Kyoketsu
The Red Foxes
A Kyoketsu monk performing kung fu.
Clan Status: Major
Totem Kami: The Red Fox (Rumoured: The Kitsuneyōkai)
Colours: Autumn colours and off-whites; simple, workmanlike rural fashions
First Kannushi: Kyoketsu Kaede
Vassal Clans: Oitsuki (Flying Squirrel), Inabi (Waxwing), Matsubara (Sea Lion)
Reputation: Simple, hard-working, sensible, honest, untalkative, old-fashioned, heathens who are tolerant of the yōkai(?)
Preferred classes: Ranger, samurai, ninja, druid, witch (forest, coast, cave)
Imagery: Kyoketsu Fashion & Scenery Image Gallery (External)
Forever in a public relations battle over their patron animal and its association with the mischievous kitsuneyōkai (a type of vulpine fae particularly drawn to humans), as well as their choice of a woman as Chief Kannushi (considered inadvisable under the patriarchal codes of the Analects), the Kyoketsu are nonetheless a honest and industrious people. They are skilled warriors who vigilantly defend their deciduous forest lands, which they log and replant with silvicultural techniques ahead of their time. Like the Nikata, their forces are supplemented by kamaitachi, masters of the Green Path of floral & faunal-aspected ninjutsu.
Despite the superstitious associations and their generally stern, humourless dispositions, the Foxes hold a strong and stable position in Maraian politics. Their wood is top-quality but generously price-controlled, their politicians and courtiers have a reputation for prudence and honesty, and they remain the historical hosts of the Autumn Festival, widely considered the favourite and most spiritually important to a populace fearful of the impending winter.
Kyoketsu Kaede hears little disrespect as daimyo despite being female, as she is widely considered one of the greatest practitioners of iaijutsu in Maraian history, consistently dominating such contests in her youth before arthritis claimed her sword hand. Copied drawings of her form and technique can be found in most libraries and bookshops around the Commonwealth. There is a small but growing cult that believes Kaede is next in line to join the divine Lineage of Stone.
The Foxes
Despite the association between foxes and kitsuneyōkai, the body chosen by the Kyoketsu's Totem Kami was in fact a mundane Waking fox, not a fae. Nonetheless, this does not stop some rivalrous or superstitious Maraians from whispering rumours about this Kyoketsu noble or that. (In actual fact there are three clans that do have fae as a totem (none of whom admit it officially): the Izuka (nekomata), the Iname (tsuchigumo) and the Shan (tengu)).
Although she is a popular subject of worship across the Commonwealth, Inari O-Mikami's association with foxes makes her especially revered in Kyoketsu lands, and most of her pilgrimmages visit several of their forested honden shrines.
Comments