Yukishiro Tomoe
Encyclopedia
known in Western order as Tomoe Yukishiro (Tomoe Himura) in the English
anime OVAs, is a fictional character in Nobuhiro Watsuki
's popular manga
and anime
series Rurouni Kenshin
and is the first wife of the series' main protagonist Himura Kenshin
.
She plays a major role in the manga's final arc, the Jinchū arc (Jinchū meaning "revenge"), and Rurouni Kenshin: Trust & Betrayal (Rurouni Kenshin: Tsuiokuhen) OVA (original video animation). Her seiyū is Junko Iwao
and her English voice actor is Rebecca Davis.
, a low-level bureaucrat who served the Tokugawa Shogunate
in Edo
. Her only sibling was her younger brother Enishi
, who viewed her as a surrogate parent because of their mother's death shortly after his birth; he threw a tantrum on hearing of her engagement to Kiyosato Akira, the second son of another similarly-ranked family. Her skills included the Edo-mae style of cooking (distinct from Kyoto
cuisine), the flower-arrangement art of Ikebana
, and beautiful calligraphic handwriting; her signature perfume was the scent of white ume
blossoms (hakubaikō). As required by the Shogunate, she practiced Buddhism
. Early on, Tomoe's closeness with the young Battōsai was compared to an iris flower, which blooms best in the rain, 'even in a rain of blood'. Kenshin later lays these flowers at her grave.
She kept diaries to record her inner thoughts and emotions, which she found difficult to express more openly. This reticence left Kiyosato unaware of how much she truly loved him. Thinking that he needed to please her with greater accomplishments, he went to Kyoto to join the Mimawarigumi
and was killed by the Ishin Shishi assassin, Hitokiri Battōsai (a.k.a. Kenshin), but also gave the Hitokiri a single slash scar along the face.
Distraught with grief, Tomoe left home and came to Kyoto, where she was recruited by Shogunate spies to win her way into Kenshin's confidence. The Imperialist leader Katsura Kogorō (known as Kido Takayoshi
after the Meiji Restoration
) also sensed that she was a key to Kenshin's more human side. After the Ikedaya Jiken
, Katsura sent both of them away from Kyoto to an isolated house near the town of Ōtsu
.
To mislead enemies who might ask about a single newcomer, Kenshin and Tomoe were instructed to live as husband and wife; in the manga, Kenshin realised by then that he had fallen in love with Tomoe, and told her that their marriage did not have to be for show, and that they could be 'together...till death do us part'; in the OVA, their marital status was less clear. At the time, weddings were largely a matter of civic registration rather than religious ceremony, but one of the first acts of their shared life was a short pilgrimage from Ōtsu to the remains of the Buddhist temple complex on Mount Hiei
(Which, coincidentally, would later become the Kyoto headquarters of Kenshin's future nemesis Shishio Makoto
). She also traveled with him around the nearby countryside as part of his further disguise as a seller of herbal medicines
.
In reawakening Kenshin's former gentle nature, Tomoe became conflicted about her own feelings for him, and once even came to tell him some bits of her true story (mainly about Enishi and her father). She came to realize that she no longer harbored any bitterness and even hoped to keep healing Kenshin, admitting that she wanted him to live and even herself to live beside him. When Enishi arrived to tell her that the time has come for Kenshin's death, she sent him away, and that night revealed her past to Kenshin (though she did not mention the conspiracy) and broke down crying in his arms. They make love (in the OVA, for the first time) and Kenshin promised to protect her happiness. In the English dub, he asks her to marry him "for real" and she agrees. The following morning, Tomoe had made up her mind that Kenshin must not die, and visited her Shogunate spymasters in the hopes of misleading them and saving his life, only to find that she was nothing but a pawn in their plans, and ended up being used as bait to draw him in for the kill. By the time Kenshin reached her, he had been weakened by several preliminary ambushes, so that he seemed likely to lose the final duel until Tomoe threw herself between the two combatants, intending to protect him. Blinded with pain, Kenshin was unable to see her until it was too late, and delivered a fatal blow to his opponent and to her with the same slash of his sword. The second half of Kenshin's cross-shaped scar was cut by Tomoe's dagger, although the exact circumstances differ between the OVA and the manga. In the manga, it was an accident as she released her dagger after being injured. She then smiles and tells him 'It's all right, so please don't cry' before dying. In the OVA, she cuts his face in her dying breath after apologising to him for her betrayal. Although these scars never disappear, by the end of the manga they have faded, symbolising that the grudges and regrets from his past as the Battōsai are gone. In the Samurai X: Reflection
(Rurouni Kenshin: Seisōhen) OVA, however, both scars disappear when he dies, to show that he has truly been forgiven and the pain of his past no longer exists.
