Editing Minoru Kurita (28th c.)

{{Update Needed|[[The Star League]]|[[Historical: Liberation of Terra Volume 1]]|[[Handbook: House Kurita]]|[[First Succession War (sourcebook)]]}}
{{otheruses|the Coordinator|the son of Theodore Kurita who later joined Clan Nova Cat|Minoru Nova Cat}}

{{InfoBoxCharacter
| image               = Minoru Kurita I.jpg
| caption             = Minoru Kurita
| name                = Minoru Kurita
| birthdate           = 30 April [[2705]]<ref name=HKDCLS>''House Kurita (The Draconis Combine)'', foldout: "The Draconis Combine's Line of Succession and Partial Kurita Family Tree"</ref>
| died                = 14 September [[2796]]<ref name=HKDCLS/>
| othernames          = 
| affiliation         = [[House Kurita]]
| rank                = 
| title               = 
| position            = [[Coordinator of Worlds]]
| profession          = Noble
| parents             = [[Takiro Kurita]] (father)
| siblings            = 
| spouse              = [[Clarissa]]<ref name=HHK-40>''Handbook: House Kurita'', p. 40</ref><br/>(First wife)<br/>[[Yvonne Toshi]]<ref name=HHK-40/><br/>(Second wife)<br/>[[Heaven's Gate]]<ref name=HHK-40/> (concubine)
| children            = [[Jinjiro Kurita]]<br/>[[Zabu Kurita]]
}}
'''Minoru Kurita''' was the twenty-first [[Coordinator]] of the [[Draconis Combine]] during the collapse of the [[Star League]] and start of the [[First Succession War]].<ref name=H:LoTV1p64>''Historical: Liberation of Terra Volume 1'', p. 64: "Minoru Kurita Profile"</ref>

==History==
===Marriage and Children===
Minoru's first marriage was to [[Clarissa]], who bore him no children before her death; many historians suspect a chemical overdose caused by Heaven's Gate, one of Minoru's concubines, caused Clarissa's death.

Minoru then married [[Yvonne Toshi]] and produced one child, [[Zabu Kurita|Zabu]].  However, his direct heir [[Jinjiro Kurita|Jinjiro]] was born to a concubine known only as [[Heaven's Gate]]. Deeply manipulative, she was able to see off any other possible contenders and convince Minoru to adopt the child as his heir before her enemies caught up with her.<ref name=HHKp40>''Handbook: House Kurita'', p. 40: "Jinjiro Kurita: A Study in Calm Violence"</ref>

===Collapse of the Star League===
Minoru succeeded his 121-year-old father [[Takiro Kurita]] in [[2766]]. Takiro died days after suffering a heart attack induced by news his grandnephew and Kurita ambassador to the Star League [[Drago Kurita]] was "detained" by [[Stefan Amaris]] during his seizure of [[Terra]]. Minoru was by nature a very aggressive man, and only because his father made a deathbed last request to favor negotiation instead of violence did he actively court and offer assistance to Amaris during the [[Amaris-Kerensky Civil War]] in an effort to protect his relatives held hostage.  This move was misunderstood widely in the Inner Sphere as willing collaboration.<ref name=HKDCp50/>

It is not known exactly how much Minoru actively aided Amaris during the seven years of the Usurper's war against the Star League, but Kurita turned down a request from Colonel Bradley, commander of the Third Regimental Combat Team (the [[Eridani Light Horse]]), to use Combine worlds as bases of operation for their attacks against Amaris forces. There is also circumstantial evidence that suggests he might have been behind the order for the [[ISF]] to tip off Amaris regarding the plans of the Third RCT's Nineteenth Striker Regiment. Amaris used the information to ambush and destroy the Nineteenth, one of the best units in the Regular Army.<ref name=HKDCp50>''House Kurita (The Draconis Combine)'', p. 50: "Stefan the Usurper"</ref>

The Draconis Combine suffered under poor public relations with the other member states, who were confused and angry at Minoru's strange actions.  Kurita's realm withstood further crisis when General [[Aleksandr Kerensky]] was forced to invade a portion of the Combine to access [[SLDF]] bases there. It was only after Terra was recaptured by Kerensky's victorious forces that the Inner Sphere discovered the reason behind Kurita's odd behavior:  Amaris had killed the captured Kurita family members in the lead-up to his takeover.<ref name=HKDCp50/>

Minoru was raised in the Kurita tradition to consider universal dominion of inhabited space by the Draconis Combine as natural, and so put forward his name as candidate for [[First Lord]], flatly and vehemently refusing to consider any other claim than his.  When the other council members made similar demands for themselves, he realized that there was little hope left in the Star League, and he stepped up his preparations for war. As soon as Minoru returned to [[Luthien]], he placed his military on a war footing and snapped up as many resources from the [[Terran Hegemony|Hegemony]] and other member states as possible before the borders closed. 

