Ayame

Ayame (綾女, Ayame) is an unseen character in the Samurai Shodown series. She is the mentor of Galford and Earthquake and a former Koga kunoichi who eloped with Hanzo Hattori's mentor (later revealed to also be his father) where they escaped their clan since their love was forbidden by the clan's code. It is unknown how she met Earthquake, but she met Galford by chance when he arrived in Japan. Seeing talent and determination in the youth, she took him in and gladly admitted him to the harsh training of Koga ninjutsu. Earthquake does the same, but he quits early as he lost interest. She then apparently awards Galford his muffler for completing his training years later.

She is only mentioned in the backstory and developer commentary for Samurai Shodown and Samurai Shodown II. Hanzo takes her place as their mentor in the RPG. Later, the English version of SNK vs Capcom: Card Fighters DS mistakenly credits Kaede (Hanzo's wife) for teaching them.

Etymology

 * The name Ayame means "design" (綾) (aya) and "woman, girl, daughter" (女) (me).