Yamada Asaemon Tenza

Overview

Image Gallery

Yamada Asaemon Tenza
Kanji	山田浅ェ門 典坐
Other Names	Ten-chan (典ちゃん) (by Fuchi)
Biological Information
Race	Human
Birthdate	July 22
Birthplace	Japan
Gender	Male
Age	17
Height	176 cm
Hair Color	Blonde
Eye Color	Brown Blue (Anime)
Personal Status
Status	Deceased
Elemental Attribute	Fire
Class	Rōnin
Occupation	Samurai Yamada Asaemon
Rank	10
Affiliation	Yamada Clan
Team	Vanguard Party
Debuts
Manga Debut	Chapter 2
Anime Debut	Episode 2
Portrayal
Japanese Voice	Yusuke Kobayashi
English Voice	Ben Balmaceda
Stage Play	Yuta Iiyama

“	Conduct this, conduct that! Who cares how I was raised? I just want you to see me for me, sir!	”
—Yamada Asaemon Tenza (Chapter 83)

Yamada Asaemon Tenza (山 (やま) 田 (だ) 浅 (あさ) ェ (え) 門 (もん) 典 (てん) 坐 (ざ) ) was the 10th rank Asaemon of the Yamada clan. He is a major supporting character of Hell's Paradise: Jigokuraku.

After the shogun called for death row convicts to acquire the Elixir of Life from the dangerous island believed to be Shinsenkyō, in exchange for a pardon for their past crimes, Tenza joined in the expedition team as one of the Yamada Asaemon monitors and was assigned to keep watch over the criminal Nurugai.

Appearance

Tenza was a young man with neatly combed hair along with a single strand. He wore the standard attire of a Asaemon, which was a white robe with a bell tied on the left collar along with a hakama held together with a waist cord that held his two swords, and sandals. Unlike the other Asaemon, Tenza had his hakama tucked into a pair of gaiters strapped around his lower legs. He also wore a metal headband with two cross scratches.

Gallery

Tenza's manga design.

Tenza's color scheme in the manga.

Yamada Asaemon Tenza's concept art from the anime.

Yamada Asaemon Tenza's full appearance.

Tenza at a young age.

Tenza after becoming Shion's student.

Personality

Tenza was an enthusiastic, persistent, determined, and kind young man. As a samurai, he followed the ways of bushido, taking in the lesson of continuing on forward no matter what was blocking his way. He was also righteous and did not let his duties as an Asaemon get in the way of doing what was right. He believed that Nurugai was innocent and did not deserve to die on the island, prompting him to make an attempt at escape with her on a boat.

Although righteous and diligent as he was, Tenza admitted to not being very bright to use logic in situations and failed to understand things that were too complex or in theory. A reason for this could possibly be due to his upbringing, as Tenza may have never received a formal education outside of swordsmanship. As such, he often tried to find a solution to problems that was more on his level, such as aimlessly walking the beach of Kotaku until a safe current off the island was found, only to be pointed out by Nurugai that doing so would only end up wasting stamina and that the better option would be to get high up in the forest to get a full view.

During his childhood, before being picked up by Shion, Tenza was a troublemaker who lived his life doing whatever he wanted, due to being neglected and eventually abandoned by his parents. Owing to growing up on the streets in poverty and being shunned by people, Tenza initially had very low self-esteem as he viewed himself as a worthless scumbag. However, after being taken under Shion's care and becoming his student, Tenza for the first time in his life felt he was more than what he thought he was. He also developed a special bond with Shion, seeing him as his mentor and deeply respected him.

Tenza also had a hard time being around females. As a child, Tenza was never around women while he was out on the streets and became flustered when he first met Sagiri after joining the Yamada clan. He also became embarrassed when Nurugai stripped down and exposed herself to him, which what made him realize that his assigned criminal was actually a young girl.

Even on the verge of death, Tenza continued to fight Zhu Jin to protect Shion and Nurugai.

