Ayame (彩女, a homophone of the word for "iris" meaning "colorful female") is a player character in the Tenchu series of stealth games. Introduced in Acquire's Tenchu: Stealth Assassins in 1998, Ayame is a young prodigy assassin in a historical fantasy version of the 16th century Japan, who has been adopted by a ninja master and raised along with her partner Rikimaru to serve a local clan's lord. She is one of the lead characters in all subsequent installments of Tenchu except of Tenchu Z and has been well received by gaming mass media, often perceived as one of the top assassins and best female ninja characters in video games.