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This is part 2 of my analysis of Matsui Gou's design where no conclusion is farfetched enough not to share! This time I will talk about how it compares to other swords that may or may not share some kind of connection with him; if you found this post through another TouDan's tag and aren't interested in Matsui, just scroll down until you see them.
This part will get a bit more "literary analysis"-y compared to the previous one, so I apologise if it gives anyone bad highschool flashbacks. But I promise there is still a lot to uncover!
You can check part 1 here. Once again, big thanks to @asterparfait for help with references!
Another disclaimer first: my knowledge of Shinto, Buddhism and Hinduism is even less in-depth than my knowledge of Christianity, so it is entirely possible that I'm missing obvious things. Moreover, Buddhism is popular in multiple countries, so unless specified, I don't even know if the practices I'm looking up online are universal or specific to particular places. So I'm afraid I will need to leave double-checking if I missed anything to more experienced Saniwas. Same with Hakkenden; I base my deductions on very short, very incomplete summaries, MTL'd wiki and Gou on Stage.
With that out of the way, let's go back to looking at Matsui under the microscope! Since he belongs to one of the largest groups in the game, it's only natural to start with the comparison with other Gous. Let's look at their general trends.
Looking at how "painted nails" seems to be a code for "animal motif", I wonder if Inaba also belongs there? His black with dots outfit reminds me of birds of prey and looking for matches (black/white, bare hands with black nails, wing symbols, pointy ends of belts kinda looking like feathers, white streaks of hair around neck, the way his face is framed in general and the cap in casual outfit), he seems to be a falcon. Does Yuki Hideyasu have any association with falconry by any chance? Or perhaps it's just a pun on him being "under the Heavens"?
Also, Samidare is in the "slit eyes" club alongside a vampire, a ghost and an angel, so he may have a supernatural motif as well. With how Samidare blade is associated with Hakkenden, Yatsufusa is the obvious pick, though Samidare's design utilizes more than 8 "balls" and I'm not sure which don't count. The best I could come up with, his collar consists of 6 circles, its shape is the seventh and the paw on his mon is the eighth (or maybe either the shape or the paw don't count and he himself is the eighth dog). However, with how his costumes are having a prominent focus on the stomach (it's likely a reference to Fusehime slitting her stomach to release her unborn babies), I think he might be a reference to Tamazusa's curse in general. He forms a "more masculine dog/more feminine human" duo with Murakumo, and I will talk about it much later, but their colours are likely a Hakkenden reference as well.
For the white shirts, I can only think about how they represent that Matsui, Murakumo and Buzen are next to each other on the height chart (176, 177 and 178 cm respectively). As for the beads, Matsui has a lot going on with both Buzen and Kuwana, which I will talk about more soon, so it's not surprising.
Another thing I have been thinking about is that "green and blue are the same colour in Japan" I mentioned in the previous post: I wonder if the Gous' association with green is another "hiding" trait. As MTL constantly tells me, "Gou" can be read as "river", and rivers are often associated with colour blue. Notably, Pure Cool changed their green outfits to blue for their "visible" debut. This would also make Matsui the "Moon Moon" of the group due to his ties with both water and the colour blue. And it works really well on a thematic level for the two characters it affects. If you see both green and blue as Gou colours, then there are two Moon Moons "double Gous": Kotegiri and Matsui. Yet another Kotegiri's oddity is that, unlike everyone else who have "green+their colour", he only has two greens. But if you see the Gous "attaining visibility" as them symbolically changing their group colour, then his own green will also become "visible". As for Matsui, well you have the entire previous post about how much it would suit him to get the "hidden" colour. It would also give an extra explanation to why he likes Buzen if Buzen's "true colours" are actually blue+red, the colours Matsui is heavily associated with. Maybe this is even what he means after Kiwame? That he realized Buzen is blue and red?
Anyway, you probably got excited about the "coded messages" part, so let's look into it! Unfortunately, I don't have references for Kuwana's and Murakumo's armguards, and it's really hard to decipher anything from Tomita's sprites other than the ring is likely a "1" and we are probably looking at parts of wings again; also, Buzen's date seems to have changed (or, rather, "appeared") after Kiwame, but I don't have reference for it either (from what I can see, my guess is that there is a "6" (might be two sets of "3" if we count both arms) on his upper arm and the whole date is 1956, when he was designated as an Important Cultural Property). The rest are good to go though!
Kotegiri: 1931, the year when he was auctioned off and ended up in possession of Kurokawa Institute of Ancient Culture (I'm not sure if it's the same year)
Buzen: he is doing that "teehee" pose in the artbook because you can actually get every digit from his armguard, which is probably a part of his "disappearing" motif and the reason why he got a new armguard after Kiwame
Samidare: 1944, when he was donated to the Tokugawa Art Museum
Inaba: 21 October 1600, Battle of Sekigahara
Kurikara: 21 June 1582, Honnoji Incident
By the way, even though it's not unique to Matsui to form dates on armguards, I still stand by what I said about 1961 being important to him. It is an odd element out in his overall costume, and from what I can tell he is the only one who uses more than one date in his design. All this find did was just provide an extra link to the Gous.
Alright, I'm sure you are all wondering what I mean by Buzen also having an extra "hiding" motif (yes, it's about him being a ghost). But I would like to save his individual symbolism for later, and talk about how his design relates to Matsui's first.
When you see them side-by-side, you can spot that, while they share a very similar colour-scheme, there are a lot of contrasting details. Matsui's straight hair to Buzen's curly. Fully buttoned shirt that gives a more uptight impression compared to the casual feel of unbuttoned collar. Long cape vs. a short jacket. Covered arms vs. rolled up sleeves. And of course there is the overall elegance of feminine beauty contrasted with the "nation's boyfriend" vibe.
Interestingly, this way of contrasting characters is similar to the designs of the Genji swords, which are supposed to be seen as a set. They even share a number of details, so I may as well jot it all down.