During his final moments, Tenza had shown to possess an indomitable will. Even after being mortally wounded by Zhu Jin, Tenza persisted on fighting the Tensen to buy enough time for Shion and Nurugai to escape even if it meant that he would not make it out alive. Ultimately, Tenza's sacrifice and selflessness gave Shion and Nurugai the drive to push onward on their path on Kotaku and bring justice to his death.

History

Past

Tenza meets Shion.

Tenza was born into poverty with parents who neglected him and people who looked down of him as they pass him by on the streets. In light of this, Tenza took advantage of his way of life by being free to do whatever he wanted, allowing himself to rob, kill, and sleep whenever he wanted. One day while out on the streets, Tenza beat up a few samurai who looked at him the wrong way but was interrupted by the sudden appearance of a blind man named Yamada Asaemon Shion. He made an attempt to attack him as well but soon found himself quickly defeated and lying on the ground. Tenza was then offered a place in the Yamada clan by Shion but refused. Shion then challenged Tenza where he would have no choice but to become his student under the condition that he could defeat him in a fight, with Shion giving himself a handicap by only using his left hand. Tenza accepted the challenge and ended up losing in an instant.

After becoming his student, Tenza became forced to practice swordsmanship every day and also found himself having to change his lifestyle, attitude and way of speaking. At the Yamada dōjō, Tenza asked Shion as to why he picked him up off the streets and heard from him that it was because he sensed potential in him and that he liked to spend his time helping people in need, which Tenza failed to understand. After resuming his relentless training session, Tenza was told by Shion that his acquired sword skills will help protect something precious to him in the future, which Tenza also failed to understand given that his previous lifestyle prevented him from thinking about his future.

Sometime after, Tenza accompanied Shion to a temple. Before leaving the dōjō though, Tenza listened to Shion taking note of a few buds from a cherry blossom tree and how they had the potential of blooming into any way they wanted, which Tenza interpreted as a representation of him. After arriving at the temple where Shion made a personally visit to a certain grave, Tenza stayed back to wait for his master to finish and suddenly ran into past acquaintance of his. However, after his former friends started to mock him for becoming an apprentice to a blind samurai after being beaten by him in a fight, Tenza lashed out at them but was stopped by Shion. After being berated by Shion for giving into his emotions, Tenza gave his refusal in continuing to be under his wing. Hearing how serious he sounded, Shion offered Tenza a chance to leave his side for good under the condition that he manages to land a single hit on him with his wooden sword under any given circumstance. Believing that he had a chance with this condition set, Tenza accepted and made his first attempt as they left the temple, only for Shion to easily dodge his attack.

Tenza sparring with Shion.

As time passed, Tenza failed to land a single strike on Shion with each underhanded attempt and decided to give up and leave after Shion had left on a trip. Before he could depart from Shion's house, Tenza ran into Yamada Asaemon Eizen who noticed him going the opposite direction of the Yamada dōjō. Though he was aware of his promise to Shion and that he was choosing to break it, Eizen told Tenza that he would not stop him but asked that he follow him to a certain location. Tenza agreed to walk with Eizen and was taken to the same graveyard Shion took him to before. At the graveyard, Eizen showed Tenza the grave of Tesshin, the same grave Shion visited last time. Eizen explained to Tenza that Tesshin was Shion's former student who was executed by his master after the young man chose to leave the Yamada clan to live out his own life, having rejected his master's teachings. Tenza became shocked to hear that this tale was what led up to Shion's passion for teaching his students and was asked by Eizen if he still wished to break his promise to Shion. Having understood Shion's reasons for treating him as such, Tenza chosed to keep his word and continued going to the Yamada dōjō until he managed to land a hit on Shion.

At some point, Tenza finally managed to land a hit on Shion after further developing his sword skills with additional help from his colleagues at the Yamada clan. Though this meant that he was given the freedom to leave Shion's side, Tenza decided to remain on as his student and further improve on his sword skills. Eventually, Tenza managed to earn his name as a Yamada Asaemon and the tenth rank within the Yamada clan.

After the recent discovery of the legendary island known as Shinsenkyō, Tenza and the other ranked Yamada Asaemons become tasked by the shogun to recruit death row convicts for the latest expedition team to retrieve the Elixir of Life from the island, with the reward for the criminals being an official pardon for their crimes. He is assigned the Sanka child Nurugai and heads to her prison. After learning how Nurugai was sentenced to death for simply being a member of an independent tribe, Tenza believed that she was innocent and requests that she accept the mission to have a chance to survive.

