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Asako Tasharo
Clan of the Phoenix
Family: Asako
School: Asako Henshin
Attributes
Ascetic, knowledgeable, scholarly, calm, peaceful, kind hearted.
Appearence
Tasharo is a young man of 15. He has long dark hair reaching almost to his elbows and calming green eyes.
Height: 5' 10''
Weight: 180 lbs
Trim athletic build
Five scars run in parallel from just below his right ear down his neck crossing his chest to stop just above his left
hip.
Bio
Tasharo grew up it the forested region of Kyuden Asako, the morning glory palace. He was an active and pugnacious child,
who dreamed of becoming a shiba trained bushi like his father, Asako Hido. Coming from such a prominent branch of the Asako
family as he did, few doubted this would be so. Asako Mariku, his shugenja trained mother, sensed that Tasharo was to follow
a different path, but remained silent to let karma work its magic in their lives.
His early training in jiujutsu revealed one of Tasharo's many gifts. The sensei remarked often that Tasharo had hands
of stone; whatever he struck ended up the worse for it. Tasharo's love of combat, excitement and adventure led to a seminal
moment in his life. Hunting one Autumn in the Mori Isawa, Tasharo crossed paths with a tiger. The tiger pounced before anyone
else in the party could react. Tasharo remembers seeing the great beast standing over him and feeling the fire race down
his chest as the animal tore at his flesh. Tasharo prayed to the Fortunes for aid; the trained atemi strike driven by instinct
and blinding pain caught the beast in its exposed windpipe. In that moment their eyes locked and Tasharo saw no hate, nor
malice, nor hostility; the tiger simply was. Tasharo knew that the wheel of karma had turned and his path was to forever
change. He felt the suffocating weight of the great hunter as the beast collapsed on top of him. The hunting party rushed
to his aid; he was badly mauled and quickly bleeding to death.
In the fevered dreams that accompanied his slow recovery, he walked with the tiger and was not afraid. After a time
the tiger spoke to him, imparting a wisdom that looked beyond the narrow confines of a bushi dojo and caused those who knew
Tasharo to later say that he had been blessed by Fukurokin, the Fortune of Wisdom. During his long recovery, Tasharo discovered
a love for learning and spent many evenings reading late into the night. His interest ranged over a wide field of scholarship
including medicine, theology, elemental lore, particularly water. Water fascinated Tasharo. It was at times yielding and
formless, yet it could rebound with measureless strength. It embodied the ideas of both yin and yang.
When he was well enough to return to the dojo, his mother intervened. Since the healers had said that the wounds from
the attack may never heal completely and the five parallel scars running from his right ear to his left hip showed just how
close to death he had come, she arranged for him to study at the Asako Henshin school instead.
The new school suited Tasharo's new outlook perfectly. He continued his scholarly pursuits and was able to delve more
deeply in the riddles and mysteries of the elements, especially water. Legends began to grow up around the incident with
the tiger. Tasharo refused to answer questions regarding the matter and the curious had to go to find someone else who saw
the event to satisfy their quest for the unusual. Another story began circulating about the same time; very talented or blessed
shugenja reported seeing a tiger standing next to Tasharo as if he were a traveling companion. Tasharo has never commented
on these strange speculations either.
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