History Characters / Vagabond

* AntiClimaxBoss: While noted on many occasions as a formidable swordsman, one who may well be better than Denshichirō, he has no intention of dueling Musashi one on one as the Yoshioka brothers did, instead simply planning to have his small army of Yoshioka retainers and students gang up on Musashi and murder him. Musashi, knowing about the ambush, gets the better of Ueda by springing a surprise attack from out of the wilderness and attacking Ueda and the small group of guards around him first, dealing Ueda a mortal wound before Ueda even had a chance to react.

* WeaponForIntimidation: At one point he tries to block Musashi from going to confront Denshichirō with a pistol in hand. When Musashi doesn't back down, Ueda admits he doesn't even know how to really use the gun and discards it.

* TheWorfEffect: Early in the series, Toji goes on a self-appointed mission to kill Musashi after Musashi's first conflict with the Yoshioka, and at the time with the two swordsmen seem to be on roughly about the same level, with Toji probably having an edge thanks to better formal teaching, more dueling experience, and the simple fact that Toji is more than willing to use a live katana against Musashi's bokken. Inshun swatting him aside and then casually dodging Toji's attack shows that there is a much higher level of warrior than the reader had seen thus far. When Toji reappears and is easily beaten by Musashi (despite the fact that Musashi is still recovering from the wounds he sustained fighting Seijuro), it's an easy way to indicate exactly how much stronger Musashi had become compared to the first few volumes.

* FaceOfAThug: Denshichirō looks intimidating between his height, muscular build, and stoic public face, and he ''is'' a capable swordsman who is very conscious and protective of his samurai name and pride, but he is also a much warmer, more generous, and caring towards the Yoshioka followers than his brother is.

* AntiClimaxBoss: While noted on many occasions as a formidable swordsman, one who may well be better than Denshichirō, he has no intention of dueling Musashi one on one as the Yoshioka brothers did, instead simply planning to have his small army Yoshioka retainers and students gang up on Musashi and murder him. Musashi, knowing about the ambush, gets the better of Ueda by springing a surprise attack from out of the wilderness and attacking Ueda and the small group of guards around him first, dealing Ueda a mortal wound before Ueda even had a chance to react.

* MercifulMinion: During Musashi's first clash with the Yoshioka, Ueda started to duel Musashi himself, and was planning on trying to see Musashi off after giving him an injury that he believed would force Musashi to stop fighting, like a broken arm. Denshichiro arrived and pointed out that Ueda's line of thought and said that Musashi wasn't the sort who would give up after such an injury, and the Yoshioka were going to need to kill Musashi to get rid of him.

* WoundThatWillNotHeal: He uses the last of his strength to crawl close to Musashi and deal him a serious wound to the leg. This wound will hobble Musashi for many volumes to come and won't seem to heal and mend no matter what Musashi does.

%%* SwornBrothers: He has this relationship with Kojiro.

* TheWoundThatWillNotHeal: He uses the last of his strength to crawl close to Musashi and deal him a serious wound to the leg. This wound will hobble Musashi for many volumes to come and won't seem to heal and mend no matter what Musashi does.

* BloodBrothers: He has this relationship with Kojiro.

The series' protagonist, Takehiko Inoue's take on the legendary sword saint, Musashi Miyamoto. In this telling, Musashi grew up as a half-feral child outside of Miyamoto village, yearning for glory and to prove his worth and strength. As a teenager he goes off to war with his best/only friend Matahachi, but sees that on a battlefield of time strength and ability with a sword mean very little, as bows and guns dominate.

The second son of Kempō Yoshioka. Although he lacks the innate skill of the prodigy Seijuro, Denshichiro is devoted to his training and is much more involved with the Yoshioka School than Seijuro.

* NoSocialSkills: He is aloof and cool to his peers, to the point they come to resent him. There is absolutely no malice in this, and Inshun frequently even comes across as somewhat jovial, but he simply has no idea how to talk to other people or socialize successfully.

