#Hokushin mentioned

[jilted-love]

Kuroko assumed that Yusuke treating humans like food supply and casually talking to Hokushin (who eats humans) makes Yusuke more demon than human. But the thing is, Yusuke as a human also had questionable morals. Kurama let a kid die and human Yusuke shrugged it off.

Yusuke was like "oh I hope Kurama is okay". Like bro a kid was manipulated and sacrificed. Could you act guilty at least? He also killed the human doctor and was like "damn, got no choice tho". He will save a kid from the street or from an Oni but also shrug off the child who died because they were trying to save the world.

Yusuke's morality is consistent whether he's human or demon. And by that I mean he doesn't always try to do the right thing even as he's also aligned with more good than evil. Togashi's protagonists cannot be boxed into what's typically expected from heroic main characters.

[ask-sota-urameshi]

Dawn of a New Era - Queen of Tourin

Sota was busying herself with taking care of various tasks as the new queen of Tourin. With Hokushin as her right hand man, and the support and allegiance of the many monks now under her reign (which honestly wasn't much different from before) she was steadily getting things done. Currently she was having the castle updated, installing new insulation to keep out the cold. She also was having a library of sorts installed, some of the monks were using a printing press to create and then bind books on all manner of human world things (cultures, countries, foods, animals, religions, etc.). This would serve as a hub for any demon looking for factual information about humans and their world.

Speaking of 'libraries', she also had a room in the castle set aside for her personal collection of video games, movies and tv shows, not to mention books and manga, also not to mention a huge tv to watch and play them on. She had quite a collection going and wanted somewhere big enough to keep it all!

Meanwhile she now has a meditation room for her exclusive use when needed, and her own personal kitchen. She certainly didn't need anyone to cook for her!

Lastly, for now at least, she has a room for official meetings, with foreign dignitaries, for anyone with a problem or request, for any sort of strategy planning. This room would suit those needs.

Sota stretched her limbs and sighed with exhaustion, mixed with the satisfying feeling of jobs well done. She was doing a good portion of the work alongside the others, certainly wasn't gonna sit on her butt all day. "Haaah, I'm beat! I wonder how involved the old man was in running his own country. I know Hokushin did a lot behind the scenes, I just hope I can build a good reputation." She made her way back to the palace at a leisurely pace.

" ...it'd be nice to have visitors once in a while too."

[maiji]

fight / flight: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 (you are here) | Part 5 (to come!)

Alt text, full transcript and commentary continue below the cut.

A YYH North Bound story. This is “fight / flight" part 4 of 5 parts. This takes place after I Heard A Cicada Cry and Survive.

Content warning: People with blood on their faces.

[page 26] *Otake and Tomoe Gozen are still facing off with their respective weapons at the ready when a flash of light appears in the air just over Otake* Tomoe: ?? Otake: !

[page 27] *A beautiful woman descends. She is bathed in moonlight, her long hair tied up with gilded ornaments, a beauty mark on her lower face near her lips, and with a halo of robes fluttering behind her.* ?: Otake, stand down.

[page 28] *The woman notices Otake's bloodied state and responds with comedic expressions of disgust* ?: Eeuuugh!! Yuck!!! Gross!!! Otake: *looking annoyed* Go away. ?: Didn’t you hear me?? I said stand down!! Otake: I don’t have time for your games, tennyo. Tennyo: Games? This is a command from the great Enma Daioh Himself. Otake: …Enma Daioh has canceled my quest?

(Footnote: Tennyo = "sky maiden", heavenly beings in Buddhist mythology)

[page 29] *The tennyo folds her arms self-importantly while Otake continues to look irritated. Tomoe Gozen observes their exchange alertly* Tennyo: Not specifically. He’s calling everyone back. It’s important. And not that you asked me, but I think you should quit wasting your time on this silly pet project of yours. Otake: *walking away from her* You’re right. I didn’t ask you. Tomoe: ... Tennyo: Well, the great Enma Daioh hardly needs to rely on a dirty toy mirror to achieve his goals. Anyways, even if you don’t care about promotions, Yoshinaka’s days are numbered. It’s going to be a bloodbath even worse than the mess you made of that body. *Tomoe is silent but clearly alarmed by this mention of Yoshinaka's name and the scenario the tennyo is suggesting.* Tennyo: Don’t get yourself caught up in petty human affairs.

[page 31] Otake: Hmph. *He sheathes his sword, then walks towards the tennyo as she tosses a cloth over him. They both disappear, leaving Tomoe staring up at the empty sky over the forest.*

[page 32] *Tomoe continues looking up at the sky for several moments, then turns to Hokushin behind her* Tomoe: What did you do to get emissaries from the Underworld after— —you— —!! *She breaks off as she realizes Hokushin appears to be lying fully unconscious on the ground. The view changes to the moon high above the forest and mountains* Tomoe: Come on…!! A demon like you can hardly die that easily...!!

---

Obviously, Hokushin’s not dead. He’s just in need of a very very long nap. 

“Tennyo” (Sky, or Celestial, or Heavenly Maiden) is a new character I needed to create for some important reasons. One is to be a pain in her coworker Otake’s side, and the second (maybe more important reason) is to do some of the plot work I need done that Otake won’t be able to do. Tennyo is not her name; it’s just a descriptor. Otake referring to her as “tennyo” is like when Tomoe calls Hokushin “rokurokubi” - similar to saying, “look, woman,” or “hey, kid,” or “listen, squirt”, etc. She will have a name, to be revealed in time!

Tennyo are based on apsaras of Hindu and Buddhist mythology, and are sometimes described as the Buddhist version of angels. They are obviously not the same by far but is mostly sufficient as a general comparison. There’s actually a tennyo in the first Yu Yu Hakusho movie, Kotennyo, who had a relationship with Koenma. The movies are not main series canon and the first one was more silly than anything.

In North Bound, tennyo are the predecessors to Reikai’s ferry girls like Botan, Ayame, Hinageshi - just a different appearance/presentation for the time period they are in. I have planned some stuff around this oooh ahh. Here, instead of floating on oars, the tennyo’s robe allows her to fly (per the hagoromo tradition). Hence, the cloth she uses to teleport Otake back to the Spirit World is an Easter egg - a reference to the cloth that Shishiwakamaru uses to teleport Kuwabara around during the Dark Tournament, hahaha. That cloth in Japanese is not-so coincidentally 死出の羽衣  or Shide no Hagoromo (roughly, "feathered cloak/robe of death"), so very obviously connected to the tennin (sky/celestial/heavenly people) tradition. (My headcanon is that's all Suzuki's doing - as the leader and source of all of Team Uraotogi's tools, that he's the one who "designed" the team, coming up with the names including all their items and special moves. He clearly seems to have a thing for thematic drama.)

