Jofuku

**Jofuku** (徐 (じよ) 福 (ふく) , *Pinyin*: Xú Fú) was a well-known explorer that was formerly in service to the ruler of the Qin Dynasty to seek out the Elixir of Life. His voyage soon came to an end after making landfall on an island and deciding to invest his time in unlocking the secrets to immortality by following the principles of Taoism.

## Appearance

While alive, Jofuku was a man with black hair that he had kept tied into a bun and sported a beard and a moustache. As for his attire, Jofuku wore a simple black robe that was held together by a white obi. Due to living for centuries, Jofuku became very frail in his old age, developed deep wrinkles, his hair turned white, his beard grew in length, and required a cane to move about.

After Rien encased his corpse in gold, Jofuku's was dressed with Taoist robes, adorned with three beads (the first reaching down to his chest, the second reaching to his stomach, and the third reaching all the way down to his torso), and a crown on his head.

### Gallery

An elderly Jofuku.A full appearance of Jofuku's gilded corpse.A standard depiction of Jofuku.
## Personality

Jofuku was a man dedicated to his research, along with being extremely loyal to the Qin Emperor, having spent years in trying to create an elixir of immortality for him and built Hōrai for when the time came to welcome him to the island after his task was complete. He was also a loving husband to his wife Rien.

## History

After the ruler of the Qin Dynasty, Qin Shi Huang, desired a way to live forever, Jofuku declared to the emperor that the Elixir of Life resided on the three immortal islands of the east known as Eishū, Hōjō, and Hōrai. In 219 BC, Jofuku was entrusted with the task of retrieving the elixir and sailed off to the three islands with his wife Rien, a fleet of several dozen barques, 3,000 children from respectful families, 100 craftsmen, piles of treasure, and the Five Grains of China. However, after several years passed, Jofuku never returned back to the Qin Emperor and his whereabouts were lost with historical records stating that his journey came to an end when he arrived to a place with "flat plains and wide swamps" and proclaimed himself ruler.

Unknown to the rest of the world, Jofuku landed on an island, which came to be known as Kotaku, and committed himself in researching the secrets to immortality by following Taoism. His experimentations with the life energy known as Tao led him to create artificial creatures and a race with longer lifespans by experimenting with the fleet of people who came along with him. After Rien became bedridden, due to becoming ill with the effects of Arborification, Jofuku helped her to create a new body for her to use by using her own Tao. Having done so, Rien and Xu used the Tao puppet to create Mei, a divergent clone of his wife who acted as his students, along with five artificial infants. At some point, Jofuku also started to suffer from Arborification and was supported by his wife up until his death at a very old age.

## Legacy

After Jofuku's passing, Rien became deeply depressed over her husband's death and vowed to revive him. Knowing that the soul can be revived with high quantities of Tao, Rien developed a plan to convert every human in Japan into Tan and have them transferred over to Jofuku's corpse, which Rien kept preserved by encasing his body in gold. While acting as the true mastermind behind Lord Tensen, Rien kept Jofuku's passing a secret from the Tensens and had them believe that he was still alive while acting as their leader.

After 1,000 years had passed, Rien managed to successfully create the Elixir of Life and departed to Japan to have the humans connect to the Banko to create the necessary amount of Tan needed for her revival plan. However, upon defending her ship from a group of humans who survived the chaos on Kotaku, Jofuku's gilded body was destroyed by Yamada Asaemon Shugen and ended Rien's plan to bring him back to life. As a result, Rien vowed vengeance upon the people responsible but soon accepts her lose with the help of Gabimaru. Rien then has her puppet and her main body wither away to allow her soul to be with Jofuku in the afterlife.

## Abilities and Powers

### Intelligence

Jofuku was a highly intelligential sorcerer who was trusted by the Qin Emperor to retrieve the Elixir of Life. He was particularly knowledgeable in the ways of Tao to a high degree, having experimented with Tao to create hybrid creatures as part of his research.

## Trivia

* According to Rien, it took her nearly 700 years to complete her preparations in trying to revive Jofuku. This would imply that Jofuku had lived up to at least 300 years on Kotaku until his passing since he and Rien had both arrived on the island 1,000 years ago.
* Since the concept of *The Island of Doctor Moreau* is credited with being an inspiration to *Jigokuraku*, Jofuku's character most likely references Dr. Moreau, a vivisectionist who removed himself from society by relocating to a remote island where he could continue pursuing his research in creating the perfect human being.