* ProfessionalButtKisser: Towards In'ei

* TheStarscream: He wants to supplant Inshun as the second generation master of the Hōzōin

An old, retired swordsman who was once famous throughout the land but is now washed up. Kojiro's father was one of his students, and shortly before his death Kojiro's desperate father sent an infant Kojiro to Jisai in hopes that his master will raise the boy. Jisai does take in the boy and raises Kojirō as his son.

* AintTooProudToBeg: He's so devoted to Kojirō that begging the villagers for food doesn't bother him.

A famous swordsman and former student of Jisai.

* ItsAllAboutMe: While other characters start to seek deeper things in life the more the series goes on, he never seeks spiritual growth and calls Sekishūsai's "way of without a blade" nonsense.

* TheBigGuy
* BigLittleBrother: Towers over his smaller, thinner, and older brother, Seijuro

The series' protagonist, Takehiko Inoue's take on the legendary sword saint, Musashi Miyamoto.

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* AdaptationalBadass: Musashi had never single-handedly [[spoiler:defeated the entire Yoshioka school]], before ''Vagabond''.

* BreakTheHaughty: Musashi's greatest flaws are his overconfidence in his skills and his constant desire to prove himself. It is only when he suffers his first real defeat at the hands of [[spoiler:Inshun]] that he recognizes the value of respecting his opponents and how narrow-minded his own view of his swordsmanship truly was.

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Musashi's rival. A [[HandicappedBadass deaf-mute]] but prodigious young swordsman.
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* {{Determinator}}

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/yoshioka_seijuro.jpg]]

* AntiVillain: For a large part of the series Seijūrō is presented as the main villain (at least to Musashi) but he is far from evil. He loves his brother, and extended family and fights to protect them. Initially he looks like a regular *ArrogantKungFuGuy but in reality Musashi was the one who picked a fight with him and then used dirty tactics to win their duel. The only reason Seijūrō even accepted in the first place was because Musashi was a threat to his little brother. Seijūrō is fighting to protect his family and for honor whereas Musashi is fighting because he wants to be seen as the strongest.

** While seemingly happy to tease and torment his younger brother, in private Seijūrō admits that ha actually cares a great deal about Denshichirō and worries about his safety. Furthermore, after being killed by Musashi, it's shown that there are a great number of scars on his body, and Ryōhei instantly deduces that Seijūrō has likely secretly fought off many other threats to the school and Denshichirō the same way he attempted to do with Musashi.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/04_6.png]]

** He insists on fighting his rematch with Musashi even though he is clearly outmatched and stands nothing to win.

* OverShadowedByAwesome: Skilled and dedicated swordsman, but hopelessly outranked by his brother and eventually Musashi as well.
* SiblingYinYang: Very much so. Seijūrō is a carefree pretty boy blessed with supreme talent and confidence, and Denshichirō is a stern hulk of a man who works hard trying to be as good as his brother.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ueda_ryohei_5.jpg]]

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/toji_copy.png]]

* CombatPragmatist: Toji doesn't care if all you have is a practice weapon or a bokken, he will use his sword against you to lethal effect regardless.

* TheWorfEffect: Early in the series, Toji goes on a self-appointed mission to kill Musashi after Musashi's first conflict with the Yoshioka, and at the time with the two swordsmen seem to be on roughly about the same level, with Toji perhaps having an edge thanks to better formal teaching, more dueling experience, and the simple fact that Toji is more than willing to use a live katana against Musashi's bokken. Inshun swatting him aside and then casually dodging Toji's attack shows that there is a much higher level of warrior than the reader had seen thus far. When Toji reappears and is easily beaten by Musashi (despite the fact that Musashi is still recovering from the wounds he sustained fighting Seijuro), it's an easy way to indicate exactly how much stronger Musashi had become compared to the first few volumes.

* OldMaster: A tiny, wrinkled old man with decades of combat experience. Although he no longer breaks out his fighting ability, he still has it and is a

* ArrogantKungFuGuy: Not as much of {{Jerkass}} about it as some others, but he certainly doesn't hide his supreme confidence in his own abilities.

