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.
The rite was formed in the second half of the 16th century by a number of European Templars who sought to expand the Order's influence following its numerous defeats at the hands of the Assassins. These Templars, most of them posing as Jesuit missionaries, cultivated alliances with the local warlords and clans, converting them to the Order's cause with the promise to restore peace to Japan during a time when the country was consumed by constant civil wars. However, it did not take long for the Assassins to catch wind of the Templars' intentions and establish the Japanese Brotherhood to counter their plans.
Unlike most of his fellow Templars, who sought to achieve their goal through usage of the Pieces of Eden, Nuno Caro aimed to control the Japanese people by influencing their beliefs. To this end, he formed an alliance with the secret cabal known as the Shinbakufu to acquire the Imperial Regalia safeguarded by the Assassins. However, Caro's ambitious plans, and his life, were cut short by the samurai and Assassin Yasuke.
Following Caro's death and the Shinbakufu's destruction by the Assassins, the Japanese Templars entered a long period of decline, especially as the land was united by Tokugawa Ieyasu, an ally of the Brotherhood. Under the Tokugawa shogunate, the Templars were forced to keep a low profile to avoid detection by the Assassins. In 1725, the Shimazu clan, allies of the Japanese Rite since its inception, aimed to restore the Order's might by sending their agent Shimazu Saito to search for a set of three powerful Pieces of Eden, only for Saito to abandon her mission and the Templars and join the Zhang Wei Union.
After years of careful planning and subtle manipulation, the Templars finally persuaded Emperor Meiji to start the Boshin War against the Tokugawa shogunate in 1868. The resulting conflict saw the end of the shogunate and the age of the samurai and restored sovereignty to the position of Emperor while Japan gradually became a constitutional monarchy. Under the new regime, the Templars were able to build up a strong presence in the country through their front company, Abstergo Industries, which maintains facilities in some of Japan's largest cities, including Tokyo and Osaka.
History[edit | edit source]
Sengoku period[edit | edit source]
Establishment[edit | edit source]
During the first half of the 16th century, the Templars had suffered numerous defeats at the hands of the Assassins in Europe. Around 1549, the Spanish Templar and Jesuit Francis Xavier set his sights on Japan, seeing an opportunity to spread both Christianity and Templar influence on the island.[1] Among the earliest converts to the Templar cause were members of the noble Shimazu clan.[2]
Since at least 1552, the Jesuit and Templar Seneschal Gaspar Vilela operated from Nagasaki, with João Machado as his subordinate. Xavier had since departed Japan, having landed at Shangchuan Island on his way to India. Seeking Xavier's Precursor box for himself, Vilela dispatched Machado and a small contingent of knights from the Order of Saint Benedict of Aviz, who killed Xavier and stole the artifact. While awaiting exfiltration aboard a Portuguese merchant ship, they were beset by pirates or the Ming military, granting a group of Chinese Assassins the opportunity to steal the box.[3]
In 1560,[4] under orders of the Inner Sanctum to scour Japan for artifacts of interest,[5] the Portuguese Templar Nuno Caro arrived in Sakai, taking leadership of the local Templars.[4] The Italian Jesuit and Templar Paulino Massa established a relationship with the daimyō Imagawa Ujizane and recruited him into the Order, following his inheritance of the Imagawa clan after his father Yoshimoto's death at the hands of Oda Nobunaga.[6] Together, they conspired against the Oda clan and their new ally Matsudaira Motoyasu,[7] taking Motoyasu's wife and children hostage to leverage power over him.[6]
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 growing presence[1] of the Kakushiba ikki, founded by the excommunicated Spanish Assassin Alvaro Catarribera. By 1560, they had found new allies among the ranks of the ninja of Iga,[8] recruiting their leader Momochi Sandayu as well as Hattori Hanzō.[9] Despite the prospect of an alliance with Oda Nobunaga upon his unification of Japan, the Assassins started a partnership with Nobunaga's ally and Hanzō's lord Matsudaira Motoyasu instead, who became known as Tokugawa Ieyasu.[1] Having been at odds with the Templars,[6] Ieyasu tasked his former squire Chaya Shirōjirō Kiyonobu with reporting any Templar activity in the land.[1]
