Keizo

**Keizo** (慶蔵, *Keizō*?) was the owner of a martial arts dojo that taught the Soryū fighting style, and was Akaza's master when he was still human.

## Etymology

* Keizo's name contains the Kan-on'yomi reading of "jubilation, fortuitous, celebration" (慶, *kei*?) and the Go-on'yomi for "storehouse, stock, reserve" (蔵, *zō*?).

## Appearance

Keizo was a middle-aged man with a muscular body and unshaven stubble. He kept a shoulder length black hair which was tied and his eyebrows appears to be quite bushy.

Keizo wore a Jiu-Jitsu gi uniform consisting of a top and pants that is tied with a dan black belt with the kanji for his fighting style **Soryu** (素流, *Soryū*?) at the back.

## Personality

Keizo was a kind and cheerful person who did his best to protect the others with his abilities, and he was optimistic and empathic enough to assign Hakuji, a former convict, to take care of his daughter, teaching him his Soryu martial arts and ultimately welcoming him into his family by allowing him to marry Koyuki and be the next head of his dojo. His memory and instructions impacted Hakuji enough even after his transformation as a demon and the loss of his memories, especially after meeting Tanjiro Kamado who shared his same beliefs and benevolence.

## History

One day, Keizo saved a man from bandits, who gave him the land his dojo was on as a gift. He was married and had a daughter, Koyuki, who was ill. Because he had no students, he took on handyman jobs to make money and had to leave Koyuki's care to his wife. Eventually the stress of Koyuki's needs and the fear of seeing her child die young led his wife to drown herself. After that, he did his best to balance making money and caring for Koyuki, even though he did not believe she would live long either. While on a trip, Keizo was asked to address an aggressive youth beating up people indiscriminately. He agreed, and faced the the boy Hakuji, knocking him out easily and taking him to his dojo. Seeing potential, Keizo offered Hakuji training and lodging in exchange for taking care of Koyuki.

One day, the heir to the nearby kenjutsu dojo developed an attraction to Koyuki. He acted on his feelings by dragging her out of her home for a date, but he abandoned her on the ground when she had an asthma attack. When he found out, Keizo was so upset that he arranged to have a match between the two dojos. He and Hakuji prevailed even though Keizo went easy on them, leading to the head of the dojo vowing to never again cause trouble for them. Eventually, Koyuki's health improved around the time she turned 16, at which point he offered Hakuji ownership of the dojo and Koyuki herself to take as a bride. Hakuji agreed, but left to visit his father's grave and share the good news first.

However, by this point the kenjutsu dojo's head had died, and the heir who had caused so much trouble chose not to honor his father's vow of peace. While Hakuji was visiting his father, the new head and a few underlings poisoned the well Keizo and Koyuki took water from. The two unknowingly drank the poison, and upon realizing what happened, Keizo carried Koyuki to and ran to the doctor's home, unaware his daughter had already died. Being stronger than Koyuki, the poison took longer to kill him, and Keizo spent several hours suffering before he died.

## Abilities

### Fighting Style

**Master Hand-to-Hand Combatant:**

* **Soryu Style** (素流式, *Soryū Shiki*?): A bare-fist martial arts fighting style that Keizo either invented himself or was taught by his own master. He was able to overpower Hakuji when he first met him despite the latter being able to defeat seven adult men.

## Trivia

* Keizo's dojo had no other students besides Hakuji because all potential students were driven away be the kenjutsu dojo who coveted his land.
* Whereas Keizo suffered a prolonged death, Koyuki had succumbed to the poison very quickly.

## Quotes

* (To Hakuji) "*Whatever you do, everyone is a baby at first. You get help from others and gradually learn. Don't compare yourself to other people. The opponent you fight is **always** yourself. What's important is becoming stronger than you were yesterday. If you continue that for ten or 20 years, you'll be magnificent. And then you will help other people.*"
* (To Hakuji) "*Our indomitable spirit in whatever hardship we face, it never breaks. We are not samurai. We do not carry a katana. But we carry swords in our hearts.*"
* (To Hakuji) "*Yes, but I beat up and defeated that criminal earlier, so it's all right now!*"
* (To Akaza) "*Time for you to be reborn!*"