Hōsaku Samon

**Hōsaku Samon** (左門 豊作, Housaku Samon) is a character from the Kyojin no Hoshi series. He is the eldest brother of six children and he is the rival of Hyūma Hoshi. Born in Kumamoto Prefecture, he's a right-handed pitcher, right-handed batter, and a right fielder. He has 2,766 hits, 762 home runs, 2,103 RBIs, and a .319 lifetime batting average.

## Hōsaku Samon

* M-School
* M-Kunamoto
* M-Whales
* A-Kunamoto
* A-Whales

## Relationships

### Relatives

* Chiyo - Younger Sister
* Michi - Younger Sister
* Jirō - Younger Brother
* Masahiro - Younger Brother
* Saburō - Younger Brother

### Affiliation

* Hyūma Hoshi - Rival
* Mitsuru Hanagata - Rival
* Armstrong Ozuma - Rival
* Ban Chūta - Rival
* Kyōko - Love Interest, Wife

## Misc.

### Voice actor

Shingo Kanemoto (兼本 新吾)

**SPOILERS***WARNING! This article contains spoilers!*(*Yuke! Yuke! Hyūma!*)

## Profile

### Background

Kumamoto Nōrin High School's No. 4, a slugger with a weed-like mental strength who serves as its captain.

Hōsaku Samon's family were poor farmers, and he was born the eldest of six children. When he was in fourth grade, his father passed away due to overworking (in the anime, it appears that his death was caused by a lightning strike), and his mother soon followed suit due to heavy work while harboring intense fatigue. The six children were then taken in by a distant relative (who was a wealthy farmer). The relative then forced the children to work like slaves in the fields. Ironically, this helped build up Hōsaku's body as a baseball player.

One day while walking outside a baseball stadium, a home run ball went flying towards Hōsaku Samon and he instantly pulled out a bat and sent the ball right back where it came from. Both Chūta Ban and Hyūma Hoshi who were on there way to the baseball game hosted inside the stadium, witnessed his shocking power. That event awakened Hōsaku Samon to baseball, with a tuition exemption and a promise to his siblings that he would undertake all the hard work, he then entered Kumamoto Nōrin High school. He then made his Koshien appearance for the first time in three years, facing off against Hyūma Hoshi in the semi-finals.

#### From his upbringing to his first confrontation with Hyūma

When Hyūma Hoshi was a freshman at Seiun High School, Hōsaku Samon was the captain of the Kumamoto Nōrin High School baseball team (probably a third-year in high school), so he was two years older than Hyūma. If Hyūma was born in 1951, Hosaku Samon was born around 1949, which means that Mitsuru Hanagata and Chūta Ban were also born in the same year.

Since his parents passed away early, he had to live with relatives and support his two younger sisters (Chiyo and Michi) and three younger brothers (Jirō, Masahiro, and Saburō). In addition to baseball, he worked hard while farming and studying. In a harsh environment where he was not allowed to use electric lights, he studied hard until late at night in the moonlight, which led to his vision deteriorating and becoming extremely nearsighted. It was around this time that he began wearing his trademark glasses. Although he excelled academically, he was supported by his relatives and could never have dreamed of going to high school. He was then accepted to Kumamoto Nōrin High School.

In the summer of his third-year, he was the captain of his team and made an appearance in the Kōshien Tournament. In high school, his "bullet liner" hit produced by his well-trained body made him the second coming of Tetsuharu Kawakami, a famous baseball player in his hometown, but Samon was defeated in the semifinals of the Kōshien Tournament by Seiun High School, a private school representing Tokyo with Hyūma Hoshi leading the team. Before the game, Hyūma had heard about Samon's tragic upbringing from Makiba Haruhiko, and an unnecessary comment from Ban caused him to remember it on the mound and he cried, which disrupted his control and gave Samon four pitches. However, as a result, he struck out the following batters in succession, which is the same strategy as walking a strong hitter to leave the bases loaded (Hyūma walked Hanagata in shame for the sake of winning the following final). In the next at-bat by Samon, he hit Hyūma's pitch and Hyūma managed to catch the ball, but Hōsaku Samon's baseball bat broke in half during the impact and started flying directly towards Hyūma. Hyūma Hoshi then instinctively stuck down the broken bat with his dominant left hand, injuring his thumb, which contributed to his loss in the next final.

