Taichi Mashima

Taichi Mashima, also known as Eyelashes and Eyebrows, is one of the main characters from the Chihayafuru series.
== Charactah Account ==
The childhood friend of his crush Chihaya and (begrudgingly) Arata, Taichi reunites with the former when he starts attending her high school. Has also played karuta since he was a kid and is B-Class when the series begins, determined to become A-Class. Handsome, affluent and popular at school, Taichi supports Chihaya as president of the karuta club, though he is a skilled player who is noted to be unfortunately prone to bad luck.
Taichi is a smart, hard-working and athletic guy who was cocky at times but he was also a bit of a coward during his younger years. His mother has only allowed him to enter in competitions that he can win at. If he loses, he will be scolded by her, but despite this fact he is easy-going and fairly modest.
However, Taichi is somewhat easily disheartened: he considers giving up karuta early on in the series after becoming convinced that he could spend his entire life on the game without ever becoming better than Arata Wataya. His confidence builds, however, with his continued participation in the world of karuta, and it is shown that it is his own perception of his skill in karuta that is holding him back. 
== Appearance ==
=== Anime ===
* Chihayafuru
* Chihayafuru 2
* Chihayafuru 2 OVA
* Chihayafuru 3
=== Light Novels ===
* Chihayafuru: Middle School Arc
=== Manga ===
* Chihayafuru
* Chihayafuru: Middle School Arc
== Trivia ==
* Taichi is good at all subjects.
* When Taichi was 13, he was jealous of Arata Wataya because Chihaya Ayase was bonding with him.
* Taichi made flash cards to help him memorize the 100 poems.
* Taichi has recited the 100 poems in random order during a practice karuta match as the reader for it.
* Rika Mashima once asked Taichi if he was a narcissist.
* Taichi somewhat dreams of becoming a doctor one day, but isn't sure yet.
* Taichi is more focused on being someone who doesn't run away rather than being in class A.
* Taichi once thought that karuta is scary while watching Chihaya play against Yumi Yamamoto, an ex-queen.
* In Episode 13, Taichi put Arata in charge of taking care of Chihaya after she has fainted.
* Hideo Harada calls Taichi "eyelashes" because of his long eyelashes, although the English subtitles always seem to mistake this for "eyebrows".
* In the anime, many girls think Taichi is cute, even Rieko Oe thinks so.
* Taichi's favourite poem from the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu is Poem #16: "Note that though we may be apart, if I am to hear that you pine for me as the Inaba mountain pines, I shall return to you."
* Taichi's favourite poem from the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu starts with 'Tachiwakare' making him of one of the few characters whose names begin with the cards such as Hanano Sumire Poem #9, Wataya Arata Poem #11 and Poem #76 Tsukuba Akihiro Poem #13, Ayase Chihaya Poem #17, Wakamiya Shinobu Poem #40, Oe Kanade Poem #60, Takeuchi Kokoro Poem #68, Tamaru Midori Poem #89, Yuikawa Momo Poem #100.
* Taichi and Chihaya's favourite poems in Ogura Hyakkunin Isshu are 16th poem 'Tachiwakare' and 17th poem 'Chihayfuru/Chihayaburu' respectively. Also, Ariwara no Yukihira who wrote 16th poem and Ariwara no Narihira who wrote 17th poem were half-brothers.
* In Chapter 119, Taichi lied about Chihaya being his girlfriend to Hisashi Suo (the Meijin), but he told him the truth in Chapter 122.
* In the light novel 1, it is stated that Taichi quit karuta after winning a class C tournament and advancing to class B and beat Chihaya in a luck of the draw in the previous match, thus somewhat messed of some of his statements in the manga and the anime that he'd never once won against Chihaya properly in a match before.
* Taichi won second place in his first official class A tournament, and note that he's had class A skill approximately one year before actually being class A (by placing second in two class B tournaments).
* Taichi's age is officially 18 years as of Chapter 193.
* Taichi's surname Mashima is his mother's maiden name as seen in Chapter 191 so his father probably took his Reiko's surname after marriage.
== Gallery ==
File:Taichi Mashima Render 01.png
File:Taichi Mashima 01.png
File:Taichi Mashima 02.png
File:Taichi Mashima 03.png
File:Taichi Mashima 04.png
File:Taichi Mashima 05.png
File:Taichi Mashima 06.png
== External Links ==
* Taichi Mashima at Chihayafuru Wiki
Category:Characters
Category:Males
Category:Chihayafuru