by Roronoa Zoro is the favorite Straw Hat for many, and his backstory has long been a mystery. Still, ever since the Wano Country arc started, we’ve slowly been getting more clues that he is linked to the samurais and the Shimotsuki Family. Let’s look back on what we know, though spoilers ahead if you’re not caught up on both the anime and manga.
The Shimotsuki Village
The earliest thing we know about Zoro is that he lived and trained in Shimotsuki Village. In an SBS (particular column where Oda answers fan questions as part of a volume), a fan asked the following question:
Q: Odacchi!! A question!! Several characters have appeared with the name Shimotsuki, including Shimotsuki Yasuie, Shimotsuki Ryuma, Shimotsuki Kozaburo, and Shimotsuki Ushimaru, but is there a connection with the place Zoro grew up in that bears that exact name, Shimotsuki Village, and Zoro’s teacher Koushirou?
To this, Oda replied:
Ah yes. You might have to follow very closely to picture this, but… let me explain! It all starts with Shimotsuki Kozaburo (swordsmith and swordsman):
- He forges the “Enma” and bestows it to the heir of the Kozuki Family, Oden.
- 55 years ago, he sets out to sea!
- He and the samurai of Wano have a grand adventure!!
- They make landfall in a particular place in East Blue.
- They save the locals from mountain bandits.
- They teach the villagers the way of the sword, who becomes enamored with swordplay.
- They decide to settle there, founding Shimotsuki Village.
- His son, Koushirou, is born.
- His granddaughter, Kuina, is born.
To put it in other words, Zoro meant by “a geezer in his village,” that he met was grandpa Shimotsuki Kozaburo-san himself, who comes from the Wano Country. Oh? Then could that mean… Zoro’s lineage…?! Well, the story of Shimotsuki Kozaburo, the samurai who founder Shimotsuki Village, is all I’m willing to share today.
So the village was named after Shimotsuki Kozaburo, who illegally left Wano 55 years ago and eventually founded the town. His son Koushirou ends up as Zoro’s teacher, and his daughter Kuina is Zoro’s rival. This means that they aren’t directly related, so how did Zoro get there? We can only guess for now, which is what we’ll do a bit further down.
Zoro and Shimotsuki Ryuma
Shimotsuki Ryuma was a legendary samurai from Wano Country known as the Sword God. We met him back at Thriller Bark, only he was nowhere near his original power and was only able to move thanks to Brook’s shadow. However, Zoro did have previous knowledge about him, as he had heard the story of him slaying a dragon somewhere before.
Now, Oda actually wrote a side story that is considered canon where Ryuma is the main character. In that manga, we can see him as a young man, and he looks a lot like Zoro, only with black hair. This manga is actually getting a voiced version on September 6/7, and Yoshimasa Hosoya will voice young Ryuma! His personality also shares several things, one of the main ones being the gratitude to people that help them and the way they treat swordsmanship (“The sword is a swordsman life”). Someone from Wano had to tell him about the story due to the country’s strict isolation policy.
From what we saw, Zoro barely interacted with anyone besides fighting, and then he somewhat got closer to Koushirou and Ruina after becoming a student at their dojo. Kozaburo may have passed on the story of their ancestor to Koushirou and then Ruina, who at some point shared it with Zoro. However, there was another hint from Oda, which may suggest he wasn’t born to a random Wano samurai.
The Carpenters
In another SBS, a fan noticed the similarity of a carpenter that had appeared in the Foosha (Windmill) Village (Luffy’s village) and Franky’s boss in Wano. Note that we can assume that Shimotsuki Village is also part of the Goa Kingdom due to Dragon’s visiting it after saving Sabo, which means it’s not too far from Windmill Village. The carpenter in East Blue also served as a running gag and popped up randomly throughout the show.
When the fan asked if it was the same person, Oda answered:
Yes, he is!! Back then, he was fixing the broken door to the bar in Foosha Village. He was introduced as Carpenter Minatomo-san, exclaiming, “Who did this?”. And now, he somehow ended up in the New World in the closed bordered country of Wano! Isn’t that weird? That’s right; they actually aren’t the same person! They have the same last name because they’re related by blood. The fact of the matter is, a ship from Wano reached East Blue a few decades ago.
One of the descendants of someone on that ship is a person that everybody is familiar with…
This part might be featured later in the main story so that I won’t mention any more than that. It isn’t going to be a significant plotline; it will just be a little story.
