"Will you sacrifice this land for that brother? Will you throw our people back to hell just so you can stay innocent?"
― Daigo Kagemitsu in Anime 2019, Episode 12
Kagemitsu Daigo (醍醐 景光, Daigo Kagemitsu) was the Lord of Ishikawa and vassal to the governor of Kaga Province. He forged a pact to 48 (12 in 2019 series) sealed demons in exchange for the power to rule the world, each demon was offered a piece of his unborn son and future archenemy's body and set free to roam along the countryside. He abandoned Hyakkimaru but upon realizing that he's alive and retrieving his body parts, he sets out to kill him. Daigo is also the one that ordered samurai to raid the poor village and kill them to steal their fortunes while the villagers were powerless to defy him, including the murder of Hibukuro and was the true mastermind of the murder of Mio (his son, Hyakkimaru's lover) and the orphanage children who lived with her. He also ordered his men to take Dororo hostage against Hyakkimaru which makes Kagemitsu a coward not a warrior. Due to his actions, he was the main antagonist of Dororo. After The Twelfth Demon's defeat, he passed away from the side-effect of made a pact with the demons cause him to have blood loss.
Appearance[]
He is a tall old man. Due to aging, He has grey hair (black in his youth) black eyes. He has a resemblance to his youngest son, Tahomaru. Due to his pact with the demons, he has an X scar on his forehead. He acquired wrinkles from aging. As he was dying, his eyes turned bloody red.
He wears a grey samurai kimono with his Daigo Clan crests on it. He wears a lacquered hat.
In war, he wears a full samurai armor.
Personality[]
Daigo is an extremely ambitious, selfish, sadistic, barbaric, greedy, and power hungry tyrant, willing to do absolutely anything for the sake of power, including offering his own newborn son and future arch-nemesis to demons just so he could rule the entire land, feeling a psychotic glee at the deed and absolutely no remorse for his actions which lead to the result of abandoning Hyakkimaru.
Even when he learns that Hyakkimaru is still alive and the two meet, he has no feelings of attachment to his sacrificed son, nor any guilt towards what he did to Hyakkimaru. Instead he sets out to kill him just so he stops being a hindrance to his governance, even going as far as to call him a "Half-Demon Child". After the Banmon collapses from his wife's sacrifice and later betrayal when she escaped with Dororo, his hatred toward his son had increased as they now became archenemies. When heard Hyakkimaru has come to his territory, Daigo knew that the day for his son would come. After The Twelfth Demon's defeat, Kagemitsu admit he is now feel guilt and being a bit stern to Hyakkimaru as he offered his son to kill him for the seppuku as his Kaishakunin.
Due to following the path of evil, Kagemitsu hates virtues and happiness as he unleashed the demons through the entire land and has no qualms of wiping out the innocent lives despite of him being a human.
He is a firm believer and an egoist that thinks that innocent people might cause the destruction of his land and anyone would sacrifice his land for an innocent person. He also thinks abandoning Hyakkimaru is the "way of a parent." which makes Kagemitsu to be a terrible father.
He is ruthless, heartless, brutal and merciless. He shows no mercy to anyone who gets in his way or opposes him as well as betraying him, including innocent civilians such as men, women and children alike and stealing their fortunes as shown when he sent his troops to kill his son's lover, Mio and the orphaned children who lived with her. But he has some use of those as hostages to lure his most hated enemies into an ambush as he intend to capture Dororo as a hostage to threaten his eldest son, Hyakkimaru. He will not turned back of going up against his ex-wife due to her betrayal.
Malicious, deceiver and manipulative, he manipulated Tahomaru about Hyakkimaru just so his youngest son would side with him as a pawn to killing Hyakkimaru, despite the fact he is pitting siblings on one another and with visible delight.
Kagemitsu takes cowardice and failures very seriously. He will punish his own men who dare failed him as well those who returned empty-handed.
However, Kagemitsu is also a coward who is terrified of an ominous prophecy that his son, Hyakkimaru, would return to reclaim his body parts and Kagemitsu would die at the hands of his son. He is also a fool of trying to change his fate by sent his troops to kill his own son, Hyakkimaru only for them to be killed by him. Despite of Mutsu loyalty to the lord, she also considered that Kagemitsu ordered his men to take Dororo as a hostage is cowardice only for Dororo to escape with Nui at Episode 22. He is also afraid that his defense against Asakura Clan were destroyed and many of his troops were killed by his son, Hyakkimaru after Kagemitsu ordered his troops of capturing Dororo. Leaving himself and few of his troops outnumbered and letting his palace will be burn down or ruled by the Asakura Clan and lost the war. Despite this disadvantage, he has no other choice but to resume for his final war against the Asakura Clan.
Daigo only cares about power as well as his ambitions and position and whenever he is seen with his family it is made fundamentally clear that he is not a family loving man but rather a family abusing man who deemed that his family are worth nothing to him, as he cruelly scolds his ex-wife for still feeling attachment and guilt over Hyakkimaru's sacrifice, saying she "doesn't understand politics" and allowing her to divorce their marriage ties and betrayed him to join Hyakkimaru and Dororo's side leaving him no choice but to kill Nui for foiling his plan of using a child as a sacrfice. He abandoned Hyakkimaru and later sent out to kill him. He also deceived Tahomaru about Hyakkimaru to destroy their land.