Despite the contrasts, it's also easy to see the similarities. Some are obvious (colour scheme, white shirt, red circle), but I can't help but wonder if there is also a subtle mimicry going on? Admittedly, this is more obvious in the musicals where you see these costumes in motion, so I guess they catch your attention in a similar way? I'm sorry, I'm not an artist, so I can't explain what causes this effect in visual terms, but as someone who did language studies my best analogy is it's similar to why it can be hard to detect misspellings. Your brain sees familiar forms and "corrects" them, even if the order of elements is wrong. Here are elements that I think may play a part in this effect.
Next, let's look at these "vivid red" mons, but I will add one more detail to them.
In case you are wondering, this is the mon of Matsui clan; you know, the one that owned Matsui Gou. Matsui and Buzen have these red elements because their blades both have something written in red on their tangs. As for Matsui clan, IDK??? I guess Matsui's dad just approves of Buzen joining the family???
By the way, Kuwana may or may not be counted here as well (though in a more second-hand fashion) since the figures on his mon can be seen as stylized "cross" and "moving effect". I will later talk about his connection to Buzen and Matsui in a rather "shapely" manner, so for now I will fill it under "might be a reference to Buzen and Matsui".
And now that we are thinking about more abstract shapes, do you know what Matsui and Buzen remind me of? Lilies. Specifically, white lily and red spider lily.
Lmao, I hope this is understandable. Basically, the shapes of the lilies remind me of Matsui's sleeves and Buzen's hairdo, and their colours also suit them (not so much for Matsui after Kiwame, but I digress). While white lilies are associated with Mary, this isn't the angle I'm going for right now. What ties these particular lilies together are funerals.
As you probably know, red spider lilies are heavily associated with death in Japan. They are planted at cemeteries, they are called "flowers of the other shore" (I guess, "other side" would have a more fitting connotation in English) and they are associated with the autumn equinox when it is believed that the gate to the other world opens. They also have an interesting quirk: their leaves wither before they bloom, and their flowers wither before new leaves appear. So, basically, there is always a "hidden" part. Meanwhile, the white lilies symbolize purity and rebirth, making them a popular flower for funeral arrangements to the point some people become superstitious about receiving them in other contexts. And it's kinda fitting for a vampire, whose body dies and comes back, to be associated with rebirth, while a ghost, whose body dies and stays dead, with the afterlife.
And while we are still on the topic of abstract, let's bring back the birthstones from the previous post. Specifically, aquamarine and bloodstone, the birthstones of March.
Also, I joked about Matsui's hairpin also being a reference to Buzen, but actually I do think it's intentional: this way both of their yukatas reference each other (Matsui's hairpin = Buzen's mon, Buzen's obi = Matsui's scabbard).
I hope you guys had fun with exercising your abstract thinking, because you will need it again soon. We are finally done with the paired comparisons and are starting to check Buzen solo. And unlike Matsui, who compulsively assigns a meaning to every single detail, Buzen likes it when you look at him as a whole.
As I mentioned in the beginning, I'm not very knowledgeable about Shinto and Buddhism, so I may miss things here. Once you start analysing Buzen's design, you will quickly notice that he is very fond of number "5" (often stylized as "4+1"), it's basically his equivalent of Matsui's diamond shapes. There might be multiple meanings behind it; in fact, you will see that this number is used in most of his symbolism. I tried applying various Buddhist meanings of number "5" to him to see which would make my train of thought run the longest and those tracks ended up belonging to the five elements. Let's check my finds.
If you want a non-religious explanation for "4+1", you can read it as "the five Important Cultural Property uchigatanas minus Buzen". NGL, my first instinct when I started looking at numbers was to look for "4" because it's a homonym of "death" in Japan. And with how you pronounce "5" as "go", you can read it as "5 are Gous, but 4 means one died".
Buzen's mon depicts Bhavachakra, the wheel of life, which also symbolically makes Buzen himself Yama, the god of death (he was also the first human to die in Hinduism). EN wiki article about it is easy to follow even if you aren't familiar with the terms, so I will redirect you here for more in-depth explanations.
By the way, Yama can be linked to, of all things, motorcycles, since he was used in road safety campaigns in India.
Our next symbol gets pretty macabre since it's about a person being on their deathbed. There is a tradition to put a scroll with five strings in front of a dying person, and if the person firmly holds onto them during their last moments, they will reach Amida's Western Paradise (Amida Buddha is the Lord of the Beyond and the Afterlife and Kannon is his attendant; also Kannon is often depicted with an image of Amida in her crown, which might be another evidence towards Matsui's hairpin referencing Buzen). Let's look for these strings!
Now that our souls have left in search of Paradise, let's check what happens to our bodies. I actually couldn't find detailed accounts about Japanese practices (they basically amounted to "wash the body, put on clothes, cremate"), but the Thai Buddhist rituals are pretty interesting! I will quote relevant passages from this article, and you can also read more about the sacred white thread (sai sin) here.
When the body is transferred to the temple, the procession is led by a monk holding a holy thread (sai sin). If cremation is delayed—sometimes by days, sometimes by months or years for prominent figures—monks are invited to chant daily. They may hold a broad ribbon (bhusa yong) connecting the coffin to themselves, symbolically linking the deceased to the sacred recitations. After the bathing, the body is dressed, then ritually tied in a practice called mud tra sung. Three nooses are tied around the neck, wrists, and ankles. Each symbolizes attachments that bind life to Samsara: children, spouse, and wealth. To attain liberation, these ties must be cut. Then, the body is wrapped in a large white cloth, knotted at the head so it can later be easily untied when washing the face with coconut water before cremation. Over this, a raw cotton thread, as thick as a thumb, is tied into five firm knots. On the funeral day, the procession begins at the home. A group of monks walks ahead, holding the bhusa yong ribbon attached to the coffin.
So, the things we are looking for this time are: threads (preferably long and white), ribbons, bound neck, wrists and ankles, and five knots.
