application
[nick / name]: Varali
[personal LJ name]: navi-per-mari
[other characters currently played]:
Papillon :: Busou Renkin :: mottoaiokomete
Makimachi Misao :: Rurouni Kenshin :: itachi-kunoichi
Hibiki Ryoga :: Ranma 1/2 :: directions-plz
[e-mail]: navi_per_mari@yahoo.com
[AIM / messenger]: varali luna
[series]: Blade of the Immortal
[character]: Anotsu Kagehisa
[character history / background]:
The events that influence Anotsu Kagehisa’s life begin long before his birth.
His grandfather, Anotsu Saburo, was a swordsman under the Mutenichi-ryu along with Asano Takayuki, Asano Rin’s grandfather. The two of them were competing for the honor of receiving the Mutenichi-ryu’s secret teachings.
One day, the two men and their master were attacked by bandits; Anotsu Saburo killed eight of his assailants, while Asano Takayuki slew four. Expecting to receive the honor he was competing for, Anotsu Saburo was shocked to discover that he was being expelled from the school, simply because he fought “without class.” He used two “barbarian” (foreign) swords, one in each hand, and their master decreed that he could not follow the strict code required of the Mutenichi-ryu. He turned to Asano Takayuki, expecting him to defend him, but the man stayed silent.
Thus began the hatred that would span generations.
As a child, Anotsu Kagehisa’s grandfather was abusive both physically and verbally, constantly telling him that he was weak, and that he as the heir of the Itto-ryu had to uphold the reputation of the sword school his grandfather had established after being expelled from the Mutenichi-ryu.
One night, his grandfather sent him out to a field that was home to a pack of wild dogs. He was almost killed by one, until he was saved by another little girl-Otonotachibana Makie-who killed the wild dog. Seeing this drove Saburo into a rage, saying that it would be disgraceful to both Kagehisa and himself that the heir of the Itto-ryu was saved by a girl. Saburo made to kill her to erase the possible shame, to which Kagehisa tried with all his might to stop his grandfather from succeeding. However, upon seeing that the little girl was his grandniece, from his sister who had betrayed him by sending her son, Makie’s father, back to the Mutenichi-ryu, Saburo instead decided to beat the girl senseless and to leave her up in a tree with her weapon. Kagehisa protested violently to this, horrified at what was being done to her, but he was powerless to stop his grandfather.
In the morning, when he went back to check on Makie, he discovered that she had killed all of the wild dogs in the field, leaving behind a scene of carnage. Thus began his awe of her, which will later on influence him as an adult.
Afterwards, this young Kagehisa spoke to Sabato Kuroi, one of the top swords of the Itto-ryu, declaring that his grandfather was a whipped dog who could think of nothing but death and bloodshed. He wondered if the things his grandfather always spoke of-namely shame, face, form, and bearing-were worth it in the end. And thus, he said that he wished to establish a sword school that would hold those things in contempt, only focusing on victory.
Thus began the establishment of the Itto-ryu-the kanji for which is not the “one sword,” but “to turn away.”
As Kagehisa grew older, he learned of the sword from Kuroi and other mentors, eventually becoming a dangerous, feared, and highly-skilled swordsman. As he held form and strictness in contempt, his ambition as the leader of the Itto-ryu was to eliminate all other schools of swordsmanship, uniting Japan under his thrust of victory rather than class and form. In addition, he wished to establish the Itto-ryu as the official military power of the shogunate.
When the series began, he had already eliminated much of the dojo in Edo, and was about to finally attack the Asano dojo. The fight led him to the Asano Rin’s home, where he killed her father and left her mother to be raped and killed by his subordinates. This was all in plain view of Asano Rin, who vowed to take revenge upon him at all cost.
Two years later, his power and reaches had grown even further, and he had become even more infamous amongst the streets of Edo. However, there was a hitch in his plans in the form of Manji, whom Asano Rin had hired as her bodyguard. Manji had eliminated much of his companions within the Itto-ryu as part of Rin’s revenge, and he was on Kagehisa’s mind. However, Makie (who he was trying to woo as both his lover and as a part of the Itto-ryu), decided that she would bring him Manji’s head. This was unsuccessful, and she decided to leave him and the Itto-ryu, only deciding that she would pay back her debt to him, which she had incurred by her freedom when he bought her from a whorehouse she was working in. He did not take this well, but he let her go.
