Tenzo

Tenzo
Relatives	Unnamed wife †
Affiliation	Raiders
Profession	Raider
Title(s)	The Butcher of Iki's Killer
Status	Alive
Physical description
Gender	Male
Hair color	Dark gray Ponytail
Skin	Pale
Appearances
Ghost of Tsushima: Iki Island

May your death benefit all beings.
― Tenzo, before killing Kazumasa Sakai

Tenzo is a character featured in Ghost of Tsushima: Iki Island. He is a raider and right-hand man of Fune.

Biography

Tenzo is a resident of Iki Island. He grew up on the island and helped build it up. He later married a woman who died during childbirth. During the samurai invasion of Iki, he fought the invaders, and he and a group of raiders ended up trapping Kazumasa Sakai in Senjo Gorge. Tenzo delivered the final blow ending Kazumasa's Sakai's life in front of a young Jin Sakai. This act drove the remaining samurai from Iki Island, giving Tenzo and his fellow raiders a strong sense of camaraderie.

Events of Iki Island

As The Eagle and her tribe invade Iki, the Raiders try to fight back but with varying degrees of success. When Jin first lands on Iki and is poisoned by the Eagle, he is rendered unconscious, but later rescued by Tenzo. Tenzo becomes wary of Jin, as Jin is samurai, and samurai haven't set foot in Iki for nearly 15 years. The two strike up an uneasy relationship as Jin decides to help Tenzo and the raiders for the sake of Iki. Eventually, through a captured Mongol shaman, Tenzo realizes that Jin is not only a samurai, but one of clan Sakai, and son of the "Butcher of Iki". This puts a strain on their relationship, but Jin ensures that he is not his father and that this will remain a secret for both of their sakes.

After Tenzo, Jin, and the raiders drive some Mongols away from Iki, Tenzo kills a Mongol soldier and utters "May your death benefit all beings", the same phrase Jin heard before Kazumasa was killed. Realizing it was Tenzo who killed his father all those years ago, Jin threatens to kill him, to which Tenzo accepts his fate, but reminds Jin that Kazumasa was Tenzo's enemy, never Jin. Jin backs off and says that he's not his father, making their friendship nearly beyond repair.

Despite Jin's newfound knowledge and attempt to kill Tenzo, Tenzo still aids Jin in defeating the Mongol forces in Senjo Gorge and confronting the Eagle herself. Jin tells Tenzo to take on the Mongols while he fights the Eagle. Sometime during the fight, Tenzo becomes wounded, and almost dies at Jin's hands again, as Jin is under the Eagle's hallucinations and being pressured into avenging his father. However, Jin forgives him and saves Tenzo from the Eagle, killing her. Tenzo heads back to Fune to tell her the good news.

Jin and Tenzo meet one last time at the raider's refuge. Tenzo admits that while he'll survive just fine from his injuries, he won't be able to swing a blade like he used to. He instead opts to help those who are still hurting from the Eagle's poison as he understands how Jin was cured before parting ways from him on amicable terms.

Trivia

• If Jin bows to Tenzo at Fune's Refuge after killing the Eagle, Tenzo will remark that he has seen everything now that a samurai has bowed to a raider.
• In The Conspirator, it is said by Masako Adachi that Lord Shimura hunted down Tenzo who killed Jin's father and cut off his head. However, as seen in the Iki Island expansion, this appears to have been either a lie by his uncle or an oversight by the developers as several other retcons were made since Iki's release to match the story up with the events of Iki Island.

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