So yeah, if Matsui is a hidden metalhead, then Buzen must be a hidden goth who would probably wear entire cemetery on his body if he could. But well, things aren't that bleak and even in the darkest moments you can look for an auspicious sign or eight! The Ashtamangala are sacred symbols that will help you reach enlightenment, and I once again will redirect you to the wiki for individual meanings of each symbol.
Well, that's all I got from his battle sprites! I think that I probably found everything, because he repeats these symbols (minus Ashtamangala) in his suit.
As you can see, the overall theme of his battle outfit is actually very similar to Matsui's: there is death everywhere, but things aren't hopeless. This is also the other reason why I think it would make sense for Matsui to add a prayer to his outfit as well; this way they would match.
Buzen's last costume is yukata, let's try to read what he has to say to us here.
Well, it's pretty gloomy. Black is a funeral colour, red we already linked to blood and it can be the setting sun, willows are associated with grief and it looks like it's raining, which is the stereotypical funeral weather. While these are definitely "Buzen" symbols, they don't fit the mood at all, so let's try to rearrange the dots!
We may as well read the red-on-black as the rising sun, rain can be seen as a symbol of purification and the willow is actually associated with compassion in Buddhism, and it's not hard to link it to "rebirth". So I think the intended message here is "new life" as opposed to "death" of his battle outfit, similar to how Matsui's outfits contrast "danger" and "safety".
However, there is also that one thing that links Buzen to blood, night and sunrises. It's his duet with Matsui from Paraiso. And I can't stress hard enough how well their yukatas work in that context. Matsui is near water (aquamarine), thinking about spilled Christian blood (bloodstone), while Buzen joins him and tells him they will wait for the dawn (the setting of Buzen's yukata) together (the theme of Matsui's yukata). As if you needed any additional context to make this duet even more intimate…
Anyway, this is what Buzen has to say to us, but he also has a message that is very much not for us. Between the black-and-red colour scheme (bloodstone), the rain (water), the obi (Matsui's sheathe) and the willow (you will never guess which bodhisattva this plant is associated with), he is actually spelling "Matsui" in 4 different ways. Hell, you can add "+1" if he also says it out loud. So he is spelling Matsui's name as his favourite number in a code only Matsui would understand? What kind of advanced flirting technique is thaaat???
(For the record, you can get 4 "Buzens" from Matsui's yukata as well ("threads" (shoelaces), aquamarine, lilies, hairpin). The odd ones out are "bellflowers", but their meaning in Japanese flower language is "enduring love", so, well, yeah…)
Cough, alright I feel like I'm kinda intruding here so let's switch our attention to something else. Let's talk about Kuwana! Kuwana is a lot more obviously complementing and contrasting Matsui's design than Buzen, and I think that's the point. He is the "visible" side of Matsui, while Buzen is the "hidden" side. Kuwana and Buzen also thematically contrast each other: Kuwana's "visible" side is associated with daytime activities like gardening (life) and he wears bright sunny colours, while Buzen's "hidden" dead side is associated with night and red evokes a more sinister feeling in that context. Ironically, this is reversed for their hairdos: Buzen's leaves his entire face open, while Kuwana hides behind his bangs. While I don't think he has a specific hidden side, Kuwana still complements both Matsui and Buzen on the religious front by representing Shinto. You can see some Shinto elements in his design, and his overall "nature" motif ties into more naturalistic Shinto beliefs. I believe that each Gou has a certain theme to their design, and in Kuwana's case I think he specifically references an iwakura, a sacred stone that is a home to kami. This may also be what lets him talk with the earth (I guess, he is kind of a double kami?), and it would be yet another contrast with "intangible" Buzen. Let's see which of his design elements may tie into either this theme or his relationships with others.
With how many elements can be interpreted as references to both Buzen and Matsui, and with how Kuwana may or may not use their "hidden" tricks (diamond and 4+1), I kinda get the impression that he understands that something galaxy-brained is going on with them, but he is fine with just chilling and supporting his bros.
Well, we are mostly done with the Gou designs, but any analyses about the group would be incomplete without looking into Hakkenden. Don't worry; as I said earlier, I only have very incomplete knowledge of it, so I will keep it brief and mostly focus on Matsui, Kotegiri and Buzen.
Nansou Satomi Hakkenden is a long novel that is tied to the Gous because it may or may not have used Samidare as a prototype for its famous sword Murasame. The Gou swords actually borrow some of its main group's traits, so I think it is a good idea to look into it to explain certain things about designs and relationships. If you have watched Gou on Stage, you at least know which character corresponds to which Gou. I will summarize relevant parts.
In the backstory, there was a witch who cursed the Satomi clan to be "depraved like beasts"; I believe this is what Samidare's theme is. TLDR, a dog that represents this curse (Yatsufusa) married Fusehime, a human woman, and they had 8 spirit babies. Unfortunately, both parents died, but the mom cut her belly to release her unborn babies, who possessed the 8 big beads of Fusehime's 108 beads rosary. The babies then were born as humans with peony-like birthmarks who owned a special bead since birth (but they didn't necessaryly know about it). This is where the idea of 8 Gous with moles originates.
Matsui corresponds to Inuzuka "Shino" Moritaka; he is the main character for the early portion of the story, but later looses prominence. That fits his "loosing colour". When he was a kid, Shino was raised as a girl, so he is often portrayed as androgynous (how many explanations for your pretty looks do you need, Matsui?). He has Murasame, a sword associated with water. This sword is famous because it cleans itself, so it can't be stained by blood.
Shino is best friends with Inukawa "Sosuke" Yoshito, who is a servant in the household where the orphaned Shino lived. He is played by Kotegiri, and Matsui has some "childhood connection" with him through their ties with the Hosokawa clan.
