Name: Wakayama Toshiro
Age: Late 20s to very early 30s or so
Gender: Male
Height: 6 feet
Weight: Around 180 pounds, give or take
Hair Colour: Black
Eye Colour: Brown
Birthday: March 23d
Race: Soul, formerly hollow, formerly human
Rank: Squad 13 Lieutenant
Spiritual Energy Colour: Sea blue
Appearance:Rather more scruffy than one would expect from a shinigami lieutenant, Toshiro refuses to wear the overly stuffy uniform of the Gotei 13 and keeps his favorite weather-beaten robe instead. Fortunately for public decency, given just how easy it is to expose the crotch with those robes, he has been made to wear dark grey, trouser-type hakama. Underneath his clothes he is appropriately muscular and, oddly for a shinigami, sports a good number of scars. He also binds his abdomen with a tough strip of fabric known as a sarashi, more out of habit and looks than any practical purpose.
Personality:A jovial and tranquil man who tempers a strong desire to reach ever higher in life, carried over from his time in the human world as a peasant soldier, with a firm sense of humility and more than a bit of laziness. The art of the sword has been his passion and guiding purpose since his prior life, he devotes the vast majority of his energy to it and becomes headstrong and confident in matters involving the weapon, its use or how it compares to other instruments of warfare.
History:Wakayama Toshiro was once an ashigaru foot soldier of the Sengoku Period, the son of a fisherman who took up arms out of a desire for a better life. He served under eventual unifier of Japan Hideyoshi Hashiba and admired him deeply for rising from humble origins to become one of Oda Nobunaga’s most trusted men. He became enamored with swordplay from the first moment he laid eyes on samurai practicing their craft and dedicated most of his idle hours to its practice, seeking out anyone that might teach him something amongst the many warriors he travelled with. It was a harsh life, where he was actually taught little and he had to learn much by acting as a training dummy, but learn he did, and he sought to eventually rise above his lowborn status. But it was not to be.
Toshiro was felled during the Battle of Komaki and Nagakute, the final large-scale engagement before his liege attained control of the country. By a stray bullet no less, leaving him with the impression that his work in swordsmanship had all been for naught. Having failed to achieve his ambitions, he remained an earthbound spirit chained to the sword that served as his makeshift grave marker. He kept his wits to him for years, praying for release, and even managed to keep himself sane after realizing his lord became regent of the land only a year after his passing. After 15 years and the fall of the Toyotomi clan at the hands of the Tokugawa forces, however, he was pushed over the edge and became a Hollow.
It wasn’t an entirely awful existence, truth be told. He haunted the battlefield, mind focused solely on his newfound strength and his ability to cut down others, swinging his sword in ways he never could have before. Before he could do much harm, however, he was slain and purified by a shinigami, and on to Soul Society he went. Fortunately for him, his stressful life, the conflictive nature of his death and maybe even his time as a Hollow let him build up just enough Reiryoku to be trained as a reaper himself. He was, truth be told, rather entirely average and hardly rank material, not at all gifted with the significant power of many of his peers, and so he went by mostly unnoticed.
What Toshiro was, however, was driven and focused. He graduated without honors and proceeded to spend many years working on the one thing he had any drive for: swordsmanship. Rather than try to increase his power level or try to grasp madly at other disciplines, he simply trained smarter. He polished his skills only insofar as they could be used to enhance and compliment his zanjutsu. And rather than fight in the wild way seemingly encouraged by the Gotei 13, full of explosive jumping and charging aided with shunpo and heavy use of reiatsu-expelling attacks, he relentlessly polished his basics, employing a minimalistic, very grounded but effective style.
He avoided the 11th division, which he saw as artless brutes who rely more on sheer power and outlandish weapons than what he would consider any real skill, and toiled away in relative anonymity within the oddball 13th division. Many days of training, fighting, polishing, modifying, adapting. Eventually, however, he came to the fore. Not necessarily because of his skill, but because he somewhat stood out as a very “normal” guy in a division led by a christian woman with a former kido corps vice-chief in a seated position. Thinking he would make for a solid, if misleading, representative, he has been fairly recently promoted and he’s still not quite sure what to make of it all.