Later on, as he was practicing his axe in the woods, he had his second encounter with Rin. Her attempts on his life were unsuccessful, and in the end, he had her pinned to a post with his sword. He acknowledged that he had many enemies, and would not add her, whom he viewed as a child, to his ranks. He freed her and walked away from her then, further fuelling her determination to find him.
After this, we see sometime later that he had returned to the Itto-ryu dojo, where Habaki Kagimura, a government official, was offering ten of the Itto-ryu swordsman a position to teach in the eminent dojo for the shogunate, thus establishing Anotsu’s ambition. However, with this offer was also the show of blackmail, because Habaki told him indirectly that if he did not comply, the Itto-ryu will be eliminated. He agreed, this having been his ambition long before.
Ongoing with this, he had a new enemy known as the Mugai-ryu, whose members were sent to eliminate the Itto-ryu by none other than Habaki himself. It was with this group that Rin and Manji formed an alliance temporarily, but their plans to find and capture Kagehisa were thwarted by Kagehisa’s own cunning, sending out decoys in his place.
At this time, Kagehisa was on a journey to Kaga, unscathed due to his own shrewdness. It was there that he first met Hisoka upon an outcropping of rock. She directed him towards the Shingyoto-ryu dojo, which was his destination. There, he was greeted by the students of the dojo in Ibane Kensui’s absence, who were hostile due to the fact that instead of choosing a successor among them, their master, Ibane Kensui, would submit the entire dojo to the Itto-ryu. He quickly bested Iriya, who also had a personal grudge because of Hisoka. Finally, upon the arrival of Kensui, their battle was disrupted, and Kensui told Kagehisa of his plans. Indeed, he wished to submit the Shingyoto-ryu under Kagehisa’s tutelage as Itto-ryu, but to seal this bargain, he wished to have Kagehisa marry his daughter, who turned out to be Hisoka.
After conversations with her and much thought, Kagehisa decided to push through with the marriage. He was able to converse with Hisoka and did not mind baring himself to her. However, their marriage was short-lived, because the government told the Shingyoto-ryu dojo to hand over Kagehisa to their custody. It was discovered that Kensui later on also had ties with the government because of Hisoka-she was ill, and the government provided imported medicine, which was contraband at the time, to ease her illness. Kagehisa found the dojo in chaos, and had assisted Kensui in committing seppuku.
He made haste to return to Edo, on the way miraculously finding Rin, who was on her way to find him as well. He saved her from starvation, after which they fought off the members of the Shingyoto-ryu who had turned against him and had aligned themselves with the government. He was nicked by a sword that was fouled by tetanus, and this caused him to weaken all throughout his journey back to Edo. Rin, unwilling to leave his side due to the fact that she wishes to kill him, assisted him back and helped him while he was ailing. Together, they formed some sort of bond, becoming comfortable with one another enough to state their thoughts and to rely on one another when needed, particularly when Kagehisa needed rest. It was there that he acknowledged the harm he had left upon her-it was not yet an apology, but it was an indication that he understood what he had done in the wake of his ambition.
On the way back to Edo, once again they had a confrontation between the members of the Shingyoto-ryu, this time meeting with Makie, Magatsu Taito, and Manji. Iriya once again attempted to take Kagehisa’s life, to which Kagehisa allowed him to stab him, knowing his trespasses against the man. However, Kagehisa still won their duel. It was there that Kagehisa and Rin parted ways.
Kagehisa returned to their dojo, having learned that the government eliminated most of the dojo under them. He reformed his goals, now deciding that he would show the shogunate their power, evaluating that their losses were of no consequence because the core of the Itto-ryu was most important.
We do not hear from him for a long moment, only to see him later on facing Edo Castle, where Yoshino Doa and Rin had caused a commotion to save Manji. He asked if this was Doa’s and Yasonokami Isaku’s handiwork, and that was the last appearance we saw from him.
