Once I called you brother, once I thought the chance to make you laugh was all I ever wanted. And even now, I wish that God had chose another. Serving as your foe on His behalf is the last thing that I wanted. This was my home. All this pain and devastation, how it tortures me inside. All the innocent who suffer from your stubbornness and pride. You who I called brother, why must you call down another blow?
Friendly reminder that out of the two, Mitsunari’s sword claims the more merciful death. Exsanguination for Ieyasu starts the moment Mitsunari laid a single wound on him, so the more he took injuries and the more he moved, the faster his pulse and more blood he lost. Mitsunari’s iaijutsu is meant for speedy executions, odd for someone who wants to see his victim suffer a thousand deaths in recompense for Hideyoshi’s.
Ieyasu’s method of killing is blunt force trauma. A hit to the head would knock someone unconscious or crack their neck if done with the right force/in the right way. However, Mitsunari uses his sword to parry and Ieyasu has to worry about taking slices when throwing fists. Compared to cuts, he’s constantly hitting Mitsunari in his torso or using his light to smash Mitsunari to the ground. The bleeding is internal, slower, and agonizing as the internal organs start to rupture from the punches. Additionally, I’ve learned from my mom that many head wounds cause dizziness, delirium, and can sometimes have only headachey symptoms, fooling a victim into believing they’re fine. My mom warned me to always check the pupils of a head wound patient. If they don’t contract or dilate to a light source, there’s a possibility of something more serious.
After his battle, Mitsunari stumbled off, believing he was okay after suffering multiple blunt force traumas. The pain might’ve made him sleepy so he could just stumble off and end up dying hours or days later from complications.
Today is my mother’s birthday. I have never been any good at picking flowers. Mother doesn’t let anyone pick flowers in the yard, so all I can pick are dandelions. That’s okay; I like dandelions. Kojuuro showed me how to blow all the fuzz off. Today, I pick all of the dandelions and bring them to Kojuuro. He gives me some blue flowers! He says they’re called high-yuh-cinth. Hyacinth. I think my mother will love them.
so my mind’s concept of Evilyasu goes beyond the fact that his fanmade longcoat has the Toyotomi colors. Initially, it was an AU premise that Ieyasu never reneged against the Toyotomi, never disagreed with their authoritarian ideas, and never killed Hideyoshi. But as time passed and I saw more pictures of Black!Yasu with evil or bloody premises, I kinda switched gears into where Mitsunari’s accusations of a hypocrite Ieyasu have achieved physical form. That Black!Yasu is actually Ieyasu the way Mitsunari vilifies him.
a.k.a. a sociopath
Black!Yasu or Evilyasu as I’ll call him from now on would show no real concern or empathy for others, but rather act like he does to make people trust and love him. He doesn’t actually care, but he’s drawn to their attention on him and their misery. Basically he’s emotionally manipulative in that regard. The faith they put in him is kind of a underlying god complex with how he can control them through his charisma. Sociopaths are intensely charismatic, little care for right or wrong, and frequently put themselves in situations where they are in control. Other people would be nothing more than miserable toys.
Then there’s the possessive parts. Evilyasu would consider Mitsunari as “his” and be possessive of him for his own purposes. He wants to be the one to kill Mitsunari. No one else can kill him. Evilyasu wants to see him miserable the most and to snuff his life. Perhaps to feed that creator side, a delusion of “saving Mitsunari” in a sense, such as he’s “saving these people” and “creating bonds”. That delusion that others are dependent on him, that they need him. He has always been concerned about his own appearance in the eyes of others. Another facet of his Evilyasu self is jealousy. That Mitsunari has always been the Toyotomi Golden Child. That other lords are so powerful and glorious like Nobunaga and Shingen. That brats like Masamune are so loved and powerful, yet he is Takechiyo, fixated on making a name for himself yet depending on Tadakatsu. I think such inferiority burned into Evilyasu something terrible.
Mitsunari would have such a complex about ever joining Ieyasu’s side because he feels that if he ever listened to Ieyasu, he’d be turning his back on his lord and his values. Such perceived disloyalty would cause a schism so deep that he’d resort to seppuku to regain his honor. So to avoid that, he has an unyielding wall against Ieyasu. No matter what, Ieyasu will cause him to die. If he lets Ieyasu come in, he’ll die like Hideyoshi. If he listens to Ieyasu’s words, he’ll feel so guilty that he’ll die. Then, when he’s killed Ieyasu and has nothing else, he essentially dies because no one has given him something to live for.
I do believe that Ieyasu’s fighting style is the most masochistic way to fight.
He takes up a burden with his hands. He hurts himself with every punch. Unlike swords that break and must be reforged, unlike spears whose poles can shatter and must be remade, the hands are a part of the body. Knuckles and wrists can break, but the pain is something that he will always have to live with. Ieyasu can’t mount his own arms on a wall after he’s done fighting with them. He will have to live with the blood and the scars forever. With every single day, he will know that he had to fight his way to get to where he is. With every blow, he has to feel flesh bruising and bones breaking beneath his fists.
