Toda Seigen

## Image Gallery

**Toda Seigen** (富田 (とだ)  勢源 (せいげん) , *Toda Seigen*), also known as the "**Kodachi Muso**" (小太刀無双, *Kodachi Musō*?Literal translation: *Peerless Kodachi*), was one of the fighters participating in the Tenkaichi tournament, representing Konoe Sakihisa.

## Appearance

Seigen was an elderly gentleman with a wrinkled visage, short white hair, thick white eyebrows and a small white goatee; his eyes were almost always closed due to his blindness, but when opened his pupils were revealed to be muted to the point of near-whiteness. He wore a simple kimono with a striped haori over the top and fastened his two kodachi to his left hip.

## Personality

Toda had a generally genial and playful attitude, willing to make light jokes regarding his blindness. However, he had a clear contempt for those directly associated with Oda Nobunaga and did not suffer fools gladly; he casually mutilated and then beheaded one of Oda's retainers for badmouthing him and then nonchalantly called for the retainer's decapitated head to be displayed after he was introduced for his fight.

Before the tragedy of the Sengoku era, Seigen lived his life for his grandson and doted on him greatly; his grandson was his "light". After his grandson died, the reality of the situation impacted Seigen's mental state to an unfathomable degree. To this end, he lived with the belief that his grandson existed by his side and still guided him to this day; Seigen attributed his ability to 'see', despite his blindness, to "Zenzaemon". However, despite how much he doted on and appreciated his grandson, Seigen acknowledged that he walked down the path of slaughter and bloodshed.

Toda also had a very deep obsession with achieving victory, due to the way he perceived life's injustices towards him and wanting to overcome them anyway;[NOTE]He described being "robbed" throughout life, including: being born into a family of samurai with a disadvantageous physique, being unsuited to using the longer tachi, going blind and losing his grandson. he stated that his life had no meaning if he could not win. Towards the very end of his life, Toda admitted that he even used the tragedy of his grandson's death as fuel to feed on the power "Zenzaemon" gave him. Seigen's drive and desire to attain victory was so strong, even after his heart had been torn out and the battle all-but-lost, he *still* continued to attack.

## History

Over twenty years ago, before Toda Seigen lost his vision completely, the renowned swordsman had a grandson whom he doted over greatly. His grandson, who was a talented swordsman, told Seigen that once he went blind, he would guide him. Not long later, in September 1573, Ichijodani castle was ravaged by Oda Nobunaga's forces during the siege of Ichijodani castle and, in the burnt down remains of the castle grounds, Toda discovered the corpse of his grandson. Left in utter shock and disbelief, Seigen broke down; he had lost his beloved grandson. After this event, Seigen secluded himself from the world until he finally went blind. Despite this, he eventually went to the mountains by himself. Then, after several months, when his nephew Toda Shigemasa came to retrieve him, Shigemasa saw Seigen wholeheartedly practising his swordsmanship again. A few more years later, after returning to normal life, it was clear that Toda Seigen had become much stronger than when he had sight. When Shigemasa asked how, Toda responded that it was thanks to "Zenzaemon", which greatly perturbed Shigemasa. Seigen informed his nephew that by training with "Zenzaemon" he could now 'see' more than he ever could.

## Plot

Toda Seigen was seen gathered in Ozaka castle, along with the other warriors competing in the Tenkaichi tournament.

Concurrently with the end of the first Tenkaichi match, one of Oda's retainers came over to tell them it was Konoe's turn. Toda replied that he was fired up and told his nephew to guide him well because he was blind and doesn't want to trip over. Toda then 'tripped' over some rocks, jovially calling out to Konoe. The retainer then began obnoxiously complaining about Toda fighting in front of Oda Nobunaga. Having unsheathed his blade, Seigen then began witheringly chastising the retainer whilst slicing off the retainer's hand and then nose. He then sarcastically apologised (due to his blindness), saying he would just have to cut off his head. The retainer mumblingly begged for his life, but Toda gave a scathing response before finishing that this was why he hated Oda's retainers...

