"The Giant of Bizen" Rokurōta (〝
Appearance[]
Rokurōta was a child who presumably suffered from an abnormal case of gigantism, standing larger than Yamada Asaemon Genji who is quite tall himself. He had messy dark hair, wore a mask covering his entire face with only a single eye hole, and had an immensely muscular body. His attire was a sleeveless worn-out robe that was held by a sash.
Gallery[]
Personality[]
Rokurōta crying out of starvation.
Rokurōta was a brutishly violent individual who went on wild, animalistic rampages that endangered the people around him. In addition, he was constantly starved to where his stomach would growl loudly and cause him to cry if he went too long without a single scrap of food. While appearing and acting as a monster on the surface, Rokurōta's behavior is actually mannerisms of a child, as the giant was merely an oversized little boy who wanted to play and satisfy his never-ending hunger. It was because of his child mentality that Rokurōta lacked the understanding to communicate with others as well.
History[]
Past[]
Rokurōta was born as a large infant with a loving mother and father. As his body started to develop immaturely, he spent much of his time eating and playing with anything with his hands, which led to the death of both his parents and his entire village as his childish behavior caused him to become uncontrollable. From then on, he grew up in the mountain provinces of Bizen, causing terror with his constant rampaging and hunger, leading to him being known as The Giant of Bizen who was marked for death as a criminal.
At some point, Rokurōta was caught by the authorities but had his death sentence put on hold after he became chosen as a candidate for a mission that required him to venture to an island believed to be Shinsenkyō and return back with the Elixir of Life for the shogun to consume.
Island Arc[]
- Main article: Island Arc
Rokurōta kills Eizen.
At Edo, Rokurōta becomes gathered together with the other death row criminals for the Shinsenkyō expedition for a hearing on the mission. However, in order to qualify, the criminals are ordered to reduce their numbers. During the massacre, Rokurōta chooses to do nothing as the criminals fruitlessly try to harm him and ends up becoming one of the ten qualified participants to leave for the expedition. The giant is then hauled out on a raft while asleep as he and his Asaemon monitor, Yamada Asaemon Eizen, sail towards the island. After landing on the island, Rokurōta wakes up feeling hungry and kills Eizen.
Rokurōta facing Gabimaru and Sagiri.
After a day had passed, Rokurōta finds Yamada Asaemon Genji and Yamada Asaemon Sagiri and fatally wounds the male Asaemon. Gabimaru then arrives to kick Rokurōta away before he could proceed to attack Sagiri. Rokurōta picks himself up and directs his attention to attacking Gabimaru. While failing to land an attack on him, due to the shinobi becoming wary of his fatal palm strikes, Rokurōta becomes unharmed by Gabimaru's long-range ninjutsu, which presents a problem for him. Rokurōta then finds himself facing Sagiri as well after she arrives and cuts off his little finger, causing him to cry out in pain. After the bleeding on his finger stops, Rokurōta charges in attack the two. Gabimaru blocks Rokurōta's punch while Sagiri comes in from behind to cut Rokurōta's right leg but ends up failing to leave a cut on his tough body. Shortly after, Rokurōta starts to cry from his stomach rumbling out of hunger and comes to slam Gabimaru to the ground after his eyes became irritated from Rokurōta's loudly stomach. He then faces Sagiri who manages to block all of his attacks, which ends up having him fall to the ground. Sensing Sagiri from behind as she gets ready to behead him, Rokurōta jumps out of the way and gives himself distance away from her.
Rokurōta beheaded by Sagiri.
Rokurōta is then attacked by a barrage of flaming ninjutsu performed by Gabimaru but avoids taking damage by deflecting them towards the forest. However, he ends up falling for Gabimaru's trap to suffocate from the burning smoke of the forest fire he caused and falls to his knees, giving Sagiri an opportunity to behead him. Rokurōta sees Sagiri and tries to attack her but is held down by Gabimaru, who requests for Sagiri to make the finishing blow before his strength gives out. After Sagiri brings her blade down on him, Rokurōta receives visions of his past of wanting to play and be rid of his hunger. Rokurōta's soul is then laid to rest by Sagiri as she holds onto his severed head.