Buzen corresponds to Inuyama "Dosetsu" Tadatomo (childhood name Michimatsu). He is an antagonist-turned-friend associated with fire who was buried alive in the backstory. However, as Gou on Stage clued us in, Buzen actually double dips and also takes the role of Hamaji, the girl from the household where Shino and Sosuke grew up and also Shino's fiancée. Her storyline basically goes like this: she is in love with Shino, but Shino lost favour with her adopted parents, so they got separated. Before they can reunite, Hamaji dies in Dosetsu's arms, who turns out to be her half-brother. Later on, she briefly reappears as a ghost by possessing a girl who is basically Hamaji 2.0 (down to having the same name) except this one is a princess. And in the end, Shino marries that second Hamaji. Not to be a shipper on main, but Buzen would look really good in a princess dress this makes so much sense in the context of Buzen's character? There is the fire, there is the death, there is his relationship with Matsui and this may also explain why his mon has a part similar to Matsui clan's: in the book, both Shino and Hamaji were (either actually or functionally) adopted by the same family, so this time it's the "Hamaji" that got adopted by the "Shino's" clan.
I'm a lot less clear about other guys' roles, but I will at least mention that Inusaka "Keno" Tanetono, who Murakumo corresponds to, is known to look so feminine he gets mistaken for a woman. So this is where Kumo gets his looks.
Well, we are done with the 8 Gous, but we have a 9th now and he just so happens to have a connection with Matsui: they belonged to Oda Nobunaga's retainers and have history with the Hosokawa clan. Since swords with some kind of connection tend to have similar elements in their designs, let's have a closer look at Matsui and Kurikara!
Now that we switched attention to the Hosokawas, let's look at them as a whole (Matsui, Kotegiri, Kasen, Sayo, Kokindenjunotachi, Jizou; Kurikara is more of an honorary member, since his former master was the father-in-law of Kasen's former master). The running theme here is "femininity" (AGAIN?), with them looking androgynous and/or wearing pieces of female clothing. Kotegiri once again doesn't fit this pattern. (My personal theory for the look is a shift in social expectations: the Hosokawa swords tend to be associated with arts, and nowadays arts aren't seen as manly as they were back in the day; men are expected to work to death instead of reciting poetry. But well, there isn't anything in the text that actually supports this theory). Matsui doesn't have a lot of (design) similarities with Sayo (blue) and Kasen (their sheathes use the same pattern, they use capes and ropes/chains (Kasen's base cape is held by a rope similar to the one on Matsui's Kiwame and Kasen Kiwame uses a chain kinda similar to Matsui's)), but things get more interesting when you compare him to the Yukihira swords.
Fuh, I'm finally done with the comparisons! But I like to think that looking at all these designs so closely gave me a bit of insight into the thought process behind how some of the early Gous were created. This is merely speculation, but I will try to trace the general thought process of how this group came to be!
In the beginning, there were obviously two ideas: "ghosts" and "Hakkenden". It just so happened that there were 7 important Gous, so it was simply a matter of assigning them the Hakkenshi roles and picking an 8th to complete the group. Samidare was probably rejected as "Shino" because it was too obvious, which also disqualified Murakumo from being "Sosuke". Meanwhile, Kotegiri had a connection to both Matsui and Inaba, so he was added as the last member and the "Sosuke". I think the "Shino"/"Sosuke" "visible"/"invisible" contrast was added early (and their green/blue colours might have been chosen around this time), so it disqualified Inaba due to being too important.
Since Kotegiri's deal is about inversion, Matsui was likely the first generally finished Gou. Because Kotegiri needed traits to invert, Matsui was created as something of a quintessential "Gou", someone who included the majority of traits and motifs associated with the group (remember the list I did first?) and at least Kotegiri, Buzen and Kuwana were all "reverse engineered" from him. Interestingly, it also made him something of a cipher of the group, which I think is intentional; even though some conclusions like "painted nails = animal motif" require an entire obstacle course in mental Olympics to pick on, once you do, it becomes easy to spot that some other non-obvious individuals follow these patterns. His "Shimabara" armguard puzzle is also the easiest to pick on since it is fully visible and isn't obscured by other elements like Inaba's and Kurikara's, and his obsession with giving a meaning (or ten) to every detail makes his symbolism easier to spot than Buzen's.
Anyway, once the "prototype" was finished, Kotegiri was created as "anti-Matsui", which also led to them barely having anything in common despite sharing two groups.
Since the two of them had the "gaining/losing prominence" theme, obviously they couldn't be the "leader" of the group. Buzen was likely picked for the role because of two reasons: 1). he is the most "ghost" of them all, and what better way to "hide" someone than to put them at the very center where no one would suspect anything; and 2). Matsui being a Hidden Christian was likely among the first ideas, so it made Buzen, who also has a hidden theme, an obvious "Hamaji" to complement him.
Somewhere along the line, the "4+1 elements" and "seen/unseen" concepts were added, and that made Kuwana an easy pick for the next member due to his association with farming. He was created to complement Matsui's "seen" side and to contrast Buzen; Kotegiri was already an "independent" character at this point, so Kuwana generally doesn't match him.
Well, I can't say much about the next four, but I think Kurikara was created specifically because Kotegiri didn't match Matsui. Kurikara is another Gou sword with connection to Matsui, and since "Shino" kind of lost his "Sosuke" for thematic reasons, Kurikara was added as something of a "hidden Sosuke"… wait a minute. With how important "hiding" is for the Gous, what if he was the true "Sosuke" all this time?? What does it make Kotegiri then???
Think about it. Kotegiri has a "mole map" to gather everyone but doesn't follow their patterns. Everyone follows the "hiding" theme, but Kotegiri inspires them to become "visible". Kotegiri doesn't even get the "musical mark" after Kiwame. All of these point to one fact: Kotegiri actually wasn't a part of the group from the start! Instead of "being" a Hakkenshi, he is someone who "has connection" to the Hakkenshi. And who could have a deeper connection to the "eight dog brothers" than their "mom"?
I apologize for my lack of Hakkenden knowledge, since that means that I mostly only have "8, 100, 108 beads" and "sliced belly" to work with when it comes to visual clues for Fusehime, but I will still try to give Kotegiri a nice gender reveal party!
I think this "role switch" was also decided early on, around the time the writers were looking for "Sosuke"; perhaps, it was noticed that Matsui had two Gou connections and that gave a nice opportunity for a twist. As for how Kurikara ties into everything outside of Matsui, I may as well make another chart and also summarize the Hakkenden finds while I'm at it.
