Chapter 22: Hikyo ((In Progress))

((Work in progress))

The band of warriors walked in silence, they walked in tight formation as they marched around the great mountain of Oyama.  The taper of <shale/granite?> reached up into the heavens, the permanent fixture of stability within the isle they walked along the sharp hills and cliffsides that led from the northern peninsula to the capital.  

People watched the procession with reverence and fear.  The horsemen wore full armor, like those who rode to war.  There were no words, but only cold stares upon the travellers as they passed towards Hikyo.

The hillsides were terraced carefully, the earth gouged into carefully steps each holding a rice paddy.  Nestled in the valleys were villages with dozens of thatch and straw houses.  Upon the hilltops were the great aqueducts, the creation of Kamachi the great, the sixth Emperor of Wa.  Each were like arteries carrying water from the mountain springs to the towns of the outer provinces.

Then upon cresting the last hill they saw the capital.  It spread like a blooming flower from the base of Mt. Oyama to fill in the lands between Lake <name> and the bay of <name.>  They looked upon the great capital of the lands as it came out in waves over the valley, many villages had eventually grown together upon the edges of the capital with hundreds of rice fields to feed the thousands of lives that lived within.

The capital spread out in waves of houses each leading towards the center, and clearly the temples dominated the skyline of the city. The streets were very clean and strikingly ordered, with the centers remaining clean, and avenues parting for the samurai as they approached. As they approached the inner part of the city, ancient stone walls that were overgrown with vines and moss pushed past the houses and into the skyline. These walls were laid during the time of the first Emperor and were more ceremonial than functional, and paintings from the capital often depicted the walls covered in flowers during springtime. Now, with the dwindling temperature, the vines had darkened and its leaves fallen away or curled up into spindles, this was not the legendary magnificence that was spoken of in hushed halls.

Hikyo was renown for its temples, as it should since the Emperor was the descendant of the sun goddess herself rested. All of Wa was ruled by the Emperor, at least in was in theory, and indeed his approval was necessary for the Shogun to maintain power. Still, the day to day government was handled by his general the Shogun, who used his massive armies and political influence to ensure the peace of Wa.

These days the Shogunate's power was fading, and fighting had broken out several times all throughout the islands but especially to the south. The island of Nanshima were finally unified by the Rensho after a long struggle with the belligerent Mogami, and the now extinct Sagara. Yasama however, was still embroiled in a long civil war, the Fugata, Kohuri and Senishi each struggling for dominance.

Even the north had not seen complete peace, the struggles between the Gorosei and the Ameji was ended only when the Taeshimo absorbed the Gorosei as a vassal, thwarting Ameji ambitions. This was the cause of a recent edict by the Shogun that no clan should interfere with the struggle on Yasama under threat of attack by the Tagarii's great armies. Indeed power was growing concentrated in the hands of a few and these few could threaten the Shogun's might.