After being introduced for his match, Toda could hear the audience wondering whether a blind man could even fight and stated that if they messed with him, they'd end up like the retainer. At that, his nephew threw the decapitated head of the retainer on to the ground, with the audience recognising it as one of Oda's retainers. Seigen casually mused that he unintentionally got carried away and the audience accused him of threatening the Oda clan, but Seigen rhetorically responded that he was only fully appreciating the fight that was sold to him and if anyone had any complaints, they could come down and kill him themselves. He then waited as his opponent was introduced and, after she was thrown her shuriken, Toda asked if the large size of her shuriken didn't interfere with her work as a shinobi. Kotaro merely replied that it would be boring to tell before the fight and he would have to wait to have a taste. Kotaro then lightly goaded him, with Seigen responding in kind. With Oda Nobunaga bored of the current location, the fight was moved to the "Forest of Bloody Battle", a nearby forested island.

Fuma Kotaro derisively commented that he was unlucky to have to fight in a forest as a blind man, but Seigen brushed off the comments and assumed a fighting stance with his sword. With the fight finally getting underway, Kotaro immediately launched her shuriken at him, but Seigen somehow sidestepped it, before complimenting the "sound" of the attack. Fuma then moved behind him and threw a punch however, Seigen immediately slashed before Fuma could connect, leaving a small cut on her waist and slicing her rope belt. She mentioned her satisfaction at their exchange and Toda asked what kind of physique she had to pull off her movements; she instead asked how he could react to her attacks, but Toda replied if he revealed it now it would be boring. Fuma then prepared her next attack, saying she would teach Toda the difference between them; firing her shuriken at Toda with a ridiculous amount of force, it smashed into a tree nearby him, sending debris flying everywhere. Seigen recognised that the destruction only served as a distraction and, with Fuma quickly closing in behind him, he already had his wakizashi ready for a pre-emptive counter. However, the kunoichi instead clapped her hands together with extreme force, rupturing Seigen's eardrums from the resulting shockwave. Calling her a monster for being able to produce such sound from a mere clap, Seigen retreated while waving his sword wildly but was struck by a heavy kick to his torso, that sent him hurtling into a tree. Seemingly defeated, Toda shocked everyone by deflecting Fuma's shuriken with his blade. Seigen then began mumbling to himself that while he got flustered for a moment and got hit, he could still move; he then muttered about his nullified Byakuyagan before thanking Zenzaemon and going on to deflect the remaining shuriken that Kotaro threw at him. Toda then asked if she was finished with Fuma questioning what kind of trick he was using. Seigen mused mentally that he didn't need sound nor light to 'see' as "*he*" would show him everything. Toda then recognised that Fuma had taken out something dangerous, with the kunoichi telling him that what she took out was what made her the strongest "Fuma Kotaro" of all time. With Fuma using the what she had taken out on herself, Seigen noticed its sweet medicinal smell and wondered how a drug could alter the atmosphere so greatly; he then mused with interest that if she could defeat their Byakuyagan, she could go ahead and try. Kotaro then suddenly charged towards Seigen, catching him momentarily off guard and almost striking him with a somersaulted kick. Realising that she was getting faster, Seigen could only raise his arm in time to defend himself from Fuma's subsequent assault, sending him crashing backwards. With Seigen noting that he couldn't move properly because his backbone got hit badly, Fuma sadistically asked him how he wanted to die before telling him that the battle was over and it was now time to "play". However, Seigen commented that even though she smelled dangerous, he wouldn't lose since Zen was with him.