The tennyo’s comment on Otake messing up “that body” is also a reference to the fact that Spirit World folks are not beings with physical bodies. Had Hokushin managed to “kill” Otake in this battle, he wouldn’t be dead; only his physical vessel would be destroyed. We see this in the actual series, where Botan uses a temporary physical body to interact with people in the Human World. The most obvious instance of this is during the fight against Sensui, when she jettisons the vessel to return to the Spirit World to deliver an urgent message, shocking Yanagisawa. 

Whoohoo, only one more part to go to finish fight/flight!! And then… we can move back to the core time period of North Bound with Raizen…!!

Update: Here's the behind the scenes, this time with character design sketches!

[papillionsoul]

Always accepting! | @thuganomxcs sent an ask!

A sophisticated looking teenager dawning a pacifier in his mouth approaches the young woman. "I understand that you're the one that's managed to warm the cold heart that is Yusuke Urameshi. He's always had a thing for strong women and survivng him for this long really must make you pretty powerful. So I'll ask you this because..well I'm bored. As Yusuke's lover I'm sure you never want to see him hurt, so knowing everything that you do today, if you were given the ability to go back in time and prevent Yusuke from dying at the tender age of 14? My question is, would you? You see as sure he's told you that he 'saved' a young boy's life that day but actually the car would have swerved and stopped in time so Yusuke's intervention give him cuts and scrapes. It was a meaningless sacrifice after all." Was this a trick question? Or was there meaning behind the question..this was Koenma of course there was hidden meaning.

YUUKI wanted to rebut. Tell this mysterious figure that YUSUKE has always been warm in his core, that if people gave him a chance back then instead of spreading rumors, they could have seen how the SUN rises every time he smiles. Instead, the brunette eyes turn passive, wondering who this individual is, till she sees his PACIFIER. A distant memory in HIGH SCHOOL how Yusuke mentioned he knew someone that fits the description.

Maybe appearing out of THIN air was a staple in the supernatural community.

There was no harm in answering, and if this man did pose a threat, HOKUSHIN would have appeared by now.

" um�� nice to meet you? I'm Yuuki Cross..." She gingerly bows, feeling like an introduction would be respectful since he must have been a friend of YUSUKE's. "Honestly, I'm not sure how I would even think about that..." She pauses, eyebrows furrowing in concentration. " I've been a human my entire LIFE, so— I wouldn't know or even imagine what it would mean to have the ability to go back in time..." Another pause, this time meeting the mysterious figure's eyes. Her own brimming with clarity.

" If I was suddenly put into that situation, I don't think I could stop my body from moving..." Her voice trembles at the thought, her mind imagining YUSUKE's lifeless in front of her. "—I would save him...I can't stop myself if it means I did nothing for HIM." Yusuke would be fine. The path might be different and arduous, but he would find meaning and reason. Even if he DIDN'T MEET HER. "his life...his life isn't MEANINGLESS...none of his sacrifices was ever...So please refrain from saying such things."

[thuganomxcs]

It brought him pain to hear her like this, even if his facial expression refused to display that certain emotion. Botan, Keiko and Kuwabara were the individuals closest to his heart so to hear her like this…the trip to hell itself is less painful. But of course he’s heard her loud and clear. Fingers dug into his pockets and he took out his lighter and cigarette and began having one right then and there. Ironically THIS was the only 𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞 he could experience, considering how nicotine already tasted like ‘death’ the curse did NOTHING that would take away the sensation of smoking.

━━   ❝   𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐝𝐨 𝐈 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭?  ❞  He took one more drag of his cigarette before exhaling the smoke from his mouth. As his mind began to cycle back at the events that eventually lead to him being cursed. “It was more of a generational thing. There was this old ha- well you wouldn’t believe she was an old hag if ya saw her, either way ya know how things go for me. I go out and buy junk, I overhear people talking about ‘rumors’ again, had one of my informants check it out a day later and it turned out t’ be true. There’s been a lot of teen guys being found dead close t’ Koreatown.” That's when he stood up from his seated position.

Death on such a specific scale definitely sounds like it WOULD have been the act of the supernatural so he investigated, mostly for the good parents that feared for their children whilst boggled at the mystery surrounding these disappearances. “I found the hag, we fought..turned out she’s stronger than I bargained for at the time..but what am I gonna do? Go all out and turn the block into a giant crater? Either way, first she made the threat that she’d go after my mother and by the look in her eyes she wasn’t kidding. The bitch had her tabs on me because of my unusual youki, she called my mother by name and even mentioned what she might be doin’. That pissed me off t’ the point my damn face marks showed up on my skin. Once she saw I was a Mazoku…that’s when it happened. Apparently, the Mazoku gave her nothing but hell for centuries which made me realize this bitch is from Makai. Eitherway, she told me this was gonna be a bad week and at the end of it my soul would be collected by the big bad ‘imself..somethin’ about hellhounds ‘r whatever unless I killed her..but the bitch disappeared and have been off the radar ever since.”

What he left out is the fact that he DID cross over into Makai and spoke to Hokushin about the matter, he both confirmed the existence of that witch and the validity of her curse, he didn’t forget to mention that no amount of holy magic would work to dispel it..unless…but his mind left that moment as his anxieties lingered on the future he did not even have. “If anythin’ don’t feel bad, the first few days weren’t all that bad..just the halfway mark’s a bitch. Literally can’t eat, can’t drink..it’s friggin’ hot all the time, least I can still smoke so that’s a big ‘fuck you’ into her plans on makin’ me suffer, also for the record they're both still there."

@thuganomxcs / Continued

𝐁𝐎𝐓𝐀𝐍'𝐒 𝐄𝐘𝐄𝐒 𝐀𝐑𝐄 𝐇𝐎𝐓 𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐇 𝐓𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐒, face flushed in anger, in desperation. One quick shift of her sight is all she needs to understand. She can see through him, see the sunfire glow of his core darkening to coal, like slowly starving a fire. Her throat runs dry, hands clenching anxiously at the hem of her shirt.