Ieyasu has to have resolve with every blow because he has to throw it personally. Fists make it personal. To bludgeon someone to death every time you’re in battle gives a testament to how personal he takes his burden. He used to fight with a spear and could easily go back to it, but he saw how hands can do evil when it came to the Toyotomi. He wants hands to do good and he takes it upon himself to carve his way through blood and bone, even if it means breaking his own hands to do so.
date masamune — lost in the echo
♣/♣/♣/♣/♣/♣ — I chose lost in the echo to show his transformation from sickly Bontenmaru to stately Masamune. Lyrics such as “Then sorrow, then sickness, then the shock when you flip it on me. So hollow, so vicious, so afraid I couldn’t let myself see” depicted a tumultuous world for the Date eldest. Having a mother such as Yoshihime presented a nightmare in real life, to the point where his bottled-up emotions turned into rage—“Forget the rest, let them know my hell.” Killing Kojiro and attacking his mother, then dealing with his father’s death, Masamune started off reckless and violent, a ruthless demon carving his way out of Oshuu. Yet he learned. “I’ve seen that frustration, been crossed and lost and told “No” and I’ve come back unshaken, let down and lived and let go. So you can let it be known, I don’t hold back, I hold my own, I can’t be mapped, I can’t be cloned, I can’t C-flat, it ain’t my tone. I can’t fall back. I came too far. Hold myself up and love my scars.” Masamune grew into something better thanks to the support of his Clan. That arrogance and confidence came from them, from the desire to protect them. “No, you can tell ‘em all now. I don’t back up. I don’t back down. I don’t fold up, and I don’t bow. I don’t roll over, don’t know how. I don’t care where the enemies are. Can’t be stopped, all I know—go hard! Won’t forget how I got this far.”
Once upon a time, there lived a little boy. His father was a samurai, and it was expected that he follow his honored sire’s example. He trained hard, obeyed his teachers, and paid homage to the Buddha to protect his family. One of his servants made a toy for the boy, saying, “Now, Keimatsu-sama, you must not let your father see.” The toy fox, made of linen and fur, became a cherished object. The boy hid it from his father. At nights, he’d keep it close, tucked under his chin.
seize the day, take your beatings, lead the way or decay as you fall down
art by 黒かび on pixiv.net
original image source – anonymous Admin Note: I would just like to say, I sincerely apologize on my lack of activity. I am now capable of editing images again (well, it wasn’t necessary but i like to make them nice), but even then I had failed and neglected this blog a bit then. Fortunately, tomorrow is my last day of school, finals have finished today, and hopefully I’ll continue making confessions.
People calling the Maeda Clan two-faced liars in the sengoku basara tag
and bitching out Keiji cause all he does is smile like Ieyasu just to get people to do what he wants
Yeah how about you try to deal with the fact that your values and your people’s safety goes in two different directions? The Maeda Clan had to take care of Kaga first and foremost because they were lord and lady of that land, bound to its people by vows of honor and sacrifice. They would rather submit to Nobunaga and deal with his shit rather than put their people up for slaughter, end up losing to Nobunaga, and then have everything they tried to save end up dying in a wall of fire. They were caught between a rock and a hard spot. You think Nobunaga gave a fuck about the Maeda Clan? No, because he certainly didn’t give a fuck about the Azai Clan. Toshiie and Keiji took up arms against each other in the anime, and they say why they’re fighting. Who the fuck are you to call them two-faced for trying to juggle their own safety and the safety of their people?
And Keiji, who saw his best friend murder Nene because Hideyoshi felt love was a worthless emotion, who jumped in front of MATSUNAGA HIMSELF to protect Hideyoshi, who rode Matsukaze in front of Hideyoshi’s army to stop him and ended up getting trampled? Excuse me? He has a smile on his face to hide the goddamn pain he goes through. Him and Ieyasu both. Ieyasu grew up in the Toyotomi household after Nobunaga betrayed him, but his values led him to believe that Hideyoshi was wrong, just as Keiji did. He had to kill the very man he called “lord”. He had to kill the very man his best friend idolized. Ieyasu and Keiji smile because it’s the only thing that keeps them from breaking into a million fucking pieces. If they didn’t smile, if they didn’t have love and support, they’d turn into hollow rust-laden machines like how Mitsunari is. Keiji wants to show love in the miserable Sengoku Era because there isn’t none left. Hell, even Ieyasu loses himself when he fights against Mitsunari, and Keiji interrupts them at the battle of Sekigahara to knock some sense into their heads. People forget their fucking humanity in war, and you consider him a two-faced bastard because he and Ieyasu want people to get their humanity back?
Do some character research before you bring up this bullshit again.
House Stark - Winter is Coming - Otani Yoshitsugu
A propagator of misery, Yoshitsugu is a wintry one. He would be fond of the whole “winter is coming” business because it’s very threatening. It foreshadows Mitsunari’s descent (whether it’s his fall into hell or his descent upon his foes). Much like Ned Stark is Hand of the King, Yoshitsugu is Mitsunari’s right hand man. The gray direwolf is a good symbol for the Dark King Yoshitsugu serves. While Ned is accused of treason, Yoshitsugu actually is a schemer. However, in the end, both are killed by their loyalty (as Arya Stark says of her father). BASARA-verse, Yoshitsugu throws himself to the wolves for Mitsunari. Historically, he marched to the battlefield as a dying man, mostly blind, and yet commanded his entire battalion at Mitsunari’s flank to protect him. When Hideaki defected, Yoshitsugu predicted it and readied himself for it, fighting to the end. He was beheaded, just like Ned Stark.
