Hao Asakura
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Hao Asakura (麻倉葉王 Asakura Hao, also written as ハオ Hao), known as Zeke Asakura in the English anime, is a fictional character in the anime and manga series Shaman King. His seiyu is Minami Takayama.
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[edit] Character
Hao Asakura is the main antagonist and the ancestor, twin brother and previous incarnation of Yoh Asakura, the main protagonist. The original Asakura Hao from 1000 years ago was re-incarnated in the two of them.
A powerful shaman of the Asakura clan, he strived to become Shaman King one thousand years prior to the start of the story. He had mastered all the arts and techniques of Onmyoudou, including the ability to see the future, use reishi (soul sight), command powerful spirits and allow and control the circumstances of reincarnation.
Hao had the Reishi (a form of telepathy that allows the user to see the hearts of others), but he could not control the limit of the power. Because he lived in a time of war, disease, and famine (the Heian period), he attempted to help others with his powers. However, he began to see the darker side of human nature as he discovered through his reishi that those he helped were jealous and afraid of his power, and convinced themselves that he was evil.
His heart became consumed with hatred for humanity and began to plot the destruction of humanity by becoming Shaman King. He believes that by doing so, the planet and other animals that humans abused would be saved. In this time, he also allowed people to worship him as god, and appears to have developed a superiority complex, believing himself to be better to everyone; a delusion made more dangerous by his ability to back this claim up.
Hao is by far the most powerful and learned shaman who has ever lived. In his original life, he was already the strongest shaman of his day, but since learning the ways of reincarnation, he has become a truly powerful being, his strength many hundred; perhaps many thousand-times greater than his nearest rivals. Both the Shaman Council and his descendant's- in both the Asakura family and Silva's tribe- fear him greatly. They have sought to bar him from the Shaman tournament, but know this is impossible, in part because he distracts the brutal rival Shaman faction the X-Laws, but mainly because if they tried to stop him, they know they would have no way of winning.
[edit] History
Hao learns of the Shaman Fight, of which the winner becomes the Shaman King. He comes to believe it is the key to cleansing the world of non-shamans, which he felt were defiling the natural world. His plans are discovered and the Asakura clan gathered against him and defeated him.
His mastery of the five elements of nature (fire, water, earth, wood, and metal) prevented his permanent death as he could now control the circumstances of his reincarnation. He was able to gain the ability to control his soul using the ritual of Taizan Kuzun. Taizan Kuzun, the greatest and most esoteric of onmyodo arts, is named after an old name of the god of the underworld, who could only be reached getting past the seventy five Lords of Hell. If one succeeds in making a contract with Taizan Kuzun, one could bring back the dead or reincarnate oneself at will. The fact that Hao was able to perform this act as a living human being is a testament to his power given that not even ghosts can reach Taizan Kuzun.
He chose to be reborn 500 years later, in time for the next Shaman Fight. His new incarnation was as one of the Patch, the clan that organises the Shaman Fight. His eventual descendants include Silva, a distinguished Patch Official who serves as a referee in shaman fights.
He was killed once more, by Asakura Yohken with the assistance of Matamune (his former loyal companion) using the Futsu no mitama (the Antiquity in the English anime), a sword of spirits, and the Senhachijuu (only in the anime), a set of 1080 prayer beads containing powerful spirits of the Asakura family.
Despite the fact he died before becoming Shaman King, he achieved his goal of capturing the legendary Spirit of Fire for use as his guardian spirit in his next life. The Spirit of Fire is one of the few "God" class spirits, highly powerful divine spirits, around.
[edit] About Hao
Hao likes to watch fights, particularly those that involve Yoh. During the anime, ever since Yoh arrived in America, Hao is always watching him at some point. However it is the fights that the strong shamans and Yoh are in that Hao is most interested.
Hao constantly keeps an eye on Yoh or sends his men or women to do his bidding in an effort to make Yoh stronger so that when he and Yoh "becomes one", Hao won't be pulled back by Yoh's weakness.
