Hideo Kosameda

Hideo Kosameda (, Kosameda Hideo) is the Captain of the Kosameda Bushi.

Personality
Although outwardly seen as a calm and gentle person at first sight, this is in fact a facade, as Kosameda is a far more cruel individual than he initially lets on. Kosameda is arrogant and self-centered, and with a superiority complex. He verbally and physically abuses everyone serving under him, repeatedly belittling them as a means to wear down their confidence so as to make them dependant on him, both psychologically and for their own survival.

A tyrant by nature, he believes his own word to be absolute and brutally punishes anybody who so much as disagrees with him, engaging in further acts of abuse and even threatening them with expulsion from his castle or punishment to families, taking advantage of people's inherent desire to protect and be with their loved ones to further erode dissent. Being granted his privilege and dominion over his castle and territory by Tokugawa likely inflated his ego to dangerously self-serving levels, building a cult of personality around himself in which everyone under him is a "family" with himself as the "father" to whom they have to submit themselves for protection, and that they can by no means survive without his aid. As a result of this, he looks down on everyone, caring very little about anybody and generally viewing people as tools for his own benefit, being more than willing to have the more vulnerable citizens be used as cannon fodder to preserve his castle, despite the fact that such an action is an evident violation of Bushi principles.

Sadistic and violent he seems to have a thirst for battle as evidenced by his speech in front of his townspeople. He also brutally and repeatedly kicked Tsugumi for no particular reason other than to assert dominance after the latter defied him, which left every spectator visibly horrified at his cruelty. Conversely he is very adverse to being mistreated in any fashion as he was distraught when Tsugumi spit on his face. He was subsequently left despondent and isolated himself when defeated.

Kosameda Bushi Arc
Hideo orders Tsugumi Hattori to bring him some strong Bushi. She manages to bring Musashi and Kojiro Kanemaki. Looking at the condition of their Kitetsuki, Hideo assumes they are strong Bushi and invites them to help him fight the stray oni in the area. They can minimize the casualties by working together and will split the Kitetsu afterwards. Musashi then wonders what is Kitetsu, which surprises Tsugumi and Hideo. Realizing this Hideo states they are useless and orders Tsugumi to tie them up. Tsugumi then uses her weapons and captures Musashi and Kojiro. Hideo comments they had a fine mount and that they may have more Kitetsu hidden somewhere, and orders to lock them up.

Tsugumi apologizes for being useless and stupid as she was ordered to bring powerful Bushi that will be of use to Hideo. They are running on low band members and Kitetsu, however as Tokugawa entrusted the land to Hideo, he intends to defend it at all costs and when the next time the oni attack, he may need to call for total mobilization of the castle town. Tsugumi points out that most of the adults are women, children and senior citizens and Hideo shouldn't expect them to fight oni to the death. Hideo wonders if this is really true as Bushi were created to fight oni and their greatest joy would be to fight to the last man in a stand against the oni. Hideo gets angry and asks her if she has an argument, but getting scared, Tsugumi denies it, stating he is right and asks for her next mission. Hideo calms down and states that she is useless without him, but he will be always by her side.

Kodama Oni are approaching and Hideo finds Tsugumi and informs her that the oni are attacking and he is calling for total mobilization. Tsugumi is shocked, however, she recalls Musashi's words and decide to stand up again Hideo and states she is against it. Hideo gets angry, but calms down and acts that he is sad as he treated her like real daughter, however, she doesn't understand his love. He then states he no longer have use of her and expels her from the band and the castle, stating she should live alone in the wilderness. HIdeo tells her that if she obeys him, he will act this never happened and Tsugumi not wishing to be abandoned, agrees.

Hideo gathers the townspeople tells them they will be joining the fight. As they have never fought before, the townspeople don't agree, but see they can't escape. Tsugumi then throws some smoke bombs, stating that Bushi's duty is to protect the people and sending non-combatants into battle would shame any Bushi. Tsugumi believes that taking on the kodami oni is dangerous, while they are individually weak, they are strong together and they need to take cover until they pass and then request help. Tsugumi reveals to herself that her goal is to buy time, until others escape. Hideo comments that Tsugumi was never such smooth talker and wonders if this is some sort of scheme. However, Musashi and Kojiro already had enough time to knock out all the guards while hiding in the smoke. Tsugumi tells everyone they can escape, but no one is moving. Hideo states that desertion is a crime and their entire families will receive death penalty. Tsugumi realizes that the people are still afraid of him and won't move. In order to give the courage to escape, Tsugumi decides to defeat Hideo herself.

Tsugumi engages Hideo in a fight, but is quickly defeated by him. As he beats her up, he reminds her that he taught her fighting and that everyone is useless without him, so they must listen, otherwise they can't survive on their own. Tsugumi then spits blood to his face, saying she will no longer listen him and had decided to fight. She stands up and both activate their weapons. Tsugumi manages to dodge Hideo's attack and then captures him with her weapon and lift and slams him to the ground, defeating him. The townspeople then escape the castle. As Tsugumi remained to keep Hideo, she knows she can't escape in time from the incoming kodama oni. However, Musashi and Kojiro appear with their Kitetsuki and manage to get Tsugumi and Hideo and escape as the kodami oni destroys the castle.

Due to the betrayal, Hideo's mind breaks and he gets scared and fixated on Tsugumi to come and help him.

Etymology

 * The name Hideo means "excellent, fine" (英) (hide) and "hero, manly" (雄) (o).
 * Hideo's surname Kosameda means "light rain, drizzle" (小雨) (kosame) and "field, rice paddy" (田) (ta/da).

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