Tadakatsu Honda

A scrupulous and puissant individual who firmly believes in Ieyasu, Tadakatsu swears to be his master’s undaunted blade in war. Revered for his might and uninjured reputation, he is seen as the ideal embodiment for a warrior on the battlefront. He doubles as Ieyasu’s sound aide in earlier titles, but his importance as general is gradually put into the focus as the series develops. Proud of his perfect record, Tadakatsu boldly dares any challengers to try to best him in combat. If there are valorous fighters he deems worthy of praise, he won’t hesitate to spare a few words for them.

Even though he is best known as a stern warrior of power, Tadakatsu is a formal and perceptive man who admires his venerable spear, Tonbo-giri. He equates his spear to be his comrade-in-arms, sometimes calling upon it to grant him victory in battle. In the Japanese script, he rarely calls himself by any conventional pronouns, replacing them with his full name, his samurai name (Heihachirō), or a combination of his name and samurai name. When he does use pronouns, he uses the humble terms common with samurai in fiction.

He cares for his daughter’s safety and is her idol for conduct. Tadakatsu is proud of her accomplishments yet stresses that she mustn’t falter to achieve their lord’s vision with absolute focus.