History: We don't know a great deal about Soun's life as a youngster, but we know that he and Genma are practically the sole heirs of the "Anything Goes" style of martial arts (Musabetsu Kakutou, in Japanese, if I'm not mistaken). As a young man, Soun fell under the training of Happosai, and for all the martial arts skills he learned he was unfortunately scarred for life by Happosai's training methods - mostly, using his students as vehicles towards his debauchery. Soun and Genma lived in fear of their master, but devised a way to get rid of him; with that done they were able to pursue their own lives. I'm not sure if the manga ever specified whether Soun met his wife before or after escaping Happosai, but in any case he - like his friend Genma - married and started a family. Best friends to the end, the two men pledged that their families would carry on the tradition of the Anything Goes fighting style, through a union of marriage between their children. Soun settled down and began a family a bit earlier than Genma, whose only son is the same age as Soun's youngest daughter. The family began to run a dojo from the back of their house, where Soun taught other students - not a single one of whom we have ever seen - Soun and his wife had three children, all girls, and lived happily for a while - until his wife died, under circumstances which aren't given in the manga. Akane, the youngest daughter, was still quite young when this happened, and Soun did his best to raise his three girls as best he could all by himself. And although he and Genma had lost contact with one another some years ago, he never forgot the promise they had made in their youth.
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