We may as well update the motif list with all our recent finds and add the main themes of the characters. I barely looked into either Murakumo or Tomita since they were largely peripheral to my vector of research, so there might be more going on with them.
Finally, let's check if any of Matsui's quotes make more sense now.
And, that's all! This analysis definitely inspired a lot of respect in me towards all the people involved in bringing these characters to life. From writers, to artists, to costumers and actors, there is so much thought put into every step of creation, it's honestly mind blowing. It is very impressive how many different elements intertwine in these fairly simple designs, and just how subtle the parts that are supposed to be hidden are. I hope this post helped you to feel as awestruck as I was when I started looking into these things!
I find Matsui Gou incredibly fascinating; his personality and history are very interesting, and his design in particular has way more hidden in it than you probably realize. In fact, there is so much that, after I decided to write a proper analysis, I ended up dividing it into two long parts. In the first, I will look at Matsui as a sword, a vampire and a Christian, and in the second, I will talk about similarities and contrasts with some other Touken Danshi.
Thanks @asterparfait for helping me with some material!
Lots of images here, so I'm putting it under "read more". Please, don't scroll the pictures ahead; there are a lot of surprises!
Matsui the sword
To start with, let's see which traits Matsui got from his own blade.
The mon on his chest is the same colour as the inscription on his tang. I think his straight, angular hairdo is a reference to his hamon, which looks like a straight line that only thins at the tip: basically, it's a straight line of hair (hamon) that goes around his head under a small angle (the curve of the blade) that only gets interrupted at the end (his bangs). The colour of his hair also looks similar to the blade. I saw some describe this sword as "slender", which might be the reason for his slim body.
His Kiwame adds some references to items that have some kind of connection to him.
He gets his historical scabbard back, and the rope on his leg references the armor of Matsui Okinaga, the former master he is named after. His mon is also a historical reference, but it has more than one meaning, so I will talk about it a bit later.
Matsui the vampire
This one is pretty simple. Matsui displays various (modern) vampire stereotypes; he is a pale beauty with an old-school fashion sense, sharp teeth and obsession with blood. Vampires are also portrayed as the archetypical enemies of Christianity, which fits Matsui, who "drank blood" of countless Christians during the Shimabara Rebellion. So then, let's look at him from the Christian angle.
Matsui the Christian
I will say right away that I'm not a Christian of any kind, so I may misinterpret some things or miss something obvious. Also, English isn't my first language, so I may use wrong terms, especially when it comes to clothes and accessories. I also don't speak Japanese and rely on MTL; however, I try to double-check everything that catches my attention, so I'm confident that the information in this post is correct (or at least as correct as you can get from internet articles). But it does mean that if any of the elements in Matsui's design rely on knowledge of Japanese language to discern, I won't be able to detect them (though I still make a few pun guesses anyway). With that out of the way, we can start the main part. Fair warning, it's going to be long.
First of all, I want to show that Matsui is very Virgin Mary-shaped. Literally.
Did you notice how I pointed at a lot of the same traits as I did in the vampire post? Does it mean Mary was actually a vampire?? Kinda yeah, and no, I'm not joking; this is actually important. The main point of this post is to show that, rather than representing Catholics or generic Christians, Matsui's form is specifically influenced by the Hidden Christians' faith, and this example is one of many that demonstrate how it works.
In case you aren't familiar with the term, here is a brief history lesson. Back during the Sengoku period, Portuguese missionaries reached Japan. Since Oda Nobunaga was interested in trade with foreigners (and was on bad terms with his country's buddhists), their faith wasn't just allowed, it was outright encouraged, with even some of the daimyo converting and promoting it in their territories. However, by the time of Toyotomi's and especially Tokugawa's reigns, things changed, and the Christians were heavily oppressed. Eventually, Christians got involved in a large rebellion which they lost; afterwards, their religion was fully outlawed and the remaining Christians were forced to denounce their faith. However, some continued to practice Christianity in secret by adapting their rituals and prayers to resemble those of Buddhism. Because of this and how they didn't have any access to the western teachings, these Hidden Christians (Kakure Kirishitan) developed a rather distinct faith over the 200 years while Japan stayed closed.
Needless to say, under such circumstances the Christian "common knowledge" could become barely recognizable. For the sake of my post I will stress two things: the Hidden Christians retained the custom of baptism and their worship became widely Virgin Mary-centric, because 1). worshipping a foreign God or Jesus would be too obvious; 2). the image of Mary was easily applicable to other figures; and 3). Japanese just like Mary a lot.
Since worship of Mary was very important, it's no wonder Matsui's design has a lot of allusions to her specifically (the above is just a start). Ah, but I don't mean that his Mary motif is true and his vampire motif is false. He is both, it's just a matter of perspective. For example, statues of bodhisattvas and folklore characters were used as a stand-in of Mary; they didn't stop being bodhisattvas and folklore characters just because certain people saw them as someone else. This is what I demonstrated in the examples above, where Matsui's vampire and Mary similarities overlapped: for the "outsider" he would be a demonic vampire, while the person "in the know" would recognize the Mother of God. And as you will see in my next post, his non-Christian symbolism is also important and plays a part in matching him up with several other characters.
Matsui exhibits several Hidden Christian traits that are easy to pick on. He hides his chain that likely contains a cross pendant; he treats it as an omamori, and his mon, which is based on a Buddhist symbol, hides a Christian cross. Or maybe even two; there is an interesting theory that posits that Matsui actually represents Yatsushiro Castle and that his mon is a fusion of four mons that belonged to people who were in charge of it (Konishi Yukinaga, Kato Kiyomasa, Hosokawa Tadaoki and Matsui Okinaga). You can check this theory here; it's in Japanese, but there is a diagram showing how the mons combine, so it will be easy to understand!
