In Hell’s Paradise: Jigokuraku, the fundamental source of energy, Tao, is responsible for the power in all living things. Like the real-life Taoist teachings of China, the Tao of Hell’s Paradise can only be correctly harnessed by achieving a balance of weakness and strength, or Yin and Yang.
As an assassin raised in the Shinobi village of Iwakagure, Gabimaru was trained to achieve pure power and mercilessness in combat from an early age. However, that merciless nature began to waver due to his relationship with his wife, Yui, leading him to entirely refuse to kill altogether. While the change in demeanor inspired by his wife appeared to be the source of Gabimaru’s weakness to his shinobi peers, that weakness would later prove to be his greatest advantage in achieving the balance of Tao necessary to survive the overwhelming power of Lord Tensen.
The Real-Life Inspiration Behind Tao in Hell’s Paradise (and How it Works in the Series)
Taosim is the school of thought and spiritual practice presented in Lao Tzu’s Tao Te Ching, written around 600 BCE. The purpose of Taoism is to teach a way of life that can help a person achieve harmony between oneself and the world. By achieving inner balance, the Taoist practitioner reaches a state of flow with the universe that is both spontaneous and at peace. According to Taoist teachings, Tao can never truly be explained through words but only understood by living within it; as Lao Tzu puts it, “The Tao that can be described is not the eternal Tao.”
In Hell’s Paradise, just as in the real Taoíst teaching, there are several ways one can set out to achieve the inner balance of Tao. Through practicing consistent meditation, patient compassion, and even mindful copulation, Taoist practitioners hope to reach the state of Tao. In fact, sexuality takes a strong place in Hell’s Paradise‘s understanding of Tao, as the Tensen openly practice what they call Bochu Jutsu in order to circulate the Yin and Yang between one another. Ultimately, in Taoist philosophy, the main purpose of the practice is to achieve the middle path between extremes. This middle path, symbolized by the dichotomy of Yin and Yang, requires recognizing that all things are in a state of constant fluctuation between good and bad, light and dark, and positive and negative.
However, that’s not the whole story. In Taoism, there are also five phases within the balance between Yin and Yang that express themselves as the physical elements of the world. The five phases are the Minor Yang which corresponds with wood, the Major Yang which corresponds with fire, the Yin/Yang which corresponds with earth, the Major Yin which corresponds with water, and the Minor Yin which corresponds with metal. These elemental properties are also a major aspect of Hell’s Paradise‘s conception of Tao, and each character in the series takes on their own elemental property in line with it. For example, Gabimaru is associated with fire, Sagiri’s element is wood, and Nurugai’s element is water.
How Gabimaru’s Wife Gives Him Strength Through Weakness
There are multiple ways that Gabimaru’s wife provides him strength, and they all have their root in the Tao. One of the simplest ways she keeps him balanced is that she gives him someone to fight for. The power of having someone to fight for is an important source of strength in Hell’s Paradise and a reoccurring theme throughout the series. This is seen in several characters throughout the series. Some good examples of this phenomenon are seen in the relationship between the Aza brothers, as well as in Tenza and Nurugai’s relationship.
In the case of the Asa brothers, the main reason that Chobei was able to live after being thrown into Tan pit was his unwavering resolve to protect his brother. Similarly, when Tenza, Shion, and Nurugai were confronted by Lord Tensen, it was Tenza’s pure will to fight for his master and new disciple that enabled him to muster up the strength to hold the Tensen back long enough for them to escape. This desire to fight for another is a strong source of Gabimaru’s own will to fight. He knows that his wife needs him, and he will do anything that it takes to return to her, no matter the cost.
Another, equally powerful way that Yui provides Gabimaru strength is by softening him through love. It is his wife’s love that gives Gabimaru the capacity to balance and access his Tao in a way that lets him fight back against the Tensen. Gabimaru’s upbringing as a shinobi in Iwagakure made him cold, ruthless, and strong, but those qualities alone aren’t enough to successfully control Tao. Tao requires balance between coldness and warmth, ruthlessness and kindness, and strength and weakness, and that is what Yui’s love provided Gabimaru. While his peers in Iwagakure saw that Yui’s love was making Gabimaru weak, what they didn’t realize was that weakness was exactly what would lead to even greater strength for Gabimaru in the future.
When Gabimaru lost his memory and reverted to his merciless nature as an assassin during the fight against Chobei, the true role of the Tao in battle was tested. While his anger initially clouded his ability to fight against Chobei, Mei managed to remind Gabimaru of what he was fighting for, and this triggered his memory of his wife and access to his Tao once again. As that situation shows, Gabimaru’s connection to his wife is what actually allows him to tap into the true power of his Tao. Without the weakness that his wife forces him to acknowledge, Gabimaru’s pure strength is ineffective against the powers of the Tensen. It’s in that space between fullness and hollowness where Gabimaru’s true power arises. The title Hell’s Paradise perfectly embodies the dichotomy of Yin and Yang, and Yui was able to bring a bit of paradise to the hell Gabimaru found himself living in.
Sagiri Serves As Gabimaru’s Reminder of the Middle Path
Gabimaru is often able to access unbelievable reserves of strength thanks to the desire to return to his wife alone. However, the relationships that he builds while stuck on the island of Shinsenkyo are often just as invaluable in helping him survive, and perhaps the most important of those relationships is with Sagiri. Sagiri is often the person that brings Gabimaru back down to earth and even helps him come to terms with the fact of his love for his wife. It was Sagiri who first showed Gabimaru that he had a will to live and that the underlying cause of that will to live was Yui. In that sense, if Yui is the weakness to Gabimaru’s strength, then Sagiri represents the middle way between them.
In fact, Sagiri embodies the middle path in more than one way. The role of the Asaemon executioner is one ordinarily held by men, but Sagiri shatters the expectations of her femininity to those around her—though never in a way that somehow suggests masculinity either. She is both weak at times yet strong when necessary. For Gabimaru, she provides the weakness that he lacks in the absence of his wife, while also showing that she can prove stronger than him when he has leaned too far in the other direction. Interestingly, Sagiri’s Tao element is wood, making her more associated with Yang in the traditional Taoist tradition, which is considered more masculine. However, her Tao is also naturally weak to Gabimaru’s fire element. In that sense, Sagiri is the true link between Gabimaru’s Yang and Yui’s Yin that can help reunite them once more.