History

[royaltyloyalty]

[CONTENT WARNING: SUICIDE, CHILD ABUSE, AND INCEST]
The following is based on Dokugakuji/Jien's shared history with Gojyo.
For a time, Jien grows up in a country youkai* community, far from a big city. He'd have learned similar trades as young humans do, such as basic hunting, fishing, cooking, etc. Little does he know that his father (a water youkai) starts bouncing between his mother (also a youkai) and a human mistress in another town a fair distance away. Neither Jien nor his mother find out until Jien's father leaves to be with his mistress for good, when the mistress gives birth to a hanyou child: Gojyo. Jien is 8 years old.

*Youkai live longer than humans, tend to have elemental powers, and are marked physically by a small tattoo somewhere on their body, elongated ears, and fangs. In Gojyo's case, the element is water because he is a "kappa", or water demon.

Several years later, when Jien is roughly 11 (speculation), Jien finds the young Gojyo not long after his parents' lovers' suicide. Pure extrapolation says that if "they tried to take Gojyo with them" (as Minekura has stated in an interview), then likely the suicide was by poison and Gojyo simply became ill instead of dying. Pure extrapolation also says that - knowing what happens years later in the paragraph below - Jien's mother wouldn't have willingly brought Gojyo back to live with them, so we have reason to believe Jien did that on his own initiative after finding out where his father had gone. Regardless, canon states that several years before the incident below, Jien and Gojyo start living together with Jien's mother, called by both of them Mom. The trouble is that Mom gets understandably upset about living as a widow, with the shame of a husband who left her, with the shame of a husband who committed suicide with his mistress, and being expected to provide for her husband's bastard son. What's not okay is that she starts taking her frustrations out on Gojyo. Jien quickly decides this is Not Okay, because he has always seen Gojyo as his brother even if they only share a father. So when Mom starts to get upset, he tries to stop her from hurting Gojyo. He can't stop every beating, but he tries. One of his tactics is taking Gojyo with him on rural errands a lot, like going into the forest. (Ch. 46) Even if he isn't the best substitute Dad -- telling his little brother "Don't cry" and expecting him to get that it meant he was allowed to cry -- he's still a good big brother and watches for Gojyo slipping or falling while they're out. He knows he's all Gojyo has, knowing by then that nothing they can do will earn any love for Gojyo from Mom. However, the 'go out into the woods to play' tactic stops working after awhile and he has to do something more drastic.

Eventually, Mom starts projecting the loss of her husband onto Jien himself, and starts sexually assaulting her own son at night. Jien thinks this is okay because at least she's not hurting Gojyo. Mom basically tries to hurt him anytime she gets a look at all of the red in Gojyo's hair and eyes to remind her that he is a taboo child. Taboo children are half-youkai and so-called because it is a social taboo for the two races to fornicate. They are all marked physically by blood-red hair and eyes; apparently possess no elemental powers; and yet they do have some measure of extraordinary strength, speed, and life expectancy.

One day, when Jien is 20 years old, Mother snaps. She can't bear the frustration of living with her dead husband's bastard son anymore, so she tries to kill him. Jien hears the commotion in time and has to make a split-second decision no one should ever have to make: kill his mother and save his brother, or let his mother kill his brother. Jien chose to kill his mother and save Gojyo. We know that at this point, Jien and Gojyo part ways. Conjecture says that this may have to do with the murder of a youkai inside of a youkai community and Jien not wanting Gojyo to suffer any more consequences for things he couldn't control, so he sends him away.

[The following is when Dokugakuji/Jien's shared history with Gojyo ends.]
At 24 years old, Sha Jien "stumbled" into Houtou Castle bloodied and bruised from some sort of fight. The interim 4 years are entirely headcanon material, but if he "stumbled" into Houtou Castle, they can't have been kind to him. It's at this point he sheds his former name and uses "Dokugakuji" instead, which Kougaiji bestows on him. Kougaiji doesn't even know what his old name is; there was just some conversation where Jien must have confessed a level of guilt about his past and wanting to leave that name behind.

