O-asatera-uji

O-asatera-uji, the Asatera clan, colloquially known as the House of Heavens, is the current lineage which consists of extended family members of Her Radiance the Empress who undertake official and public duties. The current head of the Asatera clan is the effective ruler of Ashihara and the representative of the Nakatsukasasho.

The clan has acted in service of the Heavenly Triad since antiquity and sufficient evidence points to the Asatera clan as legitimate descendants of Ame-no-asashihiko-no-hiruma-no-mikoto.

History
The Asatera clan is widely considered to be the oldest in Ashihara, boasting a lineage which dates back to the Miwa and Nita people (175 - 300) which would later establish the Shuzora Empire, though no firm dates can be assigned to its official founding. When the Imperial Court grew too large, the reigning Emperor ordered that the descendants of previous emperors would no longer be eligible for the imperial throne. These descendants were given Agamena, court titles, to denominate them as nobility, and special court priveleges as well as land to hold. This decision became official during the reign of Emperor Asatoku (463-511). It was these militarised branches of the Shuzora clan, not the Imperial household, that took responsibility for their region’s defence, expansion and diplomacy. Though tensions regarding who the rightful ruler of their territory had been brimming since as early as the fifth century, these militarized branches held back from usurping the Emperor out of fear of divine retribution.

It would not be until the assassination of Emperor Tensei (925-947) that the collateral Shuzora branches would pursue their own ideals and go to war with each other. Emerging from the remnants of these branches was the Asatera clan, which would destroy what was left of their Shuzora lineage and reestablish themselves as a prominent warrior clan during the warring states period. Dating back to their roots stemming from Miwa ideology, the people of the Asatera clan believed that only a militarized government could unite Ashihara effectively and that the past Emperors of the Shuzora clan were incompetent.

The Asatera clan emerges victorious 300 years thereafter and would subsequently appoint the present-day capital within San-meike territory after submitting to pressure by the said faction.

Though the Asatera clan currently spearheads the unification efforts in Northern Ashihara, as well as preserving the cultural identity of the imperial lineage, the parliamentary nature of the Nakatsukasho urges Sessho to address the labour rights movement and economic crisis.

Miyake
Main article: Imperial House of Ashihara

Hinonishi-no-miya
The Hinonishi-no-miya (日野西の宮, Lit. "Western Sunlit Field, the Imperial Household") was appointed as the successors of the imperial seat after the Asatera clan emerged as victors of the 300-year war. Prior to inheriting the throne, the Hinonishi clan was one of the wealthiest Sekke under the Shuzora banner that allied with the Asatera clan.

The Asatera clan mandates that her Radiance the Empress is the ‘symbol of Ashihara and the harmony of her people’, and immediate members of the imperial household partake in ceremonial and social duties, such as heading the Imperial Grand Shrine and bestowing Agamena.

The imperial clan and extended branches, or the Miyake, have no role in the affairs of the government, serving only as figureheads and religious innocents as descendants of Hi-no-kami. The Hinonishi clan is tasked with organising national (religious) festivals and raising the Empress into a proper Head Priestess of the Imperial Grand Shrine. Only the Empress and the miyake can legitimise a shrine and recognise the divinity of a Kami. The current Hinonishi clan consists of 5 branches, though only immediate family members of the main household may succeed to the imperial throne.

Akeshina-no-miya
The Akeshina-no-miya (朱科の宮, Lit. "Crimson Family, the Imperial Household") was a former cadet branch of the Asatera clan during the warring states period and provided eligible successors if the clan failed to produce an heir, or the heir was compromised. The clan’s origins can be traced back to the Shuzora’s Shikike, or ceremonial branch household. The present-day Akeshina clan is a collateral miyake that consists of the extended family of the Hinonishi clan and Asatera clan respectively. The most prominent duty that the Akeshina clan busies itself with is maintaining the ancestral mausoleum of the Asatera clan.

Sekke
The Sekke of the Asatera clan find their roots in the expansion of the Shuzora empire. The remaining clans under the Asatera clan are the four wealthiest and most influential branches, two of which date back to the founding of the Shuzora Empire.

Minawata
Along with the Ayanishi clan,