#Buke — From Head to Ashigaru

Contents

This document belongs to front. Its structure follows real history; the Spirit Realm passages follow this setting. The Scent (香) is Fiction-Only.

#Brief — What Is a Buke

A buke (武家), a warrior house, is a house that stands on land and force of arms. It is bound by blood, yet it is not made of blood alone. With a single head (當主) at its apex, kin and retainers and servants are tied beneath it layer upon layer into one great fictive (擬制) family — that is a buke.

The deepest principle of the buke is that "the house outlives the blood." And so, when legitimate sons run short, a buke continues the headship (家督) even by taking in an adopted heir (養子). What it guards is not one person's bloodline, but the name that is the house, and the land, retainers, and ancestors that name bears.

#Commentary — The Four Pillars That Bear Up the House

A buke is composed of roughly four layers.

The layer of bloodline — the head and his direct line, and the branch kin (一門) that have split off.
The layer of retainers — from the fudai (譜代), hereditary retainers who served for generations, to the newcomers (新參) just taken in.
The layer of servants — roto (郎黨), ashigaru, chugen (中間), and the like: practical labor and troops.
The inner layer — the oku (奧), the inner quarters, that is, the domain of the principal wife, concubines, and women. The channel by which political marriage ties the house to others.

And there are two things that bind these four layers from above — the bodaiji (菩提寺), the family temple that enshrines the ancestors, and the ujigami (氏神), the guardian deity that protects the house. A buke belongs not only to the living; it counts even the dead ancestors and the spirits among its household.

#Table — Roles of the Buke

Role	Kanji	Layer	Function	Fitting Skills/Axes
head	當主	bloodline	The current master of the house. The end of every decision	Bearing, Negotiation, Military Science
retired head	隱居	bloodline	The former head who handed over the headship. Often the true power behind the scenes	Military Science, Prophecy
headship	家督	bloodline	The right to continue the house (a right of succession, not an office). Legitimate and adopted heirs contend for it	—
legitimate/illegitimate/adopted son	嫡子・庶子・養子	bloodline	The candidate heirs. It is common for an adopted heir to displace a legitimate son	Varies by origin
branch kin / clan kin	一門・一族	bloodline	The branch houses (分家) and collateral lines split off from the main house (本家). A staunch ally and a potential traitor	Military Science, Negotiation
karo	家老	retainer	The karo (house elder), the chancellor of the house. The head karo (筆頭家老) is the foremost of the retainer corps	Military Science, Negotiation, Intimidation
senior elder / elder councillor	宿老・年寄	retainer	The council of elders. A weight that even the head cannot treat lightly	Military Science
fudai	譜代	retainer	Hereditary retainers who served for generations. The core of loyalty	People of loyalty (忠)
tozama / kokujin	外樣・國人	retainer	Retainers who submitted late, local landed lords. Their loyalty is shallow	A political variable
newcomer	新參	retainer	A newly taken retainer. Capable, but trust is not yet there	—
roto / hikan	郎黨・被官	servant	Armed followers attached to a retainer	Swordsmanship, Spearmanship
ashigaru captain / ashigaru	足輕大將・足輕	servant	The infantry corps and its command. The headcount of the battlefield	Spearmanship, Military Science
chugen / menial	中間・小者	servant	Odd jobs, baggage carriers, servants. The hands and feet of the buke	Survival, menial work
principal wife / concubine	正室・側室	inner	The mistresses of the oku. The knot of political marriage, the mothers of heirs	Negotiation, Bearing

The roles above are not new rules. Run the same retainers as canonical factions and units, and handle the house's domain and income with co-03-10 Domain Management. This table merely shows where those units sit within a single house.

#Commentary — Two Tensions

The stories of a buke almost always arise from two tensions.

The struggle over headship. When the legitimate son is young and the adopted heir is capable, when the branch kin covet the main house, when a retired former head will not let go — blades are drawn within the house. A PC's Fallen Noble background is usually a descendant of the losing side of such a struggle.
The thickness of loyalty. The fudai follow to the death, but the tozama and kokujin turn when the wind changes. The more daimyo-class the house, the more its survival turns on how it binds this shallow loyalty. One such knot is henki (偏諱) — granting a single character of the lord's name to a retainer (03).

#Scent — Witness: The Night of the Council

Editor's note: a story heard from the karo of a small kokujin (國人) buke.

It was the third day since the head had stopped calling the name of his third son. In the council chamber were four senior elders and the head karo, and an empty seat of honor. The seat of honor is the place of the retired old lord — even after handing over the headship, on a night of decision he sits in that place without fail.

"The legitimate son is still twelve," said the old senior elder. "Yet the one who came in as adopted heir has already seen three battlefields."

"Blood, or the blade," another senior elder muttered. "That story again."

The karo had no words. What he served was not a person but the house. Which one must continue the headship for this house — for the ancestors' bodaiji and the ujigami on the hill behind — to be guarded one more year. That alone was his reckoning. Beyond the window, the faint sound of the bell from the shrine on the hill behind drifted in. Someone was binding a Barrier again.

"Tomorrow." At last, toward the empty seat of honor, the karo bowed his head. "I will ask the old lord's will." The affairs of a house are never decided among the living alone.

If the buke is a house of land and blade, the kuge (公家) of the next chapter is a house of rank and name. → 02 Kuge