‰B–§Œä’ë”dB

The Oniwabanshuu were a group of spies who most notably guarded the castle of Edo. In 1854, when the Black Ships arrived in Japan, the Okashira at the time (Misao's grandfather) sent Okina to set up an independent base in Kyoto, suspecting that Kyoto would be the center of the violence. When the Bakufu fell, the Aoiya became a haven for the former Oniwabanshuu.

The first group of Oniwabanshuu members that Kenshin meets consist of Beshimi, Shiki-jou, Hyottoko, and Hannya. (Not like you can forget their names...thanks, Aoshi. :P) These are almost certainly pseudonyms because they're the name of four character types/masks in Noh plays. You can take a look at the masks here - note that Hannya is actually wearing his Hannya mask.



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Okashira: Shinomori Aoshi, then Makimachi Misao (‘€ = "chastity, fidelity")

Known Members:

Tokyo: (deceased)
• Beshimi
• Shiki-jou
• Hyottoko
• Hanya
  
  Kyoto:
• Kashiwazaki Nenji (alias 'Okina' (venerable old man - another Noh mask) or 'Jiya' (gramps))
• Okon (the long-haired one ^^)
• Omasu
• Kuro (the big guy - 'black')
• Shiro ('white')
  
  Suspected Members:
  
• Gein (!!) (well, he's also a practicer of "Gehou" (secret arts), so...maybe...)
  
  
  

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• Okon: Kunoji Shuriken (boomerang)
• Omasu: Enkei Shuriken (discus)
• Shiro & Kuro: Kotewa Shuriken (rings)
• Misao: Kansatsu Tobi Kunai - "Piercing Killing Flying Kunai"(darts ), Kecho Geri
• Okina: Ensatsu Goukoukon (tonfa - batons, and nunchaku)
• Beshimi: Rasenbyou (tiny cone projectiles)
• Hyottoko: Kaentoiki (breathing flames)
• Hanya: Shinwanjutsu and Kenpo and Kagitsume (iron claws)
• Aoshi: Kodachi Nitouryuu
  
  
  

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  Of course, no page on the "gloomy guy" would be complete without at least a SHORT mention of the girl who loves him DESPITE the fact that he has yet to even smile at her. ;;^^
  
  Makimachi Misao was introduced in volume 9 to bring a lighter note to a darkening storyline. She is the granddaughter of the former Okashira, and, as such, was raised by all the Oniwabanshuu, especially Aoshi and the 4 ninja who eventually followed him to Tokyo. At the age of 16, she set out alone to find the people who raised her, as well as 'Aoshi-sama', who she had elevated into near-divinity in her mind. ^^ Her search for Aoshi mirrors Kaoru's search for Kenshin in Kyoto, only instead of Kaoru's reasonably happy reunion with the person she loved, Misao found only death and betrayal and rejection. The four Oniwabanshuu were dead, and she had to watch her beloved 'Aoshi-sama' slide further towards madness.
  
  " The person she's closest to and the person she most loves . . . she's about to lose one of them... "
  
  Misao may seem more superficially immature than Kaoru (as evidenced by her general genkiness and during the fight with Kamatari) but she seems to have more strength of will than Kaoru does, which is why I like her better. ;;^^ Kaoru's reaction to Kenshin's leaving for Kyoto - which even involved a nice mushy goodbye scene - was to shut down totally, and just lie in bed all day and cry until Megumi slapped some sense into her. Misao, IMHO, had a tougher deal - but she didn't bend even for a minute. She immediately took control over the Oniwabanshuu and resolved to face facts and deal with her Aoshi-sama as an enemy, even sitting quietly as Ji-ya discussed killing him.
  
  Watsuki-sensei likes Happy Endings, and Aoshi obviously does care about Misao in his own weird way. (But exactly *how* he feels for her is a mystery.) After coming back to his senses which means being just gloomy, instead of gloomy and psychotic... he doesn't evince more than an understanding that Misao would be unhappy if he died. (Like Kenshin, it seemed that he'd been fighting without regard for his own life - and both had to realize that people needed them to live.) And he *does* say that he wasn't planning on getting killed because "someone is waiting for me to return." At the very end (in the side-story), they return to visit the Kamiya Dojo together, so I suppose she slapped him into shape eventually. I still think it's kind of odd, but whatever!
  
  

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ONMITSU ONIWABANSHUU OKASHIRA

Shinomori Aoshi became the leader of the Oniwabanshuu at the age of 15. The previous okashira, Misao's grandfather, had offered the position to Okina, but he declined and recommended Aoshi instead. So Aoshi led the castle guard of Edo until the end of the Bakumatsu, when the Oniwabanshuu peacefully disbanded.