Expansion of operations[edit | edit source]
By the 1570s, Nuno Caro and his partner Duarte de Melo set their sights on the three Imperial Regalia of Japan due to their religious and political significance, believing that possession of the artifacts would allow the Order to rule over the people of Japan. Knowing the Inner Sanctum would disagree with his ambitions, Caro lied to them about the regalia's nature as Pieces of Eden so that they would continue to fund his mission.[10]
To retrieve the regalia, Caro secured an alliance with the Shinbakufu, a secret organization founded by Ashikaga Yoshiaki following his deposition as shōgun in 1573 as a means of regaining his power.[11] In exchange for the Templars' support, the Shinbakufu stole two of the regalia—the mirror Yata no Kagami and the sword Kusanagi no Tsurugi—that were safeguarded by the Kakushiba ikki, who were decimated by the Shinbakufu in the process.[12]
Despite the opposition they faced, the Templars eventually managed to recruit, among others, Uesugi Kenshin, head of the Uesugi clan. Kenshin had 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.[1]
The next year, Alessandro Valignano, a Jesuit missionary and 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 Cabral confronting Valignano regarding this in 1581, Alessandro used his influence to force him to resign from his post as Superior of the Jesuit Mission.[1]
Meanwhile, Caro and de Melo focused on expanding the Templars' influence, recruiting the daimyō Kimura Kei to build a secret army for the Order,[13] and influencing Akechi Mitsuhide, a member of the Shinbakufu, to betray his lord Oda Nobunaga, whose ambitions to unify Japan threatened to undermine the Templars' plans.[10] To ensure Mitsuhide's cooperation, Caro took two of his children, Hosokawa Tama and Akechi Mitsuyoshi; while the former was forced to join the Templars and help fund their operations by overseeing the silver trade in Tamba, the latter was held prisoner by Caro to guarantee Tama's compliance.[14]
Decline[edit | edit source]
In 1582, following Valignano's departure from Japan,[15] the Templars' operations in the country began to be undermined by the kunoichi Fujibayashi Naoe and the samurai Yasuke, a former retainer of Oda Nobunaga, who eliminated the Shinbakufu[11] and uncovered the existence of both the Kakushiba ikki and the Templar Order.[8] Seeking revenge on Nuno Caro for the murder of his mother and wishing to protect his adoptive homeland from the Templars, Yasuke tracked down and assassinated both Duarte de Melo and Kimura Kei.[16][13] He also rescued Hosokawa Tama and Akechi Mitsuyoshi from the Order's influence, allowing him to discover Caro's whereabouts at Takeda Castle.[17]
After Yasuke killed Caro, the Templars in Japan were left leaderless and their influence began to fade.[18] Around this time, the Order lost possession of the Imperial Regalia Yata no Kagami, which was recovered by Tokugawa Ieyasu and then given to his vassal Hattori Hanzō, ensuring the artifact returned to the Assassins.[12]
As soon as the Inner Sanctum received word of Caro's failure and demise, they authorized the Black Cross to travel to Japan and continue the Order's work in the country. In anticipation of the Black Cross' arrival, the Portuguese Templar Gaspar was ordered to secure the area around the Seta River, which he aimed to do by eliminating various influential people to allow the Templars to take over their respective communities. Gaspar and his fellow Templar Ermigo commissioned a group of hired killers known as the Seta River Killers to murder the targets they assigned them, and employed Ermigo's friend Rufino as a translator, keeping him in the dark about their true agenda.[19]
Once Rufino discovered the truth, he enlisted Fujibayashi Naoe and Yasuke's help to eliminate the Seta River Killers and rescue their targets.[20] After the pair were successful,[21] Rufino went to confront Ermigo while the latter met with Gaspar, and tried to convince his friend to abandon the Templars. As Naoe and Yasuke also arrived, all four were surrounded by Gaspar's men, who were ordered to kill Rufino for his betrayal. Ermigo tried to save his friend but was shot by an arquebusier, whereupon Naoe, Yasuke, and Rufino eliminated Gaspar and his guards.[19]