[This is the start of Saiyuki present-day canon.]
Aged 30, Dokugakuji first appears in Chapter 8 as one of Kougaiji's closest attendants, one of the three he has a meeting with about how to actually implement the orders given to Kougaiji's subordinates. His other two are his half-sister, Lirin, and Yaone, an herbalist (poison master) and healer. These orders are given by Gyokumen Koushu; a mistress of Kougaiji's father (The Ox King, Gyuumaou), Lirin's mother, and the de facto leader of Houtou Castle. He even has the leeway to encourage Kougaiji to calm down without suffering punishment. His rank is evident by the fact that Kougaiji - before and after this meeting - has lower ranking, nameless youkai attacking the Sanzo Party. He is even permitted discretion in saying that Gyokumen Koushu's idea - to send sheer numbers at the Sanzo Party - isn't tactically sound and sympathizes with Kougaiji's pain that his men are dying pointlessly. Yaone was given permission to attack the Sanzo Party, but failed, and then Lirin went to attack them without permission. Only then does Dokugakuji leave the castle with Kougaiji and Yaone to retrieve her.

Up until that point, Doku didn't know his brother was a member of the Sanzo Party: Genjyo-sanzo or Sanzo, Hakkai Cho, Goku Son, and Gojyo Sha. He knew about "Gojyo" by name, but he didn't know for sure it was his brother. When they meet, likely because he sees this Gojyo is also a hanyou, he realizes this definitely is his little brother he left behind. (Ch. 16) Both Gojyo and Doku agree that they're going to continue living the lives they've chosen and end up fighting each other one-on-one while the rest of the Sanzo Party and the Kougaiji group fight in other pairs: Hakkai vs. Yaone, Goku vs. Kougaiji, and Sanzo vs. Lirin. It seems like Goku is going to best Kougaiji, which gets Doku's attention, but the whole fight is interrupted by the appearance of a crab monster. Unbeknownst to any of them, a villain named Chin Yisou summoned it. The two groups end up working together to defeat it, notably including a moment when Dokugakuji helps out Gojyo. In the end, Goku pinned the crab monster with his staff and Kougaiji summoned his own monster - Engokuki - to destroy it in one shot, notably before warning Goku to get out of the way. Basically the whole fight between Kougaiji's forces and the Sanzo Party ends up being more of a scrap than a fight. Their parting words aren't particularly hostile either, with Gojyo saying he expects a (souvenir) present next time and Doku replying "only if you serve tea."

Back at Houtou Castle, the Gyuumaou Revival Project enters its second stage. (Ch. 23) Gyokumen Koushu takes Kougaiji's fighters off the "Kill the Sanzo Party" mission and instead gives them a new one: search for the other 3 Tenchi Kaigen sutras whose whereabouts are unknown. The 5 Tenchi Kaigen sutras were used by the gods to build the world and Gyokumen Koushu has one of them - how, Kougaiji doesn't know, but it's because she's working with a "Dr. Ni Jianyi" who is actually the Sanzo Priest Ukoku. Each Sanzo priest inherits one of the sutras from his master, so he has one and Genjyo-sanzo of the Sanzo Party. That leaves the three with whereabouts unknown. Knowing that Gyokumen Koushu has a closer eye on Lirin, Kougaiji gets worried and orders Yaone to stay behind in Houtou Castle to watch over her. Meanwhile, Kougaiji and Dokugakuji will look into the location of the 3 other scriptures.

It takes a bit of canvassing and information gathering, but Kougaiji gets a report that one of the sutras is in a desert to the east, held by a youkai that took the sutra from a Sanzo. (Ch. 28) He and Dokugakuji are heading out when Dr. Ni stops them to goad them a bit, such as pointing out they'd been taken off the Kill the Sanzo Party mission and then starts in on Taboo Children, which gets Dokugakuji's attention right away. Dr. Ni explains that Taboo Children are infertile, attributing this knowledge to scientific curiosity. Kou starts to get the impression there's more to Dr. Ni than just being a scientist, but Dr. Ni leaves them with a warning: be sure to hold onto what's most important. (They don't realize he's addressing both Kou and Doku.) Lirin finds out their leaving, but Kou assures her he'll bring her back a treat if she stays behind. Kou and Doku head out. Little do they realize the Sanzo Party were heading that way already. (Ch. 29) When they arrive, they notice that the "castle" is nowhere to be found and also that the Sanzo Party's mode of transportation - the white dragon Hakuryuu - is laying in the sand, which means the Sanzo Party is nearby.

