Asakura Family

The Asakura Family (麻倉家) is one of two great shaman families in the Shaman King series. It was founded by Asakura Hao during the Heian period in Japan.

About
The Asakura Family is a thousand-year-old family whose fame started with Asakura Hao, a famous Onmyōji and a brilliant Shaman mastering many different shamanic arts. He eventually went mad and decided to create a shaman only world, using the Great Spirit won in the Shaman Fights. The Asakura Family ousted Hao due to his madness and eventually killed him to prevent him from reaching his goals, but not before Hao had formed a cadet branch of the family who remained loyal to him. The main family learned that Hao would reincarnate and has ever since seen it as their duty to kill Hao each time he was reincarnated.

When Hao mastered the five elements in his first life, he made the five-point unity star the family symbol. After ousting Hao, the main family "tore apart" the star and changed it into the seven-star tree, symbolizing their revival after Hao had dishonored their name.

The main family appear quite wealthy as they are able to pay for a 3,3 square meter house in Izumo and still rent out an entire house for Asakura Keiko when she lived in Tokyo, and later for Yoh and Anna when they moved there. The cadet branch started by Hao appears to be poor as according to Yohane, they could not even afford new school uniforms for him and his sister.

The main family have a long line of traditions including that of finding the perfect partner for their children, a person who must be strong in both body and mind, and have an exceptional shamanic ability such as Kyōyama Anna and Alumi Niumbirch.

Past
The history of the Asakura in the story is traced back to the year of 970 with the birth of Asakura Hao who back then during his childhood went under the name of Douji Asaha and nicknamed Douji Mappa.

The fame and wealth of the Asakura Family started when Hao began his training as Onmyōji that would help people seal Onis and other demons. He successfully mastered both Shaman and Itako arts and was named the guardian of Kyoto. He also met Matamune, a cat who had survived his mother and eight other siblings and who had the ability to see spirits. He took in Matamune and saw him as his only friend.

Hao was, however, losing control of his Reishi abilities and created Onis from his own dark thought. He began seeing humans as a plague to the world and decided that they would eventually be the course of the world's destruction. Learning of the Shaman King and his abilities, Hao decided to destroy humanity. Matamune who had died and returned as a Goryoushin saw how his master had turned mad and revealed it to the rest of the family. They successfully killed Hao during the Shaman Fights, but because of Hao's knowledge of the Ritual of Taizan Fukun, he could control his own rebirth.

As predicted Asakura Hao was reincarnated five hundred years after his death using the mastery of the five elements of nature, preventing his permanent death as he could now control the circumstances of his reincarnation. He was able to gain the ability to control his soul using the ritual of Taizan Fukun.

This time he chose to be reincarnated into the Patch Tribe, the people who organized the Shaman Fights because he believed it would give him a better chance of winning. During this time he also gained one of the Five Grand Elemental Spirits,the Spirit of Fire. Hao began preaching again, about a Shaman only world and tried to gain followers. The Asakura Family eventually found out and one of them, Asakura Yohken, left for the Shaman Fights to kill Hao. When Yohken came to the Shaman Fight he was given the help of Matamune and together they eventually defeated and killed Hao.

Present
The current generation started during the Second World War with Asakura Yohmei. He eventually married the blind Itako Kino, whose power had been recognized by the Asakura Family. They would have a daughter, Asakura Keiko

When Asakura Keiko grew up she was always shunned by everyone for her ability to hear and see spirits and was dumped by her fiancé because of this. It was when she was taking a train home that she met Maki Mihikisa, a poor musician who was playing at the trainyard for money. She requested a song and told him about her powers and even pointed out a spirit, standing right next to Mikihisa. Mikihisa fell in love with her instantly and revealed that he too could see spirits too. The pair began a relationship thereafter and eventually married. Mikihisa also received training from his father-in-law Yohmei, gaining the abilities of an Ascetic Monk and two mountain spirits of a fox and a tanuki.

When Keiko was found to be pregnant, it was predicted by Yohmei that she was to give birth to Asakura Hao who was going to be reincarnated into his original bloodline for more strength. Yohmei used his divination abilities many times in hopes of seeing a better vision of the future, but the outcome was the same; Hao would be reborn in the child carried by Keiko. Because of the unchangeable future, it was decided that the baby would be killed immediately when it was born.

