Sensei IshikawaMaster archer

Ishikawa's Tale is about a teacher discovering that what he taught is separable from who he taught it to.

He is proud, exacting and openly contemptuous of failure, including his own. His former pupil Tomoe is now training Mongol archers, which makes every Mongol arrow that kills an islander partly his handwriting.

For Jin he is the source of the bow — the weapon that most cleanly bridges samurai and Ghost play, since a longbow shot to the head is both a legitimate battlefield skill and a way to kill a man who never sees you.

The Tale is unusual among the ally questlines in refusing to resolve into either forgiveness or vengeance.

Their arc runs to 9 tales, beginning with The Tale of Sensei Ishikawa and ending with Laid to Rest. The ally questlines are the best writing in the game and they run in order — each tale assumes the ones before it, so they reward being followed as a sequence rather than picked at.

• The Tale of Sensei Ishikawa1 of 9 · Act 1 · Jin seeks out Sensei Ishikawa to recruit his archery for the rescue of Lord Shimura. The sensei’s apprentice Tomoe is missing, which leads Jin to Fort Nakayama.
• The Sensei And The Student2 of 9 · Act 1 · Ishikawa and Jin have learned that his former student Tomoe has sided with the Mongols.
• The Past Never Passes3 of 9 · Act 1 · Tomoe is training Mongol archers in Hiyoshi. They stopped one group brutalising a settlement, but she is still out there.
• The Way of The Bow4 of 9 · Act 1 · Tomoe appears to be training Mongol archers for an attack on Hiyoshi Springs itself.
• Dreams of Conquest5 of 9 · Act 2 · Rumours of a Japanese archer helping the Mongols in Akashima. Ishikawa suspects Tomoe and has gone to look without waiting.
• The Ghost And The Demon Sensei6 of 9 · Act 2 · Tomoe intends to put Mongol archery camps across Toyotama. One is in Kushi, and the hunt starts at a settlement over the Yarikawa border.
• The Terror of Otsuna7 of 9 · Act 2 · Another of Tomoe’s training camps, this one in Otsuna.
• Friends in Passing8 of 9 · Act 3 · Ishikawa is sheltering at a peasant’s house nearby. Jin stays with her so he can talk to the sensei about the hunt.
• Laid to Rest9 of 9 · Act 3 · Tomoe’s archers plan a surprise attack on Umugi Cove. Jin does not trust her, and they need her anyway.

• Friends in PassingSide Tale (Ishikawa Tale 8 of 9) · Act 3 — Quest giver
• Laid to RestSide Tale (Ishikawa Tale 9 of 9) · Act 3 — Quest giver
• The Ghost And The Demon SenseiSide Tale (Ishikawa Tale 6 of 9) · Act 2 — Quest giver
• The Past Never PassesSide Tale (Ishikawa Tale 3 of 9) · Act 1 — Quest giver
• The Sensei And The StudentSide Tale (Ishikawa Tale 2 of 9) · Act 1 — Quest giver
• The Terror of OtsunaSide Tale (Ishikawa Tale 7 of 9) · Act 2 — Quest giver
• The Way of The BowSide Tale (Ishikawa Tale 4 of 9) · Act 1 — Quest giver
• Dreams of ConquestSide Tale (Ishikawa Tale 5 of 9) · Act 2 — Central to the tale
• The Tale of Sensei IshikawaMain Tale (Ishikawa Tale 1 of 9) · Act 1 — Central to the tale
• Eternal Blue SkyMain Tale · Act 3 — Appears
• Shadow of The SamuraiMain Tale · Act 1 — Appears
• The Fate of TsushimaMain Tale · Act 2 — Appears

• The Tale of Sensei Ishikawa is an Act 1 main story mission, one of nine in the Izuhara region.
• The longbow is commonly misattributed to his questline; it is actually the reward for The Curse of Uchitsune.
• Ishikawa is one of the few allies who criticises Jin's archery rather than his ethics.

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