Kougaiji uses his youki red wind to literally blow the roof off the crumbling structure buried under the sand, revealing the Sanzo Party underneath. (Ch. 30) Goku explains that Sanzo has been poisoned, pleading with them for Yaone's help, which is when Doku reveals she stayed back at the castle. He asks if they met the desert youkai, to which Gojyo replies they did but everything he had is under the sand now. Without consulting Doku, Kou makes a decision - he offers to settle his fight with Goku that was interrupted with a winning condition. If Goku kills him, the Sanzo Party can use the two dragons they flew over on to get Sanzo to the nearest town for treatment. If Kou wins, he gets Sanzo's Maten Sutra - one of the 5 he's on a mission to collect anyway. Goku agrees despite Doku's protests. Kou insists he's out of regrets and so Doku agrees not to stop him. Gojyo uses that opportunity to get Doku's attention, seeking his own rematch, purposefully calling Doku by his new name. It also keeps Doku preoccupied from interrupting to help Kou fight Goku.

The problem is that Goku gets desperate to win, to save Sanzo knowing that time is of the essence. He willingly removes the diadem around his forehead, revealing his true form known as Seiten Taisei Son Goku, who fights without remorse. He starts to brutally injure Kou so much that Doku fears for Kou's life and tries to intervene. (Ch. 32) Goku takes him out in one hit. While both Doku and Kou are down for the count, the Sanzo Party rallies to stop the rampaging Seiten Taisei. (Ch. 33) With Goku knocked out, Doku recovers enough to realize Kou is still bleeding out. He agrees to retreat, and a loss is a loss so he doesn't ask for Sanzo's Sutra, but he also says bitterly he still can't forgive them for what they did to Kougaiji. He returns to Houtou Castle on their dragons, but Dr. Ni and Gyokumen Koushu started their work on Lirin and restrained Yaone. Dokugakuji returns to Houtou Castle with a near-death Kougaiji being carried on his back. (Ch. 34) Dr. Ni and his assistant confront Doku to explain that Yaone is unavailable to tend to her lord's wounds - claiming she's on an errand for Gyokumen Koushu. Reluctantly, Doku turns Kou's care over to Dr. Ni, who repeats his warning, making it clear he'd originally meant it for Doku as well: "I told you, didn't I? You should never let go of what's most important."

When Yaone is finally released, she and Doku commiserate over being duped by Dr. Ni, losing both Lirin and Kou in the process. (Ch. 35) Doku tries to take all of the blame, getting so angry at himself he punches a castle's column hard enough to make his fist bleed. However, Yaone is the one to point out Kougaiji's life is their top priority and she doesn't blame him for making the choice he did. The only thing they can do now is recover both Kougaiji and Lirin; she encourages him to focus on that, which he agrees to.

While the Sanzo Party continues to travel, fights Ginkaku and Gojyo leaves them to fight Kami-sama alone, a month passes. Part of that time had been during Yaone's capture. (Ch. 44) Dokugakuji used the time to return to that spot in the desert with some of their forces, combing through it until he found the sutra that had been thought lost in the sands. When he returns, Yaone still hasn't seen Kougaiji or Lirin. As if on cue, Dr. Ni calls over the intercom to let them know Kougaiji is waiting for them. They are shocked to discover his personality has been drastically changed, though; he doesn't want them touching him, for instance. Doku immediately blames Dr. Ni for the change, but Dr. Ni claims he was only trying to help. And for Doku's accusations, he announces - namely to Yaone - Doku's past discretions with his own mother, accuses him of loyalty to Kou only out of guilt for those discretions and failing to save his little brother from abuse, and calls him by his old name: Sha Jien. In short, Yaone and Doku can do nothing to change Kou back... yet. They even watch as Kou blindly kills one of his own subjects for a minor grievance just because Gyokumen Koushu orders it. (Ch. 45) Doku wallows in Dr. Ni's words a bit longer, finally admitting that his original reason for joining Kougaiji did have a lot to do with seeing his little brother's spectre in Kou due to the red hair. However, Yaone calls him a coward, slaps him, and snaps him out of his funk enough to earn her an apology for his actions. (The slap almost certainly worked a little better than words alone due to how Dokugakuji's mother treated him and Gojyo as children.) Kougaiji leaves to kill the Sanzo Party, refusing to let the "small fry" (or "trash") get in his way and telling Dokugakuji not to refer to him so informally, but those reactions only fuel Yaone and Doku's resolve to follow against the brainwashed-Kou's wishes in order to save him. They must have convinced him they wouldn't get in the way for at least a little while, because they're with him while he's tracking down the Sanzo Party on foot (Reload Act 1), after the Sanzo Party finally defeated Kami-sama and continued on their journey to eventually meet (and kill) Yakumo.