With Fuma darting at him, Seigen attempted to discern her location with his Byakuyagan, but she was able to partially bypasses his 'sight', culminating in her punching off his left ear and following up with a vicious kick that Seigen barely managed to avoid. Fuma continued to violently overwhelm Toda, viciously buffetting him away. While Fuma praised him for lasting this long, the deafened Toda noticed 'something' under the fallen leaves before making a confident retort about his own chances of victory. Kotaro then attacked with a frontal charge, but Seigen utilised the chains from her dropped Fuma Shuriken to catch her off guard and entangle her right arm, resulting in the two being connected by the length of chain. Seigen mocked that a beast should be chained up, but Fuma laughed in response saying it was *he* who was chained up. At that, she powerfully flung Toda in the direction of a tree but he manages to land feet first on it, shocking everyone. As she closed in once more to crush him with her fist, Seigen reaffirmed with Zen that they could still go on, before narrowly avoiding her punch and countering with a deep slash. Facing her, Seigen exclaimed that he could now perceive the future with Fuma wondering aloud whether it was a bluff. Toda then goadingly questioned whether Kotaro could even kill him, and she exclaimed that she would before the two launched themselves into a furious display of exchanged strikes, parries and evasive maneouvres at near imperceptible speeds. Kotaro eventually gained the upper hand, landing a crushing punch to Seigen's left shoulder, cracking it, before yanking the chain to exacerbate the damage. As she closes in again, Toda contemplated how life had stolen so much from him and resolved to steal it back! Somehow maneouvring his broken body from his disadvantageous position, Seigen aimed his kodachi for her head as he was pulled in, resulting in an unexpected cross-counter with his kodachi impaling her defending left arm and Fuma punching him in the face with her chained arm. Somehow still standing despite losing a sword and taking a clean hit to the face, Seigen called for Zen to give him more power as he unsheathed his remaining kodachi. As Seigen commented that his life had no meaning if he didn't win, the two flew into their final exchange of blows knowing this would end their fight...
Seigen suddenly found himself in a field of flowers, able to see again, with his grandson Zenzaemon standing across from him. Zenzaemon told him that he had done enough and he would now guide him as promised. However, Seigen looked behind him at the bloodied skull-covered deathscape before turning and walking in its direction, despite Zenzaemon telling him it was the wrong way. Continuing to walk into the deathscape, with his real-life blindness and injuries starting to reappear, Seigen thanked his grandson for coming to let him see him but conceded that even if Zenzaemon was in paradise, the path he was taking was one of death and slaughter.
In real life, Fuma Kotaro had impaled her hand through Toda's chest with his heart gripped in her hand. Crushing the heart in her grip, Toda made one final unexpected attack, cutting into Fuma's shoulder! However, Kotaro was able to move away his blade-wielding hand from her shoulder with Seigen finally succumbing to death as he dropped his kodachi, a smile lingering on his face.

## Powers & Abilities

Toda Seigen was an accomplished and renowned swordsman. However, what made him truly remarkable was his ability to fight at a very high level despite his apparent blindness. As a result, Seigen was naturally very aware of his environment and would utilise external factors to his advantage, such as when he used the chains from the large shuriken his opponent had discarded to entangle said opponent and force an extremely close-quartered battle. He also possessed surprisingly adept body control, despite his advanced age, consistently pulling off dextrous physical manoeuvres that surprised everyone watching him. However, Toda's greatest drawback was his advanced age and his limited durability, which proved to be his downfall in the end.

**Byakuyagan** (白 (びゃく) 夜 (や) 眼 (がん) , *Byakuya-gan*?Literal translation: *Midnight Sun Eye/White Night Eye*): Despite being blind, Seigen had gained the ability to perceive his surroundings to an almost frightening degree. This in turn, allowed him to navigate and manoeuvre himself much better than when he possessed normal vision. Techniques designed to impair one's vision had no effect on him, as Seigen was able to focus in on the necessary target regardless. It was heavily inferred that he utilised this ability via a form of extremely high-level echolocation.

* **Zenzaemon** (善左衛門[NOTE]The ability is named after Seigen's late grandson, Seki Zenzaemon.): An extreme form of perception, stemming from his blindness and the incredible grief over the loss of his grandson. Even without sight or hearing, Seigen was still able to navigate the world with acute clarity, allowing him to react to and deflect projectiles with seeming ease. In Seigen's mind, he achieved this ability thanks to the spirit of his deceased grandson "guiding" his actions; whenever he and "Zenzaemon" trained together, his perceptive abilities became sharper. However, in reality, Toda's perceptive ability was heavily inferred to stem from his extraordinary concentration and his vastly honed remaining senses; his body collected every scrap of sensory information it could find (such as scent trails, wind currents, temperatures, tremors etc.) and then combined them in order to put together a mental image that Toda could navigate and react to. When fully utilising "Zenzaemon", Toda's eyes opened (almost as if he could see again) and took on a somewhat fractured appearance. Despite the miraculous perceptions endowed by "Zenzaemon", the effectiveness of the ability could be overcome by movements and attacks that travelled faster than what Seigen's senses could process (and thus react to).
* **Byakuyagan: Tenmo Keikyoku** (白夜眼・天網荊 (てんもうけい) 棘 (きょく) , *Byakuya-gan: Tenmō Keikyoku*?Literal translation: *Midnight Sun Eye/White Night Eye: Heaven's Net of Thistles & Thorns*): As a result of forcing his intense battle against Fuma Kotaro to an extremely close range, Seigen's Byakuyagan massively shrunk its range and increased the resolution to its utmost capacity; this meant that he was not only limited to perceiving just Fuma Kotaro's breathing or the rustling of her clothes, but also her bones and muscles and even the firing of her brain's synapses. While this ability was active, it provided Seigen with enough perceptive information that he was even able to "see one move into the future",[NOTE]i.e. Toda was able to accurately predict and pre-empt Fuma Kotaro's movements giving him the ultimate point-blank range fighting style.

