Ogawa Heizō is a former swordsman of Shimonoseki who sells toad oil for a living, and masquerades as Himura Battōsai, who is hailed in his hometown as a hero, which was known as Chōshū Prefecture in the past.
Appearance[]
Heizō is a large man with wild black hair that is tied in a topknot, wavy eyebrows that gets larger towards the outwards, and a large mustache that is wild at each end.
Personality[]
Heizō is first shown to be a liar and swindler by proclaiming himself to be Hitokiri Battōsai, to obtain money from the people that he is staying in. In reality, Heizō only does this because of the children he has taken in. Heizō cares for them deeply, as he flew into a rage when one of them was taken hostage.
Relationships[]
- Foster Children: Heizō cares for the children under his care, as he proclaimed himself to be Hitokiri Battōsai to obtain money from the town people, just to feed the children. When one of them was taken hostage, Heizō went into a rage and attacked the hostage taker with no regard for his own life.
- Himura Kenshin: Heizō poses as the Hitokiri Battōsai without knowledge that Kenshin is the real Battōsai, and even takes the name of the Hiten Mitsurugi-ryū style. When they meet, Heizō acts nicely and friendly towards Kenshin. They end up in good terms.
Abilities[]
Heizō proclaims himself to a skilled swordsman that is equal to Kenshin's, but isn't skilled at all. However, he was instead shown to be extremely strong, as he was able to grab a man by their head and throw them a distance away.
History[]
Ogawa was once a traveling swordsman, but came to realize that the path of a warrior was not for him. Somewhere along the line, he began to sell toad oil for a living, and encountered children in Shimonoseki who were orphaned by the Bakumatsu and Boshin Wars, becoming obligated to look after them, since they had no one else. However, the earnings he received from his current occupation were insufficient to take care of the children, and so under the guise of Hitokiri Battōsai, he began scaring away local criminals and in doing so won the support of his townspeople, who frequently gave him money for rescuing them and also paid to hear alleged stories of his past.
On one occasion he comes across Himura Kenshin (the real Hitokiri Battōsai) and his crew, who find out what he's up to. At this point, they only believe him to be a fraud who wants to make money for himself. Later on, however, they find out the truth after meeting him in his Dōjō (called "Hiten Mitsurugi-ryū Himura Dōjō"), i.e. that his actions are all for the sake of the orphan children and that he has done a lot of good by pretending to be the Battōsai, since crime has gone down in the area. Having nowhere else to go, Heizō lets them stay at his place and they help him look after the children.
Soon a real swordsman named Anzai Jurobei offers to kill this alleged Battōsai in return for a large sum of money from a group of criminals (the Tengu Democracy Party), knowing that Heizō is a fake and that he has the chance to make a name for himself as the man who killed the Battōsai. When Anzai and his crew enter Heizō's dojo, the latter encounters them. Kamiya Kaoru and Myōjin Yahiko defeat the other hooligans and Heizō tries to pull off his usual attempt of scaring enemies away by threatening to draw his sword and use Hiten Mitsurugi-ryū. Unfortunately, this does not work and so he breaks down in front of Anzai, confessing that he is not the real Battōsai. This comes to no avail and just as Anzai is about to kill Heizō, Kenshin comes to the rescue, after Makimachi Misao informs him and Sagara Sanosuke of the situation. He defeats Anzai, however, two of the thugs hold two orphan children as hostages and threaten to kill them unless Kenshin and the others back off. Deeply infuriated, Heizō charges towards them and rescues the children, defeating the thugs barehanded, although he gets cut on the left arm in the process.
Realizing now that Kenshin is the real Battōsai, Heizō apologizes to him for using the name Battōsai, but the former tells him that he has nothing to apologize for, since he has a very caring and protective personality and looks after the orphan children, when no one else is there to do so. He also apologizes to the children, but they console him, telling him that despite not being the Battōsai, he is still very strong and that he rescued them from the villains. They ask him to continue looking after them and teaching them, to which he agrees. He and the orphan children soon part with the Kenshingumi on good terms.
Trivia[]
- Ogawa Heizō is an anime original character.
Gallery[]