* NoSocialSkills: He is aloof and cool to his peers, to the point they come to resent him. There is absolutely no malice in this, and Inshun frequently even comes across as somewhat jovial, but he simply has no idea how to talk to other people and socialize successfully.

* WakeUpCallBoss: After fighting Inshun it really dawns on Musashi that there are still fighters much stronger than him.

!!Tropes

* HeroicNeutral: The Yagyū clan have always kept out of the conflicts of the greater clans.

[[quoteright:275:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/jisai_vagabond.jpg]]

* NervousWreck: Jisai's nerves were shattered in battle, likely due to being defeated by his former student Ittosai. The villagers initially write him off as a coward and think he's pulling a scam when he tries to open up a sword school as a last ditch effort to avoid poverty. When he volunteers to fight Fudō, Jisai keeps hesitating, and basically every few steps along the way he loses his composure, then has to force himself out of anxious paralysis and keep going.

* PapaWolf: His near paralysis at the thought of fighting again and facing Fudō ends the moment that he realizes that Kojiro may be in danger due to Fudō, and Jisai ''immediately'' and fearlessly charges into battle.

!!Tropes

!!Tropes

* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: Fudō has a lot of strange mannerisms, such as speaking to himself in odd ways or walking around nearly naked, he does things like forget to take his sword with him when Kojiro and Tenki set fire to his hut and then calmly walks back into the burning building to retrieve it, barely reacts to the loss of his hand, etc. Considering the rest of his character, it's chilling and unsettling, because nobody knows how he's going to react or overreact to something at any time.

* WouldNotHurtAChild: Very downplayed. When early teens Kojiro and Tenki go to attack him, Fudō says that he doesn't want to kill a child when he has Tenki at his mercy, but he does believe he needs to instill some fear so Tenki won't attempt to attack him again. So he begins cutting up Tenki's face, thinking it'll teach the boy a lesson and make Tenki and others from the village too scared to attempt something like that again.

* SiblingYinYang: Very much so. Seijūrō is a carefree pretty boy blessed with supreme talent and confidence, and Denshichirō is a stern, hulk of a man, who works hard trying to be as good as his brother.

* StiffUpperLip: His trademark attitude is smoking his pipe and ponder. He is introduced this way when Musashi first comes to the Yoshioka dojo and is killing many disciples. But this attitude becomes truly evident during the Battle of Ichijōji, when he is seriously wounded with half of his face cut and he rests under a tree, calmly smoking his trademark pipe while ravens flock to eat his flesh.

* OedipusComplex: He had a complicated relationship with his father, Munisai Shinmen, to say the least. Takezō tried to kill him several times as a child, and as a young man he becomes obsessed with surpassing him. [[spoiler:He eventually overcomes the haunting memories of his father, when he defeats Baiken Shishido.]]

* IaijutsuPractitioner: When Musashi first encounters Seijuro, he marvels at how fast Seijuro's draw is. anot

* {{Bishonen}}

* {{Bishonen}}

* HeirToTheDojo:

An old, retired swordsman who's washed up and raises Kojirō as his son after his parents die.

* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: Fudō has a lot of odd mannerisms, speaks to himself in odd ways, does things like forget to take his sword with him when Kojiro and Tenki set fire to his hut and then calmly walks back into the burning build to retrieve it, barely react to the loss of his hand, etc. Considering the rest of his character, it's chilling and unsettling, because nobody knows how he's going to react or overreact to something at any time.

* MajorInjuryUnderreaction: He more or less takes his hand being cut off in stride after the initial surprise.

* StarterVillain: The first major antagonist Kojiro tries to face... and he's actually too much for a young and completely untutored Kojiro to handle, despite Kojiro getting in a lucky blow that takes off one of Fudō's hands. Jisai has to step in to save his adopted son.

* IaijutsuPractitioner: When Musashi first encounters Seijuro, he marvels at how fast Seijuro's draw is.

