This is not history as we know it.
Tenkaichi: Nihon Saikyo Bugeisha Ketteisen (lit: "Strongest Under Heaven: Battle To Decide Japan's Best Martial Artist") is an Alternate History Fighting Series Manga written by Yosuke Nakamaru (author of Gamaran ) and illustrated by Kyotaro Azuma. It began serialization in the seinen publication Monthly Young Magazine in 2021.In a World… where Oda Nobunaga did not perish at Honnō-ji and succeeded in unifying all of Japan under his banner, the infamous Demon King of the Sixth Heaven ushered a decade of peace and prosperity before being struck with the revelation that he is not long for this world. A successor must be named before a crisis can unravel everything that he has built. But Nobunaga, desiring to see human struggle and bloodshed one last time before he kicks the bucket, declares that he will personally hand over his mantle to whoever can produce the strongest warrior in the country.
And thus the titular Tenkaichi was born! A bloody, no-holds-barred Combat by Champion tournament where 16 of the land's most notorious combatants representing their respective patrons have gathered to fight to the death over the future of Japan.
Tenkaichi provides examples of:
- Alternate History: This is not history as we know it. For starters, Oda Nobunaga has unified the country successfully, with most of his vassals, even rival ones, still alive to join the tournament.
- Amazonian Beauty: Fuma Kotaro the Sixth is a busty, curvaceous, Statuesque Stunner Action Girl who is absolutely jacked as a result of the inhumane medical experiments the Fuma Clan subjected her to.
- Anyone Can Die: As shown pretty quickly, it is very difficult to say who will prevail in the tournament, no matter how strong or hyped they are.
- Battle Aura: When the fighter gets really serious, a massive, ominous aura appears behind them, each themed after the character:
- Honda Tadakatsu has two massive Nioh statues, as his attacks have a buddhist motif.
- When Kotaro activates her Miyabi Orochi, a nightmarish serpent-like creature made of interwined women's bodies manifests around her.
- Toda''s "Zen" appears as a creepy black ghost figure behind him, while his Eyes of the White Night manifests as a blob of eyeballs around him. When he focuses his perception around his opponent, the ghost now appears as a dome of shadow with eyes all over it.
- William Adams' aura is that of a humongous sea monster.
- Munenori Yagyu has a terrifying-looking Shinigami hovering behind him.
- Kamiizumi has a "deity" resembling a robed humanoid figure without facial traits and with arms shaped like a DNA helix.
- Kojiro, in spite of his feminine beauty, has a truly hideous-looking, obese bug-like monster with an eyeball in his mouth.
- BFS: Honda Tadakatsu's precious Tonbokiri is at least twice as long as he's tall... and he towers over pretty much everyone else.
- Blood Knight: The entire reason the Tenkaichi Tournament exists in the first place is because of a terminally ill Oda Nobunaga wanting to witness a ultraviolent spectacle before he passes away. The tournament itself is also rife with contestants who signed on specifically to enjoy a good brawl even if it means suffering a brutal death at the hands of a stronger opponent.
- Butterfly of Doom: Honda Tadakatsu's loss to Miyamoto Musashi results in Tokugawa Ieyasu being written off as a potential successor to Nobunaga. This means that the entire Edo Period as we know it, all 260 years of peace and prosperity under the Tokugawa Shogunate, never happens.
- Camp Gay: Nobunaga's page Mori Ranmaru is portrayed as a androgynous Drag Queen who serves as both the Tournament's bombastic ringside announcer as well as the primary source of comic relief in the story.
- Combat Pragmatist: As befitting a Ninja, Hattori Hanzo is a master of underhanded tactics, among other things, using his cape to obscure his attacks, bringing explosives, kunai, and even using some psychological manipulation.
