Shugen Yamada Asaemon Husbando

Yamada Asaemon Shugen is a minor antagonist of Hell's Paradise: Jigokuraku. He was the Yamada clan's 2nd rank Asaemon and a previous Assistant Instructor. After the shogun became impatient of the first team acquiring the Elixir of Life on Kotaku, Shugen became the de facto leader of a second team sent to acquire the elixir. Upon landing on the island and finding evidence of his Asaemon allies dead, Shugen ordered the team to eliminate the surviving criminals and any monsters they found on sight. Shugen had chin-length hair with bangs that frame the sides of his face and slight hints of shadow below his eyes. His attire differed from the standard uniform of an Asaemon, being that he was clad in black due to wearing a black robe and hakama, instead of the standard white, and wore a matching colored kataginu. After his confrontation with Rien, Shugen lost his right arm up to his elbow. Shugen also received burned marks to his face after recklessly charging towards Rien to attack while she was set on fire by Gabimaru's fire ninjutsu. Shugen was very dignified and diligent in his duties as an executioner and took great pride in being an Asaemon. He cared greatly for his Yamada clansmen, having spent his years with them and being taught what they know, which was reflected in his abilities. He greatly expressed his concern for their safety on the island and vowed to bring them back home no matter what the means were. Furthermore, Shugen had a tendency to become emotional whenever he thought about his comrades. Even though the Yamada clan view women as inferior of becoming an executioner, Shugen was one of the rare few who do not believe in this belief as he vouched for Sagiri's qualifications in receiving a ranking and also did not think ill of Isuzu. It seemed that the only member he had a low opinion of was Jikka, who acted as his complete opposite, and did not take it lightly when he did not conduct himself in a dignified manner. Nevertheless, Shugen referred to him properly as his senior. Among his clan members, Shugen showed the most concern for Eizen, who was the one who took him in when he was young and promised to oversee his maturity as a Yamada Asaemon. After finding his corpse, Shugen broke down into tears and took the time to lay his soul to rest with a prayer. Shugen greatly despised all criminals and truly believed that they are evil no matter who they are. At a young age, Shugen could not understand the Yamada clan's way of thinking when executing criminals and believed that they should all deserve a painful death. He believed that it was pointless to task the criminals from the vanguard party to retrieve the Elixir of Life and expressed his concern of the thought of one of the assigned criminals completing the mission and receiving the pardon, stating that it would leave him with nightmares. He also did not place his trust in the Iwagakure ninja and viewed them no better than criminals as well. Shugen's disdain towards criminals originated from the time his parents were killed by a murderer and sought revenge against the killer by executing them. Shugen believed in order of all things in the world; the order in which those who abide by the law are to be protected while those who break them should be punished without mercy. As an executioner, Shugen had shown a great display of mercilessness when performing his duties. A great example is when he executed the captured underlings of the Silver Serpent yakuza group in order for their boss to reveal the remaining members that were not arrested and execute them as well. However, despite completing the task he was given, Shugen did not feel that justice had truly been fulfilled and moved towards executing the entire families of each member, showing no mercy in killing men and women, young or old, to infants. Although he was merciless in his duties, Shugen showed what little sympathy he had prior to executing the boss, shedding tears in hoping that he, along with the rest he executed, became righteous in the afterlife. Shion noted that no matter how critical the situation was Shugen would not stoop so low as to ally himself with criminals or allow any Asaemon to ally themselves with criminals as well, even going so far as to state that his arrival on the island only made matters worse rather than good for the allied leftover criminals and Asaemons of the vanguard. Isuzu also vouched for this when she explained to Sagiri that Shugen places this brand of justice above his own desires, which was proven true when he cut down Fuchi who protected Gantetsusai from his wrath despite the years they spent together as comrades. Despite this betrayal, Shugen still thought of Fuchi as a comrade and ordered the Iwagakure shinobi to help him if he was still alive as he made his way to Hōrai's floodgates. After finding the corpse of his fallen mentor, Shugen unleashed his ruthless, cruel nature and developed a more vengeful attitude, shedding a single tear of blood and furiously declared that he would kill every living thing on the island. He also became more violent and sadistic as he slowly carved away at a Dōshi until he told him everything he needed to know about the island. As they continue to travel the island and find the death of two more Asaemon, Jikka took note at how Shugen was acting more psychotic after resorting to using the whistle the Dōshi had earlier to summon the Mōnshin and carry them to Hōrai.