Island Arc

At Edo, the death sentence crimes gathered for the mission were told to reduce the numbers before departing. After the massacre, Tenza was assigned to be Nurugai's Asaemon and leaves for the island.

Tenza and Nurugai fighting off the large tentacle creature.

Once they landed on the island, the two encountered a Sōshin but Tenza cuts it down. He believes that Nurugai did not deserve the dangers that the island had to offer and departs with her to the shogun's ship. Nurugai felt that it was pointless since she didn't complete her mission but he said that he would talk to his superiors, which she doubted it would work. Once the fog cleared, the two found wreckage of the boats that tried to depart from the island and sees two shadows. Tenza draws his sword but Nurugai warns him not to and are attack from behind by a large tentacle. They dodge the oncoming attack and Tenza suggests finding a boat to escape. While fending off the creatures attacks, Tenza and Nurugai finds the deceased body of Yamada Asaemon Kishō blooming with flowers. Tenza tries to get a word from him to know that he is still alive but to no avail. He sees his corpse is split in two by one tentacle and sees that they are surrounded by many more. Nurugai gives up on trying to survive after feeling guilty for having her people killed. He refuses to allow her to die and asked her if she really wanted to make the decision to die. After responding that she wanted to live and return home, Tenza gives her a sword and tells her to fight alongside him to get to Kishō's boat.

After surviving the ordeal, they returned to the island and wash off the blood. Nurugai undresses and Tenza notices that Nurugai's body is a lot feminine for a male. Nurugai corrects him by exposing her body and says that she is female. Tenza is shocked and shrugs off her statement of making him her groom. After cleaning themselves, Tenza suggests finding a way to escape and finding his fellow Asaemon for help.

Lord Tensen Arc

While wandering aimlessly around the beach to find a current away from the island, Tenza and Nurugai are spotted by a mysterious woman who they witness transforming her body into a man. Sensing that the monster is dangerous after he looks at them with hostility, Tenza tells Nurugai to run with him. However, Tenza, much to his shock, sees the monster in front of him and is repelled back after he attacks him. Tenza picks himself up to blind the monster by cutting him across the eyes but sees him regenerating from his injuries. Tenza then quickly slashes the monster to give him and Nurugai enough time to runs off into the woods but are instantly caught up by the monster as he regenerates. The two then see the monster beheaded by a sword suddenly thrown towards him and see that it was done by Yamada Asaemon Shion who yells out to Tenza to run while he has the chance.

Tenza fatally wounded by Zhu Jin.

After getting some distance away from the monster, Tenza introduces his master Shion to Nurugai who starts to lecture him for his improper swordsmanship earlier. Shion reveals to them a current they could possibly use to escape the island but points his sword at Nurugai and asks Tenza why he was covering for his assigned criminal. Tenza tells Shion that Nurugai is innocent but hears from Shion that his excuse was no reason for him to overlook his duties as a Yamada Asaemon. Tenza then reminds Shion of the time he saved him from the streets because of the potential he saw in him and that he sees the same thing in Nurugai. Having made his point, Tenza manages to convince Shion that Nurugai is worth protecting after he sheaths his sword. When Shion says he will allow her to live, Tenza and Nurugai are astonished that he could tell Nurugai's gender despite his blindness. Before they could head to the current, Shion believes that they should figure out a strategy against the mysterious immortal being. However, the monster appears behind Tenza and Nurugai in its female form and inflicts a wound to Shion's throat after he rushes in to pull the two out of the way. Tenza then goes on the offense but is unable to land a cut on the monster due to her already being used to his movements, making have to resort to using Tameshi Ittō-ryū Ōgi: Shinotsukuame. However, the monster avoids getting cut by this technique as well and gets in close to Tenza to riddle his body with holes with her finger.

Tenza fighting Zhu Jin until his last breath to have Shion and Nurugai escape.

