History
Tatsu Yamashiro: 1985 - 2005
According to Tatsu, she comes from an unimpressive family line of fishermen. I cannot dispute that as I can find no record of birth certificate for Tatsu, nor even a record of her family name. I can't even find this fishing village she supposedly comes from on a map!
The reason for this, as Tatsu explains this, is that two days after she turned eighteen, most of Tatsu's village (including her parents) died when a tsunami rocked Japan's coast. Orphaned and alone, and unwilling to become a fishermen's wife, Tatsu fell in with Yakuza.
Within months, Tatsu had caused the interest of not one, but both of the boss's sons: Maseo and Takeo. Initially, Tatsu was more fond of the older Takeo, but after their father encouraged Tatsu to choose the younger and gentler brother, Maseo, assuring her that he would make the better husband, Tatsu accepted the younger brother's proposal and the two were married.
Adding further insult to Takeo, their father announced that Maseo would succeed him, bypassing Takeo. When hearing of this, Takeo became drunk and stole two ancestral swords, one of which "tamashii-gari" (Soultaker) was said to be magical: and with these heirlooms, Takeo killed his father while he slept. Realizing what he had done, Takeo fled into the night. Days after his father's burial, Takeo came out of hiding to challenge Maseo to a duel for the right to lead the clan.
Though it was within Maseo's right to call Tatsu as his champion, and she begged her husband to give her the honor (as she was the better swordfighter), Maseo wished to avenge his father personally. While Maseo fought bravely, Takeo ran Soultaker through his brother's throat, killing him instantly. In that moment of shock, Tatsu forgot everything about clan customs and only thought of vengeance. As Takeo gloated over his brother's body, Tatsu took the ancestral weapons from the kinslayer and sliced off Takeo's hand. Before she could also take her brother-in-law's head, she heard Maseo's voice call her from the blade and urging her to flee instead. For once, headstrong Tatsu listened to her husband.[1]
Katana: 2005 - Present
Time to recap. Tatsu comes from a village that doesn't exist, has no record of her birth, has kick-ass martial arts skills for... reasons (?), married into the Japanese mob, saw her husband get killed by his brother's magic sword, then took said magic sword and lobbed off her evil brother-in-law's hand, and before she could kill the prick, she hears her dead husband's voice inside the sword that killed him tell her to run, so she does. Got all that? Because I sure as hell ain't repeating it! Whew... Anyway, so after Takeo killed Maseo and adjusted to life with one less hand, he set about reorganizing the Yamashiro Yakuza. Their first order of business was to track down Tatsu, but she would not be an easy one to find.
In the weeks after fleeing Japan, Tatsu made her way to Markovia. There she learned she was pregnant with Maseo's child. Though she thought she could make a life in Markovia and raise the child, Maseo's spirit urged her to reconsider. Tatsu ignored Maseo, as he had once ignored her, and nearly paid the same price when Takeo tracked Tatsu down after hiring the services of the League of Assassins. Barely able to escape her life due to impaired condition from advanced state of pregnancy, Tatsu decided to heed Maseo's counsel.
This is where it gets interesting. Tatsu came to Gotham, seeking help of the Wayne Foundation to find a home for the soon to be born child. Usually such a process would take months, weeks if it were a special case. She showed up two days before giving birth and Bruce Wayne called in countless favors to make this happen. Oh, and the kicker? Tatsu had twin girls. She spent an hour with them before kissing both adieu and asking Bruce to make sure that no one would ever know they were her children. Guess who Bruce asked to help him with that? If you guessed me, you're wrong. Yeah, didn't make sense to me, either. That is when I knew they were hiding something. Tatsu and Bruce know each other somehow and neither of them are saying how... I hate secrets. So... anyway, blah, blah, blah, when Jason turned up alive and Dick wanted to put a team together to find him, Bruce recommended Tatsu. She's been hanging out with the Outsiders ever since.[2]
Threat Assessment
Resources
- Unrivaled Swordswoman
- World-Class Martial Artist
- Half-Ninja, Half-Samurai / All-Awesome
- Occult Awareness and Insight
- Telepathic Connection to her Sword's Souls
- Wields the Mystical "Soultaker" Blade
Weaknesses
Missing Data
Analytics
Missing Data
Trivia and Notes
Trivia
- It is hinted that Tatsu Yamashiro helped Oliver Queen and Bruce Wayne escape the League of Assassins after they refused to kill Lucius Fox. She would have been 13 years old when that happened.
Notes
- Her outfit is a nod to Suicide Squad movie.
- In her casual portrait Tatsu's watch says it's 3:27, a nod to Season 3 of Earth-27.
- Her legal alias is a nod to a Batgirl villain.
- In the comics the names of her daughters are Yuki and Reiko.
Links and References
- Appearances of Tatsu Yamashiro
- Character Gallery: Tatsu Yamashiro