Ochimusha [extra Quality] ⇒

High-quality steel katanas, matching daggers, and lacquered iron armor plates were stripped from the bodies and sold.

The words struck Kenshin like a blade between the ribs. I ran. I lived. I am nothing. ochimusha

You should have died beside him , a voice whispered—his own, or the ghost of his past. A true samurai falls with his lord. You ran. You lived. You are nothing. I lived

If the traveler tried to help or approached the warrior, the samurai would suddenly vanish or transform into a Tanuki. In many stories, the "warrior" would actually be a large tanuki standing on its hind legs, sometimes wearing a kettle on its head to mimic a samurai’s helmet. This was considered a mischievous prank played by the animals to scare humans. A true samurai falls with his lord

When an army faced total collapse on the feudal Japanese battlefield, surviving soldiers scattered. The moment a samurai chose flight over ritual suicide, his social reality inverted.

: In folklore and modern media like the Monster Girl Encyclopedia , ochimusha are sometimes portrayed as undead warriors who have died with regrets and continue to serve their former lords in the afterlife.