things in my mind" when he created the family, but that he forgot many of them. He said that Iori symbolizes peace, Seikū demonstrates selfishness demonstrated by fathers, and Azusa "uh... holds it all together?" Iori's design originated from "a fairly famous women's manga involving babies." Watsuki said that he created the father and mother "on the spot." Watsuki felt that Seikū's design in the end "kind of" looked similar to Takeda Kanryū, and so concluded that the design "didn't turn out quite right." But admitted that he also initially thought Azusa was "not quite right" until changing his mind, feeling "she's a really good character." The author added that he found it "refreshing" that Azusa is the first female character he designed who shows her entire forehead. Watsuki was planning to have Seikū's family reappear later in the Kyoto arc with Yahiko as the lead character in the story. Iori tied with Jin-e for eighteenth place in the series' second character popularity poll. Higashidani Family Sanosuke's father and younger siblings in Shinshū, who he left ten years before the series. His father, , is a farmer adept at fighting with his fists and who has fended off Fudōsawa from taking over the village. is his younger sister, and is his younger brother. Their mother, , died around two years after the birth of Ōta due to a cold. Uki became protective of her little brother because Sanosuke left them and because her mother died, so she was afraid of losing other family members. As a result, Ōta was sheltered. After learning about Sanosuke's deeds Ōta becomes willing to fight. At the end of the series, Ōta's name is listed as a student at Kaoru's dojo. Watsuki said that he always had some idea of what Sanosuke's family would be like, and therefore formed the Higashidani family along those concepts. Kamishimoemon is what Sanosuke will be like when he is older, Uki is very "lively" and protective of others, and Ōta is the opposite of Sanosuke, a weak little boy. Watsuki felt that the story was a little unsatisfactory because he was tired from the previous storyline and therefore unable to concentrate. In retrospect, he said he should have chosen either Uki or Ōta and made it only a three-person family. However, the author said that illustrating the family was fun and that he liked challenging himself with a whole