The sentence in the middle hints towards the chance of someone important being on that ship as well. A few decades is enough to be around Zoro’s birth because he’s 21 years old post-time-skip. One theory is that his mother was on the ship and gave birth to Zoro in East Blue, where Oda officially confirmed him to have been born.
Zoro and Shimotsuki Ushimaru
A direct descendant of Ryuma, Shimotsuki Ushimaru was the last Daimyo of the Ringo region in Wano Country. We know he was a master swordsman as well, and we know of his loyalty. After Oden’s death, he rose against Orochi with every other daiymo, which lead to his own presumed death. However manga spoilers, in the latest chapter, Kawamatsu and Hyogoro both noted that Zoro looks exactly like Ushimaru, with Kawamatsu saying that even his sword style is the same.
So, if we assumed Ushimaru was Zoro’s father, would it have been possible that he sent his wife and son away before the imminent danger? Yasui had been guarding the port for long and would probably be able to help them sneak on a ship out. It could explain Ruina’s death as well. Assuming Orochi knew the former Daimyo had a child that could potentially come back for revenge, it doesn’t seem weird that he’d send people after him. However, Zoro wasn’t using the Shimotsuki name, but Roronoa.
The child around his age who was using the name though was Ruina. Her dying by falling off stairs always seemed kind of suspicious, especially considering her importance for Zoro.
It would be pretty surprising if it turned out that Koushirou knew about it but didn’t want to tell Zoro to avoid putting that responsibility on him at his young age, so they just went with the stairs story.
Another interesting theory was that the new admiral, Ryokugyu (Green Bull), is actually Ushimaru due to the green bull on his back. However, it’s hard to imagine he’d neglect his loyalty unless something drastic happened to him.
In chapter 1023, Kawamatsu noted that Shimotsuki Ryuma, the God of the Blade, was also a one-eyed samurai. He also said it might be fate at work because Zoro returned Shusui to Wano. Back on Thriller Bark, Ryuma lost to Zoro, and he entrusted Shusui to him, saying it would be happy to have him as its master. But before we move on to the swords, here’s just the similarity of the two (which was first observed a really long time ago):
Zoro and Shimotsuki Yasuie
Although short, we got to see Zoro and Yasuie meet each other and spend some time together in Wano. Although Yasuie never made it obvious, he had to notice the similarity to Ushimaru, a fellow daimyo who was leading Ringo simultaneously as he was leading Hakumai. Zoro was also aware Yasuie was a good guy, and he seemed to have warmed up to him quickly.
Another trait that seems to be shared is the tremendous amount of sacrifice they are willing to make. Yasuie had been acting like a cheerful dense jester for years while actually believing in the Akazaya Nine return, and he did everything he could to help. He was going as far as sacrificing his life in an attempt to save the revolution. As for Zoro, we’ve seen him show his loyalty before, most famously when he took on Luffy’s pain and offered his life to Kuma.
Zoro’s Swords
Shusui
Shusui is one of the 21 Great Grade swords as well as a Black Sword (Kokutō). It’s the apparent link between Zoro and Ryuma. The sword was a treasure for the entire Wano Country and was robbed by Geko Moria along with Ryuma’s body. Zoro was entrusted the sword after defeating the skeleton samurai, and, as Kawamatsu said, it seems like fate is at play with him returning the sword. An interesting fact and another parallel are that Zoro used this very sword to slay Dragon Number Thirteen back on Punk Hazard, which was a feat previously done by Ryuma, the original owner of the sword.
Wado Ichimonji
Another one of the 21 Great Grade swords, this is the first high-quality sword Zoro received. It belonged to Kuina, and he got it after her passing. The man who crafted it was Shimotsuki Kozaburo, Kuina’s grandfather, and he was known as a legendary swordsmith. It was the only sword that Mihawk didn’t break in Zoro’s first fight against him.
Sandai Kitetsu
A Grade sword which Zoro found back in Logue Town in a barrel full of cheap swords. This one was created by Tenguyama Hitetsu, who we met along with Tama. Zoro immediately realized it was cursed, which the owner confirmed as well. Tashigi said it was worth a million berries and Zoro put his luck against the sword’s curse in one of his earliest badass moments in One Piece. His chance won, and he got the sword for free, as well as the owner’s family heirloom Yubashiri, which would get rusted by Shu later.
