Hijikata Toushirou



Hijikata Toushirou ( 土方 十四郎 Hijikata Tōshirō ) is the former Vice-Commander of the Shinsengumi. Introduced as the brains of the Shinsengumi, he is commonly known as the Demonic Vice-Commander (鬼の副長, Oni no Fukucho), striking fear into his enemies and subordinates (with the exceptions of Kondou Isao and Okita Sougo).

He had a split personality named "Tosshi," an otaku identity which developed as a result of buying a cursed sword. This incarnation first appeared during the Shinsengumi Crisis Arc and again later in the Otsu Arc, where this personality dies by exhausting himself in a final match against fellow otaku, Shinpachi.

Background
Hijikata Toushirou was the son of a mistress and a rich farmer. His father was known to be a spoiled and irresponsible man. Toushirou was born after his father died. His identity as an illegitimate son was revealed after he lost his mother and home.

His older brother Hijikata Tamegorou welcomed Toushirou to the Hijikata home. Unlike his father, Tamegoro was known to be a responsible, good man and took care of him. Toushirou viewed Tamegoro as a fatherly figure and was very fond of him.

When Toushirou was eleven, there was a large fire in the village, and some bandits used this opportunity to break in, attacking Toushirou in the process. In the attack, Tamegoro protected Toushirou from being killed by the bandits and ended up losing his eyes. Though unaware at the time, Toushirou was driven by an uncontrollable rage and attacked the bandits in retaliation. When he came to his senses, he was holding a knife, and the bandits were strewn across the floor, each with injuries to their eyes (similar to the ones that they inflicted on Tamegoro). His other siblings saw what had happened, and they all stood glaring in fear at him in silence.

Toushiro was known as "Thorny Toshi" after this incident, and he could no longer be with his beloved brother. He left his home to become stronger and became a trouble-making ronin, seeking out fights in various dojos in Bushuu 武州.

Losing face, the members of other dojos that he had previously fought against decided to team up to take him out. Hijikata fought but didn't stand a chance against such numbers. Kondou Isao, who was watching, decided to pick him up and take him back with him to his dojo. At this dojo, Toshirou met the Okita siblings, Okita Sougo and Okita Mitsuba. Toshirou later became a student to the Doju and an underclassman to Sougo, who disliked Toshirou due to his jealousy of the latter receiving an unfair amount of attention from Kondou and Mitsuba.

Before leaving to Edo with Kondou and Sougo, Okita Mitsuba confessed her love to Toushiro, but he rejected her, believing that with the life of violence that he lives, he would not be able to provide happiness for her (though he later admits his love for Mitsuba). He went back to his brother's home for the first time in many years, and had a final dinner with him. Toushirou refused to speak to him, but Tamegoro asked Toushirou to send him letters regularly.

In Edo, Toushirou would meet new friends and would continue to grow stronger as a member of the Roshigumi which would later become the Shinsengumi.

Personality
Due to having to endure being hated by his other family members for being an illegitimate son, being indebted to his older brother, and having no place to belong, Hijikata was an outsider. Despite this, he never stopped moving forward and aimed to become stronger because of the deep regret stemming from his being unable to save his brother, and protect the ones he loves.

Feared by both his enemies and his underlings, Hijikata, typically known as the Demonic Vice-Commander (鬼の副長, Oni no Fukucho) is very strict and dedicated to his work. He formulated the Kyokuchou Hatto (局中法度, Kyokuchō Hatto), the 45 Regulations that form the disciplinary framework for all Shinsengumi members, and he implements them firmly. He is also fiercely loyal to the Commander of the Shinsengumi, Kondou Isao, as seen in the Shinsengumi Mutiny Arc when he (with help from the Yorozuya) went to save Kondou from Itou Kamotarou. Hijikata has a strong sense of pride, as seen in the Yagyuu Arc, when he claimed that his injuries (received from his fight with Kitaooji Itsuki) were actually from getting caught in an automatic door at the Marui Department Store. This is also evident in his going after Sakata Gintoki in order to avenge Kondou and the Shinsengumi's honour after Kondou lost a challenge to the silver-haired samurai for the right to date Shimura Tae.[1]  He is very strict and efficient, managing to turn Yorozuya into an efficient organiztion with multiple branches and leaders in the Soul Switch Arc while he was in Gintoki's body. Similarly, his strict and imposing nature allows him to effectively command and lead the Shinsengumi. Hijikata puts on a tough attitude, but is willing to help those in need, as seen in the Yagyuu Arc and the Shinsengumi Crisis Arc. He has a stubborn streak and does not like to reveal his weaknesses. He also veils his good or kind actions with exaggerated annoyance and agitation, at times even appearing as a tsunere.

Hijikata is a very short-tempered individual, always getting annoyed by other characters' antics and reprimanding them for it. He also threatens his subordinates with seppuku if they do not follow orders or fool around.

Hijikata is a rabid lover of mayonnaise; in fact, he drowns almost all of his food in a ridiculous amount of the condiment before eating it, including desserts and coffee.[2]  He is also a chain-smoker, and once went to great lengths, in fact to other planets, to get his smoking fix when Matsudaira declared a city-wide smoking ban with immediate effect,[3]  though iduring the Silver Soul Arc he tried to quit smoking. However, as shown in the two year time skip when he meets with Gintoki again, he was unable to quit and continues to smoke. In fact, he shows obsessive behavior and unhealthy addictions which seem to be hard for him to break and are his biggest weakness. He eats copious amounts of mayonnaise and believes the world loves mayonnaise. He simlarly smokes so often that in episode 119, wheh smoking was banned at the Shinsengumi headquarters and all across K/abukicho, he left to space to obtain cigarettes and smoke (though later episodes show that smoking is still allowed in the Shinsengumi headquarters, implying the ban didn't last long). He does not lust for women and does not like cabaret clubs (when he was on leave, he went to the sauna and cinema). This is probably due to him being unable to forget Mitsuba, the one girl he truly loved.

His personality is very similar to that of Gintoki's, as Mitsuba once remarked [4], resulting in the two frequently clashing as rivals [5]. The two share similar fears, such as being terrified of ghosts and dentists, but they can also reach an unbelievable synchronization when fighting together [6]. In the Baragaki arc, Hijikata claims that he and Gintoki are the same due to the fact that they don't seek or expect forgiveness to those they kill, but rather aim to stop those from making the same mistakes they once did.

After he bought the cursed sword Muramasha, he developed a split personality named Tosshi ( 十四 Tōshi ). Tosshi's personality is similar to an otaku who was slain by Muramasha, the cursed soul from the sword: he watches anime in the Shinsengumi Headquarters, reads mangas that Hijikata used to hate and cares a lot about his anime figurines. He is also weak and afraid of fighting. This personality died by sacrificing his life in a final battle boxing match against Shinpachi in Terakado Tsuu's Fan Club Voting Competition Arc.