Kamigawa

In Magic: The Gathering, Kamigawa (神川, kamigawa, lit. "spirit river") is the name and setting for the block set that includes Champions of Kamigawa, Betrayers of Kamigawa, and Saviors of Kamigawa. It is a world-plane far removed from the other planes in Magic, planes which are usually influenced by Western fantasy elements (like the medieval Homelands and the Arabian Rabiah). Instead, elements of Kamigawa show a strong Japanese influence, with armies of Samurai and emphasis on the religion of Shinto.

Kamigawa is divided into two parts, a material world and a spiritual world. Residing in the material are Kamigawa's humans, foxfolk known as Kitsune, cultured moonfolk known formally as Soratami, ratfolk called Nezumi, demon-worshiping ogres, the goblin-like akki, and the Orochi snakefolk. Making up the spirit domain are the Kami, who, as spirits embodying concepts, are widely diverse. The corrupted Kami who embody suffering and wickedness are called Oni, the five greatest spirits who reflect Magic's five colors are known as the Myojin, and the Kami above all others is the eight-headed serpent O-Kagachi. Each manifested kami in the material world is accompanied by several lesser spirits or forms of energy. For instance, a river kami might be accompanied by swimming spirit fish.

In the Kamigawa cycle, the plane of Kamigawa experiences a devastating war called the Kami War, between the denizens of its spirit world (the kakuriyo. 隔離世 lit. "copied world") and its material world (the utsushiyo. 写し世 lit. "isolated world"). The once-benign Kami who received worship from the material peoples turn against and wage war against their supplicants. The story is revealed through both the novels and references to tattered documents and history books.

Notable Locations

Kamigawa is separated into major geographical regions that parallel Magic's five basic lands: plains, islands, swamps, mountains, and forests. Each region is guarded by one of Kamigawa's legendary dragon spirits, who are not only loyal to the material world and its peoples, but are bound to protect their separate areas.

Towabara, the Araba, and Eiganjo Castle

Towabara is a plain on Kamigawa and its name means "eternal field". Within Towabara lies the barren expanse called the Araba, whose name means "ruined land" because the plain is full of craters, results of the Kami attacks. Eiganjo Castle stands at the center of the Araba, and it is the stronghold of the daimyo Takeshi Konda. Eiganjo is attacked by O-Kagachi during the Kami War, and the castle heavily damaged. Eiganjo Castle and its surrounding plains are protected by Yosei, the Morning Star. Towabara is in the center of the mapped regions of Kamigawa.

Minamo Academy

Minamo Academy is a school that teaches its students human and spirit magic. Minamo is unique in that its foundations are built upon a waterfall, the largest waterfall in Kamigawa. The headmaster and staff of the school regard the Soratami, wise moonfolk who live in the clouds and practice magic, as the higher authority, and often pray to them and and ask for advice. The academy was attacked and ransacked by the ogre Hidetsugu, whose oath-brother Kobo was killed by one of its students. Minamo's guardian is Keiga, the Tide Star.

Takenuma Swamp

The Takenuma Swamp is a vast area of swampland, inhabited by Nezumi and various bandits. Toshiro Umezawa, a main character of the Kamigawa novels, lived here before the ever-meddling moonfolk drove him out. The most gruesome battles of the Kami War are fought here in this swamp, and the area is forever deprived of sunlight due to the corruption created by the masses of major and minor demon spirits that inhabit the deeper areas. This dark place is watched over by Kokusho, the Evening Star.

Sokenzan and the Tendo Peaks

Sokenzan is Kamigawa's largest mountain range. It is inhabited by the akki, as well as bandits and ronin ruled by the bandit warlord, Godo. At Sokenzan is where Hidetsugu, an O-bakemono, or ogre shaman with dangerous influence, practices summoning Oni. In the heart of Sokenzan are steep mountains called the Tendo Peaks. One of these mountains, the Heart of Frost, has the distinction of once being haunted by a Yuki-onna. The Tendo Peaks and the Sokenzan range as a whole is guarded by Ryusei, the Falling Star.

Jukai Forest

The Jukai is a dense forest that harbors droves of Kami of all shapes and sizes, and also orders of monks that train to become more in tune with nature and spirits. The Kitsune inhabit this area, as do the the Orochi, who tend to take a neutral stance in the Kami War because they devoutly worshiped the Myojin of Life's Web before the War began. The Orochi inhabit the Eastern edge of known Kamigawa, but they admit that they do not know what lies to the east of their settlements. In fact, none do, as all attempts to map the eastern forest have failed. The forests of Jukai are watched over by Jugan, the Rising Star.

Other Locations

Oboro Palace

Oboro Palace is the floating castle of the Soratami. It is largely a secret kept from the ground dwellers. According to the Soratami, no ground dweller has ever set foot on Oboro, except for a human master of disguises known as Sakashima the Impostor.

Shizo, Death's Storehouse

Shizo is a cursed battlefield that is an eyesore to anyone who views it. Once a beautiful verdant field, it became corrupted when 891 samurai died upon it in a single battle. Now it is home only to a single spirit called Shirei, Shizo's Caretaker, who wanders through the corpses, and prevents weaker souls from departing Kamigawa.

