Asakura Hao

Asakura Hao (麻倉ハオ "Asakura Hao", Zeke Asakura in the English version of the Anime and games) is the main antagonist in the Manga and Anime series of Shaman King. He was born Douji Asaha (麻葉童子, Doji Asaha) in Japan during the Heian era. During his third life, he was reborn as the twin brother of his descendant Asakura Yoh. He is the most powerful shaman in the entirety of the series and the current Shaman King.

Appearance
Being Yoh's older twin brother and ancestor, Hao is very identical to Yoh in many ways physically, prominently in facial features and body structure, as they both have dark brown hair and brown eyes. Differing from his younger twin, Hao's hair is much longer in length, reaching past his waist and he is a bit taller and more muscular than Yoh. He often wears a poncho cloak that covers only his upper body, while wearing nothing beneath.

He wears a pair of black with red lining fingerless gloves with four small protrusions where the knuckles are imprinted with his own name on them and as well as a pair of dark red baggy pants with two sections each with a set of three straps on each leg and shoes with two studs protruding from the toes. He also wears a belt embedded with the Five Point Star and the straps are lined with it as well. When Hao uses the Over Soul or his Yin Yang Jutsu, his hair goes up in several spikes.

While in public Hao wears a pair of dark blue jeans and a half buttoned white shirt with oversized collars and cuffs.

Personality
During his first life, Asakura Hao lived under the uncertainty of corrupted and uncaring Heian nobility which drove the country into chaos and poverty. He saw the world as a grim and dark place until he met the small demon Ohachiyo, who taught him all the positive aspects of life. However, after an accident involving Hao's first Over Soul, Ohachiyo became a permanent part of Hao and cursed him with the very dangerous ability of Reishi (霊視, Reading the Heart). In his teen years, having witnessed the corruption and greed in the capital, Hao was aloof to those around him, but as he grew into an adult, he became a relatively peaceful man who sought to help the people around him, and thanks to him the Asakura Family prospered. It was because of this gentle and kind nature that he took in the cat Matamune, whom he considered his only friend.

However, his Reishi abilities became too strong and eventually went beyond his control. The negative emotions and thoughts of others were constantly overwhelming him and, since he was unable to turn his Reishi off, the deluge of negativity eventually created an "Oni" inside his own heart. The internal confusion and disorder that was created eventually led to his desire of creating a Shaman only Kingdom on Earth and drove him to become the Shaman King in order to reach this goal.

In his third and most current incarnation, Hao is usually calm, cruel, and always smiles. The occasions when he is really angry are very rare and when he is angry with someone, that person is usually killed and burned to their soul by The Spirit Of Fire. He also likes to watch Shaman Fights, particularly those that involve strong Shamans, and Asakura Yoh. He is not only interested in that, but he also claims that when Yoh reached his limits, he will become one with him to become the strongest Shaman.

He has shown some dislike of being given family titles, as he coldly glared at Yoh when he addressed him as "Nii-chan"(Big brother) and asked Hana to stop calling him "Uncle", though he would later address both in the same way. Despite all his misgivings towards humanity, Hao loved his first mother immensely as it was her death that primarily caused his extreme hatred and resent towards humanity.

Hao regards money as a primary reason behind the corruption in society. He refuses to use it and has his group follow the philosophy of being completely self-sufficient - even if it means stealing something to obtain it.

Abilities and Powers
As an ancient shamanic master who has died and reincarnated two times Hao has a tremendously overwhelming level of Furyoku, 1,250,000, as of his current life. During his first life, according to Asakura Yohmei, he was so strong that even the strongest Shikigami's swore him loyalty.

Shamanic Techniques
Because Hao has lived as both an Onmyouji and also a spiritual priest of the Patch tribe and was reborn with all the knowledge of his previous two life, he has a wide arsenal of shamanic techniques and spells.