After four years of fruitlessly attempting to convince the Council Lords to reform the League, in [[2784]] Kerensky secretly set in motion [[Operation EXODUS]]. As Kerensky's forces marshaled around [[New Samarkand]], the generals of the [[DCMS]] desperately pushed for a first strike against what they felt was an SLDF invasion of the Combine, but Minoru favored continuing to stockpile resources for the war to come. 

Likening their actions to the story of the [[w:Forty-seven_rōnin|47 ronin]], Minoru correctly suspected that instead of pursuing vengeance against the House Lords the SLDF would choose to quietly and honorably withdraw from events. He was right: the SLDF entire fleet left the Inner Sphere to never return, in what became known as the Exodus.

The last brake against open war had been removed.

===First Succession War===
Once the Star League forces left, Minoru Kurita sent emissaries to [[Trondheim (FRR)|Trondheim]] to recruit the Eridani Light Horse. Though the unit did not accept to join DCMS forces as a line unit, it would at least defend those worlds.<ref name=HKDCp52>''House Kurita (The Draconis Combine)'', p. 52: "The First Succession War"</ref>

In [[2785]] Minoru began to test the defenses of the [[Lyran Commonwealth]], ordering an unmarked DCMS force to slip across the border and assault the undefended world of [[Bone-Norman]] near the [[Periphery]], fanning Commonwealth fears of the possibility of bandit raids. The Lyrans reacted as Minoru had hoped by pulling troops away from border with the Combine, and his troops brushed aside their now weakened defense to capture [[Trolloc Prime]] and [[Gram]]. Draconis forces prepared for a Lyran counterattack, but the [[LCAF]] continued to stay on the defensive, still unwilling to declare open war.

In response, a Combine regiment jumped into the [[Skondia]] system, completely outflanking its defenders on its inhabited world, then obliterated both its civilian and industrial areas. The [[DCMS]] attacks on the Commonwealth and the lack of effective response convinced Coordinator Kurita that the Lyrans were a weak opponent that he could pick off at his leisure, prompting him to shift his attention to what he viewed as a more worthy and honorable foe, the [[Federated Suns]].

In December [[2786]], Minoru proclaimed himself First Lord of the Star League and declared open warfare against any who would oppose his claim, signaling the beginning of the [[First Succession War]]. As the Federated Suns would be the only foe that could match the Combine, Minoru had given permission to his violently unstable but militarily brilliant son Jinjiro to plan for a major offensive against them. After first lulling the Davion forces into a false sense of security by staging undermanned raids, and with the [[AFFS]] distracted with their own planned activities on the [[Liao]] front, in [[2787]] the DCMS amassed a force of 50 'Mech regiments that struck across the entire length of the Federated Suns–Combine border, with little warning. The suddenness of the attack broke and shattered the Davion defenses as both Jinjiro and Minoru personally led thrusts deep into Federated Suns territory. The offensive went well and, as time passed, Minoru's forces drew closer and closer to the Federated Suns capital of [[New Avalon]].

During the first half of the [[First Succession War]], the [[Capellan Confederation]] put forward a proposal for an alliance with the Draconis Combine.  Lord Kurita flatly rebuffed the Liao diplomats, as DCMS forces were riding so high on their military successes.  Instead, he countered with a proposal that the Capellans join with him unconditionally in an immediate offensive against the flank of the Federated Suns. This brusque treatment by the Coordinator ended any further discussion of the Kurita-Liao alliance.<ref name=HKDCp53-55>''House Kurita (The Draconis Combine)'', pp. 53–55: "The Dragon Strikes"</ref>

===Kentares IV===
By [[2796]] while his son strongly favored continuing the offensive to prevent the Davion forces from regrouping, the now 91-year-old Minoru chose to ignore this advice and called a three-month halt to allow his forces to rest and to ensure that pockets of heavy resistance on previously captured worlds could be cleared up first. One such pocket on [[New Rhodes III]] prevented its use as a supply point for the final offensive, endangering the attacks on numerous worlds such as [[Kentares IV]], where a stalled invasion led to Lord Kurita sending (and personally accompanying) the [[Sixth Sword of Light]] there.

