Asa Yamagami

"For as winter leads to spring, let me write a letter of lightness&mdash;a warm breeze bearing drifting blossoms. Perhaps it will grant us both a little peace, even as I turn my blade to keep the peace here from shattering altogether."

- Asa Yamagami

Asa Yamagami is a blacksmith who resides in Kanezaka.

Story
Asa's mother and grandmother tended the Tetsuzan Shrine outside Kanezaka.

Asa and her husband, Toshiro, ran Yamagami Blades in Kanezaka, both of them forging and wielding swords. She was chosen by the Shimada clan to be their swordsmaster, and she taught Genji and Hanzo Shimada in the ways of the sword.

One winter's day, the Hashimoto clan took Toshiro away, forcing him to craft blades for them. Furthermore, by keeping Toshiro interred, they had leverage over Asa, forcing her to keep the peace in Kanezaka&mdash;doing otherwise would put the people at risk.

Yamagami Blades was closed up at some point afterwards. The Hashimoto allowed some visitations (such as an autumn visit), and Toshiro was able to send their daughter a blade. Asa wrote to her husband in response, hoping that the blades that he was forced to forge for his new masters weren't as sharp.

The following spring, eight years after his abduction, Asa wrote to her husband, telling him that Yamagami Blades remained locked up, and that she and her daughter had moved to the upper level, and filled him in on the going-ons in Kazenaka. Asa missed him deeply, and reflected on the Shimada clan, and how they contrasted with the more cutthroat Hashimoto. She also reflected that over the last few months, shipments of Hashimoto contraband have gone missing, and messages had started to appear, but had been painted over. She told him that she would make an offering to the fox shrine, before returning to her forced patrol of Kanezaka's streets. Much as she loathed to do so, she had to find the vigilantes who had been bringing grief to the Hashimoto.