I am Mori Motonari, son of Mori Hiromoto head of the Mori clan and Lord of Koriyama Castle in Aki Province, in western . For the last seven years, since the unfortunate death of my nephew, I have been head of the Mori clan, though I have led my family since my brother’s death, fourteen years ago. In that time I have consolidated my holdings in Aki, bringing the lesser families of the province under my sway while at the same time carefully balancing my position between the two neighboring powerful families of the Ouchi of Nagato and the Amako of Izumo, often finding myself unpleasantly involved in their continuous feuding.
I am thirty-three and married to the daughter of Kikkawa Kunitsune, an Aki lord, and have two sons, Takamoto, aged seven and Motoharu, only a few months old.