- Charles Atlas Superpower: Togo Shigekata was once an ordinary samurai who narrowly survived the Shimazu Clan's defeat at the hands of Oda Nobunaga's forces during the Kyushu Campaign. But before he could take his own life, he was inspired by the sight of a single Katana standing amongst a field of corpses. Determined to become a Living Weapon akin to the lone blade he witnessed that day, Togo decided to cast aside everything to hone his swordsmanship skills with a slavish devotion. By the time everything was said and done, Togo was now capable of cleaving an entire man in half with a single sword stroke and possesses enough raw strength to potentially rival Hino Choko himself.
- Decoy Protagonist: We spend the entire first chapter from the POV of Honda Tadakatsu and Ieyasu Tokugawa. Tadakatsu falls in the first round against Miyamoto Musashi, showcasing that in this tournament anything goes.
- Demon King Nobunaga: Oda Nobunaga is extremely cruel and called "Demon King", sitting on a magnificent throne adorned with a palanquin of skulls and pulled around by a giant sumoka with a Oni mask (Choko). Downplayed in that he's currently wizened, toothless and senile, though he used to be much more terrifying back when he was young.
- Dude Looks Like a Lady: While the story features several Pretty Boy characters across its diverse cast, Sasaki Kojiro takes the cake for being a Raven Hair, Ivory Skin Beauty who is so androgynous under his Noh mask that even Ranmaru can't discern Kojiro's gender on first glance. This gets Played for Drama during Kojiro's Flashback B-Plot, where its revealed that his attractiveness within a martial arts school full of hormonal teen boys compounded with a complete lack of self-awareness over the effect he had on them all radically increased Kojiro's likelihood of being gangraped by his peers. Its also heavily implied that the young Kojiro probably would've been sexually assaulted a long time ago had Kuro not been there to watch his back.
- Fanservice Extra: Kamiizumi is escorted by two beautiful women with enormous breasts, exposed by their loose kimono, willing to let him grope them at will.
- Historical Badass Upgrade: This is a running theme with every single Historical Domain Character participating in the tournament, but special mention goes to Yasuke. In real life, Yasuke was one of the most obscure and enigmatic of Oda Nobunaga's retainers by virtue of the scant amount of information surrounding his life and the conflicting accounts regarding what happened to him after being captured by Mitsuhide. But here in Tenkaichi? Yasuke is portrayed as Nobunaga's Dreaded Right Hand Man and a Living Legend of the same caliber as John Wick.Oda Nobutada: You are not merely another retainer of father's, serving by his side because you piqued his curiosity. When that Lord of Lords' head was the most sought-after in all of Japan, you were his Imperial Guard. One of the only two whom he wished to be beside him in battle. Droves of spears, hails of arrows, and armor piercing iron guns...in that hellscape of a battlefield where death came in all forms, you and Hino Choko of the "Godly Physique" were the two warriors who preserved father's life. You are without a doubt...the "Strongest Living Shield."
- Historical Domain Character: Every contestant (and by extension the respective lords they represent) have a real-life counterpart who was active during Japan's Sengoku Period. The only real exception is the current Fuma Kotaro, who in this universe is a woman who surpassed the famed Fifth Kotaro and took his mantle for herself.
- Historical Villain Upgrade: The real life William Adams was an English Navigator who washed up on the shores of Japan and rose to become a respected diplomatic advisor to Tokugawa Ieyasu before settling down with a wife and two children. In the Tenkaichi universe, William is a sadistic serial rapist who massacred dozens of samurai upon reaching Japan's shores and demanded that Mohri Terumoto hand over as much booze and women he wants or else he'll murder him too and conquer his territory.
- Hypercompetent Sidekick: After the Tenkaichi was declared, Yasuke pledged his Undying Loyalty to Nobunaga's second son Oda Nobukatsu, who is seen by the other daimyo participating in the tournament as a incompetent fool who Yasuke's service is wasted on. And Nobukatsu, suffering from Chronic Self-Deprecation, actually agrees with the harsh assessments of his critics. But Yasuke dismisses Nobukatsu's crippling self-doubt and explains that he chose to serve him because he genuinely believes the Young Lord has what it takes to usher in a true era of peace for Japan.
