Amidamaru (阿弥陀丸 Amidamaru) is a fictional character in the anime and manga Shaman King.
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Amidamaru is the spirit ally of Yoh Asakura. He is a samurai who was born on January 6, 1385, and died at the age of 24. Always sticking by Yoh's side, he is loyal and trustworthy and can enter Yoh's sword through integration ("spirit control" in the English anime). Amidamaru is very powerful but quite taciturn and extremely devoted to "Lord Yoh" ("Yō-dono" in Japanese).
His name is based on the Buddha Amitabha, the principal figure in the Pure Land Buddhist sect. He is voiced by Sean Schemmel in English.
Amidamaru started training to be a samurai at a young age in order to drive away bandits and protect the orphans he was living with. He frequently broke his sword (katana) when he was young, but his very good friend Mosuke would always make a new sword after scolding him for breaking another one of his swords, as they were too poor to afford good strong steel. Amidamaru, an honorable samurai, refused to steal swords from the corpses and skeletons that were found scattered across the land at the time.
Mosuke, being a very skilled swordsmith, was able to make a sword using his father's knife, one that was of extremely high quality. Amidamaru was so touched by this that he cried. When Mosuke asked if he was crying, Amidamaru pretended that some raindrops splashed on his face, and because of that named the katana "Harusame" (春雨), meaning "Spring Rain". He would eventually encounter the bandit Tokagero and kill him and his entire brigade. Tokagero's spirit would hold a grudge against Amidamaru for the next 600 years to come.
When both Amidamaru and Mosuke grew older, they were employed by a daimyo who was impressed with Amidamaru's skills as a samurai and Mosuke's craftsmanship as a swordsmith.
They worked for him happily, but their joy did not last long. Amidamaru was ordered by his daimyo to kill Mosuke in order to ensure the uniqueness of Harusame. Amidamaru's loyalty was split between the daimyo and his friend.
Amidamaru and Mosuke met at a tree on Monument Hill where Amidamaru told Mosuke of the daimyo's command. At first Mosuke asked Amidamaru to be murdered, knowing that an order from a daimyo was unquestionable for a samurai. Amidamaru, out of his loyalty to Mosuke, told him to run away and that he would faces the consequences of his insubordination. Mosuke asked him to give him Harusame so he could reforge it and give it to him later that night (the English anime changes this; Mosuke instead forged the finest sword he could create for Amidamaru, which was named the Sword of Light). Amidamaru agreed and gave Mosuke his word that he would wait for him at that very spot. However, someone had spied on their conversation and informed the daimyo, who demanded that Mosuke and Amidamaru be killed. The daimyo's men then went up the hill hoping to assassinate Amidamaru, but Amidamaru killed them all. He died of exhaustion, having defeated them all without his sword. Mosuke was killed not long after, arriving at the hill too late to present the sword because he had chosen to spend more time perfecting the blade.
Amidamaru's large body count earned him a bad reputation which was lasted up until present day. In the English manga he is called "a fiend" for killing so many people.
Six hundred later, Amidamaru was used by Yoh in a spirit integration ("Spirit Fusion" or "Spirit Unity" in the English anime) when "Wooden Sword" Ryu destroyed his tombstone. Yoh asked him to be his power spirit, but in that cemetery, he was waiting for a friend (Mosuke).
Yoh was able to find Mosuke' spirit inside a museum guarding the Harusame and crying over Amidamaru's loss. Yoh returned the Harusame to Amidamaru, telling him that Mosuke was waiting for him in the other side.
In the anime, while Amidamaru was rising to the other world, he saw Yoh and his friend Manta being beaten up by Ryu, who was enraged because he was beaten by a mere teenager. Amidamaru decided to join Yoh and become his power spirit. Yoh was the first one who trusted Amidamaru and didn't judge him based on his past reputation because he knew that there were two sides to the story.
In the manga, when Ryu is first possessed by Tokagero, he steals Harusame from the museum and wields it against Amidamaru. Tokagero explains that this is his revenge on Amidamaru for killing him six-hundred years ago, but Amidamaru and Yoh slice through and break the sword.
After defeating Tokagero, they ponder how they might repair the sword. Anna tells Ryu that this is his chance to make up for what he'd done, and summons Mosuke, making him integrate with Ryu. Yoh in turn integrates with Amidamaru. The first thing Mosuke and Amidamaru do upon reunion is punch each other in the face. Both apologize to each other: Amidamaru for breaking the sword and Mosuke for making him wait so long.
The English anime initially refers to the Harusame as the Sword of Light and states it is the last sword ever forged by Mosuke. When the sword is stolen from the museum and Amidamaru and Mosuke's childhood is revealed, the dub refers to the same sword as "Spring Rain" (Harusame) and the first true sword Mosuke has forged for Amidamaru. As a result, Amidamaru refers to Spring Rain as Mosuke's first sword and the Sword of Light as his last when originally the swords were one and the same in the manga and in the Japanese version of the anime.
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