Matou

The family, previously known as the family, and originally known as the family, is a Magus lineage situated in Fuyuki City, Japan. It is a lineage that dates back over 500 years ago, chased out of their homeland in Russia.
==Characteristics==
They eventually took refuge in Japan, where they changed their name to Matou. Around 200 years ago, the Makiri began to decline and their offspring started to lose their capacity to manifest Magic Circuits. Although they covered up with the excuse that they were incompatible with the Spiritual Land of Fuyuki, the true reason behind this sudden fall of their bloodline was never explained.Fate/stay night - Heaven's Feel route - Day 16: FINAL - Interlude 16-1: At the end of the dearest wish
Their fall finally culminated in their last heir, Shinji Matou, having atrophied Magic Circuits; Shinji's paternal uncle Kariya Matou had been the last known member of the family to be naturally born with Magic Circuits, but had expressed such disgust towards the family's practices that he left the family before learning any of the Matou's Magecraft. With the practice of passing down their Magic Crest among the family members being ceased since generations before, everything that is now left of their mystic heritage is simply knowledge in the form of books of Magecraft. Their only choice to continue with their line would be to take in pupils from other families, but because of their history of being overly prideful, nobody would willingly go to them. That in mind, Zouken went to the Tohsaka while recalling the past pact of friendship between the two families. As a result, Sakura Tohsaka was adopted into the Matou.
The Magecraft of the Matou works around the concept of "absorbing" or, from another perspective, "to bind something to one's self".Fate/stay night- Heaven's Feel route - Day 11: beautiful (II) - Tohsaka Rin (III) Their method of teaching of Thaumaturgy is not by letting the mind absorb the knowledge through study, but by literally carving it into the body through the use of Crest Worms; it is the body that is taught Magecraft, not the soul. To inherit Matou Magecraft is not to study constantly, but to be tortured endlessly. Despite the torture-like aspects of the process, it seems to be remarkably efficient, and a horrified Rin Tohsaka state that, even though she's overcome many hardships to gain her impressive talent for Magecraft, if she used the Matou Crest Worms she could create much more powerful Magecraft within half-a-year.Fate/stay night: Heaven's Feel (manga) - Chapter 51: Day 8 / Truth (2)
Among their accomplishments include the establishment of the Servant system of the Heaven's Feel and creation of the Command Spells for the Masters. They possess a considerable amount of monetary resources, which were accumulated during the time that they researched Thaumaturgy.
In the World of Fate/Apocrypha, the Matou family was not blessed with a successor, so their future as Magi has been completely shut.
In Fate/kaleid liner PRISMA☆ILLYA in Illya's World the Matou family didn't join the Heaven's Feel Ritual due to Irisviel and Kiritsugu killing most of the Einzberns, although Sakura still gets adopted by them. in Miyu's World however they were almost wiped out after the Fourth Ainsworth War. With that version of Sakura being it's only survivor.
==Members==
*Zouken Matou - First Head
*Kariya Matou
*Byakuya Matou
*Shinji Matou's mother (Married into the family)
*Shinji Matou
*Sakura Matou (Adopted from the Tohsaka; Lacks formal education) - Family Head in Fate/hollow ataraxia
;Other Worlds
;;Illya's World
*Sakura Matou (Fate/kaleid liner PRISMA☆ILLYA)
;;Miyu's World
*Kariya Matou (Fate/kaleid liner PRISMA☆ILLYA)
*Shinji Matou (Fate/kaleid liner PRISMA☆ILLYA)
*Sakura Matou (Fate/kaleid liner PRISMA☆ILLYA)
;;Capsule Servant World
*Shinji Matou
*Sakura Matou
==Other uses==
There are several other characters with the name Matou, but have no specified relation to the family:
*Sakura Matou (AI in the Moon Cell)
*Shinji Matou (Wizard from the alternative timeline of Fate/Extra)
*Sayo Matou
*Makiri Zolgen (Alter Ego AI in the Inner World of Paper Moon)
==References==
it:Matou
Category:Magus families
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Category:Terminology in Fate/stay night
Category:Terminology in Fate/Zero
Category:Terminology in Fate/strange Fake
Category:Terminology in Fate/kaleid liner PRISMA☆ILLYA
Category:Terminology in Fate/Apocrypha
Category:Terminology in Fate/Grand Order
Category:Three Founding Families
Category:Russians