She can't understand how something like this could happen. She knew of deadly curses, but to condemn someone so deeply, to completely bypass the River, to plunge them into the depths of the darkest afterlife; it didn't seem possible. But Koenma confirmed it before she'd run out of his office and flown straight to Yusuke's doorstep.

Worst of all, she can't understand how he didn't call her immediately.

And he's so passive about it, staring off into the distance, the confident glow of him so dim. That scares her more than anything. But she refuses to let this go quietly. She stamps her foot, body tense to hide the way her heart trembles.

"So what-- you were just going to sit quietly and not say a word? Was I supposed to find your body one day, find you empty?" she nearly shrieks. "You-- You always do this! You try to bear everything by yourself, like there aren't people who care about you, who love you and want to help. And then you act like you don't even care! Well, I know you Yusuke, I've seen your soul and I know how warm it is-- how strong. But you're sitting there like-- like it's okay for you to die. Well, it's not. It's not your time and that's not where you're supposed to go," she's crying now, shoulders shaking. "Now-- Now get off your ass and tell me what happened so I can help fix this. Or-- Or did the curse take your balls too?" It's unlike her to be so crass, but she's angry, her own reiki swirling like boiling water under her skin. If he won't listen, she'll make him.

[yyh4ever]

Cuales son las formas de ingresar desde el mundo del mal makai o desde el mundo espiritual reikai hacia el ningenkai? Tienes esto algo que ver con los centros de poder mencionados en la pelicula?

I hope you don't mind if I reply in english. I don't like to take this movie into account, because it wasn't written by Togashi. But, those five "centros de poder" are to restore balance in the Spirit World. They naturally store a great amount of reiki, so once those portals are open, the energy is sent to Reikai. They have nothing to do with ways to access the other worlds. I'll base off my answer in the manga:

From Makai to Ningenkai

Sakyo and Toguro mention that youkai can access the Human World through tunnels created naturally by anomalies. It's also possible to distort space artificially, but it's extremely expensive even to open a very small hole. But, that's how humans have been summoning low-class youkai from Makai.

The Black Black Club conjuring low-class youkai, a hole of 10m in diameter.

Toguro says he has become too strong to go to Makai through such small holes.

Later on, Koenma explains how those tunnels work. When they reach 1 km radius, B-class youkai like Toguro can move freely between the two worlds. There's a barrier which prevents A-class and S-class youkai to enter the Human World, but as Hokushin explained, there are ways to tamper with the barrier. He used a device that lowered his energy level, so he could cross it. The barrier was removed at the end of the series.

The Spirit World Special Defense Force can also distort spacetime and open tunnels, using their reiki. That's how they sent Yusuke and the others to the Makai, and have been managing a small portion of that world.

2. From Reikai to Ningenkai

This one is not very clear. I often say the Spirit World works in mysterious ways. Botan uses a kind of "avatar" to live in the Human World. When she leaves to Reikai that "doll" is left behind. So, I assume her spiritual body enters an organic vessel or something. That way, she can be seen in the Ningenkai and interact with other humans. I suppose it works the same way with Koenma, but in his case, he uses that adult avatar. Neither Genkai nor the "Yu Yu Hakusho Official Characters Book" attempt to explain how it works. lol

Botan leaves her "human avatar" behind.

As for others to access the Reikai, it seems to be the opposite way. They use their Astral Projection, and naturally separate their physical body from their spirit, in order to enter the Reikai.

Kurama and Hiei's Astral Projection.

Lastly, some words from Togashi regarding the 3 worlds:

Shounen Jump: Some fans have debated this, so … how do the Reikai (Spirit World), Ningenkai (Human World), and Makai (Demon World) in Yu Yu Hakusho relate to one another? Is the Makai “Hell”, or some place else entirely?

Togashi: As far as it goes, I've interpreted them as being on parallel planes of existence. Places that it would be difficult to travel to with current scientific technology ... something like that. It's much easier to go there as a ghost, without material body, so most people end up going there when they die. Heaven and Hell are ultimately just a tiny portion of the Reikai and Makai which people accidentally wandered into, saw and came back to tell about. You can think about it as being just one face of a die. But anyways, the explanation is that it all exists somewhere in reality.

Source: North American Shounen Jump's interview with Yoshihiro Togashi, also printed in the Official Characters Book.

[kumoriyami-xiuzhen]

Hakuoki Yuugiroku 3 - Short Episode #4 “Secret of the Itou Brothers!?”

this short episode makes me think of my own brother lol. we went by different last names for a long time (our last name is hyphenated and we each used different parts of it)... so added with the fact that we really don’t look alike, everyone we introduced ourselves to as siblings resulted in someone being surprised.... and with the occasional person asking if one of us was adopted. To this day though, i’ve only had one person tell me that they didn’t find it odd that we were family since we were similar in our “demeanour.”

anyway, enjoy~!.

Secret of the Itou Brothers 原田・三木・伊东

itou:......Is what it means.  That is precisely why it is important for warriors to learn from the classics/history to know of what should be done in times of national crisis/when the country is in turmoil [reword later?]. 

Heisuke: Ye-Yeah. As expected of Itou-san. I didn't understand more than half of what you said though....

Hey, Sano-san?

Harada: zzz...

heisuke: Hey, Sano-san! Itou-san went through the hassle of explaining this stuff to us, so why are you sleeping right now!

Harada: Nn, nn? I’m awake... So, Kintaro defeated a bear, right?

Heisuke: We're not talking about Kintaro!. Listen to other people when they talk?

Miki: Wouldn't it have been better if you brought Nagakura over?

If it’s Harada, let alone half, he won’t understand of tenth of what is said. 

Harada: Ah? Are you trying to pick a fight/ asking for a fight/provoking me?

Miki: I’m not “trying” to do that, I am definitely doing that. 

Harada: You...! Don’t take back what you said/there is no medicine for regret in this world.

Heisuke: Sano-san, calm down! Private fights are punishable by seppuku!

Miki: That’s fine, isn’t it?/In that case it won't matter then. Harada already committed seppuku, right? I'm sure it won't matter if he does it again.

Itou: Saburou, please /please stop! Really...! Why is this child's mouth so poisonous/vicious.