[character abilities]:
Kagehisa is a skilled swordsman, so he possesses the traits relevant to this: heightened strength, speed, dexterity, flexibility, endurance. He is shown in the later chapters to be able to carry a man and to use him as a shield against arrows, displaying creativity and determination in tactics, as well as a display of his strength. He is able to survive for periods of time in transit, so it goes without saying that he knows how to survive in the wilderness.
Kagehisa is not only skilled with the sword; his primary weapon is actually an axe. He mentions having studied war all his life, and it can be surmised that he knows much about strategy and other weaponry.
Politically, Kagehisa is a good leader because he knows how to establish alliances and he is determined to win his cause. He is also shrewd, and can sculpt scenarios to his liking, such as his flight to Kaga.
He is also likely to have a wide knowledge in many fields, due to his leadership and his travels as part of the Itto-ryu.
[character personality]:
Kagehisa is determined. As the leader of the Itto-ryu, he is almost Machiavellian in his determination-do whatever works. However, let it not be said that he is without honor. He has displayed his own morals throughout the series-he does not wish to have anything to do with the rape of Rin’s mother, though he obviously condones it; he allows Rin to go free after she had attempted to kill him (unsuccessfully); he has tried several times to free Makie from her life of prostitution (though he has his own reasons for doing so). It can be said that he has double standards about many things, and is constantly calling on two sides to one coin, whether it be women, or even his Itto-ryu and his ambitions. With regards to women, he obviously has no qualms about rape (though he does not take part in it), and would not mind dispatching women in his place to avoid being killed or taking a whore to his bed as shown in the first part of the series. However, he obviously shows them respect, looking at how he treats Rin (particularly taking into consideration that he first thought of her as a child), how he treats Makie (though that will be discussed later on), how he treats Doa as a protective leader, and how he treats Hisoka as his wife. With regards to his Itto-ryu, he first shows hesitance at its reaches, likening it only to an emblem but without substance-this is “remedied” at the fall of many of the dojo beneath the Itto-ryu, leaving its “core”. Even his own ambitions are a double-edged sword to him-he says that grandfathers should not pass on their ambitions to the next generations, and that grandfathers should realize when dreams are too big for them, but at the same time he takes up his grandfather’s ambition and makes it his own, saying that he will follow it with abandon because there is nothing he can do about it. Yet, looking back, we also know that he established his Itto-ryu in disgust of his grandfather’s Itto-ryu. He is both following his own ambition and a shadow of his grandfather’s, long engrained in his system.
Looking at that, we can say that Kagehisa is very much a product of his past. While he is trying to forge his own future, engrained in him is the vision of having seen Makie protect him, and thus his veneration of her, and we see his grandfather’s vestiges in him.
An important aspect of his personality is his hero-worship. He holds people-particularly women with skill in high regard. Seeing Makie save him as a child led him to want her both as a part of the Itto-ryu and as his lover, though he cannot see that killing is what hurts her the most. He too admired Doa for her skills, eventually recruiting her into the Itto-ryu. Later on in the series, after Rin’s storm in Edo Castle, he is impressed with her to the point that he acknowledges her greatness by stating that plays will be written about her, calling her by name for the first time.
Kagehisa is also cynical, quick to taunt Habaki in their conversations. He has an occasional air of jaded cynicism, as he shows to Hisoka as they discuss their future and as he shows to Magatsu when they discuss his plan for the Itto-ryu to be the shogunate’s official sword. He has a cynicism towards life and himself, which can be traced to his outlook even as a child, perhaps due to his grandfather’s abuse.
When it comes to his faults, he is quick to admit when something is his mistake, though apologies do not come to him easily if they come at all. Instead, he allows that person to channel their anger at him, as Rin did by beating on him when he acknowledged the harm he did onto her, and as he allowed Iriya to stab him presumably for his marriage to Hisoka. However, this acknowledgement does not mean surrender-he will not succumb to death, as he deplores this aspect of bushido, and will fight after his punishment has been meted.
[point in timeline you're picking your character from]:
From the end of chapter 133: The Demon’s Lair, Part 12
[journal post]:
Who is responsible for this sorcery?
If one or more wish to face me, step forward, and feel the might of my axe. You shall not be spared.
