Tesshu (Tenchu)

Tesshu Fujioka (藤岡 鉄舟 Fujioka Tesshū?) is doctor by day and a hired assassin by night. He was a former member of Muzen.

Biography
Tesshu was the assassin that assassinated Tokubei Echigoya at his state, but failed to kill Nasu, thanks to Rikimaru. During a brief moment of curiosity Tesshu infiltrates Gohda Castle and evades some of Gohdas guards where he battles Rikimaru resulting in a draw. Six months later Tesshu is ordered to go to the Buddha Temple and kill a warrior called Ganda. After a tough battle Tesshu kills him and upon reaching a waterfall near the exit of the Buddha temple Jinnai Sakyo ambushes Tesshu and knocks him unconscious. Later, Tesshu awakens in a prison cell, where Ukyo appears and offers a contract on Zennosuke (their boss), which Tesshu refuses. Once alone, he uses one of his needles to open the cell door and escapes from a Limestone cavern. He then goes to the cemetery and encounters his informant, Senkichi, nearly dead after an attack from the Jinnai brothers. The informant's final words serve to warn Tesshu of an impending attack on Zennosuke, which prompts him to rush to the Ronin Village. Tesshu is ultimately too late and his boss is revealed to have been impaled. Near death, Tesshu's boss issues one final mission to kill the Jinnai brothers. Tesshu, true to his nature as an assassin, mercilessly carves his way through the Jinnais' men, ultimately facing the brothers one at a time. Upon the final confrontation in Tesshu's game, he reveals to Sakyo, the surviving brother, that he is well aware of their tactics. Sakyo reveals that he has rigged the village to explode, and the two have a final battle. Tesshu is victorious, and even survives a surprise attack by multiple ronin loyal to the Jinnai brothers. His enemies vanquished, Tesshu calmly walks out of the burning village. He also appears in Ayame's story, where he fights Ayame, thinking she killed his boss, but the fight ends quickly, when Tesshu discover's that Ayame is a Azuma ninja. Tesshu then leaves, and Ayame fights  Hyakubake, using Rikimaru's disguise, he dies, but Ayame is captured by Dr. Kimara, and Tesshu follows him to Amagi Castle, he tells Ayame that the Jewel of Heaven is in Buddha Temple and then leaves.

In Return from Darkness, he has two extra missions, in the Samurai mission, he is ordered to kill Kanbe, in the abandoned Temple, he is encountered by Mifuyu, who wants to kill him for killing her father. He paralyzes her with his hand and hides her in a safe place, and then he fights the three Ronins, who were ordered to kill Tesshu and the girl. Tesshu is victorious in the battle, and tells Mifuyu to move on with her life.

Abilities
Tesshu favors brute force of taijutsu (incorporated in shotokan), but in a contrast to Tatsumaru, Tesshu's attacks resemble crude, koppojutsu (bone-breaking) techniques, utilizing crippling strikes and vicious koppojutsu techniques, during the fights, Tesshu only throw punches and headbutts on his opponents. He also wields acupuncture needles with surgical precision in many of his stealth kills. Another weapon he utilizes is his sheer brute strength, as well as his natural physical resiliency, noted both in his in-game ending (He is stabbed numerous times, yet still manages to kill his attackers and walk out of an exploding town alive), and the fact that out of the three main characters in Wrath of Heaven, he can take the most physical damage. Tesshu works as an assassin for an underground organization known as Muzen that murders only if it serves justice. As such, Tesshu has an iron-clad sense of justice, but tempers it with a calm, almost cold personality. He also has a brief rivalry with Rikimaru, when they fight each other to a draw after Rikimaru "steals" Tesshu's target (Nasu).

Background Information and Notes
Tesshu is inspired by the Baian Fujieda character created Japanese author Shotaro Ikenami. Baian has appeared in several television shows and films since the early 70's.

In Tenchu: Fatal Shadows, Tesshu makes a brief appearance in a cutscene after Rin defeats Futaba. Tesshu is seen puncturing the neck of Hitoha (単葉) with a needle.

Tesshu is a doctor in traditional Japanese medicine (漢方医学 Kanpō igaku), a system of practices originated from the Traditional Chinese Medicine.

At the back of Tesshu's upper clothes there is inscribed 南無阿彌陀佛 (Namu Amida Butsu), a Japanese Buddhist phrase of devotion and mantra called Nembutsu.

He is a brief boss battle in Ayame's story.