Kagehisa Anotsu (Jpn. - 天津影久 - "Anotsu Kagehisa") is the current leader of the Itto-ryu in Samura's Blade of the Immortal. He is based on the actual Kagehisa, the legendary swordsman who helped found Itto-ryu and was rumored to have never lost a single battle. He is the equal of Manji. While painted as the "villain" of the series at the start, he has had many scenes devoted to making the reader sympathetic to his views and goals. An emotionally cold young man has prodigious skill with the sword, and leads the Ittō-ryū in order to form a dōjō dedicated not to form and rules, but to the simple test of superior lethality. Brought up by an abusive grandfather (a swordsman disgraced by the Asano dōjō), Anotsu is as pragmatic and shrewd as he is deadly. He isn't as inhuman as originally believed