In the manga he cremated her body and after the Battle of Toba-Fushimi
, consecrated her ashes in a gravestone erected in a Kyoto temple, where he also left her diaries. In the OVA Kenshin brought Tomoe's body back to the house they had shared near Ōtsu, where he remained for a brief period of mourning before razing it as her funeral pyre
. Having realised fully the extent of the sorrow he inflicted on the loved ones of his victims, Kenshin vowed that once the war was over, he would never kill again, and would spend his life atoning for his actions. The epilogue of the OVA shows a lonely Kenshin, resting between battles, being comforted by Tomoe's spirit as he sleeps.
Kenshin did not return to Tomoe's grave until many years later, after Shishio's death. His master, Hiko Seijuro
is somewhat surprised to see him at Tomoe's grave and Kenshin expresses happiness that he is finally able to lay flowers there. He also expresses regret at having killing the one he loved with his own hands and that Shishio had done something similar to his love Komagata Yumi.
In the Jinchū arc of the manga, 10 years later Tomoe's brother Enishi returned as an adult to visit her grave and pursue vengeance against Kenshin, whom he considered his beloved older sister's true murderer. Enishi's actions (which included the kidnapping of Kaoru and her replacement with a flesh-made doll that makes everyone, including Kenshin himself, believe that she was killed) sent Kenshin into near-catatonic despair that was broken by a vision of Tomoe's spirit who brought him the strength to live again and find happiness. Eventually, Enishi's own motivations were also broken by similar visions of her after Kenshin told him not to continue leading a miserable life that would take away the meaning of Tomoe's love. When Enishi is left a broken man after his battle with Kenshin, the former is given Tomoe's diary, which expresses all her true emotions during her time with Kenshin. Because he keeps the diary even after he arrives in the village of the fallen, "Geezer" (Oibore), a kind old homeless man who helped Kenshin out of his living hell (revealed as Tomoe and Enishi's father), remarks that Enishi will some day find his purpose again.
Tomoe makes a brief cameo in the sixth ending of the TV series (from episodes 67-82, featuring the song "1/3 no Junjō na Kanjō" by the band Siam Shade
). In the first scene, the lower half of her face is shown scrolling in front of a brick wall. In the second scene, her face is shown in a starry sky, along with a 15 year old Kenshin. Also, it can be argued that the scene where a silhouette of Kenshin is seen in a graveyard is reminiscent of the scene in episode 62 where Kenshin visits Tomoe's grave in Kyoto. Although she is never mentioned by name, the anime writers have paid homage to her in episode 63, in which Kenshin meets a former manslayer who lost his beloved due to his quest for improving his sword skills.
and Takani Megumi
). Watsuki also admits that her design resembles that of Rei Ayanami
of the popular Neon Genesis Evangelion anime series (one of Watsuki's favorite series), calling her an "Ayanami lookalike."
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
anime OVAs, is a fictional character in Nobuhiro Watsuki
Nobuhiro Watsuki
is a Japanese manga artist, best known for his samurai-themed series Rurouni Kenshin. He once worked as an assistant for his favorite author Takeshi Obata.-Biography:...
's popular manga
Manga
Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...
and anime
Anime
is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
series Rurouni Kenshin
Rurouni Kenshin
, also known as Rurouni Kenshin and Samurai X, is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Nobuhiro Watsuki. The fictional setting takes place during the early Meiji period in Japan. The story is about a fictional assassin named Himura Kenshin, from the Bakumatsu who becomes a wanderer to...
and is the first wife of the series' main protagonist Himura Kenshin
Himura Kenshin
, known as Kenshin Himura in the English-language anime dubs, is a fictional character from the Rurouni Kenshin universe created by Nobuhiro Watsuki. He is the main protagonist of the manga and anime series, as well as the related media in the franchise...
.
