Japan

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Japan
Societal information
Ethnic groups	Yamato Ryukyuans Ainu
Languages	Japanese
Major religions	Shinto Buddhism Confucianism
Demonym	Japanese
Political information
Current state	Japan
Capital	Tokyo
Assassin branch	Osaka Brotherhood
Templar branch	Japanese Rite
Historical information
Past states	Japan: Pre-shogunate (660 BCE–1185) Kamakura shogunate (1185–1333) Ashikaga shogunate (1336–1573) Tokugawa shogunate (1600–1868) Empire of Japan (1868–1947)
Historical capitals	Nara Kamakura Kyoto
Major conflicts	Sengoku period Boshin War World War II
Geographical information
Region	East Asia
Other major cities	Osaka Yokohama

Japan, also known as Cipango, is a civilization and island country situated in East Asia with the world's oldest monarchy.

A relatively younger nation in comparison to its neighbours, China and Korea, Japan experienced an initial period of imperial centralization and tremendous cultural flowering through its import of Chinese societal and political customs as part of the Heian period. Over time, the aristocratic preoccupation with their insular artistic lifestyle gave rise to feudal states ruled by an elite military class known as the samurai. The emperor henceforth became a figurehead for the head of the samurai, the shōgun.

As centuries passed, this decentralization culminated in the Sengoku period in the 16th century, wherein hundreds of states vied for dominion over all of Japan and hoped to establish a new shōgunate. It was in this pivotal era that the contest between the Assassins and the Templars in Japan reached new heights, for they integrated themselves heavily in the turmoil through their training as ninja, allying themselves with daimyō, or—in the case of those such as Oda Nobunaga and Uesugi Kenshin—serving as warlords themselves. In this chaotic contest, the Assassins emerged as the victor in 1603 through their chosen ally, Tokugawa Ieyasu, inaugurating almost two centuries of peace and stability coupled with social stagnation and isolationism.

Japan was eventually pressured to rapidly modernize by the threat of Western imperialism, and this culminated in the Boshin War between the Tokugawa shogunate, supported by the Assassins, and the Imperial Court, supported by the Templars. The latter's victory led to the dissolution of the shogunate in 1868, returning full prestige, if not power, to the emperor. With the establishment of the Empire of Japan, the increasingly nationalistic state unleashed brutal invasions on its Asian neighbours over the first half of the 20th century. Its onslaught and militaristic regime only ended when it was defeated in World War II by the United States.

In the present day, the State of Japan is a sovereign state with its capital at Tokyo. An Assassin presence in Osaka, one of its largest cities, survived both the Great Purge of 2000 and a Templar assault in 2012. It became integrated with the Onmoraki-Gumi, a yakuza crime syndicate, in late 2013.

History

Nara period

In 717, the Japanese scholar and waka poet Abe no Nakamaro traveled to the Tang Empire as part of a mission, the other members of this mission returned to Japan but Nakamaro elected to stay. After passing the civil-service examination, Nakamaro held many administrative positions in the country. In 753, he attempted to sail back to Japan but was shipwrecked off at Ryukyu, and went ashore at the coast of Vietnam.

Kamakura period

By 1257, knowledge of the country had reached the Western world through secondhand accounts of the country by China. The Levantine Assassins' Mentor Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad suggested spreading rumours that his Apple of Eden had been transported to Japan or Cyprus to draw away the Templars from looking for it in his library beneath Masyaf.

Sengoku period

After several defeats by the Assassins in Europe during the early 16th century, the Templars led by Francis Xavier sought to spread their influence in Japan. Despite the difficulties posed by the the island's warring states, they recruited a few Japanese sympathizers like Mochizuki Chiyome. The Assassins responded by recruiting rival ninjas like Hattori Hanzō.

In time, the Assassins were able to build a strong branch in Japan. One of the first Assassins to arrive in the country was Kotetsu, a native of Japan who had trained under the Chinese Brotherhood's Mentor Shao Jun and sought to establish a guild alongside other like-minded individuals to fight the Templars' influence. However, Kotetsu's arrival was preceded by that of the Spanish Assassin Alvaro Catarribera, who founded the league known as the Kakushiba ikki alongside his apprentice, Tsuyu.

Oda Nobunaga's invasion of Iga

The Kakushiba ikki grew to include various recruits, many of them drawn from among the ranks of the Iga ikki, such as Fujibayashi Nagato, Momochi Sandayu, and Hattori Hanzō. While the Assassins were tasked by Emperor Go-Nara with safeguarding the three Imperial Regalia of Japan, they would eventually lose the artifacts to the Shinbakufu, a group founded by the deposed shōgun Ashikaga Yoshiaki, who allied with the Templars to regain his power.

After the Kakushiba ikki was decimated by the Shinbakufu, the Templars Nuno Caro and Duarte de Melo could further their plans unopposed. These included using the Imperial Regalia to influence the beliefs of the Japanese people as a means of controlling them, and manipulating Akechi Mitsuhide to betray his lord, Oda Nobunaga, whose ambitions to unify Japan posed a threat to the Templars' plans. Following Nobunaga's death in 1582, his former retainer Yasuke and the kunoichi Fujibayashi Naoe, a survivor of Nobunaga's invasion of Iga, joined forces to fight against the Shinbakufu and the Templars. With the help of other allies, they formed a new incarnation of the Kakushiba ikki, eliminated the Shinbakufu and their Templar masters, and recovered the Imperial Regalia.

