Sazanami Clan

Sazanami Clan
General Information
Japanese	漣 (さざなみ) 家 (け)
Romaji	Sazanami-ke
Leader(s)	Kyora Sazanami (11th Clan Head) †
Previous Leader(s)	Sora Sazanami (10th Clan Head) † 1st Clan Head †
Other Notable Members	The Tou: Soya Sazanami Tenri Sazanami † Tamaki Sazanami Enji Sazanami
Subgroup(s)	The Tou
Previous Affiliate(s)	Hishaku
Status	Unknown
Debut
Manga	Chapter 19

The Sazanami Clan (漣 (さざなみ) 家 (け) , Sazanami-ke) was a powerful criminal clan of sorcerers who were the proprietors of the Rakuzaichi, an annual auction which serves as a highly popular fixture in the Japanese underworld, and have administered this auction for over 200 years. They were associated with the Hishaku who donated the Enchanted Blade Shinuchi under the name of Genichi Sojo, formerly another associate of theirs, to be the highlight for their auction for their plans. The eleventh and most recent head of the Sazanami Clan was Kyora Sazanami, and following his death the current status of the clan is unknown.

They are the main antagonists in the Rakuzaichi Arc.

Overview

As one of the most prominent forces in the underworld and the proprietors of the most renowned black-market auction, the Sazanami Clan hold a great deal of respect. Having operated for at least 208 years, it can be assumed the Sazanami Clan have opposed all attempts to shut down the auction by their opponents, to the point where in the present day most people aware of the auction turn a blind eye to it, and focus on their own lives.

The Sazanami Clan holds enough influence among the underworld to enforce a strict three-person-per-party entry rule for the Rakuzaichi and are able to have the remaining criminal groups work together regardless of previous relations in order to protect the auction.

The first head of the Sazanami Clan possessed sorcery that gave him control over space. Using his innovation, he created the subspace known as the Storehouse and devised a way to pass it down from clan head to clan head.

Strength

The Sazanami Clan is renowned for their skill in sorcery, boasting 50 sorcerers capable enough to defend the entirety of the internal structure of the Rakuzaichi building without external assistance. They are renowned for their sorcery technique which allows them to manipulate shockwaves to strengthen their offense and movement, and enter this shockwave-producing state through the activation command Isou (威 (い) 葬 (そう) , Isō), which can be visually seen through a black flare-like shadow emitted from their left eye.

Among these sorcerers, the strongest four among them are called the Tou (濤 (とう) , Tō), and regarded as the Clan's Special Forces. Their strength is so great that Kyora trusts his safety with them even when he stands on the Rakuzaichi stage, potentially vulnerable to any number of ill-meaning Yakuza. The strongest of them, Soya, was able to produce a shockwave with such force that a stairwell several metres in front of him was shattered into pieces. With three of the Tou's support, Kyora was confident that he could beat Chihiro, who wielded an Enchanted Blade, and Shiba, a highly skilled sorcerer who fought in the Seitei War.

A projection of Shinuchi.

Kyora himself prefers not to take the role of an active combatant during battle, preferring to outmaneuver his opponents with his high level of intelligence instead or play a supporting role to his children. Kyora has placed a large number of weapons in his subspace known as the Storehouse, and can bring them out in order to arm his children. He can also use the Storehouse to rapidly evacuate his children from dangerous locations or bring them near him.

Members

Head of Clan

Kyora Sazanami^†

Eleventh Clan Head

Sora Sazanami^†

Tenth Clan Head

First Clan Head^†

The Tou

Soya Sazanami^?

Tenri Sazanami^†

Tamaki Sazanami

Enji Sazanami

Exiles

Hakuri Sazanami

Affiliates

Hishaku

The Tou

All four members of the Tou. Clockwise from top-right: Soya, Enji, Tenri, Tamaki

The Tou (濤 (とう) , Tō) are a small subsection of the Clan, also known as the Special Defense Corp. Their rank consists of the four best sorcerers in the family, whose sole purpose is the protection and execution of the head of the family's will.

Three of their number confronted Chihiro and Shiba after they infiltrated the Sazanami estate, while Soya searched for Hakuri in the city. The two factions fought to a standstill until Kyora learned of Hakuri's involvement from Soya and bartered his life for Chihiro's Enchanted Blade Enten.

During the 208th Rakuzaichi, instead of their traditional position at the four corners of the Rakuzaichi auctioneer's stage to protect Kyora, they were ordered to guard the Naginojoen's emergency door, where they were confronted by Shiba soon after the start of the auction at 12:00PM.

Tenri Sazanami is reportedly the youngest Sazanami ever to have been made a member of the Tou.