She plays a major role in the manga's final arc, the Jinchū arc (Jinchū meaning "revenge"), and Rurouni Kenshin: Trust & Betrayal (Rurouni Kenshin: Tsuiokuhen) OVA (original video animation). Her seiyū is Junko Iwao
Junko Iwao
is a Japanese voice actress who has also released several CD albums as a J-pop singer. Her most notable role is in Cardcaptor Sakura providing the voice to Sakura's best friend, Tomoyo.-TV Anime:*.hack *.hack//Roots...
and her English voice actor is Rebecca Davis.
Plot overview
Yukishiro Tomoe was the elder daughter of a samuraiSamurai
is the term for the military nobility of pre-industrial Japan. According to translator William Scott Wilson: "In Chinese, the character 侍 was originally a verb meaning to wait upon or accompany a person in the upper ranks of society, and this is also true of the original term in Japanese, saburau...
, a low-level bureaucrat who served the Tokugawa Shogunate
Tokugawa shogunate
The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the and the , was a feudal regime of Japan established by Tokugawa Ieyasu and ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family. This period is known as the Edo period and gets its name from the capital city, Edo, which is now called Tokyo, after the name was...
in Edo
Edo
, also romanized as Yedo or Yeddo, is the former name of the Japanese capital Tokyo, and was the seat of power for the Tokugawa shogunate which ruled Japan from 1603 to 1868...
. Her only sibling was her younger brother Enishi
Yukishiro Enishi
Yukishiro Enishi is a character from the manga Rurouni Kenshin by Nobuhiro Watsuki. He is the primary antagonist of the final arc of the series, the Jinchū arc, and the younger brother of Yukishiro Tomoe.-Conception and design:...
, who viewed her as a surrogate parent because of their mother's death shortly after his birth; he threw a tantrum on hearing of her engagement to Kiyosato Akira, the second son of another similarly-ranked family. Her skills included the Edo-mae style of cooking (distinct from Kyoto
Kyoto
is a city in the central part of the island of Honshū, Japan. It has a population close to 1.5 million. Formerly the imperial capital of Japan, it is now the capital of Kyoto Prefecture, as well as a major part of the Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto metropolitan area.-History:...
cuisine), the flower-arrangement art of Ikebana
Ikebana
is the Japanese art of flower arrangement, also known as .-Etymology:"Ikebana" is from the Japanese and . Possible translations include "giving life to flowers" and "arranging flowers".- Approach :...
, and beautiful calligraphic handwriting; her signature perfume was the scent of white ume
Ume
Prunus mume, with the common names including Chinese plum and Japanese apricot, is an Asian tree species classified in the Armeniaca section of the genus Prunus. The flower, long a beloved subject in the traditional painting of East Asia, is usually translated as plum blossom. This distinct tree...
blossoms (hakubaikō). As required by the Shogunate, she practiced Buddhism
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
. Early on, Tomoe's closeness with the young Battōsai was compared to an iris flower, which blooms best in the rain, 'even in a rain of blood'. Kenshin later lays these flowers at her grave.
She kept diaries to record her inner thoughts and emotions, which she found difficult to express more openly. This reticence left Kiyosato unaware of how much she truly loved him. Thinking that he needed to please her with greater accomplishments, he went to Kyoto to join the Mimawarigumi
Mimawarigumi
The was a special police force created by the Tokugawa shogunate during the late Bakumatsu period to restore public order to Kyoto.In the unsettled period after to ending of the national isolation policy, the political situation in Japan became increasing chaotic...
and was killed by the Ishin Shishi assassin, Hitokiri Battōsai (a.k.a. Kenshin), but also gave the Hitokiri a single slash scar along the face.
Distraught with grief, Tomoe left home and came to Kyoto, where she was recruited by Shogunate spies to win her way into Kenshin's confidence. The Imperialist leader Katsura Kogorō (known as Kido Takayoshi
Kido Takayoshi
, also referred as Kido Kōin was a Japanese statesman during the Late Tokugawa shogunate and the Meiji Restoration. He used the alias when he worked against the Shogun.-Early life:...
after the Meiji Restoration
Meiji Restoration
The , also known as the Meiji Ishin, Revolution, Reform or Renewal, was a chain of events that restored imperial rule to Japan in 1868...
) also sensed that she was a key to Kenshin's more human side. After the Ikedaya Jiken
Ikedaya Jiken
The , also known as the Ikedaya Affair or Ikedaya Incident, was an armed encounter between the shishi which included masterless samurai formally employed by the Chōshū and Tosa clans , and the Shinsengumi, the Bakufu's special police force in Kyoto on July 8, 1864 at the Ikedaya Inn in Kyoto,...
