.
Purpose / Function
Kokei-Sho is a multipurpose estate: it serves as the home of Noritaka’s family and the garrison for his samurai; it is a trading post and an inn for merchants on their way to Tengoku, the imperial province. For those whose paperwork checks out, it functions as an inn, where weary travelers can rest before starting the final leg of the journey to Tengoku. For those whose paperwork doesn't check out, it functions as a holding cell of sorts. Suspects are detained here by Noritaka’s men, while they send word to the imperial palace to ask if the detainees are expected: relatively few merchants and travelers are allowed into the emperor’s own lands, and the Kanamori do not take any chances. Sometimes, criminals who were captured in the spring are put to work during the harvest while they are serving their sentence in Kokei-sho’s prison. As a show of good faith, and with a bent toward rehabilitation, these inmates are provided with food and decent shelter (relative to a peasant farmer, of course,) to show them the value of an honest day’s work in service of the empire. Occasionally criminals do try to escape “off the farm,” but that’s usually the prerogative of ronin bandits, rather than the poor and desperate peasants who turned to crime out of necessity. If a criminal has proven rehabilitated in Noritaka’s eyes, he will allow them to swear fealty to the Kanamori clan, and become a vassal of the clan, entitled to the same protections as any peasant farmer or distillery worker. Extending this kindness to a ronin is unheard of.
Defenses
The compound lies between two mountain ranges, providing natural defenses from both sides. The Sons of Haku are well-trained at fighting in the mountainous terrain of their homeland, where the elevation and cold reduces the efficacy of most untrained armies, and even some Hokkaidan samurai who are acclimated to the coastal or inland altitude. The compound itself has two main gates with portcullises, to allow only those who have the go-ahead from Noritaka and his scribes to head towards Tengoku castle.
Tourism
Kazumasa, the eldest Kanamori brother, runs the Jōzōjo distillery on the Kanamori estates, where they are hard at work brewing the saké that makes the Kanamori name known throughout the empire. A select few nobles, who have the luxury of being able to travel when it is cold, will visit the Jōzōjo estate as a sort of winter retreat. There, visitors can enjoy tours of the brewery and tastings, as well as the nearby mountain onsen, natural hot springs that prove quite popular with those who can afford the luxury. Jōzōjo has hosted many of the empire’s finest, including the emperor himself on more than one occasion: [The Winter Court] has taken place at Jōzōjo several times in the years since Hanzo’s ascension. During the winter months, the compound is home to just over a thousand souls- full time staff of the Kanamori household Springtime is for planting the rice used to brew saké, and many merchants are eager to get to Tengoku after the passes thaw to ply their wares after a lean time. From the middle-to-late spring, the population of Kokei-sho can double, between the honest merchants passing through the checkpoint, and the incarcerated criminals who seek to impersonate or otherwise disturb them. The summers are often temperate, rarely suffering the humid afternoons characteristic of Hokkaidan lowlands. The late summer and into the fall is the time for the harvesting of rice that will eventually become the beloved Kanamori saké.
Type
Gatehouse
Owner
Ruling/Owning Rank
Owning Organization
Characters in Location
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