Hao's original abilities of a taijutsu master from his first life have given him full control over the elements and divination powers. He is not only able to manipulate the six elements of nature, fire, earth, wood, metal, and water materially but also spiritually as shown when he converts the Spirit of Fire into the Spirit of Water, albeit temporarily. Even without the spirit of fire, Hao possesses great elemental and divination abilities and can easily bend oni and demigods to his will. However, with the addition of the Spirit of Fire, one can only assume that he can greatly amplify the circular properties of his art by using it as a power source. However, the spirit of fire uses mostly physical attacks, and on occasion, its fire attributes have been used in combat. Since Hao is quite fond of the element fire, he is rarely seen using his taijutsu arts in both the manga series and the anime series. Nevertheless, the combination that his Onmyōdō abilities and the Spirit of Fire forms definitely gives him an Over Soul second in power only to one with the Great Spirit.
 * Onmyōdō (陰陽道,)

This ability is able to read the hearts of others. Though it was a quite useful ability, Hao was unable to control this ability and was constantly inundated with the thoughts of those surrounding him. Though he initially used it to help humans from suffering, he would begin to see the darker side of human nature as he discovered through his reishi that those he helped were jealous and afraid of his power, and convinced them that he was evil. He eventually became filled with contempt for humanity and sought to create a world of only shamans. According to Hao, the ability derives from a strong sense of loneliness. He retains the ability in each of his incarnations until he is confronted by all the spirits he has ever encountered; soon afterward, Anna makes him realize that he is unable to read minds because he is no longer lonely as a result of meeting Yoh, who had the same effect on her.
 * Reishi (霊視, Reading the Heart)

The technique requires the shaman to have mastered all five elements of the pentagram and they must defeat the 75 lords of Hell in order to reach Taizan Fukun to bargain with him. Through this technique, Hao was able to be reborn Five Hundred years later as one of the Patch members, and then again  Five Hundred years later.
 * Taizan Fukun no Sai (泰山府君祭,):

Curse Reflection is a skill used once by Hao during the invasion of the secret Patch island by the military, when Amano Teruko tried to use her special skill, 2'O Clock Curse, which backfired and killed her instantly. It appears that Hao used this technique subconsciously, not showing any signs of acknowledging her presence.
 * Curse Reflection:


 * Ring of Fire(炎の輪, "Honō no wa"): An attack similar to that of Yoh's Shockwave Buddha Giri

Spirit

 * See More: Ohachiyo | Zenki and Goki | Spirit of Fire | Great Spirit

His first Guardian Ghost was a demon named Ohachiyo. He was once a human but would eventually become a small demon resembling a rabbit with exaggerated long ears. Hao only used him once to create a small kanabō Over Soul with a broken katana as a medium.

As an adult during his first life, Hao would use his Onmyōdō (陰陽道) magic to turn the two Shikigamis Zenki and Goki into demi-god spirits, who he would later use to protect his book of teachings, the Chō-Senjiryakketsu. It was also during this time that he gave a cat he had saved, Matamune, a portion of his Furyoku to keep with him after Hao had died.

When he reincarnated into the Patch Tribe, Hao stole the Spirit of Fire, one of five elemental spirits created from the Great Spirit itself. However, as he reincarnated again, so did the Spirit of Fire, and Hao has, as of his third life, been constantly feeding it the souls of those he has killed to make it much stronger.

Having won the Shaman Fight, Hao has become the new Shaman King and has assimilated with the Great Spirit. This grants him both omniscience and omnipotence. He is now able to absorb other souls simply by looking at them.

First Life
Born in Japan by Douji Asanoha, he was named Douji Asaha by his mother. However, a group of humans killed Asanoha, because they thought that she was a demon. Having his house burnt, Hao wandered and lived aimlessly, believing himself to be a boy with demonic powers and thought of exterminating all humans. One day while sitting by a gate, he met a spirit named Ohachiyo and they quickly became friends. Ohachiyo gave him the nickname Douji Mappa after noting the similarity between Asaha's and Asanoha's names. The demon persuaded Asaha to forget his vengeance and rather enjoy the aspects of life. Ohachiyo taught him things such as fishing, writing, and most importantly the ability of Reishi.

Hao followed his word and lived life with a smile, for a moment at least. However, when a guard apparently heard Hao conversing with himself at night, he immediately suspected Hao of being a demon and reported to Monk Densen. Densen confronted Hao, but proved to be a fraud and was easily overpowered. Hao recognized the man to be the one who killed his mother and performed his first murder. By over depleting his Furyoku, Asaha was unable to maintain control of his Over Soul and unintentionally consumed Ohachiyo's power.

Hao would end up in the streets of Kyoto where he was found lying unconscious by an Onmyōji Hamo Tadatomo and his apprentice Daitaro. Hamo was searching out Hao as the source of many Onis being summoned in the area. After clearing out all the Onis and seeing Asaha´s potential, Tadatomo took him in as his apprentice.