By the 1590s, the Templars had managed to recruit the kunoichi Mochizuki Chiyome, 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 Hattori Hanzō after he tracked her down to her residence in Shinano,[22] shortly before his own death in 1596 at the hands of Fūma Kotarō.[1]
Edo period[edit | edit source]
After the country was united under the rule of Tokugawa Ieyasu in 1600, the Japanese Templars would fade into obscurity.[23] However, some Templars continued to operate in secrecy under Tokugawa rule as part of the Shimazu clan.[2]
Search for Pieces of Eden[edit | edit source]
In the early 18th century, Shimazu Saito, an illegitimate daughter of the Shimazu clan's leader, was brought to Japan following her father's death to be trained in the clan's ways. After becoming an efficient assassin for the clan, Saito was inducted into the Templar Order and was tasked to find a set of three Pieces of Eden hidden throughout Southeast Asia. In exchange for recovering the relics, Saito was promised that she and her subordinates, all of whom were of mixed heritage and thus looked down upon by the clan's Japanese members, would become full-fledged members of the clan.[2]
In February 1725, Saito and her followers, accompanied by a faction of Japanese ninja led by Fuma Sukuna, arrived in the Portuguese colony of Macau to commence their search. During their investigation, Saito and her men came into conflict with the British Assassin Edward Kenway, who had also traveled to Macau to look for the Pieces of Eden.[24] After Saito's ninja killed Hendrik, a Dutch navigator who had found one of the Pieces during his travels,[25] the Templars attempted to procure Hendrik's sea log from the businesswoman Madam Lee.[26]
When Lee, aware of the Templars' role in sabotaging her company, refused to hand over the journal,[26] Saito and her men were sent to assassinate the businesswoman and take the sea log. Due to Edward's interference, Lee survived the attack, but Saito nonetheless managed to retrieve the journal.[27] After discovering it was encrypted,[26] she gave it to Sun, a business rival of Lee's, in exchange for his protection of Saito's mixed-blood subordinates.[28] However, this infuriated Fuma Sukuna and his ninja followers who, feeling they were being treated unfairly, eventually rebelled against Saito's leadership.[29]
As the Japanese ninja and Saito's loyalists engaged in a civil war, Sukuna enlisted Edward's help to assassinate Saito aboard Sun's floating gambling hall.[30] Saito confronted Edward when he infiltrated the gambling ship and was defeated,[31] but the Assassin decided to save her from drowning. He then proposed a truce to recover Hendrik's sea log and find the Pieces of Eden together, which Saito accepted.[28] However, the pair ultimately failed to secure the journal, losing it to members of the Chinese Brotherhood of Assassins who also sought the artifacts.[32]
Meanwhile, Sukuna's faction won the civil war and killed all of Saito's followers.[2] Swearing revenge on the Shimazu clan, Saito denounced the Templars and joined Edward's organization, the Zhang Wei Union, to help them look for the Pieces of Eden.[33] During a later confrontation between Sukuna's ninja and the Union in the Philippines, Saito achieved her vengeance when she and her allies killed Sukuna and all of his followers, thereby ending the Shimazu clan's search for the artifacts.[34]
Following Saito's defection, and with numerous other members of the clan clashing with the Order's vision over the centuries, the Templars eventually began to view the Shimazu with suspicion and doubt their loyalty to the Templar cause.[35]
Boshin War[edit | edit source]
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.[23]
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 nonetheless achieved his objective, as the Tokugawa shogunate was ended and the Assassins were defeated. Furthermore, the Imperial Court became the undisputed rulers of Japan, which allowed the Templars to spread their influence across the country.[23]
Modern times[edit | edit source]
By 2012, the Templars' front company Abstergo Industries had facilities located in Tokyo, Osaka, Yokohama, and Kobe.[36] In September of that year, Abstergo agents pursued an Assassin cell located in Osaka, forcing the Assassins to cut contact with the other cells in order to lose them.[37] By December 2013, the Assassins had taken over a yakuza faction known as the Onmoraki-Gumi and used their increased numbers to infiltrate Abstergo Osaka. The Assassins stole a new type of Animus headset, which they later gave to the Assassin team led by Gavin Banks.[38]
