Matazo

Matazo
Kanji	又造
Rōmaji	Matazō
Alias	Matazo the Matagi (マタギの又造, Matagi no Matazō?)
Characteristics
Race	Human (Formerly) Demon
Gender	Male
Hair Color	White
Personal Status
Status	Deceased
Relative(s)	Yae (Daughter)
Debuts
Manga Debut	Giyu Tomioka's Story: Part 1

Matazo (又 (また) 造 (ぞう) , Matazō^?) is the father of Yae and was transformed into a Demon prior to the beginning of Giyu Tomioka's Story.

Appearance

He is a gray-haired man with short hair, and small stubble on his chin. He looks outwardly 50-60 years old and has a kind face.

Personality

During his daughter’s childhood, Matazo was shown to be a loving, but awkward father to his daughter. This was mainly due to him having difficulty bonding with her after her mother’s death. As shown, Matazo was initially hesitant to train his daughter in hunting due to initially believing that it was not a profession fit for a woman, but eventually gave in when his friends revealed that Yae simply wanted to spend time with him and bond with him through hunting.

After becoming a Demon, Matazo was shown to have become extremely feral and had lost nearly all reason and rationality. As shown where he had immediately violently killed his fellow hunters and devoured them. However, despite becoming a near rabid animal, Matazo still retains his strong love for his daughter, as shown where he recognized her after his first frenzy and ran away from her to avoid eating her as well. Later after she tracked him down in the mountain, Matazo was able to say her name as he tried to eat her.

Abilities

Overall Abilities: As a human, Matazo was known to have been a skilled hunter. He made a living by hunting in the mountains, as he managed to train his daughter, Yae, to hunt as well.

Matazo was shown to have been a skilled marksman, as seen where he mainly employed a hunting rifle as his main weapon when hunting bears and deers on the mountain. Matazo was also implied to have some knife skills as well due to the fact that he trained his daughter Yae on how carve up deer, bear, and ilk for their meat and bones.

Abilities (Demon)

Matazo as demon

Upon becoming a demon, Matazo was shown to possess all the natural abilities of one and was seen to have been strong enough to overpower, kill, and eat several hunters who attempted to stop him due to believing he was a bear. He later showed to be strong enough to put up a decent fight against the Water Hashira, Giyu Tomioka.

Regeneration: Upon becoming a demon, Matazo was shown to possess slightly above average regeneration for a Demon, as seen where he managed to regrow his head almost immediately upon having a part of his head blown off by Yae and later was able to immediately regrow his lost arm after it was cut off by Giyu.

Flesh Manipulation: During his battle against Giyu, Matazo showed that he could already manipulate and morph the flesh of his arms into blades, spikes, and axes to use as weapons.

• Flesh Detachment: Matazo was later shown being able to morph a part of his arm into a double bladed axe and then detach it to use as a projectile weapon.

Trivia

• The term Matagi, traditionally written as (又 (また) 鬼 (ぎ) , ^?) are winter hunters within the Tōhoku region of Japan, north-east of the province of Tōkyō. They hunt bears and deer not just for food, but for spiritual praise towards their dieties within the mountains.