- I Am Not Left-Handed: Played straight more often than not, with fighters waiting until they can gauge the opponent's strength before unleashing their ace up their sleeve. Deconstructed with William, who's overwhelmed by Munenori's Endless Cycle before he can use any more technique from the Dirk Dance.
- Life-or-Limb Decision: Tadakatsu realizes that he can win by spearing Musashi's heart only if he sacrifices his left arm to stop the latter's two swords. Knowing very well that he would had more battles ahead of him, he gambles on a riskier solution to kill Musashi without sacrificing his arm, but it costs him his life.
- Logical Weakness: Toda Seigen's special ability "White Night's Eye" grants him Daredevil-esque Hyper-Awareness to compensate for his blindness. So Fuma Kotaro decides to immediately burst Seigen's ear drums via Shockwave Clap, permanently crippling his spatial awareness for the rest of the match. The fact that Seigen is also a Dented Iron Old Master while Kotaro is a Super-Soldier who can augment her already freakish physicality even further via Psycho Serum, means that Seigen is worn down to a point where he has no choice but to fall back on a Self-Destructive Charge to land a killing blow on Kotaro. It doesn't work.
- To a similar extent to Seigen, Sasaki Kojiro's special ability "Chart of Creation" puts his Sherlock Scan into overdrive, allowing him to also achive a state of Hyper-Awareness where he can No-Sell and hard counter his enemy's techniques to the exact second they make their move. But since this ability neccesstates Kojiro being able to see his opponent, all Hattori Hanzo needed to do was throw a smoke bomb to temporarily blind Kojiro while throwing his Whip Sword Odachi's tradjectory off-course. Kojiro also can only make the most out of his ability if he is 100% focused on his goal. Since Hanzo is both The Social Expert and a cunning Guile Hero, the Ninja immediatley starts exploiting Kojiro's insecurities via non-stop shit talking until the calculating swordsman is too pissed to notice he's walking right into Hanzo's traps.
- Made a Slave: Just like his historical counterpart, Yasuke (formally Yasawei) was enslaved as a child by the Portuguese shortly after witnessing them murder his family in cold blood.
- Not Quite Dead: Honda Tadakatsu pulls this to save Ieyasu from a volley of musket fire, apologize to him one last time and escort him out of the field.
- Old Master: Deconstructed through contestants Toda Seigen and Kamiizumi Nobutsuna. Both men are undisputed masters of their respective crafts with an entire lifetime's worth of combat experience under their belt, which manifests in the form of their incredible evasive abilities and superhuman reaction times. But at the end of the day, their respective advanced ages (Seigen is 83 while Nobutsuna is 93) puts them at an immense disadvantage against younger opponents who are still in their physical prime. This leads to Seigen getting ripped apart like wet tissue paper by Fuma Kotaro, while Nobutsuna just dies of natural causes after unlocking the "Gate of Celestial Awakening" during his fight with Choko.
- Point of Divergence: The Alternate History of Tenkaichi begins when Akechi Mitsuhide suddenly decides to not betray Nobunaga at Honnō-ji after receiving some kind of premonition of the future regarding how peaceful Japan would look like if another man succeeds in uniting the nation...and deeming that future too "boring" for his taste.
- Take Up My Sword: Both Hanzo and Honda had a strong Friendly Rivalry with each other during their youth, with the latter inspiring the former to fully embrace potential as a Guile Hero Ninja. So when Honda looses his life in the first round, Hanzo takes it upon himself to realize his friend's dream and even uses Honda's broken Tonbokiri as an instrumental part of his Batman Gambit against Sasaki Kojiro.
- Third-Person Person: Fuma Kotaro the Sixth speaks almost exclusively in the third person, a quirk she apparently had since her days as a young trainee within the Fuma Clan.
- Tournament Arc: The entire plot revolves around the titular Tenkaichi Tournament, where 16 fighters battle to the death in a series of brutal matches where the reigning champion will have their lord named the next ruler of Japan by Nobunaga himself.