Search for the Precursor box[edit | edit source]
By 2019, the Templar Kaori Kagami was employed at the Abstergo facility in Yokohama, where the doctor worked to unlock the secrets of Shao Jun's genetic memories by using her descendant, a teenager named Kō Risa, as an Animus test subject.[39] At first, she manipulated the young lady by reassuring her that these sessions would help her control her outbursts of anger, but gave no concern about the Animus' effects on her patient.[40]
After Ellen Kaye, who headed both Abstergo's Board of Directors and the Templars' governing Council of Elders, demoted Kagami following her failure to learn the whereabouts of Shao Jun's Precursor box in 2016, the doctor was desperate to succeed this time.[41] As a result, when Risa eventually realized that Kagami was using her and did not care about her well-being, she confronted the doctor, prompting Kagami to take Risa hostage at gunpoint[42] and force her back into the Animus against her will.[43]
During the forced sessions, Kagami informed her assistant that they would dispose of Risa after gaining the information they wanted. However, Shao Jun's memories ultimately proved to be a dead end, with the Precursor box becoming lost to the Assassin after being shipped out of China. This caused Kagami to throw a fit of rage until she noticed Risa wake up from the Animus.[44]
While Risa confronted the doctor about her mistreatment, the Assassin Kiyoshi Takakura and Risa's cousin Mari infiltrated the Yokohama facility to rescue her. Risa, however, disarmed Kagami and knocked out her guards. With Kiyoshi and Mari arriving on the scene, Kagami was met with defeat as Risa thanked the doctor for helping her understand herself before shooting and destroying her Animus. After Kiyoshi and the cousins departed, Kagami was left in complete disarray.[45]
Shimazu Sei's mission[edit | edit source]
- "I'm sure it comes as no surprise that many of our brethren are skeptical of your family's value to the Order. Make no mistake. This is a test of your clan's loyalty and worth to the Templars. You will not be granted another like it, Supervisor Shimazu."
- ―A Templar higher-up to Shimazu Sei, c. 2023.[src]-[m]
By 2023, relations between the Shimazu clan and the rest of the Templar Order had completely soured.[35] In order to prove her family's loyalty and worth to the Templars, Shimazu Sei, a descendant of Shimazu Saito, was tasked with leading the search for a Piece of Eden found by Edward Kenway in Southeast Asia. Operating out of the Exitus research vessel in Macau, China,[35] Sei's team abducted one of Edward's descendants, the Korean-American student Noa Kim, and placed him in the Animus to relive Edward's memories.[46]
After Noa caused several synchronization errors, Sei had him removed from the Animus and explained the nature of her mission to him in the hopes of getting him to become more cooperative.[47] Noa ultimately agreed to help Sei in exchange for his freedom and the two began to bond over the course of their subsequent Animus sessions.[48]
At one point, Noa and Sei had to travel together to the A-Ma Cultural Village to follow up on a lead that would allow them to continue exploring Edward's memories.[49] While there, Sei and her Abstergo guards were attacked by Doom Eagle thugs employed by the Zhawang Corporation, who sought to rescue Noa. Wishing to uncover his family roots through Edward's memories, however, Noa refused the Corporation agents' help and went to protect Sei from the thugs before returning with her to the Exitus.[50]
After more Animus sessions, Sei and Noa had to relocate to the Philippines in order to physically trace Edward's footsteps.[35] Sailing to Cebu, the two were joined by Sei's bodyguard Yuki, but during their investigation, they were again attacked by Doom Eagle[51] and forced to head to a shopping mall. After Yuki was injured, Sei and Noa fled into the mall,[52] where the latter protected Sei from the thugs pursuing them. Noa then engaged in a fight with Doom Eagle's leader, the Assassin Nathan Zhang,[53] who ultimately retreated when Abstego's Sigma Team arrived on the scene.[54]
Eventually, Edward's memories revealed the whereabouts of a Piece of Eden—a crescent amulet—in the Strait of Malacca, though because of his long sessions in the Animus, Noa began to succumb to the Bleeding Effect. Sei contacted her superiors to update them on the situation, only to be taken aback when they ordered Noa's termination, believing the test subject had outlived his usefulness. Sei disagreed and was contacted by the DedSec hacker group on Nathan Zhang's behalf.[55]
