Bears the "gi" (義) bead of duty; his birthmark is on his left arm. At the age of 7, his father was forced to commit seppuku after criticizing the Ashikaga Shogun, and his mother perished from the cold winter during the resulting pilgrimage from Izu. This left him under the cruel parentage of Hikiroku and Kamezasa, who gave him the undignified name of "Gakuzo" and forced him into indentured servitude to pay back the debt of his mother's funeral.