As a representative of a faith that is all about looking like something else, Matsui's design includes lots of symbols that are hidden in plain sight. And I will offer you my interpretations of its various elements! I don't claim they are correct and you will see that there can easily be more than one interpretation of the same sequence. But hey, it just makes things more fun, so feel free to join in!
Matsui's Internal Affairs clothes don't have any unique Christian symbolism (in fact I'm pretty sure it is specifically a "no outside symbolism, it's just me" outfit because it only links him to other swords), but there is plenty in the other three. If I illustrate every point I will quickly run into picture limit (and it would be really annoying), so I will only add images when there is something that isn't apparent from simply looking at the art. Also, when I say something is an "intended" reading, I merely mean that it's the "main" meaning. You will quickly notice that Matsui is absolutely obsessed with symbolism, so it is entirely possible for the same thing to have multiple valid readings.
Battle
Matsui only got two new sprites by his artist after Kiwame, with the other two being edits of his base sprites. Which isn't bad or anything, but it screwed numerical symbolism in a couple of places, so when I talk about Kiwame, I refer specifically to his new base sprite.
Let's go from head to toe. We all saw Matsui's damaged sprite, so we know that he wears a chain that most likely has a cross pendant.
My best guess for the visible chain is that it crosses over the hidden cross under his clothes for the symbolic representation of how Christianity was outlawed and went into hiding.
Matsui has a red mark on his chest, bracelets on his wrists and the areas marked by 4/8 dots on his boots for Five Holy Wounds (the wounds Jesus received while on the cross). His pose in general can be seen as representing Jesus on the cross. Moreover, the way his legs are positioned may reference the debate of whether Jesus was nailed in each leg or in both at once. His midriff also symbolically depicts the Wounds in the same way the Portuguese flag does (the Portuguese were the ones who brought Christianity to Japan).
Right arm. His sword guard is based on his mon and is more overtly cross-y after Kiwame.
Left arm. Matsui's armguard references the dates of Shimabara Rebellion (11 December 1637 - 12 April 1638; btw in case you want to double check, EN wiki currently lists them wrong). If you are into puzzles, you can find the solution yourself! I was specifically looking for patterns with these dates, so they were easy to spot.
Here is the solution:
The part on the hand can be read as either "1" (plate) or "4" (the part that represents fingers).
The bracelet is detachable, so you can treat it as either "0" or "1".
There are "2" rows of "3" columns (or vice versa depending on how you look, the position isn't important).
The total of the 2x3 figure is "6".
If you don't count the bracelet, the total with the plate on the hand is "7". If you count it, the total becomes "8".
For dates, you will end up with "month-day" for one and "day-month" for another, but remember that you can move your arm; if you read one with your hand down and the other with your hand raised up, they will be both in correct order.
Here is the visual; first shows how to get years, the others are "11 December" and "12 April":
And we are still not done with the armguard! Adorably, Matsui also marked the year when he was obtained by the Sano family, which currently owns him! You can't see it in the game though, because the part on the upper arm never fully appears on his sprites, but it has a 3x3 figure for a "9". If you start with the mon ("1"), move to the upper arm ("9"), then the lower arm ("6") and finish at his hand ("1"), the sequence becomes 1961!
I actually really like this find! While playing "spot the pattern" is a lot of fun, all the other symbols are shared. But this date is uniquely his; it has nothing to do with Christianity, yet Matsui's design incorporates it in Kakure-code, which suggests the Sano family/Sano Museum are very important to him. Hell, maybe this is why we never properly see it - it's too personal. It says something that the guy that can exhibit layers (and I do mean layers) of hidden meanings like it's nothing would hide his own feelings like that. Or maybe this is the omamori he talks about in his lines? Most if not all symbols on this outfit reference some kind of tragedy; even a cross/crucifix pendant is a symbolic depiction of murder. And it would suit Matsui to misdirect you by drawing attention to an obvious symbol when he means something else. This also gives credence to the idea that he is close with Tonbokiri and Kashagiri, and I always loved fanarts with them even though they are rare!
Our next stop is the puffy shirt! This one represents the end of the world. Well, a prelude to it.
Matsui's shirt references both the Tribulation in general and the Great Tribulation specifically. Tribulation is the time of great unrest that precludes (or even partially coincides) with the end of time. There are various views on when to expect it and when it occurs in relation to other end of time events, but that's beside the point of my post. Tribulation is associated with two numbers: "7" and the "broken seven" aka "3 and a half". Matsui's shirt has 7 buttons (you can see them in the artbook) and 7 stripes that are divided into two groups of three with one in the middle, forming the "broken seven". Also, "7" is a recurring number in the Book of Revelation, so if you read the stripes as two "3 and halves" instead of a "broken seven", then the 7 buttons may represent other things. I think they would be a nice stand-in for the Seven Seals (which seal various disasters like the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse), since you can "seal" and "unseal" them.
His Kiwame also keeps this symbol, though it shortens 7 buttons to 3 and a half: the "stripes" part is 3 buttons long and the frill adds a half. However, it also added a reference to the second coming of Christ and the establishment of the Millennium Kingdom! The new stip pattern is arranged as "5+5=10", with the 3 buttons indicating it's 10³ or 10x10x10=1000.
So, I guess the meaning changed to "Tribulation will pass", but I like to think he wanted to keep the "3 and a half" as a fashion statement. Basically, Matsui is like that guy whom the others see as a classic music enthusiast but he is actually a hardcore metalhead who wears shirts with apocalyptic imagery on the daily (and may or may not listen to Tribulation band). Also, it just cracks me up to think that even though he changed the shirt design after Kiwame, he still kept the "BEWARE OF THE APOCALYPSE" part and simply added more frills to it.
Midriff. First of all, Matsui seems to consider the diamond shape a stand-in for a cross and uses it pretty often. It is especially obvious here, with the facets of the diamonds forming visible crosses. Also, the diamond pattern depicts water chestnut, an aquatic plant, so you may count it as a reference to water.