At a yearly ceremony for exorcising the capital of Onis, Asaha´s fellow apprentice, Daitaro was used as a test subject by Tadatomo, who intended to create a human Shikigami hybrid that regular humans were able to see. Asaha tried to intervene but was restricted by Tadatomo´s Shikigami until Tadatomo was killed by Daitaro, making them disappear. Despite their aides claim that they should flee, Asaha decided to surpass Tadatomo by defeating Daitaro, using the Onis within his own body to gain control over him. In the 5 years that followed, his skills had him named the guardian of Kyoto and inspired by his office, he was given the name Asakura Hao.

With the experience of his childhood, Hao became a talented Onmyōji and founded the Asakura Family in Kyoto. Due to his loneliness Hao created Onis all the time, but that wasn't a problem to him because he had the ability to control demons. During that time Hao met Matamune a stray cat. Hao stated that Matamune was his only true friend, and gave it some of his spiritual energy in the hopes that Matamune would stay with him forever.

Nevertheless, the curse implanted on Hao from Ohachiyo was permanent and eventually drove Hao mad. Hao would eventually learn of the Shaman King. Because of his plans to destroy all of humanity the Asakuras ousted him, though he remained in Kyoto where he founded a branch of the Asakura Family. He was eventually killed by one of his relatives during the Shaman Fights.

Second Life
Hao's Yin-Yang Jutsu, the mastery of the five elements of nature, prevented 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 Kuzun. Though Taizan Kuzun could only be reached by getting past the seventy-five Lords of Hell, succeeding in making a contract with him gives one the ability to resurrect the dead or reincarnate themselves at will.

Hao then chose to be reincarnated as a Patch Tribe member, the ones that organized the Shaman King Tournament, and then he stole the Spirit of Fire from the Patch tribe. During this time he also had a wife and a child. With his new guardian ghost, Hao conquered many enemies with ease, including the four Seminoa Warriors, who after hearing his goals decided to stop him.

He once again projected his idea of a Shaman world but was rejected by the shamans he was trying to promote. He had the same plans of conquering the world and killing all of humankind, but he was stopped by Asakura Yohken and Matamune. Despite the fact that he died before becoming Shaman King, he achieved his goal of capturing the legendary Spirit of Fire for use as his guardian ghost in his next life. The wife and child he left behind were about to be killed, when the Patch Tribe realized that they were now missing a priest, they allowed both of them to live in order to keep the line of Patch Priests. As a result, several generations later Silva of the Ten Patch Officiants was born from the same lineage of Patch Hao.

Past
After being killed as Patch he chose to be reborn into his original bloodline to become quite stronger. His actions were foreseen by Asakura Yohmei and it was decided that Hao should be killed upon his rebirth. However, when Yohmei was about to strike the infant he hesitated, and that was enough for Hao to summon the Spirit of Fire. Mikihisa placed himself in the way after Hao tried to kill Yohmei with a punch, and got badly burned in the process. Hao then told Keiko to stay still as he did not wish his important "Other Half" to die before being born. With these words, he laughed and disappeared.

After escaping the Asakura family he was apparently raised by Brocken Meyer. When he was five, he and Brocken left their home looking for followers. Wherever Hao went, he left a path of destruction in his wake. He killed Lyserg's parents when they recognized him as a great evil and tried to stop him, maimed Cebin Mendel for unknown reasons, killing military units when he was looking for Mohamed Tabarsi. He also destroyed the church-orphanage home of Marco Lasso and killed everyone within it. At the age of eight, Hao had gathered himself an incredible amount of followers that he would teach many of his own personal techniques, such as the Fumon Tonkō.

Shaman Fights in Tokyo
Hao is first seen as an unidentified person amongst the other contestants watching Yoh and Ren's battle, smirking and commenting that both of their powers were growing and the winner will definitely be a great obstacle in the future.

Travel Through America
Hao is first formally introduced when the Shamans gather together to leave for America on the Patch plane. He arrives in front of Yoh and his group, announcing he is the future Shaman King and decides to play around with them and test their strength. However, he is interrupted by his followers telling him they might miss the plane if he continues to play around to which he agrees, but not before telling Yoh that he was impressed by his determination and that he would make for a good ally before leaving with his allies.

Shaman Fights Second Round
As Hao watches Yoh in his first match he is impressed by his first Over Soul "Spirit of the Sword" and especially how quickly he was able to master in a mere month. He then leaves to follow Ren out of the stadium. Ren notices this and tells Hao to stop following him. Hao then offers Ren a chance join his group but he declines and promptly attacks Hao. Hao blocks his halberd so easily and quickly, reducing it into ashes. He leaves for his own match while Ren is shocked by Hao's strength and returns to the stadium to learn more about Hao.