Kougaiji eventually shakes Dokugakuji and Yaone (Act 7), leading to them pursuing him on foot. They accidentally run into Sanzo's Party minus Goku, who is Kougaiji's current target. Due to their focus on Kou, Yaone and Doku end up helping Hakkai, Sanzo, and Gojyo out of the river where they'd fallen into and gotten separated from Goku. Thanks to Hakkai's diplomatic responses, Doku and Yaone don't feel bad explaining that if the group runs into Kougaiji they should just run, leaving the sutra behind. They maintain they only got separated from Kougaiji and are about to explain further when a direct subordinate of Gyokumen Koushu shows up: Zakuro, an illusionist. His mission is to kill the Sanzo Party while Goku is split from them. (Act 8) Zakuro taunts Doku and Yaone for betraying "the Mistress" but Gojyo draws Zakuro's attention back to the trio. Yaone even tries to warn them, but Zakuro traps the Sanzo Trio in a world of illusions. Dokugakuji tries to remind Zakuro that their mission was just to get the sutra and leave - Kou's was to kill them - so there was no need to actually kill the Sanzo Party, but Zakuro goads Doku the same way Ni did - that their weak attitudes is what got Kou hurt in the first place. Out of spite, Zakuro turns the full brunt of his malicious illusions on Gojyo, making him think that his right hand is on fire, that it burned off (Act 9), and then that he kills Sanzo and Hakkai with his shakujou. Seeing how upset Gojyo is, Dokugakuji can't stand it anymore, and punches Gojyo right in the stomach to knock him unconscious and thus beyond Zakuro's reach. However, Zakuro is too focused on Sanzo and Hakkai to immediately retaliate. Sanzo eventually destroys Zakuro's hold over him and Hakkai, but Zakuro flees. (Act 10) This leaves Dokugakuji wondering if brainwashing and hypnosis (like the kind Kou is afflicted by currently) is really so easy to snap out of. Yaone and Doku finish their explanation of how Kou's been brainwashed, but Sanzo refuses their "kindness" which riles Doku up immensely. He just doesn't want Kou to win in so shameful a manner, knowing that's not what Kou would want. Sanzo rebuts that argument saying "your boss" wouldn't sympathy or surrender. Doku finally agrees that there may have to be a final - permanent - option if they can't get Kou to return to normal.

Dokugakuji, Yaone, and the Sanzo Trio track down Goku and Kougaiji at a lull in their combat. (Act 11) Goku has passed out from exhaustion and his wounds. Wounded but not dead and no longer recognizing his body's limits, Kou demands the sutra. Doku tries to remind Kou how injured he is, namely a broken arm, but Kou's brainwashing is too strong and he even threatens to kill Doku and Yaone if they get in his way. Kou engages the Sanzo Trio (Act 12); Doku and Yaone look on in horror as they watch the Sanzo Trio fight him, Kou not acknowledging he's in any pain, and that they may indeed have to kill him. Sanzo eventually confronts Dokugakuji and Yaone mid-fight, telling them to make up their minds or beat it; do what THEY want to do instead of thinking everything had to be done for a specific person's sake. Their choice, interestingly, is to fight by Kougaiji's side anyway, whether he wants them to or not while he's being brainwashed. The gesture moves Kougaiji so deeply, deeper than the brainwashing apparently, that when Goku is about to strike Dokugakuji down with Gojyo's help, Kou actually takes the hit for Doku. When Doku kneels down to examine Kou's injuries (Act 13), Kou actually whispers to him: "buy me some time." Doku does exactly that, turning back to fight the Sanzo Party with a fury as if they'd killed Kou or at least mortally wounded him again. Kougaiji gets his Engokui summon attack off thanks to Doku's efforts, which he hadn't been able to do while brainwashed. The attack knocks the Sanzo Party back into the river again. Kou's focus instantly ceases to be the sutra or killing his enemies; instead it's getting back to Houtou Castle as soon as possible to rescue Lirin. Doku and Yaone are elated to do just that, following their lord and master.

