General Buichi Toda was once a vassal of Lord Mifune. During a critical moment at the Battle of Adachigahara, Toda betrayed his master for Lord Hikiji, the event that led to Miyamoto Usagi becoming a ronin.
History[]
After the assassination of his wife and child, Lord Mifune mustered an army and went to war with Lord Hikiji. General Toda was one of his most important generals. During the battle, Lord Mifune appeared to have the upper hand when General Toda led his forces to join with those of Lord Hikiji and attacked Lord Mifune's left flank. As a result of this treachery, Lord Mifune was slain, and the battle lost.
Following the battle, General Toda expected to be rewarded by Lord Hikiji for his actions. However, Hikiji was furious for being denied Lord Mifune's head and took his anger out on Toda. Todas was beaten and then cast out with nothing to show for his severe treachery. No other lord would accept a traitor in their service, and so Toda and his wife became wandering vagrants, eventually settling in an abandoned hut near the Adachi Plains, the sight of his betrayal.
However, Toda refused to accept his karma. To have betrayed his lord was an unforgivable sin, but to be denied even the rewards for it was too much for his soul to bear. He swore he would get his due. Every night, he left in search of the secret grave of Lord Mifune's head in the hopes that if he brought it to Lord Hikiji, he'd finally be rewarded. But every morning Toda came back to his wife in their hut, he lost more and more of his humanity as his anger and hatred consumed him, making him more demonic every time. Then one night, Toda never came back at all and had transformed completely into a goblin, roving the mountains in search of Mifune's head and preying upon any traveler he came across.
One day, after many years, Miyamoto Usagi, Lord Mifune's most loyal retainer, returned to the province and visited Lord Mifune's grave to ask to be released from his vows of servitude. Usagi's senses put him on high alert, as he sensed someone in the woods was watching him. Later that night, Usagi took shelter from the snow in the hut where Toda's wife resided. The demonic creature tried to slay Usagi in his sleep, but Usagi was aware that something had been watching since he left the mountains and left a decoy in his futon.
When the ronin demanded to know what kind of creature he was, the goblin laughed and asked if Usagi had forgotten his comrades so quickly. Usagi was shocked to realize that the monster before him was General Toda. Taking advantage of Usagi's shock, Toda attacked him and would have killed him if Lady Toda hadn't tried to intervene, only to have been struck by her husband. Usagi demanded to know what had happened to make Toda like this. The traitor explained what had happened to him, his betrayal and how Hikiji cast him out, but now his retribution had finally come. For years, Toda had searched for Lord Mifune's head in vain, but thanks to Usagi's return, he finally saw where it was buried. Once Usagi was dead, Toda intended to present Mifune's head to Hikiji and finally receive the rewards that was denied him.
The two former comrades then engaged in a brutal, bloody fight, with goblin's demonic strength and durability almost killing the ronin, but Usagi was able to overcome Toda's strength and dealt the killing blow to the traitor. In slaying Toda, Usagi finally avenged the betrayal of his lord. (Albedo #2/IDW issue #6)
Fighting Style[]
When Buichi Toda was still a mortal man, he was probably a great warrior, given that he served as a general under a brilliant military strategist like Lord Mifune. As a goblin, Toda uses his monstrous size, strength and claw to maul and crush his victims to death, as he tried with Usagi. Toda's best weapon was taking his victims by surprise, either killing them while they slept in his wife's hut or catching them unaware in the mountains before devouring them. However, Usagi's sixth sense was far too keen for Toda to catch him unaware, which gave him the fighting chance he needed to finally slay Toda.
Appearances[]
- The Goblin of Adachigahara (collected in Book 1: The Ronin)
- Samurai!, Part IX (collected in Book 2: Samurai)
- Usagi Yojimbo Vol. 4 No. 6 (IDW Publishing 2019)