Zuou

Zuou was the king of the Tenrou nation. He is the main antagonist of the Hinowa ga Yuku! series.

Appearance
He is shown to be a well-built man, dressed in extravagant clothing befitting his title and position as the king of a nation.

Personality
King Zuou is shown to be a highly militaristic, ambitious, cruel-but-intelligent ruler of the Tenrou nation, with his primary goal in his multiple war campaigns against the numerous Kingdom of Wakoku being him once again re-unifying the entire land under one sole kingdom similarly to the unified Wakoku one thousand years ago, and is currently bolstering his forces and using whatever means necessary in order to accomplish this goal.

During his initial mentioning, it’s been stated that Zuou is exceptionally cruel and has a somewhat-twisted sense of humor and beauty, as seen where he was stated to take delight in Kyoukotsu's "artwork" and delighted in the grotesque human flesh screen gifted to him and took personal interest in the young man due to his unique "art" and potential as a general.

During his actual appearance, its shown that Zuou is also highly charismatic and exceptionally kind to those he favors, as seen where he constantly gives his favor to his Ten Stars and expends no monetary limit in producing high class Meihou for their own personal usage, constantly feeds them rare and exotic foods in order to further strengthen them and indulges each and everyone of them in their desires and requests when they perform their duties well. Earning him the admiration and loyalty of many of his general, aids and attendants.

Zuou is shown to genuinely care for his subordinates and constantly tries to have them improve and better themselves in order increase their abilities, as seen where he would personally teach Mizuchi, Yomihime and Nahashu in order to improve their strategical thinking and would give proper rewards and praise to his subordinates should they do their tasks well. Zuou is also shown to be highly attentive and observant to his subordinates, especially to the members of the Ten Stars, as seen where he took special note of Yomihime's love for sweets and took special care to feed her snacks covered in sweet honey for her pleasure and was able to easily detect that Mizuchi was jealous of his desire for Rinzu with little hint.

Another side to Zuou's personality is his overwhelming sense of desire, with a majority of the Ten Stars noticing that whenever Zuou desires and wants something, he would go to any length and method in order to obtain it and make it "his". This sense of desire being one of the main factors that only adds to his charisma.

Zuou also took interest in those who are skilled or proficient enough to gain his respect. When Akame dodges his sword attack before Nahashu stops her from assassinating him, he was impressed that she can see his attack.

History
TBA.

Tactical Abilities
Despite his avaricious desires and arrogance, Zuou had proven himself to be a highly intelligent and tactical ruler despite these traits. Having repeatedly shown to be a highly capable strategist and extremely pragmatic in his approach during his goal to completely unify the entirety of Wakoku under the banner of the Tenrou Nation.

This is seen where he would frequently differ to the strategic approaches of Akugetsu and Shamon rather than simply use brute force during his expansion campaigns. Zuou was also noted to favor using Kururiya's Ninja Forces in order to hasten the conquests of nations by eliminating key figures in the enemy camp. Further alluding to Zuou preference to avoid extended war's in favor of simply removing the enemy leadership and then take over.

Zuou was also shown to act as something like a teacher and mentor to the three youngest Ten Stars; Mizuchi, Yomihime and Nashashu by frequently giving them strategic advice to improve themselves in war tactics.

Swordsmanship
Zuou is also shown to be incredibly talented in swordsmanship, as seen where he easily beheaded Hisame with little effort.
 * Blade of the Shadow Woman: A powerful and extremely fast one sword slash.

Trivia

 * Whenever King Zuou personally enters into combat with his personal forces, his flag is a golden colored version of the Tenrou Nations multi-eyed wolf, signifying his royal status.
 * Zuou's design resembles Trafalgar Law from One Piece.
 * Zuou was also noted to be have highly lascivious desires as well, having been stated to already have four legally married wives and still desiring to add Princess Rinzu as a fifth. It was later revealed that he has also had a sexual relationship with one of his Ten Stars, Moegi as well.
 * Later, it was revealed that Zuou himself had an entire harem of women for his personal enjoyment. The number of women themselves are noted to number in a total of a hundred and eight women all in all. All of them reside within the "Flower Palace", living alongside Zuou's four legal wives before he passes away from a heart attack.