Mitsurugi

**Heishiro Mitsurugi**(御剣 平四郎, *Mitsurugi Heishirō*) is a character in the Soul series of fighting games. He is a mainstay of the *Soulcalibur* series and one of most iconic characters in the franchise.

## Physical Appearance

Mitsurugi appears as a well-built Japanese man with slightly long black hair and black eyes.

## Personality

Mitsurugi has only one goal in mind: To seek out the strongest warrior and challenge them to a duel then become the strongest warrior in history. He is never satisfied at the opponents he defeated in battle. Aside from being cocky, Mitsurugi is the kind of a person who sticks to his words; he's not all show. Being a ronin, he fights with honor and kills his opponents in an honorable fashion, and several of his endings reveal that he has a moral side. As shown in one such ending, he is shown to believe that true strength lies within a person and not from the weapon. He is considered a neutral character.

## Weapons

* Korefuji
* Shishi-Oh
* Muichimonji
* Onimaru
* Iron Slasher
* Kojiro's Sword
* Water Moon
* Two-Handed Sword
* Falx
* Murasame
* Shamshir
* Basilard
* Gassan
* Tulwar
* Masamune
* Soul Edge (Complete) Mitsurugi
* Damascus Sword
* Souvenir Gift
* Soul Edge (Katana)
* The Ancient (Mitsurugi)
* Kokuenra
* Oniyukiyasu
* Hard Practice
* Pandemonium
* Fake Masamune
* Tyrfing
* Hide in Shadow
* The Master (Mitsurugi)

## Stages

### The Pirate Fortress (SE)

The castle owned by Noto Murakami and the Settouchi Pirates (also called the Mori Sea Force). This castle is built on the whole island, and act as a port and a barrier in the seas. It also supplies pirate ships between raids. Mitsurugi comes here seeking a boat to the mainland.

### Takamatsu Castle (SC)

Mitsurugi's stage in Soulcalibur, and based on the real-life Siege of Takamatsu, orchestrated by Toyotomi Hideyoshi after he constructed a 3-kilometer bank around it in order to stop the flow of water and produce a flooding. Mitsurugi, as a trusted mercenary on the base of Mori's Murakami Navy, was assigned the defense of the castle during the conflict. The stage consists on a wooden raft amidst battle, with the castle as background and flaming arrows constantly flying around.

### Xiwei Siege Ruins (SC2)

Mitsurugi's stage in Soulcalibur II, situated in Xiwei at the west border of the Ming Empire. It is said to be a vital stronghold for the Empire's keep of the western territories. As explained in Xianghua's profile, the castle was attacked when the Emperor believed the castle was hiding Soul Edge. The stage is shared with Xianghua for the same reason.

### Battle in the Strait (SC3)

Mitsurugi's stage in Soulcalibur III. The stage resembles slightly his Soulcalibur stage, albeit this one is set atop a half-sunken battleship amidst a naval battle. As said in his game profile, the stage shows one of many sea battles held between the Murakami Navy and Hideyoshi's Kuki forces. It is said that the Murakami started with the advantage, but were eventually pressed back and defeated.

### Jyurakudai Villa - Virgin Snow (SC4)

Mitsurugi, Setsuka and Yoshimitsu share this stage.

### Jyurakudai Villa - Twill Damask and Brocade (SCBD)

The same as Virgin Snow, though instead is set in Autumn.

## TMNT X Pokemon

He was teleported to New York in order to find the strongest warrior. When he challenges the Turtles to a fight, Zolo decided to be the one to challenge him.

