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Ivory takes place in July of 1582, during the height of Japan’s warring states period. It is the story of two masterless samurai and their quest to meet the legendary warlord, Oda Nobunaga.

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Ivory discovered Gokiburi in the town outside of Odawara Castle soon after her defection from the Takeda clan. The boy had been orphaned by the Takeda’s siege of Odawara years before, which left the child with no memory of his parents or even his own name. Ivory took the child under her wing and has treated him as something between a son and a protégé. She named him “Gokiburi,” meaning “cockroach,” because of his small size and distinctive hair.

Beyond the most basic of kindness, Gokiburi knows very little about Ivory, but has his suspicions about her past. It does intrigue him, however, to see how many people seem to fear her, and how many more have lost their lives trying to kill her.

Gokiburi is a poet at heart, and deeply detests fighting and bloodshed. However, he is constantly worried that these tendencies will cause Ivory to abandon him, so he suppresses his instincts and presents a façade of a brash youth eager to prove himself on the battlefield. Secretly, Gokiburi hopes that he will never need to use the intense training Ivory has subjected him to. In his spare time, Gokiburi enjoys Noh theatre and loves to read his most prized possession: an anthology written by the legendary poet, Sōgi.



Copyright 2009