They head back to Houtou Castle and Kougaiji unceremoniously announces his presence to Dr. Ni by kicking over his chess game. Dokugakuji meanwhile has gone to the chamber where they were keeping Lirin and retrieved her with Yaone's help. They join Kou for his verbal ass-kicking of Dr. Ni but let their prince do all the talking. He confirms that Doku and Yaone are among the people he knows will always reach out for him and that he's not switching sides either; he's just fighting Sanzo's Party on his own terms.

For awhile, the Sanzo Party meets up with a man from a Western Continent named Hazel Grosse and his companion Gat, but their ideological differences couldn't be further apart. Hazel wants to kill youkai indiscriminately, while the Sanzo Party is just trying to stop the minus wave and will only kill in self-defense. It takes awhile for this information to reach Houtou Castle, especially since Kougaiji was recovering from his battle and brainwashing, but around this time Dr. Ni vanishes from the castle at the same time Ukoku-sanzo shows up to guide Hazel's hand in his dealings with the Sanzo Party. (Act 22, Act 29) They get word that Hazel ("a man with a western accent") and the Sanzo Party joined forces, and that the illusionist Zakuro even joined them. All in all they're only aware of rumors at this time, but Kougaiji's recovered and Gyokumen Koushu is leaving them alone for the time being.

2 years into the Sanzo Party's journey, Dokugakuji is now 32. With Dr. Ni missing from Houtou Castle for an extended period of time, Gyokumen Koushu orders the revival experiment efforts be put on hold. (Reload Blast Ch. 5) She brings Kougaiji's group back to the forefront and orders them to track down the Kouten Sutra - the last of the five. Kou wants them to track down the Sanzo Party again, but Gyokumen Koushu alludes to having already arranged for a separate group - "Secret Weapons" - to take care of the Sanzo Party. That's why they're supposed to get the Kouten one instead. Turns out, it's the nearest one to their castle - right in Eastern India - under the protection of Sharak-sanzo. Once they track down the Kouten sutra, Kougaiji and Dokugaku amass significant forces from the local region, but have to make a bargain that chafes Kou's and Doku's honor - the local youkai won't avoid killing the local humans, civilians and innocents in Kou's effort to get the sutra. (Blast Kouten Ch. 5) They arrive on the scene believing themselves to be successful (Blast Kouten Ch. 4) in isolating Sharak away from her massive police-patrol style forces by holding a human's family hostage and forcing him to destroy part of her defensive barrier's conduit from inside. (Blast Koten Ch. 3). What they didn't realize was the Sanzo Party would be there too. (Blast Kouten Ch. 5) When Sanzo baits Kougaiji into fighting him, Kou tells Doku he can't back down from an opposing leader's challenge, so he orders Doku to get the Kouten sutra without him.

Dokugakuji in turn orders his forces - the local youkai - to try and avoid killing the humans because their sole priority is Sharak-sanzo's sutra. Doku breaks through Sharak's forces, led by her righthand man Hassan, and gets all the way to Sharak herself. (Blast Kouten Ch. 6.1) He resigns himself to killing a 'defenseless' woman (distracted really, while she's trying to chant the spell to remake her defensive barrier) by striking her down from the back because it's no worse than his past as Sha Jien - sleeping with his mother and then killing her, only to willfully abandon his younger brother in the name of his own penance. He reminds himself that Kou was the one who saved him from that life of brutality, but Hassan shows up to defend Sharak while she tries to complete the spell. (Blast Kouten Ch. 6.2) In the middle of that, the war prince Nataku - a god of Heaven that was seemingly braindead for 500 years that just up and left suddenly - shows up acting like a mindless drone and exterminating the youkai forces. He finds Kougaiji and Dokugakuji sees that happen, so he jumps in front of the attack without a second thought.

Despite his grievous wounds, Dokugakuji took Kou and fled the area. In the forested area, Kougaiji called for a flying dragon, but Dokugakuji kept speaking as if it were his final words: "Don't cry." Just like he'd once told Gojyo. Kougaiji screams in rage, seemingly confirming Dokugakuji's death.