Kawabe (河辺, Kawabe) is a non-recurring character in Hajime no Ippo. He is a teacher at the Shimoirii Junior High School and Ryūhei Sawamura's former teacher who continued to support Sawamura throughout his boxing career, including his first Japanese title match.
Background[]
Kawabe stopping Sendō and Sawamura's fight.
When Kawabe was a child, he was sent to the same intuition as Ryūhei Sawamura.[1] He became a teacher at the Shimoirii Junior High School, which Sawamura attended. Kawabe would do activities with Sawamura such as feeding doves. When a group of doves had their heads decapitated and Sawamura was accused, Kawabe did not step forward and defend Sawamura, something that he regretted and felt the need to atone for. At some point, Sawamura was accused of beating members of Sendō Takeshi's gang from Osaka while they were in Nagoya. That caused Sendō and his gang to come seek revenge against Sawamura. While Sendō and Sawamura were fighting, Kawabe got in between the two and pleaded for Sendō to stop.[2] As the fight ended, Kawabe asked Sendō to become Sawamura's friend after telling him about Sawamura's lonely past. Sendō, however, refused, as he noted that Sawamura's not lonely since Kawabe is there for him.
After Sawamura graduated,[3] Kawabe introduced Sawamura to boxing to have Sawamura learn the meaning of hard work and make friends by talking to his acquaintance, Karil, who owns the Nagoya Oniyaritome Boxing Gym.
History[]
Part II[]
Dragon Slayer Arc[]
Kawabe pleading to Ippo to defeat Sawamura.
When Kawabe ate dinner at the Hirosue with Sawamura, he was happy to learn that Sawamura is going to have a JBC featherweight title match. Kawabe tried to convince Sawamura that he gets cheered for winning with his hard work rather than him thinking that he gets cheered for simply beating people. After Sawamura expressed his pleasure of beating people with counters, Kawabe began to believe that he unintentionally introduced Sawamura into the most dangerous place for him to be as a bloodthirsty mad dog. Later, Kawabe noticed Sawamura's motorcycle near his school. Thinking he came to see him, Kawabe went near the area and was shocked as he saw Sawamura around fainted people that he has brutally beaten. Sawamura gave Kawabe a ticket to his match against Ippo before leaving. On the day of the weigh-in between Ippo and Sawamura, Kawabe went to the Kōrakuen Hall and met Ippo, pleading to him to defeat Sawamura and teach him that there are others stronger than him, hoping that Sawamura changes.
The next day, Kawabe watched the match between Ippo and Sawamura. After the sixth round, Kawabe went to Sawamura's ringside to encourage him to win. However, since Sawamura saw Kawabe's plea to Ippo, he spat on Kawabe, branding him a traitor. Kawabe watched as Sawamura lost in the seventh round. Kawabe went to the Inoue Emergency Hospital where Sawamura was taken. There, he met Takeshi Sendō, and was informed that Sawamura wants to eat with him after he gets out of the hospital.
Chaos Arc[]
Kawabe meeting Sawamura at the Tyson Steak House before his match against Mashiba.
Sawamura moved to the junior lightweight class and had an upcoming JBC title match against the JBC junior lightweight champion, Ryō Mashiba at the Champion Carnival. Kawabe ate with Sawamura at the Tyson Steak House and told him that he would cheer for him at the title match. Kawabe was surprised that Sawamura deemed his opponent strong, thinking that he has changed ever since he fought Ippo since he has been keeping his construction job and hasn't been getting into trouble lately. However, he realised that Sawamura still has his warped blood lust after Sawamura revealed that fighting Ippo has taught him to go all out and kill his opponents rather than almost killing them. When Sawamura's JBC junior lightweight title match against Mashiba arrived, Kawabe went to the Kōrakuen Hall to watch and cheer for Sawamura. Kawabe watched in shock in the sixth round as Sawamura was getting hit until he was knocked outside the ring while the referee had the match paused. The referee disqualified Mashiba, making him lose, and Sawamura the new JBC junior lightweight champion. Kawabe quickly left his seat to go with Sawamura as he was sent out to the venue's doctor's office on a stretcher. At the doctor's office, Sawamura received a checkup by the doctor, and was revealed to be fine to not go to the hospital, however, the doctor recommended for him to be under Kawabe and Karil's watch and for him to see a brain specialist. At Sawamura's room in the venue, the Tōhō coach gave the JBC junior lightweight champion belt to Karil. After Karil gave the champion belt to Sawamura, Sawamura left the room. Later, Karil's staff members urgently informed Kawabe and Karil that Sawamura and his motorcycle are gone. Sawamura got in a motorcycle accident and was sent to the hospital with injuries that forced him to retire from being a professional boxer.
Appearance[]
Kawabe has black hair and he usually wears a grey jacket above his white shirt.
Personality[]
Kawabe is an incredibly kind-hearted and considerate individual, who was, for a while, Sawamura's only source of support. Because of the fact that Sawamura grew up in the same harsh environment as he once did, Kawabe largely emphathizes with Sawamura's struggles and tries his hardest to deter him from going down a dark path. He served as something of a father figure to Sawamura and tries to be as supportive as possible to him, whilst trying to keep him out of trouble. Conversely, Sawamura did not seem to hold Kawabe in high regards, though he was seemingly hurt after he thought that he had betrayed him and subsequently spat in his face during his match with Ippo. It was not until Kawabe's childhood was unveiled to Sawamura did he truly begin to appreciate his company, desiring to treat him to a grade-A steak after he left the hospital.
Etymology[]
- The surname Kawabe means "riverside" (河辺).
Gallery[]
References[]
- ↑ Chapter 502, page 16
- ↑ Chapter 472, page 6
- ↑ Chapter 467, page 7