Name: Biwa

Age: Claims to be 33, actually over 2000

Gender: Male

Species: Onikuma (yokai bear)

Occupation: Backpacker, Drifter, and Swordsman

Nationality: Japanese, but technically has no official nationality.

Eye Colour: Yellow

Fur Colour: Black

Height: 6'7 ft

Appearance: Biwa is a rather small for an Onikuma, seeming to have been shriveled and shrunk in old age, standing at roughly the same height as a tall human adult, though as broad and muscular as you would expect from a bear. He is covered in fur as expected of a bear like creature, with sunken old eyes dwarfed by his ridiculously long and bushy brows to the extent they mimic mustaches, their further edges seeming grow down and hang like fuzzy vines up to the bottom of his face and has a pair of rounded ears much like that on a teddy bear. His skin, as seen on his rounded snout and paws, is of a light beige colour, while his nose is of the purest black, and his jaws containing surprising bright white fangs and teeth. He tends to dress in a simple red loincloth with a huge blue generic and faded backpack to carry any few possessions he was, and a leather strap to hold the hilt of his shinken sword when not in use.

Voice: He has a light soothing voice, as if he is trying to tell a story to children, or recite a poem.

Personality: Biwa is a rather soft spoken and gentle soul, often acting as polite and kind as he can to those he meets, treating most people the in the same courtesy and often tries to avoid conflict due to finding aggressive and perilous situations immensely stressful, wishing to be left to wander around in peace. Due to his passive nature, he often also avoids staying anywhere for too long, having quite the wander lust as proven by how far he is from his homeland, and as a result, often avoids making much contact with people he has met in the past, though doesn't appear to feel lonely or be bothered by it much, and also has a habit of wandering around if left on his own. He also tends to act as the neutral party in any arguments or conflicts aorund him, essentially wanting to do with the issue as little as possible. He has a habit of pestering horse owner's for their trusty steeds, often offering his services and whatever he is carrying at the time, due to being extremely fond of horses. Unfortunately, in the sense of that he finds them delicious. He also has a habit of acting un-normally aggressive when starved, going on a rampage for the nearest source of food to him. He's also becoming very forgetful in his old age, sometimes straining to remember names and places very well, isn't exactly the smartest yokai in the world, and finds modern technology immensely frustrating and confusing. He is also short sighted but stubbornly refuses to wear glasses and has a fondness for napping.

Family: His 'wife' and children and grandchildren have long been deceased. He is completely unaware if he has any living descendants.

Favorite food & drink: Horse meat & Honeyed Tea

Favorite Tune: Skulls of the Shogun - Winter

Weapon: A typical Shinken sword

Abilities: He is adept in Iaido swordsmanship, and also has inhuman strength and surprisingly good athletic speed, and a keen sense of smell.

Weaknesses: He suffers from terrible agility and balance, is quite dim and forgetful, terrible with technology, and tends to wander off easily, and bad eyesight.

History: Many years ago, in ancient Japan, Biwa, who had no name back then, was just a simple ordinary bear, wandering the forests in a daily routine of sleeping, hunting, eating, fighting, and repeating. By bear standards, things were going well for him, he had a mate, his own cubs, and prey was bountiful, as well as no other bears or predators seemed to dare take his territory, so well in fact, something surprising happened. He managed to outlive his own children, still somehow alive and well despite his age, in the wild having left his grandchildren long ago, who they themselves were fully grown now.

As he continued wandering along down the forest, after one day accidentally stumbling over an old log, his senses dulled and much past their prime, he found himself walking on only two legs, much to his befuddlement, but found he had a liking to it and continued to do so, walking along until he came across a small village. Ordinarily he would never go anywhere near humans, strange bald apes that had a habit of hunting down any animal that tickled their fancy in big noisy groups and building settlements from the trees most beasts called home, but something drawed him towards the place, and before he even realized anything he started wandering towards the place. Suddenly he was standing in front of some understandably startled humans, staring at him agape before screaming that there was a bear at their home which the bear itself was even more startled that he understood what they were saying and growled back for them to stay back, the approaching guards and villagers froze up once more, it seemed they understood what he said. As he and the village's protectors squared off for a few moments warily, before one asked where he came from, and he simply replied from the forest. They continued to talk until the bear asked if he could stay in the village. Believing him to be a forest spirit, and that showing him hospitality would bring them good fortune, the humans let him stay in their village a while.

So the Onikuma stayed, and enjoyed the feasting and entertainment they supplied, happily divulging in any offers of food, drink and entertainment they gave, warmly accepting their generous hospitality, seeming oblivious of them fully believing he was a benevolent spirit, often demanding for horse meat, as it was his favorite meal. During one of these instances, he curiously asked what one small stringed instrument that one of the musicians held was called, and replied it was a Biwa. The onikuma toyed with the word a few times, finding it fun to say, before loudly announcing he would now be also referred to as Biwa, the villagers nervously complying. One day, he wandered to the nearby blacksmith, who happened to be a former samurai, building a shiny new sword which drew Biwa's interest. He pestered the former swordsman for his latest creation, who after tiring of the onikuma's constant instance, announced he would refuse to give him the sword unless he learnt how to wield it. Believing the issue to be resolved, the blacksmith was met by more pestering by by Biwa to train him to use the sword. With a heavy sigh of reluctance, he agreed to train him, showing him the ways of Iaido, a sword style where one would quickly unsheathe the sword to strike before sheathing it again, which Biwa surprisingly took to it quickly.

As training was going well, and his welcome was overstayed, the village's shrine maiden returned after a long pilgrimage to see Biwa, where she revealed to the villager she was no forest spirit at all, but a onikuma, a bear having become a yokai due to it's long life. The former generous behavior of the villagers turned to fury, believing Biwa having tricked them into free food and entertainment, where the yokai bear fled hastily, bringing only a sack of food and his shinken sword with him. He has been wandering the world ever since, honing his swordsmanship skills and scrounging whatever fund she can to look after himself and continue traveling.