| Dakuan | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Name Information | |
| Kanji | 濁庵 |
| Kana | だくあん |
| Rōmaji | Dakuan |
| Series Information | |
| Debut | Movie |
| Appearances | Ninja Scroll Ninja Scroll: The Series |
| Original Dub | Takeshi Aono (Movie) Yuzuru Fujimoto (Series) |
| English Dub | Rudy Luzion (Movie) Dwight Schultz (Series) |
| Personal Information | |
| Gender | Male |
| Relations | Unknown |
| Affiliation | Tokugawa Shogunate |
| Status | Active |
Dakuan is a fictional character from the Ninja Scroll and Ninja Scroll: The Series. He is one of the major characters from the franchise and a spy for the Tokugawa Shogunate.
Personality[]
Dakuan is a spy for the Tokugawa clan who is opposing Shogun of the Toyotomi clan. He is a shrewd and underhanded little man. Underestimating him because of his size would be a major mistake. He, like Jūbei, is very clever, but unlike Jūbei, can be a little sadistic. It seems that he is willing to do anything to fulfill his mission, even blackmail innocent people with lethal means and "silence" them at the end of the day. Although, he was later planning on leading Jūbei towards Tokugawa headquarters in order to hand him an eternal reward, but when Jūbei gets Dakuan's gold bars cut out of his pockets and dropped to the sea, Dakuan decides to leave Jūbei in his already injured state and let the flora and fauna kill Jūbei off instead.
Dakuan never engages in open battle, preferring to sneak around, gather information and work from the shadows. Only when forced does he resort to fighting, and even then he uses his wits and actively avoids a direct encounter.
In the 2003 series, his personality seems to be a bit softer, but he still definitely can't be called a very nice person. At first, he appears to help Shigure and Tsubute, but soon it turns out that he has also private goals. Although stronger and smarter than Tsubute, Dakuan is equally squirrelly and is revealed to be after the treasure of the Dragon Jewel himself. While old and not very physically imposing, he makes use of clever tactics as well as his extendable staff and various explosive to win fights.
Appearance[]
He is an old man with a long beard whose disguise is a Buddhist priest. His staff, which is associated to the Buddhist faith, as well as his hat and advanced age, make him pass as an old monk, but of course, he is actually a ninja spy. He has grey-blueish eyes that bulge out when excited. Dakuan is really short person. He barely reaches Jūbei's waist even with his hat. His face design is definitely more cartoonish than other characters, making him look a bit grotesque.
Biography[]
Dakuan is believed to be hundreds of years old and possesses some magic abilities. He was sent to investigate and stop the Eight People of Kimon and their allies, the Shogun of the Dark who wish to overthrow the shogunate. He commits Jūbei Kibagami to his cause by stabbing him with a poisoned shuriken and promising him an antidote and 100 pieces of gold only after the devils have been defeated. When he is attacked by Shijima, Dakuan evades his claw and disguises himself as a tree branch to avoid confrontation.
Abilities[]
Dakuan has the ability to camouflage himself to literally blend in with his environment, extraordinary healing, and wields a Shakujō which can extend itself, enabling him to use it to vault to high places. His camouflage skill is shown as he disappears leaving his kimono behind when he is about to be killed by Shijima. As his camouflage skill seem to work only in his flesh body, it becomes necessary for him to get nude in order to do his camouflage trick.
His ringed staff was used in real life to warn everybody of the carrier's presence, which makes it a quite inadequate tool for someone who is trying to hide himself, however it is arguably part of his disguise, and he is still skilled enough to hide his presence without making it sound. His advanced age hasn't dulled his effectiveness as a government spy much. Dakuan is good enough in infiltration that only a fellow expert like Shijima can hope to catch him, and still the Kimon ninja fails at locating him at the end.
He has no supernatural skills in this series, or at least never uses them, unlike Jūbei, who has his own sword skills amped up. His main asset on the battlefield is his ability to set explosives without his enemies noticing. He is not a hand-to-hand warrior and have almost only his extensible staff as an offensive weapon, but he is agile and tricky enough (and carries enough gunpowder) to overcome this weakness. Also, in the movie it is shown that he carries shurikens, one of the few classic ninja weapons.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- "Dakuan" means "Impure Monk," referring to his fake monk disguise. It also hints that, as he is a spy, it might not be his real name.