===Death & Legacy===
With the arrival of these fresh, elite troops the stalemate on Kentares IV was broken, forcing the [[House Davion|Davion]] defenders onto a single continent. Outside the town of New Snowfield, Minoru was so taken with the scenery that he left his ''[[BattleMaster]]'' and traveled on foot, accompanied by a small number of troops and a Buddhist priest. Sitting alone with the priest as they talked privately, [[Latha Pischel]], a sharpshooter from the [[Seventh Crucis Lancers]] shot Lord Kurita in the back, killing him.

His last words -- whispered to those gathered around him -- are lost to posterity, for Minoru's companions never betrayed their leader's trust.<ref name=HKDCp55>''House Kurita (The Draconis Combine)'', p. 55: "Kentares IV"</ref>

When Jinjiro learned of the assassination, he calmly ordered that his forces exterminate 90 percent of the civilian population, in what would be later known as the [[Kentares Massacre]]. While Jinjiro's actions damaged the honor and morale of the [[DCMS]], it enraged the entire Federated Suns to vengeance. The revitalized AFFS forces pushed the Kurita invaders back to the prewar borders as quickly as they'd come, virtually undoing all of Minoru's gains.

==Quotes==
{{Quote|''Is it villainy to take advantage of a situation? Better to keep silent and prepare for the inevitable than to speak and grow weak.''|Minoru Kurita, in his speech broadcast by State Holo Channel 5, [[2771]]<ref name="HK(TDC)p49">''House Kurita (The Draconis Combine)'', p. 49: "Misplaced Trust"</ref>}}

{{Quote|''None have the strength or moral fortitude required, and so the Dragon takes it upon itself to do what must be done. As of this day, the Coordinator of the Draconis Combine shall also be addressed as First Lord of the Star League.''|Minoru Kurita, personal address, 31 December [[2786]]<ref name=FSWp14>''First Succession War'', p. 14: "Into the Fire"</ref>}}

{{Quote|''If war is inevitable, then why wait for a formal declaration? Strike when you are ready. Pride heals far quicker for a victor.''|From ''The Fall of Red Autumn leaves'', by Minoru Kurita, [[2794]]<ref name="HK(TDC)p53">''House Kurita (The Draconis Combine)'', p. 53: "Bujitsu"</ref>}}

{{Quote|''The noonday suns burn<br>the dozing Dragon. He'll wake<br>when the suns must set.''|Battle haiku sent by Coordinator Minoru Kurita to all troops participating in the offensive against the Federated Suns<ref name="HK(TDC)p53b">''House Kurita (The Draconis Combine)'', p. 53: "The Suns Must Set"</ref>}}

{{Quote|''My grandfather knew the story of the King of the mice. The King of the mice was worried about cats. He asked the other mice to keep cats away, and to tell him if there were any cats about. When one day they did see a cat, they did not want to tell the King, because they would lose face for not keeping the cat away. The cat crept up on the King, as the mice argued among themselves about ways of removing the cat. One little mouse, whom no one had ever noticed before, finally ran up to the King to warn him of the cat's approach. The King hurried from the cat, now just a mouselength away. He ordered the mice together and directed them in scaring away the cat. When it was over, he banished the mice who would not tell him his own business, and took as his closest friend the little nobody mouse who did the wise thing.''|Memoirs of Minister [[Roland Cranshaw]], University of Pesht Press, [[2798]] - extract from a history from Minoru<ref name="HK(TDC)p92">''House Kurita (The Draconis Combine)'', p. 92</ref>}}

==Gallery==
<gallery>
Minoru-Kurita.png|Minoru Kurita I
Minoru Kurita I.jpg|Minoru Kurita from ''[[Historical: Liberation of Terra Volume 2|H:LoTvol2]]''
</gallery>

==Notes==
''[[Historical: Liberation of Terra Volume 1]]'', p. 65, displays an image previously used for [[Takiro Kurita]] within the profile of Minoru Kurita, which is preceded by Takiro's profile.

==References==
<references />

==Bibliography==
* ''[[Handbook: House Kurita]]''
* ''[[Historical: Liberation of Terra Volume 1]]''
* ''[[House Kurita (The Draconis Combine)]]''
* ''[[House Steiner (The Lyran Commonwealth)]]''
* ''[[House Davion (The Federated Suns)]]''


[[Category:Draconis Combine Characters|Kurita, Minoru]]
[[Category:Coordinators|Kurita, Minoru]]
[[Category:Notable BattleMaster Pilots|Kurita, Minoru]]