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Name: Hao Asakura
Gender: Male
Species: Human, Shaman
Date of birth: May 12, 1985
Occupation Onmyouji (in previous life), Shaman
Known relatives: Asanoha (Mother)
Yoh Asakura (twin brother, descendant, reincarnation)
Silva (descendant)
Keiko Asakura (mother, descendant)
Mikihisa Asakura (father)
Yohken Asakura (descendant)
Kino Asakura (grandmother)
Yohmei Asakura (grandfather, descendant)
Hana Asakura(nephew, descendant)
Information:
Current Rank & Furyoku Kami-class Shaman
1250000
Team Affiliation Star Group
Teammates: Opacho
Luchist Lasso
Spirit Allies Ohachiyo
Zenki and Kouki
Matamune
Spirit of Fire
Great Spirit (Current)
Shamanic Medium: Air

Asakura Hao(麻倉葉王 Asakura Ha ou, Zeke Asakura in the English Anime) is the main antagonist in the Anime and Manga in Shaman King. He was born Asaha Douji(麻案童子, Asaha Doji) during the feudal era Japan. During his third life he becomes the twin brother of his descendant Asakura Yoh. His name means: Leaf King. He is the most powerful shaman in the entirety of the series. His childhood is told in the manga side story Mappa Douji.

Character:

Hao Asakura is the ancestor, twin brother and previous incarnation of Yoh Asakura, the main protagonist. The original Asakura Hao from 1000 years ago was re-incarnated in the two of them. They are the second known reincarnations of him. Yoh is also the other half of Hao Asakura.

A powerful shaman of the Asakura clan, he trained to become Shaman King one thousand years prior to the start of the story. He had mastered all the arts and techniques of Onmyoudou, including the ability to see the future, use reishi (soul sight), command powerful spirits and allow and control the circumstances of reincarnation.

Hao had the Reishi (a form of telepathy that allows the user to see the hearts of others), but he could not control the limit of the power. Because he lived in a time of war, disease, and famine (the Heian period), he attempted to help others with his powers. However, he began to see the darker side of human nature as he discovered through his reishi that those he helped were jealous and afraid of his power, and convinced them that he was evil.

His heart became consumed with hatred for humanity and began to plot the destruction of humanity by becoming Shaman King. He believes that by doing so, the planet and other animals that humans abused would be saved. In this time, he also allowed people to worship him as god, and appears to have developed a superiority complex, regarding all other beings as his inferiors; a belief made more dangerous by his ability to back up this claim.

Hao is by far the most powerful and talented shaman who has ever lived. In his original life, he was already the strongest shaman of his day, but since learning the ways of reincarnation, he has become a truly powerful being, his strength many hundreds—perhaps many thousands—of times greater than his nearest rivals. Both the Shaman Council and his descendant's—in both the Asakura family and Silva's tribe—fear him greatly. They have sought to bar him from the Shaman tournament, but know this is impossible, in part because he distracts the brutal rival Shaman faction the X-Laws, but mainly because if they tried to stop him, they know they would have no way of winning. Being the strongest shaman, Hao has a furyoku of 1,250,000.

In some chapters in the series, the relationship between Anna and Hao, he seemed to have feelings for her apparently because he was amused by her strong powers, personality and beauty. Hao states that Anna is the only person he trusts (Chapter 250). It has been said that Anna was his type once. This possibly refers to when Yoh, who does love Anna, was a part of Hao's soul.

History:

