History Literature / TalesOfTheOtori

* DoomedHometown: Mino, the small [[JustForPun Hidden]] village where Tomasu/Takeo grew up.

* RecycledInSpace: A sort of ''StarWars'' in feudal Japan.

** Of the original trilogy, [[spoiler: Kikuta Kotaro]] at the end of ''Brilliance of the Moon.'' [[spoiler: Takeo and Kenji win, but Takeo loses two fingers in the process and nearly dies of a poisoned wound thereafter]].
** For the series as a whole, Lord Saga (the most powerful warlord in the Eight Islands and basically the shogun in all but name,) is this for the Three Countries. [[spoiler: They don't stand a chance in the long-term, but impress him enough on the battlefield that he is willing to negotiate a peaceful takeover on good terms to the surviving Otori]].

** It's hinted increasingly strongly that [[spoiler: Fujiwara]] enjoys torturing people, but his particular brand of sadism is in the psychological abuse rather than the physical torture; he [[ForcedToWatch forces people to watch]] something horrific and enjoys the reactions of the watchers rather than the actual torture victims. He clearly relishes the prospect of forcing [[spoiler: Kaede to watch Shizuka being tortured to death]].

* IdiotBall: See PoorCommunicationKills (below).

* {{Invisibility}}: Turning invisibile is a common Tribe trait. Takeo can do it only for minutes at a time, despite being particularly skilled.

* LoonyFan: Jo-An.

* MercyKill: Takeo gains the moniker 'The Angel of Yamagata' after mercy killing several Hidden who were tortured and suspended in baskets to die over a period of days.
* [[MesACrowd Me's a Crowd]]: A weaker version of this is a Tribe skill. Some can split in two, leaving behind a second-self as a distraction that will fade from existence when the user stops concentrating.
* MoreDeadlyThanTheMale: While Takeo is not stupid, he can always fall back on his Tribe skills, so the fact that Kaede can't (and is constantly in an extremely vulnerable position,) means that she has much more experience of using her brain.

* MysteriousParent: Kikuta Isamu.
* NiceGuy: Dr Ishida is one of the very few totally non-violent characters, being genuinely kind and empathetic to everyone. Unusually for this trope, he is not considered to be boring and dull by others, but is actually exceptional in the ProudWarriorRace WorldOfBadass. He also [[spoiler: ends up marrying ActionGirl Shizuka, who is attracted to him because of his non-violence, averting the usual fate of nice guys in romance]].

* NinjaMaid: Shizuka, to Kaede.
* NobleBigot: Thanks to the extremely rigid culture, there are several perfectly admirable people who have extremely deep-rooted prejudices. Virtually everyone considers outcastes and the Hidden to be untouchable, even those (like Kaede) who have themselves seriously suffered from other people's prejudices. The best example is probably Makoto, who is courageous, thoughtful, spiritual, fiercely loyal and considers the idea of treating women and outcastes equally to men to be absurd. Once he gets proven wrong, he makes a conscious effort to improve himself, however.

* OldMaster: Matsuda Shingen.
* PerfectlyArrangedMarriage: Takeo would love to follow Arai's order to marry Kaede; unfortunately, it isn't as simple as that.
* {{Pirates}}: The Terada family. At least one major pirate stereotype is averted, however, in that the they are some of Takeo's closest allies.
* PoorCommunicationKills: [[spoiler:Takeo's failure to explain to Kaede about his affair with Yuki. Had she found out in almost ''any'' other manner than the one she did,]] the story would have had a much happier ending. For the record, [[spoiler:Takeo]] had nearly twenty years in which to explain all of this, but didn't.

* ThisIsUnforgivable: [[spoiler: Muto Kenji]] promises he will never forgive [[spoiler: Kikuta Kotaro]] for [[spoiler: manipulating Yuki (Kenji's daughter) into bearing Takeo's child and then murdering her]]. True to this trope and the [[FantasyCounterpartCulture Japanese-inspired setting]], it ends with a fight to the death (though not a duel, they are CombatPragmatist Tribe members rather than HonorBeforeReason warriors after all).
* ThoseTwoGuys: Kahei and Gemba. Taku and Zenko. Taku and Hiroshi. Eventually subverted when [[spoiler:Zenko pulls an outright FaceHeelTurn.]]

* TraumaticHaircut: [[spoiler: Kaede]]'s hair gets burned off at the end of the third book, and since it never regrows to the same length and beauty she is still ashamed of it years afterwards.
* TreacherousAdvisor: [[spoiler:Muto Kenji]].

* WorldsMostBeautifulWoman: Kaede [[spoiler: until she gets caught in a fire.]] Once her little sister, Hana, grows up, she is said to be just as beautiful as Kaede at her peak, even when she is older than Kaede at her peak and having had two children.

** Madaren -- Takeo's sister; [[spoiler:later an apostle of the "white barbarian" missionaries]].

** Kikuta Isamu -- Takeo's birth father; [[spoiler:half brother of Otori Shigeru]].

* TookALevelInBadass: Kaede in ''Grass For His Pillow'', although in a very unique way. She ends the book as a fully-fledged {{Guile Hero}}ine, bordering on being an outright MagnificentBitch at times.

* PoisonousFriend: Jo-An to Takeo, simply because of his social status.

* CouldHaveAvoidedThisPlot: A truly spectacular disaster unfolds in ''The Harsh Cry of the Heron'' due to the fact that [[spoiler:Takeo never told Kaede about his brief affair with Yuki during the time the lovers were separated in the second book, which resulted in a son. He fully acknowledges how stupid this was, especially since he had ''sixteen years'' to tell her the truth and didn't, but by then it's far too late to solve the problem; Kaede, utterly devastated by the death of her own son, has utterly turned against him and hates him.]]

%%* GoodPeopleHaveGoodSex: Takeo and Kaede, Shigeru and Naomi.

* TangledFamilyTree: Nearly EveryoneIsRelated to everyone else. KissingCousins and IncestIsRelative factor into things an awful lot, as the majority of the characters are nobility and politically-motivated interbreeding is apparently rampant in the Three Countries.

%%* BiggerBad: Kotaro, later Akio.

* BaldWoman: [[spoiler: Kaede]] gets all her hair burned off at the end of the third book, and while it does grow back it is never as even or silky as it was before.