Secondly, I don't know about you, but the triangle really makes it look like there is more to this pattern than what I already mentioned. You can brute force some symbols into it if you try hard enough; here are my guesses (some are inverted):
If you squint hard enough, you can even try to get the entire "Maria" name. A triangle similar to the "large A" designs above should form naturally if Matsui buttoned his jacket up. His jacket's buttons are round, and "circle" is "maru" in Japanese. So by buttoning the jacket, he would put a "maru" at the center and it would form an "A". Maru-A -> Maria? Oh, and this "circle as a part of Maria" trick was actually used by the Hidden Christians. I got this idea from Ask Historians Reddit, check here to see that my guess isn't even that far fetched!
Overall, I think the intended reading here is Chi Rho (the XP pattern, it means "Jesus Christ"; the side that represents the back of "P" is more prominent in both normal and Kiwame designs, and the way the button looks on the battle sprite may hint that it's supposed to be rounded), which combines with the Five Holy Wounds to form a crucifix. However, personally I interpret it as AM for "Ave Maria" (partially because it would tie into "Mary" motif). You might have already noticed, but the theme of this outfit is "tragedy"; most if not all (visible) symbols reference injustice, oppression and death. And as a sword, it is exactly what Matsui represents: a weapon for murder that took plenty of innocent lives. But while it is a fitting motif for the battlefield, I like to think that the message here isn't supposed to be "doom and gloom", but rather "there is a ray of light in the darkness", represented by the addition of a prayer.
Next are legs. I think his choice of using heeled boots might be a way to avoid stepping on a fumi-e as much as possible. Fumi-e were depictions of Jesus or Mary; one of the measures the government did to try and root out the Hidden Christians was to make them step on images they considered sacred. So the elevated foot and a thin heel would let Matsui be as unsacrilegious as possible while doing so.
The 2x2 patterns can obviously be read as X, but since there aren't any indicators you are supposed to do that and the shape changes after Kiwame, I think they are numbers. For normal, we can get 0, 2, 4, 8, 40, 44 and for Kiwame (there is another 2x4 pattern on his leg guard) 0, 2, 3, 4, 8, 16, 24, 80, 88, 888. Looking at the meanings of these numbers (NGL, researching biblical numerology was the most annoying part of this analysis; if you think I'm overthinking everything, just check any article about it for comparison) and keeping in mind the overall theme of the costume, I think the intended number for normal is "40" (one 2x2 pattern represents "4", the other is arranged in a circle (well, square) for "0"), which appears in various trials, while for Kiwame it's "888" which symbolises stuff like salvation and new beginnings.
The triangle and circle pattern he (and Kuwana) get after Kiwame on their legs might be an Omega (the white cloth may indicate you aren't supposed to see this part) and an inverted Alpha. Which would fit with the other two additions ("Millennium Kingdom" and "888") as symbols of beginnings. And I know where ya all's minds went when I mentioned this symbol the first time, so I will just point out he is the Alpha here.
I think the "small circle in the large circle" accessories of his sword might also be Alpha and Omega in lower case (α, ω). The circle looks not quite round, but the gem gives it a more round feel to represent the shape of α, while the slightly protruding part that holds the gem makes it look like a ω.
If you look at the design as a whole, you can get 30 silvers for that Judas symbolism! However, his Kiwame design incorporates silver colour a lot more, so the symbolism shifted to his extended chain alone.
And, we are finally done with the battle outfit. Next one will be his yukata, which has a lot fewer elements, so we will finish faster, right? RIGHT?
Yukata
Let's do this one in reverse order. In general, I think his colour scheme is evoking a feel of water. Both his personal history and Hidden Christian identity have some important connections to water, so it is only fitting for him to represent it in some way.
…No, don't worry, I don't have anything new to say about his boots (for now). His obi though… First, let's see what this pattern symbolizes in Japan.
"Asanoha" is a stylized depiction of a hemp leaf. It became a fashionable pattern among the women during the Edo period, and because hemp grows very quickly and doesn't attract parasites, it is a common pattern for baby clothes. Pretty fitting for the "Mother of God".
If we look at this picture in a more abstract manner, it can look like a star. If it's a generic star, it may represent the Star of Bethlehem, which is connected to both a massacre (Massacre of the Innocents, when all male children from around Bethlehem under the age of two were killed) and Mary (it's a story about Jesus's birth). If it's specifically a "six-pointed star in a circle", it might be Ring of Solomon, which gave Solomon the ability to command supernatural beings, tying it into the vampire motif. However, I think the most likely inspirations here are… buildings.
The white and gray pattern may be seen as generic stained glass, but I'm pretty sure the prominent dots allude to Amakusa Shiro Memorial Hall (also note how it uses red and blue).
The pattern may also allude to churches connected to Hidden Christians; there isn't a complete match (at least from the sides I can see from photos), but it gets pretty interesting if you see them while using both the obi and the mon patterns together. On the left is Sakitsu Church, established in 1569 by the Portuguese; it was the center of Christianity in Amakusa during the mid 16th century (the current building was constructed in 1934). On the right is Oura Cathedral, where Kakure Kirishitans first revealed themselves.
I also thought that maybe depending on how his obi is tied, there might be 12 visible circles to represent the 12 Hidden Christian Sites in the Nagasaki Region that are recognized as World Heritage Sites by UNESCO (Mary also has a 12 connection, and it is a very prominent number in general), but if Matsui's musical actor and costume are anything to go by, you will end up with more (if you want to confirm for yourself, you can catch the moments when the camera is directly in front and directly behind him (though he isn't the focus there) in Iwainokuju senshuraku). So my current guess is that the entire obi may have 26 circles for 26 Martyrs of Japan, which is who the Oura Cathedral is dedicated to.
This one has nothing to do with Christianity, but while researching the six-pointed star, I came across this piece of trivia about western (and not so western) swords, so I may as well leave it here. Certain UK/US swords (used to?) have a six-pointed star symbol that is called Star of Damascus which marks the sword as battle ready.
If we don't look at this pattern as a star, then maybe it's a lily? White lilies have six long petals and they are a symbol of, you guessed it, Mary. I also have a theory that lilies have a personal significance for Matsui, but I will talk about it in the next post.