Relationships/Friendships/Rivalries/Siblings:Is not a big fan of the 11th division. It’s not an overt rivalry or anything like that, just doesn’t think highly of what he sees as a self-proclaimed position as leaders in all things sword. Gets along fairly well with his division and his work into opening himself up to other cultures and educating himself somewhat has made him more accepting towards their eccentricities.
Other:Gunto (lit. military sword): A shinigami version of the Quincy’s Seele Schneider created by the 12th division. It’s geared towards being used as a blade rather than a projectile and, as a reverse engineered reproduction, lacks the original’s ability to loosen and absorb spiritual matter and energy. It still makes for a handy sidearm that can be carried around unnoticed. Developed to better equip lower level shinigami or those who have lost their zanpakuto in some way, it is rather rare because most reapers scoff at wielding such a weapon.
~Zanpakuto~Zanpakuto name: Mumei (namelessness, anonymity; lack of fame or notability. A mumeito was an anonymous blade, not signed by its maker)
Type: Actually, legitimately a sword.
Zanpakuto Shikai Release command: Katsu. A word shouted in Buddhism and martial arts as a way to aid focus, which as a verb means “to win”. Toshiro likes to shout it forcefully, but that’s unnecessary.
Spirit Appearance:A composite of every person that helped shape Toshiro’s path through swordsmanship, whether they truly acted as teachers or simply imparted painful lessons.
Inner world:A rather large old-school dojo. Its numerous rooms are filled with weaponry, scrolls on combat or traps. It is an excellent place to train in, but it also carries a tranquil air that lends itself to simply relaxing and enjoying a peaceful moment.
Sealed appearance: A bog-standard bokken as seen on Toshiro’s appearance picture, with the handle wrapped in cloth. Makes for a good thwacking tool in practice and a fearsome bludgeon in actual combat.
Shikai appearance: The bokken’s wraps break away and the wooden blade separates and becomes a scabbard, revealing a gleaming metal sword mounted on a polished wood handle akin to a shirasaya, the plain wood type of mounting typically used for storage. The hilt bears a carving in the shape of the typical silk wrapping around a katana’s hilt that give it its distinctive rhomboidal shapes, and also has the 13th division’s insignia stamped near the blade on both sides.
Shikai special ability:Yaiba: Yaiba can be translated to a forged blade, but can also mean something sharp like a sword or someone or something powerful. Rather than gain some kind of outlandish power that resembles magic more than anything one would do with a sword, Yaiba is a very strong link between Mumei and Toshiro that essentially fuses their reiatsu, making them one and the same, and grants the shinigami an extreme degree of control over their shared spiritual power. The result is a weapon that, while simple and lacking in broad application, has strengthened its baseline capabilities to an extreme degree.
Similar to Kisuke Urahara’s Tsuppane Benihime or Kenpachi’s ability to cut Nnoitra Gilga’s Hierro, the proper focusing of energy allows Toshiro to easily cut or deflect both Reishi and Reiatsu as well as all manner of materials and beings, well beyond the scope of his relatively low level of power. The zanpakuto also becomes harder to destroy, which means extended clashing against its edge may well “cut” other blades, and altering the weapon in some way just isn’t a factor. Toshiro is also essentially impossible to disarm, keeping hold of the blade through thick and thin and being able to summon it to his hand.
Shikai skills:1. Kiai: A powerful shout that starts in the diaphragm rather than the throat, meant to help a practitioner of martial arts focus his energy, employ proper breathing, show one’s fighting spirit and even trying to intimidate or startle an opponent. It functions much like a Kido incantation, powering up a lone strike by releasing Toshiro’s greatly focused reiatsu into it, allowing it to cut much deeper than the length of the blade would imply. This does not, unlike similar skills typically employed by others, create any sort of projectile or detonation.
Non-lethal Zanpakuto Skills (essentially skills he has attained through training within his zanpakuto):
1. A sound mind in a sound body: Toshiro’s body is tremendously resilient against poisons, curses and the like even when they’re created as a result of an ability as powerful as a zanpakuto’s released state, while his mind and senses are all but impervious to outside interference. Illusory attacks, perception-altering techniques, attempts at psychic invasion, none of these are really effective.
