A Peaceful and Prosperous Age

While traveling, the folk yin-yang master Ashiya Shisuke found an infant wrapped in coarse hemp cloth in a grassy field in Rakuto. Seeing that the baby's eyes were blank, he realized the child had an eye disease and had been deliberately abandoned by the parents. In those chaotic times, adults could barely feed themselves, let alone care for a blind, hungry infant. Judging by the hemp cloth, Ashiya Shisuke concluded that the child's parents must have been poor as well. A wild dog bared its fangs nearby, seemingly warning Ashiya Shisuke to leave their 'dinner' alone. After hesitating for a moment, he resolutely picked up the baby and left. Over the next six years, Ashiya Shisuke named the child Ashiya Hikaru and took him on his travels far and wide. In the final year of his life, Ashiya Shisuke brought Hikaru to Kyoto, where he sought out his close friend Kamo Tadayuki. With Kamo Tadayuki's help, Hikaru's eyesight was cured. An assignment meant Ashiya Shisuke had to leave Hikaru for a while. He promised to return for him within three months, but he broke that promise. He died on the road while coming to get Hikaru. From then on, Ashiya Hikaru lived in Kamo Tadayuki's home, and a new chapter in his fate began.