Tenza started to feel himself slowly dying but preserved to fight the monster barehanded for Shion and Nurugai's sakes. However, Tenza leaves no lasting damage to the monster due to its regenerative powers and hit with a devastating attack that blows a hole to his stomach. Believing that none of them stands a chance against the monster, Tenza desperately tries to tell Shion to escape with Nurugai as he charges foward but is unable to communicate properly due to his throat damaged. However, Shion senses his plead and takes Nurugai away from the scene. As he stayed behind to continue fighting the monster to buy enough time for Shion and Nurugai to escape, Tenza wonders how his life could have turned out in the future, envisioning himself as an instructor of the Yamada clan like his teacher and being wed to Nurugai. Tenza is then killed by the monster but manages to fulfill his sacrifice to keep her away from Shion and Nurugai.

Abilities and Powers

At a young age, Tenza was sensed by Shion to have the potential to become something of himself, which was proven true as Tenza's training with his master earned him not only the Yamada Asaemon name but the rank position of 10th, resulting in him being recognized by the Yamada clan as one of its strongest and qualified members to become the next head. Although his attempt at escaping off the island with Nurugai ended in failure due to the Wadatsumi, Tenza's swordsmanship and persistence allowed him to survive an encounter with the under-sea monsters who spent years sending past adventurers who attempted the same thing to a watery grave. He was also capable enough to kill a Sōshin, monsters who pose as trouble for humans attempting to get far on the island.

Physical Abilities

In his childhood, before taking up the sword, Tenza was a proficient unarmed fighter who could beat up grown men. Tenza also had impressive endurance and stamina, being able to last long to fight off the Wadatsumi's tentacles to make it back to the island. He recovered quickly from a Tao-enhanced attack from Zhu Jin to dash over and cut their eyes and persisted on to fight the Tensen long enough for Shion and Nurugai to escape despite the grievous injuries he sustained.

Kenjutsu

Further information: Tameshi Ittō-ryū

Tenza's swift swordsmanship.

As an Asaemon, Tenza had mastery of the sword, as he was capable of decapitating his targets with a single swing. In battle, Tenza's swordsmanship focused on speed, that he proclaimed was unmatched, to execute rapid sword strikes that overwhelmed his opponents. As shown in his confrontation with Zhu Jin, Tenza was able to quickly cut down their body in an instant before they had time to react. However, as noted by his master Shion, Tenza's technique in his swordplay needed some improvement, such as knowing where on his opponent's body he should strike first and needed to adjust his footwork to execute his strikes with proper movements.

Techniques

Tameshi Ittō-ryū Ōgi: Shinotsukuame.

• Tameshi Ittō-ryū Ōgi: Shinotsukuame (試 (ためし) 一 (いっ) 刀 (とう) 流 (りゅう) 　奥 (おう) 技 (ぎ) 篠 (しの) 突 (つ) く雨 (あめ) , Literal meaning: One Sword School Test Cutting Secret Technique: Roaring Rain): Tenza rapidly slashes his opponent multiple times using proper flow of movement behind his swordsmanship. This was first used against Zhu Jin but was unable to land a single cut on the Tensen as they were already accustomed to his fighting style to dodge every slash made. This is called Ittō-ryū Ultimate: Pounding Torrent in the Viz Manga.

Creation and Conception

Tenza's and Nurugai's early concepts.

Early concept art of Tenza and Nurugai were included in Jigokuraku Kaitai Shinsho.

Trivia

• Tenza's name is composed of the Go-on'yomi readings for "law, rule" (典 ten) and "hold still, assume a position" (坐 za).
• Tenza's rankings in the Popularity Polls:
  • In the first popularity poll, Tenza ranked 5th place with 1257 votes.
  • In the second popularity poll, Tenza ranked 7th place with 1216 votes.
• In the Jigokuraku Fashion Review of Volume 2, Tenza's attire received 1 out of 3 stars.
• Tenza first met Shion at the age of 12.
• Top 8 popular male characters according to the Jigokuraku Kaitai Shinsho Q&A: Shugen > Tōma > Jikka > Eizen > Tenza > Fuchi > Shion > Kishō