Daisuke Ushio - Great Ox

From the village of Zibasho beneath the northern mountains, Daisuke had a sheltered childhood. His earliest memories were helping his father and myriad of brothers, cousins and uncles man their family farm, ploughing, milking, herding and even fighting foxes when it came to it. Daisuke was the eldest of his siblings, but still years younger than his cousins who ensured their little cousin had a tortured upbringing. Bullying was the least of his worries, and often his cousins would put him in life threatening situations, sending him into the river to collect carp during flood season or sending him foraging in untamed wilds inhabited by ogres or oni. But the hardworking Daisuke relented, and as he grew to a man his muscles bulged and his height soared. Soon he was two heads taller than all his cousins, but they still pressed on with their merciless pranks. Taking advantage of his strength, he was asked to carry one of his crippled cousins up a five mile mountain hike so he might pray at a shrine to regain his strength. Though Daisuke fought against doing so, his parents were insistent and so Daisuke carried his cousin Jinsei on his back up to their ancestral guardian’s shrine during a sweltering summer’s day. Finally when they reached the top, Jinsei immediately asked to be brought down, laughing at his cousin and taunting him as a big dumb oaf, just like the Ox that was their supposed ancestor. The shrine’s guardian took ill to this desecration of their sacred place - for it to be used as a malicious prank and for them to be mocked within its confines. From the ground an Oni of horns and hooves erupted, knocking Daisuke and Jinsei on their backs. The creature lunged at Jinsei and began tearing the boy to shreds. Daisuke took a large stick nearby and brought it down on the creature’s skull with all his might. They struggled and fought until Daisuke finally emerged victorious as he drove the now broken stick into the creature’s throat, ultimately killing it. He stood, broken and injured, blood gushing from his wounds; his cousin was dead. Tears welled in his eyes, though his cousin was cruel he did not deserve such a fate. He took his body and began descending the mountain again, but did not venture far before he collapsed, his wounds finally catching up with him as the adrenaline of the fight wore off. But the Ox took pity on this young and strong-hearted boy at the foot of his shrine. He had bested his own guardian and was pure hearted enough to weep for the one who had tormented him and brought such a fate upon him. The Ox touched the soul of the boy as it was beginning to leave his body, pushing it back in and healing the mortal wounds Daisuke had endured. The Ox offered the boy a choice: return to the farm of his family with the body of his cousin, or work in service of the Ox to honour his ancestral line that had descended from this great creature. Daisuke chose the former, taking Jinsei home, but quickly he was accused as a murderer and kinslayer, banished from the farm into the wilderness. The Ox found him again, and moved by his dedication to family, he gave the offer of being the Ox’s warrior once again. So Daisuke took it, becoming on of the Seirei no Samurai, embodying his ancestral guardian of the Ox, being stubborn and hot headed, but reliable and dependent in even the worst of times. Those among the Spirit Samurai regard him as the heart of their clan, and could not imagine the group without him.