[third person / log sample]:
The shadows of nighttime flickered across the ceiling as he lay in his futon-a moment of rest for the pillar and perhaps the sole source of strength of the Itto-ryu-its creator, Anotsu Kagehisa. The strain of tetanus had taken a toll on his body, and even as he lay recovering, he could feel its remnants in his flesh. His work was never done-now that the Itto-ryu had been stripped down to its roots, his quest to show the Bakufu the need for his Itto-ryu was both closer and farther away. His spirit had not dulled in the course of the illness-only grew tempered as a sword in the forge as he learned of betrayals, of the truth behind the power of the Itto-ryu. He was wiser now, learning that what he had established was both a force to be reckoned with and a frail dream-an ideal, a quest for power behind the name of the Itto-ryu. Now, what he had was real-the skill of his axe, the trust and willingness of his comrades. The Bakufu will realize the the strength of the Itto-ryu, and he, Anotsu Kagehisa, will deliver the knowledge.
Yet it was still so frail. One pillar-the leader of the Itto-ryu . . . he might have seemed immortal to most, his name preceded by fear and awe, but one nick of a poisoned sword had weakened him almost to the point of death. One pillar that, if dissolved by the weight of mortality, would have spelled the end of an ambition, of a reign, of an organization. He realized this, and both knew he had to strike at the opportune times, to gather his forces and wage war through politics and through force, but he also knew the value of being careful more than ever.
He had taken pains to protect his life even before-it was far too easy to disseminate false information, goading his enemies into thinking that he was dressing as a woman and dispatching geisha and whores in his stead to take the violence directed towards him. He had evaded death that moment, but it had still found him in the mountains of Kaga in battle.
And then . . . there was Asano Rin.
Out on a vengeance to kill him after he had murdered her parents . . . and thus was her right, he knew.
Girl . . . I did you . . . great harm, he had said that fateful night in the cave. And she had turned her tears and her violence to him, beating upon his body, her anger wracking her small frame. This he endured without complaint-he knew what he had done. He was not so heartless that he did not understand the consequence of his actions.
Anotsu Kagehisa was one who trampled upon many dreams in his quest for power. This was something he knew about himself, and he knew he deserved the anger of those whom he stole something from, whether it was Iriya, whose Hisoka he married and made love to, and whether it was Rin, whose parents he had killed for his grandfather’s retribution and his own will to create one school to dominate all of Nihon. He was not so heartless that he did not understand this. But this course of action was something he had to do to fulfill his grandfather’s wishes and his own ambition-he would not accept death, as bushido dictated. He would prove the value of his ambition, of what he had started.
The value of his Itto-ryu . . . behind it the blood and sweat and tears of many, comrade and foe. The sacrifices of those who had been his mentors, like Sabato Kuroi . . . comrades such as Kawakami Araya, who died, and those who live and remain the core . . . like Magatsu Taito, Yoshino Doa, and Yasonokami Isaku. They were the Itto-ryu, and they would take the shogunate by storm.
Ah, but if only Otonotachibana Makie . . . with her grace, her strength . . . if she joined the ranks of the Itto-ryu, they would be invincible. The only woman who could best him at the point of a sword. Her beauty and her skill made her the epitome of a warrior, and each time he watched her dance with the sword he felt awe, as he had then when she saved him from the wild dogs in their childhood. However, she cared not to join him, and thus, he had to fare alone.
He had once thought that she would be the only woman in his life. But along his path, he had formed an alliance with Ibane Kensui, who arranged for him to marry his surrogate daughter, Hisoka. She too was a strong woman, though not strong as Makie was with the sword, instead strong with her actions, her decisions. He admired her, and somehow she tempered his cynicism in the short moments they had been together. Remembering her caused him regret . . . Her death was one unwarranted, and yet he could do nothing to prevent it-
Why were so many eager to die?
He clenched a fist, staring at the ceiling. He deplored this bushido mentality. Death did not absolve one from sins, nor did it uphold honor. It was a mere waste of life.
He would change this system. Bushido was a thing of the past . . . and the present-a quest for victory. The thrust of his Itto-ryu.
He would see it through. He would prove his point, and change Japan. No matter what he had to do, he would uphold his honor with all of his soul.
