Kazuma Sohma

## Voices

**Kazuma Sohma** (草摩 籍真, *Sōma Kazuma*) is the adoptive father of Kyo Sohma who took him in after the death of his mother and after his biological father rejected him.

A master of karate, Kazuma runs a dojo near the Sohma main house, where he has taught several of the younger Sohmas, including Kyo, Kagura, Yuki, and Hatsuharu. His daily routine is taken care of by his assistant at the dojo, Kunimitsu Tomoda.

## Appearance

Kazuma is a handsome adult man with a tall and broad stature who is in his early 40s, though he is mentioned to look much younger than this age.

From an unspecified point to after revealing Kyo's true form, Kazuma kept his straight dark brown hair long - to about middle-back length - tied into a ponytail at the back, secured with a traditional white hair tie. After a while, Kazuma cut his long hair to nape-length and has kept it short ever since. His bangs are long, quite messy, and frame his face. He also has a pair of slightly sharp, but kind and calm, dark brown eyes. Kazuma dresses very traditionally; almost never being seen without his simple dark blue *kimono* with a black belt.

## Personality

Kazuma is an incredibly wise and level-headed, yet friendly and polite man who is willing to take risks and make sacrifices to achieve the greater good. However, because of this, Kazuma has a slightly low view om himself; as he deems himself a selfish person who ignores other's will and pushes his one-sided feelings onto people such as Kyo. Despite that, he is an emphasizing and supportive person, especially evident by the fact that he is so well-loved by Kyo. He has also displayed his wisdom to Kyo and the rest of the Sohma family many times; Kyo, in particular, takes Kazuma's words to heart and lets them guide him in life. Kazuma is also shown to be fearless as he was completely determined to keep Kyo from meeting the same lonely fate his grandfather faced and give him a happy life, even if it meant he would defy the rest of the family, including Akito Sohma, who most people in the family fears. On the other hand, even though he is educated, Kazuma is quite clumsy and air-headed, as his day-to-day skills are very weak. He is horrible at cooking, but he somehow gets the idea that he can do it.

## Trivia

* In Japanese culture, cutting one's hair symbolizes change and a rite of passage. In Kazuma's case, he grew out his hair as a form of superstition to gather luck for Kyo. When he finally succeeded in finding another person who accepts Kyo and who could "saves" his heart, he cut his hair, symbolizing the culmination of the change.
* In an author's note, Natsuki Takaya said that although she draws Kazuma young, his age is "almost 40."
* Kazuma's appearance differs between the manga and the anime adaptions:
	+ The manga and 2019 anime depict Kazuma with brown eyes and hair. The 2001 anime depicts his with greenish-gray eyes and grey hair.
* Takaya has claimed he is "clumsy with his hands and has no sense of flavor," and he is depicted as being so bad at cooking, he does not know how to prepare tea.
* Although Kyo calls him "Shishou" (meaning "Master"), Kazuma states that he doesn't want to make his students address him by such. Instead, most of his students call him "Shihan", (meaning "Teacher").
* He is a morning person.
* Kazuma likely had backup plans to keep Kyo away from the Sohma family after high school, not only to ensure Kyo's freedom, but give him the chance to someone who accepted him.