Yoshitsune Shana

**Yoshitsune** was a legendary Samurai famed for being able to slice planets apart. He was the previous owner of Oniwakamaru and the head of the Shana Clan.

## Personality

According to Benkei, Yoshitsune was fixated on his family's honor. His Samurai Calling and biggest concern in life was having an heir who could continue his clan's tradition of producing Samurai protectors.

## History

Yoshitsune came from the Shana Clan, a clan who produced Samurai that defended their home planet for over 300 years. After becoming a Samurai, he made it his calling to continue the tradition by producing a child who could take his place one day. He grew to marry his Princess, and had a child with her named Sanda. He also took Benkei on as a student. When Sanda came of age, Yoshitsune had him tested for compatibility with a Locker Ball. Unfortunately, the test showed that Sanda was incompatible with the Ball and only had a two percent chance of surviving the ritual seppuku.

That night, he told his wife the results of the testing, and she was saddened to hear that they would have to adopt another child to replace Sanda. He later spoke with Benkei, who convinced him that Sanda could still become a Samurai even with the low odds. Trusting his student and determined to carry out his calling, he tried to kill Sanda using the ritual blade tied to a Locker Ball. Having overheard his conversation earlier, his son resisted, but Yoshitsune persisted. Before he could stab his son, his wife stepped in the way and died from the resulting injury. The pain of knowing his wife died at his hand compounded by the unrivaled shame that harming one's Princess brings on a Samurai caused Yoshitsune to fall into despair. His broken spirit caused him to be forsaken by Fudo Myo-o and die.

Unknown to him, he was not responsible for his wife's death. While he did stab her, the wound was superficial: Benkei killed her while pretending to check on her and lied to his master to trick him into losing his heroism.

## Abilities and Powers

### General Abilities

* **Samurai Gravity**: Due to being a samurai, Yoshitsune can manipulate the molecules that form matter and the gravity H-Particles emit. When applied, he can reshape matter and gravity to use generic samurai abilities.
	+ **Healing Factor**: Yoshitsune's cyborg body can repair itself from any injury.
	+ **Holder Control**: Yoshitsune can control and reshape the body of his Key Holder, Oniwakamaru.
	+ **Gravitational Pull**: Like all Samurai. Yoshitsune has a gravitational pull that draws him to other Samurai and vice versa.

### Weapons

* **Samurai Soul Blade**: Yoshitsune possesses a samurai soul, an orb of energy that - when fused with a Handle Bone supplied by his Key Holder - can turn into an energy blade stronger than any metal sword.

## Relationships

### Benkei

Yoshitsune considered Benkei to be a good and trustworthy student. Despite being a subordinate, Yoshitsune valued his opinion greatly enough to trust him for advice on personal matters.

### Sanda

While Yoshitsune cared about his only son, his concern did not extend very far past making him a Samurai who can continue the clan tradition. When Sanda was shown to be incompatible with a Locker Ball, he immediately chose to adopt another child to replace him. His determination to make his child a successor was great enough that he was willing to force Sanda to undergo ritual seppuku, even though the odds of him surviving were so low that he'd likely end up killing his only child.

## Trivia

* This Samurai's name was inspired by Hatano Yoshitsune. He is not named after the same Yoshitsune from Benkei's lore.
* **Ship-Jumper** (八 (はっ) 艘 (そう) 飛 (と) び, *Hassou Tobi*?) originates from the story of Yoshitsune from Genji-Heishi war (1185) where according to legend Yoshitsune jumped from one enemy boat to another juking enemies around, it was said he could jump over eight boats (hassou no fune), nowadays Hayateumi has started to use this jump as part of his sumo repertoire.

## References

*Samurai Eight: Hachimaruden* Manga; Chapter 27, page 14