Near the end of the series, there are some differences that should be noted: In the Japanese version of the anime, Hao is disgusted with Yoh due to his "Everything will work out" attitude. In addition, he says that he has more than enough power ever since the Spirit of Fire consumed Shamash, so he no longer needs Yoh. However, he still consumes Yoh's soul because he considers him an eyesore. In the English dub, Zeke says that Yoh's true purpose is to join forces with him so that they can take the Great Spirits (King of Spirits in the English dub), and since Yoh refuses, he consumes his soul, but not before hinting that he would've spared Yoh had he just "fulfilled his destiny".
[edit] Events of Shaman King
Upon Hao's third reincarnation, he chose to be reborn as a member of the Asakura family once more. However, his soul ends up splitting in two; the other half becomes Hao's twin brother, Yoh Asakura. This made both of them the reincarnations of the original Asakura Hao, and it was said since Yoh was, in a sense, Hao, as the two of them were once one and the same, he might be the only one capable of defeating Hao.
As he is being born into his third incarnation, Yohmei Asakura attempts to assassinate him, but hesitates at the last moment. The moment of hestiation is enough as the Spirit of Fire appears and takes Hao away forcefully. In the fight that ensues, Mikihisa Asakura, Yoh and Hao's father, is permanently disfigured, and has to wear a mask at all times. While the Asakuras had failed to prevent Hao from attempting to becoming Shaman King, the birth of Yoh brought hope that Hao would finally be defeated.
In this form, Hao is Yoh's identical twin, who is a small part of Hao, and he has regained a body with the powerful blood of the Asakura lineage. (Ironically, Hao was the sole reason why the Asakuras were this powerful.) The relationship between Yoh and Hao is not unlike that of Eriol Hiiragizawa and Fujitaka Kinomoto (see Cardcaptor Sakura), in that only one of the two characters inherits all of the power and memories of their past lives.
His guardian spirit is the Spirit of Fire. However, because of the Spirit's journey back from hell, it lost much of its power, which it regained by comsuming other souls. By the time of the Shaman Fight, the Spirit of Fire is only very slightly less powerful than 500 years before, which is visible in the scene where Hao destroys the Seminoa warriors.
In the end, Hao forcefully subjects the Great Spirits to his will, gaining unimaginable power in the process. The Spirit of Fire morphs and its new form easily defeats all of Yoh's group in a single attack. Yoh, who had just broke out of his prison and nearly beat Hao a moment ago, was now easily thrashed by Hao, now practically unstoppable. However, eventually every single shaman in the world donates their furyoku, or what is left of it, to Yoh, and he achieves an ultimate oversoul that uses furyoku to recreate a body for both the Spirit and the Shaman. (For reference, refer to the Biomerge digivolution in Digimon Tamers or a fusion in Dragon Ball Z)
Hao and Yoh continue to struggle, until finally Hao is defeated by the combined power of the world, and the holy land of the stars disintegrates around the shamans.
However, it is likely that in his next incarnation he would be invincible, as he is able to adapt to and resist any attack that was used to defeat him before.
[edit] Abilities/Techniques
As a result of Hao mastering all five elements, he can simply change the Spirit of Fire's element around as he wishes. However, while he doesn't use the Spirits of Earth or Wind directly, but having mastered the elements, he can make Spirit of Fire change its element almost instantly. However, it does take quite a bit of concentration and power as he congratulates the X-Law for being able to "push him this far" before killing him.
- Reishi (霊視)
This is the ability to read the hearts of others. Whilst in some ways a useful ability, it is incredibly hard to control, with the end result that Hao was constantly inundated with the thoughts of those surrounding him. As a result, his contempt for the human race grew until he sought to create a world of only shamans.