Due to his obsession for power, he didn't react or hesitate when his ex-wife committed suicide, but instead retreated from Banmon's collapse from his former wife's blood offering for the demons. He's also incredibly stern with Tahomaru and tends to keep him away from important matters, even becoming furious when his heir was close to discovering Daigo's demonic pact and breaking the deal. However unbeknownst to him, that the deal is already being broken by Hyakkimaru. Once Nui's headless buddha statue gets cracked due to her attempted suicide, the deal gets broken soon afterwards.
His greatest mistake was abandoning Hyakkimaru and not killing him when he had the chance. He is now powerless to stop Hyakkimaru and can never defeat him as Hyakkimaru has become much more powerful than Kagemitsu and the 12 demons. His son's uncontrollable rage is too great and unstable making his son stronger and stronger as both Daigo's own troops or demons are powerless to defeat and kill him and he would turned into a "demon". He is also paranoid as his thoughts of Tahomaru would win against Hyakkimaru is also a grave mistake and the opposite of that as Tahomaru is no match for Hyakkimaru when he didn't realized Tahomaru has lost to Hyakkimaru from their first fight. After The Twelfth Demon's defeat, Kagemitsu learned from his mistakes as he is dying from the side-effects of made a pact with the demons. He offered his eldest son, Hyakkimaru to end him with a seppuku as his kaishakunin.
Plot[]
He's was the leader of the Daigo Clan, the father of Hyakkimaru and Tahomaru and the abusive ex-husband of Nui No Kata but betrayed him as well divorced their marriage ties to side with Dororo to help Hyakkimaru. He abandons his eldest son after the demons whom he formed a pact with takes his son's body parts as payment for their services. Once Kagemitsu sees signs of someone's going after the 12 demons, he seeks the cause of calamities' returning to his land and tries to keep his secret from his youngest son.
He eventually discovers that his eldest son is still alive and is now killing the demons in order to take his body parts back. When Tahomaru asks Daigo about why he is searching for a baby who went missing 16 years ago, he refuses to tell his son and wonders how his eldest son could be still alive.
When he learns of the report about Hyakkimaru's being in his own territory, Kagemitsu and his troops confront his eldest son during his fight with Kyubi. He questions his son on how he was able to survive his abandonment before trying to kill him only for Hyakkimaru to escape easily.
After Tahomaru and Kyubi's defeat, Nui stabs herself as an offering to the demons that were part of the pact with Kagemitsu. He and his troops soon retreat and he swears to his eldest son, Hyakkimaru that he will pay.
After Tahomaru's retreated and failed to kill Hyakkimaru, Kagemitsu holds a preparation against the Asakura Clan until he learned Hyakkimaru has returned and the day of the prophecy of his own demise has begun. He also heard Hyakkimaru is with a girl, Dororo. Kagemitsu deployed Tahomaru one last time to kill Hyakkimaru and ordered his spy to interfere the fight if Tahomaru is losing and capture the child to bring her to his land as a hostage against his son. Unbeknownst to him, His plan of using Dororo as a hostage was foiled by Nui and escaped together.
In Episode 24, after Hyakkimaru defeated The Twelfth Demon, Kagemitsu wage war against the Asakura Clan but defeated and retreated to the Hall Of Hell to offered his son, Hyakkimaru the seppuku as his kaishakunin to kill him. But Hyakkimaru denied and left a statue of the goddess of mercy to him.
Relationship[]
His Family[]
Kagemitsu doesn't care about almost all of his family as they are meant nothing to him due to his love for power and his ambitions of ruling the entire land. He abused his ex-wife, Nui when he learned that Hyakkimaru survived his abandonment. He abandoned Hyakkimaru and later set out to kill him. He views Tahomaru as a successor to him by shown from his grinning when his sons fought each other. His greed for power has caused a curse within his family of two of his own family members sided with each other and betrayed him and Tahomaru as two sides fight against each other.
Nui No Kata[]
Despite they used to be husband and wife, Kagemitsu had no concern for his ex-wife, Nui No Kata, as she is meant nothing to be a tool to him and abused her for her feelings of attachment to their eldest son. He had no remorse when Nui told Hyakkimaru the entire truth of Kagemitsu's true nature and stabbed herself which caused Banmon to collapse as a result of her blood offering. In Episode 22, Nui has betrayed and severed her marriage connection with him by escaping their domain with Dororo (the child who travels with Hyakkimaru that Kagemitsu's men captured to use as a hostage). With her betrayal, she is now an enemy to Kagemitsu making Kagemitsu will not show any mercy for his ex-wife for siding Dororo if he see her. After The Twelfth Demon's defeat, Kagemitsu learns Nui died with Tahomaru in the collapse domain.
