Taito stands among the Ittō-ryū's most skilled fighters, though he came up from nothing—a peasant who took to the sword after a samurai killed his sister when she was just a child. He's one of the rare swordsmen to have fought Manji and lived to tell about it, and he's also fought alongside him at different points. As a kenshi operating outside the samurai class, Taito operates by his own code.
His life took a darker turn when his lover, a prostitute named O-ren, was killed by Shira. That loss, combined with knowing Shira had set his sights on Manji, drove Taito to leave the Ittō-ryū—though he stayed on good terms with Anotsu. He basically adopted Manji as his responsibility, trailing him to keep tabs on Shira. The two bicker constantly, but there's a genuine friendliness underneath it all.
When it came time to settle things, Manji stepped aside and let Taito have his shot at Shira. Despite Shira's obsession with killing Manji, he accepted this. Taito took Shira's remaining hand and sent him falling to what was almost certainly his death. Whatever Shira said in those final moments spooked Taito enough that he eventually reconnected with Anotsu and rejoined the Ittō-ryū.
His weapon is the Grand Turk, a weird triple-sectioned piece: a gladius-style main blade, a shorter sword tucked in the handle, and a spear-tip dagger hidden inside that second blade. Oddly, the whole thing lacks a proper sword guard.
Content compiled by AnimeList.moe from publicly available sources.