- Taizanfukun no Sai (泰山府君祭)
Taizanfukun is the ancient Chinese name for the King of Hell, who judges the dead and decides their fate. It is through this technique that Hao was able to be reborn 500 years later as one of the Patch, and then again 500 years later.
- Ring of Fire (リング・オブ・ファイアー)
An attack similar to that of Yoh's Shinkku Buddha Giri (Celestial Slash).
[edit] Anime vs Manga
- In the manga, Hao becomes the Shaman King and Yoh sets off to stop him. The series abruptly ends in the middle of the conflict. In the anime, Hao's Spirit of Fire devours the King of Spirits. Yoh, with the combined power of all the shamans in the world, achieves an ultimate level of oversoul, and defeats Hao and the Spirit of Fire by slicing them in half. The Shaman Tournament is put off indefinitely as the Patch Village fades away, but is set to begin again at the end of the series.
- In the manga, Hao seems to treat the child Opacho as his own. Hao drives her (Opacho is a boy in the English anime and is a girl in the manga and the Japanese anime) away as the end of the fight nears, presumably because he had already foresaw his defeat at that point and did not wish her to witness it. In the English anime, Opacho runs away, Hao having been infuriated by Opacho's suggestion that he was losing the fight, and laughs maniacally after Opacho says that he thought they were friends.
- The series has an open ending leaving viewers to wonder about why the Oracle bell was beeping. In the anime, the Shaman Fight (After Yoh destroyed Hao) was postponed indefinitely and the surviving characters returned to their every day lives. The Oracle Bell hints that the tournament hiatus is over and the fight to become Shaman King will be resumed.
[edit] Connection with Abe no Seimei
There are at least two connections between Hao Asakura and the famous onmyoji, Abe no Seimei:
- Both died in the year 1005.
- Abe no Seimei wrote Senji Ryakketsu, an onmyodo primer. Hao Asakura wrote the "Ultra Senji Ryakketsu," the ultimate tome of the shamans.
[edit] Trivia
- Name meaning: Leaf King (king of nature or master of nature)
- Birthday: May 12
- True Birthday: 970
- Age:13 (in the anime) 15 (in the manga)
- True Age: 1030 (to the current date)
- Birth Place: Izumo, Japan
- Blood Type: A+
- Eyes: Black (Dark Brown)
- Hair: Dark Brown
- Furyoku: 1,250,000,+
- Favorite Food: Riceballs and curry bread
- Relationships: Yoh Asakura - twin/ancestor and previous incarnation, Silva - descendant (through previous incarnation), Yohken Asakura - descendant, Keiko and Mikihisa Asakura - parents/descendant, Kino and Yohmei Asakura - grandparents/descendant, Anna Kyouyama -Reincarnation of his original mother, Asano-Ha(1st life)
- Spirit: Ohachiyo, Matamune, Spirit of Fire (chronological order)
[edit] External links
- WingedFire - An Asakura Hao shrine and gallery with fanlisting.
| Shaman King |
|---|
| Techniques |
| Over Soul (Spirit Control)| Giant Over Soul (Giant Spirit Control) |Double Medium | Spirit Reduction |
| Characters |
| Asakura Family:Yoh Asakura | Anna Kyōyama | Kino Asakura | Yohmei Asakura | Hana Asakura | Yohken Asakura |
| Allies/Teammates: Horohoro (Trey Racer) | Manta Oyamada (Morty) | Chocolove McDaniel (Joco) | Faust VIII | "Wooden Sword" Ryu (Rio) | Tamao Tamamura (Tamara) |
| Spirits: Amidamaru | Bason | Lee Bailong | Tokagero |
| Native American Shamans: Silva | Kalim |
| Tao Family: Tao Jun (Jun) | Tao Ren (Len) | Tao Yúan (En) |
| X-Laws: Iron Maiden Jeanne | Lyserg Diethel | Marco |
| Enemies: Hao Asakura (Zeke) | The Hanagumi | Opacho |