Miki: Sorry, sorry. I can’t help but be honest. I just can't lie.

Itou: Truly... you’re hopeless. 

Heisuke: Speaking of which, Itou-san and Miki, you two don’t look alike, so are you really brothers?

Itou: Yes, that’s correct. We are often told that we don't look alike/we look different.

Harada: That must be a lie since your brother must have been picked up from under some bridge, right?  This jerk isn’t anything like Itou-san. 

Miki: Want me to tell you something?/Let me tell you something, there's no use in provoking someone without finding out/knowing what the other person's weakness is.

Well, there's no point in talking to someone with the mind/brain of a five year old kid since he wouldn’t understand it.

Itou: I told you to stop! Really... this child is so naughty!

heisuke: This goes beyond the scope of being naughty...

But, if you're brothers, why are your last names/surnames different?

Itou: Saburou and I were originally born to the Suzuki family/Domain/-han in the Hitachi Province.

After I arrived in Edo/When I arrived in Edo, I eventually decided to inherit the Hokushin Ittō-ryū dojo , and was later adopted into the Itou family.

Heisuke: Huh? What about Miki? I didn't hear Miki's surname being mentioned. Was he adopted by a different family?

Itou:  That’s right――Saburou was supposed to inherit the Suzuki family. However, this child was not good with drinking and had enemies everywhere. 　　　　

They couldn’t let a bad child/A bad child wouldn’t be permitted to inherit the family, so he was kicked/cast out. He wasn't even allowed to use/claim the Suzuki name.

Heisuke: So that’s how it is/There was such matters...

Itou: Our relatives have said that a lot too/have even said that. Even though we’re brothers, we’re very different. 

Heisuke: The so-called wise elder brother and the stupid younger brother?

miki: Hoh? Toudou, what did you just say? I'm a stupid younger brother? You better prepare yourself. 

Heisuke: No, don't get angry! I just said what I was thinking.

Itou: But you’ve been much better lately, and have been a very good child/have become a very good child, right?

Miki:...Well, in comparison to how I used to be.

Itou: You were always getting into trouble, and wasn’t I the one always dealing with the aftermath?

Miki: I know. I haven't forgotten.

Itou: You're a very righteous person, and won't forget what./about the favours you've received. So after this, you'll be repaying the Shinsengumi's kindness with me later, right?

Miki:...Ah, I know.

Heisuke:...Hey Sano-san. Although Miki-san has a sharp tongue, he can't lift his head up in front of Itou-san at all.

Harada: It seems that way/so...

End

[shinsengumi-archives]

Anecdotes about Todo Heisuke

In "近世殉難者一人��首伝" probably written by Nishimura Kanefumi, the author of "壬生浪士始末記", the following is written about Heisuke Todo, who was killed by the Shinsengumi in the Aburanokoji Incident.

"In the Todo clan, there is one name Nambu Yoshichiro from Edo. He was a man of Edo. He was a master of the swordsmanship. He was a student of the Ito (Kashitaro). He died at the same time as him (the Aburanokoji Incident)."

It is accompanied by a poem written by Todo: 

益荒男の七世をかけて誓ひてしことばたがはじ大君のため

I pledge to be a man of valor for seven lifetimes for the sake of the sovereign

Todo Heisuke was born in Tenpo 15, and while studying the Hokushin Itto style of swordsmanship under Itou Kashitaro in Fukagawa Sagamachi, he became a guest at the Shieikan, a dojo of the Tennen Rishin style of swordsmanship headed by Kondo Isami.

In "文久三年異聞録" written by Kojima Shikanosuke, a patron of the Tennen Rishin-ryu in Tama, Todo's name is mentioned as a student.

Many Shinsengumi fans are probably aware that there is a story that he was an illegitimate son of Todo Izumi-no-kami, although the truth is unknown.

The "京師騒動見聞雑記録" describes Todo Heisuke during the Shinsengumi period as follows:

“Todo Heisuke, a Mibu ronin, is another great warrior ...(omitted)... He was cut down at Ikedaya, and was wounded deeply and half-dead, but he survived.”

It is written that he was quite a daredevil.

After the famous Ikedaya Incident, Itou Kashitaro and his faction joined the Shinsengumi as a new force through Todo's solicitation.

Later, when Itou's faction split off from the Shinsengumi after being appointed to the Goryo-eiji, Todo, with Kondo's permission, joined them and took the name Nanbu Yoshichiro, in accordance with Itou's strong wish that "I would really like you to do just that, Todo-san.”

As for this Nanbu Yoshichiro, the Nanbu family home was used by the Shinsengumi as a camp for a while in Mibu. The most popular theory is that he borrowed the name and surname of Yoshichiro, the younger brother of Heizo, the head of the family. However, the reason why Todo changed his name to Nanbu Yoshichiro is not clear.

On the night of November 18, Keio 3, Itou was killed by the Shinsengumi on his way back from being summoned to Kondo's concubine's house. The Goryo-eiji who went to retrieve his corpse, which was left at Aburanokoji, also fought to the death with the ambushing Shinsengumi, resulting in the deaths of Todo, Hattori Takeo, and Kakumono Menai.

Nagakura Shinpachi, the leader of the Shinsengumi's second squad, said that he had been instructed by Kondo to let Todo escape at Aburanokoji. However, Okamoto Takebei, one of the guards who went to Aburanokoji to retrieve Itou's corpse, wrote in "岡本武兵衛聞書”:

“As soon as the corpse was placed on the palanquin, Nambu Yoshichiro pulled down the palanquin's rafters and a sword cut into Nambu's back. Nambu turned around, and was cut in the face from the forehead to the nose, and was killed immediately before he had time to draw his sword.”

It does not appear that Kondo gave the order to let Todo go. The fact that Todo was the first to be cut down is also consistent with a story that Koyama Masatake, a student at the Seishu Juku, heard from a Shinsengumi member.

The Shinsengumi thought that Todo would be the one who would suffer the most in the event of a battle, and it is likely that the Shinsengumi took Todo by surprise and made him the first to be executed. In other words, there was no order to "let Todo go”.

