Ginko

Ginko was born and raised in Kyushu, a territory under control of the Sugikawa clan. Her upbringing was nothing out of the ordinary for most commoners. Her mother, Futaba, and father, Kei, run an inn southwest of Kogane city limits. Ginko’s family used the local’s fear of the mountainous area to make their inn appear “haunted”, and played tricks on many of the travelers who stayed.   Ginko especially loved to prank the pompous guests. Eerie sounds, moving furniture, disembodied voices; the usual haunting things. Once, Ginko terrified a musically inclined traveler so much they left the in so fat they forgot their shamisen. Several days passed, and the traveler did not come back for their belongings. Ginko decided to take the shamisen and learn how to play it, becoming absolutely enthralled with it. When she wasn’t occupied with her chores or pranks, Ginko would be playing her shamisen.   One afternoon her parents were very tense and spoke in hushed tones about an important visitor. She was given strict orders to not get up to her usual mischief. She was to not get underfoot, and would help with the chores. She may have rolled her eyes, but she did as she was told; a good thing since the Sugikawa Daimyo and his heir were the visitors. Apparently her family’s mischief had brought about some infamy, and the rumors had spread far enough to reach the Daimyos ears. So he had come to investigate the inn himself. Thankfully the low profile paid off, and the Daimyo, Yoshinaga, stamped out many of the rumors.   Once Ginko was dismissed from her chores, she left to play her shamisen near the inn’s koi pond. As usual, she drifted off into her thoughts as she plucked and strummed away at the instrument and was unaware that she had gained an audience after a while-- the daimyo’s son. He had startled her when he finally spoke up, and after she had calmed down from her fright, the two struck up a conversation. By the time the daimyo and his son left, Ginko would consider the boy, Yoshihiro, a friend. With this connection, she would soon get to know the Sugikawan family personally, often being invited over for dinner and frequently being visited by Yoshihiro, the Sugikawan heir.   As Ginko grew, it was hard not to notice the tension and weariness of the guests when they checked in. Even the stress that the Daimyo carried whenever he checked in with her family was made blindingly apparent. It wasn’t until she was sixteen that she would finally understand what that tension was, when war began to break out all across Rokugan. As much as Ginko would have liked to ignore the tension and be content with helping her parents running the inn, she couldn’t ignore the feeling that something might happen to the Sugikawa and her family. So she set up a training dummy made from sticks and straw near the inn’s koi pond and began to practice fighting with her pitchfork. For four years she practiced, and once she was comfortable with her weapon handling, she would tell her parents of her plans to protect the Sugikawa family. When next she visited the Sugikawa family for dinner, she would speak of her training, and offer to aid the Sugikawans however she could.