Japanese Rite of the Templar Order

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The Japanese Rite of the Templar Order is the Rite of the Templar Order based in Japan, in operation since the Sengoku period.

History

Sengoku period

"These converts are our foothold in this country."

―Alessandro Valignano

During the first half of the 16th century, the Templars had suffered numerous defeats at the hands of the Assassin Brotherhood in Europe. Around 1549, the Spanish Templar Francis Xavier set his sights on Japan, seeing an opportunity to spread both Christianity and Templar influence on the island.

However, the Templars' attempts to find new recruits were frequently hindered by the constant wars between clans, as well as their hostility toward outsiders. The Templars were also heavily opposed by the Japanese Assassins, who worked to prevent the spread of their influence in Japan and recruited individuals from the ranks of the ninja and samurai, such as Hattori Hanzō and Yamauchi Taka. The Assassins supported Tokugawa Ieyasu, one of the many warlords of the period, who similarly opposed the Templars' influence and, as such, tasked his former squire Chaya Shirōjirō Kiyonobu with reporting any Templar activity in the land.

Despite the opposition they faced, the Templars eventually managed to recruit, among others, Uesugi Kenshin, head of the Uesugi clan. Kenshin fought various battles with his rival Takeda Shingen, the owner of a Sword of Eden. Their rivalry ended when Shingen was assassinated in 1573 by the Tokugawa and the Assassins, and Kenshin himself was killed by the Assassin Hattori Hanzō in 1578.

Meanwhile, Alessandro Valignano, an Italian Jesuit missionary and a member of the Roman Rite, was sent to aid fellow missionary Francisco Cabral, who was already doing missionary work in Japan. However, the two men despised one another almost instantly. Valignano used his Jesuit connections to scour Japan for Templar recruits, and upon Francisco Cabral confronting Valignano regarding this, Alessandro used his influence to force Cabral to resign from his post as Superior of the Jesuit Mission.

By the 1590s, the Templars had managed to recruit the kunoichi Mochizuki Chiyome, a noblewoman who had created an all-female group of ninja agents in her service as the spymaster of her uncle-in-law, Takeda Shingen. Through Chiyome, the Templars gained a vast information network that helped spread their philosophy throughout Japan. However, Chiyome was eventually assassinated by Hanzō after he tracked her down to her residence in Shinano, shortly before his own death in 1596 at the hand of Fūma Kotarō.

Edo period

In 1725, Shimazu Saito, a Japanese Templar and member of the Shimazu clan, led the Templars' search for the ruins of the lost city of the Khmer Empire, which was believed to be a Precursor site. To this end, he led a number of ninja loyal to his clan in the Portuguese colony of Macau, both to investigate leads regarding the city's location and to silence anyone else who knew about the ruins. While in Macau, Saito and his ninja followers clashed several times with the British Assassin Edward Kenway, who was also on the lost city's trail.

By 1868, the Japanese Templars had fallen into oblivion after more than two centuries of Tokugawa rule under the watchful eye of the Assassins. The British Templars tasked their agent William Lloyd, to use his position and influence as right-hand man to Harry Parkes, the British consul to Japan, to bring an end to the Tokugawa shogunate. The Templars believed that with the restoration of a strong Imperial power in Japan, their ideology would once again spread on the island. Eventually, Lloyd's mission was successful, as the political landscape was so deteriorated that the young Emperor Meiji and his allies took up arms against Tokugawa Yoshinobu and the shogunate of Edo.

Despite his failure to recover the Musashi Masamune and his death during the Battle of Aizu, Lloyd's mission was a success as the Tokugawa shogunate was ended and the Assassins were defeated. Furthermore, the Imperial Court became the undisputed rulers of Japan and this allowed the Templars to spread their influence across the country.

Modern times

By 2012, Abstergo Industries, the primary public front of the modern-day Templar Order, had facilities located in Tokyo, Osaka, Yokohama and Kobe.

In September 2012, agents of Abstergo Industries pursued an Assassin cell located in Osaka, forcing the Assassins to cut contact with the other cells in order to lose them.

In December 2013, the Abstergo facility in Osaka was infiltrated by the Assassins, who, by then, had taken over a yakuza faction known as the Onmoraki-Gumi. The Assassins managed to steal a new type of Animus headset, which they later gave to the Assassin team led by Gavin Banks.

By 2019, the Templar Kaori Kagami was employed in the Abstergo facility in Yakohama, where the doctor worked to unlock the secrets of Shao Jun's genetic memories by using her descendant, the young Kō Risa, as a test subject.

By the 2020s, the Templar Shimazu Sei, a descendant of the Shimazu clan, was a doctor employed at the Abstergo facility in Macau, where she worked to locate a Piece of Eden found by Edward Kenway in Indochina. To this end, she abducted one of Kenway's descendants, a Korean-American student named Noa Kim, and placed him in the Animus to relive Kenway's memories.

Members

Sengoku period

• Mochizuki Chiyome
• Uesugi Kenshin
• Alessandro Valignano (originally of the Roman Rite)
• Francis Xavier (originally of the Spanish Rite)

Edo period

• William Lloyd (originally of the British Rite)
• Shimazu Saito

Modern times

• Kaori Kagami
• Shimazu Sei

Allies and puppets

Edo period

• Emperor Meiji

Appearances

• Assassin's Creed: Memories (first appearance)
• Assassin's Creed: Blade of Shao Jun
• Assassin's Creed: Fragments – The Blade of Aizu
• Assassin's Creed: Forgotten Temple