By: Elaine Zhang

Kaedehara Kazuha is a wandering samurai in Inazuma, and a descendant of the declining Kaedehara Clan.

Kaedehara Yoshinori The story starts around 500 years ago with Kazuha’s great-great-grandfather, Niwa Nagamitsu. He was famed for creating one of Isshin Art’s greatest swords, the Isshin Sansaku, but after creating the blade, he suddenly disappeared. Luckily, he had one son named Niwa Yoshinori, who was able to continue the Isshin Art, after being adopted into the Kaedehara Clan. As Yoshinori grew older, he gained the title of Clan Head and the name Kaedehara Yoshinori.

One day, Yoshinori received a commission from their god, Raiden Shogun, to forge a Goshintou blade using the diagram she sent him. The bladesmiths of the Kaedehara Clan worked hard alongside Yoshinori, but every time they crafted a blade, it was defective and would break easily. Yoshinori was sure he followed the steps in the diagram, but little did they know that the forging diagram was tampered with by Scaramouche. When the deadline for the Goshintou blade arrived, many of the bladesmiths ran away in fear of their god’s consequences. But as the head of the clan, Yoshinori found out that Scaramouche had tampered with the diagram, and with the help of the head of the Kamisato Clan, that tracked him down at the Byakko Plains

Scaramouche Scaramouche, at the time, sought revenge for his dead friend, Niwa Nagamitsu, by destroying the Raiden Gokaden (The 5 bladesmithing schools). One of the schools he targeted was the school that practiced the Isshin Art, which is also the art the Kaedehara Clan practiced. At Byakko Plains, Scaramouche was able to take down all the men Yoshinori and Kamisato brought and would kill Yoshinori when he recognized him. He spared his life and asked if he was related to the Niwa family.

Scaramouche also told him, “Tell her this. My name is Kunikuzushi.”

It is suspected that ‘her’ is Raiden Ei (or Raiden Shogun), and he wanted Yoshinori to tell her this so Ei knew that her creation was awake and roaming the land.

The Kaedehara Clan’s Decline
When Yoshinori returned home, he was traumatized by the events at Byakko Plain, and was terrified that Scaramouche might return if he continued the Isshin Art. So, to protect his family, he stopped practicing the art causing the Kaedehara Clan’s decline. To help with the clan’s debts, Yoshinori’s son, Kaedehara Hisamichi, tried to recreate the Goshintou blade, using the tampered diagram without knowing that it wouldn’t work.

Whenever Hisamichi asked his father for help, Yoshinori always told him, “If you can’t find the secret within, the Isshin Art deserves to fade from the world.” Enraged, Hisamichi left Inazuma and didn’t return until years after his father’s death. But throughout his life, Hismichi found out the secret as to why his father stopped practicing the Isshin Art.

Kaedehara Kazuha
By the time Kaedehara Kazuha was born, his clan was on the verge of collapse, and he couldn’t do anything about it. After his clan had fallen, Kazuha decided to find out what was the cause of the Kaedehara Clan’s decline. And with the help of some of his friends, he was able to find a document telling him about Yoshinori’s story, revealing the cause of his Clan’s decline. The document said:

“It was night, and after the clues led us down to shore, there were no swordsmiths in sight, only a single eccentric stranger. He then threatened to destroy the Raiden Gokaden, and in a blink of an eye, myself and the accompanying samurai had been defeated. Commissioner Kamisato was severely wounded, and I barely survived death myself. After a long silence, he suddenly said, ‘Tell her this. My name is Kunikuzushi.’ He then turned and left. The unusual stranger could’ve easily claimed my life at that moment. But after noticing my appearance, he stopped his attacks, and sternly asked if I had any connections with the name, Niwa.”