Ryohei Ueda (
Appearance[]
Ueda is seen wearing a yukata and his hair is tied in the chonmage style.
Personality[]
As a young child, Ueda had a brotherly bond with Seijuro and Denshichiro but as the trio grew up, Ueda distanced himself from Seijuro in preference of Denshichiro, the more dedicated and responsible swordsman of the two brothers. Although the Yoshioka School head is Seijuro Yoshioka, Ueda strongly believes that Denshichiro Yoshioka (the younger brother of Seijuro) is a better fit as the head of the school. Yet, he does fear Seijuro's skill and swordsmanship and does not outright express or state his opinion. He is loyal and protective of Denshichiro and does whatever he can to ensure that the reputation of the school is safe and protected.
Biography[]
Early life[]
Ryohei was an abandoned child who was left in the ruins of Ichijoji. As Yoshioka Kempo and a student beat a man for ridiculing the school, Yoshioka Kempo's pet dog picks up a child and brings it to Kempo. The child, Ryohei, had a letter attached which told the men the child's name. Ryohei is adopted by Kempo and grows up to train with Seijuro and Denshichiro.[1] As a young teen, Ryohei is criticized by Kempo for going easy on Denshichiro and tells him to be harsh and realistic with him or otherwise, his sense of battle will be distorted. As a result of him being easy on Denshichiro, Ryohei is kicked out of the school. As snow starts to fall, Ryohei goes back to the school and begs in a dogeza position to stay since he has nowhere else to go. Seijuro and Denshichiro follow suit and fall into a dogeza position with Ryohei and push for Ryohei's readmission. Yoshioka Kempo accepts Ryohei back into the school and tells him that there is no 'after' once a sword has been struck.[2]
Second Yoshioka Arc[]
Before Denshichiro's duel with Musashi, Ueda creates a plot in which Sasaki Kojiro duels with Musashi as a substitute. This is seen as a dishonourable act which would lower the esteem of the school. As a result, Denshichiro expels Ueda even if Ueda's intentions were good and it was an attempt to save Denshichiro's life. Denshichiro states that Ueda can only re-enter the school after he dies before Ueda walks out of the school.
After Musashi kills both brothers; Denshichiro and Seijuro, Ueda is pronounced head of the Yoshioka School. In an attempt to save the schools reputation, Ueda and seventy other pupils of the school attack Musashi outside of Ichijou-ji Temple located outside of Kyoto. However, during the duel Ueda lost his eyes and many if not all the pupils were killed by Musashi. During that last moments in the fight, Ueda, now injured and unable to stand up, manages to crawl and attack Musashi from behind. With his katana, Ueda slashes deep into Musashi's calve muscles which render Musashi unable to fight or stand before passing away. In the aftermath of the fight, the Yoshioka School lost its high standing and almost all of Japans feudal lords knew of Musashi and hoped he would work under them as a samurai. Additionally, swordsman flocked to Kyoto to fight Musashi. Unbeknownst to them, Musashi couldn't stand anymore and fight because of Ueda's final cut.
Post-Yoshioka Arc[]
Ueda seems to haunt Ichijou-Ji temple and Ueda's ghost claims that as long as hate continues to smolder in his heart, he cannot leave the temple.[3] He speaks with Musashi as well as Otsu; warning her to stay away from Musashi. This is because initially, Musashi was a lower ranking individual and duelled the Yoshioka to increase his ranks and now that Musashi is injured and high ranking, swordsman will flock to kill the weakened Musashi to increase their ranks.
After aggravating Otsu and constantly being around, Otsu attempts to ignore Ueda and sleep. Irritated that Otsu isn't listening to his requests for her to leave Musashi, Ueda pulls Otsu's spirit out of her body. He flows Otsu to the home of one of the dead 70 Yoshioka school members. In the home, an elderly woman takes poison and kills herself after her son and the bread-winner of the family, Horikawa, is killed whilst duelling Musashi.[4] Ueda, Otsu and Horikawa's dead spirit watch as his elderly mother passes away alone in a room. Ueda flows Otsu to a lodge where travellers ask a former Yoshioka school member if Musashi is staying nearby the lodge. The Yoshioka member lies and states that they are childhood friends. Ueda explains that Musashi has teared down the names of others so much so that people lie. Otsu then sees Musashi in pain from his wound and proceeds to see him during the battle with the 70 Yoshioka members. Otsu states that Musashi has never feared death but looked directly at it. Before placing Otsu back in her body, Ueda reads Otsu's mind and states that her and Musashi are a good thing. Otsu wakes up in the middle of the night in bed and Ueda tells her that she has been abandoned and Musashi will never give up his aspirations.[5]
Later on, Ueda watches as Otaguro Hyosuke, a member of the Yoshioka school visits Nijou castle, where Musashi is held, to personally behead him for the murder of the 70 Yoshioka. [6]