[personal LJ name]: navi-per-mari
[other characters currently played]:
Papillon :: Busou Renkin :: mottoaiokomete
Makimachi Misao :: Rurouni Kenshin :: itachi-kunoichi
Hibiki Ryoga :: Ranma 1/2 :: directions-plz
[e-mail]: navi_per_mari@yahoo.com
[AIM / messenger]: varali luna
[series]: Blade of the Immortal
[character]: Anotsu Kagehisa
[character history / background]:
The events that influence Anotsu Kagehisa’s life begin long before his birth.
His grandfather, Anotsu Saburo, was a swordsman under the Mutenichi-ryu along with Asano Takayuki, Asano Rin’s grandfather. The two of them were competing for the honor of receiving the Mutenichi-ryu’s secret teachings.
One day, the two men and their master were attacked by bandits; Anotsu Saburo killed eight of his assailants, while Asano Takayuki slew four. Expecting to receive the honor he was competing for, Anotsu Saburo was shocked to discover that he was being expelled from the school, simply because he fought “without class.” He used two “barbarian” (foreign) swords, one in each hand, and their master decreed that he could not follow the strict code required of the Mutenichi-ryu. He turned to Asano Takayuki, expecting him to defend him, but the man stayed silent.
Thus began the hatred that would span generations.
As a child, Anotsu Kagehisa’s grandfather was abusive both physically and verbally, constantly telling him that he was weak, and that he as the heir of the Itto-ryu had to uphold the reputation of the sword school his grandfather had established after being expelled from the Mutenichi-ryu.
One night, his grandfather sent him out to a field that was home to a pack of wild dogs. He was almost killed by one, until he was saved by another little girl-Otonotachibana Makie-who killed the wild dog. Seeing this drove Saburo into a rage, saying that it would be disgraceful to both Kagehisa and himself that the heir of the Itto-ryu was saved by a girl. Saburo made to kill her to erase the possible shame, to which Kagehisa tried with all his might to stop his grandfather from succeeding. However, upon seeing that the little girl was his grandniece, from his sister who had betrayed him by sending her son, Makie’s father, back to the Mutenichi-ryu, Saburo instead decided to beat the girl senseless and to leave her up in a tree with her weapon. Kagehisa protested violently to this, horrified at what was being done to her, but he was powerless to stop his grandfather.
In the morning, when he went back to check on Makie, he discovered that she had killed all of the wild dogs in the field, leaving behind a scene of carnage. Thus began his awe of her, which will later on influence him as an adult.
Afterwards, this young Kagehisa spoke to Sabato Kuroi, one of the top swords of the Itto-ryu, declaring that his grandfather was a whipped dog who could think of nothing but death and bloodshed. He wondered if the things his grandfather always spoke of-namely shame, face, form, and bearing-were worth it in the end. And thus, he said that he wished to establish a sword school that would hold those things in contempt, only focusing on victory.
Thus began the establishment of the Itto-ryu-the kanji for which is not the “one sword,” but “to turn away.”
As Kagehisa grew older, he learned of the sword from Kuroi and other mentors, eventually becoming a dangerous, feared, and highly-skilled swordsman. As he held form and strictness in contempt, his ambition as the leader of the Itto-ryu was to eliminate all other schools of swordsmanship, uniting Japan under his thrust of victory rather than class and form. In addition, he wished to establish the Itto-ryu as the official military power of the shogunate.
When the series began, he had already eliminated much of the dojo in Edo, and was about to finally attack the Asano dojo. The fight led him to the Asano Rin’s home, where he killed her father and left her mother to be raped and killed by his subordinates. This was all in plain view of Asano Rin, who vowed to take revenge upon him at all cost.
Two years later, his power and reaches had grown even further, and he had become even more infamous amongst the streets of Edo. However, there was a hitch in his plans in the form of Manji, whom Asano Rin had hired as her bodyguard. Manji had eliminated much of his companions within the Itto-ryu as part of Rin’s revenge, and he was on Kagehisa’s mind. However, Makie (who he was trying to woo as both his lover and as a part of the Itto-ryu), decided that she would bring him Manji’s head. This was unsuccessful, and she decided to leave him and the Itto-ryu, only deciding that she would pay back her debt to him, which she had incurred by her freedom when he bought her from a whorehouse she was working in. He did not take this well, but he let her go.