Nathan proposed a mutually beneficial deal to ensure Noa's safety, which Sei reluctantly accepted before being informed that Noa had gone on a Bleeding Effect-induced rampage aboard the Exitus. Sei calmed Noa down and helped him return to his senses,[56] and later convinced her superiors to keep Noa alive so that he could recover the crescent amulet from the shipwreck of the SS Ourang Medan.[57]
Following Noa's successful retrieval of the amulet, Abstergo's executive committee ordered Sigma Team to terminate the test subject, but Sei convinced them to delay Noa's execution by pointing out that, with him gone, any hope of studying the amulet was also lost.[58] Shortly after, the Abstergo ship came under attack by Doom Eagle, as per the terms of Sei's deal with Nathan Zhang. Sei took advantage of the distraction to escape with Noa, Yuki, and the amulet, officially defecting from Abstergo and the Templars in order to save Noa's life.[59]
Sei later reflected on her defection while under the influence of a lantern-shaped Piece of Eden in the Shwedagon Pagoda. Although feeling remorseful for betraying the Order she had served her entire life, an act which would surely backfire on the Shimazu clan, she ultimately decided to forge her own path and dedicate herself to fighting against Abstergo.[60]
Abstergo's genetic research[edit | edit source]
Following her defection, Sei was eventually captured by Sigma Team[61] and taken to the Abstergo Genetic Research Lab, an Abstergo branch focusing on genetic research. At the Research Lab's headquarters in Osaka, the doctor was strapped to an Animus and forced to relive Shimazu Saito's memories to help the Templars find another Piece of Eden. Upon discovering the artifact's location in Saito's grave, Sigma Team was dispatched to recover it while Sei was marked for termination.[62]
Noa, hoping to rescue Sei, infiltrated the Research Lab's headquarters with the help of DedSec and a group of Assassins. Navigating through the facility while avoiding security, he managed to reach Sei and free her from the Animus, though the doctor suffered from a severe Bleeding Effect and believed herself to be Saito.[62]
Nevertheless, Noa proceeded to carry Sei out of the facility as he and the Assassins made their escape, leaping from the building and landing on an air cushion deployed by Nathan Zhang and his men. Disguised as firefighters, the group then drove away from the Research Lab, avoiding detection by Abstergo.[63]
Members[edit | edit source]
- Sengoku period
- Nuno Caro[64] (leader; c. 1560 – 1582) (Portuguese Rite)
- Ermigo[64] (Portuguese Rite)
- Gaspar[64] (Portuguese Rite)
- Hosokawa Tama[64] (defected)
- Imagawa Tomeji[65]
- Imagawa Ujizane[6]
- Kimura Kei[64]
- Kimura Yukari[65]
- João Machado[3] (Portuguese Rite)
- Paulino Massa[7] (Roman Rite)
- Duarte de Melo[64] (Portuguese Rite)
- Mochizuki Chiyome[1]
- Nowaki[65]
- Suma[65]
- Uesugi Kenshin[1]
- Alessandro Valignano[1] (Roman Rite)
- Gaspar Vilela[3] (Portuguese Rite)
- Francis Xavier[1] (founder; Spanish Rite)
- Yasuhira[65]
- Edo period
- Shimazu Saito (defected)
- William Lloyd (British Rite)
- Modern times
- Kaori Kagami
- Mitsuko Nakamura
- Shimazu Sei (defected)
Allies and puppets[edit | edit source]
- Sengoku period
- Baltazar[64]
- Rufino[64] (defected)
- Samemaru[64]
- Yasuke[64] (unwillingly)
- Seta River Killers
- Shinbakufu
- Sanzoku Ippa
- Amano Buza[65]
- Ando Masamune[65]
- Chiba Hachibei[65]
- Fukushima Mosaku[65]
- Goto Ginpachi[65]
- Hachisuka Norimasa[65]
- Hasegawa Magobei[65]
- Honda Mosuke[65]
- Ikoma Matagoro[65]
- Inoue Yonekichi[65]
- Ishida Shota[65]
- Kagae Koheiji[65]
- Kaiwara Heitaro[65]
- Kobayakawa Heitaro[65]
- Kuki Shinpachi[65]
- Nitta Koheiji[65]
- Ogasawara Masakichi[65]
- Ryuzoji Den[65]
- Shimazu Masujiro[65]
- So Sachihiko[65]
- Suganuma Heihachi[65]
- Suganuma Tenma[65]
- Tozawa Yataro[65]
- Watanabe Kinji[65]
- Yamane Ichi[65]
- Yamanouchi Tobei[65]
- Edo period
- Fuma Sukuna
- Alan Jacob (British Rite)
- Sun
- William Lloyd (British Rite)
- Emperor Meiji
- Modern times
Appearances[edit | edit source]
- 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
- Assassin's Creed: Shadows
- Assassin's Creed: Shadows – Tales of Iga
References[edit | edit source]
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