Hamato Clan

The Hamato Clan is the last of the ten Guardian Clans that protected the Yokai Realm portals.

Structure

The Hamato Clan follows the structure of many of the Guardian Clans before them, with a code of honor and duty to protect the Yokai realm. Each member upon graduating from their training is given an Amulet Key that allows them to go into the yokai realm on their own, where from their they can trade and do odd jobs for the yokai. The eldest child under the head of the house can graduate to chunin, and be in charge of teaching the younger children marital arts as well as assisting the jonin (the clan leader) in running things smoothly.

Culture

All of the Hamato are trained in ninjutsu and follow it's strict code. Honor is a valuable trait and to dishonor the clan could result in being removed. However, in recent years, as the world has modernized, the Hamato's have become more lax on these values. Ayumi for instance left the estate after she designed to marry Hayato Kimura, a mild, pacifistic man her father disapproved of. She opted against the intense training for her children that she was subjected to as a child, much too the disapproval of Hisashi. Hisashi remains the most stubborn about tradition in the family, often expressing disappointment in his grandchildren's skills and fears that the Hamato clan will too fall after his passing.

History

Over a thousand years ago, there was unrest amongst the Yokai and human world. Yokai wished to invade the Earth realm for it's resources, and to fight back, powerful clans of samurai and ninja fought them off. This lead to a hundred years of war between humans and yokai. Over the course of the the war, a particular set of black plated samurai armor had seen many many years of bloodshed and turmoil, which eventually turned it into a powerful Tsukumogami, and become a demon that could give the wearer unmatched power. This armor was dubbed the Yoroi Ketsueki and became the most sinister threat in the war, killed humans and yokai indiscriminately. Eventually, both sides came to realize that the war had created this beast, and the only way to stop it was to come to a truce and use all of their resources to stop it. After the defeat of the Yoroi Ketsueki, the yokai made a pact with 10 clans of the human world to gaurd the portals to the realm, trade resources and prevent something like the war ever happening again. Over time however, families of each clan would eventually die out or disband, and for a long time, only the Oroku Clan and the Hamato Clan remained. The last of the Oroku clan was dying, Hisashi's good friend Oroku Keiji. Keiji's last request to Hisashi was to take care of his grandson, Saki. They adopted Saki into the Hamato family and raised him along with their own children. Saki was similar age as their eldest, Yoshi, so the two of them competed often. As they grew up, and it seemed more and more like Yoshi was surpassing Saki in every way, the petty rivalry turned into bitter resentment. As an adult Saki sought out the Yoroi Ketsueki, who convinced him that the truce between the gaurdian clans and the yokai was a sham, that the yokai were being oppressed and someone needed to step up to take charge and free them. The spirit convinced Saki he was special and that the Hamato's were holding him back, that all he needed was to find the armor pieces and become the most powerful leader in the world. When he brought this news to the Hamato's they banished him for making a deal with such a demon. In his rage, he attempted to break into into the estate to steal back his amulet key, only to encounter Teng Shen, Yoshi's newly wedded wife, who tried to fight him off; only to be met with a grizzly end by Saki's hands. With a murder on his hands Saki fled the country. In the wake of his wife's death, Hisashi insisted Yoshi follow Saki to America and ensure any wild yokai portals are protected from him, as they sealed away their own. Since then the family have been straying away from the path of ninjistu. With the portal closed, the children have never even seen a yokai, and thus do not take their training seriously.