Later on, as he was practicing his axe in the woods, he had his second encounter with Rin. Her attempts on his life were unsuccessful, and in the end, he had her pinned to a post with his sword. He acknowledged that he had many enemies, and would not add her, whom he viewed as a child, to his ranks. He freed her and walked away from her then, further fuelling her determination to find him.
After this, we see sometime later that he had returned to the Itto-ryu dojo, where Habaki Kagimura, a government official, was offering ten of the Itto-ryu swordsman a position to teach in the eminent dojo for the shogunate, thus establishing Anotsu’s ambition. However, with this offer was also the show of blackmail, because Habaki told him indirectly that if he did not comply, the Itto-ryu will be eliminated. He agreed, this having been his ambition long before.
Ongoing with this, he had a new enemy known as the Mugai-ryu, whose members were sent to eliminate the Itto-ryu by none other than Habaki himself. It was with this group that Rin and Manji formed an alliance temporarily, but their plans to find and capture Kagehisa were thwarted by Kagehisa’s own cunning, sending out decoys in his place.
At this time, Kagehisa was on a journey to Kaga, unscathed due to his own shrewdness. It was there that he first met Hisoka upon an outcropping of rock. She directed him towards the Shingyoto-ryu dojo, which was his destination. There, he was greeted by the students of the dojo in Ibane Kensui’s absence, who were hostile due to the fact that instead of choosing a successor among them, their master, Ibane Kensui, would submit the entire dojo to the Itto-ryu. He quickly bested Iriya, who also had a personal grudge because of Hisoka. Finally, upon the arrival of Kensui, their battle was disrupted, and Kensui told Kagehisa of his plans. Indeed, he wished to submit the Shingyoto-ryu under Kagehisa’s tutelage as Itto-ryu, but to seal this bargain, he wished to have Kagehisa marry his daughter, who turned out to be Hisoka.
After conversations with her and much thought, Kagehisa decided to push through with the marriage. He was able to converse with Hisoka and did not mind baring himself to her. However, their marriage was short-lived, because the government told the Shingyoto-ryu dojo to hand over Kagehisa to their custody. It was discovered that Kensui later on also had ties with the government because of Hisoka-she was ill, and the government provided imported medicine, which was contraband at the time, to ease her illness. Kagehisa found the dojo in chaos, and had assisted Kensui in committing seppuku.
He made haste to return to Edo, on the way miraculously finding Rin, who was on her way to find him as well. He saved her from starvation, after which they fought off the members of the Shingyoto-ryu who had turned against him and had aligned themselves with the government. He was nicked by a sword that was fouled by tetanus, and this caused him to weaken all throughout his journey back to Edo. Rin, unwilling to leave his side due to the fact that she wishes to kill him, assisted him back and helped him while he was ailing. Together, they formed some sort of bond, becoming comfortable with one another enough to state their thoughts and to rely on one another when needed, particularly when Kagehisa needed rest. It was there that he acknowledged the harm he had left upon her-it was not yet an apology, but it was an indication that he understood what he had done in the wake of his ambition.
On the way back to Edo, once again they had a confrontation between the members of the Shingyoto-ryu, this time meeting with Makie, Magatsu Taito, and Manji. Iriya once again attempted to take Kagehisa’s life, to which Kagehisa allowed him to stab him, knowing his trespasses against the man. However, Kagehisa still won their duel. It was there that Kagehisa and Rin parted ways.
Kagehisa returned to their dojo, having learned that the government eliminated most of the dojo under them. He reformed his goals, now deciding that he would show the shogunate their power, evaluating that their losses were of no consequence because the core of the Itto-ryu was most important.
We do not hear from him for a long moment, only to see him later on facing Edo Castle, where Yoshino Doa and Rin had caused a commotion to save Manji. He asked if this was Doa’s and Yasonokami Isaku’s handiwork, and that was the last appearance we saw from him.