Sazanami Clan Properties

The Sazanami Estate.

• Sazanami Estate - A massive, isolated estate in the woods, whose appearance is shrouded to outsiders with a sorcerous barrier. The estate contains multiple interconnected buildings, houses the numerous servants and members of the Clan, and serves as a training ground for junior members.

The auction house, surrounded by potential buyers.

• Rakuzaichi Auction House - A large three-storied auction house where the Clan's yearly auction takes place. The grounds possess an elaborate front entrance, an underground venue where the auction takes place, and the Naginojoen on the bottom floor.

The Sazanami Clan's Underground Cemetery.

• Naginojoen (凪浄苑 (なぎのじょうえん) , Naginojōen) - The Sazanami Clan's ancestral graveyard, which is kept inaccessible to public visitors on the bottom floor of the auction house. Leadership of the clan is passed over in a ceremony here. It is said to possess a sacred power, and serves as the hidden location of the emergency access door to the Storehouse. Of the Sazanami Clan, only Kyora and the Tou are aware of the door's purpose as an emergency access door.

The temporary storage warehouse.

• Temporary Storage Warehouse - A warehouse several hundred meters away from the Sazanami Clan estate, used to hold merchandise before they are taken into the Storhouse. Its interior includes numerous cages for merchandise and at least one specialized room for merchandise with unique properties, such as the Girl with Icy Skin.

History

Past

The Sazanami Clan have existed and maintained the Rakuzaichi for over 200 years. The first head of the clan possessed sorcery that gave him control over space, and created the subspace known as the Storehouse, which would later be passed down from generation to generation.

The Clan's large collection of auctioned weapons, artifacts, and enslaved humans have attracted criminals from all over Japan every year. Every member of the family is trained from a young age to become talented warriors and powerful sorcerers with their family sorcery Isou, which allows them to create and manipulate shockwaves. According to Hakuri, members of the family are expected to be able to use spirit energy by the age of 8, and use Isou by 11; though Hakuri couldn't utilise spirit energy even at the age of 12, causing the clan to look down on him and for him to be barred from training.

Kyora Sazanami became the eleventh and current head of the Sazanami Clan after inheriting the title and the Storehouse from his father, Sora Sazanami, after the latter had died when Hakuri was 8 years old. When Kyora, Soya, Hakuri and Tenri were present in the Naginojoen at the time, Kyora revealed he would one day pass it down to one of the three of them, which was possible due to their blood relation. Hakuri decided at the time that he would one day become a leader that would surpass him, and Kyora praised his ambition.

Sometime before the present, Tenri became the youngest individual in history to become part of the Tou, after he single-handedly eliminated a defecting faction.

At some point prior to the 208th Rakuzaichi, Hakuri encountered a woman set to be sold as merchandise during the Rakuzaichi, and she changed Hakuri's views on his family and the Rakuzaichi. Hakuri eventually freed the woman from her imprisonment, but she committed suicide in front of him shortly afterward. Sometime after this, Kyora, albeit resignedly, exiled his son Hakuri from the family both for having the least potential for sorcery in the history of the family and rebelling against the clan. He also forged an agreement with the Hishaku, who donated the Enchanted Blade Shinuchi under the name of their associate Genichi Sojo to be the centerpiece of the Rakuzaichi for their own purposes.

Sometime after Sojo's death on October 14th and before the Rakuzaichi, Yura gave a piece of semi-stabilised Datenseki to Kyora for him to use at his discretion.

Rakuzaichi Arc

Seven days prior to the Rakuzaichi on November 1st, Kyora Sazanami performed a run-through of the auction. Upon Kyora's return to the estate later that day, he was confronted by Chihiro Rokuhira and Togo Shiba in an attempt to rob him of Shinuchi before it could be auctioned. After Kyora informed them of the Storehouse's capabilities and dissuaded them from fighting, three members of the Tou were summoned and ambushed the duo. Simultaneously, Soya Sazanami confronted his younger brother, intent on returning him to the family.

The Tou battle Chihiro

A conflict began, with Shiba intercepting Soya after a distress call from Hinao as Chihiro engaged the rest of the Tou, who were assisted in battle by their father. The skirmish ended when Shiba returned Soya to the estate, who revealed Hakuri's involvement. Kyora capitalised on this by summoning his young son and held him hostage. To save his ally, Chihiro bartered away his Enchanted Blade Enten and left otherwise empty-handed.

Two days after this conflict on November 3rd, Chihiro used the reserved spirit energy within Enten to scout the Storehouse. During his scouting, he noticed regular deliveries by the Sazanami Clan of food to the enslaved humans within and a mysterious door which was never opened, as well as Kyora observing Shinuchi as he ruminated on Chihiro's plans.