At the age of 13, Aoshi defeated Shiki-jou in combat (GAVE him all those scars o.o) and invited him to join the Oniwabanshuu. At some point he also invited Hannya to join them and taught him kenpo. All five of them seem to have been like elder brothers to Makimachi Misao, helping to raise her and teaching her a few ninja tricks.

Most of the Oniwabanshuu went back to civilian lives, such as the Kyoto Oniwabanshuu who lived and worked in the Aoiya. But some of the Oniwabanshuu - Beshimi, Shiki-jou, Hyottoko, and Hannya..( Sheesh, take a drink each time that Aoshi says their damn names in the Kyoto hen...-_-# ^^ ) were unable to adapt to the new, peaceful era. (They basically looked like freaks, and all they knew was their ninja skills.) Aoshi would not just abandon them, but took them with him as he searched for jobs in the new Meiji era.

When the story begins, he's the head of security (basically) for a corrupt young businessman called Takeda Kanryuu (based on Takeda Kanryuusai, one of the Shinsengumi captains...oi ;;^^) Although his boss is a jerk, Aoshi doesn't seem to be TOO wacky (yet) - apart from the whole ' I want to defeat the Battousai to prove the Oniwabanshuu were the strongest ' thing or the ' I wish the Oniwabanshuu could have fought the Ishin shishi and we could have burnt down Edo and killed all your shishi bigshots ' deal. ^_^ ( Hey, we all have our little fantasies, right? ) Unlike Kanryuu, he spared his men when they failed him, and was concerned for their welfare. Even though he obviously was unimpressed by Kanryuu, he did the job he was hired to do - protecting Kanryuu. But, of course, his subservience only went so far - he threatened Kanryuu when Kanryuu tried to tell him how to run the Oniwabanshuu. And before going to face the Battousai personally, he gave Megumi a way out of her hellish existence - a short sword.

The fight with Kenshin went pretty normally - Aoshi was winning until Kenshin, being the hero, figured out how to stop him. ;;^^ But then Kanryuu, perhaps annoyed at the way the Oniwabanshuu had 'failed' him, decided to settling things himself - with a gatling gun. (A gatling gun is, of course, a primitive machine gun.) He was about to shoot the temporarily immobilized Aoshi (I think Kenshin had just kicked him in the throat or something) when all four Oniwabanshuu burst in and took the bullets to save his life. Their sacrifices bought Kenshin time to grab his sword again and knock Kanryuu out, but Aoshi was so traumatized that he disappeared, vowing revenge. (Um. After cutting off the heads of his four henchmen and burying them in the demon forest, of course. He's an odd fellow, isn't he?)

SHURA - "... his spirit cannot live...he is violence incarnate..."

The next time we see him he's browbeating Megumi into revealing Kenshin's whereabouts, but he's already off to Kyoto, as Saitou kindly informs him. ;;^^ He heads of to Kyoto to find Kenshin, and contacts his old mentor, Okina, to find the whereabouts of the Battousai. Okina refuses to reveal his whereabouts and tries to persuade Aoshi to give it up, but he ignores him. Then Okina regretfully tells Aoshi that if he has lost the honor of the Oniwabanshuu and become a 'shura' - a demon - Okina will destroy him himself. But Aoshi walks away.

He meets up with Shishio, who has promised him information on the whereabouts of the Battousai in return for his help. He's so dedicated to the path he's chosen that he doesn't even protest when they discuss capturing and torturing the rest of the Oniwabanshuu - but Okina sends Shishio's ninjas back with a challenge for Aoshi.

Aoshi and Okina fight, and Aoshi unleashes the Kaiten Kenbu Rokuren in front of Misao's horrified eyes. Okina falls, apparently dead, and Aoshi tells Misao never to speak to him again. Then he heads back to the Aoiya and, after threatening everyone some more ;;^^ he tells them to tell the Battousai that he's waiting for him at Shishio's headquarters.

Okina and Misao ask Kenshin to kill Aoshi, but Kenshin promises to bring him back to them instead.

As Kenshin fights his way through the Ten Swords in Shishio's headquarters, he deliberately goes and confronts Aoshi. But he refuses to fight Aoshi, claiming that he only promised to fight and bring back Aoshi, the Okashira of the Oniwabanshuu, NOT the shura in front of him. So as Aoshi attacks, Kenshin just dodges, refusing to draw his sword until he's about to get his head cut off at last. ;;^^ Aoshi is beating Kenshin up pretty badly because he won't really fight back, but Kenshin realizes what's going on inside Aoshi's head.

" You'll take the honor of being the strongest and end it all? Aoshi, this is how you want to fight? Don't give me that shit! Miss Misao or Okina, Hanya or Shikijou, Beshimi or Hyottoko, none of them want to see you dead!....

