#teruyo
Genshin is notoriously known for hiding amazing lore behind weapons and artifact descriptions and they’ve done it once again. This time, the story revolves around an oni and a tengu warrior (sounds familiar, doesn’t it?).
Legends has it that this ornate hand guard was once fitted upon a sword gifted to the oni who betrayed the Shogun - Magnificent Tsuba, Emblem of Severed Fate
When the oni Mikoshi Chiyo betrayed Ei, her son Doukei fled in shame at the stain his mother’s action left on the Mikoshi name. He hid in a village outside the city (Konda Village?) though his solitude didn’t last long before he met Teruyo.
“What a pain. Well, if you wish to abandon your past, allow me to give you a new name.”
After hearing about his past, the girl who possessed jet black wings sneered disdainfully.
“Well, you shall be called Iwakura. ‘The seat of rock.’ A name that human words cannot harm.”
“Come on, mortal in whose veins runs the blood of the oni, be glad. Smile a little!”
“You should know that names given by us Yougu [sic] Tengu are blessed with divine powers.”
“Besides, the name ‘rock’ suits you — it certainly suits your mind and your muscles, that’s for sure.”
Teruyo, the tengu warrior, renamed him as Iwakura Doukei and challenged him to become her opponent. If Doukei succeeded in besting her in a duel - specifically, managing to touch her - the blade he owns may be named Tengu Victor.
“After all, if you get to that point, you’ll have a sword that’ll let you 'triumph over the tengu.’”
The parallelism with Arataki Itto and Kujou Sara is extremely obvious here. Itto and Sara are well-known rivals. They’ve managed to hoard most of the boards on Narukami Island with their taunts and banter though in their case it’s Itto who challenged the tengu to a duel (or duels? This is Arataki “I Don’t Know What Giving Up Means” Itto).
Anyway back to Doukei and Teruyo.
“This was once the black feather of a certain tengu warrior, and was the treasured souvenir of an ancient swordsman.” Sundered Feather, Emblem of Severed Fate.
After thirteen years since their rivalry began, Doukei finally managed to defeat Teruyo. His blade grazed her wing with a swing so strong, the shrine they fought at was destroyed alongside his blade.
His victory, however, was rather bittersweet.
Teruyo, shall we change the venue for our duel next year?
There are a few place I know of where you can also see the scarlet sakura falling…
As he looked around at the small shrine he had destroyed, holding the tengu’s trembling hand,
These words lay on the tip of Doukei’s tongue even as he stared at the black feathers that he had sliced off.
“You did touch me, after all. I must admit that this is clearly your victory.”
Victory has not been decided yet. Let’s meet again next year, he wanted to say.
Because at her defeat, Teruyo bid him farewell.
“I will never forget a single one of our duels in these past thirteen years.”
“But as a Tengu, I have duties to the clan that I must fulfill.”
…
“Goodbye, Doukei, and please forget me.”
Doukei obviously did not want Teruyo to leave. The line that instantly caught my attention is “ There are a few place I know of where you can also see the scarlet sakura falling” because well, fallen sakura petals is a common trope in Japanese media associated with love.
Had Doukei perhaps fallen for the tengu warrior throughout their rivalry?
“An intricately-designed wine vessel that a world-famous martial artist once drank from.” - Scarlet Vessel, Emblem of Severed Fate
His story didn’t end there. After his win against Teruyo, Doukei mastered the sword technique Tengu Sweeper and founded a sword school. Interestingly, Doukei also became the Kujou Clan’s swordsmanship instructor in which he was known as “Douin”.
But it seemed he never quite forgotten his old rival.
Thirteen years went by like a dream
The scarlet snow flies through the shadowed pass like smoke
You have now gone afar
The Sacred Sakura petals fell then, too, as if they were snow from the sky.
The branch shrine had lost the god it worshipped, but it was still in a fine state.
Laughter as clear as spring water echoed between the mountains.
But never again would the two set foot in that desolate yard.
Clearly, Doukei and Teruyo did not end on a happy note. But I personally find it fascinating how Mihoyo has created Itto and Sara as an obvious mirror to the oni swordsman and tengu warrior from five hundred years ago with their rivalry.
We know from the snippets we’ve seen that Itto still haven’t quite beaten Sara yet but I sure hope that once he does, their ending will be less bittersweet.
