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From Soulpedia English

Hoko Temple
File:Hoko Templejpg.
Location	Japan
Game	Soul Calibur
Character	Taki

Hoko Temple was constructed in Kyoto (the capitol of Japan at the time) in the 17th year of Tensho (1589) under the proposal of Hideyoshi Toyotomi. The temple's was officially created to pray for the peace and stability of the nation, but it had a hidden agenda of "katana-gari*" to prevent the constant rioting of farmers. In a secret underground hall there is a standing Buddha statue 24 meters tall set within the center of a huge fusui-ban* which Yin-Yang masters would consult in their advice to Hideyoshi and his strategists for conquering the country.

However, in construction of the great hall Hideyoshi cut down a several thousand-year-old cedar tree on Yakushima Island and used the weapons collected from the katana-gari for iron for the huge Buddha statue. In ancient times the Japanese word "ki" meaning wood and another word "ki" meaning spirit were one and the same. People believed wood and trees had holy spirits and the word "kodama" literally meant "spirit of a tree" and now "echo". Thus by killing a great life to make the hall and using the statue forged from iron that had tasted the blood of men it was only natural that this place would bear the seeds of disaster as it shed its dark pulse.

In fact Hideyoshi drove the Yin-Yang masters out of temple in the 2nd year of the Bunroku when their fortune telling affected the Toyotomi Clan. It is also well known that the kanji carved on the great bell of the temple became the direct cause of the fall of the Toyotomi Clan. The bell's creation was sponsored by the son of Hideyoshi (deceased by this time) and his mother Yodo-gimi under recommendation of Ieyasu Tokugawa (eventually the first shogun of the Edo Era, at the time he was a subject of Toyotomi, though he was equal in power to the lord). The eight kanji carved on the bell meant, "May the nation be in peace so lords and subjects may enjoy wealth". However the order of the kanji could also be translated as "Cut Ieyasu in two pieces, Toyotomi will become the emperor and prosper forever". Though the Toyotomi Clan did not intend this, Ieyasu saw this as a curse of magic that wished the fall of the Tokugawa clan and challenged the Toyotomi

Clan formally. Thus began the Winter Campaign of the Osaka-jo Castle, followed by the Summer Campaign and ending with the fall of the Toyotomi Clan.

Taki came to this temple to have a decisive battle with the ghost Gel-o-fury, which had broken the seals of the bamboo forest with its newfound power from the Evil Seed. Outside the temple Toki's assassins awaited the outcome, how could Taki hope to survive this situation?