Born in Japan by Asanoha, he was named Asaha Douji(麻案童子, Asaha Doji) by his mother. Due to her ability to see spirits, she was assumed to be a demon and was killed by the monk Densen-houshi. Having his house burnt, Hao wandered and lived aimlessly, believing himself to be a boy with demonic powers (Since the other boys bullied him for this) and dreaming to exterminate all humans. However, one day while sitting by a gate, he met a spirit named Ohachiyo(Z沙千代) and they quickly became friends. Ohachiyo gave him the nickname Mappa Douji(地図童子, meaning "demon boy") and convinced him to forget his vengeance towards humans and rather enjoy the aspects of life. Ohachiyo taught him things such as the skill of fishing, the sweetness of candy, the names of different song birds, and most importantly the ability of Reishi(that allows one to read the mind of others) and with that he started to have a peaceful life. Hao followed his word and lived life with a smile, for a moment at least. However, when a guard apparently heard Hao conversing with himself at night, he immediately suspected Hao of being a demon, and reported to Monk Densen, a known exorcist. Densen proved to be a fraud, and was easily overpowered, however this battle also proved to be a breaking point in Hao's path to evil. Hao recognized the man to be the one who killed his mother, and with his first oversoul, performed his first murder. By over depleting his Furyoku, Hao was unable to maintain control of his powers and unintentionally consumed Ohachiyo's power. This event leads to a constant Reishi that Hao is unable to turn off, leading to his path towards destruction.

Later life:

Onmyōji Asakura Hao

With the experience of his childhood, Hao had tasted the power of a Shaman. He proved to be a genius in the divine abilities and his skills flourished with time. Hao grew to possess a good nature and he began training to become a onmyōji that eliminated demons. Due his loneliness Hao created an Oni , but due to his ability to controls demons, it did not come as a problem. During that time Hao met Matamune, one of his most valued friends and on of the two who would become his killers. Hao stated that Matamune was his only true friend, and gave it some of his spiritual energy in the hopes that Matamune would stay with him forever. Nevertheless, the curse implanted on Hao from Ohachiyo was permanent and eventually drove Hao mad. Matamune sadly left Hao as he saw his master fall into madness, blaming himself for not being able to help him. Hao eventually learned of the Shaman Fight, and came to believe it is the key to cleansing the world of non-shamans, which he felt were defiling the natural world. His plans to create a shaman-only world were discovered and the Asakura clan stood against him and managed to defeat him. Afterwards, the Asakura family changed their family symbol from the traditional Yin-Yang five star sign (the emblem of the family's head, Hao) into a seven star tree that stated their renewal.

Second Life:

Patch Hao

However, Hao's Ying-Yang jutsu, the mastery of the five elements of nature (fire, metal, wood, earth, water), prevented his permanent death as he could now control the circumstances of his reincarnation. He was able to gain the ability to control his soul using the ritual of Taizan Kuzun, one of the greatest and most esoteric of Onmyodo arts, an old name for the god of the underworld. Though Taizan Kuzun could only be reached by getting past the seventy five Lords of Hell, succeeding in making a contract with him gives one the ability to resurrect the dead or reincarnate themselves at will. The fact that Hao was able to perform this act as a living human being is a testament to his power, given that not even ghosts can reach Taizan Kuzun.

Hao then chose to be reincarnated as a Patch Tribe member, as they organized the Shaman Tournament, and then he stole the Spirit of Fire from the Patch tribe. During this time he also had a wife and a child, whom he abandoned. With his new ghost, Hao conquered many enemies with ease, including the Five Seminoa Warriors, who after hearing his goals decided stop him.

He once again projected his idea of a shaman world, but was rejected by the shamans he was trying to promote. He again had the same plans of conquering the world and killing all humans, but he was stopped by Asakura Yohken and Matamune(his former loyal companion) using the Futsu no Mitama (the Antiquity in the English anime), a sword of spirits, and the Senhachijuu (only in the anime), a set of 1080 prayer beads containing powerful spirits of the Asakura family.

Hao came very close to winning the shaman tournament, and was able to demonstrate the capacity of his power, becoming very infamous to shamans world wide. Despite the fact he died before becoming Shaman King, he achieved his goal of capturing the legendary Spirit of Fire for use as his guardian spirit in his next life. The Spirit of Fire is one of the few "God" class spirits in existence, possessing great power. Unfortunately he later reincarnated in a new life.

The wife and child he left behind were about to be killed, when the Patch Tribe realized that they where now missing a priest, so they allowed both of them to live in order to keep the line of Patch Priests and several generations later Silva of the Ten Patch Officiants was born from the same lineage of Patch Hao.