### Martial Arts

**Chujo-ryu** (中条 (ちゅうじょう) 流, *Chūjō-ryū*): The sword art that Seigen practised and was masterful in when wielding a kodachi. He had shown delicate and masterful levels of skill, able to slice off a man's hand and nose in quick succession without the man so much as realising until after the event; even further, he was skilled enough to cleanly sever the man's head from his neck with a single cut, which was noted as being quite difficult to do to a stationary target, let alone a moving one.

* **Kincho Oken** (金 (きん) 鳥 (ちょう) 王剣 (おうけん) , *Kinchō Ōken*?Literal translation: *Golden Bird King Sword*): Seigen delivers a slashing cut while zooming past his opponent at high speed. He utilised the tree he had landed on to propel himself when he used the technique against Fuma Kotaro.

## Notes & Trivia

* This character was based on the real life Toda Seigen.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 *Tenkaichi* manga: Chapter 7 (page 27).
2. ↑ *Tenkaichi* manga: Chapter 9 (pages 27 & 31), he was noted as 56 years old, a few months before the siege of Ichijodani castle in 1573.
3. ↑ *Tenkaichi* manga: Chapter 1 (pages 66-67).
4. ↑ *Tenkaichi* manga: Chapter 7 (pages 14-15).
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 *Tenkaichi* manga: Chapter 7 (pages 17-20).
6. ↑ *Tenkaichi* manga: Chapter 7 (pages 29-30).
7. ↑ *Tenkaichi* manga: Chapter 12 (pages 31-35).
8. ↑ *Tenkaichi* manga: Chapter 12 (pages 12-13).
9. ↑ *Tenkaichi* manga: Chapter 12 (pages 24-25).
10. ↑ *Tenkaichi* manga: Chapter 12 (page 23).
11. ↑ *Tenkaichi* manga: Chapter 12 (pages 36-40).
12. ↑ *Tenkaichi* manga: Chapter 9 (pages 15-18).
13. ↑ *Tenkaichi* manga: Chapter 9 (pages 19-24).
14. ↑ *Tenkaichi* manga: Chapter 9 (pages 25-29).
15. ↑ *Tenkaichi* manga: Chapter 9 (pages 29-33).
16. ↑ *Tenkaichi* manga: Chapter 11 (pages 16-22).
17. ↑ *Tenkaichi* manga: Chapter 11 (pages 26-27), after being violently flung towards a tree, Seigen positioned his body so that he landed feet-first on the tree instead.
18. ↑ *Tenkaichi* manga: Chapter 12 (pages 16-19), he managed to pull off a damaging cross-counter from a truly disadvantageous position.
19. ↑ *Tenkaichi* manga: Chapter 8 (pages 24-25).
20. ↑ *Tenkaichi* manga: Chapter 8 (page 36).
21. ↑ *Tenkaichi* manga: Chapter 9 (page 14).
22. ↑ *Tenkaichi* manga: Chapter 9 (pages 9-10 & 34-35).
23. ↑ *Tenkaichi* manga: Chapter 9 (pages 36-38).
24. ↑ *Tenkaichi* manga: Chapter 9 (page 31).
25. ↑ *Tenkaichi* manga: Chapter 9 (page 40).
26. ↑ *Tenkaichi* manga: Chapter 10 (pages 9-14).
27. ↑ *Tenkaichi* manga: Chapter 11 (page 34).
28. ↑ *Tenkaichi* manga: Chapter 11 (page 33).
29. ↑ *Tenkaichi* manga: Chapter 11 (page 35).
30. ↑ *Tenkaichi* manga: Chapter 12 (page 7).
31. ↑ *Tenkaichi* manga: Chapter 1 (pages 64-65).
32. ↑ *Tenkaichi* manga: Chapter 7 (page 33).
33. ↑ *Tenkaichi* manga: Chapter 11 (pages 30-31).
34. ↑ *Tenkaichi* manga: Chapter 11 (pages 28-31).