Yamada Clan

Yamada Clan
Kanji	山田家の屋
Rōmaji	Yamada ke no ya
Debuts
Anime Debut	Episode 1
Manga Debut	Chapter 1

The Yamada Clan (山田家の屋, Yamada ke no ya^?) are rōnin who serve as sword testers and executioners. They are also infamously known as Neck-Chopper Asa (首斬り朝, Kubikiri Asa^?) or Decapitator Asa (人斬り朝, Hitokiri Asa^?).

Overview

Duties

An Asaemon preparing to execute and test a sword on a convicted criminal.

In the clan, those who are given the name Yamada Asaemon (山田浅エ門, Yamada Asaemon^?) are task with appraisal by testing new swords on corpses and executing convicted criminals through the method of decapitation. When performing executions, the Yamada clan's doctrine is that the condemned should not feel any pain or emotions coming from their swords and that they must try to hone their skills to perform an ideal cut that falls within that category.

Additional Services

Since they are a clan of rōnin who do not technically serve the shogun as public servants, despite being under the jurisdiction of the shogunate's blade magistrate, the Yamada clan are prohibited from receiving fiefdom, rice income, or any form of benefits from the government. To make ends meet, the Yamada clan provide additional services other than sword testing and executions.

Although sword wielding and executing is their main focus, the clan is also known for manufacturing medicine from the corpses they examine, such as producing Asayamagan. Fuchi claims that this is the greatest source of income for the clan. The Yamada clan also dabble in yubikiri (指切り, Literal meaning: finger cut-off) where they sever pinky fingers of corpses for women who are hesitant to perform an actual pinky promise; the custom being that the woman cuts off her own little finger and gives it to her lover as a sign of affection, with the goal also being to engage in fornication.

Ranking

The Yamada clan has a ranking system for potential candidates for the next head of the clan. The rankings are determined by one's suitability to become the next head, such as high knowledge in a certain field, and partially based on their level of skill with the Tameshi Ittō-ryū. The ranking goes from 1st to 12th, with the 1st rank being the most qualified.

Jikka, an Asaemon who was given the 3rd rank based on his capabilities to cut targets with a takemitsu.

In some circumstances, the ranking does not necessarily define the strength of the Asaemon. In terms of qualifications for a rank, an Asaemon's fighting ability is looked at as being the least important; meaning that a lower rank Asaemon could be seen as being stronger than the ones above them. For example, despite being ranked below Eizen, the highest ranked Asaemon, Shugen was recognized as the clan's strongest member, having been noted to possess superior knowledge in swordsmanship than any member. Due to possessing the qualities of a leader that overshadowed his peers, Eizen was given the 1st rank but was noted to have poor prowess in combat. In Jikka's case, a ranked Asaemon that is ill-mannered, he was ranked above Shion due to his special intuition that allowed him to execute the condemned with a bamboo sword. Despite the fact that Yamada Asaemon women are viewed as being unfavorable because of their gender, they are still eligible to gain a ranking if a higher ranked Asaemon vouches for their position. Though Sagiri was given the lowest rank within the hierarchy, Senta, Genji, and Shugen recognized her skills with a sword as being unmatched when her mind is set.

Unranked

Unranked Asaemon (段位無浅エ門, Danina Asaemon^?) are Yamada Asaemon who do not have a ranking due to their lacking in certain areas to be qualified as a candidate to become the next head. Kiyomaru, Isuzu, and the late Tesshin were the only known unranked Asaemon. Kiyomaru was not given a ranking due to being too young, while Isuzu was not given a ranking because of her gender. Tesshin became an Asaemon until he had decided to leave the clan to purse a life of his own. Despite being unranked they are nevertheless undoubtedly skilled as proof by the fact that they have earned their names.

Location

Yamada Asaemon Dōjō

Further information: Yamada Asaemon Dōjō

The Yamada Asaemon Dōjō (山田浅ェ門道場) is the training facility of the Yamada clan.

Members

Yamada Clan
Head
Yamada Asaemon Jikka	Yamada Asaemon Kichiji ‡
Ranked Asaemon
Yamada Asaemon Eizen † (Rank 1)	Yamada Asaemon Shugen † (Rank 2)	Yamada Asaemon Jikka * (Rank 3)	Yamada Asaemon Shion ‡ (Rank 4)	Yamada Asaemon Senta † (Rank 5)
Yamada Asaemon Gagaimo (Rank 6)	Yamada Asaemon Tsumutsumu (Rank 7)	Yamada Asaemon Genji † (Rank 8)	Yamada Asaemon Fuchi † (Rank 9)	Yamada Asaemon Tenza † (Rank 10)
Yamada Asaemon Kishō † (Rank 11)	Yamada Asaemon Sagiri (Rank 12)
Unranked Asaemon
Yamada Asaemon Isuzu †	Yamada Asaemon Kiyomaru †	Yamada Asaemon Tesshin †
Other Members
Aza Tōma *	?????	?????	?????	?????
?????	?????	?????