- The first match is between a 16 year old Miyamoto Musashi, who in this timeline hit a plateau in his development as a duelist due to lacking challenging opponents to face, versus Honda Tadakatsu, one of the Tokugawa Clan's most famous generals and veteran of over 100 battles without facing any injury. Musashi wins.
- The second match is between Toda Seigen, a renown Blind Weaponmaster who uses a kodachi (short-sword) as his weapon of choice, versus Fuma Kotaro the Sixth, current domineering head of Fuma Ninja Clan who possesses inhuman strength and reflexes which she uses in tandem with her own unique Epic Flail variant of the Fuuma Shuriken. Kotaro wins.
- The third match is between a 29 year old Yagyu Munenori, bloodthirsty practitioner of the Yagyu Shinkage-ryu sword fighting style who is boasted to have no equal, versus William Adams, a barbaric Englishman who washed up on the shores of Japan and desires to Rape, Pillage, and Burn every inch of his new home. Munenori wins. By a landslide.
- The fourth match is between the sword-saint Kamiizumi Nobutsuna, an elderly veteran samurai famous for creating the Shinkage-ryū school of combat, versus Hino Choko, a behemoth of a rikishi who is dreaded as a demon for his herculean strength. Choko wins.
- The fifth match is between Hattori Hanzō, legendary Samurai Shinobi of the Tokugawa Clan and master Combat Pragmatist, versus Sasaki Kojiro, the enigmatic masked swordsman who uses Awesomeness by Analysis to radically amplify his lethality. Hanzo wins in a massive Dark Horse Victory via Ring Out, but Kojiro survived his Disney Villain Death and is now being sheltered by Akechi Mitsuhide.
- The sixth match is between Yasuke, the indomitable African samurai who once loyally served as The Dragon to Oda Nobunaga himself, versus Togo Shigekata, founder of the Jigen-ryu school of combat who is notorious for his Armor Piercing Attacks.
- Tyke Bomb: A key aspect of Sasaki Kojiro's Dark and Troubled Past is that he was one of the thirty orphaned children Kanemaki Jisai took under his tutelage for the express purpose of creating a Human Weapon that could serve as his instrument of revenge against his rivals. Ironically enough, Jisai despised Kojiro due to seeing him as a distraction to his star pupil Kuro, and plotted an entire Uriah Gambit specifically to get Kojiro killed and complete Kuro's training in one fell swoop. A gambit Gone Horribly Right when Kojiro decapitates Kuro instead before demanding Jisai to give him new orders.
- Uriah Gambit: Subverted. In order to get Kojiro killed and complete Kuro's training, Kanemaki Jisai tells the rest of his students that whoever can prove themselves to be the strongest among them in their next mission can have Kojiro as a Sex Slave while stoking their envy by claiming that Kuro was secretly planing to take Kojiro for himself. This leads to Jisai's students murdering one another until only Kuro and Kojiro were the only ones left standing. But since Jisai intentionally kept both Locked Out of the Loop over what was going on, Kojiro believed that Kuro had become yet another "demon" who murdered all of their friends when he was only defending himself, leading Kojiro to decapitate Kuro in a Duel to the Death. But at the end of the day, Jisai finally gained the coldblooded Human Weapon he desired so much. Just not the one he was personally betting on.
- Whip Sword: Sasaki Kojiro's Impossibly Cool Weapon, the Bewitched Sword: Monohoshizao Nagamitzu, has the almost supernatural ability to function as both a Odachi and a variable-length whip due to it being comprised of some kind of highly flexible alloy. With it, Kojiro was capable of parrying every shuriken Hanzo could throw at him while simultaneously striking the ninja at increasingly unpredictable angles.
- Whole-Plot Reference: A cruel and deranged warlord who nominates his successor with a tournament featuring the strongest warriors his potential successors can hire? Naosuke seems to really enjoy this.
