Daitaro

Daitaro (大太郎) is a fictional character in the Shaman King Zero manga series. He and Mappa Doji were apprentices of Head Onmyōji Hamono Tadatomo. During an exorcism ritual for the Emperor, Tadatomo sacrificed Daitaro to create a human shikigami, called Daidarabotchi.

Appearance
Daitaro was a young boy whose most distinctive feature was a large birthmark over his face. He wore his hair short.

Personality
Daitaro was hot-headed and somewhat arrogant. Mappa Doji commented that Daitaro was eager to change his attitude as it suited the circumstances. While initially jealous that their master, Hamono Tadatomo, favored Mappa Doji, Daitaro was also amused by Mappa Doji's desire to transcend humanity.

Abilities and Powers
Daitaro was an apprentice onmyōji capable of seeing spirits and writing talismans. He was also confident in his own ability to exorcise the variety of chimimoryo that Yamada Doma had kept sealed.

Spirits

 * See More: Tsuchigumo-boshi

Practiced in Hamo-Style Onmyōjutsu (羽茂式陰陽術), Daitaro was capable of summoning shikigami, in particular he used a large spider-like creature called "Tsuchigumo-boshi", which was capable of taking on multiple small oni simultaneously.

Past
Daitaro joined his master, Hamono Tadatomo, in locating the source of emerging onis in Kyoto, which they discovered was Mappa Doji. When Daitaro was overwhelmed by the oni he was trying to exorcise, Tadatomo stepped in and summoned Zenki and Goki to vanquish them. Later at the onmyoji's residence, Daitaro expressed displeasure at Mappa Doji's apathetic attitude toward Tadatomo. Tadatomo admonished Daitaro's hotheadedness. Out of jealousy toward Tadatomo's favoritism toward Mappa Doji, Daitaro decided to help Yamada Doma to sabotage Tadatomo's exorcism ritual before the Emperor.

When learning about the Onmyōji arts, Daitaro was surprised that Mappa Doji could read and write. Mappa Doji revealed that he had learned from Ohachiyo and that he could read minds, thus he knows that Daitaro was planning to help sabotage Tadatomo. They talked about their dreams and how Daitaro felt indebted towards Tadatomo, and Daitaro became amused by Mappa Doji's wish to become more than human.

During the exorcism ritual, Daitaro stepped in to exorcise the chimimoryo to impress Tadatomo. However, Tadatomo instead stabbed Daitaro, revealing his plot with Doma to create a human shikigami. Daitaro's body then began absorbing the chimimoryo and oni, transforming him into the Daidarabotchi.

Flowers
Centuries later, the new Shaman King Hao placed a special condition on Asakura Hana for the new Flower of Maize to summon countless onis in urgent situations. Among those was included the Yami-Oni which Hana's own life might be endangered if he is physically weakened or wounded.

When Tao Men tests the other members of Team Hao, he overpowers Ibuki Gakko and Asakura Yohane, so Hana summons out the oni again and quickly progresses to the Yami-Oni, which punches through Shamash. However, Hana's body gives out and he dies, causing the oni to crumble away.

While Hana is talking to Sakurai Sakutaro and the other soldiers from the Mini Ashura Hell, the Yami-Oni briefly appears behind the boy.

Trivia

 * His name is a reference to Daidarabotchi, a giant creature from Japanese mythology.
 * Asakura Yoh points out that the reading "botchi" of Daidarabotchi came from Japanese term Hitori-botchi (一人法師) which means "lonely child".
 * He was based on Kamo no Yasunori.