Takeru

Takeru is a kanabo wielded by Yamato as her signature weapon.

Appearance
Takeru is a giant kanabo club much like Kaidou's Hassaikai, though in comparison it is is studded and more slender, while Hassaikai is spiked and a bit thicker.

Abilities
Coupled with Yamato's immense strength, the kanabo can wreak tremendous damage to objects and opponents with a single hit, and with Yamato's strength and Haki, it can be used to perform flying strikes that resemble energy blasts. Yamato has masterful technique with her kanabo despite its great size and weight, being capable of moving it to counter Luffy's rapid attacks with little effort. She can also channel the mythical freezing abilities of her Devil Fruit through it for powerful attacks.

Techniques



 * Raimei Hakke (雷鳴八卦): A technique used by Kaidou and imitated by Yamato, in which she lunges forward at their target with blinding speed and swings her kanabo horizontally, striking the target with tremendous force. The attack was first seen used against Ulti in her full-beast transformation, knocking her out instantly. It is called Thunder Bagua in the VIZ translation and Funimation subtitles. However, while Kaidou uses only one hand to swing his kanabo, Yamato swings it with both hands instead. Ulti disdainfully calls this Raimei Yonke (雷鳴四卦) instead, but coughed blood while doing this. When Yamato in her half-Makami form did have a clash with Kaidou in his half-dragon form—using their respective versions of Raimei Hakke—their attacks seemed evenly matched, but Yamato ultimately ended up taking more damage despite protecting herself.




 * Narikabura (鳴鏑): Swinging her kanabo upward, Yamato unleashes a vertical energy projectile to hit opponents from below with great force. It was first used against Hatcha, and immediately knocked him unconscious upon striking him in the head. Narikabura is another term for Kabura-ya ("turnip-headed arrow"), arrows used by samurai which made a whistling sound when fired. It is called Narikabura Arrow in the VIZ translation.


 * Himorogiri (氷諸斬り): An offensive move where Yamato, in her Human-Beast Form, leaps into the air and starts vertically spinning her kanabo to her left, making a swirl of ice form around her weapon. Therewith, she consequently strikes down upon her foe from above. When first using this attack against Kaidou, she struck the back of his head and knocked him to the ground despite Kaido blocking with his own club. The attack's name is a pun on himorogi (神籬), a Shintō term referring to sacred spaces/altars used for kami worship, consisting of square areas demarcated by green bamboo or sakaki. The VIZ manga calls the technique Hallowed Glacier Slash.


 * Shinsoku Hakujaku: A melee attack where Yamato imbues her kanabo with Haoshoku Haki, causing dark lightning to emanate from it. Yamato then dashes toward her opponent, swinging her club horizontally with two hands to strike a powerful blow to that opponent. When used against Kaidou alongside Luffy's Jet Culverin, it managed to knock the Emperor back quite some distance and made him spit up blood. The first part of the attack's name is homophonous with the word shinsoku (神速) for "great speed" (literally meaning "divine speed") and likely a reference to the Iddhi (神足通), which designates in Buddhism, the supernatural ability to be able to walk on air, water, walls or through solid obstacles; the second part, ironically, is homophonous with the word hakujaku (薄弱) for "weakness/feebleness". It is called Divine Swiftness White Serpent in the VIZ translation.




 * Mahoroba: An attack where Yamato remains in her human form, but imbues her kanabo with frost before swinging it horizontally. It first used against Kazenbo. The name of the attack is a reference to the ancient concept of Mahoroba (まほろば), which describes a land of peace and harmony within Yamato (Japan).

Trivia

 * Yamato Takeru is a legendary Japanese prince of the Yamato dynasty, prominent in mythology, who wielded Kusanagi no Tsuguri, one of three Imperial Regalia of Japan, which represents the Virtue of Valor.
 * Like the weapons of other characters, Oda has drawn a joke rendering of Takeru anthropomorphized, taking the form of a large-chinned man with a missing tooth, beard stubble and bumps on top of his heard, as well as bulbous hair resembling the studs on the weapon itself. The man is also smoking and wearing a shirt that says kanabō (金棒).

Site Navigation
Takeru Takeru