* BigLittleBrother: Towers over his smaller and thinner older brother Seijuro

* BackForTheDead: After being absent from the story for a long stretch of time, he reappears as a dirty wanderer. Hearing the news that Musashi killed Seijūrō, he launches a reckless suicide attack on Musashi, and is cut down in a single move, [[TheWorfEffect highlighting exactly how much Musashi has improved]].

* BreakTheBadass: His entire ego and sense of self-worth is built around his ability as a swordsman, so the realization that that Inshun would have easily defeated him is a shattering blow to his confidence and ego. Failing to kill Musashi doesn't do his pride any good either. He never returns to the Yoshioka, and when he finally reappears in the story, he's a mess from a year of homeless wandering.

* NervousWreck: Jisai's nerves were shattered in battle, likely due to being defeated by his former student Ittosai. The villagers initially write him off as a coward and think he's pulling a scam when he tries to open up a sword school as a last ditch effort to avoid poverty. When he volunteers to fight Fudō, they note that Jisai keeps hesitating, and basically every few steps along the way, as he basically loses his composure, then has to force himself out of anxious paralysis repeatedly.

* OverprotectiveDad: Refuses to teach Kojirō the sword time and again, fearing the day that Kojirō would be struck down in a meaningless battle.

* ShaggyDogStory: His attempt to find Kojiro and bring him the certificate of swordsmanship ends in this. While traveling near a castle under construction, he is mistaken for a spy and killed by the local soldiers. He can only leave the certificate to Matahachi in hopes that it will somehow reach Kojiro after his death.

* BadassDecay: we first see Jisai as a fallen master that now lives in extreme poverty.
** TookALevelInBadass: eventually, he recovers some of his thunder during the fight against Yūgetsusai Fudō.

** After Kojirō's win against Denshichirō, he concedes that the cosmos has bigger plans for him, and [[SugarWiki/CrowningMomentOfAwesome writes a certificate that lets Kojirō practice his sword style]]. However, as Kojirō leaves home before he can hand over the certificate, it becomes a {{McGuffin}} that has to be presented to him.

* AnimalMotifs: Ittōsai thinks of himself as a tiger. Both Mushashi and Sekishūsai liken him to a bear.
* BlindedByRage: Downplayed somewhat. When he fights Musashi, Musashi is compensating for an injured leg by remaining still within a circle that he draws in the ground with a walking stick, and telling challengers that they can leave and Musashi will do them no harm, but if they enter the circle, Musashi will kill them. The circle is exactly as large as the reach of Musashi's sword, so it acts as a visual aid to Musashi, letting him time his strikes perfectly and make up for the fact that he has no mobility thanks to his lingering injury. Ittōsai immediately grasps the purpose of the circle, but he becomes so infuriated by Musashi refusing to meet his bloodlust and aggression in kind that he eventually charges into the circle, and takes a serious [[spoiler:perhaps even fatal]] wound from Musashi doing so instead of finding a sway to outsmart Musashi's stratagem.

* BrokenPedestal: Very downplayed, but as a child Musashi idolized Ittōsai and envisioned him as something like a demon god and aimed to follow Ittōsai's example. By the time that Musashi encounters him (aside from the brief encounter Musashi doesn't remember in the wake of Sekigahara), Musashi is trying to let go of his dark bloodlust and violent tendencies, and no longer wants to be like Ittōsai, and the encounter seems to convince Musashi that he's taking the right path in doing so.

* TheDreaded: Between his skill in battle, incredible bloodlust, and complete amorality, he's likely the single most dangerous man in Japan. Everyone who knows his reputation treats him accordingly.

* ItsAllAboutMe: While other characters start to seek deeper things in life the more the series goes on, he never seeks spiritual growth and calls Sekishūsai's "way of without a blade" as nonsense.

* UncertainDoom: [[spoiler:He's wounded in his fight against Musashi, and while he manages to walk away, it's clear that the wound is seriously bothering him, as he collapses at one point and is last seen laying under a tree. It's left ambiguous if he dies from the wound (or an infection setting in afterward) or not.]]