Abilities and Powers[]
Gabimaru running out of options to fight Rokurōta in a one-on-one battle.
Having been marked down as a death row criminal, Rokurōta was deemed as an extremely dangerous individual who could not be kept alive. Out of all the numerous death row convicts gathered for the expedition to Shinsenkyō, Rokurōta was marked by the shogun's retainers as being one of the most noteworthy candidates for the mission. Upon landing on the island, Rokurōta was able to effortlessly kill Yamada Asaemon Eizen, the highest-ranking member of the Yamada clan, with a single blow. Another testament to his formidableness was how he put Gabimaru in a difficult position in a one-on-one fight, as the legendary shinobi determined that he would be dead instantly if he were to engage him in close quarters combat and that none of his arsenal of long-range ninjutsu could work against him, which ultimately concluded for him that Rokurōta could only be taken down if he had a partner fighting alongside him.
Physical Abilities[]
Rokurōta fatally wounding Genji and sending him flying with a single swing of his hand.
Ever since he was an infant, Rokurōta was born with tremendous physical strength, which led to him killing his parents and slaughtering his entire village uncontrollably. The destructive power in his hands were deadly enough to create craters on the ground and instantly kill a person with ease using a single palm strike, as he destroyed the entire upper half of Eizen's body and leave a giant gaping hole in Genji's torso, with the force also being great enough to send him flying. In his battle with Gabimaru, Rokurōta was able to effortlessly grab a tree out of the ground with one hand and throw it in his direction. Sagiri likened Rokurōta's palm thrust attacks to that of a cannon.[2] Even Gabimaru, a shinobi with superhuman strength to move foes with greater size than him, admitted that Rokurōta had him beat in physical strength and determined that guarding against his attacks were nearly impossible, as a single graze could mean the end.[3][4] With a single blow, Rokurōta was able to bypass Gabimaru's durable body and leave him badly wounded.
Despite his size, Rokurōta possessed superhuman speed and reflexes, being able to keep Gabimaru on full alert from his quick palm strikes. He was fast enough to catch Gabimaru by surprise after he had reached him from a mid-distance away to slam him to the ground (albeit the loud screech from the giant crying out of hunger contributed to him dropping his guard down for a second). He was also quick to jump out of the way of Sagiri's sword attack after momentarily falling to the ground.
Tao[]
- Further information: Tao
Rokurōta withstanding a sword strike from Sagiri.
In addition to his tremendous superhuman strength, Rokurōta also possessed tremendous superhuman durability due to him subconsciously using Tao to coat his body, as sensed by Sagiri. The sturdiness of his body was compared to be that of an Iwagakure shinobi by Gabimaru.[5] In his record as a death row criminal, Rokurōta was known to be able to resist being penetrated by bladed weapons such as swords or spears, which was evident in his fight against Sagiri as the Asaemon's sword was unable to leave a cut on his limbs. He was also able to withstand a strong kick from Gabimaru, whose bare hands and legs are capable of penetrating any living being's body with ease, and was left uninjured by a barrage of stones launched as projectiles by the shinobi.
Trivia[]
- Rokurōta's name has the Go-on'yomi readings for "six" (陸 roku) , "son" (郎 rō) and the Kan-on'yomi reading for "fat, healthy" (太 ta).
- Rokurōta ranked 25th place in the manga 1st Character Popularity Poll.
- Daidarabotchi (ダイダラボッチ) was a gigantic yōkai from Japanese mythology that was sometimes said to pose as a mountain range when sleeping. Rokurōta's habit of sleeping gives reference to this characteristic trait.
- Rokurōta's origins and feats of strength also draws a few similarities to Kintarō.
- According to the Q&A of Jigokuraku Kaitai Shinsho, Rokurōta was modeled after the fictional character Leatherface from the film series, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.