Things became complicated when Keiko was revealed to be carrying twins and Yohmei decided to have both killed just in case. Right after the birth of the first baby, Yohmei summoned his small Shikigami to attack the infant. However, he hesitated at the last moment to apologize to his grandson and that was enough for Hao to summon the Spirit of Fire and destroy the small leaf spirits. He then tried to kill Yohmei, but Mikihisa took the attack and was badly burned. He then disappeared with the Spirit of Fire. A little while later Asakura Yoh was born, the twin brother of Hao and it was then decided he was to be raised to defeat Hao.

Mikihisa started hiking, climbing the mountains to forget about the shame of letting Hao go and to become stronger so that he could one day face him. He was rarely home, but one time he returned. he brought with him a girl Tamamura Tamao to be trained under Yohmei.

Six years after the Shaman Fight 2001, Asakura Hana, the son of Asakura Yoh and Asakura Anna, journeys with Umemiya Ryunosuke to gather the Five Elemental Warriors. He lives at the Funbari Onsen under the care of Tamamura Tamao whom he thinks is his mother.

Abillities and Powers
Because of their long history, the Asakura Family trained in many shamanic arts, from the most basic shaman abilities to an Itako that can call upon or exorcise spirits. The styles of the Asakura family's shaman include Onmyōdō, which specializes in divinations; Shugendou, a form of asceticism involving a lifestyle requiring the practitioner to develop an extremely powerful body by giving up all but the most necessary functions of life; and Mikos, who can contact divine spirits and warn people of danger.

Shamanic Spells and Techniques

 * Ko-Oni Strike (小鬼ストライク): This is one of the Asakura clan's onmyôji magic. With this magic, an Onmyôji can summon Shikigami from leaves or bits of paper to do their bidding. They are most useful, from anything from household chores to assassinations.


 * Asakura Shiki Onmyō Jutsu Hyaku Shikigami (Asakura Style Yin and Yang Technique - Hundred Shikigami): Another unique shamanic spell of the Asakura Family, which is also Yohmei's favored technique. It creates countless Shikigami that can surround an opponent and attack them from all directions at once.

Shikigami
Another special ability of the Asakura Family seems to be the ability to capture and control Shikigami and create Goryoushin, a special type of spirit employed by Onmyōji to guard against demons and other spirits that would seek to harm them

Zenki and Goki


 * See More: Zenki and Goki

Zenki and Goki are two red and blue large oni-like-Shikigami demons caught and controlled by Asakura Hao during his first life and sealed within two paper parchments. Later they became the guardians of the seal on the Chō-Senjiryakketsu written by Hao himself and would stay there for over a thousand years.

A thousand years later it was decided that Yoh was to have the book to train. However, the seal was broken and the two large ogres were released and started to chase Ponchi and Conchi whom they believed had broken the seal. However, Anna quickly learned the related technique of the book and easily captured the two Shikigami with her 1080 rosary beads. However, instead of exorcising them or sealing them again, she took control of them and turned them into her guardian spirits.

Family Treasures
Because of their long history of the family and various shamanic abilities, the Asakura Family have also gathered numerous treasures.


 * Chō-Senjiryakketsu: This is the book written by Asakura Hao in his first life and contains the knowledge of all of his techniques and secret arts including purification spells and techniques to read the flow of Furyoku. It also tells how to bind even the strongest Shikigamis and how to control them. The book contains every single piece of Shamanic knowledge gained by Asakura Hao in his first life.


 * Futunomitama no Turugi: A red knife-shaped rock, it has been owned by the Asakura Family ever since the time of Hao. According to Hao, it was once owned by a sword god and it always creates a stir in the world when surfaced since it is a national treasure. It was brought to Yoh during the current Shaman Tournament to help him out as it did Asakura Yohken 500 years ago in the previous tournament.


 * The 1080 Rosary Beads (1080 Beads in the English version of the anime series) is a long necklace used by Anna for her strongest abilities. When Yoh defeated the Oh-Oni it left behind a skeleton that Asakura Kino gathered and turned into beads for Anna. Because the beads are made out of the skeleton, they are more powerful than regular beads. The Rosary Beads are now used by Kyōyama Anna to control Zenki and Goki amongst others.

Etymology

 * The surname Asakura means "hemp, flax" (麻) (asa) and "warehouse, storehouse, barn, treasury, granary, cellar, magazine, godown, depository, elevator, storage place, repository, supply shed, grain elevator, stockpile, arsenal" (倉) (kura).

Trivia

 * The family name was given to Hao by the Emperor, inspired by his office of beeing the guardian of Kyoto, as Asakura can mean Hemp Warehouse.