Hao's team - Hoshi-Gumi consists of himself, Luchist and Opacho. Hoshi-Gumi is to fight one of the X-law teams. Before the match begins, Hao tells Opacho and Luchist to leave the ring so he can face them all at once by himself. Knowing that they will lose, the X-laws decide to fight Hao one-on-one so that the other shamans can learn more about Hao. In a single move, Hao quickly summons the Spirit of Fire and kills two of the X-laws. The third X-law is being crushed by the Spirit of Fire. Hao later reveals that his spirit medium is the air itself. Hao admits this to be the case as what else would be a better medium of fire. Marco is furious as it shows that Hao doesn't care if anyone knows this secret and he is mocking the sacrifices of the X-laws. However Chris Venstar surprises Hao with a special grenade and with it, he can extinguish all oxygen in the ring.

Fortunately, the force field around the ring takes the full blast of the explosion and it appears that Hao was destroyed. As the smoke soon clears, Hao is still unprotected but the Spirit of Fire has now changed into water. With his knowledge of the elements, Hao converted the Spirit of Fire into Water to shield himself. As a reward for their bravery. Hao gives the X-laws the honor of being Eaten by the Spirit of Fire to enable it to become stronger.

When Hao learns that Yoh is about to leave the Shaman Fight, he then soon threatens to kill the Golem and the children unless Yoh returns to the shaman competition. Hao then instructs Luchist to help Yoh take down the X-laws. soon After that, Hao watches Team The Ren fight one of the Gandhara teams and realizes that Horohoro's real name is Usui Horokew. As Hao leaves for his base and begins the Star Festival. He then orders his group to foil Gandhara's plan to create the Five Warriors. On his own. meanwhile, a member of the X-laws uses a secret satellite to fire a beam to destroy him. This fails when Hao reveals his armored Over Soul which protects him. The Spirit of Fire then completely destroys their souls.

Hao goes to the area where Marco and Jeanne are and meets Anna there. Anna attacks with Zenki and Goki, to which he responds with the Spirit of Fire, Anna uses Furyoku Nullification to completely unmake his attack. Anna then uses a curse reflection to hurt Hao, prompting Hao to unleash his Armored Over Soul: the Raven. Hana-Gumi arrives in the battle as spirits and asked if Hao is just using them. Hao reveals the truth and attempts to absorb their souls but Anna uses one of Hao's old guardian ghosts to save them. Hao is impressed by Anna and does not wish to fight with her nor hurt her and asks her and himself why he cannot read her mind and that she has yet to use her full power, "the power that she does not want anyone to know about". Hao then asked Anna "who are you" and "what are you".

later Yoh arrives and answers, "Anna is Anna" and convinces Hao to have coffee with him. The two talk. He then leaves after he senses Yohken's presence in Yoh's mind.

During the fight between Team The Ren and Funbari Onsen, Hao is seen relaxing in a hot spring listening to the match over the radio. When Hao hears that he apparently has no friends, shocking everyone, he reveals that this thought was only in Yoh's head the entire time. He soon learns that Yoh has a new technique that he learned in Hell.

Invading the Plants
After the end of the Second Rounds of the Shaman Fights the Patch brought Team "Hoshi-Gumi", Team "The Ren", Team "Funbari Onsen", and Team "X-I" to the Continent of Mu, where the third and final rounds would be held. But instead of continuing the competition, the other three teams forfeited, thus making Hao the new Shaman King. Lip and Rap then proceeded to lead him through the Plants to the Kings Sanctuary where Hao would sleep a pseudo like death while being united with Great Spirit. When he finally awakens he sends a message to the Oracle Bells that reads "so small".

He effortlessly kills everyone with a simple glance, excluding Rutherfor, Opacho and Yoh. Opacho commented that the Hao she knew wasn't here anymore and Yoh was able to deduce that Hao was controlling his body even though his spirit had already moved on as the Shaman King. Yoh then states that this Hao is nothing but a walking corpse and decapitates it. Hao, however, doesn't die most likely due to being omnipotent after his merge with the Great Spirit.