, Katsura sent both of them away from Kyoto to an isolated house near the town of Ōtsu
Otsu, Shiga
is the capital city of Shiga, Japan. The city was founded on October 1, 1898. As of October 1, 2010, the city has an estimated population of 338,629 with an average age of 40.7 years and a population density of 905.28 persons per km²...
.
To mislead enemies who might ask about a single newcomer, Kenshin and Tomoe were instructed to live as husband and wife; in the manga, Kenshin realised by then that he had fallen in love with Tomoe, and told her that their marriage did not have to be for show, and that they could be 'together...till death do us part'; in the OVA, their marital status was less clear. At the time, weddings were largely a matter of civic registration rather than religious ceremony, but one of the first acts of their shared life was a short pilgrimage from Ōtsu to the remains of the Buddhist temple complex on Mount Hiei
Mount Hiei
is a mountain to the northeast of Kyoto, lying on the border between the Kyoto and Shiga prefectures, Japan.The temple of Enryaku-ji, the first outpost of the Japanese Tiantai sect of Buddhism, was founded atop Mount Hiei by Saichō in 788. Both Nichiren and Honen studied at the temple before...
(Which, coincidentally, would later become the Kyoto headquarters of Kenshin's future nemesis Shishio Makoto
Shishio Makoto
, known in the anime in Western order as Makoto Shishio, is a fictional character from the manga and anime series Rurouni Kenshin. He is the primary antagonist of the series' Kyoto arc...
). She also traveled with him around the nearby countryside as part of his further disguise as a seller of herbal medicines
Apothecary
Apothecary is a historical name for a medical professional who formulates and dispenses materia medica to physicians, surgeons and patients — a role now served by a pharmacist and some caregivers....
.
In reawakening Kenshin's former gentle nature, Tomoe became conflicted about her own feelings for him, and once even came to tell him some bits of her true story (mainly about Enishi and her father). She came to realize that she no longer harbored any bitterness and even hoped to keep healing Kenshin, admitting that she wanted him to live and even herself to live beside him. When Enishi arrived to tell her that the time has come for Kenshin's death, she sent him away, and that night revealed her past to Kenshin (though she did not mention the conspiracy) and broke down crying in his arms. They make love (in the OVA, for the first time) and Kenshin promised to protect her happiness. In the English dub, he asks her to marry him "for real" and she agrees. The following morning, Tomoe had made up her mind that Kenshin must not die, and visited her Shogunate spymasters in the hopes of misleading them and saving his life, only to find that she was nothing but a pawn in their plans, and ended up being used as bait to draw him in for the kill. By the time Kenshin reached her, he had been weakened by several preliminary ambushes, so that he seemed likely to lose the final duel until Tomoe threw herself between the two combatants, intending to protect him. Blinded with pain, Kenshin was unable to see her until it was too late, and delivered a fatal blow to his opponent and to her with the same slash of his sword. The second half of Kenshin's cross-shaped scar was cut by Tomoe's dagger, although the exact circumstances differ between the OVA and the manga. In the manga, it was an accident as she released her dagger after being injured. She then smiles and tells him 'It's all right, so please don't cry' before dying. In the OVA, she cuts his face in her dying breath after apologising to him for her betrayal. Although these scars never disappear, by the end of the manga they have faded, symbolising that the grudges and regrets from his past as the Battōsai are gone. In the Samurai X: Reflection
Samurai X: Reflection
Rurouni Kenshin: Reflection, known as in Japan, is the second OVA series of the Rurouni Kenshin anime television series, acting as its sequel...
(Rurouni Kenshin: Seisōhen) OVA, however, both scars disappear when he dies, to show that he has truly been forgiven and the pain of his past no longer exists.
In the manga he cremated her body and after the Battle of Toba-Fushimi
Battle of Toba-Fushimi
The occurred between pro-Imperial and Tokugawa shogunate forces during the Boshin War in Japan. The battle started on 27 January 1868 , when the forces of the Tokugawa shogunate and the allied forces of Chōshū, Satsuma and Tosa domains clashed near Fushimi...
