Mappa Doji (chapter)

Mappa Doji (童子) is a one-chapter story created by Hiroyuki Takei. It tells the tale of Asakura Hao in his childhood 1000 years ago. This chapter was originally released in Weekly Shonen Jump with the original Shaman King Chapter 264. It was later included in kanzenban Volume 25 and Kodansha Volume 27.

About
In this original incarnation, his name is Asaha Doji. He was named after his mother, Asanoha, who was killed by humans, believing her to be a yōkai who could see and speak with oni. After his mother's death, Asaha is left with no home and no family.

He later meets and befriends an oni named Ohachiyo, who renames him Mappa Doji to avoid confusion between his and his mother's similar names, as the kanji could be pronounced both ways. Ohachiyo teaches Mappa Doji many things, and towards the end of the story he allows himself to be used in an Over Soul, which additionally gives Mappa Doji the Reishi ability, the source of Hao's future insanity.

Characters

 * Asaha Doji/"Mappa Doji": Asaha is the fist incarnation of Asakura Hao. When first introduced, he is a hateful child because humans had killed his mother for communicating with demons. After his death, Asaha comes to despise his own humanity, making it his mission to wipe out the human race for being so ignorant.


 * Ohachiyo: Ohachiyo is a demon that had roamed around for 200 years before meeting Asaha, whom he nicknames "Mappa Doji". Ohachiyo teaches Asaha how to write, count, fish, the names of hina dolls, birds, and how to make an oversoul. This also grants him the mind-reading ability of Reishi. He tries to persuade Asaha not to feel hatred for humans because they fear and dislike what they do not understand, but at the end of the story we find that Asaha could not accept this and their friendship falls apart. His spirit energy is unintentionally consumed by Asaha at the end of the book, cursing him with a permanent Reishi.


 * Asanoha: Asanoha was Asaha's mother. She was killed by humans (specifically Monk Densen and his guards), who burned her house down for being a Yōkai.


 * Densen Hoshi: A monk of the Heian period that specializes in exorcisms. He proves to be a fraud during his confrontation with Asaha and is killed by him.