Click here to see the legend of the symbols used

•  ^†: the character is deceased.
•  ^*: the character's status is unknown, or show additional information. Hovering the symbol may give further details.
•  ^‡: the character is no longer part of this group.

Abilities and Powers

— Yamada Asaemon Sagiri.

Sagiri beheading a convicted criminal with one cut.

Each member of the Yamada clan is highly skilled with the sword. Unlike a regular beheading executioner who needs to constantly hack away at a condemn's neck with a sword in order to get the job done, given how complex the human neck is, members of the Yamada clan are capable and renown for pulling off the feat of cutting off a person's head with only one swing while only leaving a single flap of skin attached to the body. The secret behind this ability is due to the clan's knowledge of the human body, in which an Asaemon can spot the openings around the muscle, sinew and bone. Even if a person's body were to possess immense durability, an Asaemon would still be able to behead their victims by following the same principles of beheading, as proven by Sagiri who was able to cut down Rokurōta, a giant whose body was known to be impervious to any sort of bladed weapon. Exceptional Yamada Asaemons can even go beyond this level of skill. Yamada Asaemon Kichiji, the clan's former leader, possesses the capabilities to cut off a person's head without their bodies being aware that they are dead for a brief moment, which can be recognized as leaning towards the clan's ideology of an ideal cut. Members of the clan are instructed in the use of the Tameshi Ittō-ryū, which utilizes an Asaemons blade testing skills in battle.

With their knowledge of human anatomy, the members of the Yamada clan also have the medical expertise to cut open corpses and create medicine from their organs. As stated and demonstrated by Shion, the clan is also well-versed in the practice of "hiemontori" (ひえもんとり, "hiemontori"^?).

Appearance

The Asaemon wear kosode, which is colored white to express their sorrow for the condemned, a hakama that bears a single red band at the left gusset, a red waist cord to hold their katana, and sandals. Tied to their left collar is a bell dangling. The purpose of the bell is to console the soul of the deceased when it rings whenever the Asaemon begins to behead their victims. An Asaemon can also have their uniforms customize to better suit them.

They also have the option of wearing either a black haori aligned with stitches or a black kataginu with diamond shaped reefs on each shoulder over their uniform.

Historical Reference

The Yamada Clan are based off of the real-life line sword testers of the historical Yamada Asaemon. Up to the early 19th century, the Yamada Asaemon family served the Tokugawa Shogunate as ronin sword testers, as well as executing criminals by incorporating Tameshigiri. The Yamada Clan also reference the nickname of Yamada Asaemon (山田 朝右衞門, Yamada Asaemon^?), the protagonist of Samurai Executioner. Yamada Asaemon was a ronin who was responsible for testing new swords for the shogun and was known as "Neck-Chopper Asa".

Trivia

• According to the side story, the technique in which the Asaemon decapitates a victim's head leaving only a single flap of skin attached to the body is called Embraced Head (抱き首, Daki Kubi^?). Another technique was given called Two Trunks (ニつ胴, Nitsudō^?) where the Asaemon cuts the bodies of two corpses stack together in half.
• According to Sagiri, the Yamada clan are well-versed in the art of poetry. The reason for this is because the condemned would often recite their own poems before they are executed, which led to the Third Head of the Yamada Clan to decree that poetry be included in the clan's training as a way of showing sympathy since they too are eventually subjected to death.
• In Tōma's opinion, despite not receiving benefits from the government, the Yamada clan have more money than one would expect due to the additional sources of income.

A relationship chart of the ranked Asaemons as conducted by Tōma.

• During his time in the Yamada clan, Tōma had formed a relationship chart of the ranked members as a counterstrategy for his brother to use. However, the chart proved to be useless as Chōbei did not know the faces of the names he had listed.
• Shion and Jikka are the only known Asaemon to not wear their funerary bells tied to their collars. The reason for Shion's being that the noise interfered with his sensory perception.
• Shugen is the only Asaemon to not wear a white robe and hakama. Up until Chapter 56, Shugen initially wore the standard white robe of an Asaemon but was later redesigned to wearing a black robe. This suggests that this adds to Shugen's hatred towards criminals since the white robe is meant to symbolize the Yamada Asaemon's sorrow for criminals as they execute them.
• Members sake tolerance:

Strong — Shugen > Shion > Fuchi > Genji > Eizen > Tenza >> Kishō > Jikka — Weak ^{(Cannot drink: Sagiri and Senta)}

• All the members of the Yamada clan are aware that Sagiri has a crush on Shugen (excluding Shugen himself).