[character abilities]:
Kagehisa is a skilled swordsman, so he possesses the traits relevant to this: heightened strength, speed, dexterity, flexibility, endurance. He is shown in the later chapters to be able to carry a man and to use him as a shield against arrows, displaying creativity and determination in tactics, as well as a display of his strength. He is able to survive for periods of time in transit, so it goes without saying that he knows how to survive in the wilderness.
Kagehisa is not only skilled with the sword; his primary weapon is actually an axe. He mentions having studied war all his life, and it can be surmised that he knows much about strategy and other weaponry.
Politically, Kagehisa is a good leader because he knows how to establish alliances and he is determined to win his cause. He is also shrewd, and can sculpt scenarios to his liking, such as his flight to Kaga.
He is also likely to have a wide knowledge in many fields, due to his leadership and his travels as part of the Itto-ryu.
[character personality]:
Kagehisa is determined. As the leader of the Itto-ryu, he is almost Machiavellian in his determination-do whatever works. However, let it not be said that he is without honor. He has displayed his own morals throughout the series-he does not wish to have anything to do with the rape of Rin’s mother, though he obviously condones it; he allows Rin to go free after she had attempted to kill him (unsuccessfully); he has tried several times to free Makie from her life of prostitution (though he has his own reasons for doing so). It can be said that he has double standards about many things, and is constantly calling on two sides to one coin, whether it be women, or even his Itto-ryu and his ambitions. With regards to women, he obviously has no qualms about rape (though he does not take part in it), and would not mind dispatching women in his place to avoid being killed or taking a whore to his bed as shown in the first part of the series. However, he obviously shows them respect, looking at how he treats Rin (particularly taking into consideration that he first thought of her as a child), how he treats Makie (though that will be discussed later on), how he treats Doa as a protective leader, and how he treats Hisoka as his wife. With regards to his Itto-ryu, he first shows hesitance at its reaches, likening it only to an emblem but without substance-this is “remedied” at the fall of many of the dojo beneath the Itto-ryu, leaving its “core”. Even his own ambitions are a double-edged sword to him-he says that grandfathers should not pass on their ambitions to the next generations, and that grandfathers should realize when dreams are too big for them, but at the same time he takes up his grandfather’s ambition and makes it his own, saying that he will follow it with abandon because there is nothing he can do about it. Yet, looking back, we also know that he established his Itto-ryu in disgust of his grandfather’s Itto-ryu. He is both following his own ambition and a shadow of his grandfather’s, long engrained in his system.
Looking at that, we can say that Kagehisa is very much a product of his past. While he is trying to forge his own future, engrained in him is the vision of having seen Makie protect him, and thus his veneration of her, and we see his grandfather’s vestiges in him.
An important aspect of his personality is his hero-worship. He holds people-particularly women with skill in high regard. Seeing Makie save him as a child led him to want her both as a part of the Itto-ryu and as his lover, though he cannot see that killing is what hurts her the most. He too admired Doa for her skills, eventually recruiting her into the Itto-ryu. Later on in the series, after Rin’s storm in Edo Castle, he is impressed with her to the point that he acknowledges her greatness by stating that plays will be written about her, calling her by name for the first time.
Kagehisa is also cynical, quick to taunt Habaki in their conversations. He has an occasional air of jaded cynicism, as he shows to Hisoka as they discuss their future and as he shows to Magatsu when they discuss his plan for the Itto-ryu to be the shogunate’s official sword. He has a cynicism towards life and himself, which can be traced to his outlook even as a child, perhaps due to his grandfather’s abuse.
When it comes to his faults, he is quick to admit when something is his mistake, though apologies do not come to him easily if they come at all. Instead, he allows that person to channel their anger at him, as Rin did by beating on him when he acknowledged the harm he did onto her, and as he allowed Iriya to stab him presumably for his marriage to Hisoka. However, this acknowledgement does not mean surrender-he will not succumb to death, as he deplores this aspect of bushido, and will fight after his punishment has been meted.
[point in timeline you're picking your character from]:
From the end of chapter 133: The Demon’s Lair, Part 12
[journal post]:
Who is responsible for this sorcery?
If one or more wish to face me, step forward, and feel the might of my axe. You shall not be spared.
