Tasuki

Tasuki (翼宿?) formerly led the Mount Reikaku bandits. Extremely quick and agile, he particularly enjoys joking around with Nuriko, Tamahome, and Chichiri. He is 17 years old and was born in the town of Tai-Tou in the Ko prefecture, at the foot of Mount Reikaku. His true name is Shun'u Kou (侯 俊宇, Kō Shun'u?), born under the star Wings (翼). Tasuki's primary weapon is a flame throwing Tessen, an iron fan used for fighting which is eventually upgraded to become a diamond fan that could only be used by Tasuki by Taitsukun. Additionally, he is skilled in judo, archery, swordsmanship, and is briefly capable of using ofuda. As a Celestial Warrior, he possesses superhuman speed and known as Genrou or Huang-Lang (幻狼|“Phantom Wolf”) because of his wolf-like appearance.

At a young age Tasuki found his calling as a bandit when Hakurō, the chief bandit of Mount Reikaku, took him under his wing. He began to improve his martial arts abilities in hopes of living up to and carrying on the role of his mentor[2]. He and fellow bandit Kōji eventually master the use of an iron fan in combat. Tasuki first meets Miaka when he kidnaps her in order to regain his rightful place as the leader of Mount Reikaku's bandits. He eventually joins her in order to help the other Celestial Warriors on their quest, reluctantly leaving Kōji as the leader of the bandits of Mount Reikaku.

Straight-forward, simple-minded, and quick to pick a fight, Tasuki also has a strong sense of honour. Though he appears utterly blunt, vulgar, and loud, he is sentimental and easily emotional. He is a frequent source of comic relief in the series and enjoys joking around. Tasuki values his friends greatly and will not hesitate to kill those who would try to endanger them or make fun of them in any way. Despite being rough around the edges, Tasuki shares a particularly strong relationship with Chiriko. Tasuki, as the youngest child and only son of a family with five older sisters, an aggressive mother, and timid father, happily accepts the role of an older brother figure to Chiriko, who looks up to him and strives to become a “manly man” like Tasuki. Of all the Suzaku Celestial Warriors, he takes the deaths of his comrades the hardest and openly cries for them. A running joke in the series is that Tasuki is afraid to swim, claiming that it is because he is a “man of the mountains”, though on several occasions he is able to instinctively tread water and finds unusual means of compensating for his weakness.

As the youngest and only son in a family with strong females and a weak father, Tasuki claims to hate women. But he demonstrates outstanding loyalty to Miaka and would die to protect her. His feelings toward her are apparently brotherly, but it is eventually revealed that he loves her. He acts on these feelings only once, when under a spell, but unwilling to betray his friends and aware of his behaviour, he attempts to kill himself, saved only when the spell is broken.