It might also be a Iota Chi (IX) monogram (it means "Jesus Christ"). I find this one particularly interesting in the context of musical Paraiso, because they added it to Amakusa's costume (at least I presume it is meant to be IX) even though the picture I think it's based on didn't have it. So at least in the myu canon you can count it as another allusion to Amakusa Shiro.
Это "Ж" неспроста. Alright, we are finally done with the obi! Next one is the scarf. Matsui wears it for the sake of hiding his chain. As for the floral pattern, as someone who regularly sees Sakamoto Ryoma-related fanart, I'm pretty sure these are bellflowers. Bellflowers -> church bells, this one was easy.
Hairpin. Wait, I know! There are secretly three diamond shapes and if you remove the stone and put it between two frames, you get Buzen's mon! …Well alright, this is (probably) not the intended answer (but it is in my heart). What we are looking at here is likely Lhq.
There are some lanterns (that are nicknamed "Christian lanterns" nowadays) which bear a certain symbol that looks like "Lhq" if turned 90 degrees counter-clockwise (there are various theories about what it means). While the post-reveal Hidden Christians denied that this symbol had anything to do with them, other people believe there is indeed some kind of Kakure meaning here. Let's look at it "properly".
Out of curiosity, I also tried to fit the Lhq onto Matsui's hairpin, and while it's probably not supposed to work this way, you can do it if all letters overlap on one side. I also tried to picture it not as drawings but as flexible three-dimensional figures and I think you can legit shape them into such a hairpin?
The position of the hand is also meaningful! It is theorized that this symbol was used to mark gathering spots for the Hidden Christians, so it makes sense for Matsui to draw attention to it to attract people who understand its meaning or perhaps to signal that they would be safe with him. Or maybe he is just doing the maneki-neko pose.
"But what does it have to do with Christ"-- hold on, this one needs a bit of backstory. As I mentioned in the beginning, one of the reasons why Mary was so popular was the ease of passing her as other figures. In particular, she was linked to bodhisattva Kannon. And there is a version of maneki-neko origin story about how Kannon, in the form of a cat, saved a noble by motioning with her paw to make him follow her to the temple. Or maybe she saved the temple from bankruptcy by bringing a wealthy noble. Or both. The point is, maneki-neko is linked to Kannon, who is linked to Virgin Mary, who is linked to Matsui, who is doing the maneki-neko pose to call you to a "temple". So what I'm saying here is Matsui's Hidden Christian persona is yet another front that obscures that he is actually a hidDEN CATBOY. And he will bring you financial luck by not letting you spend too much!
(I also went ahead and gifed that Hanamaru scene for, ugh, research purposes)
And now that we outed Matsui as a catboy, he actually matches his Sano Museum buddies better!
It's also worth noting that Kannon is depicted as either male or female depending on the sect, so this might explain Matsui's androgynous look.
Going back to yukata, I think the design as a whole is supposed to evoke a feeling of a "safe place" as opposed to his "tragic battlefield" attire. Perhaps, it's a church that only existed in Hidden Christians' imagination? Matsui is inviting you to this world of bells and stained glass and tells you that you are safe here.
And now we finally got to his last outfit! This one will be short.
Suit
Oh come on, this "totally diamond-shaped" brooch on a white-blue cravat is way too obvious! Were you even trying, Matsui? And yet, there are at least two more symbols (and maybe another of his TRIBULATION shirts). If he buttons his jacket up, his buttons would form an obscured "Five Holy Wounds" shape. If we leave it as is, but turn it 90 degrees, there is a Chi Rho. This is that sneaky crucifix I mentioned earlier (this actually points that the "XP" is the intended meaning of his battle outfit, since there is a bit of a pattern to repeat battle symbols on suits).
Aaand, we are finally done with the outfits, but there is one more item I want to look into. Let's try to pinpoint what kind of jewel Matsui uses for his accessories!
…Well, it is probably not cateye. Let's check what the Good Book has to offer when it comes to blue stones!
Turns out, not a lot, or at least not a lot that modern people can agree on. Due to thousands of years of linguistic shifts, a lot of stone names mean different stones in our time, so there is a lot of debate about exactly which mineral was meant in the text. I did notice a couple of interesting things though: the tribe of Judah from which Jesus descends was associated with the colour blue, and there is more blue/red dichotomy with people usually suggesting the stone they were associated with was either some kind of blue or some kind of red.
Even though this one was a bust, while going down this particular rabbit hole, I ended up in a different neighbourhood entirely. Namely, the birthstones!
While the birthstones aren't a Christian concept, they originated from biblical ideas, so I think they fit the overall theme just fine. For the Touken Danshi, fans usually treat the day of their implementation and the day they were assigned status of some kind of important property as their "birthdays", so for Matsui those would be December and March. As you can see in the picture above, the entire December can be blue, with the bonus points for including Turquoise, which is a very common guess for the stone that is associated with the Judah tribe. However, I find March a lot more interesting. It has two stones associated with it: aquamarine, which can represent water, and bloodstone, which people used to symbolize the blood spilled by Jesus on the cross. And not only would "water that hides the blood of Jesus" be a very Matsui thing to implement, it may have an additional meaning which I will talk about in my next post. It may also be why he says that he likes red, but in fashion blue suits him more. So yeah, my guess is it's aquamarine!
And we are done. Let's summarize all of our finds (I didn't include "Mary" and "Kakure Neko-tan" since they already have entire pictures to themselves).
…Yeeeah, it's no wonder he prefers to pick his accessories himself.
Join me for even more overthinking in the next post, where I compare Matsui's design with other sword boys!
i forgot to post this here !! a comm i got from the wonderful @asterparfait 💖
my virche oc Ezilda brushing/putting up Lucas' hair. I always say the only time she gets to have lucas' (misplaced) affection is following a specific bad ending so... brushing dear ponytail Lucas' hair is beyond fitting and perfect for her. Her Dream !
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