Incidentally, it has been said that the Goryo-eiji were connected with the Satsuma clan and that they were planning to assassinate Kondo, but both of these claims could be considered untrue. Broadly speaking, the Shinsengumi and the Goryo-eiji were on friendly terms. However, after the Great Restoration, Itou incurred Kondo's wrath when the Goryo-eiji jointly submitted to the Imperial Court a letter of recommendation to "restore the monarchy under the leadership of the nobles". Itou had never visited Kyoto before joining the Shinsengumi. In other words, it is my understanding that Itou's lack of awareness that he joined the Shinsengumi without grasping and analyzing the situation in Kyoto after the Kinmon Incident led to the formation of the Goryo-eiji and the tragedy of the Aburanokoji Incident.

There are those who claim that Shimada Wajiro, a swordsman under Otani, was concerned about Itou's preference for art and was very reluctant about him joining the Shinsengumi, but this is written in a novel titled "新選組剣豪秘話" by Koshi Ryuzen, and the work itself has no more documentary value than Shimozawa Kan’s, so it is an inconsequential story. 

As a side note, Itou's group was not the only group to call themselves "Goryo-eiji" during the Keio period. About 30 people, including Nishikawa Oribe and Shimizu Miyauchi, served as "Izumiyama Goryo-eiji" under the control of  Kanshuuji Tsuneosa (see "勧修寺経理日記").

References

歴史読本（December 1997 issue） 

市居浩一著『新選組高台寺党』（新人物往来社刊） 

古賀茂作著『検証・油小路の血闘』（新人物往来社刊『新選組研究最前線』所収���

[unlockthelore]

Big Little Strength

While cleaning the living room, Keiko gets an unexpected helping hand and a bit of a scare. Chapter 1 of 2 of the Helping Hand fic, part of the Smile Bomb series on Ao3. For more updates, follow smile bomb tag on this blog.

After everything Keiko had been through from the time of her childhood friend’s death to his return from a three year absence, she assumed nothing could surprise her anymore. It would be hard to top all of the crap she’d endured chasing after Yuusuke. Not to say that she wouldn’t do it again — but still — her life had taken a turn for the better in her opinion.

Time in the Makai had changed Yuusuke for the better. While his absence had come as nothing short of a surprise, she did appreciate the time apart to find herself and understand what it was she wanted. He was lucky that he came back before the sun had set or else she would have let him go entirely —

— A thought that she wasn’t entirely sure of even now.

Regardless, Yuusuke had come back and listened to every word in Keiko’s heart. It surprised her when his usual snappiness and quips were nowhere to be found. When she’d actually talked long enough to run out of things and he sat there listening. Asking him if he was sick seemed moot — did demons even get sick?

Then it dawned on her.

Yuusuke was a demon, even if it was only an eighth or however much “mazoku” blood in him, he was on an entirely different path. One that he could arguably have taken to an exciting future, far more exciting than coming back to their hometown and settling down with her.

It crossed her mind to ask why he came back. Fear and anxiousness building the longer he sat there, warm brown eyes familiar and not. Then Yuusuke smiled and asked her to marry him. Unlike all the childish proposals or even the impromptu grinning one he gave before he left. Keiko wanted to relent and ask him what he meant. What did all of this mean for them when he could have had something — someone — better?

“You’re all I want,” Yuusuke says, cradling her hands in his own and bringing them to his heart. It beats slower than her own but she can feel the jump in its pulse. Cool as he might try to be, Yuusuke could be just as nervous as her. Hope resting in a bright glimmer in his eyes. That voice like honey and sweeter than matcha speaking her name tenderly.

How could she say no?

Which brought them here. Their own ramen shop ran out of the same two-floor building as her family’s restaurant had been. Her parents having retired shortly after their wedding, wanting to be as available as possible for their grandchildren. Admittedly, they didn’t have to wait long. Their first grandchild came as quite the surprise while the second was a little more obvious when Keiko knew what she was dealing with when carrying children with mazoku blood — as Hokushin took to reminding her proudly.

Still, she wouldn’t have changed it for anything.

Her own teaching career was on its way. Yuusuke worked hard when his duties didn’t pull him away from the shop and their children were growing like weeds.

There was nothing better than this.

Sighing, Keiko lifted up her dust mop and prepared to maneuver the couch to clean beneath it. Her hand barely brushing against the arm of it when the underside groaned and creaked. That wasn’t the sound a couch made. Pulling her hand back, she squinted. The couch was slowly tilting upward as if something was lifting it. Lowering her gaze from the angled arm rest to the floor, Keiko gasped.

“Mako?!” Keiko hesitated on reaching out to snatch her son from beneath the couch. “Sweetheart, please be careful.”

Her second child, Urameshi Mako, put on a little determined face scrunching up his nose and squinting his eyes in concentration. A deep breath swelling his chest as he widened his stance and kept his hands firmly clenched around the edge he lifted, exhaling through his nose.

“I’m alright, mama,” Mako declared, full of confidence, reminding her briefly of Yuusuke when he was that age. His eyes closed. Air shifting around him and building, the energy in the atmosphere condensing somewhere around his hands. Keiko sighed. Those lessons with Genkai must have been helping them both.

While she could sense energy before, it only heightened the longer she was around the others. Now, she could track her children’s energy signatures with ease although Yuusuke made the habit of hiding his own when he wanted to mess with her. Like now. Looking over her shoulder, she narrowed her eyes at her husband peeking from around the corner.

Yuusuke’s grin, immediately diminished knowing he was caught, returns in full force apologetically. Keiko arching a brow, not in the slightest bit charmed. Well, not that charmed.

Mako hummed a tune under his breath, drawing her attention back to him. “Gonna be strong… strong like…”

Keiko half expected him to say ‘daddy’, knowing how much he idolized Yuusuke.

“Grandma.”

Keiko blinked a few times, trying to confirm that she heard correctly. Her hand slapping over her mouth to hide her laughter. Yuusuke’s mortified expression in her periphery. Oh, she would be teasing him about this later.

Regaining her composure, Keiko sighed fondly at her son. “Alright, if you’re sure,” she said, cleaning around him to ensure he didn’t have to hold it for too long. Once she was done, Keiko watched Mako lower the couch to the floor and step back, rubbing at his shoulder with a pleased little smile.

Finally deciding to make his presence known, Yuusuke called from his spot leaning against the wall. “Helping your mom out?”

Mako perked up at the sound of his voice, shiny golden-brown eyes beaming at Yuusuke, a cheery smile to match. “Uh-huh!”