" Aoshi, you said you came to throw it all away, but anyone can do that. It's easy. With the sword, you're strong. But in your heart, you're weak! Hanya. Shikijou. Beshimi. Hyottoko. The most loyal of comrades met their noble death . . . I understand your wanting to offer them glory as proof that they were the best. But it makes your heart weak! Whatever you say, it's not just an excuse for you to hide from reality! It's not for them, it's because of them you're wielding the sword of a murderer!

"...By doing this, if you stop thinking, you can blot out your guilt over their deaths. I know all that, but no matter what you do, they're not coming back!

" Did you know this, Aoshi? Miss Misao has named herself Okashira of the Oniwabanshuu. After you fought with Okina, she took on the responsibilities of the Okashira in your place to protect Kyoto and the Oniwabanshuu. Did you know that this strong girl wept when I promised to bring you back? No matter how strong she is, she's only sixteen. She must have been desperate, in the midst of a harsh reality. There's no one else in the world who can honestly answer for those tears. Or are you still trying to run away from reality, Aoshi! Are you going to pretend you have to prove you're the strongest for those four so you can run away in death! Take back your strong heart! And call back your lost honor! The time that stopped at Kanryuu's mansion moves now! The time to awaken is now!"

translated by maigo-chan

AWAKENING - " When you were asked black or white, in the end you chose white...."

FINALLY Aoshi realizes his mistakes, and gives up his grudge - but he can't go on until he's fought the Battousai fairly. He gets to be the first one hit by Kenshin's ougi, the Amakakeruryuunohirameki ( gee, lucky him! ;;^^ ) He's paralyzed by the blow for a while, but he says he feels better than he has in a long time despite of the pain.

Kenshin fights Shishio and is knocked out, and both Sano and Saitou are taken down too. Then Aoshi appears to fight Shishio to give Kenshin time to recover and to cover the loss of energy Kenshin took to fight him. Hoji indignantly calls him nothing but second-best, a loser, and Aoshi replies that even though he's a loser, Kenshin took the time to fight him, and lost energy in doing so, something which Aoshi has to repay. He fights Shishio, just to buy time, and Kenshin regains consciousness and finishes the job for him. He escapes and returns to the Aoiya, but he sits by himself all day in the temple, meditating to find peace again. He promises to come have tea one day with Kenshin when he finds himself again.

REPAYING A DEBT - " We have to go by 'someone experienced' who has gotten back onto his feet before.... "

Aoshi reenters the story in the Jinchuu arc. (Misao's STILL desperately trying to make him smile by telling really bad jokes ;;^^) Kaoru writes to Misao, asking her to bring Himura Tomoe's diary from Kyoto to Tokyo in the hope of stopping Yukishiro Enishi. Okina asks Aoshi to accompany her, and Aoshi agrees, saying that he promised to have tea with Himura and he might as well get it over with quickly. *laugh*.

Aoshi and Misao seem to arrive too late; they arrive the day after Kaoru's funeral. Misao is in shock, but Aoshi asks carefully for the details, and, after thinking about it...a lot...gathers up Megumi, Misao, and Yahiko, and goes to dig up Kaoru's body. He explains that if Yukishiro Enishi had really wanted to destroy Kenshin, he would have killed Kamiya Kaoru IN FRONT OF HIM - but for some reason, he SKIPPED this obvious way of torturing Himura. This is highly suspicious to Aoshi. He also points out the evidence that Enishi has someone capable of making a life-like flesh doll - the Iwanbou series (yeah, Iwanbou was just a puppet made of pieces of corpses - and the left-over one is ROTTING..) As his final argument, he mentions that he heard when he became Okashira that in the past, there HAD been rumors of such a technique being used by his predecessors. So he concludes that there's only a slim chance that Kamiya Kaoru is not dead...but..."ZERO ja nai."

Over their protests, he digs up the grave and reveals Kaoru's body. It looks perfect - but he cuts it open and reveals WIRES. It was a puppet - " and Kamiya Kaoru is alive somwhere..."

Aoshi warns them not to just tell Kenshin this information, because Kenshin would still just blame himself for not protecting her and he would become rurouni again, tormented by guilt. He had to find his own way to cope with this, and only when he was ready to hear it, should they tell him the truth about Kaoru. Yahiko slyly says something to the effect that Aoshi's the one who'd know about having to regain sanity, and Aoshi kind of pouts. ^^

Predicting that Gein the puppetmaster would come back for the doll, he sets a trap and confronts Gein in the graveyard at night. They fight, and Aoshi finishes Gein off after forcing him to reveal Kaoru's whereabouts. The next day, Saitou finds him in the ruins of the graveyard, and seems surprised that he didn't plan to die fighting Gein. And Aoshi turns away. " Of course not. I still have work to do. Plus - there is someone waiting for me to return - " (cut to shot of Misao dreaming about her Aoshi-sama and giggling in her sleep. ^_^)

Then Aoshi makes random cameos for a while until he fights one of Enishi's goons, a big guy called "Suzaku" (yeah, don't laugh, the other four gods were there too ;;^^) about twenty episodes later.

