Chiyome - Blog Posts

Ikesen OCs Continued: Chiyome

“I will train you, if you possess the resolve. I expect you to devote everything you have to succeed.”

Introductions

Chiyome is a popular figure in Japanese lore as the creator of the kunoichi. She actually makes a brief appearance in Ikesen canonically in Shingen’s route, during his POV when MC first arrives in Echigo. Historically, she was married to Shingen’s nephew, and Shingen took her in after his nephew died.

For Ikesen, since Shingen isn’t old enough to have a nephew married to a 20-something-year-old woman without it being UH YIKES, this Chiyome was married to a cousin of Shingen’s. She’s still widowed though, and joined Shingen’s house afterwards. Now that she’s a single lady, and given that she loves other ladies, Chiyome is an available love interest for MC(s). :3c

Though Shingen sheltered Chiyome to honor a promise to his cousin, it turned out to be a stroke of luck for him as well – Chiyome possesses impeccable court manners, perceptiveness, allure, and an underlying iron will. Even then, she had extensive relationships and good will among women of varying stations. As Chiyome warmed to Shingen personally and began to trust him as a good-hearted and effective leader, she made more use of her talents to assist him. And, realizing her invaluable assets, Shingen gave her a monumental task: to create a network of entirely female informants who could hide in plain sight and gather information in ways his Mitsumono could not. Chiyome dedicated herself to this work, in part to help Shingen, but more passionately to help the women of a war-ravaged period take more control of their fates. Thus the kunoichi were formed, and they spread rapidly throughout Japan.

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