Hatori Sohma

**Hatori Sohma** (草摩 はとり, *Sōma Hatori*) is one of the main characters of the series. He is the Dragon of the Chinese Zodiac, one of the oldest members of the Cursed Sohmas and the Sohma family's personal doctor. He is the only known living Sohma family member with the ability to suppress memories of those outsiders who discover the Sohma family secret. Hatori is best friends with Shigure Sohma and Ayame Sohma, and the three make up the Mabudachi Trio, though Hatori is rarely amused by the antics of them.

Hatori was engaged to Kana Sohma, the assistant in his doctor's office. The relationship ended when Akito Sohma attacked Hatori which almost left him blind in his left eye; Kana blamed herself for the incident and felt so guilty about it that Hatori was forced to suppress her memory of their relationship to ease her suffering.

He later starts developing a friendship (later romantic) bond with Dabi, which soon ends up with them marrying.

## Description

### Appearance

Hatori is a very handsome adult man with a rather tall stature, and muscular yet slender build.

He has straight black hair with a dark blue tint which reaches down to his nape. His bangs are shorter than his hair and parts towards the right side in the form of an "M-style", which partly covers his left eye. He has sharp, purple-colored eyes, and is often seen with somber expressions and curt gestures.

Hatori always dresses professionally and is rarely seen without wearing a suit. His most usual suits are western-themed, and consist of a black vest, which is either short or long-sleeved, with a white collared shirt underneath, a blue tie, along with brown trousers and pair of brown shoes. He occasionally wears his white doctor coat over his outfit.

It is implied that he looks like a model.

### Personality

Hatori appears as a quiet, serious, and level-headed man who is cool and composed at all times. At first glance, he is mentioned to be rather cold and intimidating, which is why people can misunderstand him. The reason why Hatori didn't want Tohru Honda to involve her with the Sohmas is because he didn't want her to suffer the same heartbreak as Kana did. He has also resigned himself to the fact that the Zodiacs shouldn't love or be loved. However, behind his somber and stern personality, Hatori is deeply gentle and kind, and prioritizes others happiness before his own. Ayame mentions that his kindness is his best trait as it is his worst. This is especially evident by the fact that, even though Hatori is genuinely happy that Kana could find happiness with another man after forgetting him, he refuses to seek his own happiness. He is also genuinely upset at his inability to protect the younger Zodiacs from Akito's wrath, and decides to watch over Tohru and the younger Zodiacs from making the same mistakes he made.

Hatori has a very low opinion of himself because of the people he hurt when doing his job of memory-wiping. He feels incredibly guilty erasing the memories of all of Yuki Sohma's friends when they were younger, and it is also implied that his closeness with Momiji Sohma is a result of his guilt from being the one to wipe his mother's memories. Back in the day, if his father or Akito ordered it, Hatori would unhesitantly erase someone's memories. However, his personal tragedy with his ex-fiancé Kana made Hatori think that all of the pain he inflicted on others is the reason why he doesn't deserve to ever become happy. However, after meeting Mayu again, it appears as though Hatori is ready to let happiness into his life once more.

Even though Hatori is serious at all times and even lacks a sense of humor, he acts as the punchline deliverer whenever he is spending time with Shigure and Ayame, since he is used to their quirky personalities. He also has a few moments of not being completely mature and composed. For example, he tricked Yuki and Kyo into taking a photo of them seemingly smiling together by asking them to fill in the blank: "cheese". But he later playfully gives the camera to Tohru by putting on her head. He also gave Shigure more injections than necessary once because the latter was annoying. He also threatened to tell Shigure's colleagues every embarrassing story he knew about him since he was four if he told Tohru the secret of his zodiac form.

## Etymology

* The name **Hatori** means 服部 'clothing guild'.

## Trivia

* Hatori's name is derived from the fourth month, *kono**hatori**zuki* or "month of taking leaves [to silkworms]."
* After Shigure, Hatori is the most avid reader among the Zodiac. Shigure has even used Mayuko's family's secondhand bookstore as a part of a scheme to mend her relationship with the book-loving Hatori.
* He has a complex about his Zodiac form, which is a seahorse instead of an actual dragon.
* Hatori doesn't often let himself indulge in basic human needs in front of others, to the point where Kyo is shocked that he actually sleeps.
* He's not actually attached to wearing suits, but he thinks they are the easiest thing to wear without needing to spend a lot of time deciding on an outfit. He lets his houseworkers pick them out (Kana did it when they were together), but "sooner or later someone is going to to get on his case about it".
* Mayu's role in Hatori's life during their reunion after two years is described as "the first breath of spring".
* Hatori wears very expensive designer suits. This becomes evident in the manga, when Shigure borrows a suit from him to attend a parent-teacher conference. Upon returning the suit, Hatori tells him to burn it, Shigure is astounded by his remark and asks if he is really willing to surrender a ¥200,000 (approximately $2,500) suit.
* Although Hatori's left eye is almost completely blind, he is rarely seen wearing glasses. Despite this disability, he is good at driving.
* Hatori's car is that of a Western car (driver seat on the left), not traditional Japanese (driver seat on the right).
* In an author's note, Natsuki Takaya described Hatori as "the best marriage material of the cast."
* Takaya said in an author's note that since both Hatori and Mayu are tall, they "might look pretty good together as a tall couple".
* According to Takaya, there is no magic behind Hatori's memory suppression technique and that it is more like hypnosis. This explains why the zodiac members try to avoid those who have been forced to forget about them, since there is always a chance that the memories can come back.