Knowledge does not end suffering.
― Sogen
Sogen (曽元; Sougen) was a monk who was a sweeper and maintainer at the Golden Temple.
Biography[]
Sogen was a monk who took part in the conspiracy led by Lady Hana to wipe out the entirety of Clan Adachi. Arriving from Kamiagata at the beginning of Autumn, just as the Invasion of Tsushima by the Mongol Empire began, he acted as a scout for Hana's assassins. Visiting the estate at the night of the Battle of Komoda Beach, Sogen scouted out the estate for his fellow conspirators before leaving and allowing them to massacre the Clan. He then returns to the Golden Temple, working at a sweeper and maintainer there, until Jin Sakai approaches him.
The Samurai informs him that Masako Adachi has survived the onslaught, the one of her clan left, and asks if Sogen knows anything. Sogen denies that anyone suspicious has passed through the temple, unaware that Masako anticipated this response and sent Jin to provoke him. Spooked, Sogen leaves the temple, brushing off two peasants that try to ask him for food. As Jin and Masako follow the traitorous monk, Sogen looks behind him several times in case he is being followed, but Jin and Masako manage to stay out of his sight every time. Meeting with some of the bandits that killed the Adachi family, he informs them of Masako's survival, and that she has a samurai with her, demanding that they take action to protect him from her wrath. Sogen then goes inside the nearby inn and orders them not to return until Jin and Masako are both dead.
Jin and Masako reveal themselves soon after and attack the bandits, killing them all. On the upper floors of the inn, the two corner Sogen and confront him for destroying Clan Adachi, but Sogen counters that he was only a messenger. When Masako demands to know who he was working for, Sogen refuses to tell them, saying that knowledge does not end suffering. Masako replies that he knows nothing of suffering and angrily recounts how she had to bury her family. Although she intends to leave him to wolves, Jin points out they need him alive to tell them who he is working for. Sogen tells them the world is changing and that men of vision must rise to face it, saying that those in the way, such as Clan Adachi, must be removed, causing Masako to lose her temper. Shouting that they were children, Masako unsheathes her blade and hacks Sogen to death, preventing them from questioning him further.
His death and actions begin the downfall to Hana's conspiracy, as Jin obtains a list of conspirators that Sogen was keeping on him, allowing he and Masako to hunt down and deal with the rest of Sogen's conspirators.