Yaita Wakasa

"Once I control the teppo trade in Sakai, I will begin to assemble my fleet. Traders, smugglers, even pirates will answer my call. We'll form the greatest trading fleet to ever set sail and rule the markets. By trade or by blade. The future is trade, and Sakai is the center of trade."

―Yaita Wakasa, 1582.

Yaita Wakasa (八板 若狭; 1527 – 1582) also known as The Golden Teppo, was a Japanese pirate, merchant, and a member of the Shinbakufu located in Sakai.

By controlling Sakai's tanegashima market, Wakasa aimed to create a fleet that dominated all seas and ports worldwide, either by trading with them or by force. Her ambitions came to an end when Fujibayashi Naoe killed her with her own decorated tanegashima as revenge for her father's murder.

Biography

Early life

For most of her early life, Wakasa lived a nomadic lifestyle as a pirate. At an unknown point in time, she came to join the Shinbakufu, a secret group that aimed to restore the deposed shōgun Ashikaga Yoshiaki to the throne. Wakasa had met Yoshiaki years earlier, when she had tea with him.

At some point before 1581, Wakasa decided to settle in Sakai in order to get control of the city's gun market and accumulate more power, integrating herself with the town's social elite. She managed to get close to Imai Sōkyū, Oda Nobunaga's master of the tea ceremony and one of the biggest merchants in Sakai, attending private tea ceremonies hosted by Sōkyū.

Siege of Iga

Koretake: "What are you doing?"

Wakasa: "It will be safe in Sakai."

Koretake: "It will be safer with me."

—Wakasa and Koretake arguing about who would take the box, 1581.

In September 1581, Wakasa and her fellow Shinbakufu members traveled to Iga to retrieve the Imperial Regalia Yasakani no Magatama that was safeguarded by the Kakushiba ikki. Using Oda Nobunaga's siege of Iga as cover, Wakasa and Wada Koretake were among the first to arrive and waited for Ido Yoshihiro, who had stolen the regalia's box, outside Katano Castle.

Wakasa fighting Nagato

After Yoshihiro was assassinated by Fujibayashi Naoe, Wakasa and Koretake ambushed her outside the castle, with the former shooting Naoe in the abdomen before Koretake broke her foot. Having recovered the box, the two masked Shinbakufu members argued about who would get to keep it until they were interrupted by Naoe's father Nagato, who knocked Wakasa to the ground and cut off Koretake's left ear.

As Wakasa and Koretake prepared to fight the Assassin, they were joined by the rest of the Shinbakufu, who quickly defeated and mortally wounded Nagato. The Shinbakufu then retrieved the box and, after taunting Nagato that his and the Kakushiba ikki's life work was undone, left him and Naoe to succumb to their injuries.

Death

Naoe: "So, you won't tell me where it is?"

Wakasa.: "No."

Naoe: "Then you're no use to me at all."

—Naoe to Wakasa, moments before killing her, 1582.

Naoe ultimately survived her wounds and decided to seek revenge on her father's killers. On Tomiko's advice, she decided to look for a teppō craftsman in Sakai who could make a custom tanegashima with gold engravings, similar to the one used by the woman who had shot her.

Wakasa being fatally shot by Naoe

During her investigation, Naoe managed to infiltrate one of Imai Sōkyū's private tea ceremonies, which Wakasa also attended alongside Otama and Lady Satoko. Wakasa, not recognizing Naoe at first, was friendly to her and sensed they had something in common. They attended the ceremony, with Wakasa gifting a dagger owned by former shōgun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu to Sōkyū at the end of the ceremony.

After the ceremony, Wakasa invited Naoe to her house, where she talked about her ambitions for Sakai and invited Naoe to work for her. However, Naoe started examining Wakasa's tanegashima, prompting the latter to tell her it was not a toy. Naoe responded that it was "a coward's weapon", which made Wakasa finally remember who she was. Wakasa tried to bargain for her life, offering to lead Naoe to the box's location. Naoe declined the offer, stating she had no use for Wakasa if she could not tell her the box's exact location, before fatally shooting her in the head.

Gallery

• 
  Portrait of Wakasa in the Animus' objective menu
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  Portrait of Wakasa in her disguise
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  Wakasa aiming her teppo
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  Wakasa approaching the box and Naoe
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  Naoe's painting of Wakasa
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  Wakasa at the tea ceremony with Otama, Lady Satoko, Naoe, and Sōkyū
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  Wakasa in her home

Behind the scenes

Wakasa's character appears to be loosely based on the historical Yaita Wakasa, who was the daughter of daimyō Tanegashima Tokitaka's blacksmith Yaita Kinbei Kiyosada, who created the first European-style matchlock in Japan after their introduction by the Portuguese. Anecdotally, Kiyosada could not figure out how the gun's screws worked and offered his daughter in marriage to one of the Portuguese sailors for that knowledge. The Portuguese and Wakasa left for Portugal and a year later returned with a Portuguese blacksmith to explain the process. Wakasa and her father later faked her death, and the Portuguese left without her. The only primary source for this account is Yaita family history Yaita-shi Kiyosada ichiryu no Keizo and oral tradition. A stone purported to be her grave marker is located in Nishinoomote, Kagoshima.

When not playing Assassin's Creed: Shadows in Canon Mode, it is possible for Wakasa to become suspicious of Naoe and flee to the construction site around Osaka Castle, triggering an alternate memory for her assassination. Alternatively, Naoe can falsely accuse Otama of being the Golden Teppo and kill her before recovering a note which reveals Wakasa's actual identity as the Shinbakufu member.

Appearances

• Assassin's Creed: Shadows