#### Professional Entry

At Kōshien, his ability caught the attention of scouts from various professional baseball teams. Although he did not make it to the finals, he eventually received invitations from the Yomiuri Giants (Giants) and the Taiyō Whales. In particular, the Giant's manager Tetsuharu Kawakami superimposes Samon's bullet liner on his active days and aims to acquire Samon as well as Hanagata (Tetsuharu Kawakami and Hōsaku Samon are from the same Kumamoto prefecture.) However, right after Hyūma Hoshi passed the Giant's enrollment test, Mitsuru Hanagata announced that he would join the Hanshin Tigers and rejected the Giants' offer in order to compete with Hyūma Hoshi. Samon also dared to join the Taiyō Whales, whose contract was lower than the Giants' for the same reason, and became a professional baseball player of his longing. At this time, he invited his younger sisters and brothers from a relative's house to an apartment near the Tama River, and was finally able to return to a life with only his family. Having fulfilled his longtime dream, Samon devoted himself to his new dream, "defeating Hyūma Hoshi," and successfully defeated Hyūma when he was a fastball pitcher. He got hints about the shortcomings of Hyūma Hoshi's ball quality from the casual chatter of the Makiba Haruhiko, and researched his pitching records. He has the side of an extremely insightful and research-minded theorist. After the birth of the Dai League Ball, he trained very hard, but things did not go as well as they had in the past. When he finally perfected his hitting technique, he was surpassed by Mitsuru Hanagata and Armstrong Ozuma.

On the night Mitsuru Hanagata hit a home run on Hyūma's Dai League Ball No. 2 (the disappearing magic ball), he became extremely frustrated that he gave up and committed unfamiliar debauchery in Shinjuku. At that time, he falls under the poisonous fangs of the "Tornado Group," a group of delinquent girls, and is accused of being a molester. He was saved from the predicament by Hyūma Hoshi who happened to pass by. Hōsaku Samon senses the "city girl" in Kyōko, the beautiful female leader of the Tornado Group. He is impressed by her sharpness and unintentionally falls in love with her. Kyōko herself shows a faint feeling of infatuation for Hyūma, but soon after that, Hyūma got his hands the forbidden magic ball, No. 3.

Knowing that his career as an athlete will not last long, Hyūma deliberately acts to make Kyōko hate him in order to keep Samon's feelings for Kyōko from turning into a tragic love affair. (This is not in the original story, but in the original story, Hyūma's attitude toward the media and his fans becomes cold during this period.) He withdraws himself from the game and writes a letter to Samon about the secret of No. 3 and the inevitability of his own downfall before the game against Chunichi, which will be his last pitching appearance, and he encourages Kyōko to be brave and propose to him in the letter. (This letter is a "suicide note" of Hyūma as a left-handed pitcher, and it is a letter that describes his own image as a "「諫死」 / death by admonition" in Bushido. After hearing all about it from Samon, Kyōko accepted to fulfill Hyūma's last wish and Samon's foolish love, and off the following year (1971), the two were married.

In the anime version of "Kyojin no Hoshi," Hyūma Hoshi's letter to Samon was changed to a request to "I want you to mediate the relationship between Akiko-neechan and Ban," and the wedding ceremony between Samon and Kyōko was omitted from the final scene of the last episode of the anime version. However, in the scene in the anime version of "Shin Kyojin no Hoshi" where Samon reminisces about his past, he returns to the setting of the original story, and Hyūma writes to Samon, "Please confess your feelings to Kyōko-san.

#### Reunited with rivals on the field after marriage

At the wedding ceremony between Samon and Kyōko, Ittetsu, Akiko, Ban, Hanagata, and Makiba were all gathered together against the same wall, along with Samon's younger brothers and sisters. The ceremony was held with "only the closest relatives" and no one related to Taiyō was to be seen. Note that the scene in which Ittetsu and Ban recall Samon's wedding also depicts Hyūma Hoshi outside the church.

The wedding ceremony of Samon and Kyōko at the church was held at night in the "Epilogue" of the original story, but in the "Shin Kyojin no Hoshi" recollection scene, it was during the daytime and only the Makiba was omitted among the above attendees.

After Hyūma's disappearance, he remained the only active player among his rivals in the professional baseball world to take care of his younger siblings, and he continues to play for Taiyō. In order to fill the gap left by Hyūma's return to professional baseball as a substitute hitter, Chūta Ban requests Samon to give him a memo (commonly known as "Samon's memo") which clearly describes the pitches and habits of the pitchers in the Central League. When he was begged to lend it to him, he refused at first, but when Ban slipped up and said that he did not need data on Giants pitchers, he sensed Hyūma Hoshi's presence and eventually offered him this memo.

As far as the Hyūma's batting practice in the original work is concerned, the data written in "Samon's Memo" is, "Chunichi, Senichi Hoshino's Knuckles" "Hiroshima Toyo Carp, Yoshiro Sotokoba's Shoot" "Hanshin Tigers, Kenji Furusawa's Slider" "Yakult Swallows, Hiromu Matsuoka's Slider" and more. Furthermore, judging from the scene in the anime where Hoshi participated in the actual game as a batter, there were several other pitchers' data as well, such as "Takamasa Suzuki of Chunichi."

Naturally, however, Samon's enthusiasm for research would be revived when Hyūma returned as a right-handed pitcher, and he then became a threat to Hyūma. Samon said he owed Hyūma a debt of gratitude for Kyōko, while providing the service of giving notes to Ban. In the world of competition, he was a great team player.