After he grins, Yoh's soul and Amidamaru are seen being absorbed by Hao. When Yoh wakes up, he realizes he must be inside the Great Spirit and Hao appears, revealing that he's actually inside him and in the highest society of the Great Spirit, the society of the Shaman King where only people Hao wishes to enter may come. The two start a conversation during which Yoh reveals that he too dislikes humans because they really are destroying the Earth. But he also admits that he could never go as far as to kill them, so Hao orders him to leave. Somehow Yoh isn't banished and Tao Ren, Lyserg Diethel, Chocolove McDonell and Usui Horokeu appear too. Then a fierce battle between the Five Elemental Warriors and the Shaman King begins.

The battle is so evenly matched that the fight ends in a complete stalemate until Hao reveals that the fight was merely his preparations for their defeat and creates a supernova that developers into a black hole. As the five are being dragged in the Soul Train appears out of nowhere, anchoring the five. On board are all the people that Hao killed when he became king, as well as the dead family members and friends of the Five Elemental Warriors. Yoh finally manages to calm Hao by letting Opacho jump into a black hole, which Hao stops immediately because of the bond between them.

Hao realizes that his quest was not for what he has become but for something else that he could not remember. The Asakura family says that his quest started because of his mother. Yoh finally knows what Hao is after and tells him that his mother was always beside him as a ghost. Hao sees that his mother could have been his guardian ghost and oversoul but he was so blinded by his quest that he could not see the truth. When his mother arrives on the scene Hao appears overjoyed to see her again, even though she slaps him for all that he had done and embarrasses him in front of everyone. Afterward, he lets everyone return to Earth but tells Yoh that he still hates humans, but will let them sort out their problems before he passes judgment, and not to be so impertinent.

Funbari no Uta
After Yoh, Anna and their infant son, Asakura Hana are killed in the Middle East, they enter Hao's realm in the Great Spirit. There Anna forces him to revive all three of them through blackmail. Hao does so while implanting Oni's into Hana to act as a fail-safe to prevent him from dying.

At the end of the series, it shows Hao watching over Yoh and his friends happily alongside Matamune, implying that he finally let go of his hatred and accepted his role as Shaman King.

Flowers
After his ascendancy to becoming Shaman King, the G8 convened a meeting and with a vote of no confidence against Hao, initiated the Flower of Maize to decide the fate of the world. Several years later, after Hana dies while intentionally summoning Oni's to fight Tao Men, he appears to Hana and even lectures him on his misuse of the Oni's, before offering to resurrect him one last time if he can defeat Yoh, who appears to be himself from 13 years ago.

After Hana is defeated, he decides to bring Yoh up to speed as they watch over Hana. At the same time, he gives clear instructions to Thalim and the other former Patch officials that while they may observe Hana's progress, they can't interfere in any way. At the same time, he notes that Yosuke's kidnapping of Amidamaru was convenient as he pampered Hana too much. He also states his intention of having Sakurai as Hana's guardian ghost while telling the confused priests that they will eventually understand his decision to have a mere human ghost as his nephew's guardian. Later, as Hao states his determination to change the world with the Flower of Maize to Yoh, YVS appears and states his intention to maintain the status quo at any cost.

Anime/Manga Difference
Very little is has been told of his past in the anime series, only how he was reincarnated and that he stole the Spirit of Fire. Also because of Asakura Yohken and Matamune are manga characters only it is never mentioned who precisely killed him, only that it was an unnamed Asakura and that it was done while he was sealed with the 1080 Prayer Beads. Also, he shows a lot more interest in joining with Yoh in the anime series, and far less in the manga series.

He is played straight as the villain, being cruel, uncaring, and deceitful (in the way that he even smiles when maiming enemies and has no problem sacrificing his own followers). However, in the manga series, he starts out this way but is eventually revealed to be more of the Tragic Villain variety. This is backed up by Manta's dream of Hao being a Princess who needed to be "freed".

At the end of the anime series, he keeps the Spirit of Fire and has it devour the Great Spirit to gain its power instead of actually winning the tournament and the Great Spirit as he does in the manga series. Hao is ultimately killed by Yoh who had received power from Shamans all across the Earth, using his Giant O.S. to cut both Hao and the Spirit of Fire in half.

Trivia

 * His name translates to Leaf King. The kanji that makes up the Ha portion of his name is also the same kanji that makes up Yoh's name, and the o portion is a Japanese honorific, usually indicating that the person is of very high status
 * According to Marco of the X-Laws, over 80% of the contestants in the Shaman Tournament are related to Hao in some way.
 * Hao seems to be based on the historical person of Abe no Seimei, the most powerful Onmyoji living during the Heian era.