It warmed Keiko’s heart seeing them together. Yuusuke’s relationship with his own father was complicated at worst — non-existent at best — and the former Spirit Detective wanted to do right by Mako in ways his father would never have done for him.

“That’s my boy.” Yuusuke chuckled softly, ruffling his hands through Mako’s short chestnut brown hair, musing it up until their son’s eyes was barely visible beneath his bangs, though his giggling was loud enough.

Keiko smoothed his hair back from his forehead, picking away stray locks and tucking them behind his ear. “Thank you, Mako.”

Mako was practically glowing from all the praise — or the energy he’d stored up.“You’re welcome,” he chirped, his cheeks tinged pink. “Do you need more help?”

Surveying the rest of the living room, Keiko shook her head. “Mm, no… I’m just about done…” His face fell and she quickly added, “Why don’t you go play outside?”

In typical childish fashion, Mako jumped at the mention of the outdoors. His arms wrapping around her legs in a gentle hug before he leapt into Yuusuke’s, hugging him as tight as possible. The pair nearly falling over when Yuusuke rocked backward onto his butt, squeezing Mako to him with a strained groan then letting go with a sigh. Letting him run off with a hearty smile and a sweet fondness that remained long after Mako disappeared down the steps.

Keiko set the dust mop aside, sinking down to her knees beside Yuusuke, her head settled on his shoulder.

“I should’ve known Genkai would be their favorite,” Yuusuke sighed, tucking his arm around her waist, bringing them flush together with Keiko’s leg resting atop his thigh.

Keiko barely stifled a laugh, pinching his cheek with the slightest wiggle for good measure. “Urameshi Yuusuke, are you jealous?”

Yuusuke snorted, batting at her hand with a slight pout. “No.”

They held one another’s gaze. Yuusuke, feigning irritation with Keiko staring at him with a smile on her face. Gradually, his pissed-off demeanor cracks. Little twitches in his lips and a wiggle of the nose before he snorted, trying not to smile.

Keiko laughed, pressing a kiss to his cheek. “You sure?” She muttered against his skin, rocking closer to him, pretending not to notice the faint shiver as her breath ghosted against his ear.

Yuusuke shuddered, tracing his fingers over Keiko’s side, his touch light but purposeful. “Yeah, I’m sure…” He cants his head to one side, attempting to catch her lips but she pulls away at the last second.

“Good, because you’re one of my favorites.” Keiko planted a kiss on his cheek, lingering there until she heard Yuusuke’s soft sigh. His head tipping toward her again and this time, she allowed their lips to meet.

The first kiss is gentle. It tastes of stale smoke and rich milk chocolate, mikan oranges a bitter aftertaste.

When the second comes, it’s harsher and dizzying. Yuusuke prefers when she leads but shelves this side of him. The one that wants unabashedly, loves her plainly and attentively.

Allowing her to lose herself without fear — because he’ll find her — just like she always found him.

“Far as favorites go,” Yuusuke whispered against Keiko’s mouth when another flurry of small kisses ended, lips barely separating. “You’re my number one.”

Keiko sighs just a bit, tangles her fingers in his hair with the faint reminder to clean up later when the dust mop is sent falling to the ground as Yuusuke knocks into it in an attempt to pull her over him. “I love you too…”

[scope-dogg]

Re: that last post, for similar reasons that’s why I like the incorporation of the Prince of Darkness in SRW T, what with the little mutual support group that gathers comprised of him, Domon, Van and Chirico, and they all help each other out but especially Akito, who in the end manages to get over his trauma and set him on the path to recovery, not to mention rescuing and reuniting with Yurika. It’s especially good when Hokushin continues to show up towards the end of the game and keeps trying to torment Akito, only for Akito to basically bluntly tell him that he’s over all that and doesn’t give a shit about him anymore. It’s the ending he deserves, especially compared to the one he actually got in canon PoD.

[homeport-moved]

Okay, here a little meta about Ryouma and his swordsmanship.

Imma going to quote tv tropes first since it summarizes it quite well: “He's a master of the Hokushin Ittouryuu school of swordsmanship, which emphasizes the mastery of simple, focused attacks honed to promote offense and defense at the same time to overwhelm opponents. This is shown by his quick, clean swings in his animations without the maverick flair or Blade Spam of Musashi or Okita or the bloody ripping and thrusting used by Izou.”

There are however, a few other things I want to say.

At first Ryouma didn’t start learning swordsmanship out of his own interest, but because his siblings urged him to. I already mentioned it once, but Ryouma was quite the underachiever as a kid, pretty much had no talent in school stuff, was a crybaby and got easily scared, resulting in him getting bullied by many of his peers. So his family hoped that learning swordsmanship would help him to build some confidence.

Turns out that Ryouma indeed was quite talented, up to the point that he was just 15 years old when his teacher back in Tosa basically said something like ‘I have nothing more to teach him’. He continued to help him teach the other students until he was allowed to go to Edo to learn the Hokushin Ittouryuu style. Ryouma, however, was less interested in the sword style, he just wanted to go to Edo, and at that time he wouldn’t get the permission without having a proper reason.

Well, when he arrived in Edo, so did Perry’s fleet, and seeing the black ships made it quite clear to him that swordsmanship was practically useless. For him, it’s merely some kind of sport now, something he continued to do because it was good for his body and because he enjoyed it, but he has no interest in becoming the best swordsman ever or anything like that. He lacks fighting spirit.

It, by the way, only took him a few years to master the Hokushin Ittouryuu style, too, which was considered to be one of the most popular but also most difficult styles at that time.

It’s also safe to say that he has not much fighting experience outside the dojo. The few fights he had in real life happened mostly out of self-defense, and he’d usually prefer using the gun over the sword.

Long story, short: He is skilled, but that’s it.

@ryogai tagging you because we were talking about this

[jilted-love]

Tumblr sucks at helping me share and promote my fan fiction so I am posting this here again.

Weeping Lilies by GrandestBlood

Summary: There could be a number of reasons why Kurama did not recognize them. Kuwabara went for the easiest explanation that did not betray his trust in the fox. It was just like the psychic to remain faithful to Kurama no matter how the fox antagonized them. But Hiei recognized the difference in Kurama's youki. It was the same spiritual signature but the intensity of it was different. And Kurama in his current incarnation had long passed this level of power from his past self.