2. Razor sharp senses: Toshiro is incredibly perceptive in battle and has trained his reflexes to astounding levels. His ability to figure out distance, speed, timing and angles extends beyond his eyesight or his actual skill with Hoho and is nothing short of phenomenal. He is also, as a result, tremendously precise in his movements.
3. There are no rules in battle: Attempts to limit his fighting style, such as Shunsui Kyoraku’s shikai or other area of effect abilities that would impose theoretical restrictions, have absolutely no effect on him. Real combat, especially where a sword is brought to bear, is most certainly neither sport nor a game and its chaotic nature cannot truly be bound by rules.
4. Anytime, anywhere: Toshiro’s able to fight no matter the place or the situation. Snow, rain, being submerged underwater, extreme heat, fighting in the air, underground or standing on a vertical surface, whether he’s just received medical treatment or is caught in the middle of something, he can and will engage. Combined with his willpower and strong mind, he is capable of fighting on even at times where he should be unable to, although of course it could very well not be the safest choice.
5. Die by the sword: Toshiro’s ability to defend against projectiles and area of effect attacks using his skills is tremendously polished, allowing him to protect himself against these as well as he protects himself from other blades. This stems from having twice died to long range attacks in his life. Even if he does not really remember, it is something that sticks with you.
Skills & MasteriesZanjutsu: Master
Toshiro has spent centuries focusing almost entirely on his zanjutsu, particularly seeking ways to overcome his not at all outstanding reiryoku. This means that the energy-consuming forceful motions, direct clashes, explosive movements and heavy bursts of reiatsu or similarly power-intensive techniques that seem to mark higher levels of shinigami swordsmanship are nowhere to be found.
Instead he keeps a strong guard from which he can build both offense and defense and focuses on simple, polished technique. Clean, practical strikes, deflection and redirection for defense, subtle footwork to attain favorable angles and heavy use of feinting for misdirection. Combined with training in the practice of Iaijutsu to bring the blade to bear quickly and decisively in any situation, it is safe to say he is as dangerous with his zanpakuto as any member of the 11th division.
Kido: Absolutely nonexistent. Has neither the skill nor the desire to learn and trying to teach him could well result in a practitioner’s abilities becoming duller from picking up new ways to fail due to his sheer incompetence.
Hakuda: Proficient-ish
Toshiro isn’t particularly skilled in Hakuda, at least not to the level of delivering the sort of flying, blistering barrages typically seen in masters of the art. However, his real skill is in combining Hakuda with Zanjutsu, employing much of the same principles of his sword skills in his unarmed combat. This mirrors both Filipino martial arts methods and the very real influence Kendo had in traditional karate competition, as well as a general link between swordfighting and hand to hand combat across history, if anyone feels like arguing this.
Toshiro focuses on using the same type of footwork he employs with a blade along with a similar guard to control the distance of engagement and connect lightning fast potshots while emphasizing defense. Toshiro is also quite proficient in the type of grappling that pops up in a melee with weapons involved, which primarily consists of controlling the opponent’s weapon and unbalancing him so you can put him on the ground and stab him without getting stabbed, all of this while the other guy typically tries to do the same.
Hoho: Expert-ish
Toshiro’s skills with Hoho are, once again, awkward. He is not the type to engage in constant vanishing acts with shunpo, much less generate speed clones or anything of the sort. He most certainly won’t be winning a race. He also won’t, however, be getting caught with the typical uses of the technique any time soon. Rather, Toshiro cuts down steps in his motions almost imperceptibly. What this means is that it takes him much, much less time to adjust angles to attack or readjusting to defend himself, and that he seems to both move with no preliminary motion or move much more than the motions would imply.
He is also, as should be expected by this point, quite proficient at mixing his limited Hoho with with offensive skills, primarily by increasing the momentum of his attacks without having to add to the distance they travel. It is similar to Nelliel using her Sonido to power up a tackle while in her child form, or the type of rapid movement employed by Fullbringers, wherein they accelerate their attacks to increase their power.
Character theme: Beyond Raging Waves, by DJ Krush featuring traditional Japanese instrumentation by Shinichi Kinoshita.