Enma
Finally, the latest sword Zoro received is Enma, used by Kozuki Oden to give Kaido his permanent scar with his other sword Ame no Habakiri. It’s also one of the 21 Great Grade swords, and it’s the 2nd sword Zoro owns, which Shimotsuki Kozaburo created. Hiyori inherited it, and she gave it to Zoro as a replacement for Shusui, which he was to return to Wano Country.
So all 3 of Zoro’s current swords were created by people from the Wano Country. A Shimotsuki Family member, Kozaburo, created two of them, while Hitetsu created the third, who we still know relatively little about.
Sunacchi
Another connection Zoro has to Wano, which makes sense when we know that Wano samurai founded the village he grew up in, is the word “Sunacchi.” This word is originally an abbreviation for a phrase translating to “Throw Away Your Name and Wits.” VIZ uses the phrase “Surrender Your Name and Be as a Child.” It was a part of the old dialect in Kuri, and Ashura Doji and his comrades used to use it as children. They’d shout it before diving off a cliff, mainly to encourage themselves. Ten years before the present time, they called it again ahead of attempting to raid Onigashima, which failed, and most of them lost their lives.
Zoro heard it from “an old geezer in his village,” which Oda referred to in the SBS from the start of the article. It was Shimotsuki Kozaburo, and Zoro then taught it to Momonosuke to encourage himself. Knowing about its usage in Kuri, Kikujo told Momonosuke he could not use it, probably due to his position as Shogun’s son.
November and Shimotsuki
Shimotsuki (霜月 “month of frost”) is the traditional name of November in the Japanese calendar.
There is a Japanese phrase that goes, “nishi muku samurai.” It’s used to remember months that don’t have 31 days (February, April, June, September, and November). The literal meaning is “a samurai that faces the West” and can be divided into “ni,” “shi,” “mu,” “ku” and “samurai.”
“Ni” means 2, which stands for February. “Shi” means 4, which stands for April. “Mu” means 6, which stands for June, and “ku” means nine and stands for September. “Samurai” implies 11, and it stands for November. The reason is because of the Japanese spelling/writing, and you can also read it in detail in the explanation by @sandman. It means that Shimotsuki Village can also be called the “Samurai Village.” Oda loves to have multiple meanings and symbolic elements, so Zoro’s birthday, being November 11 can’t be a coincidence, right? Ryuma’s birthday is on November 6.
A random fun fact
Kozuki Sukiyaki and Tenguyama Hitetsu share the same voice actor and are both fans of kokeshi dolls. Ryuuzaburou Ootomo voices them, and Hitetsu is around the same age as Sukiyaki if he were alive (81). We never saw him in Oden’s flashbacks, but he was entrusted with Oden’s swords. He also said he’d been waiting for two decades to return the swords to Hiyori and Momonosuke, introducing himself as a swordsmith from Wano. We never really saw Sukiyaki’s death. If not the same person, the two might just be related somehow. It’s worth noting that it doesn’t have to mean that the same voice actor also means the same character. For example, the same voice actor also voices Crocodile, though he’s not in the same Arc and doesn’t have a history with the above. Other voice actors have voiced completely unrelated characters as well.
So, Is Zoro a Shimotsuki?
While there are so many parallels and hints towards it, it’s all up in the air until Oda actually confirms it. Zoro might be some random samurai’s child who, for some reason, looks like Ushimaru and is a one-eyed samurai cause Oda thinks it’s fantastic. However, knowing about the previous symbolic meanings and Oda’s foreshadowing, it seems likely that Zoro is closely linked to the Shimotsuki Family. We also know other Straw Hats also have some strong backgrounds. Luffy is the son of Dragon, Sanji is Judge, Usopp is the son of Yasopp… Having Zoro, the unofficial Vice-Captain, also have a strong lineage wouldn’t seem surprising at this point.
Do you think any of that makes sense? If I missed some obvious fact that disproves something, or if there are some more hints, please let me know! It’s incredible how there are so many ways to theorize One Piece, and we have to appreciate Oda for providing such a busy world and setting!
Celebration of One Piece
One Piece is commemorating the 100th volume and upcoming 1000th anime episode with several projects. The recent “WE ARE ONE” video collection was one. It featured five episodes of mixed live-action and animated segments.