Third Life:

In the story line, Hao's Soul was split in two, one being the one that has Hao's memories, and the other held the human side of Hao; this part of the soul is Yoh Asakura. In this incarnation he had the spirit of fire as his guardian ghost and he again had the same goal of becoming the shaman king and also merging his soul with Yoh's Soul.
[edit] Birth

After being killed as Patch Hao he choose to be reborn into his original blood line to become stronger. His actions was foreseen by Asakura Yohmei and it was decided to kill him. However when Yohmei was about to strike the infant he hesitated and that was enough for Hao to summon the Spirit of Fire. Trying to kill Yohmei with a punch, Mikihisa placed himself in the way and got badly burned. Hao then told Keiko to stay still as he did not wish his important other half to die before being born. With these words he laughs and disappeared.
[edit] Gaining Followers

After escaping the Asakura family he was apparently raised by Blocken Meyer. When he was five or six he and Blocken left their home looking for followers. Where ever Hao went he left a path of destruction in his wake. He killed Lyserg's parents when they recognized him as an great evil and tried to stop him, Maimed Cebin Mendel for no reason, killing military units when he was looking for Mohamed Tabarsi, and at his birth burned his father's face and injured his grandfather. He also destroyed the church-orphanage home of Marco and killed his entire family when he wanted to recruit Luchist Lasso.

Soon, already at the age of 8, Hao had gathered himself an incredible amount of followers, that he would teach many of his own personal techniques, such as the Fumon Tonkou.


Shaman Fights Second Round:
Becoming the Shaman King

After the end of the Second Rounds of the Shaman Fights the Patch brought Team "Hoshi-Gumi", Team "The Ren", Team "Funbari Onsen", and Team "X-I" to the Continent of Mu, where the third and final rounds would be held. But instead of continuing the competition, did the the other three teams forfeit, thus making Hao the new Shaman King. Lip and Rap then proceeded to lead him through the Plants to the Kings Sanctuary where Hao would sleep a pseudo like death while being united with Great Spirit. When he finally awakens he sends a message to the oracle bells that reads "'so small" .

He effortlessly kills everyone, with a simple glance, except Rutherfor, Opacho and Yoh. Opacho commented that the Hao she knew wasn't here anymore and Yoh was able to deduce that Hao was controling his body even though his spirit had already moved on as the Shaman King, Yoh then states that this Hao is nothing but a walking corpse and decapetates it.[5] Hao however doesn't die most likely due to being omnipotent after his merge with the Great Spirit. After he grins, Yoh's soul and Amidamaru are seen being absorbed by Hao. When Yoh wakes up, he realises he must be inside the Great Spirit and then Hao appears, revealing that he's actually inside him and in the highest society of the Great Spirit, the society of the Shaman King where only people Hao wishes to enter may come. The two start a conversation during which Yoh reveals that he too dislikes humans because they really are destroying the Earth. But he also admits that he could never go as far as to kill them, so Hao orders him to leave. Somehow Yoh isn't banished and Ren, Lyserg, Chocolove McDonell and Horohoro appear too. Then a fierce battle between the 5 Elemental Warriors and the Shaman King begins.

Yoh and his friends give a battle that no one forgets and the battle ends up a fight of the forces of earth vs the power of the sun. The battle is so evenly matched the fight ends in a complete stalemate. A train comes out of nowhere ending the fight cold. On that train are all the people Hao killed when he became king. Hao finally manages to calm down and break his oversoul after Opacho jumps purposely into a black hole that he had created, but before she could be hurt. Hao realizes that his quest was not for what he has become but something else but can not remember what it is. The Asakura family says that his quest started because of his mother. Yoh finally knows what Hao is after and tells Hao that his mother was always beside Hao as a ghost. Hao sees that his mother could have been his guardian ghost and oversoul but he was so blinded by his quest that he could not see the truth. When his mother arrives on the scene Hao starts crying happy to be reunited with her.Afterwards, he lets everyone return to Earth, but tells Yoh that he still hates humans, but will let them sort out their problems before he passes judgement, and not to be so impertinent. at the end of the series, it shows Hao watching ove Yoh and his friends happily,implying that he finally let go of his hatred and accepted his role as Shaman King.