" Si je tue Battousai, alors il sera prouvé que mes hommes étaient bien les meilleurs guerriers"

Aoshi Shinomori est le chef des Oniwa Banshu, groupe de Ninjas de Kyoto, assignés pendant le bakumatsu à la garde de la résidnce du Shogun Tokugawa. Malheureusement ce dernier se rend sans combattre à la faction Ishin (révolutionnaires), ce qui prive Aoshi d'une occasion de montrer le talent guerrier de lui et de ses hommes.

Aprés la révolution, les Oniwa Banshu se reconvertissent dans la vie civile, sauf quatre d'entre eux qui ne pouvaient plus vivre en société : Beshimi l'éclaireur, Hannya l'espion, Hyottoko l'homme fort, et Shikijo le cracheur de feu, soit parce qu'ils étaient trop difformes comme Hannya (qui n'a plus de lèvres ou de sourcils pour pouvoir se grimer... beurk ^^'x) ou qu'ils ne savaient que se battre. Aoshi les emmena, à cause de son grand sens du devoir.

Sa première rencontre avec Kenshin est chez Kanryu, un dealer de Tokyo dont Aoshi et ses hommes assurent la sécurité (dans leur grande quête d'un ennemi à leur mesure). Kenshin lui essaie de libérer Megumi Takami des griffes de Kanryu qui voulait la forcer à fabriquer de l'opium. A l'issue du combat qui se solde par la victoire de Kenshin, Kanryu décide d'éliminer tout ce beau monde avec une mitrailleuse Gatling. Beshimi, Hyottoko, Hannya et Shikijo se sacrifient afin de sauver leur chef. Dés lors Aoshi se jure de tuer Battousai pour prouver que ses hommes étaient bien les meilleurs et rétablir leur honneur.

La seconde rencontre a lieu dans le repaire de Shishio, avec lequel Aoshi s'était allié pour pouvoir combattre Kenshin ; kenshin est sérieusement blessé mais finit par révéler la vraie personnalité d'Aoshi perdue sous les remords et la culpabilité pour la mort de ses hommes. Le combat se termine par l'affrontement des meilleures techniques de chacun, Ama-kakeru-No-Hirameki contre le Kaiten-Kenbu No Rokunen d'Aoshi, et ce dernier est vaincu. Finalement Aoshi n'a pas de regrets : il n'a pas vaincu Battousai, mais il a fait tout ce qu'il pouvait pour cela.

Plus tard, il aidera Kenshin en occupant Shishio pendant l'affrontement final ; il était le seul à avoir senti l'aura de bataille de Kenshin. Il montrera également sa grande connaissance de l'esprit humain en trouvant le pourquoi de l'attitude d'Enishi (le kidnapping de Kaoru).

Ce personnage est typique de RK : prêt à tout pour son honneur et celui de ses hommes, et de plus animé par un sens du devoir immense. Seules les paroles de Kenshin et l'affection qu'il porte à Misao lui permettent de retrouver sa lucidité. Il s'avère être trés intelligent, voire surdoué tant il arrive à déchiffrer le coeur humain. je l'aime assez, bien qu'il n'aiot aucun humour (par rapport au pince-sans-rire de Saitoh...)

Ses techniques sont inspirées du Ninja et sont inflluencées par son arme, des Kodachis (épées courtes) qu'il manie avec dextérité et vitesse. Son style est d'abord une combinaison de défense au Kodachi et attaque à coups de pieds et poings, puis il développe un style à deux kodachis pour vaincre Kenshin, ce qui démultiplie ses possiblités. Quelques unes de ses techniques :

- le mouvement coulant : l'adversaire le voit en plusieurs points à la fois (déplacement rapide), suivi d'une attaque

- le kaiten kenbu no rokunen est une combinaison de coups portés avec ses deux kodachis qui permet d'infliger simultanément 6 blessures. C'est la technique la plus puissante d'Aoshi. A noter qu'il existe une autre forme de Kaiten kenbu avec une seule kodachi qui provoque trois blessures simultanées.

Une petite galerie pour finir :

hay i dont noe what to do on my page still lolz

still nothing i cant do nothing on my page... lolz... so can some one help me!!!!

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