Edo period

In 1615, the Japanese Assassins assisted the Tokugawa shogunate in eliminating the last vestiges of the Toyotomi clan led by Toyotomi Hideyori, the youngest son of the late Toyotomi Hideyoshi. This battle became known as the Siege of Osaka, which resulted in the Tokugawa clan eliminating the last remaining threat to the shogunate. During the siege, Japanese Assassin Hattori Masanari, son of Hattori Hanzō, fought valiantly in the summer campaign, but was ultimately killed.

In the early 18th century, Shimazu Saito, the illegitimate daughter of the head of the Templar-affiliated Shimazu clan, was brought to Japan following her father's death to be trained in the clan's ways alongside her friends. After completing her training and being inducted into the Templar Order, Saito was tasked to search for the lost Khmer city of Angkor, an alleged Isu site, and left Japan alongside her friends and subordinates. In her later years, after her journey with the Zhang Wei Union, Saito would return to Japan and ultimately pass away from old age.

Bakumatsu era

By 1868, the Tokugawa shogunate was on its last legs. With the rapid modernization of Japan through Western influence since the arrival of Matthew Perry and the Black Fleet in the mid-1850s, the Templars were able to infiltrate the Imperial Court in Kyoto and convince Emperor Meiji to take action against the shogunate in Edo led by Tokugawa Yoshinobu, a powerful ally of the Assassins.

Modern era

Abstergo Industries gave J. Robert Oppenheimer authorization to test the atomic bomb, making them directly responsible for the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki that ended World War II.

The Assassin training camp on Kyushu

On 6 December 2000, on Kyushu island, Abstergo troops led by Maxime Gorm conducted a raid on an Assassin training camp as part of the Great Purge. The Templars killed all of the camp's inhabitants, except Tomo Sakagawa and Hajime Shimada, who managed to escape.

In August 2012, in his cryptic messages prior to his suicide, Clay Kaczmarek made references to the Yonaguni Monument, and drew imagery of Mount Fuji, Nara-style pagodas, and a torii.

Whaling is a controversial issue in Japan. Susan Drayton, an Assassin and environmentalist, originally intended to use the Altaïr II to fight Japanese whalers.

In 2013, the Assassin headquarters in Osaka was attacked by the yakuza faction known as the Onmoraki-Gumi, resulting in the death of Mentor Kenichi Mochizuki. In retaliation, his wife Saeko Mochizuki, who succeeded him as Mentor, led an attack on the Onmoraki-Gumi, taking over the organization and using it as a front for Assassin activities.

On 28 July 2017, Tomo Sakagawa worked in an arcade in Tokyo while researching overnight for any mentions of Maxime Gorm. After catching a brief mention of him in Geneva, Switzerland, Tomo met with his mentor Hajime Shimada and told him about Gorm's possible involvement with Animus technicians Thomas and Alice Adler and Dr. Nathalie Chapman, who had been stealing and utilizing Abstergo's Helix data for her own business. Reluctantly, Hajime allowed Tomo to travel to Switzerland to investigate this lead.

By 2019, Abstergo had established a clinic in Yokohama, which they utilized as a front to search for living descendants of prominent Assassins and use their genetic memories to find various Pieces of Eden. That year, the teenager Kō Risa became the latest victim of Abstergo and was made to relive the memories of her ancestor Shao Jun, under the guise of receiving treatment for her violent impulses. After meeting the Japanese Assassin Kiyoshi Takakura and learning the truth about the Assassins and Templars, Risa decided to end her treatment, only to be taken hostage by Dr. Kaori Kagami. Risa ultimately managed to escape with the help of her cousin Mari and Kiyoshi, and joined the Assassins.

Kiyoshi infiltrating the Abstergo facility in Tokyo

In 2020, the Abstergo facility in Tokyo was infiltrated by an Assassin team comprising Layla Hassan, Rebecca Crane, Shaun Hastings, and Kiyoshi Takakura, who extracted an Assassin mole, Dr. Kazui, and destroyed his DNA data from the Abstergo database. Despite an altercation with the Master Templar Juhani Otso Berg, the Assassins were ultimately able to accomplish their mission and escape the facility.

In 2023, Noa Kim infiltrated the Abstergo Genetic Research Lab in Osaka to rescue Shimazu Sei, who was being used as an Animus test subject to track down a Piece of Eden. Although Noa managed to save Sei and escape from the Research Lab with the help of DedSec and a team of Assassins, he was too late to prevent Abstergo from finding and retrieving the artifact from Shimazu Saito's grave.

Gallery

16th century map of Japan

Appearances

• Assassin's Creed (Cryptic Messages only)
• Assassin's Creed II (Glyphs only)
• Assassin's Creed II: Discovery (mentioned only)
• Assassin's Creed: Revelations (mentioned only)
• Assassin's Creed: Initiates (first appearance)
• Assassin's Creed: Memories
• Assassin's Creed: Rogue (mentioned only)
• Assassin's Creed: Unity (mentioned only)
• Assassin's Creed: Templars (mentioned only)
• Assassin's Creed: Rebellion (mentioned in Database entry only)
• Assassin's Creed: Blade of Shao Jun
• Assassin's Creed: Bloodstone
• Assassin's Creed: Dynasty (mentioned only)
• Assassin's Creed: Valhalla (indirect mention only)
• Assassin's Creed: Fragments – The Blade of Aizu
• Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood of Venice – Tokyo XXI
• Assassin's Creed: The Ming Storm (non-canon) (mentioned only)
• Assassin's Creed: Forgotten Temple
• Assassin's Creed: Visionaries (non-canon)
• Assassin's Creed: Shadows
• Assassin's Creed: Shadows – Tales of Iga
• Assassin's Creed Roleplaying Game