The family's operations preparations continued without incident until the 208th Rakuzaichi five days later on November 8th. Sometime prior to the auction's start time, Kyora destroyed the emergency door without telling the Tou and ordered them to guard the door to the Naginojoen. As the auction began at noon, a commotion quickly broke out at the front entrance as Yuu attempted a rescue of his sister, which prompted Chihiro to commence his own invasion early. Kyora began the auction undaunted, allowing the contracted guards among the crowd to engage Chihiro for his 50 million yen bounty as Kamunabi agents Tafuku Mihara and Hiyuki Kagari entered the scene. The government agents and Chihiro quickly negotiated a truce and fought side by side as Shiba and Hakuri infiltrated the Naginojoen where the Tou were stationed. Hakuri's presence lured Soya away toward Chihiro as Shiba confronted the remaining Tou members.

Hakuri was nearly able to reach Chihiro, but a wall of trees summoned by Yura forced Hakuri to stop, as Soya caught up to him. After confronting his hestitation and self-doubt and being beaten by Soya, Hakuri was able to land a successful Isou on Soya, though the shockwave only pushed Soya a few metres back towards the wall of trees. However, Chihiro then slashed through the wall of trees using Mei: Shred, slashing Soya's back with his wakizashi as the two prepared to keep heading downwards.

Tenri uses the stabilised Datenseki

As Hiyuki entered the same hallway on the other side of the wall of trees, Yura teleported out and a squadron of Sazanami Clan sorcerers moved in, preparing to confront Hiyuki. Outside the Naginojoen door, Shiba defeated the Tou but Kyora then sent the stabilised Datenseki to Tenri, ordering him to defend to the death. Tenri then grabbed the Datenseki, spirit energy manifesting in the form of a jellyfish. With Chihiro and Hakuri, Soya stood up, recovering from the attack, and Hakuri urged Chihiro to continue downstairs while he dealt with Soya.

Tenri's physical abilities were strengthened by the Datenseki's amplified spirit energy, his shockwaves dealing severe damage to the surrounding area as Shiba barely managed to dodge. As Kyora summoned a barrage of swords which Tenri launched at Shiba using a shockwave, Chihiro entered and used Yui to freeze them in place. Shiba told Chihiro about the Datenseki Tenri was holding, and Chihiro worriedly shouted at Tenri, wondering if he knew of the Datenseki's fatal drawbacks. Tenri shouted back that he knew perfectly well, but he needed to fulfill his duty. Shiba suggested leaving and letting Tenri burn himself out, but Chihiro refused, wanting to give him an honourable death, out of respect for Tenri's dedication to his father.

Hakuri and Soya activate Isou

In the hallway, Hakuri and Soya launched a shockwave at each other simultaneously. Soya's was tremendously superior, easily slamming Hakuri into a wall and cracking the wall itself into pieces. Aiming to kill Hakuri for his betrayal, Soya slammed him with another shockwave and turned away, but then noticed a black flare erupting from Hakuri's eye, as well as a white eyepiece. Soya was horrified to see Hakuri had awakened two forms of sorcery and attacked him with another shockwave, but Hakuri defeated him using his newfound understanding of spirit energy to strengthen his Isou. At the same time, Chihiro used Mei: Shred to attack Tenri, but his hesitation resulted in Tenri exploding from Datenseki overuse rather than Chihiro killing him. Chihiro was dismayed, but Hakuri then entered and the two refocused on their mission.

The two and Shiba entered the Naginojoen only to find the emergency door destroyed. While initially distraught at Kyora's forethought, and with Enji and Tamaki—the remaining conscious members of the Tou—approaching, Hakuri then thought of a plan and had Shiba teleport him and Chihiro to the auction hall. Shiba quickly defeated Enji and Tamaki and convinced them to go back to the younger members of the family and teach them a better way of life. Hakuri managed to teleport Chihiro into Kyora's Storehouse, where Chihiro retrieved Enten (burning up the last of Cloud Gouger's energy in the process) and prepared to confront Kyora, who had entered the Storehouse personally to deal with Chihiro.

Chihiro activated Nishiki and Kuro: Shred, before bursting through the sea of black fish to slash at Kyora. Kyora quickly retaliated with pillars of earth, moving the prisoner cells to expand the battlefield. Kyora first imbued katana and then grenades in his attempt to kill Chihiro, but Chihiro quickly slashed through them, his lingering spirit energy on the grenades allowing Hakuri to transport them into the auction hall crowd. Kyora then noticed Chihiro had used the black fish from Kuro: Shred to tag many of the prisoners, who Hakuri had moved out of the Storehouse. Peeved, Kyora quickly encased the remaining prisoners' cells in earth and his projection announced the auctioning of Shinuchi would be moved up, causing the previously running audience to stick around.