, consecrated her ashes in a gravestone erected in a Kyoto temple, where he also left her diaries. In the OVA Kenshin brought Tomoe's body back to the house they had shared near Ōtsu, where he remained for a brief period of mourning before razing it as her funeral pyre
Funeral Pyre
"Funeral Pyre" is The Jam's thirteenth single released on 6 June 1981. Backed by the B-side "Disguises", a cover of a Who track, it reached #4 in the UK Singles chart....
. Having realised fully the extent of the sorrow he inflicted on the loved ones of his victims, Kenshin vowed that once the war was over, he would never kill again, and would spend his life atoning for his actions. The epilogue of the OVA shows a lonely Kenshin, resting between battles, being comforted by Tomoe's spirit as he sleeps.
Kenshin did not return to Tomoe's grave until many years later, after Shishio's death. His master, Hiko Seijuro
Hiko Seijuro
is Himura Kenshin's master in the manga and anime series Rurouni Kenshin. As a potter, he uses the assumed name of . His Japanese seiyū is Shūichi Ikeda, and his English voice actor is Richard Epcar.-Development:...
is somewhat surprised to see him at Tomoe's grave and Kenshin expresses happiness that he is finally able to lay flowers there. He also expresses regret at having killing the one he loved with his own hands and that Shishio had done something similar to his love Komagata Yumi.
In the Jinchū arc of the manga, 10 years later Tomoe's brother Enishi returned as an adult to visit her grave and pursue vengeance against Kenshin, whom he considered his beloved older sister's true murderer. Enishi's actions (which included the kidnapping of Kaoru and her replacement with a flesh-made doll that makes everyone, including Kenshin himself, believe that she was killed) sent Kenshin into near-catatonic despair that was broken by a vision of Tomoe's spirit who brought him the strength to live again and find happiness. Eventually, Enishi's own motivations were also broken by similar visions of her after Kenshin told him not to continue leading a miserable life that would take away the meaning of Tomoe's love. When Enishi is left a broken man after his battle with Kenshin, the former is given Tomoe's diary, which expresses all her true emotions during her time with Kenshin. Because he keeps the diary even after he arrives in the village of the fallen, "Geezer" (Oibore), a kind old homeless man who helped Kenshin out of his living hell (revealed as Tomoe and Enishi's father), remarks that Enishi will some day find his purpose again.
Tomoe makes a brief cameo in the sixth ending of the TV series (from episodes 67-82, featuring the song "1/3 no Junjō na Kanjō" by the band Siam Shade
Siam Shade
Siam Shade was a five-piece Japanese rock band, which broke onto the visual kei scene alongside a multitude of other artists in the early 1990s. They enjoyed a decade of relative popularity before disbanding in early 2002. On November 18, 2007, they reunited for a concert in honor of their...
). In the first scene, the lower half of her face is shown scrolling in front of a brick wall. In the second scene, her face is shown in a starry sky, along with a 15 year old Kenshin. Also, it can be argued that the scene where a silhouette of Kenshin is seen in a graveyard is reminiscent of the scene in episode 62 where Kenshin visits Tomoe's grave in Kyoto. Although she is never mentioned by name, the anime writers have paid homage to her in episode 63, in which Kenshin meets a former manslayer who lost his beloved due to his quest for improving his sword skills.
Creation and conception
Watsuki even states in character notes that she was a "quiet mysterious character" meant to contrast the more strong-willed women of the current age (mainly being Kamiya KaoruKamiya Kaoru
, known as Kaoru Kamiya in the Media Blasters English-language dub and Kori Kamiya in the English Sony Samurai X dub, is a fictional character from the Rurouni Kenshin universe created by Nobuhiro Watsuki as a main protagonist of the media franchise, which consists of a series of manga, anime,...
and Takani Megumi
Takani Megumi
, known in Western order as Megumi Takani in the English-language anime adaptation, is a fictional character created by Nobuhiro Watsuki for the popular manga and anime, Rurouni Kenshin. Megumi is the youngest daughter of Takani Ryūsei, a well-known doctor in Aizu which was an important province...
). Watsuki also admits that her design resembles that of Rei Ayanami
Rei Ayanami
is a fictional character from the Neon Genesis Evangelion franchise, a Japanese anime from Gainax. She is the First Child and pilot of the Evangelion Unit 00....
of the popular Neon Genesis Evangelion anime series (one of Watsuki's favorite series), calling her an "Ayanami lookalike."