Notable Characters

Toshi Umezawa

Toshi (full name Toshiro Umezawa) is a rogue ochimusha from Numai, a section of the Takenuma Swamp. He used to work under Boss Uramon, the leader of a gang of reckoners from the swamp. One day he was sent with others from his gang, headed by a mercenary named One-Eye, to capture or kill the ogre Hidetsugu. Hidetsugu soon finished off the rest of the gang, but left Toshi due to a protective spell Toshi had used. Using kanji magic to hold off Hidetsugu, he formed a pact with the ogre - he would leave Uramon and together, the two would form their own gang of reckoners known as the Hyozan (iceberg).

Toshi's main source of power is his kanji magic. This involves drawing Japanese word-symbols, kanji, each symbol producing a different effect, or spell. The kanji can be written in ink, but are more powerful when traced using blood, particularly that of the caster. He also draws power from the Shadow Gate, an artifact that allows him to travel through shadows to nearly anywhere in the world, even the Oboro Palace high above the clouds. It also allows him to turn incorporeal for a short time. Later, he captures the Yuki Onna ('snow woman', a powerful spirit of the mountains that freezes travellers solid) and gains the ability to release her where he chooses, as well as breathe breath of freezing cold.

Toshi wields a traditional daishō as well as his favored weapon, a jitte (a truncheon that is designed to catch blades in its hook). His jitte can be used to draw the kanji that power his magic, and is thus more dangerous than his two swords together.

Until he met Mochi, the Smiling Kami of the Crescent Moon, Toshi never prayed to any spirits. This changed when Mochi introduced him to the Myojin of Night's Reach, whose influence caused him to become more unpredictable and dangerous than before.

Toshi is a notorious prankster who uses his sharp tongue to mock, tease or joke with his enemies. He likes to play word games, an affinity that caused him conflict when he encountered the kitsune Sharp-Ear.

Myojin of Night's Reach

The Myojin of black mana in Kamigawa, Night's Reach embodies night and its aspects such as cold, darkness, and sleep. In essence, like all kami, she is a living idea, a concept given consciousness. Toshi is introduced to her through the Smiling Kami of the Crescent Moon. Toshi had never prayed or requested anything before from a spirit, but is offered some new abilities through her when he is cornered in a cave in a desperate situation.

It could also be said that the Myojin is a Planeswalker, as she knows of, and is worshipped on worlds other than Kamigawa.

Nicol Bolas, an ancient, legendary, planeswalking dragon, is currently in search of the Myojin of Night's Reach and Toshi, and all of Toshi's descendants and ancestors. He wishes to destroy them because one of the descendants of Toshi Umezawa, whom the Myojin introduced to Nicol Bolas' homeland in Dominaria, banished him to exile.

Takeshi Konda

Konda, is the daimyo, or ruler, of most of Kamigawa. On the night of his daughter's birth, he performed a ritual which allowed him to tear out a piece of the spirit world, give it a physical form, and bring it into his own possession. The spirit he stole was a part of the O-Kagachi, the Great Serpent, the Kami of All. By kidnapping it, Konda angered the spirits and thus began the Kami War. However, he also gained immortality and massive feats of strength. Yet despite all the tragedy that his crime brought upon his land and people, Konda was convinced that he had done the right thing, and that as long as he held onto this spirit, his reign would last eternally and his people would be happy. (Considering the destruction the Kami War caused, this is certainly a delusion.)

Ever since his crime, Konda had spent all his time in the towers of his castle Eiganjo with his prize, which became known as The Taken One or That Which Was Taken.

Princess Michiko Konda

Michiko was born on the same night as her father's crime, as her birth was the last piece that allowed Konda to perform the ritual. The princess always wanted to know just what her father had done and what had started the Kami War. Unfortunately for her, the daimyo had heavy security always guarding her, especially the watchful eye of her kitsune mentor Lady Pearl-Ear, and the Lady's brother Sharp-Ear. They assured the princess never left the safety of Eiganjo. Of course, this didn't stop her, and she soon left with two of her friends to head to the Minamo Academy to learn the truth behind the war.

Mochi

Also known as the Smiling Kami of the Crescent Moon, Mochi is one of the main causes of the soratami's behaviour. He was a mere aspect of the moon, but he wanted to be so much more. He believed that by allowing the war to continue until almost all of Kamigawa was decimated, he could rebuild the world to his perfect vision. He persuaded the soratami into following him to do so. He also tricked Toshi, Michiko and others into believing him to be an ally in trying to stop the war.

As Mochi is a spirit, he had to manifest himself into a physical body to be shown in the material world. He appears as a small, blue, chubby and bald imp like creature, with a smile resembling a crescent moon.

Hidetsugu

An ogre living in the Sokenzan Mountains at his home of Shinka Keep, Hidetsugu forms the other half of the founders of the Hyozan. Hidetsugu is cruel and ruthless - his home is surrounded by heads of his former students on pikes. He often takes on apprentices to train, but they rarely survive his training methods more than a week. One of his best apprentices was a human named Kobo, whom he sent to join Toshi into the Jukai Forest. There, Kobo was killed by a student of Minamo.