[third person / log sample]:
The shadows of nighttime flickered across the ceiling as he lay in his futon-a moment of rest for the pillar and perhaps the sole source of strength of the Itto-ryu-its creator, Anotsu Kagehisa. The strain of tetanus had taken a toll on his body, and even as he lay recovering, he could feel its remnants in his flesh. His work was never done-now that the Itto-ryu had been stripped down to its roots, his quest to show the Bakufu the need for his Itto-ryu was both closer and farther away. His spirit had not dulled in the course of the illness-only grew tempered as a sword in the forge as he learned of betrayals, of the truth behind the power of the Itto-ryu. He was wiser now, learning that what he had established was both a force to be reckoned with and a frail dream-an ideal, a quest for power behind the name of the Itto-ryu. Now, what he had was real-the skill of his axe, the trust and willingness of his comrades. The Bakufu will realize the the strength of the Itto-ryu, and he, Anotsu Kagehisa, will deliver the knowledge.
Yet it was still so frail. One pillar-the leader of the Itto-ryu . . . he might have seemed immortal to most, his name preceded by fear and awe, but one nick of a poisoned sword had weakened him almost to the point of death. One pillar that, if dissolved by the weight of mortality, would have spelled the end of an ambition, of a reign, of an organization. He realized this, and both knew he had to strike at the opportune times, to gather his forces and wage war through politics and through force, but he also knew the value of being careful more than ever.
He had taken pains to protect his life even before-it was far too easy to disseminate false information, goading his enemies into thinking that he was dressing as a woman and dispatching geisha and whores in his stead to take the violence directed towards him. He had evaded death that moment, but it had still found him in the mountains of Kaga in battle.
And then . . . there was Asano Rin.
Out on a vengeance to kill him after he had murdered her parents . . . and thus was her right, he knew.
Girl . . . I did you . . . great harm, he had said that fateful night in the cave. And she had turned her tears and her violence to him, beating upon his body, her anger wracking her small frame. This he endured without complaint-he knew what he had done. He was not so heartless that he did not understand the consequence of his actions.
Anotsu Kagehisa was one who trampled upon many dreams in his quest for power. This was something he knew about himself, and he knew he deserved the anger of those whom he stole something from, whether it was Iriya, whose Hisoka he married and made love to, and whether it was Rin, whose parents he had killed for his grandfather’s retribution and his own will to create one school to dominate all of Nihon. He was not so heartless that he did not understand this. But this course of action was something he had to do to fulfill his grandfather’s wishes and his own ambition-he would not accept death, as bushido dictated. He would prove the value of his ambition, of what he had started.
The value of his Itto-ryu . . . behind it the blood and sweat and tears of many, comrade and foe. The sacrifices of those who had been his mentors, like Sabato Kuroi . . . comrades such as Kawakami Araya, who died, and those who live and remain the core . . . like Magatsu Taito, Yoshino Doa, and Yasonokami Isaku. They were the Itto-ryu, and they would take the shogunate by storm.
Ah, but if only Otonotachibana Makie . . . with her grace, her strength . . . if she joined the ranks of the Itto-ryu, they would be invincible. The only woman who could best him at the point of a sword. Her beauty and her skill made her the epitome of a warrior, and each time he watched her dance with the sword he felt awe, as he had then when she saved him from the wild dogs in their childhood. However, she cared not to join him, and thus, he had to fare alone.
He had once thought that she would be the only woman in his life. But along his path, he had formed an alliance with Ibane Kensui, who arranged for him to marry his surrogate daughter, Hisoka. She too was a strong woman, though not strong as Makie was with the sword, instead strong with her actions, her decisions. He admired her, and somehow she tempered his cynicism in the short moments they had been together. Remembering her caused him regret . . . Her death was one unwarranted, and yet he could do nothing to prevent it-
Why were so many eager to die?
He clenched a fist, staring at the ceiling. He deplored this bushido mentality. Death did not absolve one from sins, nor did it uphold honor. It was a mere waste of life.
He would change this system. Bushido was a thing of the past . . . and the present-a quest for victory. The thrust of his Itto-ryu.
He would see it through. He would prove his point, and change Japan. No matter what he had to do, he would uphold his honor with all of his soul.