(Or Team Urameshi find themselves stuck in the past where they confront a familiar stranger wearing the face of their beloved fox)

Notes: This whole fic is going by manga lore by the way so it ignores how the anime tried to separate Kurama and Youko Kurama. They're the same character especially with Kurama being able to freely shapeshift after CB arc. Youko is not a name, it's the kind of youkai Kurama is. Shuichi is also just an alias, not Kurama's human consciousness, like how Batman and Bruce Wayne are the same person but different names. Or how a werewolf is a werewolf no matter the appearance. That said, different versions of Kurama based on his timeline have different priorities in life and will react to things differently.

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Archive Warning: Graphic Depictions Of Violence

Categories: M/M, Multi

Fandom: 幽☆遊☆白書 | YuYu Hakusho: Ghost Files (Anime & Manga)

Relationships: Hiei/Kurama | Minamino Shuuichi/Kuwabara Kazuma/Urameshi Yuusuke, Hiei/Kuwabara Kazuma, Hiei/Kurama | Minamino Shuuichi, Kurama | Minamino Shuuichi/Kuwabara Kazuma, Hiei/Urameshi Yuusuke, Kurama | Minamino Shuuichi/Urameshi Yuusuke, Kuwabara Kazuma/Urameshi Yuusuke, sort of one-sided Yomi/Kurama because Kurama was emotionally unavailable, background Yukei and Kuwayuki as part of the polycule

Characters: Hiei (YuYu Hakusho), Kuwabara Kazuma, Kurama | Minamino Shuuichi, Urameshi Yuusuke, Yomi (YuYu Hakusho), Raizen (YuYu Hakusho), Hokushin (YuYu Hakusho)

Additional Tags: Time Travel, Accidental Time Travel, oh uh past!Kurama is a little shit, villainous past!Kurama, Poisoning, Non-Consensual Drug Use, Waterboarding, Hiei is also a little shit, Canon - Manga, Post-Canon, fungi and insects, Angst, slight mentions of demons eating humans, Polyamory, Misunderstandings

[ask-sota-urameshi]

Now she's running around making sure the foods getting made right, that there's plenty of tables and chairs, games for those who wanna play, and for the adults who wanna have a drink later there's sake to go around. "Okay, now I need to go get changed!" She took off for her room and some time later re-emerged dressed in a kimono and sandals, with a small purse for holding a few things in, not to mention her hair done up in a nice bun.

"Thanks for doing my hair Hokushin!" she said. Hokushin bowed and assured her it was no trouble, but excused himself to attend to other things. For the time being Sota decided to get a snack. @ask-raizen "Hey Dad, how does it look?" she asked, giving a twirl in her current outfit.

Yo @ask-kuronue @ask-koenma @flame-master-hiei @yoko-kurama-blog @askshura @askmukuro I'm having a birthday party this tuesday and all y'all are invited!

[maiji]

[images: First three pages of a comic drawn in ink.]

A YYH North Bound story. semarikuru  ("loom") is a 7-page comic. Alt text, full transcript and commentary continue below the cut.

[images: Remaining four pages of comic drawn in ink.]

[page 1] *Hokushin is meditating in seiza/formal seated position with other monks. Text below him reads “semarikuru (loom) - a North Bound story by Maiji”*

[page 2] *Closeup of Hokushin’s face, with eyes closed. The scene shifts to a memory, or perhaps a dream.* ?: Do you think I’m a fool?

[page 3] *A younger Hokushin from the Kamakura era looks up to see Raizen, in a more human disguise, grinning at him. Hokushin’s expression becomes annoyed.* Hokushin: Whyever would you ask me that, my lord? Is it because we find ourselves unceremoniously departing yet another village as a result of your numerous indiscretions? Raizen: Oh, I wasn’t talking about that. (ha ha ha) Hokushin: If you’re asking if you’re stupid about something in particular, you’ll need to be more specific.

[page 4] Raizen: My friends all thought I’d gone mad. *Raizen’s words overlay a flashback of the kudakusushi.* After just one night with her.  And I never even told her my idea. That’s ridiculous, isn’t it? *Hokushin turns his head away from Raizen* Hokushin: If I didn’t believe in your vision, I wouldn’t be here.

[page 5] *He continues walking ahead of Raizen, pushing aside a drooping flowering tree branch.* And you had one night. There are those who have done far more for far less. Some are content to have merely spent time at the other’s side, with no promise of anything. Raizen: I guess that’s true.

[page 6] *Past Hokushin closes his eyes. Scene fades into the petals from the flowering trees back to the present day. Present-day Hokushin opens his eyes and turns his head slightly.*

[page 7] *Hokushin looks out towards the tower where Raizen’s chamber is. The rumbling of Raizen’s stomach fills the air, growing louder. Text reads: “semarikuru (loom) - end”*

My goal here was to try to create a dreamlike mood, moving from reflection/rumination to something brighter than reality that feels inevitable. The knowledge of something looming and casting an invisible shadow over your daily existence, slowly closing that distance in time and space, with nothing you can do about it.

As I mentioned years ago (in the author’s notes of Part 2 of the story Familiar, it’s not clear whether or not Hokushin knew the true cause of Raizen’s abstinence - his life-changing meeting and relationship with the remarkable kudakusushi and subsequent decision to stop eating humans. When Hokushin explains their circumstances to Yusuke, he avoids the details of why Raizen doesn’t eat humans anymore, saying simply that he doesn’t know/understand the king’s reasons. In hindsight, this seems odd considering what a huge deal it is for the fate of their entire kingdom, and knowing Hokushin is Raizen’s right hand. It can be interpreted in a vague, deferring and deflecting way. When I first started North Bound, I wasn’t sure - hadn’t decided - whether or not Hokushin knew. By the time I got to Familiar, I suspected he might. With semarikuru, I decided he does. He just doesn’t see it as his place to be the one to tell Yusuke Raizen’s story, certainly not while Raizen is still alive.

It’s been a while since I did rough messy comics in my sketchbook, so that was fun! The idea for semarikuru came relatively early on in the development of North Bound, but I only started sketching the first few pages this year. Then they sat around for months until this past weekend, when I discovered Yahiro no Kage (sung by Horiuchi Kenyuu, Hokushin’s voice actor), which gave me the MOTIVATION AND POWER I needed to finish this!! Thank you surrogate Hokushin character image song!!!