## Trivia

### General

* Mitsurugi is based on real-life swordsman Miyamoto Musashi.
* Mitsurugi is the only character to have an official playable appearance in every *Soulcalibur* game to date.
* In both the *Tekken* and the *Soul* series, Yoshimitsu borrows some of Mitsurugi's moves as well as Mitsurugi borrowing one of Yoshimitsu's moves from *Tekken*. It can also be noted that although Yoshimitsu is supposedly a ninja, he portrays a military samurai, just like Mitsurugi portrays a ronin samurai. On another note, in *Tekken 2*, Yoshimitsu's tachi closely resembles the one that Mitsurugi uses in *Soul Edge*. Also, if Mitsurugi loses in *Soul Edge*, his losing animation is him sitting down Indian style and banging the hilt of his sword on his knee, Yoshimitsu does this same exact thing in *Tekken 2* if he loses when time is up.
* Mitsurugi's facial build greatly resembles that of Kazuya Mishima from the *Tekken* series.
* Yuri Lowell of the *Tales* series has Mitsurugi's costume as an alternate outfit.
* Mitsurugi, along with Taki, is a playable character in *Namco x Capcom*.
* Samuel Rodrigues from *Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance* shares some similarities and moves with Mitsurugi.
* Mitsurugi's joke weapon is always a wooden katana (bokken). It is possibly another reference to the fact that Mitsurugi is based off of Miyamoto Musashi, as Miyamoto was famous for always using bokken in all of his duels.
* Despite his appearance in every game, he has yet to encounter Soul Edge in the series canonical story. However, his story for *Soulcalibur V* confirms that he *did* encounter Soul Calibur in his fight with Algol.
* His proud and reckless attitude made him similar to Paul Phoenix from the *Tekken* universe. Ironically, both of them are frustrated for not being able to reach their objectives.
* His fighting style change from Tenpu-Kosai-Ryu-Kai (Kai for improved) in *Soulcalibur IV* to Shin-Tenpu-Kosai-Ryu in *Soulcalibur V.* This likely means he has mastered the "true" version of his style.
* With the exception of *Soulcalibur II* and *Soulcalibur IV* (in which, his arena and theme are shared with other characters), Mitsurugi's theme musics had always shared some traits. These traits are heard in *Soul Edge* at at 0:50, in *Soulcalibur* at 0:40, in *Soulcalibur III* at 1:47 and in *Soulcalibur V*, 0:41.
* Misturugi's primary weapon have been changed throughout the Soul series. His first weapon was Korefuji in *Soul Edge*, then Shishi-Oh from *Soulcalibur* to *Soulcalibur IV*, and finally to Muichimonji in *Soulcalibur V*.
* Mitsurugi was voiced by Toshiyuki Morikawa (only in the arcade version of Soul Edge to SCV), who also voiced Hwoarang from T3 to T4 and Wataru Takagi (only in the PS1 version of Soul Edge), who did voice acting for Lei Wulong from T2 only.

### *Soul Edge*

* It can be assumed that Mitsurugi was originally intended to be the main character, as he appears the most prominently in concept art and the character selection screen.
* Mitsurugi has the Kanji for "Tiger" (虎, *tora*) written across the back of his haori.
* In the version 2 arcade edition, Mitsurugi's ending illustration wasn't replaced and it was originally taken from Hwang's ending illustration, except with the textures of an ending.
* Mitsurugi and Hwang were very similar with the exception of a few attacks. In later games, both characters were given new attacks, but Hwang ended up keeping most of the ones that both had used - this is most likely because Seong Han Myeong was also given these attacks (although he naturally matched Hwang more so than Mitsurugi) so it made more sense to keep these attacks as Hwang's. Mitsurugi fights quite differently in the "Calibur" games when compared to *Soul Edge*.
* Mitsurugi's backstory is strikingly similar to Toshiro Mifune's character in The Seven Samurai (Kikuchiyo), including that he was raised by farmers that were killed, became a swordsman, has a cocky and angry yet funny demeanor, and earned the title of a true samurai by his valor and fighting prowess.

### *Soulcalibur II*

* Mitsurugi's 2P costume makes him greatly resemble Haohmaru from the *Samurai Shodown* series.
* Mitsurugi portrays Edgar in Weapon Master Mode.

### *Soulcalibur III*

* The Soul of Mitsurugi discipline is available to created characters of the Samurai class.
* In his ending, Mitsurugi can wield Soul Calibur and Soul Edge simultaneously - this can be done by selecting Soul Edge as his weapon for the Tales Of Souls mode, and choosing Soul Calibur in the quicktime event. As he faces off against Taki, he will pull both out.

### *Soulcalibur IV*

* Mitsurugi is featured in a short movie with Darth Vader. The two of them defeat a few enemies individually, and then they confront each other. They draw their weapons and begin to fight. After a while, they clash their weapons, and Darth Vader says to Mitsurugi, "You are powerful. But now you must be destroyed!" The movie ends, as the two of them still have their weapons in bladelock. The movie takes place outside of Algol's tower. Their relationship appears to be a reference to Toshiyuki Morikawa's status as the voice of Obi-Wan Kenobi in the Japanese dubs of *Star Wars*.

### *Soulcalibur V*

* His current appearance makes him resemble Japanese actor Toshiro Mifune, who coincidentally has played Miyamoto Musashi several times in his illustrious career.
* According to his profile, Mitsurugi defeated a mysterious female swordsman but lost Shishi-Oh as a result.
* Mitsurugi is one of only three characters to have actually aged from the time skip. The others are Siegfried and Hilde.
* In early demo versions, Edge Master's theme, 'Master of Edge', was listed as 'Mitsurugi's Theme'.
* Mitsurugi's 1P outfit also has quite similar appearance to Akuma from the Street Fighter since he wears gigantic beads with him along with a black outfit, only thing his hair is not red and not tied up like Akuma.