When Hyūma returned as a pinch hitter, Samon makes a super beautiful technique to get him out. It was a reenactment of the first open game against Hanshin when Hyūma was a left fielder, when Kunimatsu made a super move to get Hanagata out on a pitch that was hit. In the original "Shin Kyojin no Hoshi (Manga)", Samon's words to Hyūma after returning were "I lost this time" immediately after receiving the Screw Spin Sliding technique in a double block with Sipin.

As soon as Hyūma Hoshi returned as a right-handed pitcher and improved his control, Samon recognized Hyūma's pitching form and hit him repeatedly, causing Hyūma to drop out of the second team. In response to this, Hyūma was troubled, saying, "I don't know why only was able to Samon hit me." and there was a scene where he realized it when Sadaharu Oh pointed out.

As a result, he provided an opportunity for Hyūma to improve his pitching form, and Hyūma even thanked Samon later, and Samon was relieved to hear that he was happy for a start. After returning to the pros, Hyūma had the core strength to continue pitching even after a rival hit a home run. Similarly, Samon no longer showed signs of disappointment or taking it out on his family even when Hanagata preempted him in defeating Hyūma's magic ball. As a result, Samon also hit a mirage magic ball, but it was blocked by Sadaharu Oh's beautiful technique. In the anime "Shin Kyojin no Hoshi Ⅱ," Samon hit the mirage ball before Hanagata and it became a homerun, but this was close to the result of an accidental hit.

## Quotes

> 「執念じゃ！このわしの執念を知らずにうかつに向かってくると星くんは大ケガをしますたい。うっふふふ……」("*Persistence! If you carelessly come at me without knowing my persistence, Hoshi-kun, you will be seriously injured. Ufffufufufu....*")
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> 「阿蘇山よ活火山としてのスケールの雄大さでは世界一といわれる燃え盛り怒り狂う火の山よ！この左門豊作は今までどげん苦しみにも黙々と努力で応え地味にどん底で生きてきた。だが見てんしゃい！いまこそわしも大噴火するたい！天下の甲子園で！」("*Mt. Aso, a burning, raging mountain of fire, said to be the world's largest active volcano in terms of grandeur! Hōsaku Samon has been living in the depths of the earth, responding to every pain and suffering with silent efforts. But look at me! I want to make a big eruption now! At the world's Koshien!*")
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> 「左門豊作は守らにゃならんとです。死ぬほど無念であれ悔しくあれ、このきょうだいたちを！この城の生活を！ブルジョアの跡継ぎ花形くんのごとく、ほんの一打席の意地に懸けてパッと玉砕するわけにいかんとです！」("*Hōsaku Samon must protect. Whether it's deathly regret or frustration, we must protect our siblings! Life in this castle! Like the bourgeois heir, Hanagata-kun, he cannot just risk his willpower for a single at-bat and then crumble!*")
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> 「わしは天才花形くんと違うて、今目の前の投手ば打ち込むことに精一杯じゃけん別段なかとですが…ただ一つこれば伝言してほしかとです。星くん今度はきみの番ですたいっ！！」("*I'm different from the genius Hanagata-kun, I can't do my best to hit the pitcher in front of me right now, but... I just want you to tell me one thing. Hoshi-kun, this time it's your turn! !*")
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## Trivia

* In high school, he was such a researcher and traveled from Kumamoto to Yokohama to observe the baseball rivalry game between Seiun and Kōyō. When he first saw Hyūma Hoshi's fastball in the audience, while taking notes, his letters shook and he had to rewrite them. Here, the back screen showed only the family name 「星」 and the announcer, of course, read only 「ほしひゅうま」 but Samon wrote 「星飛雄馬」 an applied Chinese character, correctly.
* By the way, once he takes off his trademark round glasses and reveals his eyes, his intensive stare underneath is because he is short-sighted (due to contantly studying hard until moonlight.)

#### Appears in:

* Kyojin no Hoshi (Manga)
* Kyojin no Hoshi
* Kyojin no Hoshi: Ike Ike Hyuuma
* Kyojin no Hoshi: Dai League Ball
* Kyojin no Hoshi (1982)
* Shin Kyojin no Hoshi (Manga)
* Shin Kyojin no Hoshi
* Shin Kyojin no Hoshi (Movie)
* Shin Kyojin no Hoshi Ⅱ

#### Baseball teams:

* Highschool years: Kumamoto Nōrin Highschool (熊本農林高校)
* Professional era: Ocean Whales (大洋ホエールズ, Taiyō hoēruzu)

## References

1. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20050219034800/http://www.whv.jp/title/kyojin/chara/006.html

## External Links

* JPN Warner Bros. Kyojin no Hoshi DVD release 2002 (Archive)
* https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/左門 豊作