Kyora briefly took note of Hakuri's deteriorating state as well as the audience's reaction before sending the earth to impale Chihiro. Chihiro shed his coat and dodged, moving out of the way of the next few earth pillar attacks. Chihiro rushed at Kyora, gathering the remaining fish he had to barrage Kyora with slashes, Kyora forming a wall to block. Chihiro threw Enten through the wall but Kyora parried with a sabre and transported grenades at Chihiro's location. Before they exploded, Hakuri transported Chihiro behind Kyora and Kyora sliced through him, but the Chihiro behind him was a projection; the real Chihiro slicing from above and slashing Kyora along the chest. Kyora realised it was a fatal wound and buried himself beneath the earth, summoning Shinuchi's box next to him and deciding to himself that the Rakuzaichi would proceed at all costs.

Kyora unveils Magatsumi

With no other option, Kyora withdrew Shinuchi from its box and emerged from the earth. The blade's owner detected its removal from its box and called its true name Magatsumi, summoning a butterfly of spirit energy and imbuing it within Kyora, a much larger butterfly materialising behind Kyora, symbolising the massive degree to which Kyora's spirit energy had been magnified. Kyora told Chihiro while he couldn't remove the blade from its sheath, the small amount of power he was able to access was still wonderful. He then clashed blades with Chihiro, the latter realising Magatsumi's sheath could cut like a blade.

Kyora kicked Chihiro back but then noticed a foreign presence invading his mind, deducing it to be either the blade or its original wielder. As his mind destabilised, a parts of the Storehouse began cracking and Kyora's projection momentarily flickered, but Kyora refocused his determination, refusing to give in. As his projection announced he would be demonstrating Shinuchi's power, Kyora used Spider to lock Chihiro in place before using Dragonfly to spread a field of flowers towards Chihiro. Chihiro readied Aka in response but Hiyuki was transported in by Hakuri, destroying the encroaching field and the ground beneath it.

Kyora then began fending off Chihiro and Hiyuki simultaneously, parrying a flying slash and blocking Hiyuki's flaming fist in quick succession, the abundance of spirit energy provided by Magatsumi boosting his physical capabilities and decreasing the rate his fatal wound was killing him. Kyora then used Centipede to blast the two away. As the two recovered, Kyora's projection opened the bidding at one billion yen.

Abruptly, the projections then disappeared and the Storehouse's interior began fragmenting further. As Chihiro and Hiyuki rushed towards Kyora, the three were abruptly transported outside the Storehouse into the auction hall, Kyora quickly using Centipede to blast the other two away as he landed on the stage, gasping for breath. Liquid began gushing from Magatsumi, small flowers growing out of Kyora's hand as the liquid spread across the floor, flowers blooming in its wake. As it made contact with several auction-goers, flowers began growing from inside them, killing them from the inside out. Kyora internally demanded the foreign presence get out of his head, a determined expression on his face as he focused on maintaining the Storehouse and proceeding the auction at all costs.

The mask on his face began to crack as Kyora abruptly recalled his wife's dying words, where she bemoaned the existence of the Rakuzaichi and how it had brainwashed Kyora, thinking if the Rakuzaichi had never existed Kyora might not have turned out how he did. While first contemplating her words, imagining a scenario of himself in a normal family setting, Kyora immediately shattered the image and slammed his gavel, recalling his father Sora's words that his duty was over and that Kyora would be in charge of carrying on the Rakuzaichi. Kyora eradicated the flower field present as he stood up, demanding the auction continue and for the interferences to be removed.

Kyora's corpse

Several yakuza attempted to do just that, but were easily stopped by Hiyuki. As Kyora continued shouting and raving, Hakuri coordinated with Chihiro to rescue all the prisoners, just in time before Kyora's physical condition degraded to the point of no longer being able to maintain the Storehouse. Chihiro landed on the stage, and Kyora acknowledged he was right in that Kyora was the only one who had failed his duty; having turned away from Hakuri simply because the latter did not fit with his ideals. Calmly, Kyora set Magatsumi down and died, flowers blooming across his corpse.

The end of the Rakuzaichi

Hiyuki then began attacking the auction building while the various auction-goers either escaped or tried to take Magatsumi. Shiba quickly teleported out with Chihiro and Hakuri in tow, but Tafuku trapped Chihiro in his battle dimension before Shiba could do so. After their conversation, Hiyuki, Tafuku and Chihiro left the building, which soon crumbled into pieces; the Rakuzaichi now over for good with the auction house and Storehouse destroyed and Kyora deceased.