Katsuko Himura

Social and Economic Background: Her father is a freelance programmer; her mom is an elementary school teacher. With three older brothers and one older sister, she knew the limits of the family budget from a young age. She herself grew up to be like her mother: a teacher, poor but stable. She can as a result be something of a penny-pincher.

Cultural Background: Shinsei Himura left Japan with his wife for the United States in 1956 as a young man. Fifty years later, he and his wife were the last people in his family to have seen Japanese soil. Nevertheless, he did his best to pass on some semblance of his heritage to his children and then to his grandchildren.

Katsuko grew to be especially close to the old man, and in turn she came to feel some sense of identity in the home heâ€d left behind. But however much she reads, paints, walks, or folds paper, she is by no means Japanese—which is troubling to her. It was this interest in her heritage that eventually drew her to Karate and Judo -- in which, truth be told, she can be a tad pretentious.

Education and Professional Life: In highschool, Katsuko was a high-achiever both in and outside the classroom. But as she grew up, she became increasingly socially withdrawn. She took a boyfriend twice, once in middleschool and once in highschool. The first ended badly; she doesnâ€t like to talk about the second.

In college, Katsuko took her 9th dan in Judo, with its red belt, and graduated summa cum laude with a major in history and a minor in education. She did not date in college, and if she answered her employer forms honestly, she would say "the one word my friends would use to describe me is 'formal' or perhaps 'distant.' "

At 24, she received certification as a teacher in Colorado and went to work. There, she would meet the man who would become her fiancÃ, Soren Tabbard. She was "a hard nut to crack," he says--very reluctant to be warm with him. "But now she's stuck to me like a stubborn mole," he'll add with his characteristic grin.

Combat Background: Katsuko began training in martial arts when she was three years old through a “Mommy and Me Pre-martial arts program” offered at a Karate school owned and operated by friends of the family. This led to a life-long interest in the sport; it was her discipline and drug to keep life's malaise at bay. By the time Katsuko had graduated college, she held high ranks in both Karate and Judo, and had participated in a variety of tournaments in the latter discipline. She continued these disciplines through her three years as a teacher.

Joining the AFW: While she participated in local judo tournaments, Katsukoâ€s fiancà was an honest-to-God circuit fighter. In the end, this would lose him his job but earn him the attention of the AFW.

It was only reluctantly that Katsuko persuaded him to take the offer for tension. She practically had to beg him to move with her to Japan—and he accepted only after she had applied and been accepted into friction. Of course, then he had to talk her into not backing out when she realized it would mean leaving her parents behind in the US.

Primary Reference:


Standard Combat Attire:


After a fight:


Without the Mask:

“The mask? Hm. Everyone asks about my mask. I suppose they think I have something to hide, the way I cover myself.”

“In a sense, I suppose that is true: I hide my face. In the AFW, it is no well-guarded secret that we are selling our bodies and our looks as much as anything. The hentai leagues remove whatever doubt there may be.”

“But I belong to my husband. I suppose he believes that if I wear a mask, it will stop others from misusing me--from falling in love. Myself, I see it more as a symbol—my body is here to strike, to cut, to win honor for my family and myself and to practice what I have mastered. But there is a part of me that I keep private, that no one is allowed to see or touch but him. That is under the mask.”

--

“Do I look down on other wrestlers? *Smiles sweetly through her eyes* Well, only at the end of the match, of course ^^

But no, I don't. I was single, I wore skirts. They were cute ^^ Being engaged changes you, but it needn't change all the other foxes on the market.

As for other crimes, cruelty and bloodlust and that sort of disrespect. They strike me as sad. The loneliness of someone without family to comfort her, without religion to hold her, without a moral code to guide her, that I can only pity. Because I could be like her--just as alone. It's a very easy thing to be born without good parents… Each person is her own tragedy, in a sense.”

"Yes, I will still strike such an unjust person. Yes, for her own good, but mostly out of respect--I respect her, so I will treat her justly, like an adult, sir. Children are trained, but adults are punished. If I were to allow my pity to stay my hand, I would debase her. Help or hurt...They're beside the point, you see?."

--

“What would I do to one who removed my mask? The same that I would do to anyone without respect or kindness—what I would do to someone preying on the weak. I would hurt her. I would hurt her as much as necessary to satisfy justice.”

“Yes, Justice. I do not believe that punishment fit merely to disincentivize crime is sufficient, sir. People are not trained dogs. An Eye for an Eye is not simply good governance; it is a moral equilibrium. A person who does evil does that evil as much to himself as to another. I stand with your Kant: Execution for a murderer is an absolutely pure act, and one commanded by duty.”

--

“Do I consider myself to be Japanese? I… well, I mean… Mmm. No. No sir, I do not.”

“…No I suppose it doesnâ€t follow that Iâ€m American either. This is my own tragedy, this emptiness there. But I am an Himura and a Pascal—and thatâ€s enough.”

--

"...What would I do if my husband left me? That... That isn't a question. You should be ashamed.

"I've been engaged for a year. No there's no date. Yes. It's strange...Look, It's none of your business."