The Uesung Clan

The Uesung clan is among one of the older clans in Katashima Uesung Province for as long as any can remember.  For a long time they typically swore allegiance to the Emperor or Empress, and remained loyal in their services.  The province of Uesung was known to be very fertile, and so the Uesung daimyo was known for supplying the rest of Katashima with food when they needed it.  They were a generally humble and kind people, who upheld loyalty in the highest degree.  The Uesung never controlled a powerful force in those days, and was generally considered to be one of the smallest of the clans.  The Uesung, however, were defiant in their rule, and swore allegiance to no one except the Emperor and his family; this made them many rivals.

At one point in their history, the Uesung was forced into a war that was not their own.  The Uesung Province was fertile, which was a ripe prize, and their armies were fairly small and not as well-trained, so the conquest would be easy.  Fearing defeat and subjugation, the Useung Daimyo fled Katashima in search for a mysterious isle known as the Isle of Bishonton.  Here, Lord Uesung discovered an order of warrior-monks devoted to the war god Bishonton.  He learned many things from them, and agreed to worship Bishonton from henceforth.  The monks gave him the Tachi no Akuma, or Sword of the Demon, a legendary weapon that Lord Useung brought back to Katashima.

Lord Uesung, using his new-found knowledge and power, rallied his forces and defeated his opponent's in the fields of the Uesung Province.  Once his homeland was secure, he sought to strip his enemy's of their forces, and led an attack on their lands.  After defeating them on the field of battle and destroying their forces, Lord Uesung returned home, safe in the knowledge that his enemy's could not raise an army against him any longer.  Many saw Lord Useung as Bishonton incarnate, whose powerful armies could not be beaten, and feared he would try to take over Katashima.  But alas, he remained in his homeland, peaceful.

For several generations after Lord Uesung's death, the Uesung Daimyo ruled their province with an iron-fist.  They were no longer humble farmers with a small army; they were disciples of the war god, Bishonton, and their influence stretched far and wide across Katashima.  However, there came a time when Bishonton was forgotten, when the Uesung cared not for religion or prayer, but conquest and glory.  It was this mindset that led to the corrupt of Kagen Uesung, the last Daimyo of the Uesung Province.  Kagen had no respect, no honor for Bishonton, and many say he fell out of favor with the war god.  Eventually, Kagen sought to wage war on all of Katashima, and his crimes were paramount.  He was ruthless, cold, and unforgiving.  A coalition of allied clans hen rallied together, marched into the Uesung Province and battled Kagen and his force.  The fighting was long and fierce, but Kagen - and his entire family - was massacred.  Their castle was left to ruin, their fields and villages left to burn.  The Uesung Province remained nothing but a burnt wasteland of hopelessness.

It seemed that not all the Uesung died on that day.  Kagen's youngest son, Kenjin Uesung, was secretly transported to the Isle of Bishonton by his father's retinue, who also returned the Tachi no Akuma.  There, the warrior-monks adopted the young boy and trained him for many years in the art of combat, warfare, literature, and music.  He became a greater warrior than any of the Uesung which came before him, and withheld knowledge of the arts and mind.  Upong his completion, Kenjin was rewarded the Tachi no Akuma.  Kenjin returned to Katashima with the legendary blade his forefathers possessed, where he seeks to rebuild the Uesung clan and restore their lost honor.