Tsuki-maru

Tsuki-maru (月丸) was a Japanese akita inu (秋田犬, lit. "Akita dog") that lived during the 16th century.

Biography[edit | edit source]

Originally owned by a man named Ichiro, Tsuki-maru lived with his owner at an estate in Izumi Settsu. Ichiro's sister-in-law Takako, who was jealous of his wealth and possessions, hired a group of mercenaries to eliminate Ichiro so that she could gain his inheritance. Knowing his sister-in-law was after his possessions, Ichiro led her to believe he had left behind an inheritance, though in reality, all he had left behind in his final will was entrusting Tsuki-maru to a potential and kind owner.^[1]

After Ichiro's death, his body was buried in a grave near Tennoji Temple along with his will in a small box, the key to which Tsuki-maru had hidden somewhere on the estate. Since then, Tsuki-maru remained by the grave while Takako regularly attempted to retrieve the key from him. Though he was able to chase her away, Tsuki-maru suffered some injuries as a result. Around 1582, the kunoichi Fujibayashi Naoe visited Tsuki-maru and the grave after hearing stories about them around the region.^[1]

Tsuki-maru led Naoe to Ichiro's estate, which Takako had claimed as her own since no one could find Ichiro's will and contest it. Takako loudly slandered her late family member for having allegedly suffocated on a fish bone and spoke ill of Tsuki-maru. After confronting Takako for abusing the dog, Naoe was left alone with him and they worked together to find the key under the house. Tsuki-maru returned to Ichiro's grave, where he dug up the box containing the letter. Naoe read the letter, which also held evidence that incriminated Takako, and understood Ichiro's final wishes, making an offer to Tsuki-maru to join her at the hideout as a guard dog. Tsuki-maru accepted the offer and made it his new home.^[1]

Behind the scenes[edit | edit source]

Tsuki-maru is a minor character in Assassin's Creed: Shadows, introduced as part of the free, downloadable questline Thrown to the Dogs. His name is made up of the kanji for tsuki (月, "moon") and -maru (丸), a common suffix for Japanese male names that denotes the speaker .