Upon hearing of Kobo's death, Hidetsugu gathered some yamabushi shamans whose spirits he had broken to take revenge on the academy. When he reached it, he kills almost all of the students and staff, including its guardian dragon Keiga. Still not satisfied, he also ascended to Oboro to destroy the city of the soratami. It is there where he and Toshi turn on each other for the first time since they formed the Hyozan.

There is a pact between Toshi and Hidetsugu, and other members of the Hyozan reckoners. The pact is an oath that each will avenge their deaths if necessary. Toshi escapes the oath by removing the Hyozan tatto, which Hidetsugu relised imediately. However, as he is attacking Toshi (pretending not to know toshi escaped the oath), Hidetsugu reveals that there is a loophole in the oath -- the oath only enacts vengeance on the members if they "spill the blood" of another reckoner. So long as Hidetsugu does not spill blood, the oath will not strike him down for murdering another member of Hyozan. Suffocation, obviously, is the best way to accomplish this.

In Saviours of Kamigawa Hidetsugu and Toshi fought against one another, Toshi lost what would be his closest friend Marrow-Gnawer (by stabing Hidetsugu in the eye) and probably the woman he loves, Kiku (killed by her masters curse) at the cost of Hidetsugu's eyes. Toshi persuades Hidetsugu to "look" at the battle between the Oni hordes and O-Kagachi and the Daimyo's forces.

When his master, the All-Consuming Oni of Chaos, is defeated effortlessly by O-Kagachi, Hidetsugu asks one last wish of Toshi -- he asks that Toshi transport him to his master's home, the Honden of All-Consuming. Toshi agrees, and at the end of the story, Hidetsugu has taken revenge on his master's cowardice and replaced him as the All-Consuming Oni of Chaos, a godlike being devoted to destruction.

Yosei

Yosei, the Morning Star, is the guardian dragon of Eiganjo. Konda summons him to protect his people and castle from the wrath of the O-Kagachi. Yosei fights powerfully, but the Great Serpent wins the fight by biting the dragon in half with one of its heads. Even after having half his body torn off, Yosei continues to fight O-Kagachi, but the Serpent is immensely larger than the dragon and doesn't even feel the effects of Yosei's attacks.

O-Kagachi

O-Kagachi, called the Great Old Serpent, is the oldest spirit and is the spirit of the utsushiyo and the kakuriyo (the spirit world and the human world). He is the embodiment of the entire Kamigawa spirit world and he manifests as an enormously huge, eight headed being which blocks out most of the sky.

The end of Champions of Kamigawa reveals that the Kami War starts because Daimyo Konda stole a piece of O-Kagachi that can be equated to O-Kagachi's child. This led to O-Kagachi calling for war against the physical/human world known as the kakuriyo, and also leads to O-Kagachi's manifestation in the kakuriyo. He is greatly feared after his first manifestation because he severely weakened Yosei and practically destroyed the "impenetrable" Eiganjo. The reasons he does not overwhelm the kakuriyo are: 1) he follows The Taken One (his "daughter"/Konda's treasure/the prize) wherever she goes, which saved several areas, like Eiganjo, from total annihilation, and 2) he usually takes days to take form in a new location in the kakuriyo.

Along with being the spirit of both worlds, O-Kagachi is the guardian of the barrier that separates the two worlds from each other.

That Which Was Taken

That Which Was Taken is the daughter of the O-Kagachi. She was taken on the night of Princess Michiko's birth by sympathic magic made by Konda, and was locked up in a stone prison in the Daimyo's room for 20 years. It was a magnet for the O-Kagachi. Before the O-Kagachi and the Daimyo could fight for the Taken One, she was taken again by Toshi Umezawa, who then hid her in the ruins of the Minamo school.

Unfortunately, the O-Kagachi and the Daimyo's spirit army arrive and battle an Oni horde and The All-Consuming Oni of Chaos. O-Kagachi dispatches the All-Consuming Oni of Chaos with one strike and Hidetsugu, heartbroken and crying at his master's defeat and abandonment of him, swears vengeance upon the Oni and with the help of Toshi enters its Realm to seek revenge. Toshi is forced to take the Taken One to Jukai forest. Toshi is taken away by some orochi and the Taken One turns five orochi into sand before Toshi arrived. Then she became impatient and wanted to be freed.

Toshi, against the command of his mistress, the Myojin, takes the Taken One into her honden. Furious, she casts him out and strips him of his abilities, but not before the Taken One releases a beam of energy, shattering the Myojin's mask.

Then Toshi takes her one final time to a kitsune village to meet her 'sister' Michiko Konda. After Michiko releases the Taken One with the help of Toshi's kanji magic from her stone prison, the Taken One changes her name to Kyodai (which means sibling) and joins with Michiko and Toshi to destroy the O-Kagachi and the Daimyo.

Kyodai also repays Toshi for his help by summoning Mochi, only to let Mochi be eaten by Hidetsugu, now commanding the All-Consuming Oni of Chaos.