I’m trying to use up more of my J. Herbin Cacao du Bresil ink (the warm, lavender-pink-brown-grey used throughout the flashback/dream sequence). The dialogue and present-day frames are in a permanent grey ink with Ink Institute’s Cat at Dusk for shading. Cat at Dusk is a very interesting ink; when it’s first laid down, it looks almost greenish grey, then starts to warm up. It too has lavendar-pinky tones to it, but leaning much cooler, and when layered on itself in washes, its edges tend to turn a light aqua. It reminds me of a lighter Diamine Earl Grey.

I was at the end of my sketchbook (started in December 2020!!) so this also ended up turning into an exercise of “can I tighten this script and paneling and transitions to squeeze it into seven pages without messing up the feeling of the pacing too much??” I kept swapping between half-hearted thumbnails and sketching panels right on the page, and turning the page and counting what was left and going oh nooo must compress further… But I managed.

Onto the next North Bound story! And a new sketchbook!

[spiriitgun]

Human farms in demon world

okay so while i’ve been reading the promi/sed nev/erland, the prospect of human farms has been in my mind as i gain info about it from the manga. if you had not read it yet, i apologize for spoilers, however, if you’re caught up or don’t care for spoilers, read on

so in this established world, it’s a demon world (kinda like yyh with their makai and a separate human world), and it’s said the worlds split when they made a pact or promise of some kind, that humans and demons wouldn’t hunt one another. however, what humans were on the demons side were cultivated into human farms for the demons to eat. some farms are like “cheap production” and others are “higher grade”.

what i’m saying is, would it be so hard to believe that the demon world of yyh does the same? after all, the demons were pulled from human world by spirit world (lota worlds) for the demons to stop attacking humans, right? but there are demons we know who eat humans, and unlike raizen, they presumably continue to do so. y’know, hence the whole “war”. mukuro and yomi consume humans, but it’s never really explained when, where and how they get these humans. so what if they were cultivated on a farm in demon world, specifically for human-eating demons. Hokushin also consumes human, yusuke even mentions this when they meet.

so would it really be too far out of the expectation to think they are cultivating humans just to consume, like we humans do with livestock?

[dezzydoesthings]

Posting as a picture because answering asks on Tumblr app is hell. (It actually crashed on me ugh)

Anyway, anon, to answer your question, the reasons I hate Three Kings are many.

First, Yusuke goes from killing a doctor that tortures humans with experiments and struggling with killing Doctor Kamiya to being like "oh you eat humans ok no biggie" to Hokushin? I'm sorry, what? Why? Because you found out you have demon blood? That is not a good enough reason for that kind or personality shift. My respect for Yusuke plummeted after that scene and it never really recovered. Like when he was whining while fighting Yomi I was just like bitch please whatever. I'm not sure what message Togashi was trying to convey, maybe identity crisis, but it just didn't work for me.

Kurama served no purpose whatsoever other than to be guilted and led around and threatened. His episodes are so boring I actually fell asleep while watching them and no I didn't go back and rewatch them. So I'll give fox boy a pass because I honestly don't remember his stuff. But I think his was identity crisis too so maybe that's the theme of Three Kings.

Which brings me to Hiei. Ugh. Other than the flub with the English dub, which I mentioned in the post you asked me about - and now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure I know what Funimation was trying to do. They were trying to put in a clue that Yukina knows who her brother is without blatantly stating it. Not like they could have Yukina nonchalantly say it during a scene at the DT. Like "oh btw I totally know Hiei is my brother - go Yusuke!" And have no one react to it. I mean, this isn't Ghost Stories! (Props to all that know that anime)

So my big problem with Hiei in 3k is...Mukuro. I stated why I don't like that ship at all in a previous post of mine. I can't link on an app so I'll post some text from it,

"Now, I wanted to like this chick. At first she seems pretty cool. They even take shots at each other. Her making a joke at him and he even insulted her, calling her a mummy. So Hiei. Seemed like he could handle her well enough.

And then we find out his past, and when we’re done seething and sobbing, we find out hers.

You know, as she strips naked and mind rapes him.

Lemme explain why I have issue with this. Hiei is not the type of guy to have sympathy for someone out of nowhere when he BARELY KNOWS THEM. This is a total stranger. Are we supposed to believe because she’s had a bad life and is all like “oh Hiei I understand your pain because I had bad shit happen to me too and killed to make it stop too” that Hiei will automatically bond with her?

He’s from Demon World, where violence is normal. The world itself smells like death. He says so to Yusuke.

Sooo, someone else tried to cure their pain with blood…in a world where probably 80% of people are doing just that.

So what? I’m sorry but that would be an in character reaction for Hiei. Like “wow, too bad for you. What does this have to do with me?”

Also Mukuro having a bad past and Hiei having sympathy right away and falling for her is EVERY OOC FANFIC WITH AN OC WE HAVE EVER READ.

And no I don’t expect Hiei to get goo goo eyed every time Mukuro speaks like Kuwabara does with Yukina, but flirting? Like Yusuke and Keiko? Something?

So, I maybe would have been more willing to accept this if we had seen the relationship grow at all. Been given reasons more than “oh they both have bad pasts.”

I’d be more willing, even though I don’t ship it, to believe Hiei and Kurama, because we SEE the bond. We FEEL it.

I feel more emotion in Hieibara fics than Himuku! Why? Because Hiei and Kuwabara actually have chemistry on screen!

We get one episode for their “romance.” One. And in the Japanese version, the romantic “feel” Funimation tried to give it is not there at all.

Yes, there is a connection. No doubt. It just feels forced and fake on the romance part."

So basically I would have liked her maybe if we see them have a connection like with Yusuke and Keiko. Even though Kuwabara and Yukina don't have too many scenes together, you can see they have a connection! Something more than "lemme strip naked while you're incapacitated and can't do anything."

So, by the time I got to the final episode, i was like thank goodness it's over. Do I love Yu Yu Hakusho? YES. The last season just rubs me the wrong way.

And hey, the same thing happened to me with another show, Once Upon a Time. They went down hill pretty much after season 3 but I stayed because I loved them so much. This last season has been complete trash and I'm only sticking around to see how they fix my favorite otp. That's it. And I'm relieved it's ending.

So I can still love a show but hate one season or moments in it. I am glad YYH had a happy ending, probably the best in any anime I've seen.

Anyway, rant over. Thanks for the ask!