Hyakkimaru[]
"You've brought great misfortune upon us now, Hyakkimaru." ― Kagemitsu to Hyakkimaru after Nui stabbed herself which caused the wall to collapse
The only person Kagemitsu hates worst than the Asakura Clan and is afraid of the most is his eldest son and archenemy, Hyakkimaru. He offered his son's body parts to the demons to rule the entire land and wiping out innocent lives as well abandoned his own son after learning the prophecy that Kagemitsu will die at the hands of Hyakkimaru after he got back his body parts. However, when learning that his son was still alive and killing the demons which foiled his ambitions, Kagemitsu showed his fear of his son and set out to kill him with no love or hesitation for him. He called Hyakkimaru a half demon child instead of son. His hatred toward Hyakkimaru is increased when Nui nearly commits suicide, which causes Banmon to collapse. After killing Nue, Hyakkimaru returns to his homeland to get his body parts back, determined to kill his father if Kagemitsu interferes like he always interfered. After Hyakkimaru reaches the land, Daigo is expecting his hated son to show up and the day of the prophecy of his own death by Hyakkimaru would come. After Kagemitsu ordered his men for Dororo's abduction, Hyakkimaru shown his fury and killed a lot of Kagemitsu's troops including the same man who captured Dororo and destroyed two of the defenses before they would wage war against the Asakura Clan leaving Daigo's defenseless and outnumbered against the Asakura clan's entire army of 3500 troops. In spite of learning Hyakkimaru's rampage and made Kagemitsu in a disadvantage for war, he resumed for the war instead of going after Hyakkimaru. After The Twelfth Demon's defeat, Kagemitsu offered his son to end his life with a seppuku as he is dying for the side-effect of the pact with the demons. Hyakkimaru seems to let go of his hatred toward his father and left him a statue of the goddess of mercy before he dies as the side-effect is begin to succumb him as leaving his son, Hyakkimaru to find the way to restore the land to succeed Kagemitsu's reign without making a pact with demons.
Tahomaru[]
Kagemitsu is extremely stern to Tahomaru. In his son's childhood, Kagemitsu gave Tahomaru a deck and horses. Unlike his eldest son and wife who are meant nothing to him, Kagemitsu has a little to no care about his youngest son and crowned him as his heir. He trained him in his childhood, but in spite of that, Kagemitsu claimed that Tahomaru was not ready for actual wars and told him to get back to training. However, when learning Hyakkimaru was alive, Kagemitsu angrily refused to answer Tahomaru's question. Kagemitsu deceived Tahomaru by telling him that his brother would destroy their land. During the battle between his sons, Kagemitsu grinned. Before the final battle begins, Daigo orders his soldiers to not let Tahomaru die at all cost. Ironically, it is his very actions that ruined both of his sons' lives in the first place and would led Tahomaru to his death in his final battle against Hyakkimaru. After Tahomaru's death, Kagemitsu wants Hyakkimaru to kill him to see Tahomaru rather than dying by the side-effects.
Dororo[]
Due to Hyakkimaru's connections with Dororo, Kagemitsu ordered his men to capture Dororo and bring the girl to his land as a hostage against his son, Hyakkimaru which Mutsu called Kagemitsu's action of taken Dororo hostage is cowardice. However, in Episode 22, Dororo escapes from his domain with the aid of Nui No Kata as a result of Nui's betrayal against her husband.
Asakura Clan[]
As the archenemy clan to his own clan, Kagemitsu holds an absolute hatred to the Asakura. His desires is to destroy the Asakura Clan and rule the entire land as a great lord but nonetheless wiping out innocent lives too. But his goals are beyond his reach ended up as a failure when his son Hyakkimaru who is consumed with rage has destroyed Kagemitsu's defenses and slaughtered his many troops from his army leaving Kagemitsu outnumbered when he doesn't have a lot of men left and retreating to domain will not save him from his doom from the Asakura Clan's 3500 troops. In spite of being in a disadvantage from Hyakkimaru's rampage of Kagemitsu's defends, he carries on for the war. However, in episode 24, Kagemitsu emerged defeated and lost all of his troops and retreated to the Hall of Hell as he is severely wounded and dying from the side-effect of made pact with Demons.
References[]
[]
| Humans
|
Biwamaru • Dororo • Hibukuro • Hyakkimaru • Hyogo • Itachi • Jukai • Kagemitsu Daigo • Kaname • Mio • Munetsuna • Mutsu • Nui No Kata • Ojiya • Osushi • Oume • Okowa • Sabame • Saburota • Saru • Shiranui • Souryo • Sukeroku • Tahomaru • Take • Tanosuke • Yajiro |
|---|---|
| Demons
|
Arijigoku • Bakemonogani • Bandai • Deiki • Hakumenfudo • Shark Demons • Kyubi • Lizard Demon • Maimai-onba • Nihil • Nokosaregumo • Nue • Twelfth Demon |
| Ghouls
|
Ayakashigi • Jorogumo • Amanojaku |
| Spirits
|
Jishō Nun Ghost • Kanekozou • Okaka • Yōkai Kozō • Midoro |
| Others
|
Nota • Chibi |