Udono Jousuke

Udono Jōsuke (japanese: 鵜殿 丈助, hiragana: うどの じょうすけ, rōmaji: "Udono Jousuke") a character featured in the Japanese anime "Basilisk Kouga Ninpou Chou" (known in English as the "Kouga Ninja Scrolls"). As one of Koga Manjidani's strongest fighters, he was selected by Lord Kouga Danjo as one ten elite ninja to fight against the chosen ten of the rival Iga Tsubagakure clan.

Good-humored, a little dumb, and extremely fat; Jousuke hardly fits the traditional concept of the ninja. And as he proved with his interactions with Akeginu; he's also a bit of a lecher. Despite his boorish demeanor, Jousuke is more perceptive than he lets on and during his stay with Gennosuke in Tsubagakure, he was the first to realize the Iga were planning something suspicious before they silenced him.

Additionally, while his corpulent physique suggests otherwise, Jousuke possesses remarkable speed and agility for a man of his size as he was able to easily avoid the attacks of both Rousai and Akeginu, two of the Iga's strongest fighters. His obesity is also the secret to his technique as it grants his body the consistency of rubber; allowing him to bounce like a ball, roll over enemies like a living boulder, deflect physical attacks with ease, squeeze through openings impossible even for someone a quarter of his girth, or even float into the sky by rapidly inhaling air to blow himself up like a balloon.

Battles

"Jousuke VS Rousai" (episode 2): Spying a hawk carrying something over the forest, Jousuke threw a knife to make it to drop its catch which turned out to be a scroll. Before he could further investigate though, Jousuke was interrupted by Azuki Rousai who claimed the hawk belonged to Lady Ogen and he had no right to read her message to the Iga. Intrigued, Jousuke took the scroll and successfully egged Rousai into a "friendly" ninja competition with the scroll as the prize. The fight lasted through the night with Rousai continually chasing after Jousuke until confronting Oboro, Gennosuke, and the search party from Tsubagakure that had gone looking for them. One look into Oboro's Mystic Eyes was enough to disrupt Jousuke's technique, and he received a firm knock on the head from Genonsuke as punishment for causing so much trouble.

"Jousuke VS Akeginu" (episode 4): After being invited into the Iga's compound with Gennosuke, a drunk Jousuke was locked in an iron-clad room by Akeginu. Escaping through a narrow opening, Jousuke went to check on Gennosuke's safety, but was distracted when he noticed Akeginu stalking around the room he was formerly held in. After being seized and groped by the lecherous ninja, Akeginu wiggled free of Jousuke's grip (though it required shedding the top of her kimono to do so) and challenged him to a duel, saying that if he won she'd be his "wife" for that one night. Yet despite using her blood mist technique to conceal herself, Jousuke proved himself to be the better fighter; avoiding her sword strikes with ease and deflecting any that connected off his layers of fat. Fortunetely for Akeginu, Oboro appeared and Jousuke agreed to break off the fight for fear of getting punished by Gennosuke.

"Jousuke VS Jingoro" (episode 4): Following his fight with Akeginu, Jousuke was washing his face at a nearby spring when he came across Amayo Jingoro; whom Oboro had just caught attempting to assassinate Gennosuke and was seeking water to fully restore his solid form. Upon realizing what Jingoro had attempted, Jousuke held Jingoro above the water and demanded to know what was happening with the Iga. Jingoro frantically confessed that the Hattori truce had been absolved and a shocked Jousuke demanded to know all the details of the situation. What Jousuke failed to realize was that Jingoro was actually stalling for time while he absorbed the water vapor floating in the air. When he had regained enough strength, Jingoro turned around and sprayed Jousuke with a jet of mucus from his nostrils, surprising Jousuke enough to make him lose his balance. Guessing that Jingoro was attempting to fall into the spring and absorb more water, Jousuke attempted to use his balloon technique to float into the air, allowing Jingoro to leap into Jousuke's open mouth and smother him from the inside.

Manga

Jousuke in the manga is considerably more aggressive than his anime incarnation. During the flashback of volume 4 which describes how Oboro and Gennosuke first met, he discusses with Kazamachi Shogen that he didn't want to accompany Gennosuke and Danjou to meet with Ogen and Oboro as the Hattori truce forbid him from killing any of the Iga.

Alternate information

In the novel, Jousuke lacks the ability to inflate himself with air and is described as having droopy facial features. While traveling to Iga with Gennosuke, he jokes with Gennosuke instead of Akeginu about wanting to marry a skinny young lady (which earns him a swift rebuke). His duel with Akeginu is also different as it happens during the escort to Tsubagakure, the agreement being that if Akeginu can make Jousuke bleed he'll stop, but if he can take all her clothes off, she'll be his wife for the night. Akeginu tries to cheat by using her blood when she slashes him with her sword, but Jousuke is able to tell the difference. Jousuke is also able to rip her top off, but she uses her ability to hemorrhage blood to quickly cover herself again. The fight isn't elaborated upon any more, but it says that Akeginu quickly thrashed him after summoning her blood mist. While he entreaties Akeginu once more for her hand in marriage, it's Oboro that breaks the awkward silence by saying he should ask Ogen when she returns instead of Gennosuke saying he's making Akeginu uncomfortable. Jousuke's technique is also something he must consciously activate in order to use as when he was knocked into the spring, Jingoro took advantage of Jousuke's inability to balance himself in the water to eviserate him with a katana gripped in his mouth.

References

*Fumitoro Kizaki (Director). Basilisk-Koga Ninpocho [TV-Series] GONZO/Kodansha/Japan Digital Concepts: Japan. 2005
*Masaki Segawa (Manga-Ka). Basilisk-Koga Ninpocho [Manga] Kodansha: Japan. 2003-2004
*Futaro Yamada (Author). Koga Ninpocho [novel] Japan. 1958