Born in 1580 in the Fuwa village and younger brother of Tsujikaze Tenma. His mom tried to kill him by pushing him off a waterfall the same way she did to Tsujikaze Tenma, however, Tenma kills her and takes Kohei under his wing. Though Tenma showed him much kindness, Kohei hardly displayed any affection. When the Tsujikaze Gang was formed and engaged in crimes ranging from robbery, rape, and extortion, Kohei became its member at 12 and was considered most savage by others. At 12 Kohei attempted to rape the wife of a villager he had slain, but Tenma, disgusted by the act, slew the woman to put her out of her misery and crushed Kohei's testicles, rendering him (Kohei) impotent.
Kohei failed at killing Tenma and was imprisoned as punishment, during which time he came to adopt a nihilistic outlook on life. The Tsujikaze Gang failed to make a name for themselves and honor their employer, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, in attempting to capture Tokugawa Ieyasu. At the age of 20 in the year 1600, serving 7 years of imprisonment, Kohei was released by surviving Sekigahara soldiers and escaped to hunt his brother since.
Originally desired to kill Tenma himself before Takezo got to him, Kohei confronts Takezo only to have the battle postponed by Takezo’s captors; cuts the rope by which Takezo is suspended. Kohei as a bandit came to be referred to as the 'God of Death' and killed Shishido Baiken, master of the kusarigama though revealed to be little more than the leader of a small band of thieves. Pretending to be Baiken, Kohei lived with a little girl, Rindo, who also wielded the kusarigama and was actually his teacher in using it. He is challenged by Musashi and loses, yet his life is spared, though he loses some fingers on his left hand.
While recuperating he recalls that Sasaki Kojiro smashed his pride by being further "along the path of death" than him. It has recently been revealed that Kojiro was the one who gave Kouhei his vicious facial scar.
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